Don’t turn your back on your opponent

This is an excerpt from this month's article in the Member's section of my website.

We were told not to take our eyes off our opponent. It was something we were taught very early, I remember. Don’t know if I got it as a kid from my dad or at the judo school when we did some basic street self-defense. Fast forward to me at age 19 or 20 and working out at the community college with the judo club. One of the other brown belts there was Ed Swanson but everyone called him Buzz. He was a big guy, over 200 pounds. Great guy, too. We became good friends. One day Buzz wound up in the hospital in critical condition. When he got out he had a raspy voice and a droopy eye. He told me his story and I’m going to tell it to you.

Buzz was out after midnight one night in the Blue Island area south of Chicago. He stopped in an all-night doughnut shop for a cup of coffee and a doughnut. Once inside, there was only the waitress, Buzz and one guy sitting at the counter. Buzz got his order and walked out to his car. The man followed him out. Apparently he had spooked the waitress by telling her earlier that he was going to kill the next person who walked in the place. When he got up to follow Buzz she called the police. Good thing, too.

He challenged my friend with something like “What are you looking at?” or some “fightin’ words” we would use on the South Side. Buzz is not an aggressive person and, like most of us, was surprised by the developing confrontation. He did what most would do and replied that he wasn’t looking at anything. This is what most aggressors are looking for, something to hook onto to continue the exchange. By now Buzz is next to his car with his back to the vehicle, coffee and donut occupying his hands and looking down at the shorter opponent. So the guy says “You calling me a liar?” and he slaps Buzz in the face. This is all pretty classic, predictable escalation. Now here is where Buzz told me he screwed up. He said, “I made the mistake they told us not to make. I took my eyes off my opponent.” He turned to put his coffee and doughnut on the roof of his car. When he turned back he had a hunting knife sticking out of the left side of his neck.

That phone call and the fact that he was only two blocks from St. Francis Hospital were big factors in his surviving. The knife opened some arteries and veins, nicked a nerve and must have gotten deep enough to affect his vocal cords. That’s where the droopy eye and raspy voice came from and it took about a year to regain normal looks and speech.

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