sensei8

Where discussing pace/speed in forms. If I may ask a question within it’s context?!? How many are familiar with Rika Usami?? In a nutshell she’s won Gold at the 2010 Asian Games, Bronze at the 2010 World Karate Championships, and Gold in the 2012 World Karate Championships. From 2003 to 2012 she won 11 1st places and 1 2nd place in individual Kata. There’s quite a lot of videos of her executing various kata on-line. What’s your opinion about Rika Usami’s Kata’s (Forms) pace/speed??

Happy Birthday, Felix

As in anything, work up to full speed/power; otherwise one becomes sloppy across the board. Why go full all out right off the bat if it’s being done incorrectly and not being accountable. Rome wasn’t built in a day and by gosh, neither was one’s mature technique. I hate watching someone go real fast in their kata for whatever reasons because, more often than not, their techniques suffer through their ineffectiveness. WWSD = What Would Sensei Do [Take that for what it is]

Training isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon!!

As Noah points out, this subject is controversial because not all MA is equal in its methodology and/or ideology. For us in Shindokan, the Hikite aids the hip across the board. No hip, no nothing; no effectiveness whatsoever. Close range techniques depend on the hips.

Yahoo Sports reported… “Police claim that Kneeland refused to stop, leading to a pursuit. He evaded their detection before crashing on southbound Dallas Parkway. Frisco police said Kneeland fled the scene of the crash on foot. He was later located at 1:31 a.m. ET dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.” Kneeland was being stopped by the police after committing a traffic violation. Very sad!!

If I may borrow two Forest Gump quotes… “Stupid is as stupid does." AND… “That's all I have to say about that.”

Cowboys announced the death of defensive end Marshawn Kneeland on Thursday. He was 24. "It is with extreme sadness that the Dallas Cowboys share that Marshawn Kneeland tragically passed away this morning. Marshawn was a beloved teammate and member of our organization. Our thoughts and prayers regarding Marshawn are with his girlfriend Catalina and his family." ~ Dallas Cowboys Kneeland's cause of death has not been announced at this time. Kneeland just played in the MNF against the Cardinals where he scored his one and only NFL touchdown after recovering a blocked punt in the end zone. I echo the sentiments of the Cowboys and my thoughts and prayers are with his girlfriend and his family. RIP Marshawn Kneeland!!

As a Cowboy’s fan, I’m not livid at all because I remember the movie Draft Day. Chess is a real great game!!

As long as the stadiums continue to sell-out, I believe the prices will continue to rise and rise. The sad thing, imho, is the type of the PLE isn’t important just as long as fans are willing to pay the astronomical prices at will. I’ll just have to be satisfied with watching PLE’s on some streaming venue until I win the lottery, but that lottery will have to be a lot.

Apparently there’s more very rich wrestling fans that I give credit to. Every seat will be sold out for both days…I guarantee it…all the way from the cheap seats to the tycoon seats. Ha ha cheap seats…cheapest seats go for $674…doesn’t seem to cheap to me. I love how whenever the powers that be are asked how can they justify the ticket prices and they’ll say…”Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world.” Really?!? I’m sure that when I went to Wrestlemania 9 that Las Vegas was still the entertainment capital back then. Money-grubbing!!

Where I sat during Wrestlemania 9, tickets cost me $50 each. At that very same section and row, in the 2026 Wrestlemania now costs $1,347. Both, then and now, were/are held in Las Vegas!! Greed!!

Raiders…Raiders…Raiders!! There’s a saying that goes something like this…”Can’t win them all.” How appropriate when talking about the Raiders. In O/T… Raiders 29 Panthers 30 Carroll went for the 2-point conversion but the throw was blocked. Here’s what I don’t understand. Tie is better than a lose…or is it?!? The Raiders aren’t one of the best 2-point conversion teams in the NFL: This year, the Raiders have a 33.3% success rate. Last 3 games, they have amassed 0.00% 2-point conversion percentage, as well as last 1 games. At home, 0.00% success in 2-point conversion. Away, 50.00% 2-point conversion. Last year the Raiders had a 40.00% 2-point conversion overall. Was Carroll gambling the percentage when her decided to go for the 2-point conversion instead of the extra point to tie the game. Technically speaking, a tie is better than a loss. However, there are many factors to consider when deciding whether or not a tie is better than a loss. In the NFL, a tie is better than a loss. That's what the data says, at least. In the past 20 years, there have been 191 tied games in the NFL. In those 191 games, the teams that tied ended up winning 55.6% of the time. That’s what the data shows…before. Nowadays the data says that it’s better to lose than tying. This argument won’t ever be satisfied. I’m good with that. I don’t question Carroll’s decision because after all, he’s the coach, and a darn good one, and who am I to question him!?! As an armchair quarterback, I would’ve went for the tie!! What do you think??

