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Thursday, April 30, 2020

Birthdays and Wrestling


Birthdays and Wrestling



Today is my older brother’s birthday.  He is a retired Federal Judge living in Atlanta.  Tomorrow is my Birthday, I am a retired brokerage clerk, living in Jersey.
 
OK, that’s the birthdays, what does that have to do with wrestling?

My brother for many years was also my tormentor.  In his defense, I was a pain in the ass.  The only time I have ever been knocked out was when Chris got some boxing gloves for his birthday.  I was five.  We had a pretend boxing match and he “Accidently” hit me with a left hook.  I was accidently out for the count of ten.

My brother won every argument because he was smarter (future lawyer…surprise) and every fight because he was four years older and stronger.

I received my first and only accidental loogie slurp in the mouth (every brother combination ever, knows what this is) from Chris.

I will say that though I was a pain in my brothers ass, and he did torment me a bit, I was his pain in the ass.  Older kids in the neighborhood were well advised not to mess with Chris Hagy’s little brother…so there was that.

What does any of this have to do with wrestling?

My brother left for college when I was 15.

On Christmas, Chris returned from College, and I told him I was competing for the HS wrestling team.  Chris had wrestled some in school.  He immediately challenged me to a match.  It was probably not a good idea to accept the challenge while we were in the living room.
 
At this point I was at last bigger and stronger than my tormentor.  We started in the traditional wrestling down position.  I quickly had him on his back.  Then he was up, on his back again, and up, and so on and so on until we had to stop due to a broken lamp, and also due to the traditional Mom yell “Jim, Joe, Chris; what are you up to?” (Mom never got her sons names in the right order.  She just called all three to be safe. The last name called was somehow always the one she meant to call.)

Chris had simply willed himself not to be beaten by his little brother.  The match was a draw based on no pin, I was ahead 21 to 4 when it was called.

Chris never talked about this match, but from that day on he went from tormentor to friend and protector.

Today Chris is 78.  I outweigh him by about 45 pounds.  He has a touch of a shaky thing going on.  I know I am stronger, I know I am faster, I also know I could still not pin him.  

He would find a way to kick my ass.

Anyway, Happy Birthday brother, I still love ya!

18 comments:

  1. Being a girl, I have never wrestled in my life and I certainly would never want to. My son used to watch WWW on TV and I saw a bit of it sometimes, it looks pretty uncomfortable, all that heaving each other around and thumping to the floor etc. I have two sons, but they never wrestled each other either. We're just not sporty although the youngest played basketball for a couple of seasons.

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  2. Happy Birthday to both of you. May you enjoy many more years of happiness, good health and everything else you desire.

    God bless you and your whole family, JoeH.

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  3. Enjoyable account of past and present. I envy you having a brother.

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  4. As someone ALSO with a big brother 3 years older, boy did I relate to this. (My big brother also went into law, but wow--a Federal judge!) Thanks for sharing this great memory & kind tribute to your brother Joe, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY :)

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  5. Happy Birthday to you and your brother. Great post!

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  6. Did some wrestling in High School, and because of the weight class I was in, and the fact that all of my competitors were shorter and pudgier, and I was built like an Orangutan, the "wrestling coach" wanted me to compete for the school. I gracefully declined. I was only taking Gym class because it was a requirement, I was more into music, and languages. And, did you ever notice how many girls are in the language classes? Right. My older brother used to pin me and sit on my chest. He's ten years older than me. Even though he's now in his 70s, I still wouldn't be able to take him, as he has spent the last 40 years working a farm. Tough as nails I suspect. Happy Birthday to your Brother!

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  7. Happy Birthday to you both. Kind of glad I wasn't a brother but glad I had two of them. Had to laugh at your Mom calling out all the kid's names. My grandmother did the same and you are right. The last one called was the target.

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  8. Happy birthday to the two of you!! He sounds like a wonderful older brother and I bet he appreciates you a lot as the younger brother! Hope you get to see him sometime soon!

    betty

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  9. Happy birthday! Aloha from Hawaii.

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  10. ♪♫Happy Birthday to you,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Birthday to you,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Birthday Dear Chris,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Birthday to you.♪♫

    ♪♫Happy Birthday to you,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Birthday to you,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Birthday Dear Joe,♪♫
    ♪♫Happy Birthday to you.♪♫

    Have a fabulous day and weekend, Joe. 😎

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  11. Big brothers can be a pain until we get old enough to say "I love you". Happy birthdays, boys.

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  12. Wishing you both many, many happy returns of the day!

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  13. Happy Birthdays! I hope you're not wrestling anyone else these days, either. But if you must, wear a mask!

    My mom used to call me by the DOG'S name, which was Buster, although she just called him (and me) "Bus." Funny how she never called the dog by MY name, and always managed to get my sister's name right.

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  14. SO BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN dear Joe
    Happy birthday to your dear brother

    i enjoyed the story thoroughly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    how sweet of him to turn into a caring protective brother after match :)
    your mother does not sound different than me when my boys are messed up lol it is so annoying and confusing situation for a mom believe me

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  15. Have a great birthday and enjoy talking with your brother. Brothers do have a special relationship and even when we don't see one another all that much we are still brothers. I am the oldest and have fond memories of lording over my younger two brothers. Unfortunately, one passed many years ago and the other I seldom get to see him as his life is too busy. Life goes on. Have a happy birthday and may the new memories you make together be good ones.

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  16. Brothers have a special bond. I have 3 sons and know the "bond" well as they grew up together, sharing a room. Now only 2 of them are left and while one is married and the other is not, I hope they never lose that special bond that took YEARS to grow. I love stories about brothers! Yours was funny but brought a tear to my eye. Happy Birthday to your BIG brother!

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  17. First off-congrats on your losing unwanted pounds, second...Happy Birthday and third- a little story- I am the oldest of 6....2 sisters and I have 3 brothers born in three years ( my poor mother ) any how....she could not always get the names straight- so she started saying "If I am looking at ya...I am talking to ya!" Have a great day!

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