The California Takeover
So i went to California last weekend.
Got there on Thursday, checked into my hotel and then went down to Huntington Beach to hang out with my old friend Sarah. She moved there about a year ago. Also met up with her friend Dru, who used to live in NY as well. Later on her friend Val came by, who ALSO used to live in NY (tho Val plans on moving back.) Went out to some restaurant in Huntington Beach to eat then back to Sarah's for some drinks. By 11pm, I had to go. Sarah was imploring me to stay longer, but i said "look, i've been flying all day, got stuck in 2 and a half hours' worth of Friday rush-hour traffic coming down to Huntington Beach, and last, but most important, your clock says 11pm, my body says it's 2am."
The class itself was a blast. LOOONG days. Started on Friday at 9am and didn’t get out until 1015pm. I went back to my hotel room with the intention of looking over my notes, but I ended up flopping onto my face and going directly to sleep. Saturday was similarly long. Sunday was testing.
Friday was a lot of learning the rules, fouls, powerpoint presentations, videos, etc. Saturday we went into the cage to work on our mechanics, cage positioning, movement, etc. Later Saturday we each did three 2-minute round sparring matches with some fighers from John’s gym. The first one was just working on movement. The 2nd match was now including calling fouls. 3rd one was the full thing, talking to the fighters, giving them their instructions in the corner, the final instructions during the “staredown”, etc. Mind you, these are each separate matches. 1 round 1 person, then the next person, etc. Then later in the day we basically did full matches. Three 3-minute rounds. They were gonna go however they were gonna go. They brought in a couple of guys from another gym to spar with John’s guys. I had gone third in this particular rotation. The 1st two matches ended with stoppages (both submissions) in the first round. My match went the distance, three 3-minute rounds. After each match, Big John would give everyone critiques of what he liked, what we did wrong, what we need to keep in mind, etc. Some boxing referee and MMA judge (Jack something, I don’t remember his last name) happened to be there as well and was also giving us his thoughts on our performances.
We were also watching videos from different matches and watching for the stuff that referees did wrong. What was hysterical was there was a LOT of videos that involved Steve Mazzagatti, and quite a few involving Herb Dean, HAHAHA. There was one infuriating video from Affliction with Roy Nelson vs Andrei Arlovski. That referee clearly didn’t know what he was doing or what he was looking at. Roy Nelson had taken Arlovski down and had passed his guard and gotten side control, and the referee says “improve your position.” IMPROVE YOUR POSITION?? He just moved into a more dominant position. A minute later, if I remember correctly, Roy Nelson had passed to mount and was about to launch his attack when the referee STOOD THE FIGHTERS UP! One of the most ridiculous things done by a referee that clearly had no business being in a ring.
Sunday was testing. A techniques test, where I had to know roughly 90 maneuvers (submissions, takedowns, sweeps, etc). He would show a video and we had 10 seconds to write in the technique. Second test was a written exam. Some multiple choice, some write-in, testing overall of the rules, regulations, fouls, scenarios where we had to determine how we would rule. The third test was the practical application test, where we refereed a match, much like our 4th go-around the day before. Three 3 minute rounds.
Unfortunately, I failed. Couldn’t miss more than 9 on the techniques test to pass, I missed 12. The written was 56 questions and we couldn’t miss more than 6, I missed 9. And the practical application, don’t remember how I failed that, but it wasn’t by much. The main thing that killed me on that was an elbow to the back of the head while 2 guys were grappling for position up against the cage that I failed to make a call on.
But I don’t regret going. It was an incredible experience. I’ll never look at another match in the same way again. It don’t end here though. There’s another referee class probably at the end of July/beginning of August. I’ll most likely be going out there for that and trying again. That Referee Jack guy that came by on Saturday told me that even he failed John’s class the first time he took it, and had to take it a second time to pass. This is a guy that’s involved in the sport, so I didn’t feel that bad. I was worried that I was going to fail by a lot more than I did, so at least I didn’t go down in flames. The passing rate is also pretty low. Our class had 9 guys, only 2 passed. From what I hear, that’s pretty typical.
Overall, it was amazing.
Had quite the hysterical moment after we wrapped up on Saturday. John was talking about how people will wake up after getting choked out/knocked out and not even realize the fight had occurred. Several people in the class, since they train, were relating their experiences with being choked out. This one guy, Jamie, had asked Big John to choke him out, so he could see what it was like. They go out on the mat, John gets back control, sinks in his hooks, sinks in the rear-naked choke and within seconds Jamie was out. A rear naked choke is a blood choke that cuts off blood to the brain via the Carotid artery. So it's not like one can't breathe, one simply goes to sleep. Jamie starts snoring, and John starts rubbing his back to bring him around. Jamie's eyes open and he looks confused and says "hey guys, what's going on?" Every single one of us absolutely SHIT ourselves from laughing so hard. Quite possibly the single most hysterical moment of the year. Then we all started kicking ourselves for not videotaping it, because it really was THAT funny. What made it even funnier was as Jamie was coming around and asked "what's going on", he's wrapping his arm around John's leg, as if he was sitting in a recliner. He later said that he was confused and thought he was in his chair back home when he woke up. HAHA!
