Jamie Wakefield

I am at the post office in Madrid. I need to mail back my contracts to my new employer in Vermont. Everything is ready, I just need a stamp. The little dog is panting at my feet trying to sniff the woman next to me who has no wish to be sniffed. Since the ticket machine is broken I ask (as is Spanish custom) "Who is last?" A priest tells me he is. The next person comes in, asks who is last and I assent that I am. He is a beefy guy, a little taller than me, slight gut, black hair turning to grey, muscled but not enormous. Ten minutes go by and the same woman is still at one of the two open windows. I look to the guy who came in behind me and roll my eyes. "For the love of God," he says. "I know. Incredible." That was a mistake. The little dog is lying on the marble floor, clearly thinking we are at the vet and a rectal exam is coming his way soon so he is panting in distress. Five minutes later my beefy friend is throwing a fit, cursing and swearing, blamin...

Shogun vs. Bones Jones – In every competition there are those guys who are just a level above everyone else. In poker it’s a sign of distinction to win a World Series of Poker bracelet. You are a master of the game now. You are head and shoulders above the top 1% of the game. But you know what? There are players with a dozen of those bracelets that are head and shoulders above you. Magic is the same way. There are guys who make the Pro Tour and some guys that have broken the top eight more than once. That is amazing! To make the top eight at a pro tour more than once is a huge feat. You are The Man (or Woman.) And there are guys like Finkel and Budde that have WON more pro tours than the amount of people in Vermont than have ever even competed in a Pro Tour. They are head and shoulders above the rest. This is starting to sound like a dandruff commercial. Let’s change this from “head and shoulders” to “superstars.” Other examples of people being the master of their particular arena, bei...

I like you. I do. You're a good guy with well rounded skills that has actually beaten some of the best in the world. If the past has taught us anything, you should never bet against Forrest Griffin. But, I'm sorry, Rich Franklin is going to knock you out tonight. Rich might struggle against wrestlers or guys who have massively superior striking but you have neither of those. You have good striking but how many people have you knocked out? One? Two? I'm too lazy to look it up. Rich Franklin punches you like the target is behind your head. His punches continue to drive forward after he has connected with your face. His punches are like a piston that doesn't care that it has already connected, they are seeking a spot six inches past your face. Your face is just in the way. Franklin by KO in the second. At the latest. And honestly, that makes me sad because I really like Forrest and he needs a win. But Franklin is just too much for him and styles make fights. Griffin's ...

I have a four page post about the wedding Wendy wants to add to. I feel that should be my next post. But I have not finished my part. And so I wait. And so I sit. I would like to blog like The Ferret. Who writes something every day. I love his blog. It reminds me of who I want to be, but can't. So, I have not updated for a while and it is my fault. I should use this like twitter and not worry so much about what comes next. What has happened? Moving stuff back to the basement getting ready to go back to Madrid. Getting our dog Thor checked out so he can come to Madrid with us. Moving the driveway from one side of the property to another. Tons of landscaping. Mowing my lawn. Friends over. Poker night. Not enough running or working out. Three week annivesary reunion tour. BBQ. Croquet. Friends hooking up. Girl talk (of which I am an expert.) UFC. BJ Penn lost. Again. And I was surrounded by friends when it happened. The greatest natural born, arrogant, pissy, athlete the world has ev...

I scream from my keyboard - "YES!" Wendy who is in the kitchen and probably thinks I have just received a book contract wonders "What? What?" "BJ Penn lost!!!" Other than that, it was a very disappointing UFC. Could Damian Maia have been any more of a warrior? Has there ever been a more disrespectful, embarassing champion in the UFC than Anderson Silva? Could Matt Hughes have had an easier fight? Could Renzo Gracie have looked more out of shape? Could the fight between BJ and Edgar been more of a boring kick-boxing match? The answer to all of these questions is no. Maia earned my respect. It must suck to be a Gracie these days. They originated MMA and they haven't had a win for years now. Matt Hughes looked okay but it's clear he will never dominate like he used to. It's clear his reign was based on being a huge, good wrestler. The division is stacked with them now. Anderson Silva makes me sick. That performance was just so embarassing to him, ...

From MMAJunkie.com "Fitch (22-3 MMA, 12-1 UFC), a former Purdue University wrestling team captain, posted a familiar performance: He used takedowns, a stifling top game, and good ol' ground and pound to post a unanimous-decision win. Fitch's past six wins have all come via decision in a similar manner. The string of wins was interrupted by – and Fitch's only defeat in the Octagon was the result of – a lopsided unanimous-decision loss to champ St-Pierre at UFC 87 in 2008. Since then Fitch has won four straight and is anxious for another shot at the belt. And after watching St-Pierre's similarly lopsided (and thus far, largely criticized) title defense over Dan Hardy, Fitch is even more eager to exploit what he sees as holes in the champ's game. "It was a good fight for him, but I still see flaws in his game, and that's why I want to fight him," Fitch said of St-Pierre. "There's nothing that means more to me right now than fighting for the ...

