[Ansteorra] Story from Crown Tourney

[Jay Rudin]

Rose, based on all rational argument, you're right.  Your logic is valid.

And frankly, you're understating it.  As foolish as it is to fight outdoors, it's almost as foolish to fight indoors.  Grass is softer than floors, most of which are covered concrete.

Speaking as somebody who has fought in Ansteorra since the seventies, I don't want to move inside.  My knees are 54 years old, and getting sore.  If we start fighting indoors a lot, my fighting days may be over.  I can always pull out when overheated.  Spectators can always just walk away when they get overheated.  But a sprained ankle or permanently disabled knee comes without warning.

The logical thing to do isn't to fight indoors, it's to stop fighting.  We can play miniatures wargames, inside in the air-conditioning, and in short sleeved shirts.  That's the logical thing to do.
 
But this isn't about logic.  It's about reaching for something greater than the safest, most logical thing.  It's about leaving behind our safe modern trappings.

In 1962, President Kennedy said, "Some might say, why go to the moon?  They might well ask, why climb the highest mountain?  Why, thirty-five years ago, fly the Atlantic?  Why does Rice play Texas?  We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."

Pick your favorite heroic movie.  Examine it carefully, and you'll see that the hero -- the one you're cheering for -- is doing something stupid.

Robin Hood shouldn't enter the archery contest.  D'Artagnan shouldn't have three duels with musketeers on his first day in Paris.  Ransom Stoddard shouldn't go face Liberty Valance alone.  Cyrano shouldn't run behind enemy lines each night to send a love letter.  Rooster Cogburn shouldn't ride into an angry mob alone.  Kirk shouldn't have stolen the Enterprise to get McCoy to Spock's body.  

These things are stupid -- outrageously, gloriously stupid.

Sir Tomas (no "h", by the way) was the one who was hurting the most from the heat.  Moving it inside would have been to his tactical benefit -- in the finals of Crown.  But he said "No, this is Ansteorra and we fight outside!"  Winning the finals of Crown wasn't as important to him as doing it right, and accepting the challenge.

Stupid.  Outrageously, gloriously stupid.

That is Ansteorra at its best.  That is the heart of a lion.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin

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