I'm turning Blue!

Actually, I turned blue on Saturday. Not from being choked (although we worked on chokes for a long time), but rather after getting beaten up by Travis Tooke for 5 minutes, he and my coach promoted me to BJJ Blue Belt.

Roy Harris (BJJ Blackbelt under Joe Moreira) wrote an article, in which he described the BJJ Blue belt as "The belt of survival". In my own experience rolling with new blue belts, and in my discussion with new blues, I agree, but for a different reason. Roy believes that the blue belt is learning to escape from bad positions. That may be the case, but it also becomes a target. Advanced white belts see you as a target. They think if I can tap this guy, my coach will see i'm ready to advance. Other blue belts want to see what you are made of, and purple belts want to make sure they keep you in your place.

I think Ebby Calvin LaLoosh said it best in Bull Durham "I'm just happy to be here, and I hope I can help the ballclub."

A quick note on the injury front. Ribs are healing, although I still can't upa 100%. I also dislocated another toe on Saturday. This time, the ring toe (is that accurate? the 4th toe on my left foot). I popped it back in and kept going, then buddy taped it later. The wifey was disgusted by it, as it kinda looked mangled and turned strange colors, but it barely hurts.