Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward All

Have you ever seen the spy comedy “Sneakers,” starring Robert Redford and a stellar ensemble cast?

I won’t entirely spoil it for you, but the good guys win, and as part of their victory, they are able to extract certain promises from an agent of the US government, played ably by James Earl Jones. Some ask for favors for themselves, small or large. One member of the protagonist team, the blind Whistler, asks for something different. He asks for “peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men.”

It’s a great phrase, despite its use of “men” as a generic for “people.” The phrase is drawn from the King James Version of the Bible, and is used in Christmas Carol. I’m a secular person, but it’s tough to deny the power of ritual and symbol, especially when it’s supposed be used to build togetherness. When the holidays work right, whatever your faith tradition, they make you happier than you were before, remind you of your connection to your fellow humans, and make you grateful for all you have in your life.

Yet the holidays can be a tough time for people, religious and secular alike. Not everyone has a family experience that resembles a heartwarming film. Not everyone has the capacity to celebrate. And while religious texts are supposed to be preaching unity, it seems like all we see in headlines is division. During these holy days, this seems wrong.

I have a charity project or two that I’m not quite ready to announce yet. But it’s Christmas Eve, and the project might be thematically related to this, so I want to say something about it. Also, I want to do my part in reminding you that while people are capable of doing great harm, we’re also capable of incredible acts of compassion, self-sacrifice, and love.

All I can say about the project at this time of year is this:  When I think about the world’s religions — and, in fact, the world’s people — here’s what I want to be thinking about.

These stories have a common thread: at enormous personal risk, human beings stood up to protect others who were ostensibly not like them. That’s powerful. Like I said, I’m an avowed secularist, but these examples weren’t hard to find, either. Human history is replete with stories like this, of those truly courageous souls who welcomed the stranger and chanced losing their lives — in many cases, to save someone they didn’t know.

Look in all the holy books, too. You’ll find it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Whoever kills an innocent will be regarded as a murderer of all humanity. What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow human.

That’s not about the specific religion, of course. It’s about the people, and the way we interpret text. If you’re looking for excuses to hurt people, you’ll find them. (Truth be told, I wish you wouldn’t). If you’re looking for reasons to see the better angels of our nature, I hope you find that, too — whatever your faith or lack thereof.

One of the things I love most about jiu-jitsu is that it, too, can be a unifying force. I believe that, or I wouldn’t be doing it. That’s a hint about the project, too. We should find more items of significance that unify us.

Everyone has difficulties that come into their lives, and this time of year can amplify those feelings in the same way that it can amplify good feelings. You might not be in a war zone at this time of year, and I hope you aren’t, but you don’t have to be in order to make a real difference in someone’s life. That same King James Bible, I recall, has some passages about giving gentle answers, turning the other cheek and loving those who might consider themselves your enemy.

My New Year’s Resolution is to respond to hard things by getting kinder, and by thinking about new ways to help the world. This is easy to say. Harder to do. Like most hard things, it’s worth doing. Jiu-jitsu is like life: it’s a constant struggle between what’s right and what’s easy.

I want peace on Earth and goodwill toward men. I want us to do that and I believe that we can.

Happy holidays, y’all.

 

Gifts For Grapplers: 2015 Holiday Edition

With only a week left until Christmas, it’s finally time to start shopping. At least, it is if you’re me. Is this because I’m lazy, irresponsible, or because I’m distracted by training? Yes.

But you can benefit from my sloth! Behold the 2015 Dirty White Belt Grappler Gift Guide, featuring sweet ideas for presents that will benefit the jiu-jitsu practitioner in your life. Some of these are gear suggestions, which I wholeheartedly recommend. Because it’s so late in the game, I’ve also listed some gift ideas that don’t need to be delivered, so you can be sure to have something to stick into your beloved’s grubby, mat-burn-laden hands.

A lot of these are from Cageside Fight Co., which has a new website. That’s not only because it’s a great company that has supported me a lot throughout the years, but because I *know* they’ll take getting your order to you by Christmas seriously. Cageside and Toro BJJ get the uncritical endorsement, deservedly so.

That said: on with the commerce!

 

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The first run of the Toro BJJ JS 2015 sold out super-fast. But they’re back in stock, and believe me, I’d be telling you that this is a great gi even if I hadn’t designed it. It’s been my primary gi since it came out, and I love the look, feel and fit. It’s the first gi I’ve designed for Toro, and we plan to do one each year. Please help me out and get a terrific value in the process.

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Speaking of first runs, Toro also made its first Navy Blue gi, and man, does this thing look sweet. I’ve seen a few folks around wearing it, and it’s a striking color. If you’re more of a black gi person, the new Dark Horse is a killer gi, too. I haven’t seen the horizontal lapel embroidery style before, and I think it’s a very cool innovation.

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Rounding out my gi recommendations: Meerkatsu’s Orchid Dragon gi is gorgeous. Blue gis are typically not my thing, but this is an artist who really knows what he’s doing.

