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The floor is a magnificent beast that I depend on, that I respect, and that I can’t be without. In whatever the moment might be, the floor doesn’t care who I was, how much money I made, it doesn’t care about my accomplishments, my failures, doesn’t care if I was a good person or as bad person. Whenever I’m on the floor, either if it’s to train or teach or being involved in a testing cycle, I’m engaged in a constant pure test of might and will, and skill, and luck, and courage, and honor. I understand that through all of the trials and tribulations, the floor is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Sometimes I lose; it has made me a better person on and off the floor. Don’t ever take the floor lightly, and for the love of whatever or whomever you hold near and dearly, don’t ever disrespect the floor because it’s always been there for you no matter what. Proof is on the floor!!

It’s easy to reach home plate from 2nd base on a single then from 1st base; to allow the game to end much quicker than before. I suppose that the powers that be in MLB prefer a fast-food product; everyone is always in such a darn hurry these days.

I would totally agree with you there. Only reason to put a runner at 2nd base is to rush to a decision rather than letting the game play out. In which case just call it in 9 innings and allow ties! (I am European so we have no issue with draws!). Not a fan of artificially changing a game just to get it over with. Tbh would rather see a home run derby type thing added instead which at least the fans would find exciting!

Knights who?!? Game over for the Knights!!

Carolina really stuck it to Vegas in game five. Started off well for Vegas getting a PPG and a 1-0 lead, but it was all Carolina after that, winning it 4-2 in a dominate performance. Bussi has come in and changed the game for Carolina, many good saves tonight and he is saving the series for them. Vegas has been whipped on the special teams in this series, and now William Karlsson might be injured. If Vegas is going to come back, they need to shake things up and fix a lot in a short amount of time. Carolina has not lost two in a row since January, so they are in strong position, either win the Cup Sunday night in Vegas or have a chance to do it at home in game 7. All the momentum is with Carolina right now.

Hey all, As we head into the last 10 days of our monthlong 25th birthday celebration, I wanted to invite you to participate! While most threads that we have published during this time are open to participation, there are three specific ones that I would like to draw your attention to: What Does KarateForums.com Mean to You? An invitation to reflect on how the community has impacted you personally. Answer Our Member Interview Questions If you were not one of the members invited to do an interview, I would still love to hear from you via this thread. 25th Birthday Check-In An easy way to say hey and acknowledge the milestone. I'd love to have you participate in any of all of these, as it's a great way to share with the community, talk about what makes it so special, and allow others to get to know you better. Thanks for reading, Patrick

ABS has added a fun component to the game. I'm not real sure where it leads, though.

It’s possible that die-in-the-wool baseball fans, of which I am, could be against it, but I’m for the ABS system wholeheartedly. Only rule change that I’m not a fan of is putting a runner at 2nd base during extra innings; MLB is not aLittle League game.

As long as it is quick i find it hard to see why anyone could be against it! It is a factual answer to a binary question: strike or ball and removes mistakes.

That just sounds like a drop seio nage (which is an established judo technique), unless i am misremembering! My club does similar and allows you to start either standing or on your knees. I think a large part of it is also the skill of the thrower: my judo isn't good enough (yet) so if i was to go for a turning throw like Seio Nage then i am more likely to give up my back to my opponent. If one of the multiple judo bb's we have at my bjj club does it you are likely in the air already before you realise the back was there!

Happy 25th Birthday KF; and many more!!

Great article. Thanks for sharing it, @Patrick!! I’m for the ABS because it has eliminated things like ejections over a called strike or ball. For me that’s a good thing.