If I was a betting man, I would have lost a lot of money last night. I have actually bet on a UFC event once in my life and made $500 on it. When Jens Pulver lost to Joe Lauzon. I only bet against Jens because he was such a heavy favorite. I bet on all the underdogs on that event. Every other underdog lost. (Now that I know Jens, I would never, EVER bet against the man just because he is such a good soul.) Last night, I would have lost a lot of money. I was sure Swick, Marquart, Couture and Trigg would win. I was so sure I almost bet a lot of money on all of them. I was wrong about everyone but Couture. My good friend, Dave Meddish, says I should update more frequently with smaller posts. I agree with him. So, there you go.

Experts are predicting Trigg loses to Serra. Um. No F'ing way. The fight is tonight and I predict Trigg destroys Serra. We'll see in 6 hours.

Things continue to revert back to normal. Lots and lots of writing being done on my travels in Spain and by the end of the week I hope to be approaching agents again. I approached over seventy-five for Marilyn’s Story but I think this one is much more marketable. People actually seem to like to read about travels abroad and not so much about cancer. Marilyn’s story will be self published and self marketed by me as soon as one final person has time to finish making corrections to it and then I rework those corrections. So, a couple of interesting things. Five years ago I was working at my local high school and had become friends with a lot of the teachers. One of them comes in to have lunch with Len and I. He works with “troubled” kids and tells this lovely story. “So I saw “kid I used to work with a few years ago” this weekend.” “Yeah, how’s he doing?” “Just got back from Iraq. Said he served three tours there and was signing up for a fourth.” ‘What? Why would he do that?” “I asked him...

I hope Florian kicks Penn's ass and I don't think I'm going to have a "hindsight is 20/20" moment when I realize, "Of course Penn won." Sorry, but I am bucking the odds and saying Florian takes this. Penn has boxing and jits. Florian has it all. Muai Tai > Boxing because punch + kicks > just punches. And I'm pretty sure Florian has a bigger gas tank and a longer reach. Yes, I know it's a lame, quick post, more later.

My website hit counter says that Monday's are my busiest days so I try to have something up for people to read. Todays will be short as I am typing this handicapped. Working on a chair I sliced one of my fingers very badly. Typing is one and a half handed right now. Blood went everywhere, even the ceiling. I am such a dork. I have approached over seventy-five agents concerning Marilyn's cancer memoir and only one requested to see more and she wasn't moved by the writing enough to want to see the whole manuscript. (Insert frowny face.) I received twenty-three rejections and over fifty silences (which means rejection, sorry, can't be bothered to write you since our agency gets a hundred queries a day.) Because of my past, I believe I have what it takes to be a writer. I believe I will get a following someday for my books; I just need a few breaks. I believe the rejections are coming in because of many reasons. 1. The economy. 2. Memoir? Too common. 3. Cancer memoir? Um, w...

I only have randomness for you this week. Chuck Liddell lost this weekend at UFC 97 and I think his time is done. He never learned to ground and pound. He never learned Jiu Jitsu, he stopped using leg kicks. He relied on his speed and the barrels of TNT at the end of his arms to knock people out with brutal efficiency for years, becoming an MMA Legend. So why is he done now? Performity of MMAJunkie explains it best and opened my eyes to why Chuck has lost four of his last five fights. http://mmajunkie.com/news/14604/performifys-picks-for-ufc-97-silva-vs-leites.mma “Counter-punchers traditionally have a very steep fall off at the end of their careers. They build their primary fighting style on the fact that their speed and power enable them to punish opponents at every opening. When their hand speed reduces to the point that they can no longer effectively counter, they cannot usually shift their lifelong striking philosophy to become a lead puncher. When their power reduces to the poin...

UFC : Just watched Brock Lesnar vs Heath Herring again. Brock Lesnar is ENORMOUS. Heath Herring is 230 lbs and looked like a child next to him. Imagine Rich Franklin fighting Diego Sanchez. Sanchez is probably the better fighter by a small margin, but there’s just no way in hell he is going to beat a guy who outweighs him by that much. The days of heavyweights weighing 230 lbs (Cro Cop, Randy Couture) and being competitive are over. There is no way in hell a guy 230 lbs and a little flabby can beat a guy who weighs 285 lbs and is solid muscle. Sure, he can if their skill set is vastly different, (Fedor) but if they are even close in skill level, the bigger guy wins every time. Cain Valasquez is 245 lbs and an up and coming prospect. Undefeated in six fights. TKO in the first round in five of them. He has some flab around the middle. I suggest he cut down to 205. The future belongs to Lesnar, Carwin and guys like them. The guys who have wrestling pedigrees, hands the size of small plan...

Well, I’m finally caught up and mentally back. Let’s get some posts up. As pain in the ass as flying is, Wendy and I have been lucky. The day before we flew out of Vermont, some very important computer went down shutting down flights across the country. The next day, everything was fine. We were delayed an hour in Burlington and were worried about making our connection in Newark, but, as luck would have it, that flight was delayed as well so we had no problems. The plane we were going to take had some sort of malfunction so they had to switch planes. The plane they switched us to didn’t exactly fill me with confidence. When you’re flying over the ocean you want the biggest, most modern God damn plane you can find. You want the TV screen in front of you embedded in the seat. You want multiple channels and music. You want the GPS that shows you how far you have flown, your estimated arrival time and what the temperature is like at your destination. You want a couple doctors on board and ...