Sunday, after our day wrapped up, I met up with my friend Marc and we went to see his friend Tom do stand-up. He was actually really funny. Afterwards, the three of us went out to dinner together. We were discussing different shows we watch and i mentioned that i love 24. Tom says "did you watch last week?" I say "yeah, of course." Then he starts making motions to me like "don't you recognize me?" I say "were you on last week's episode?" He says "yeah man, I was Agent Park!" So if you watched 24 not this past week, but last week, as the episode was starting, after Almeida killed Moss and a team of FBI agents were arriving, he was the one that first gets to Almeida and asks him if he's alright, what happened, etc. He then coordinates with Renee for the rest of the episode. A pretty substantial part, it's not like he walks in and says "here's your coffee" and that's it. Regardless, I didn't recognize him. Sorry Tom, I'm not gonna be wondering who the random Asian dude is that guest starred in an episode of 24. I especially didn't think I'd be having dinner with that dude a week later. But he was good. Hopefully the part will get him recognized in the same way Daniel Dae Kim was. He started out (or at least I first became aware of his existence) as "Agent Castle" on 24. Not a big part. Guest starred one season, then appeared a few more times throughout the next couple of seasons. Then he signed on to play Jin on LOST. So Tom Choi, I wish you the best of luck, hopefully this 24 appearance will do more things for you! I think I soccer kicked his ego a bit by not recognizing him. Marc said that everyone "around here" (i guess meaning in LA that are involved in The Biz) keeps an eye on the guest stars of shows.
Afterwards, went back to Marc's place and crashed on his couch. I set my alarm on my phone and he set his on his phone as well. My phone went off at 5am and his went off seconds later. The combined alarmage sounded like an attack by aliens was imminent and i woke up startled.
here's a few pictures...
in the cage
Big John McCarthy's Ultimate Training Academy
April 2009 Referee Class
the 2 guys that passed are all way to the left and right
Big John McCarthy and Walter Cardenas
re-enactment of the funniest choke-out in history
chillin in Huntington Beach
with Sarah & Dru in Huntington Beach
Val wasn't smiling. I wasn't having that.
Vern Schillinger & $kully
Tom Choi as AGENT PARK!
Got there on Thursday, checked into my hotel and then went down to Huntington Beach to hang out with my old friend Sarah. She moved there about a year ago. Also met up with her friend Dru, who used to live in NY as well. Later on her friend Val came by, who ALSO used to live in NY (tho Val plans on moving back.) Went out to some restaurant in Huntington Beach to eat then back to Sarah's for some drinks. By 11pm, I had to go. Sarah was imploring me to stay longer, but i said "look, i've been flying all day, got stuck in 2 and a half hours' worth of Friday rush-hour traffic coming down to Huntington Beach, and last, but most important, your clock says 11pm, my body says it's 2am."
The class itself was a blast. LOOONG days. Started on Friday at 9am and didn’t get out until 1015pm. I went back to my hotel room with the intention of looking over my notes, but I ended up flopping onto my face and going directly to sleep. Saturday was similarly long. Sunday was testing.
Friday was a lot of learning the rules, fouls, powerpoint presentations, videos, etc. Saturday we went into the cage to work on our mechanics, cage positioning, movement, etc. Later Saturday we each did three 2-minute round sparring matches with some fighers from John’s gym. The first one was just working on movement. The 2nd match was now including calling fouls. 3rd one was the full thing, talking to the fighters, giving them their instructions in the corner, the final instructions during the “staredown”, etc. Mind you, these are each separate matches. 1 round 1 person, then the next person, etc. Then later in the day we basically did full matches. Three 3-minute rounds. They were gonna go however they were gonna go. They brought in a couple of guys from another gym to spar with John’s guys. I had gone third in this particular rotation. The 1st two matches ended with stoppages (both submissions) in the first round. My match went the distance, three 3-minute rounds. After each match, Big John would give everyone critiques of what he liked, what we did wrong, what we need to keep in mind, etc. Some boxing referee and MMA judge (Jack something, I don’t remember his last name) happened to be there as well and was also giving us his thoughts on our performances.
We were also watching videos from different matches and watching for the stuff that referees did wrong. What was hysterical was there was a LOT of videos that involved Steve Mazzagatti, and quite a few involving Herb Dean, HAHAHA. There was one infuriating video from Affliction with Roy Nelson vs Andrei Arlovski. That referee clearly didn’t know what he was doing or what he was looking at. Roy Nelson had taken Arlovski down and had passed his guard and gotten side control, and the referee says “improve your position.” IMPROVE YOUR POSITION?? He just moved into a more dominant position. A minute later, if I remember correctly, Roy Nelson had passed to mount and was about to launch his attack when the referee STOOD THE FIGHTERS UP! One of the most ridiculous things done by a referee that clearly had no business being in a ring.
