Taking Another Shot at Good Competition: What it Means to All of Us, Who We Are and How We Are Perceived!

By MAH (”Mad as Hell”) Joe Corley

I have just gagged my way through the CBS primetime debut of “mixed martial arts, featuring “the one, the only Kimbooooooooooo Sliiiiiiiiiiiice!”

During two hours and 45 minutes of “non-stop (gag) action” (four fights: two ending in the first round, one in the second and one in the third-where’d the time go, we were having so much fun!), only the two women on the card looked like martial artists, as we know martial arts. In addition, they alone represented the martial arts during their interviews. They were respectful and competent, exhibiting class. These were no bimbos. You’d want your kids to grow up to be like them.

Not so with the others.

Sitting in a sports bar that night at the New England Open Tournament Hotel outside Boston, with fellow NASKA promoters, parents, competitors and students, I was forced to reflect.

It has been 30 years and 1 month, since I made my PKA TV commentator debut on CBS, doing commentary on Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, Benny Urquidez and Howard Jackson. On this bizarre night in 2008, among good karate friends, I was reminded of my horror, as to what our American culture is tolerating. The techniques of that live CBS event 30 years ago compared to what I saw in this primetime ring from the same network this night were like tough, 10^th-Degree World Champion Black Belts to tough Gold Belts of today, with cauliflowers sewn to the sides of their heads!

The TV commentators were spewing praise like they were transfixed! “Oh, good this, good that, good the other thing!” (What were they watching?) I was screaming for Jack Nicholson to take him with me-we must escape the Cuckoo’s Nest! Now! CBS is a fine network. HELP!

Perversely, Russell Crowe as the Gladiator was on HBO at the same time. Was it fate that night to illustrate to us that the Coliseum sported more martial honor than the Octagon….’er Pro Elite’s “circulargon”?

The effects on us, in our martial arts studios and our culture-our martial arts culture and our western culture-are far reaching. Can anyone connect the dots from the legalization of today’s “rules” in the Octagon that would have made felons of boxers in the same rings in the same cities under the auspices of the same boxing commissions in the 90’s - had they held down their opponents’ arms and hammered them in the face - to the YouTube beatings the teen boys and girls are inflicting on one another? On ABC’s 20/20, the night before the CBS “Slice ‘em Up Show”, John Stossell reported on the concerns about the kids now in MMA!

It’s personally making me nuts!

It’s like Howard Beale said in the classic film, Network, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m just not gonna’ take it anymore!” (Go ahead, Google it: Network I’m mad as hell!)
Our 41st Battle of Atlanta will be approximately six weeks in the future when you read this, and here I am, appealing to every network executive who will listen and every discerning martial arts instructor I can reach and every fight fan on the planet who cares for quality; and I’m screaming at the top of my hoarse, mad-as-hell lungs: STOP THE INSANITY, PLEASE!
As I scoop water from the sinking Titanic of reason with my teacup of rational thinking, I am reaching out to all who will listen to me to join in this movement to bring sanity back to our martial arts culture.
I STRONGLY RESENT them even calling it martial arts. The M in MMA is really an upside down W for WRESTLING: MIXED WRESTLING ARTS! I’m Mad as Hell!
Let us not REACTIVELY look on any longer, as the UFC and others seek to define us to our real audience. Alas, to the entire world!
Rather, join me in a PROACTIVE movement to broadcast to the world who we are as martial artists. M is for real martial artists.

This is the NEW BEGINNING.

For more than 20 years, others have defined us and, luckily, most it was good. Not so in these TV spectacles.

On the big screen, Jerry Weintraub and the Karate Kid had the bad American instructor in the studio, but Mr. Miyagi saved Daniel. He showed him the right way. The good news was it opened the kids’ eyes to what good martial arts could do for them: Self esteem, confidence, etc. Then, the Ninja Turtles (go figure) were, thankfully, good-natured martial artists from the ooze. Then, the Power Rangers defeated evildoers, but we can’t wait on the Panda to save us now; we must take action.

Read the interviews under “Why Compete?” and view the I CAN videos on the battleofatlanta.com site, and let me know what you think about these points-of-view!

Let your students hear the right things to do from you! From your first-timers to your veterans, give them an opportunity to express themselves as martial arts competitors. Expose them to what is occurring at good tournaments.

Have them see you honored for your contributions to them!

I hope to see you soon, as part of our (all of our) New Beginning!

Less than 10% lead…everyone else follows. We once thought ‘leaders are born, not made’…now, we know that leaders are developed from the talent pool of those who desire to lead and are given the skills with which to lead.

Two of the most inspiring quotes for me, in my life’s work, have come from Zig Ziglar and President Theodore Roosevelt.

Mr. Ziglar said, “It is not nearly as important what we get by achieving our goals, as what we become!”

President Roosevelt spoke eloquently about the Man in the Arena: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who strives valiantly…who knows the great enthusiasms… the great devotions…and spends himself in worthy causes.

Who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement…and, who, at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly so…that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

These quotes inspire me with the quest for tenacity and courage and honor—and the desire to spread those inspirations to our students of all ages. The quest is, simply, EXCELLENCE. At Joe Corley Karate, we are continually striving for excellence… not to rest on any temporary laurels or to become complacent with any short-term successes. We meet with our instructors every week—six hours of mental and physical training specifically designed to provide our instructors with more and more understanding and methods for motivating and inspiring our students and the parents of our younger students.

We live by the principle that a good instructor is one who can motivate a student to become as good as the student believes he or she can be. We believe, however, that a great instructor is one who can inspire a student to be as good as the instructor believes the student can be. In this endeavor, we are constantly seeking the matched commitment of the parents and significant others in our studios, who themselves may have to overcome certain obstacles to help their children and partners reach those goals they have set as a family. We are a Black Belt School. Being a Black Belt School essentially means we are committed to Black Belt Excellence for our students. In the martial arts, as in every endeavor, excellence at its highest levels is also known as Mastery.

Mastery, by definition, means gaining consummate skill and knowledge in a subject. It is a step above expert, yet, paradoxically, it is a goal that no one can ever reach—the title of true master, meaning everything is mastered is not achievable—(like a golfer shooting 18 on even one course!); but the pursuit of mastery is at the core of what we hope to instill in our students. So, while we talk a lot about the Black Belt Goal as a tangible, attainable representation of what we call Mastery, it is truly just one of the key building blocks of the program. In fact, our martial arts educational program exceeds the acquisition of this Black Belt we are all so proud of.

The goal we seek to instill is, in fact, the never-ending quest for mastery. The Japanese have a word for the concept: kaizen. Tony Robbins created our American equivalent: CANI—Constant and Never Ending Improvement.

Contemplate what Oprah Winfrey says about goals, “If you want to accomplish the goals of your life, then you must begin with the Spirit.” That is the live voice inside each of us that guides us, that gives us strength and courage to make the right decisions and to do the right things—the guide that Stephen Covey would call the compass. The compass that each of us will use throughout the journey of our lives. The compass that all of our parents want their children to have, the compass for right or wrong, for courage and grace and confidence and humility, knowing they will be pulled in so many different directions by so many different forces.

Our Black Belts in training truly have an exciting, challenging adventure ahead of them in this Information Age, plagued with hostile forces. They need to be equipped with courage, stamina, fortitude and honor to face the pressures sure to confront them during the next decade, not to mention the greater pressures that will accrue to a whole new technologically overpowered generation in the years that follow. To develop those necessary attributes, our goals, as individuals and as instructors and instructors in training, are an important central part of the recipe.

Tony Robbins explains that goals are a “means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives.” He says, “Goals are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it’s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.”