Wrestlemania is returning to Las Vegas 2026. I enjoy watching WWE and have been since I was a kid. Wrestlemania is the grand daddy of all of the PLE’s and my wife and I was fortunate to see Wrestlemania 9 in Las Vegas… I paid $50 per ticket. This 2026 Wrestlemania for 1 ticket in Section A4 Row 2, that’s the section that the main camera films and if your in the section, you’ll be on camera a lot. Btw, that 1 ticket will cost you $46,219.20. You do get to take your chair home with you. I love watching WWE but not that much!!

How about them Dodgers!! World Series CHAMPIONS…BACK-TO-BACK!! Congrats to the Dodgers back-to-back World Series over the Blue Jays by the final Scott’s 5-4. Dodgers catcher Will Smith went yard for the go ahead home run that was heard all around the world. A nail biter of a game 7 of the World Series that I’ve even seen, and I’ve seen quite a lot. Statistics say that the winner of game 5 of the World Series wins the World Series hadn’t heard about the Los Angeles Dodgers. I’d of surely wanted my Yankees to have won the 2025 World Series, but having the Dodgers winning back-to-back World Series works just fine with me. Blue Jays had a tremendous regular season and a dynamic post-season that can’t be denied. They took my Yankees out, and didn’t look back. I was very scared and nervous when the dust settled knowing that the Blue Jays VS Dodgers became the Blue Jays were beyond formidable and thirsty for winning the World Series; a World Series that eluded them since 1993. I deeply respected what the Blue Jays accomplished this 2025 MLB season. CONGRATS DODGERS!!

Dodgers force a game 7 this Saturday by the final score.. Dodgers 3 Blue Jays 1 Dodgers had 4 hits and 1 error. Blue Jays had 8 hits and zero errors. Yamamoto was the Dodgers starting pitcher. Gausman was the Blue Jays starting pitcher; he still shows that he’s a force to be reckoned with even though he didn’t win. All the scoring was made in the 3rd inning.. Yamamoto was excellent again even though he wasn’t as stellar tonight as he was in game 2; he lasted until the 7th inning. The Dodgers hero would be Mookie Betts who was in a slump the whole post-season rocketed a ball between third base and the shortstop with two outs and the bases loaded to make the game 3-0. Dodgers defense turned an incredible double play to end a rally in the bottom of the ninth. After the 3rd inning, both defenses came to play for keeps. Statistically the Blue Jays should win the WS because they won game 5. We will see what we see this Saturday. GO DODGERS!!

Knights are on a 6-game home-stand. To start off their 6-game home-stand the Knights faced the Avalanche, with didn’t end their way as they lost to the Avalanche 4-2. Knights will be waiting to face: Tue. Nov. 4 vs. Detroit 7 p.m. Thu. Nov. 6 vs. Tampa Bay 7 p.m. Sat. Nov. 8 vs. Anaheim 7 p.m. Mon. Nov. 10 vs. Florida 7 p.m. Thu. Nov. 13 vs. N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. Knights are 1st in the Pacific with a record of 6-2-3. Season just barely started but thus far I’m liking what I’ve seen so far. We’ll see where the Knights stand when at the All-Star break. GO KNIGHTS!! PS: Living in Las Vegas I didn’t support any Vegas team. However, after living in Vegas for 4 years so far, I support both the Knights and the WNBA Aces. As far as the Raiders and the A’s…I like Allegiant Stadium, home of the Raiders, even though I can’t afford any of their tickets. Hopefully, I can afford A’s tickets once their new stadium opens so I can support my Yankees whenever they visit to play the A’s at home.

If statistics hold true that states that the winner of game 5 of the WS wins the WS. The Blue Jay had a phenomenal regular season as well as the playoffs. Soon as the Blue Jays ended the Yankees hope of entering the 2025 post-games, I knew that if no team could knock them out of the post-games, that they’d not only make it to the WS, but undoubtedly they’d win the WS no matter how much I believed in the talents of the Dodgers. Friday!! Dodgers need to win the rest. How the Dodgers played game 5 and game 6 being in the Blue Jays own backyard?!? Doesn’t look good for the Dodgers!! GO DODGERS!!

