She would say something, then he would say “huh?" 

That is, if he responded at all.

After repeating herself about three times, grandma would finally say in an exasperated tone, “Turn up your hearing aid!"

To which he would insert his little finger into his ear, and turn that little dial.

Looking back, I'm not really sure that he ever actually turned it up…because this routine just seemed to repeat itself so often.

As a result he missed all those things that Grandma was saying to him, prodding him to do or grousing about.

Sometimes deafness can be a blessing.

For instance, what if you missed all those things “they say" about your opponent..

especially this week.

“I hear he's really good."

Or maybe not.

Your bracket is really tough!

Your weight class is the toughest class in the entire state!

There are 7 state placers in your bracket! (Correction:  in any state bracket, there are EIGHT placers.  Last year doesn’t count.)

Criminy, folks, sometimes “they" are overzealous dads with a little ‘nip’ in their coffee, pumping up their own kid!

Or junior high kids with a ‘lied-about-their-age profile (see Facebook), inflating their buddy!

“Look out for Johnny, he’s going to ‘make some noise’ this year…" (Johnny’s current record:  3-19).

So take my advice this week….

Turn down the hearing aid.

Turn down the hearing aid.

get off the Facebook, get off the bulletin boards, and get off the made-up-in-someone’s head rankings.

Go strap’er on, and hit the mat.  The score always starts 0-0.