Not a Kung-Fu Kick

No kung-fu kick, karate kick or taekwondo kick either

I don't know about you and your view on this but personally I'm getting pretty sick and tired of reading about how kicks from karate, taekwondo, kung-fu and other martial arts are said to be in wide spread use.

It somehow seems every Tom, Dick and Harry knows how to execute martial arts style kicks in various sport events as well as in street type brawls.

A couple of recent cases: First you have the highly publicized NFL situation where a Pittsburg Steelers' wide receiver allegedly "kung fu kicked"a punter in the face on a kick return. You can bet your last dollar that terms such as karate kick have been used about the incident too...

Then there's a recent news brief from the UK, where a man has been convicted of murder after he was found guilty of "karate kicking" a homeless man to death back in 2013.

What intrigues me the most is how these halfwit sensational-seeking reporters and media outlets seems to be such experts in martial arts that they can distinguish a karate kick from a kung-fu kick or a taekwondo style kick - or even a Muay Thai kick - outside of training or strict competition. I dare say these folks have to be good! One kick and they can immediately say "Yes folks, this is a karate kick for sure!"

Kung Fu style kick - Image from Flickr.com

Sure there are instances where you can be pretty certain about the origin. When Swedish soccer striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic does one of his many acrobatic kicks and moves on the field, you can safely add taekwondo to that - after all he has a background from that martial art.

As for the vast majority of the rest... forget about it! It's just low level journalism and easy-to-spot attempts to generate clicks through attention-grabbing headlines when a kicking situation is tied to the martial arts.

Please stick to the facts. When someone haven't trained a a particular art for a lengthy period of time - it is just a kick and it has nothing to do with any particular martial art. Rant over...

Eric Cantona's so-called Kung-Fu kick

As we all can see, this infamous situation from 1995 in the UK is definitely a kung fu kick... he is flying isn't he?

Best Martial Art for Children

What's the best martial art for kids?

It's a constant debate both within as well as out side of the martial arts community which art is best suitable for teaching kids martial arts.

Most of the times you will be recommended arts like karate, taekwondo, judo, aikido and ju jitsu (or jiu-jitsu). One example is this latest post from scifighting.com. And to be frank, there is absolutely nothing wrong with listing or recommending certain arts like this - we can certainly all agree that these 5 chosen arts (or 6 arts, depending on your point of view) can be absolutely great for children of all ages.

Are you picking an art or a school?

The way I see it, there is something vital missing in the approach of picking an art (or several arts) and stating that "these are the best martial arts for kids!". It is a general statement that may, or may not be true.

The point is that you may have a perfectly suitable art being taught in a way that is not at all beneficial to your child or even children in general. To me, the teacher and the whole environment at the martial arts academy/school/club is absolutely pivotal.

I will argue until my last breath that almost ANY serious martial art can be perfect for a child as long as it is taught the right way - adopted to children in a safe and caring environment.

Agree or disagree? Feel free to comment!

Best Martial Arts for Kids?

Karate Piñata

It's quite apparent that I was caught unaware of the fact that there was this thing called Karate Piñata - my bad!
If you're ready to get more kicks into your Mexican flavored festivities, here goes:

Senior Karateka Taking Down Robbers

Here's 69-year-old Jan Eriksson, apparently a tough dude who's been around the block a time or two.

When faced with demands from three young robbers, armed with a baseball bat, the karate black belt holder told them in no uncertain term to forget about it.

He then proved they had messed with the wrong guy when they attacked him and he floored the three wanna-be gangsters. Great life lesson for these three useless punks!

Here's a Swedish media report from ltz.se.

Hair Saloon Karate Moves

As this piece correctly states, it does take a man who is comfortable to perform select karate moves - dressed skintight jeans, snakeskin boots, a barbers robe and tinfoil (!).

However, this is exactly the scene in the liquor (Southern Comfort) ad shown below. The leading man, who is said to operate martial arts (karate) schools in real life, is showing the ladies some slick moves - great fun! :-)

Confuse-Us Speaks #28

Brown belt - by conskeptical, Flickr.com

According to our friends the gullible media nitwits (aka reporters), a karate brown belt is now the same as being an expert.

Oh yes, jolly old great-grandmaster Confuse-Us is totally on the ball with his one.