For our 25th birthday celebration, we're publishing an interview series with members from our community. Member Profile @DarthPenguin (View Profile) Joined: December 3, 2021 Posts: 1,423 KarateForums.com Awards: Member of the Year (2024), Community Spirit Award (2025), Funniest Member of the Year (2024), Health and Fitness Contributor of the Year (2023), and New Member of the Year (2022) Interview Where are you from? Glasgow, Scotland. Why did you get started in the martial arts? In common with a lot of people, I originally got started due to having issues being picked on. Started to train a lot from a very young age (trained 3-4 times a week from age 5) and found it was very useful in removing being bullied/picked on! Why have you continued to practice them? Mainly because I enjoy them, to be honest. Have had the odd period of time out due to injuries, having kids, etc., and the resultant time impact but have managed to get back to them and still enjoy the training (though I do have to remind myself I am no longer in my 20s!). Please briefly describe the styles of martial arts that you have taken. Over the years i have trained in quite a few styles, though I prefer to focus on those I am currently training in as I can see those being the ones I stick with from now on! Nowadays, I train in Shotokan (which I trained in when I was a lot younger but have returned and started again from white belt), Judo, and BJJ. What is your grade or level? Currently back up to 1st kyu in Shotokan, 6th kyu in Judo, and blue belt in BJJ. Do you teach? Nope, not good enough in my view. I have annoyingly high standards in whom I believe should be teaching! What are your first memories from training? A couple. I remember being a small boy at Shotokan training with a boy who had a plastic arm due to amputation near the shoulder and whenever he blocked, it hurt a LOT. I also remember being 7 and passing my brown belt under a well known Japanese Instructor and looking around to see it was literally myself in the middle of the floor at a large sports centre with spectators allowed. It was rather nerve wracking, and I still remember it! The 80s were very different! What has been the highlight of your training? I don't really tend to think of training that way - it is something I enjoy, and there are always good and bad parts. Most memorable part, though, was the first seminar I attended taught by Rickson Gracie and being very pleasantly surprised with how approachable he was and how much he genuinely seemed to care about people learning from his teaching. What do you do when you're not training? I try to get back into some kind of shape by lifting, etc., plus am kept busy with the kids. Both of my kids are into martial arts with my eldest being very into Judo, so that keeps me busy, too. What do you do for a living? I'm an actuary. Who are or were your martial arts heroes? Film-wise, I always liked the old Jackie Chan films and personally preferred him to Bruce Lee with that then over time changing towards a preference for Jet Li and then Donnie Yen, particularly his more realistic films. Real fighter-wise, I always liked Shogun Rua and Fedor Emelianenko a lot, plus Bas Rutten was always amazing. I have also always liked Chris Eubank (the boxer) and a few others. I have always really liked watching combat sports, too, so if I was to list all the fighters I liked then i would be here all day What are your favorite martial arts films and/or shows? I don't watch them as often anymore (closest I get nowadays is anime like Dragon Ball or One Piece with my son), but my favourite martial arts film flip flops between Ong Bak and The Raid. Both are awesome. Where do you see yourself going in your martial arts journey in the next few years? I am due to sit for my Shotokan Shodan this year so hopefully I pass that fine! Longer term, I would love to get to Sandan in Shotokan and ideally also Judo and BJJ black. It would be a tough ask (and likely hurt a lot on the way), but it would mean a lot to me. Do you remember how you found KarateForums.com? Why did you join? I cant remember to be honest - I think I was Googling with something I was curious about and the site came up. I had a read and was interested and then signed up! Why did you stay? I found it quite interesting and there were a lot of really useful bits of information available. You've been a member since December 3, 2021. During this time, how has KarateForums.com changed in your eyes, if at all? The general atmosphere and culture seems unchanged though it does feel like people have been a little less active over the last couple of years. Seems to have taken a little bit of an upturn recently though! How, if at all, have you used KarateForums.com in your classes or training? I have asked a few questions in the past about additional flexibility work and some of the responses were really useful and pointed me in interesting directions, though I still do currently have the flexibility of a steel bar! Are there any members here who have had a particular influence or impact on you? I find @bushido_man96 to often have a lot of interesting stuff to say. He seems to have a very similar outlook on the martial arts in general, and things like physical fitness alongside them, to mine, so U often get a lot out of reading his posts. Plus, he is a lot more experienced than me so it is always informative!

It's funny, I was actually just reading through this page: https://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/abs-challenges.shtml Baseball Reference just launched a page with ABS challenge data, and it's pretty interesting.

Ha! I will have to steal Icy Mike's answer on that. He went real philosophical, I am paraphrasing; We will all be each of the turtles troughout our lives. Sometimes even during the same day. For my personal, I think I prefer Leo, he is the smarter of the bunch. I identify mostly with Raphael as I am prone to useless anger. Half spoiler, I have The Last Ronin which I won't name, in very high regards. Ultimately, I still prefer Shredder over any of them. His backstory always fascinated me.

