When I was a missionary in New England, I used to encounter the craziest misconceptions about Latter-day Saints. Many of these seemed to centre on the notion that we were too busy being pious to have any fun. 'Aren't you the people who don't dance?' we would be asked quite regularly. To which I liked to point out that the pioneers who walked to the Salt Lake Valley danced six nights a week (Brigham Young having told them, 'I want you to sing and dance and forget your troubles...') and that the first public building erected in Salt Lake City was not a church but a social hall.
No one ever questioned our willingness to wrestle, thankfully, but, if they had, I could also have pointed out that we Latter-day Saints have been wrestling at least as long as we've been dancing, the Prophet Joseph Smith having been famous (possibly infamous to some) for his eagerness to engage in a good wrestle with just about anyone.
On this point, I love an anecdote from Jedediah M Grant: 'I am aware that a great many have so much piety in them, that they are like the Baptist priest who came to see Joseph Smith.... and folding his arms said, "Is it possible that I now flash my optics upon a man who has conversed with my Savior?" "Yes," says the Prophet, "I don't know but you do; would not you like to wrestle with me?"'
Wrestling of one kind or another is a pretty frequent pastime in our house, despite the fact that our carpet isn't much different to fine-grade sandpaper, but it's always fun to find a new variation—something that happened last month. A bunch of us were at a birthday party for one of our friends when a bloke who is currently investigating the Church (and who shares the Prophet's zest for life) introduced us to sock wrestling.
Instead of throwing one's opponent (as in stick wrestling and leg wrestling) or pinning his shoulders (as in Greco-Roman wrestling), the goal of sock wrestling is simply to take the other guy's sock off. To this end, a single pair of socks is shared between the competitors, each one wearing one on his preferred foot. This changes the entire nature of the tussle because, in using one's legs, one now has to be careful not to get de-socked.
The pandemonium which ensues is such good fun that this has become our household's current favourite mode of wrestling. As we have found out, a single match can easily last 20 minutes, but it's worth all the exertion and sweat when one manages finally to get the dastardly sock off—a feat more easily accomplished, as the photo above will attest, if one can get his opponent's head in a scissor lock first.
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