I don't even dare to think what this guy would have been called, had he been a black belt.

I am positive the man himself didn't mention anything about expert status, or any other status for that matter. Your typical reporter will fill in the blanks quite nicely and make it all oh so sensational.

In any case, here's the piece of Confuse-Us approved shenanigans with the title: "Get me out of here...I'm a karate expert." Simply brilliant!

A brown belt in karate kept his cool after ending up locked inside Maldon’s leisure centre.
When ceramic tiler Dave Collins’ late evening karate class ended Tuesday night, he had a quick shower before realising he was locked in at the Blackwater Leisure Centre.

So now you know, becoming a karate expert is just a stroll in the park, you don't even need one of them deadly black belts!

Kenyaction Karate

Here's a bit of Kenyaction karate ... of karate action from Kenya if you will (bad pun, I know, I'm a terrible person :)

Anyhow, I have no idea if this movie is serious, or just pokes fun of it all...

The Karate Guard

No, it's probably not the kind of karate guard you're thinking about - it's an excellent cartoon by none other than Tom and Jerry, a classic.

I've never seen this one before, and these guys always make me laugh - good stuff! Those two knows how to throw a good fight, that's for sure!

Confuse-Us Speaks #27

A yes... our very own old Grandmaster of martial arts weirdness, Confuse-Us, is back with another edition of stage diving into the mixed-up world of martial arts lunacy!

Confucius - Illustration image from fotopedia.com/Google

This time he's found a piece from timesofindia.indiatimes.com, where you will find some (let's called them) "rather interesting" bits and pieces of information.

According to Devadanam, Aikido or mixed martial arts is the best form of self-defence and is generally taught to commandos of special forces.
Sailesh Varma of Association of Mixed Martial Arts India said, "Aikido is an effective self-defence technique that focuses on dislocation of joints and nerve points. On mixed martial arts, Varma said that it was a combination of several martial arts such as Judo, Aikido, Muay Thai and Karate.

Okidoki - It really is good finally to be informed about aikido! Being obviously uninformed, I thought (silly me) that aikido was something totally different. I guess it just goes to prove how little I actually know...

And that aikido is being a part of MMA ... wow, who would have known! These sneaky folks are good to keeping that a secret for so long. Most be some ninja activities for sure.

Or could it simply be that the good folks - here a martial arts instructor - of India knows something which has simply passed the rest of the world by?

Krotty Shoes

And here's a "krotty shoes" video ad from Diesel. Some folks say it's funny...

If You're Looking for Gobble

"If you're looking for gooble - you came to the right place!" Seems the Turkeys are well prepared to fight back this festive season :-)

And of course: This is Turkey-do style karate, just in case you wonder.

The Karateka Video Game

If your old enough and your into playing martial arts related video games, you may remember the  Karateka video game. This mid 80's "karate" game is now more or less a classic.

The game is now being re-released, and here's a funny trailer making a couple of references to the old version.

The Taekwondo Face-Block

Here's a video of the (oddly enough) ever-so-popular taekwondo face-block.

No one quite uses the head and face to block an attack like these guys... Great kicking though, I'll definitely give him that much.

A Rare Karate Nutcase

Karate fight - Illustration from Flickr.com

This South-African dude is a rare karate nutcase for sure. For one he is a well known journalist and media figure losing his cool ...

...If you can claim that going absolutely mental is "losing your cool".

Then, this karateka not only goes mental, he absolutely beats up a female colleague! How about that for being ka-rotty ka-razy?

the "best" part though is that it appears he used his martial arts skills to beat up his female co-worker over something as trivial as singing...

Yes folks, singing...

Apparently, the female victim told the ka-razy journalist that he should stick to his day job and stop his vocal performance.

Apparently, he didn't take too kindly to the critic, and you can go here to read about the karate madman.

And if you want to know what happened to his day job, then the answer is that he don't have one right now... Bummer.

The Suck-Factor in Traditional Martial Arts

Traditional martial arts sucks? From Flickr.

I'm sure you have heard a number of times how the suck-factor in traditional martial arts (TMA) can be very high?

It goes without saying that such statements in general comes from the people who don't do TMA, or who have done some bullshido/McDojo variety of it before - typically when they were children.

