Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) writes about the Olympic wrestling trials. Amateur wrestling, not WWF or any of its ilk. The article for the most part gets it right. I was a wrestler. I have cauliflower ear. I cut too much wieght. I’ve walked off the mat and puked in a trash can. I broke my thumb once. I had ringworm. I did it all. And I wasn’t even that good. So why did I do it? For the life of me, I really can’t nail down a solid answer to that question, yet I know that if I could do it again, I would. Palahniuk focuses mostly on the physical pains of wrestling, but there’s more to the sport than pain. Pain is a part of it, and its not a bad thing either (and Palahniuk does a good job describing this), but theres a lot of technique, elegance, and beauty in the sport as well. Sometimes it just takes a wrestler to recognize it when its happening. Which, I suppose, is why the sport has such a wierd reputation…
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I was wondering if Gear magazine actually ever published the article Hope and Gory. I actually got to talk to Chuck at that tournament, and I was mentioned in the article a couple of times. I contacted Gear twice, but the sent me the wrong month both times. Do you know when this article was actually published??