2nd hand "tough guy"?

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by mmafiter, Jun 17, 2002.

  1. mmafiter

    mmafiter New Member

    Have any of you had this experience before? You are walking around with a group of friends and one of the guys starts picking fights with random people because he knows you are there with him and he believes you will protect him. I've had this happen a few times. A guy who is generally good natured will suddenly become obnoxious and rude to people trying to elicit a response. One guy even said he was going to start a fight, just to see me beat the crap out of somebody.

    I usually take the guy off to the side and tell him that if he keeps it up, I'm just going to stand there and watch him get his butt whipped. Usually when they see I'm not joking, they stop being an ass.:rolleyes:
     
  2. LilBunnyRabbit

    LilBunnyRabbit Old One

    Since most of my friends also do martial arts I don't really have that problem. Only time it did come up was when one (who'd only just started) slipped and fell into someone. The person took it badly and started yelling, and gathering his friends round. The friend who'd slipped looked at him and his friends, and walked away.
     
  3. Darzeka

    Darzeka New Member

    I get this problem as well. He is even worse when he gets drunk.

    He got into a fight a club recently that he started with very little provocation. The two ended up rolling around on the floor with little to no actual fighting taking place.
    I was elsewhere on the dancefloor saw a disturbance and didn't know it was him, one of our other mates pulled them apart then the boucers bounced them down the stairs.
    The mate who helped him sat outside for a while with him, showed him he could pretty much do anything he anted to him wrestling wise (pinned him in the dirt) then came back inside and we left him out there for about two hours.
    It was freezing that night so it wasn't much fun for him.

    He didn't learn anything from it though - he reckons he enjoyed it???

    He's been told that no help will come if he does it again unless he's havong the crap kicked out of him by some big dude.

    I just hope he gets hit properly next time so he realises what a **** fighter he is.
     
  4. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    Yeah, back in my home town I had a mate like that, he thought he could say anything to anyone and I'd back him up, if he does stuff like that I generally vanish when he's not looking and go for a pint!
    Also heard he try to impress the ladies with a story about how he stopped a guy from hitting his ex, something that I'd actually done whilst he was sat down two tables away watching!
    I think he gets the idea now that I'd just stand back and watch until someone was actually near death before I'd interfere!

    Thanx
     
  5. Thomas Vince

    Thomas Vince New Member

    NO!
    I do not associate with people of such immaturity. I am pretty much like Andy, living as a recluse, I train everyday all day and I am like a Cat. If someone were to get into an altercation with me, it is serious, not just to prove who has more testosterone, the attacker is going to the hospital and it could be worse, so I am very careful about who I am with and where I go. I prefer to socialize with people who are not martial artists, this keeps the conversation away from fighting. I have 150+ students, Four Black Belts, Eight Brown Belts the rest are under the Kyu Level. I do however socialize with my Seniors all of whom are 8th Degree or higher, and considerably older than I. Ofcourse getting older in my life has alot to do with this and I remember my younger days when I had something to prove, I fought all the time and had a$$holes for friends too. You did the right thing "mmafiter" and the mature thing. The greatest risk we have as Martial Artists these days especially in America is we get "sued" for lots of money. A few months ago my wife and I were at a night club and a man assaulted us with a knife in the parking lot. I broke his leg instantly, and I nearly kept going, I was going to take him out, and my wife screamed "Tom STOP!" In my younger days it would have been a homicide, so please consider the consequences as I am sure you as a professional do, when we are deadly we know it we don't have anything to prove and are friends should respect that to. The problem with us MA'S is that we learn to be suspicious and it is hard for us to trust, so we make few very close friends. Thats why this web site is so good!
    Good Luck to you and God Bless!
     
  6. Thomas Vince

    Thomas Vince New Member

    One other thought...

    Sometimes these types of friends would secretly like to see us beat because of their own jealous nature of us and our ability or self confidence.
     
  7. mmafiter

    mmafiter New Member

    Re: One other thought...

    That sir, is EXACTLY the answer I was seeing if someone would come up with! Good for you. I believe this is a very pertinent statement. Many of my co-workers continually ask me to go out to the bars with them. I went once and it was an experience I will not have again. They continually see me eating right, exercising, and being self confident on my habits and nature and are looking for a way to see me fail. Often times at lunch someone will make a comment like "What are you eating, tuna again? What are you one of those fitness freaks?" I just smile and say "Yeah." What I think they are trying to do is make themselves feel better for thier weakness and inability to take control of thier lives.

    Good observation Mr. Vince.:D
     
  8. Thomas Vince

    Thomas Vince New Member

    I'm happy we see eye to eye, all of our lives there will be people out to secretly see us destroyed or fail. Most of my life has been spent dealing with this factor, it is a by product of being who we are and what we are, simply the best we can be!
     
  9. Darzeka

    Darzeka New Member

    Here is a cultural difference I think from America to Australia.

    Over there you say lots of people want to see you fail because they are jealous of the self control you have on your life.
    Here there are far less people like that. All my friends that know I do a MA are happy when I come out with them because it is a rare occasion that I drink and so am able to actually see clearly what is going on.
    They like the fact that I will be able to help them if there are attacked by some random and they know that if they do something stupid then I will let them take a bit of a beating before I step in.

    At work my coworkers see it as a great comfort to have 3 or 4 MA in the shop. I work in a fast food shop (Dominoes) and there are regular attempted robberies of these stores (don't ask me why there is never anything more than abuot $200 in the till) and they would rather that the attacker could be disposed of easily without any harm coming to them.

    Incidentally my mate who was acting like a fool has since seen the error of his ways and is making a conscious effort to be less antagonistic although he still thinks he is a great fighter. This will be the next step in his education I think.
     
  10. Thomas Vince

    Thomas Vince New Member

    Canadians are different than Americans are different from Australians, are different from Africans, but we are not that different. There are little wars going on all over the world right now for this very same reason that we are talking about. I think you are very fortunate to have great friends, but your case is not always THE case unfortunately and Darzeka, I enjoy your posts but here I would have to disagree, but thats why there is so much variety in life EH?
    So you on the flip side.
     
  11. Darzeka

    Darzeka New Member

    I suppose it could just be me ignoring what people are acting like around me again. The only opinion that matters to me is mine and what anyone else thinks about me concerns me very little. So I tend to go around and laugh whenever someone looks at me with a wierd look just thinking about what they could be thinking (I know i'm very strange but I am nearly always amused when I go out)

    That saying I do still like hearing nice things said about me ( you really like reading my posts? ) but I tend to disbelieve them anyway.
     
  12. Thomas Vince

    Thomas Vince New Member

    Yes I do! And I really like theta fact that you can laugh about things, thats important too!
     

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