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I've had it with Dan Campbell and this stupid 4th down garbage. Kick the field goal.

Hi to all, bizzare question here. How would you look or feel about a student wanting to offer a specific presentation of their skills based on what you taught them and their own interpretation of it. Student has very good understanding of Martial Arts and combat with over 20 years of experience in various arts. Not the curriculum stuff that is to be regurgitated for basically confirming one can copy paste what they were shown. Would you consider this offensive? Would you appreciate the initiative? Would you find it a waste of time? Would you make it count towards actual ranking? Would you find it insulting towards the other students that do follow curriculum by the book? As ultimately a test is to confirm that the student has understood the material. Now if we want them to teach exactly how we teach I would see that it is important they stick to curriculum. If the goal is to pass on knowledge for them to live with then their adaptation and understanding would be preffered. I post here as it relates to testing but it does relate to Karate as the situation is in a Karate context. Thank you

All true but usually when it is one of the teams winning with a worse QB (eg some of the Ravens teams, the Gruden Bucs) the gameplan relies on something else such as a dominant running game and/or defence. For the Cowboys they seem to place a lot on his shoulders and he, in my view, isn't good enough to deal with the required level of play to win a championship in that structure. I do agree that if he had been on the 49ers superbowl team etc. then yeah he might have won!

The problem is, there are only so many "tip tier" QBs out there, and they're all signed. Dak is good enough to lead a franchise for 10+ years, which he is doing. If you can get a QB like that, then you have to and you have to run with him. I think the ownership is more of the problem than the QB. Worse QBs than Dak have won championships.

Turkey Day football kicks off in less than 24 hours. Here are the matchups for this year. Green Bay at Detroit - 1pm eastern on FOX Kansas City at Dallas -4:30pm eastern on CBS and Paramount + Baltimore at Cincinnati - 5:20pm eastern on NBC Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble

Will just make reaching the milestones all the more valuable!

Yeah i think that Dak is a large part of the problem tbh. I have always thought he is massively overrated. Was interesting that one of the studio guys came out and said that on the UK NFL coverage the other day (he was a former Giant DL) and the other posts really had a go at him for it, talking about how great Dak is. I've never seen it tbh. He is decent but not a top tier QB

I love my Cowboys. However, I’m starting to lose faith in them across the board. Yeah, Cowboys beat the Eagles but I don’t want to hang that win on any hope. As long as Dak is still a Cowboys and as long as Jones is still the GM, my faith in them reaching the SB again in my life time is dwindling. GO…ah never mind!!

Not terribly unlikely for the Cowboys to beat the Eagles. It was a division game, and playing a team twice a year, sometimes things go that way.

I'm thumbing through The Odyssey again.

Tuesdays with Morrie was a short read, did it in two sittings. What to read next....

Raiders fired OC Chip Kelly on Monday following yet another lackluster performance on Sunday when they lost to the Browns. Pete Carroll said "I think we can do better," while Max Crosby said "it was time for a change." Raiders are on a five-game losing streak and are 2-9. They have a chance to get a win on Sunday when the visit the Chargers. I know it is unlikely, but how unlikely was it for the Cowboys to beat the Eagles?

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Every half-anniversary, I invite a member of staff (in order of seniority) to address the community. Thank you for writing this, Brian. I appreciate you and all of the members who have made this sentiment a reality.

Funakoshi discussed what he learned from both Anko Itosu and Anko Asato in Karate-do: My Way of Life, and some of his other works. Both Mabuni and Gusukuma have only had the same two teachers: Itosu and Higaonna. The Shito-ryu curriculum divides their kata into two groups: the ones taught by Itosu and the ones taught by Higaonna. The Tomari-te katas are listed under the ones taught by Itosu. Hanashiro only trained directly under Anko Itosu.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. Where did you find this information? I would like to read into it myself.

Yes - Gichin Funakoshi, Kenwa Mabuni, Chomo Hanashiro, and Shinpan Gusukuma all learned Tomari-te kata from Itosu. I don't see why Chibana wouldn't have.

