Fear and Loathing in the 518, #8

SPbTV Member Scott Hayes emerges from smoke at the Fall Combat Classic 2011, West Point
Click to Enlarge, pic by Jaime Tucci

‎"It was the stale smell of fishoil and gun grease, the smell of sweat and the Earth through the mask. Sometimes blood. It was the rush of running through the forest, swamps, fields... through sunlight, rain or snow... adrenaline quivering in the limbs, exhaustion draining the body, resolve hardening the mind. It was turning down the volume on school, work, womenz, life, if even for a few short blessed hours, everything wiped clean and rejuvenated as the body and mind were broken down and rebuilt again, stronger. There was no sport like it on the planet, and I had played it a hundred times, but every time I crawled out of bed, or a tent or from sleeping under my car, I knew it had its hooks in me and would never let go.... and for that I was eternally grateful." -Fear & Loathing in the 518, circa 2010