Though he is a professional football player today, the favorite sport of Blackford Oakes growing up was wrestling. This preference was only 40% because the skin-tight singlets accentuated his dad bod, the rest was because of the one-on-one, individual nature of the sport.
Growing up playing hockey, football, and soccer - all team sports - Oakes knew how it felt to lose because of a teammate's (or teammates') mistakes and how it felt to be one whose mistakes cost the entire team. This is fine, in fact it's extremely motivating, but when you step onto that mat it's you against another person and the result is entirely on your shoulders - there are no coaches to blame or praise, no teammates to help or hinder; if you win, it's entirely your win and if you lose it's entirely your loss. Oakes was immediately hooked. There's also something primal and satisfying about using nothing but your strength and athleticism to outwork another man until he's unequivocally beaten. There are no gimmick wins and few lucky wins. Finally, wrestling awakened Oakes to his underlying homo-eroticism which led to a few very fun times for young Blackford, for which he is eternally grateful.
Though his wrestling days are in the past now, Oakes still smiles a bit when he sees his state championship trophy and wonders what may have been if wrestling was the predominant American sport instead of football.
Growing up playing hockey, football, and soccer - all team sports - Oakes knew how it felt to lose because of a teammate's (or teammates') mistakes and how it felt to be one whose mistakes cost the entire team. This is fine, in fact it's extremely motivating, but when you step onto that mat it's you against another person and the result is entirely on your shoulders - there are no coaches to blame or praise, no teammates to help or hinder; if you win, it's entirely your win and if you lose it's entirely your loss. Oakes was immediately hooked. There's also something primal and satisfying about using nothing but your strength and athleticism to outwork another man until he's unequivocally beaten. There are no gimmick wins and few lucky wins. Finally, wrestling awakened Oakes to his underlying homo-eroticism which led to a few very fun times for young Blackford, for which he is eternally grateful.
Though his wrestling days are in the past now, Oakes still smiles a bit when he sees his state championship trophy and wonders what may have been if wrestling was the predominant American sport instead of football.
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234 words![[Image: h5Ta7H1.png]](https://i.imgur.com/h5Ta7H1.png)
