Btw, in the car driving back to Ohio. I watched judo this morning and didn't understand it even a little bit. Not sure the announcers did either. But it was entertaining.
Judo is a cool sport. I did intramural judo my freshman year at Purdue, after having spent ages 11-18 doing martial arts (Hapkido).
I always found the Austin Powers movie funny because he keeps saying "judo chop!" when in judo there are no striking movements allowed... It's entirely grappling.
But basically the way to understand judo is that it's like standard HS/college wrestling, but with choke holds and other submission moves (arm bars, etc) allowed. And of course having the judo gi gives you leverage to grab onto for throws and potentially to execute chokes--you can get someone to submit to a choke using their uniform to execute the choke.
A "pin" is different in judo. A pin is 20 seconds, but it doesn't require both shoulder blades to be down the entire time like wrestling. One shoulder blade down suffices.
The other difference is the scoring. Getting a "full point" will win a match. If you execute a throw, you can either get a full point, half point, or lesser scores. The full point will immediately end a match in a single throw. The half points are additive, so if the match requires you to square up again and you've scored a half point throw already, and you get another half point throw, you've won the match. The other lesser scores aren't additive, but can be used if the match goes to decision. And then of course, if you get your opponent to submit, you've won the match.
Basically the scoring of the throw is based on how aggressive and violent it is, how much you slam your opponent to the mat, etc. Because of my previous experience (having been taught how to safely fall when thrown), I actually volunteered to be the dummy when our instructor demonstrated what sort of throws would generate the lesser points, half point, and full point. The full point was quite a throw lol...
