Here are some pictures from Sean Flannery’s black belt celebration. All of us from Hollywood BJJ went to a hotel in downtown LA called the Standard. The Standard has a rooftop bar and lounge. I believe Sean Flannery is Shawn Williams’ first black belt so it was a big deal for the academy.

Sometimes during open mat I’ll watch Sean tie people in knots and I am gripped with schadenfreude. “I got mugged by Flannery” is a rueful phrase you hear a lot at Hollywood BJJ. In addition to being a two-fisted ass kicker, Sean is a truly generous and genuine dude and I really enjoy his classes.

Due to my inept photogritude, everyone I snap looks like the devil. In the picture below, Sean is the devil in the middle.

This picture sucks too, but it’s one of about three that doesn’t have my thumb in the frame. I just had a private with the guy in the “Thinker” pose (Warren Stout). I have to write more about that later.

Here’s the other picture.

I roll with all of these guys. The guy looking at the camera is a for-real photographer named Ron who is also known as “The Meanest White Belt”. Soon he will be “The Meanest Blue Belt” and then the universe will need to re-balance itself with another mean white belt.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 3:49 am and is filed under Hollywood BJJ, inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.