Sunday was testing. A techniques test, where I had to know roughly 90 maneuvers (submissions, takedowns, sweeps, etc). He would show a video and we had 10 seconds to write in the technique. Second test was a written exam. Some multiple choice, some write-in, testing overall of the rules, regulations, fouls, scenarios where we had to determine how we would rule. The third test was the practical application test, where we refereed a match, much like our 4th go-around the day before. Three 3 minute rounds.
Unfortunately, I failed. Couldn’t miss more than 9 on the techniques test to pass, I missed 12. The written was 56 questions and we couldn’t miss more than 6, I missed 9. And the practical application, don’t remember how I failed that, but it wasn’t by much. The main thing that killed me on that was an elbow to the back of the head while 2 guys were grappling for position up against the cage that I failed to make a call on.
But I don’t regret going. It was an incredible experience. I’ll never look at another match in the same way again. It don’t end here though. There’s another referee class probably at the end of July/beginning of August. I’ll most likely be going out there for that and trying again. That Referee Jack guy that came by on Saturday told me that even he failed John’s class the first time he took it, and had to take it a second time to pass. This is a guy that’s involved in the sport, so I didn’t feel that bad. I was worried that I was going to fail by a lot more than I did, so at least I didn’t go down in flames. The passing rate is also pretty low. Our class had 9 guys, only 2 passed. From what I hear, that’s pretty typical.
Overall, it was amazing.
Had quite the hysterical moment after we wrapped up on Saturday. John was talking about how people will wake up after getting choked out/knocked out and not even realize the fight had occurred. Several people in the class, since they train, were relating their experiences with being choked out. This one guy, Jamie, had asked Big John to choke him out, so he could see what it was like. They go out on the mat, John gets back control, sinks in his hooks, sinks in the rear-naked choke and within seconds Jamie was out. A rear naked choke is a blood choke that cuts off blood to the brain via the Carotid artery. So it's not like one can't breathe, one simply goes to sleep. Jamie starts snoring, and John starts rubbing his back to bring him around. Jamie's eyes open and he looks confused and says "hey guys, what's going on?" Every single one of us absolutely SHIT ourselves from laughing so hard. Quite possibly the single most hysterical moment of the year. Then we all started kicking ourselves for not videotaping it, because it really was THAT funny. What made it even funnier was as Jamie was coming around and asked "what's going on", he's wrapping his arm around John's leg, as if he was sitting in a recliner. He later said that he was confused and thought he was in his chair back home when he woke up. HAHA!
Sunday, after our day wrapped up, I met up with my friend Marc and we went to see his friend Tom do stand-up. He was actually really funny. Afterwards, the three of us went out to dinner together. We were discussing different shows we watch and i mentioned that i love 24. Tom says "did you watch last week?" I say "yeah, of course." Then he starts making motions to me like "don't you recognize me?" I say "were you on last week's episode?" He says "yeah man, I was Agent Park!" So if you watched 24 not this past week, but last week, as the episode was starting, after Almeida killed Moss and a team of FBI agents were arriving, he was the one that first gets to Almeida and asks him if he's alright, what happened, etc. He then coordinates with Renee for the rest of the episode. A pretty substantial part, it's not like he walks in and says "here's your coffee" and that's it. Regardless, I didn't recognize him. Sorry Tom, I'm not gonna be wondering who the random Asian dude is that guest starred in an episode of 24. I especially didn't think I'd be having dinner with that dude a week later. But he was good. Hopefully the part will get him recognized in the same way Daniel Dae Kim was. He started out (or at least I first became aware of his existence) as "Agent Castle" on 24. Not a big part. Guest starred one season, then appeared a few more times throughout the next couple of seasons. Then he signed on to play Jin on LOST. So Tom Choi, I wish you the best of luck, hopefully this 24 appearance will do more things for you! I think I soccer kicked his ego a bit by not recognizing him. Marc said that everyone "around here" (i guess meaning in LA that are involved in The Biz) keeps an eye on the guest stars of shows.
Afterwards, went back to Marc's place and crashed on his couch. I set my alarm on my phone and he set his on his phone as well. My phone went off at 5am and his went off seconds later. The combined alarmage sounded like an attack by aliens was imminent and i woke up startled.
here's a few pictures...
in the cage
Big John McCarthy's Ultimate Training Academy
April 2009 Referee Class
the 2 guys that passed are all way to the left and right
Big John McCarthy and Walter Cardenas
re-enactment of the funniest choke-out in history
chillin in Huntington Beach
with Sarah & Dru in Huntington Beach
Val wasn't smiling. I wasn't having that.
Vern Schillinger & $kully
Tom Choi as AGENT PARK!