I was hard pressed to find a topic for this month's column, but BJJ black belt Lloyd Irvin has given me one. In spades.

Irvin has been assaulting my oft-beleaguered inbox with his "Self Help for Grapplers" a.k.a. "The Grappling Blueprint." I asked for it, mind you, but solely because I wanted to see what exactly Irvin was up to. You can't put the word "grappling" in a Google search without Irvin's ridiculous site coming up as one of the sponsored links. The site, for those interested, is www.thegrapplingblueprint.com, predictably enough. It promises to teach you the methodology behind earning your black belt in three and a half years like Irvin supposedly did. One has to admit it sounds intriguing. On top of all the hype Irvin himself has written on the website, he has testimonials from black belts like Leo Dalla (who also happens to be Irvin's teacher) and Sombo champ Eric Grove. The site tells you all about Irvin's travails on the road to black belt and his unspecified paralyzing accident that he was able to recover from and get back on the championship path (very DRAGON-The Bruce Lee Story). By far the most hilarious line on the site is the admission that "Lloyd's misfortune equals good news for you." I'm not sure whether they mean mat misfortune or financial misfortune, but it's clear that there's a sales pitch on the horizon. Lo and behold, when you reach the bottom of the site, there's a free newsletter you can sign up for full of Irvin's words of wisdom and a guarantee to get discounts on future merchandise if you do.

Now let's be honest.

If you, like me, are getting Irvin's lessons and news updates sent to you every other day, you have to admit; there's nothing NEGATIVE about it. It's all very good stuff that any average motivational speaker would tell you. It's about on the level of Royler Gracie's "Gi Whiz" column in GRAPPLING magazine, but who needs it? Really. Who needs it?

Everyone knows that grappling is 70% mental and 30% physical, so it's important to realize that a change in philosophy rather than workout regimen is key to taking the steps toward rapid advancement and ultimate victory. But Lloyd, there's already THOUSANDS of books and other materials out there by everyone from Tony Robbins to Miyamoto Musashi. There are just some commercial bandwagons jiu jitsu doesn't need to jump on. I understand and empathize with Irvin trying to drum up support for this eventual book or whatever that he plans to drop, but weekly "You can escape any position if you think to yourself, 'I am the best in the world at this position'" emails (this is actually one of Irvin's lessons) are just a waste of everyone's time.

Unrelatedly, no one can dispute Irvin's own skill. He has won several tournaments and did get his black belt pretty fast and also trains a top-notch team of grapplers, but that's no excuse for him trying to become a self-help guru. Irvin says on his site that when he announced he was coming out with "The Blueprint" (shamelessly named after Jay-Z's greatest album…or KRS-One's), calls started flooding his office. From WHO Lloyd? Who was so eager to get these painfully obvious secrets? Your students? But I thought they already paid for that privilege!

I apologize if I'm offending anyone, but I was and continue to be personally offended with every email Irvin sends me. Now that I have written this column, I can happily unsubscribe. Though I think I'm about to get the climactic eighth and final lesson in my "Blueprint" series and I'd hate to miss the grand finale.

So I leave all you curious kids with a word of advice: Don't subscribe to Lloyd Irvin's newsletter unless you have time to waste, a relatively empty inbox that needs some messages, or no higher than a first grade education, which in itself is generous because I learned most of the self-motivating "think positive" credos Irvin's trying to pass off as proverbs in kindergarten. If you really want to become a better grappler, follow the advice I always give and KEEP ON ROLLIN'…

Diami J. Virgilio
August, 2003
kneeblock@yahoo.com

Date:	Saturday, October 4, 2003
Venue:	Green Run High School 1700 Dahlia Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23456
Entry:	$40.00 competitors $5.00 spectators (kids 12 & under free)
Weighins:	Friday, Oct. 3@ time and place TBA Saturday, Oct. 4@Green Run High School from 7:00-9:00

Rules meeting @ 9:30. Competition begins @10:15 on three mats. Divisions: White, blue, purple, brown, women. Weight classes: CBJJ weight classes for white through purple (135, 148, 160, 174, 187, 201, 214, over 214); brown belt and women's weight will determined based on entries. Rules: CBJJ Rules.

Awards to the top three finishers in each division. Gi's to the absolute winner in each belt level and women's absolute(provided by JiuJitsuProGear).

Concessions will be provided by the Green Run Wrestling Club.

Directions: Take I-64 to Norfolk/Va. Beach. Take I-264 East to the Independence Blvd-Princess Anne exit. Stay in the left lane of the exit, putting you on Independence Blvd. When Independence forks, stay right. Green Run will be on the left a mile ahead. Instead of parking in the student lot, go to the light at Independence and Dahlia and go left, parking in the faculty lot. If you get lost or might be running a little late, call Bill ASAP @757-685-6010

THE ULTIMATE SUBMISSION SHOWDOWN™

When the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was developed, the idea was to create a venue where the effectiveness of different martial arts styles could be measured. It became clear that the advantage of the grappler was tremendous. Eventually, everyone started focusing on the importance of ground fighting and so the original concept of comparing styles became obsolete. Now, in the current NHB arena, everyone trains in some form of grappling as well as striking-it's become a comparison of athletes more than a comparison of styles. Event coordinators, now, in their determination to keep their audiences entertained, try to keep the rounds shorter and the fighters off the ground. As a result, more often than not, you have events consisting of overgrown athletes relying on punches and kicks to pummel their way through victory. Fans today will rarely see a match end with a classic submission move. History has shown us, however, that in a true no-holds-barred scenario, the knowledge of submissions is what determines who the best fighter truly is.

This event is not for everyone. Only eight of the top grapplers in the world will be invited to participate in this best-of-the-best confrontation. There is NO TIME LIMIT. Competitors can choose to wear whatever outfit they want. Wrestling singlets, a Jiu Jitsu/Judo Gi, or fight shorts. ALL grappling styles are welcome, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, judo, sambo, shoot-fighting, submission-fighting, etc. In addition, ALL finishing moves will be permitted whether it's chokes, neck-cranks, arm-locks, knee-locks, ankle-locks, foot-locks, takedowns, etc...

IT'S TIME TO PUT UP OR SHUT UP!