The creative process. Which isn't very creative because I've had a hard couple of weeks and have been mentally exhausted by Spanish. These are the notes I took Saturday - I don’t want to get out of this hammock. If you want me, satisfy me. Two favorite fighters. Lay and Pray 08 can barely focus on today I’m so excited for tomorrow. New interns, holy cow is Wendy smart, Dominican Republic, likes UFC. Once Spanish no fi no fa Eat Pray love Spanish Healthcare The sun in Madrid is like a hammer – easy bake over, in Vermont the air is warm and the sun is warm, in Madrid, the air is cool and the sun is a fuc king hammer. And now, on to what they mean… Saturday was beautiful in Madrid. Wendy and I got out the hammock and proceeded to lay in it and read and listen to the soundtrack to “Once.” I had stuff I should have been doing, but I was so mentally exhausted, I could not force myself to get out of the hammock for hours. After the first hour I stripped down to my underwear, put on su...

Fans of MMA now have the same game as other Fantasy Sports Leagues. The UFC Fantasy League allows you to use a web based interface to pick who will win in upcoming events, how they win and in what round. http://fantasy.ufc.com/ This past weekend I received 121 points for my picks. This gives me a ranking of 109 out of 14,612 participants. Pretty happy with that.

Michael Bisping vs Rashad Evans Both fighters have fifteen wins and no losses coming into this fight. The odds makers are giving Rashad the nod by a wide margin. I don't blame them. While not being a particularly entertaining fighter, Rashad always finds a way to win. My former coach, Tom Murphy, from Rail City MMA who fought Rashad on the Ultimate Fighter says that Rashad is a great tactician . He always comes into the ring with a plan unique for each opponent. Bispings strength is his striking and his avoidance. He's tough to submit or ground and pound. A negative for Bisping is his size. He is a small light heavyweight. He could easily diet down to 185. Rashad on the other had used to be a heavyweight and dropped a weight class. Rashad's wrestling is far superior to Bispings . He also has a rock hard chin. I've seen him take blows to the head that would kill a lesser man and he didn't even stagger. I've never seen Rashad rocked. On the other hand...

I forgot to put up my predictions for this last week's UFC . Well, not so much forgot as had my head buried in Spanish lessons. So, in a rather unorthodox entry, I’ll be telling you what I thought, and what really happened and why. There were only three fights that I was interested in on this card. Jon Fitch vs. Diego Sanchez Prediction – Sanchez is one of the most exciting, determined and aggressive fighters in the UFC today. Coming off the first loss (17-1) of his MMA career he’ll be looking to solidify his position as a man destined to hold the title. His first loss came while he was sick with a staph infection and shortly after the fight they removed a mass the size of a coffee cup from his thigh. In the Jon Fitch fights I’ ve seen (all one of them) he hasn ’t impressed me. I didn ’t see anything in his fight with Jeff Joslin that would indicate that he could hang with someone of Diego’s caliber. I’m predicting Sanchez runs through Fitch like an 18 wheeler through an outhou...

Magic - There is a tournament at Heroes Kingdom I will probably go to on August 4th. Hopefully Hilary or Jeremy can build me a deck and lend me some cards. All my cards are digital these days. World of Warcraft - Having finally tamed Rak'shiri I headed back over to the Burning Crusade to explore. The first two quests vastly upgraded my bow and my melee weapon. But I kept seeing mining deposits that I couldn't touch because my mining was only 240. The only way to fix that was to head back to the old world and spend a week or five raising it up to 300. Could I really do that and just ignore all the new things to explore? Hey look, I only have 47 gold in my pocket. So, I guess, yes, if I ever wanted to buy anything again, like, say, my epic mount, then yes, I would be heading back to the old world to level my mining. That was three weeks ago. This morning it hit 296. Mixed Martial Arts - My weight continues to hold steady at 170. Wendy and I run often and continue to increase ou...

Well, I was wrong on some of my predictions for UFC 73. I didn't have the patience to wait and steal it from U-Torrent so I actually paid for it the next day and Wendy and I layed on the couch and watched it. Dear UFC, You have WAY too many fillers, fluff and dead air time in your programs. Seriously, I don't know if I will ever buy another one. If I do, I'll tivo it and fast forward through all the shit you put me through while waiting to get to the actual fights. Love J The fights pretty much sucked. I bought the card because I was looking forward to a lot of the match ups. Too many of them weren't even shown. Two of the ones were corrupted in streaming download from the UFC Direct to disk site. Apparently Kenflo had a nice victory we didn't even get to see. Never saw the Lytle flight. Nor the Gurgel fight. Nor the Bonner fight. Not that I carred about that last one anyway... The fights I did get to see were boring or confusing. Sherk is an amazing athlete. Amazin...