sensei8

39 saves is pretty good, yet, I wish that his win/loss stats had more wins to make the saves look even more impressive. Anyway...Go Yankee's!!!!!!!!!!

I believe that this will answer many, if not all, of your questions. Check out this link... http://shotokai.jp/index.html Get it from the horses mouth! OR... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dt%C5%8Dkai

Every Martial Artist should practice against a car-jacking. Will they work all of the time? Maybe/maybe not! My shortest answer to this would be...I'd drive away as fast as I could, if I'm not blocked in or jump out and let the carjacker have the dumb car. I'd say the odds are stacked against the driver because of the confined space and we're sitting down with our seatbelts on. Whatever one does in this situation...do it fast!

This thread asks the question...How many strikes is lethal? One! Which one, is another question. Which one, is dependent on massive situations as well as countless parameters, some can be controlled, while others are beyond our ability to control. I'd dare to answer the question...How many strikes is lethal?...with a question of my own...How many strikes make one's action(s) legal/illlegal? This is depends on the laws of the state/federal as well as a plethoria of parameters. Am I missing the point? I don't think so...I'm just asking a counter-question of my own.

I'd say that MMA is a Martial Art, although it's mixed per it's name..."Mixed" Martial Arts. Call it a rage, call it a fad, call it "15 minutes of fame", and/or call it whatever one might, imho, the MMA is a Martial Art. I struggled with calling MMA a Martial Arts for quite awhile, but, I see that it is just that...a viable Martial Arts, imho!

I will concur that these individuals in the WWE, for the most part, are in great shape, and yes, it wouldn't take much to turn the entertainment to reality in a split second. BTW, this happens more often than not. How so? Pro-Wrestlers give one another "receipts" all of the time. A "receipt" is when one wrestler hits another wrestler hard/"stiff" and then the one wrestler that was "stiffed" then, sometime during the match, will hit the other back just as hard/harder. In the squared circle...stuff happens. Both of their responsibilities are to protect each other. Why? 300 shows a year is why. Do what they do for real and they'd need a extremely large roster on all 3 of their brands.

Good questions/excellent OP! No! No! I'm neutral! Truth be, I've never entertained a thought and/or an conclusion as to any of these questions. To me, an opponent is just that...an opponent! What the parameters are before me with any said opponent is of no consequence/concern, although, I'll "size-up" my opponent, which is to say...I'll study my opponent, I'll study myself, I'll make a plan, and I'll carry my plan out.

Very good question Brian! For me, at this stage of my life, I want to protect my right knee as much as I can, although, situation warranted, I'll use my right leg if need be.

This might help you out... http://www.wuweidao.com/karate_gekisai.htm

Before my right knee reached the state it's in now, I didn't favor anyside. For me, one side was as good as another. Now that my right knee is old and worn and has become a weather barometer, I favor my left side forward. Shhhhhhh...don't tell everyone, sheech!

Depends on the rank/experience that I'm sparring with. When I spar my Sensei/Dai-Soke, I spar as though my life depends on it because he goes hard/fast with his senior students. When I spar beginners, I don't hit at all. I end my techniques just before target, ending as close as I can without them walking into it, but, it's still techniques with NO hip/follow. Intermediate students, I lightly tap, just to let them know that I'm there, while all the time, still no hip/follow. Advanced students, I make medium contact with very little hip/follow. Godan to Shichidan....I hit with 3/4 hip/follow...but with my fellow Hachidan's...I hit with full hip/follow...and not trying to toot my own horn, but, I hit extremely hard, the harder the better for me...I love the contact...besides, with my fellow Hachidan's I will get a turn...trust me. With my fellow Hachidan's; sparring is more like a tennis game, going back and forth, sometimes it's a draw and sometimes one has to deliver an Ace on the serve. All in all...working on solid, effective techniques is paramount over who won and who lost, knowledge is what I want my students to learn.

Brian, I concur wholehearedly with your opening post! Any Martial Artist, imho, that self-promotes themselves are dishonorable in every shape, way, and/or form! Honor and integrity go hand in hand. If one's last promotion was to 8th Dan, for example, then that practitioner should remain a 8th Dan, therefore, be proud of that. Imagine a Doctor having been an M.D. for a while and then this Doctor decides that it would be better if he self-promoted himself to a PhD. Well, both the self promoting Doctor as well as the self promoting Martail Artist can do that; but both would be meaningless. The Doctor would go to jail while the Martial Artist would just start his/her own style and make themself Grand Master. Something sucks about that! That Martial Artist should be sharing the same jail cell with that Doctor! Honor is something that must be taught, and it's a teachable thing, in the Martial Arts, but, imho, this must be taught first in the home; from dad/mom. IMHO!