I don't think him adding things negates the statement that he insisted on teaching everything that Itosu passed on. As to the final statement, I don't know enough about Itosu's personal karate to make a comment on his teaching Tomari-Te. I was under the impression that he was largely in the Shuri-Te camp. Do you have more information about his study of Tomari-Te?

I'm not so sure about that. First, Chosin Chibana did create kihon and fukyugatas. In other words, he added things. Secondly, Kobayashi Shorin-ryu teaches the Naihanchi series before the Pinan series. There are valid arguments for and against this, but the Pinan series was specifically created by Itosu to be the first katas taught, which means that Chibana went against this. The other thing Kobayashi Shorin-ryu is known for is the lack of Tomari-te katas. I know of some Kobayashi-ryu schools that teach Rohai, but it was added after the fact, as neither Chibana nor Nakazato taught it. I find it hard to believe that Itosu taught all of his other students Tomari-te katas, except for Chibana.

11/22/2025 BJJ: 10:00 - 11:00 am. Open mat. I don't know how many rounds we rolled today, but we did a bunch. There were three of us and we did round robins. A younger guy I hadn't met before showed up. He was quite a bit lighter than me. I did have a pretty good hip throw takedown. I don't recall if it was from an underhook, or if he tried to step behind me to take me down and I was able to keep a base and wrench him back over. I do recall I was really deep with my hips, behind both his legs, and when I threw him I was worried that one of his legs stayed planted and twisted his knee up. Thank goodness that wasn't the case. I also pulled up on the finish so it just wasn't an absolute slam. During a few of the rolls with this kid I was able to get a couple of Americanas going. Didn't quite get them finished, but I was getting close; I know time ran out on at least one of them. The kid was really lanky, too, and had a pretty sticky guard. The other was one of the coaches, I guy who's short and stocky like me. I always struggle against him. He just keeps moving and framing. I need to keep my legs more active. When they stop I lose what decent position I had gained and end up getting sucked back into a guard of some kind. The coach would stop and briefly discuss a few things here and there, but by and large we kept the rounds going, which was great. At the end of the class, he did cover some details on mount and moving up to high mount and isolating an arm.

Could be several reasons. Perhaps there are only a few things an instructor would be willing share with only the most dedicated students, those that are willing to spend years studying under him or her. Perhaps the instructor just doesn't see the value in something and therefore doesn't bother to teach it. Perhaps something better was figured out and that is passed along instead.

What besides redundancy could motivate a martial arts instructor to decide not to pass on something?

11/21/2025 Heavy Bag/Forms Workout: 8 rounds, 1:20/1:00 (first round got interrupted by a phone call). 2 rounds orthodox boxing. 2 rounds southpaw boxing. 2 rounds kicking focus. 2 rounds of speed bag. PNF stretching in The Rack. Floor drill: I worked on the "side kick" segment of Choi Yong, focusing on balance on the reverse side kicks. The segments are back to back in the form. I found that if I do a higher side kick chamber on the reverse side kicks as opposed to "buzzing the knee" I tend to keep my balance better. When I chamber and turn into the one-legged stance, I try to bring the knee directly up and across, not let it circle out in front and then come back; trying to make it a good chamber position, and make it sharp. Sitting stance, knife hand block/punch, hands come to hips (come set) and chamber for side kick in one-legged stance, turning the body side on; side kick, then advance to x-stance and reinforced middle block; uncross back foot, reverse side kick, land back stance knife hand strike. Then step up to sitting stance and repeat the segment on the other side.

11/20/2025 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Just me and sensei today. Started with some meditation, during which time I prayed, and then some okinage breathing. Meat of the class was working with the jo, which I had not done in quite some time. We did the 4-hi, 4-low, 8-high, and 8-low two-person drills, then did a few reps of jo kata 1 on both left and right sides.

It sounds like your approach to the Pinans is the same as it was originally, for the youth. I agree with your assessment that if the applications can be found in other kata, then the redundancy just isn't necessary. I'm not a fan of curriculum for curriculum's sake.