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, 10th-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!