Starting to reread this book because I put it down for awhile because real life was more important at that time than reading that book. That’s ok, it took me 5 YEARS to read President George Bush’s memoir!! The middle section of that book just dragged and dragged.

Maybe I’m way too old but for some reason I just don’t enjoy horror movies as much as I use too!! Jason, Freddie, Micheal, and Chucky are predictable characters and quite humorous to me!! Final Destination movies are the most predictable to me; quite boring although my wife loves them all. Speaking of my wife, she won’t watch Chucky, Micheal, Aliens, and Predators. She also loves Children of the Corn. I love Escape Room movies mainly because I’ve done Escape Room attractions, like the ones here in Las Vegas, Denver, and Bakersfield. Maybe my love of chess might have something to do with that. There’s one that I’ve tried to watch with my brother 9 times when I was in high school that starred Linda Blair!! I won’t even type that movies title!! It took my brother those 9 times to watch the entire movie, and the more we went, the more time I spent in the lobby playing video games than seeing that movie but I saw enough to know that I’d never forget what I did see to last me a lifetime!! For the longest time my brother had a hard time sleeping because every time he closed his eyes to go to sleep he’d see her face and couldn’t sleep!! Even today, I hate seeing that movie advertised in any shape, way, and form, and they love to play it a lot in the month of October. I’ll take a black and white monster movie over today’s horror movies anytime.

Blue Jays even World Series with 6-2 win over Dodgers in Game 4. Game 5 is Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, with Game 6 in Toronto on Friday. Blue Jays bats showed up tonight while the Dodgers bats fell asleep; Ohtani went 0-3 with a walk and two K’s and his pitching wasn’t as good as he usually is. We’ll see what happens in game 5. I believe that whichever team wins game 5 will win the WS. GO DODGERS!!

Us humans are our worse enemy. Our great advances in technology will be our downfall fall!! Our lives are not a movie!! Las Vegas has an army of taxi’s that have no drivers mainly near the proximity of key venues like the Vegas Strip, Allegiant Stadium, Convention Center, and the airport. Blows my mind when I first saw and read about them. There’s no way I’d ever ride in one…not me. I’ve seen with my own eyes Pizza Hut driverless cars delivering pizza. AI is just that to me, ARTIFICIAL, but the reality of it all is not from any movie. My wife loves the tv series, After Humans, that’s no longer funny to me. Us humans are our worse enemy!! Imho.

Good news… The Raiders can’t lose today!! They’re on a Bye-week. Bad news… The Cowboys can lose today!! Their not on a Bye-week.

Rome wasn’t built in one day. High kicks, and what’s required to achieve it won’t be built in one day either. Shindokan kicks are no higher than the stomach. For that reason, I took TKD lessons as a JBB for 1 year. GM Young Ik Suh emphasized proper stretching over everything else…slow and NO BOUNCING. He also emphasized in strengthening core and legs because what good is a high kick if there’s no effectiveness behind it?!?! At home, a chair…a ladder…a pulley rope…stretching chair…were my best friends. No one at home would help me stretch whatsoever. Dynamic and static exercises are key, but only with knee raises with the knee being held. While getting your kicks higher, one’s techniques must be correct. Pivoting support foot…making sure your hips are forward at its right moment. Like stretching needs to be slow, move slowly during practice…control the kicks; that will build muscles and your kicking range will not be hindered. Warm up first. Going regular whatever cold will open the door of injuries. Be consistent in your training, otherwise progress will be slower. Pivot, bring hips forward, and use your whole body. Knee raises/holds, slow mo kicks, hip exercises to increase mobility, leg swings, and for grins, hold the kicks out there at the full extension of the kick, like Bruce Lee did in Enter The Dragon when O’Hara barked orders at Lee while Lee was training in his bedroom.

Lower belt students, like Orange and green belts, will keep us Dan ranks honest and more aware. What’s your plans if your left knee continues to bother you?? If your left knee threatens to force you to primarily administer your right leg, you can be like Bill “Superfoot” Wallace by kicking only with the good leg…nothing wrong with that because kicking with one leg primarily did Wallace quite well.