The sound an arm makes when it's being broken is terrifying. Imagine a dozen stalks of raw celery snapping in unison, and that's an approximation.
It was a sound I had never heard before today, but at the 28th Empire State Golden Arm Tournament of Champions, in the Port Authority bus terminal, I heard it twice.
I went there on a lark - If you know me even a little, you know that non-traditional competitions fascinate me. Aw, hell, I'm gonna call them "fringe sports", because let's face it, they might be popular, but they are still on the fringes of, say, baseball or football's popularity. The fact that one of the major sponsors of the New York arm wrestling circuit is White Castle was also a factor. As a lifelong Castle devotee, I couldn't resist.
Since most of the competitions I photograph on a regular basis aren't contact sports, I didn't know what to expect of this one. Not knowing how the participants moved, I decided to shoot this one from the rail and get a feel for the event. The only arm wrestling I have seen (besides heart-tugging father/son flick OVER THE TOP) has been by drunken friends in bars. That's all done sitting down. Today's competition was done standing.
An actual match can be over in a matter of seconds, or stretch out over a few minutes, depending on a number of factors. Referees are trained to know which grips and positions are likely to incur injuries - but sometimes even that isn't enough to stop sprains, strains, or even broken arms. I didn't get to ask anyone how often a break happens, but I would think it is not a very common occurance. When the first break of the day happened, mouths were agape and a curtain of silence descended on the crowd, punctuated only by the bells and clacks of the kinetic sculpture "New York Ballroom" which was situated to the right of the competition area.
Like poker, arm wrestling seems to draw a diverse group of people. Some of them don't even look all that muscular, until they roll up their sleeves. One of the most interesting things to me was the three Jewish men, wearing kippot and tzitzit. Two of them, I later learned, are considered some of the best arm wrestlers in New York City.
As I watched more and more matches, I found myself getting sucked into it. I started to feel about these guys the same way I feel about poker players - I want to know more about what their lives are like during competition. I started talking to a few of the competitors, wanting to make acquaintances.
This is a sport that definitely has its characters, and I think I'm in love.
For more information:
nycarms.com. For more photographs from today, click on the photograph.
