Not all, but more than you'd think. Modern athletes of any type are crybabies compared to their predecessors IMO. A large percentage just whine and cry these days.
I give James all the credit in the world. In 2006 there were several in the Ohana that wanted his head on a platter. Not so much for who he was, but at the time who he was under. It didn't help that he was speaking his mind as a lowly second degree as well. Do that enough and you are bound to get people ****ed off. He went to the 2007 event knowing full well that there could be some people who still wanted to get at him. I made sure he was introduced to all the people that used to want to kill him just to make sure they had their opportunity. Grand Master Harper (then Professor) gave him a shot right in the chest. James turned a shade of blue, but didn't flinch. James doesn't have a lot of Ohana near him. So he mixes it up with a lot of different coaches. He goes to throwdowns and fights people of all levels and styles. He has entered in MMA events and competed against others who have the guts to put it out there. Anyways, let me know when any of you step up. Then go ahead and do all the judging you want and you can discuss courage, knowledge, and what's real and what isn't. So far, I haven't seen it...just seen a lot of talkers.
You should read aloud what you are writing before you actually hit the "submit reply" button. There are some superstar athletes that have that "primadonna" way, but to say a large percentage is not true at all.
Cool that you got it on video. I don't think you were really understanding what I was saying, but hey, what do I know. Like I said said, it is water under the bridge now. Keep up the good training. P.S. James, you said, "Not like I fell on the ground crying with the wind knocked out of me." This is actually what I think others were looking for. If you did fall to the ground with the wind knocked out of you, AND then got back up for more... that is Kajukenbo spirit. That is the old way I speak of and no one in Kajukenbo would hold that against you. I don't think I could be more clear to the point than this.
Oh yeah, you got that right...these guys are completes namby pambies... I mean look at these frail hearted souls... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8z_cPKig58"]YouTube[/ame] :bang:
COUGH - Danjo wrote "compared to their predecessors." So obviously, we must look back at the fighters before UFC/Pride to get a real idea the level of pussery this new generation has attained.
Apparently crying makes good television. I wouldn't put a lot on knowing people from television alone. Again, we go back to the importance of face-to-face training and interaction. This whole line of who is tougher, old school or new school (MMA), IMHO, is so irresponsible without knowing the people personally that we are talking about. Things haven't changed that much, maybe people are smarter about things now a days, but they still are the same on the inside. To survive the training of the Kajukenbo old days, some folks drank large quantities of alcohol. Some took shots before class. You think a sane person would put themselves through what these guys did. Now I'm not saying all, but just you should know that life is complicated and like I said, I wouldn't last 20 seconds training the way they did. You think things are different today, crap no. We got guys on pain killers and cortisone just trying to make it through training these days. Smarter? Maybe... trickier, yes. Now how many can make it without the drugs or alcohol? Is it because you are tough or is it really because you ain't training like they are? Just my opinion, take it or leave it.
Now who's taking things out of context? I don't think the average MMA guy is a wimp, but I'm not an MMA nutrider either who thinks that nothing of worth existed before it came along and that any training model or techniques that aren't strictly following the MMA model are a waste of time. Wade might be right about the fact that the athletes that cry are the ones that get put on TV the most and therefore the perception is skewed.
*takes off muzzle* I'd say good MA students from any style are 'better' trained for today's environment. We also have more understanding of body mechanics, injuries etc. to train some aspects more effectively. DAnjo, I'm also curious as to whether you class yourself as a 'newer' student or an old school student and what the basis of your classification is. Also why do you think there has to be some line drawn between the generations putting one in the 'inferior crybabies' camp and the other in the 'hardcore old timers' camp? There is good to be learnt from the GMs who've done their time, trained hard, nurtured the art, supported their students but also the students, instructors and leaders that are the future of any MA. Eh? This coming from the guy who talks in hushed reverential tones about the way people 'move'. The athleticism required of top MA competitors today to make it is amazing, nothing to sneer at DAnjo. We'd all like to think that about the high ranked members in our arts whether it be 1st, 5th, 9th or whatever dan. Its nice you have such belief but its naive.
Maybe I am just taking what you are saying out of context. It is difficult for me to understand how you can say that a large percentage of athletes are crybabies on one hand and then on the other hand say that you don't think the average MMA guy is a wimp (crybaby etc.)
I think a simple pie chart could come in handy here.... 70% I would say is a large percentage, though "large" in this instance is a fairly subjective term. With Danjo, 40% could be a "large" percentage, or even 3%. So now we realize that "large percentage" doesn't necessarily = "majority" But average....well the average is simply the sum of all levels of all fighters divided by the total number of fighters. So if we have 5% that are utter crybabies and we label them as 10, and then we have the other end of the spectrum being Fedor at 100, and we assume there are 100,000 fighters in the world (just throwing a # out there to work with) we could have.... 5000 of those fighters being crybabies. So we can assume that another 5000 are total badass Fedors on the other end of the spectrum, with everyone else falling somewhere in between..... ....I'm confused, what are we trying to do again? Why am I holding this calculator?
I blame the onion in their Tapout shorts. If KF doesn't make it to become a superstar crybaby, I'm sure he could get part-time work as an accountant.
