RIO RAMBLINGS: Hey dad, we finally grew up

EDITOR’S NOTE: Phil Arnold is the owner and coach of the Alpha Omega Wrestling Academy in Albany. He recently went to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games to watch his nephew, J’den Cox, win the bronze medal in the wrestling competition. This will be his final blog from Rio.

Sibling rivalry. Ever have one?

I did. But I honestly think mine has finally come to an end. My sister and I growing up were quite the pair. She was always the skilled musician and by skilled I mean she was perfect in everything music. It didn’t matter what instrument you put in her hand, she had it mastered within a month. Needed her to sing a song? No problem, just let her hear it once, and you could count on a gold medal performance.

Need a star for your musical? Just call Cathy Arnold, she’s the perfect doo-wop girl. Could you imagine the pressure growing up behind that?

I had to become the musician. I hated piano lessons. I couldn’t remember my scales to save my life. My band directors would always encourage me to be more like my sister. Really? I still contend that in junior high and high school I only got the lead in the musicals because I was “Cathy’s Little Brother.”

Honestly there were times that I actually thought that was my new name.

“Somebody find Cathy’s little Brother, he can probably sing that song.” Talk about annoying. But that was my existence. But I’ll be honest, there were some pretty cute chicks that hung around the band rooms. Maybe my sis was looking out for me?

My niche was the wrestling room. It was all mine. No sister, no one else to steal my thunder, yes. I found something she couldn’t be a part of. Nanny-nanny boo-boo, stick your head in doo doo. I was in my world. The cameras loved me. The radio stations invited me to do interviews. I was the front page of the paper. Woo Hoo. Then her boys came along. Great. Here we go again. From there, the rest is history. My only claim to fame is being my high school’s first multiple state champ. Then someone had to go and win two more to total four.

Always in her shadow, always following her footsteps, always being the little brother. But ya know what? I wouldn’t have it any other way. She was the one who always took up for me on the school bus when the big kids would make fun of me. She was the one who beat the crap out of the bully who gave me a black eye. She was the one who I called when I was having a problem with a chord on a song. She was the one who told me everything would be okay after our daddy died and that I could call her any time. She was the one who let all her kids wrestle just like uncle Phil did.

I think I have enjoyed hanging out with her the most while in Rio. We are quite the pair hobbling around in our old age with bad knees. Me pushing her to the front of the line to get on the plane. Her telling the driver to stop and wait for her little brother so he can ride too. Sitting around and not saying anything at all. Because sometimes, nothing needs to be said. We took a selfie yesterday. I showed it to her and she said, “You know we always make the same faces.” Yep, Cacky Winnie we sure do.

Who knows maybe somewhere down the road, we will make the journey to these Olympics with another one of our wrestlers. Honestly wouldn’t surprise me one bit. My youngest won his first national tournament this summer. One of the coaches called him “Baby J” after his now famous cousin. His response was “That’s not my name. It’s Gabriel”.

One day, he will understand like I now do.