RASH GUARDS 

The 8-Bit Jiu-Jitsu rashguard I designed for Toro BJJ was a pretty popular item when it was released, and we did a quick re-release for the holidays. At $23, that’s a steal, and it’s one of my favorite rashies I’ve ever done.

Also, Guard-Zilla is loose! I’ve been wearing this one around and getting lots of nice compliments on it. I’m stoked to have mine, and your grappler pal will be stoked to get theirs, too.

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Scramble is doing a pre-order of a killer new rashguard that will benefit Paul, and I just ordered mine. It looks sweet, and it’s a great cause, so buy it and leave a “look at this awesome rashie I ordered you” card under the tree.

 

PRIVATE LESSONS

There are many great aspects to private lessons: you can learn directly from a tremendous teacher, you can tailor your training to what you need most, and you can use it basically any time you want. Plus, you don’t have to worry about delivery.

To give one of these as a gift can be simple — you can just buy a private for your grappler from her or his instructor. Everybody can benefit from personalized attention.

Or, to go that extra mile, find the one person they’ve always wanted to train with and buy them a private with that person (if they’re local) or during the time when they’re coming through town for a seminar. Watch their eyes light up, and thank me later.

 

INSTRUCTIONAL SITES / VIDEO SUBSCRIPTIONS

Want to make your grappler happy — and not worry about the present arriving in time? Get them a subscription to an online site!

I’ve been watching fewer instructional videos these days, but I’ll always recommend two online sites based on my experience with them. Marcelo Garcia’s site is the OG on the block, and has an incredible library of techniques being taught and implemented during live rolling. You can’t go wrong.

But my personal favorite site is the Mendes Bros. You get tremendous instruction, drilling suggestions, technique breakdowns and amazing sparring sessions featuring the best in the world. And it’s delivered right into the privacy of your own home.

Finally, consider a subscription to FloGrappling. I have one, and have generally positive things to report. If you like to watch your friends compete (and, y’know, the big names, too), it’s a great thing to have in your pocket.

Let’s be real: I could go on forever with the wish list. In the interests of time and in the interests of being light on your wallet, I’ll stop there.

One item I’ll leave you with: if you know me in person, you know that I’m always thinking of new charity projects. I have a very exciting one that might come together soon, so if you want to save a little money this season with the intention of helping support that … just keep it in mind.

Thanks for reading. Happy holidays to all!

Check out these podcasts

Hi folks,

Been working really hard on the The Cageside ConcussionCast, so although I have a bunch of written posts planned, I haven’t had time to complete any yet.

Fortunately for your audio entertainment purposes, we are on SoundCloud now, which has all but one of the podcasts archived. If you’re interested in jiujitsu, MMA, and other combat sports (especially in and around the Carolinas), check that out.

You can always listen to the episodes archived permanently on the WHUPfm.org website, but you can also subscribe via iTunes and Stitcher, and here’s our Feedburner.

However you’re listening to us, thanks so much for doing so. We have some really fun interviews planned in the future.

The Woman God must be killed

I don’t know if you heard, but Ronda Rousey lost.

If you did hear, then you must have also heard from all the people who knew she would lose, who say she was overrated the whole time, and who believe that her lack of humility led to her fall from grace (as opposed to a well-prepared opponent who created matchup problems).

This shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does. It’s the way humans think. The fact is, though, it did surprise me to see the narrative snap back so fast from “Ronda will just armbar her, obviously” to “I knew Ronda was overrated, and she got a big head from becoming a big star, and her moral failings led to her doom.”

There is a pithy modern reaction to this, which is: haters have a job, and that job is to hate.

There is also a deeper, less modern reaction, one that I think about often.

Continue reading “The Woman God must be killed”

Interview With Andrew Smith

The next episode of the Cageside ConcussionCast, the jiujitsu and MMA podcast I co-host, is out now — and it features an interview with Andrew Smith. Andrew is a second degree black belt in jiujitsu, a judo black belt, and a co-owner of both US Grappling and Revolution BJJ in Richmond, Virginia (where you should train if you’re in town). He’s a thoughtful and unique guy, and I enjoyed the interview a lot. I hope you do as well.

Listen and download here!

Triangle From Closed Guard With Strikes

On the most recent podcast, we interviewed CJ Murdock, who is a black belt currently training in Brazil with Fernando Terere.

When we do this, we’re usually going to ask the guest to demonstrate one of her or his favorite techniques: with CJ, that’s not possible, since he’s in another country. In a situation like that, I’ll demonstrate the grappling technique and Trevor Hayes will demonstrate the striking.

Here’s a classic, core technique that never stops working and never diminishes in importance: the triangle from the vale tudo guard.

Trevor knows this punchy-kicky business far better than I do. He runs the Muay Thai program at Forged Fitness Cary, and here he shows the teep kick and the roundhouse kick.

Interview With CJ Murdock, Live From Brazil

The second episode of the Cageside ConcussionCast, the radio show and podcast I host with Trevor Hayes, is up now, and I think you’ll really want to check this one out. Here’s a link you can listen at until Nov. 8, and I’ll post a permalink later.

