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I wrestled for Postville High School which is located in the small town of Postville in northeast Iowa. This town had few restaurants and some of these establishments came and went while others changed owners and names. But, one restaurant that was always a constant while I was growing up in the Postville area was a little place called The Grill. The Grill had a counter with stools, tables, and extra seating in the back room.
My family used to go to the Grill every now and then on a Sunday after church. My favorite item on the menu was the pork fritter. I think The Pork Fritter Plate or The Pork Fritter Dinner featured two pork fritters and an order of french fries.
You could buy very good malts and shakes at The Grill. They had good hamburgers too. My friend Wade took me there one morning after I spent the night at his house and we each had a fried egg sandwich.
The Grill became a popular place for wrestlers to have breakfast after making weight on competition days. We weighed in early and still had time to eat breakfast before school started.
My mom took me to The Grill after I made weight the first time. I had two eggs, toast, and sausage. I also had two bakery rolls and two large glasses of orange juice. My mom must have thought I was crazy when I ordered all of that food. But, I ate it all.
Some mornings local business owners would be in there for breakfast too. One banker liked to have a hamburger patty with his eggs sometimes instead of sausage or bacon. One of the doctor's wives often ordered a bowl of cereal. You could get many things for breakfast at The Grill.
The Grill had pancakes, french toast, eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, ham, and even cereal. They always had some donuts and rolls on hand that they must have picked up fresh each morning from the local bakery.
I really liked the french toast and especially pancakes. I guess I'm a carbohydrate kind of guy. I didn't like eggs quite as much. The owner's name was Jack and at some point during my high school years he added a new breakfast item to the menu called Jack's Omelet. Or, it might have been called Jack's Four Egg Ham and Cheese Omelet. I don't need to explain the ingredients it contained. I can't recall if I ever tackled Jack's Omelet or not.
A few times during my senior year I had pancakes and toast with no butter or syrup because I wanted to watch the calories. I just asked for a few small containers of jelly.
Every now and then I took the pleasure of having a chocolate malt along with my breakfast. That might not sound good to you but to a dehydrated and hungry wrestler it was wonderful.
The Grill, unfortunately, no longer exists except in people's memories. It was a wonderful place. It was a nice haven for a hungry wrestler to get a good meal so he'd be strong for his competition. Thank you to The Grill.
Showing posts with label competition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label competition. Show all posts
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wrestling Tales
I heard a few wrestling tales while in high school although I didn't witness most of them. So, here's a few stories I hope entertain you a bit.
Brian Taylor was a senior when I was a freshman. He was a nice guy and very popular. He seemed to prefer a wrestling move called the "butcher" but that's not what this tale is about. I believe my older sister told me this story.
Evidently after practice one evening Brian was still over his weight limit and went home feeling a bit dejected. There was a meet or tournament the next day and Brian needed to make weight early the next morning. But, Brian was feeling down and since he was over his weight limit he said to himself, "to heck with it," and ate an entire pumpkin pie. He went in the next day to weigh in and expected to be way over but when he stepped on the scale, low and behold, he was right on weight. Did this really happen? I don't know. If so, perhaps eating an entire pie really revved up his metabolism. But, I wouldn't try it.
Another story involved the ritual of wrestlers shaking hands before a match. Well, one evening before a meet one of our wrestlers got the idea that it would be funny to have each wrestler hold out his left hand to shake instead of his right to throw the other team off. The wrestlers began doing this and got some funny looks from their opponents. The referee caught on to what was going on and told our guys to cut it out.
In the sport of wrestling there is a move known as a Japanese Whizzer. One evening a wrestler from our team had to wrestle an Asian/oriental opponent. Just before our guy stepped onto the mat to wrestle his match our coach said, "Watch out for the Japanese Whizzer." Our guy was laughing so hard when he stepped onto the mat that he could hardly wrestle.