I shouldn't be surprised whatsoever with game 4 results. All of a sudden, I could care less with who wins the SCF.

Hey guys, I’ve been neglecting my training log for a while. I started at a new gym yesterday that seems really nice so I’m excited about that. Tuesday 06/10/2026 Walked on treadmill for 30 min. Bench 90 lbs 5 x 5 OHP 90 lbs 5 x 5 Deadlift 135 lbs 1 x 5 Stretching and Mobility 15 min Breakfast - Nothing Lunch - Burrito Dinner - Queso, Rice, Chicken Breast

I've trained at a BJJ school that teaches throws. When rolling, we would ask our partners if they would like to start standing (i.e., going for a takedown) or already on the ground. Problem is that the throws are modified for BJJ. For example, with the ippon seoi nage, as you turn away from your opponent, you go down to your knees and pull him down onto you to load him. I imagine that the execution is probably a lot more likely to fail than a standing ippon seoi nage, since with standing, you can use your leg muscles to assist with the throw but you give that up when going down on your knees - which means that in the BJJ modified version, you probably have to be more swift in the execution. Any hesitation, and your opponent is stuck on your back. There's also the fact that going down to your knees when executing a throw, although perfectly fine on the mat, is a horrible idea in a real fight.

Once you go Japanese (including Okinawan, i.e. Shureido), you'll never go back.

Well, the Hurricanes changed their goalie tonight, starting Bussi, but it did not reduce the scoring much. Hurricanes win it 5-3 and tie the series 2-2. Game five on Thursday back in North Carolina and the winner will be one win away from lifting the Cup.

The A’s are in Las Vegas on a 6 game stretch; first the Brewers for 3 games, then the Rockies for 3 games at the Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the AAA Aviators. Last nights game 1 was a slugfest, to say the least… >29 total runs scored: Most in MLB this season >11 combined home runs: Most in MOB this season >Length of game…4 hours and 14 minutes: Longest game this season >16 ABS challenges: Most in MLB this season >11 successful ABS challenges: Most in MOB this season After 12 innings, the Brewers won with the final score of 15-14; Brewers had 18 hits and the A’s has 16 hits. Brewers are in first place in the NL Central and the A’s are in 3rd place in the AL West. My Yankees are in 2nd place in the AL East!! GO YANKEES!!

Hey all, As celebrate our history in honor of our 25th birthday, one of the areas that we have reflected on is the KarateForums.com Awards program. Through these awards, our community recognizes some of the outstanding contributors to KarateForums.com. As part of our ongoing celebration, we published a retrospective of the KarateForums.com Awards, where you can take a deeper look at the history of the program. We've had 24 iterations of the awards, where 69 different members have been honored 211 times, with members casting a grand total of 2,534 votes. As I considered addition ways to pay tribute to our history, I thought it would be great to have KarateForums.com Awards honors listed on member profiles, and so we have gone back and done so. For example, please see the profiles of the most recent members who were honored in our 2025 edition: @bushido_man96, @DarthPenguin, @KarateKen, @Spartacus Maximus, and @Wastelander. The 25th annual KarateForums.com Awards will kick off in October. Thanks, Patrick

The series has had more goals than many were expecting. Carolina changed goalies after the second period of game three, so maybe they will tighten up tonight. No word yet if Carolina will go with Anderson or Bussi to start game four, but Bussi looked better in the game than Anderson has all series.

From a purely historical perspective, I would want to train with "Todi" Sakugawa Kanga, as he is essentially the origination point for Shuri-Te styles, depending on which oral histories you believe. He taught "Bushi" Tachimura, and may have also taught "Bushi" Matsumura (although the oldest documentation we have about his teacher is about Yabiku Peichin, not Sakugawa). He might have created Naihanchi and Kusanku. He was supposedly so connected to Chinese arts that he was nicknamed after them (although there is little documentation to support the theory that he actually transplanted Chinese arts). Just all-around a cool experience.

Hirokazu Kanazawa, easy. And not necessarily for the martial arts training itself, but because I believe he embodied the "do" aspect of karate-do more than anyone else. That would be what I'd show up for.