We talk to one of the most beloved and accomplished current competitors on the local scene, CJ Murdock. CJ is currently living and training in Brazil with Connection Rio. If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to train with Terere every day, listen in. CJ also shares some technical advice, how he got hooked up with the trip to Brazil, why he was vegan but isn’t now, and much more.


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We also do a segment we call The Parting Shot, where we share offbeat items from the martial arts world. Mine is about Harold Hubbard, a friend and training partner of mine who fought in Peru. You might remember Harold from such GIFs as this:

Harold wins by ground and pound.
Harold wins by ground and pound.

Harold cut some … memorable fight promos in Peru. I’ve already had some people request I post the sound files that I played on the show. Listen to the podcast first, but if you want them for future reference, here are all four in order.

First Podcast Out Now

The maiden voyage of the martial arts radio show I’m co-hosting is out now!

The show airs live every Sunday at 10 a.m. Eastern time on WHUP 104.7 FM in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and you can livestream it at WHUPfm.org from anywhere fine Internet connections are available.

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It’s called The Cageside ConcussionCast, and while the name implies face-punching, I’m on the show to talk about jiujitsu primarily. We have some pretty amazing BJJ-related interviews planned, so stay tuned for that.

If you miss it, it automatically archives as a podcast, and is usually available within 5 minutes of us going off the air at 11 a.m. You can download that from our show page on the WHUP website. We’re going to get it listed on iTunes soon as well.

Download the first show here! We interview Laurie Porsch from Grapplethon DC, recap the Toro Cup grappling benefit card, fumble with audio files for 45 seconds of riveting low-volume near-silence (sorry about that!), and try but fail to play an awesome interview with Andrew Smith of Revolution BJJ that will air next week.

Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram. Chat with us using the hashtag #CagesideWHUP or email us at cagesideWHUP at gmail dot com.

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New Radio Show this Weekend

When I was a child, all I wanted was my own rap theme song. Like John Slade said, every hero needs some theme music.

Turns out all I had to do to realize this dream was host a community radio show. Starting this Sunday, I’ll be hosting the Cageside ConcussionCast on WHUP FM 104.7 in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

The name is a little tongue-in-cheek, but me and my co-host Trevor Hayes will be talking about jiujitsu, MMA and the martial arts in the Carolinas and beyond. You can check it out live on Sundays from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. Eastern time if you’re local, or you can listen to the livestream at WHUPfm.org. The shows will automatically become podcasts an hour after airing, so you can download them for free. We’ll have them up on iTunes soon.

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Beyond any question, the ConcussionCast will the best combat sports show hosted by a vegan pajama wrestler. Come listen to us preview local tournaments and fights and interview the best martial arts personalities you’ll ever want to hear from. We’ll let these experts explain how North Carolina became a jiu-jitsu hotbed, what fights to watch and when, how to execute techniques and what walkout music you should pick for your fight. Occasionally we’ll talk to our expert guests about Dungeons & Dragons and heel hooks:

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Some interviews we already have scheduled:

Andrew Smith
Caio Terra
D’Juan Owens
CJ Murdock, live from Brazil
Laurie Porsch from Grapplethon
Guy Pendergrass
Mark Hunt
.
.. and so, so many more. 

We also promise fun and vegan recipes with a minimum of blunt trauma, but a maximum of entertainment. Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram. Chat with us using the hashtag #CagesideWHUP or email us at cagesideWHUP at gmail dot com. And let me know who you want us to interview.

Oh, and about that theme music: how awesome is this track created for the show by Toon & The Real Laww?

 

Intro to the Berimbolo

For a move that — to me — is just another powerful sweep from De La Riva guard, the berimbolo sure has become a lightning rod. To some, it’s emblematic of creative jiu-jitsu evolution. To others, it’s an invitation to soccer kick you in the head.

Spin on some cardboard to beats in the street, and everyone calls you Ozone or Turbo; spin underneath a guy to take his back, and everybody loses their minds.

Every job has a perfect tool. The berimbolo is a great tactic in many situations, and when you strip away the loaded connotations some people put on the word, I think that becomes apparent. It’s a terrific move for people who have trouble keeping their grips, since the belt grip is a tough one to break. For people fond of De La Riva guard, it’s a good chance to either get to the most powerful finishing position in jiujitsu — the back. Besides that, it’s fun, and fun has value.

Skate to create.
It also inspires numerous puns and Photoshop jokes, at least in me. Skate to create.

 

I just did a series of two Berimbolo introduction videos for the Roy Marsh Jiu-Jitsu YouTube channel. Please check these out and let me know what you think! As you’ll see, I often use berimbolo to take the back, but just as often I’ll come up to pass the guard — or use it to take mount, which I didn’t show here, but I will if people are interested.

 

Have fun with these and let me know if you have any questions in the comments. Feel free to request future videos — or future silly Photoshops — too. I thought about making Kool-Aid Man shirts for Toro, but no plans are in the works for that, at least now.

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