Can one man further the knowledge of mixed martial arts in Maryland?

Dull thuds are heard. The scent of sweat with a dash of blood filled the air. It was hot and humid in Baltimore Brazilian Jujutsu gym, located at the 6200 block of Kenwood Avenue in Baltimore, MD. Chris Jacob, 32, of Bel Air, Maryland one of Maryland’s top master competitors agreed to meet with me to show me a few things and answer a few questions about the evolution of Mixed Martial Arts, grappling, and Brazilian Jujutsu in Maryland.

Jujutsu or Brazilian B.J.J translates to the gentle art, but if you have ever watched events like UFC, it is anything but. Jacob has been training martial arts for over 10 years. "It started as a better way to work out, and over the years, through college, I began to compete," said Jacob. Boxing, wrestling, Thai boxing, and Brazilian Jujutsu are all in his repertoire. B.J.J has become his favorite type of martial art. "I’m just too old to get punched and my wife says no!” said Jacob.

"B.J.J is one of the few martial arts that allow you to train or roll it 100 percent all the time,” said Jacob. It allows you to get close to competitive speeds, sense you tap, or submit and there is a lower risk of injury. This all depends on your gym and the people you train with.

Some problems of maintaining a national ranking and competing is the distance you have to travel to do so. "I travel from Florida to Rhode Island and as far as Las Vegas, Nevada,”. It’s hard for Jacob because he must take off Saturday’s and travel and weight in on Fridays," said Jacob.

Jacob's goal has been to try and create a grappling event in the Maryland area that rivals major events like North American Grapplers Association or Grappler’s Quest. "It’s been hard to get insurance and get venues because some places still thinks it’s illegal to do and/or don’t understand the concepts, there have been events in Maryland just not any really great ones that have a large pro-divisions,” said Jacob.

There has been a major push in the Maryland area to get Mixed Martial Arts sanctioned. "This would be big news because you would be able to offer cash prizes and create a bigger more competitive draw for your Brazilian Jujutsu tournaments. This would allow you to have a B.J.J event with pro divisions,” said Jacob.

Jacob is looking forward to the 2009 season but with him being married, having to travel and take off of work is getting harder and harder. "I love the sport, but really have to prioritize in 2009,” said Jacob.

After a one hour introduction to the sport of Brazilian Jujutsu, I found myself on the mat working up a sweat. The gym was full and I felt like a guppy in a school of sharks. That’s when I got my first live roll or spar, it went bad. I was flipped over rolled on my back and arm bared, but I am still here not hurt and this is great and I would do it again!

Slug: Wall

Wall


A 36-year old Baltimore woman was severely burned Friday when she was spraying insecticide from an aerosol can which caused combustion with a nearby stove in her apartment, fire investigators said.

Arnetta Sands, of the 200 block of north Aisquith Street apartments, at about 12:13 a.m. was spraying an insecticide near her stove when it combusted and caused fire damage to her kitchen and furnishings; Sands suffered first degree burns to her back and neck. As a result of the explosion, the wall between the two apartments collapsed and landed on a new born sleeping in its crib, fire investigators said.

Firefighters removed a portion of the wall off of the crib to rescue the uninjured infant, Andre Henderson, 10 days old. As for the mother of the infant, Renee Henderson, 23 years old, was also uninjured but brought to the hospital with her new born for possible smoke inhalation where both were treated and released from Hopkins hospital, fire investigators said.

Sands was also treated for her burns and later released from a Church Home and Hospital. No one else in the apartment complex was injured and fire investigators say the explosion was accidental.

Slug: Holdup

Holdup

Three male suspects entered the Provident Savings Bank on 3111 Greenmount Avenue Thursday, Sept. 15. at 12:22 p.m. when they ransacked several tellers’ cages after pointing a gun at a male bank manager and ordering everyone to lie on the floor.

The three males were last seen ruining out of the bank east along the alley on the north side of the bank where they dropped what is believed to be a .22-caliber rifle. One of the suspects was believed to be last wearing a red hat and a red football jersey, another suspect was wearing a white fishnet shirt and the third suspect was wearing red tennis shoes.

The thieves fled the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash stuffed into two white pillow cases. At the time of the robbery, there were four employees and two customers and no injuries have been reported.

There have not been any arrests made yet in the connection to this robbery.

Writting Assignment #2 Post 3

Shoes are more than a fashion statement for women, it becomes an expensive and obsessive pass time.

"I began collecting shoes the moment I walked into mu aunt's basement's walk-in closet and began playing dress up in them." said Tiziana Viscomi, 25, Baltimore. "I saved up all of my money thereafter so I could go to the store with my mom and buy my very own self purchased pair of shoes."

Collecting shoes not only gives Viscomi confidence, but a pass time that never gets old or grow out of it. Since collecting shoes has been a hobby of Viscomis' since she was a child, it is practically imbeded in her.

"I like collecting shoes because you need a pair for all of your different outfits." said Viscomi. "You can never have too many pairs of shoes and they make the outfit."

Viscomi is not alone on shoe collecting, flip through any womens magazine and half of the advertisments are for womens' shoes.

Repeal Death Penalty (Post 2)

Gov. Martin O'Malley is pushing to end the death penalty in Maryland. Ending the death penalty is not looking in O'Malley's favor because out of 47-member Maryland Senate, a narrow majority opposed the death penalty.

The death penalty should only be kept and used in the event a criminal is found 100% guilty and there is no possible way there are any uncertaintes in the case. Maryland is not the only state to use the death penatly, nor is it the only state trying to do away with it.

O'Malley will testify on February 18, 2009 before 11 members of the Senate Judicial Committee. This will be the third attempt in two years to ban the death penalty in Maryland.

Can you really argue with O'Malley? Detectives and forensic scientists always make mistakes and overlook small clue which can set free a convict who is sentenced for death row. Who is to tell if Maryland or other states have wrongly prosecuted a criminal and incidentally sent them through death row.

If the Committe does decide to do away with the death penalty, is it fair for the five men who already died per death row. If so, why could they not have just been given life sentences in prison?

Repeal Death Penalty (Post 1)

Gov. Martin O'Malley is pushing to end the death penalty in Maryland. Ending the death penalty is not looking in his favor becuase out of 47-member Maryland Senate, a narrow majority opposed the death penalty.

O'Malley will testify on February 18, 2009 before 11 members of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee. This will be the same Judicial Proceedings Committee which didi not advance the bill to the Senate floor for the last 2 years.

Although the bill has been rejected for the last two years, two committee members said they are still weighing the issue. Other committe members said that in the most violent crimes, it is still a good option.

As far as citizens of Maryland, more than half of Marylanders support the death penalty.