Those of us who find it very meaningful to do the more traditional arts like karate, taekwondo, judo and ju-jitsu, knows that there are lots of benefits associated with this type of training. Also, it should be quite self-explanatory that not everyone aim at being MMA fighters, or train the latest and greatest "street-approved combat style of self-defense.

That's all well and fine, but there still may be some elements of truth about the suck-factor in traditional martial arts. It appears that this is more than anything a problem in the USA, and you can read more about it here.

The Krotty Lions

Here are the krotty lions - real dangerous creatures... And don't forget, never, ever let the size fool you!

Feel free to check out the Martial Arts Humor page on Facebook, found here. A 'like is always appreciated :-)'

Former Karate World Champ Jailed

Karate - Illustration by Flickr.com

There's quite a bit of an uproar - and quite understandably so if I might add - when a British former karate world champion recently received a lean 30-month jail sentence after he was found guilty of sexual related crimes towards children.

You should definitely click over to Bournemouth Echo and read the whole story for yourself ... if you have the stomach for it.

Former karate world champ jailed

A former world karate champion from Poole who committed a string of sexual offences has been jailed for 30 months.
Triple world number one Tim Stephens, 50, will be released in less than half that time after pleading guilty to a total of 43 charges, in which he assaulted a woman in her sleep, groomed a teenage girl online and hoarded vast numbers of indecent photos, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.
But his former partner told the Daily Echo: "I'm disgusted with the sentence. I thought he should get at least five years."

It appears that the judge has paid more attention to the defendant than the victims in this case.

And by all means, feel free to chime in below. What's your opinion on the issue?

Karate Instructor Accused

Karate grading - from Wikipedia.org

It may seem like almost an everyday occurrence that there's another taekwondo or karate instructor accused of a sexual crime of some sort involving a juvenile student.

However, considering the huge number of karate or taekwondo schools and instructors/teachers out there - it's more than anything a statistical thing that these arts are taking the spotlight more often than others.

Also, let us not forget that the vast majority of martial arts teachers are honest, dedicated and trustworthy individuals.

That said - one such case is really one too many, and it involves all martial arts in a significantly negative way.

Here's an excerpt from wtsp.com regarding a recent case from Florida:

A Sarasota teacher was arrested Friday on charges he had sex with a 14-year-old student seven years ago.
According to the affidavit, the victim, now 21, told her brothers that she had sex with John Garcia, a karate instructor at the Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences, when she was in middle school.
On Febr. 7, the woman told police in a statement that during the incident Garcia dismissed the class, locked the door, and sat her in his lap. He then began to fondle her and proceeded to have sex with her. The woman said this was the first time she ever had sex.

As always, feel free to comment below.

Crappy "Krotty" Drivers

Car crash - Illustration from Wikipedia

Really hope we don't see any crappy "krotty" drivers trends here...

First you had the wild story of the karate (aka. krotty) parent from Ohio who drove his two young children to karate practice, while under influence ... and managed to be an hour late to boot.

Then you had another one - from Ontario, Canada this time. Karate parent late for his son's class. Windsorstar.com reports:

A 26-year-old man has been charged with careless driving. Police reports show he was late getting his son to Karate class.
The two-car collision happened just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday night.
A 2004 Chevrolet, driven by the 26-year-old man, was travelling southbound on Bernard hit a 2009 Pontiac travelling eastbound on Seminole, causing the Chevrolet to slam into the wall of Trevi Pizza.

Guys, take it easy... please. Karate and other martial arts is supposed to be fun and all that ... nothing to risk anyone's life or health over.

Crush on Karate Teacher

Karate - illustration photo, Flickr.com

It appears that a California girl's crush on her karate teacher in 2007 resulted in the man eventually being accused of a felony and a subsequent trial by jury.

The man has now been cleared by the jury of the serious charges according to pressdemocrat.com. The man was potentially facing 9 years in prison if he had been convicted.

There is definitely no winners in a case like this, and I can't help but speculate if this is a case that should have been brought to court in the first place?

41-year-old Santa Rosa karate instructor was cleared of felony child-sex charges involving a teenage student who witnesses said developed a crush on him.
Jason Bates was accused of kissing and groping the 13-year-old girl in 2007 during classes at the Finley Community Center and at a private martial arts party at his house.

What is your take on this case - or indeed similar cases of martial arts instructors being accused of felony sexual crimes and later cleared.