Seminal youtube matches to watch....

But before I get into the topic of my title...

I'm reluctant to write the rest of this post for two main reasons... one, because karma/kismet will intervene and cause the exact opposite (of what I'm about to write about) to happen, and two, because I don't want the people involved, however peripherally, to read this and think I'm saying anything at their expense.

With that said...

I'm pretty damn excited and happy about some (small) signs of progress lately!

For one thing, Phil's been emphasizing attack chains.. whether sweep to choke to sweep to armbar, or choke to choke to choke to sweep.. or take the back from half guard to elevator to armbar or choke... so that's been on my mind. I realized that I play a very ineffective guard game, but glimmers of a grander plan dance at the edges of my peripheral vision and if I look at something else, my mind's eye can sometimes see their vague outlines. I was delighted to discover that some of it is sinking in; proving correct my theory that I need to see something at least five separate times before it clicks. (And/or proving someone else right that you have to learn 80% of the move before you can go back and learn the last 20% that you really do need to make the thing work.) Now how effing SAD is this: I got my first collar choke to submission today! I'm a freaking blue belt! WTF! But I wasn't using them properly before; they were solo acts without any backup. This time it was part of a concerted effort combining legs and core and attempted armbars and sweeps. Yay. And not against a whitebelt!

For another thing-- they're right when they ("they") tell you that at some point, skill/experience can overcome size and muscle. The other morning, I did some positional rolling with a new whitebelt -- so new that he didn't know submissions ("I have watched some youtube videos") and didn't have a gi yet. He was easily 200 lbs and still I was able to achieve and maintain positional dominance for about 5 minutes!

Last, an omoplata variation that seems a little easier for me to get, thanks to Donald the other day... and I have been seeing them more and more, thanks to a little drill Doug ran for us on Wednesday morning.. and a review of some sweeps shows me they're occasionally popping out of my body without warning-- like, I'm not even thinking about them, but when the time comes, they just... happen. People sweep themselves and I'm like the banana peel they slip on. It's fabulous!

OK-- title land. How many times do you youtube famous BJJ people but there's 80 million of them and you don't know which ones to watch? Shouldn't we make a list?

I'll start-- Terere v Roger, Mundials '04... and of course Marcelo v Ricco Rodriguez...

Please post a comment with some seminal matches for a solid bjj education!