Stare Down

My niece Amber, me, my niece Jessie-Fight Night 2010

Chris and I watch UFC quite a bit.  Well, a lot actually.  Stare downs are apparently extremely important at the weigh in and then in the middle of the ring before the fight starts.  Chris said I could stare down any UFC fighter and win.  

Since middle school I can remember stare down contests with friends.  Where did they start?  Way back  in the early 80's there was no UFC.  I don't know why or how but I do remember being pretty good at it.  The little contest we started ended when the first person looked away or smiled.  Most people tried to cheat.  You know, subtly move their lip or eyebrow or some muscle in their face to try and make their competition break.  Ashamed to say but I might have tried that as well, a time or two. Especially when faced with stiff competition.  But that was rare for I was the stiff competition.

If a UFC fight winner was determined from the second two fighters met in the middle of the ring.....well, I'd win at that moment, because of the stare down.  Luckily.  Because I'm one of the most horribly uncoordinated un-athletic people ever created.  If the fight advanced because of a tie in the stare down I'd just have to take a knee as soon as the referee walked away.  You know, kinda like a team winning the football game during the final minute or so. (Which by the way I think is a horrible way to play.  People pay a lot of money for a ticket. Play to the end!  Like in hockey.)


Wrestling, but not the "real" kind, was very popular when I was growing up.  A lot of ole timers I knew never believed tv wrestling was entertainment and not "real".  I fought that notion for a long time.  About as long as some other myths taught to me as a child. (Spoiler alert! Nah, I'd not do that to the lil ones.)

Did wrestlers in the 70s and 80s have stare downs in the middle of the ring before a fight?  I can't remember.  But I do remember my favorites.  One was Kevin Sullivan.  He wrestled at Madisonville High School one Saturday night when I was in 6th or 7th grade.  Wow, I'd never been that close to a celebrity!  Hmmmm....come to think of it that was the closest I've ever been to a celebrity even till today.  You know, 500 feet.  That seemed pretty close to a 7th grader.  Well, come to think of it, that seems pretty close today too.

The glory days of wrestling.  Kevin Sullivan, Randy Savage and Elizabeth, (loved Elizabeth although now looking back the drama was pretty heavily damsel in distress kinda romance book stuff), Andre the Giant, the snake guy, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Junkyard Dog, and so on.....  Hulk Hogan and Lex Luger were pretty cool.  But I had outgrown the drama of wrestling by the time they came into their own.  Grown right into the great world of the soap opera, "Days of our Lives" with Bo and Hope, "Another World" (which my niece complained about when I wouldn't play with her. She called it "Another Universe" and I believe she really thought that was the name of the show), and "Santa Barbara" were my soaps of choice.  My friends and I would play outside in the morning but go our separate ways around 1:00 because our soaps weren't the same.  There was no betrayal in soaps.  Once you committed there was no straying to another network.

Okay then.  This little writing here has gone further than I intended.  The excitement of Saturday morning wrestling fever took over just a minute as well as afternoon soaps.  But my computer is tired now.  My stare down has won.

UFC Fight Party backyard winter 2010-Brrrrrrr

(My husband and my niece just text to say "Bo and Hope? We don't get it." Amber is only 25 so of course she wouldn't know.  And back then Chris was too busy busting up his arms and legs on motorcycles and BMX bikes to know. So many of you may not either.  Bo and Hope were on "Days of our Lives" in the early 80's and had the biggest ever soap opera wedding. At least in those days. In fact, that wedding was one day you were allowed to cheat on your soaps if you were not a "Days" fan. Wonder if the other soaps even aired that day?)