F-14's & Old School BJJ
(Published June 1, 2022)
“I feel the need… the need for speed “ - Maverick
My family and I went to the movies this weekend and watched Top Gun: Maverick. I wasn’t expecting much. I figured that this was probably going to be another attempt to make money off of the nostalgia of Gen Xers like me. And I would’ve been OK with that.
I was fully prepared to see a really bad movie with a lot of great 80s references, and that would’ve been well worth the money as far as I’m concerned.
But I’ve got to say I was pleasantly surprised! I’m no super cultured film critic. I have almost zero concept of or appreciation for tropes and themes, but I thought it was a great movie. It had a lot of action, with very little CGI as far as I can tell. (Although my eyes aren’t quite what they used to be so who knows?)
All in all I would say if you liked the first one and were on the fence about seeing the second, you won’t be disappointed. It has elements we’ve come to like from the first one, and then some. In some ways I thought it was better than the first.
But what does all this have to do with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
I don’t want to ruin the movie for you so I’ll try not to give too much away here, but I heard a rumor awhile back that one of Tom Cruise’s conditions for doing this movie was that they let him fly an F-14 Tomcat again.
And SPOILER ALERT…
Maverick gets to fly one in the movie.
As you might expect there are several jokes about the F-14 being antiquated/belonging in a museum just like the main character. But when the story line finally brings Maverick to the point where he has to jump in the F-14 again, it’s one of those great moments!
They say you never get over your first love where aircraft are concerned. And as a former Naval Aviator myself, I can really identify with this scene.
No, I wasn’t a jet pilot, and I never flew an F-14. But I did fly helicopters. And I started out in an airframe that was eventually retired, the mighty H-46 Sea Knight. Also referred to as the Phrog, the Mighty Battle Phrog, or my personal favorite, God’s Chariot!
After the Navy got rid of the Phrog, I transitioned to the MH 60 Sierra to finish out my career. And while the newer airframe had some really fancy, high-tech bells and whistles on it, you always remember your first love.
And the thought of jumping in that old H-46 one more time really appeals to me on a personal level.
Without giving away too much, Maverick pits his pilot skills and experience along with his trusty, time-tested F-14 Tomcat against what is most certainly a younger pilot in a newer, more technically sophisticated, modern aircraft.
And SPOILER ALERT #2…
He emerges triumphant! But you probably guessed that already, didn’t you?
I instantly had fantasies of being recalled to fly the H-46 one last time on a mission to somehow prevent world annihilation… Hey, it could happen!
But eventually as so often happens, my thoughts drifted toward Jiu-Jitsu.
And what could all of this possibly have to do with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
Well, it’s a question of old-school BJJ technique and strategy versus the more modern innovations.
I love playing around with all the latest and greatest technical innovations in Jiu-Jitsu. That crazy mess of leg entanglements. Modern guard passing concepts like float passing and body lock passing.
I’ll play around with the new hotness for a while, whatever it is. But then I’ll always come back to what I consider to be old school fundamentals.
After I’ve been playing with these new fangled techniques for a while, and I come back to a more classical technique like the scissor sweep, I feel kind of like Maverick did when he stepped into the F-14 again!
Several years back I was rolling at Dax’s gym, and my buddy says to Dax, “Help! Big Mike’s using 1990s Jiu-Jitsu on me again… and it’s working!“
Yep, I’m Maverick, and my trusty F-14 Tomcat of a scissor sweep still works against the young bucks with all their fancy modern techniques!
It’s not uncommon to learn a basic technique like the scissor sweep early on in your first few weeks of Jiu-Jitsu. But maybe you can’t get it to work on anyone, so you abandon it in search of fancier more modern techniques thinking that’s the answer.
But then years later, that scissor sweep starts to work for you. First it only works on white belts. Then you get it to work on blue belts. Then purple belts… you get the idea.
The next thing you know, it’s become this old, reliable technique. And because you know it inside and out, you can use it to sweep all the young bucks who are trying to use all those fancy guard passing techniques that are the modern guard passing equivalent of fifth generation fighter jets. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t learn those modern techniques and strategies. I mean why not? Who doesn’t like playing with the new hotness?
What I am saying is that there’s a technique that you may learn in your very next Jiu-Jitsu class that you will initially disregard because it doesn’t work for you at the moment. But 10 or 20 years down the line it may become one of your oldest and best friends.
And pulling that technique out, dusting it off, and taking it out for a spin against the young bucks will be every bit as satisfying as watching Maverick strap himself into that F-14 Tomcat one more time!
So keep an open mind, and listen to your instructor. Because that technique you’re about to disregard, may be your own personal Jiu-Jitsu F-14!
Now get back to Jiu-Jitsu class and do some of that pilot sh#+!
- Mike