Brad P. had to weigh in for a competition and weighed in with his pants on. Our coach asked Brad why he didn't step on the scale in his underwear. Brad said, "Well Coach, because I'm not wearing any underwear."
Randy was quite a ladies man. One evening while wrestling in a meet he and his opponent went out of bounds near the cheerleaders. Randy took the time to talk to the fine looking cheerleaders and said something simple like, "Hey ladies, how's it going?" He and his opponent returned to the center of the mat and the referee said, "The next time you stop and talk to the cheerleaders it's going to cost you a point, Romeo."
Another guy named Randy was worried about making weight one day. He had heard that if you stood on your head for a minute or so before stepping onto the scale that you would weigh less. So, he asked some guys to hold his legs while he stood on his head. He was naked at the time and before standing on his head he decided that it might be prudent to put on a pair of shorts so his manhood wasn't hanging out all over the place. I don't recall whether or not this little trick actually worked or not.
Well, that's about it for wrestling tales. I burned a hole in a blanket once by putting it over me and an electric heater in an attempt to sweat off some weight. My girlfriend got angry and jealous during my freshman year when I was approached before a meet by a few girls I knew from the opposing school. Nothing too exciting for me. I never got caught having sex with some hot babe in the wrestling room or with a cheerleader in the back of the bus on the way home from a competition or anything like that. Oh, well.
Brian Taylor was a senior when I was a freshman. He was a nice guy and very popular. He seemed to prefer a wrestling move called the "butcher" but that's not what this tale is about. I believe my older sister told me this story.
Evidently after practice one evening Brian was still over his weight limit and went home feeling a bit dejected. There was a meet or tournament the next day and Brian needed to make weight early the next morning. But, Brian was feeling down and since he was over his weight limit he said to himself, "to heck with it," and ate an entire pumpkin pie. He went in the next day to weigh in and expected to be way over but when he stepped on the scale, low and behold, he was right on weight. Did this really happen? I don't know. If so, perhaps eating an entire pie really revved up his metabolism. But, I wouldn't try it.
Another story involved the ritual of wrestlers shaking hands before a match. Well, one evening before a meet one of our wrestlers got the idea that it would be funny to have each wrestler hold out his left hand to shake instead of his right to throw the other team off. The wrestlers began doing this and got some funny looks from their opponents. The referee caught on to what was going on and told our guys to cut it out.
In the sport of wrestling there is a move known as a Japanese Whizzer. One evening a wrestler from our team had to wrestle an Asian/oriental opponent. Just before our guy stepped onto the mat to wrestle his match our coach said, "Watch out for the Japanese Whizzer." Our guy was laughing so hard when he stepped onto the mat that he could hardly wrestle.
Brad P. had to weigh in for a competition and weighed in with his pants on. Our coach asked Brad why he didn't step on the scale in his underwear. Brad said, "Well Coach, because I'm not wearing any underwear."
Randy was quite a ladies man. One evening while wrestling in a meet he and his opponent went out of bounds near the cheerleaders. Randy took the time to talk to the fine looking cheerleaders and said something simple like, "Hey ladies, how's it going?" He and his opponent returned to the center of the mat and the referee said, "The next time you stop and talk to the cheerleaders it's going to cost you a point, Romeo."
Another guy named Randy was worried about making weight one day. He had heard that if you stood on your head for a minute or so before stepping onto the scale that you would weigh less. So, he asked some guys to hold his legs while he stood on his head. He was naked at the time and before standing on his head he decided that it might be prudent to put on a pair of shorts so his manhood wasn't hanging out all over the place. I don't recall whether or not this little trick actually worked or not.
Well, that's about it for wrestling tales. I burned a hole in a blanket once by putting it over me and an electric heater in an attempt to sweat off some weight. My girlfriend got angry and jealous during my freshman year when I was approached before a meet by a few girls I knew from the opposing school. Nothing too exciting for me. I never got caught having sex with some hot babe in the wrestling room or with a cheerleader in the back of the bus on the way home from a competition or anything like that. Oh, well.
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