No way Patrick...I'm a huge Yankee fan myself! GO YANKEE'S! What I'd like to see this year is us go to the playoffs, win, go back to the World Series...and WIN! Secondly, I'd like to see us get Mariano Rivera to close more than he did in 2008; but to get Mariano to the mound more often the Yankee's have got to be leading in the 7th inning but the 8th inning is excellent for Mariano! "Mo's" 2008 stats...(With your permission Patrick!)... 2008 Stats W-L 6-5 Saves 39 ERA 1.40 (WOW) K 77 GO YANKEE'S!!!!!!!!!!

It's still not worth it even if you have a GREAT job, imho. You got a great deal! Don't leave it!

Ooohhhhhhhhh...I don't like that idea! Red flags all over the place! I hope for your sake that it doesn't happen to you!

Yeah! That jump looks easy enough, but, once you attempt the jump for the first time, it's not that easy. Although, that jump in Enpi is much easier than the jump in Unsu. Shotokan Student, Please don't allow others to rob your love of the Martial Arts; those that try to tear you down are a dime a dozen. As bushido_man96 said...just don't give up on the jump in Unsu, it's one of, if not the most difficult jumps in any Kata/Form around. I never thought that I'd get that jump right, but when I did...sheech...I went..."Whoa! I did it!" Then I did it again...and again...then I feel hard because I was dead tired. But now, my right knees a basket case so I've got to do adaptations of that jump, with approval from my Hombu, when I do Unsu. Hang in there, pretty soon you'll be flying high with the other eagles!

Welcome Warren! That is quite a journey my friend...but what a wonderful rewarding journey it has been and will still be for the two of you. AWESOME! Thank you for sharing your story with us!

No, my dad didn't teach me how to fight!

Do we meet our attacker(s) blow for blow until we gain our escape from intended bodily harm? OR... Do we cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war upon our attacker(s) so as to assure our point is well understood? Therefore...What's the virtue of a proportional response?

Corrupt boards? That's tough especially if your rank only means something to your styles' organization! Man...that's rough! The testing board should never be the same people over and over...this is wrong and takes away from the validity of the test as well as the intergrity of the test. Our By-Laws work like this concerning the make-up of our Testing Boards... *Dai-Soke (Judan) *Kaicho (Hachidan) *Kancho (Hachidan) *Board Of Regents (12 appointed Dan ranks of Godan and higher) *Director(s) of Testing/Grading (4 Shichidan's) *Director(s) of Technical Review (4 Hachidan's) *Dojo Chief Instructor (Sandan and higher) (Sandan Chief Instructor must have a sponsoring Kyoshi until Sandan reaches Godan) So you can see the many possibilites of the different testing boards that we can assembly at any given time. Our testing fees are as follows: Kyu = $25 Dan = $50 (FREE at my Dojo because I'm trying to help my students off-set the economic downturn anyway that I can!) $100/$300 for testing is too high, imho. Why? Is just a test, not a down payment on a car/house. I've challenged my Hombu as to $50 being way to much for a Dan testing; all testings should be, imho, $25 period! A new belt is bought and a new cert is awarded. That's not worth $100/$300, imho! What about time for the testing board? Big deal, that's part of teaching the students. Our boards receive no monies for being on a testing board! It's a priviledge and an honor to be on a testing board, it's not a right.

Pro-Wrestling is FAKE and the Martial Arts isn't! By the way, many Pro-Wrestlers have admitted/said that Pro-Wrestling is fake. They've said it in both print/video media...Killer Kowalski was the very first Pro-Wrestler to say so.

Mike Stone/Joe Lewis earned their black belts in 6/7 months respective!

Because it is the american way of wanting things...hot and ready and out the door...in my dojo I only guarantee that the door is always open... I hear ya' and I concur with you!

You're absolutely correct. Our humanity must be seen in our actions within the Martial Arts! When that isn't accepted by the will of my attacker...then it's time to just react.

Yes and no! Yes, because I'd want to learn from a black belt AND from a black belt with many, many years of knowledge/experience. No, because rank means nothing! Either one can teach or one can't; not every black belt can teach!