What the UFC is Lacking is...

Most of us have heard of the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship. There are many versions of this "sport" but the most famous one is the UFC. IF you have never heard of the UFC, here is a quick breakdown.

The UFC is a contact sport. Two guys fighting each other to try and get the other one to quit. There are several ways to make your opponent quit or what most people call "tapping out". There are only a few rules that apply in this sport. Most are basic rules such as no hitting in the groin and no biting. Simple things like that. Other than that all things go. You can punch, elbow, kick, and knee your way into victory. You can do just about anything you wish until your opponent gives up by tapping out or gets knocked out. In rare cases, fighters last the entire 3 or 5 rounds. Basically you have 2 men fighting each other, trying to beat the holy hell out of the other. Fights are not immediately stopped when blood is seen as in boxing. Blood is allowed to flow as long as it does not interfere with a persons vision. Usually after a night of hard fighting when several fighters have gone, at the end or the last fight, you can see blood all over the mats from all the previous fights. It's insane.

So that's a simple breakdown of what the UFC is. Fighters are said to have some type of martial arts skill to be involved in the UFC. In fact, they are all called mixed martial artists. Some are said to possess more than one different style of martial arts. I guess that's where the "mixed" comes from in mixed martial artists. But what the UFC is really lacking is, your never going to believe this, martial arts.

The UFC is missing martial arts from all it's fights that it shows. I have yet to watch at UFC fight that shows any type of martial arts. These are not martial arts fighters. These "fighters" are street brawlers. I went on youtube.com and searched for martial arts fights and found a totally different type of fight that what the UFC has to offer. Fights that really have to do with Martial Arts. Fights like you see in Bruce Lee movies. The fights that you see in the UFC are nothing like that.

The fights that you see in the UFC are street fights. These guys punch each other as hard as they can. They pick each other up and body slam their opponent to the canvas. They pin each other against a cage and elbow one another in the face or knee the other in the ribs. If one is able to get on top of the other and pin there opponent to the ground, the other just starts punching the other in the face. As of yet, I have never seem one UFC fight that really has anything to do with martial arts.

What amazes me even more is how fast the popularity for this sport is on the rise. The UFC is becoming the fastest growing sport in America and possibly the world. People like to see others get the heck beat out of them. Just like people like to stop and see traffic accidents. There is something about violence that attracts us to it as people.

The downside to the UFC is when kids that are in high school and collage try and start their own secret fighting clubs because they want to be like a UFC fighter. Many kids have gotten themselves hurt pretty seriously by doing their own mock fights to the UFC. Dr. Phil had a program on one of his shows where he had Dana White, who is the CEO of the UFC, on and several UFC fighters. Dr. Phil was trying to discourage kids from trying to do these type of things without proper training because of all the statistics that he had on young kids getting seriously hurt by fighting one another.

My whole point is that the UFC is simply not martial arts. You can sugar coat it however you want, but it all reality, it's just plain fighting.

Brandon Lara

Some people may not know, but I used to be a United States Marine. I served from 1996-2000. With the War in Iraq that is going on now I found this video about Brandon Lara. It's basically the funeral precession of Mr. Lara. Mr. Lara was a U.S. Marine. I think that this video makes you realize just how precious life is and the brave men and women of the U.S. Military are and how important they are to our country.

Click HERE to see the video.

Strange

Here is one thing that I just don't understand. Dr. Phil is being sued by Shirley Dieu. Shirley is not a patient of Dr. Phil's but a person that was on her show back in 2007. Not sure of the month is 2007, just the year. Anyways, Shirley claims that she was sexually harassed by Dr. Phil and then held against her will by Dr. Phil's staff.

What???

Why is it that everybody that wants to sue a celebrity says that it happened several years ago. Why not sue people the minute it happens or go to the police right then and there? I just don't understand why people do this type of thing.

Another thing that I don't understand is why courts even take the cases at all. You would think that there would be some sort of time clause for cases to be reported. I have seen, and so has everybody else, cases that are like 4 and 5 years old come to light. How can all the details be brought to light when a case is so old? This is ridicules.

Trample Black Friday

Wal-Mart agreed today to pay nearly $2 million and improve safety at its 92 New York stores as part of a deal with prosecutors that avoids criminal charges in the trampling death of a temporary worker.  You know what they say...money talks.  Anything to avoid criminal charges, right?

So I have a solution to this Black Friday thing.  Why don't we not have it at all?  I mean, what good is Black Friday anyways?  Every year, hundreds of stores open extremely early and slash tons of prices for customers on a first come, first serve basis.  I know that it depends on where you live that depends on what stores open at what time, but let me give you an example.  Or a few examples.  

A few years ago, I was all about Black Friday sales.  I remember going to the mall one time because a K.B. Toy store was going to open at 3:00am.  My wife and I got there about 45 minutes early and there was already a line about 50 yards from the front entrance.  By the time the store opened, I swear the line stretched a quarter mile.  As soon as the doors to the mall opened people started acting like fools.  Running, pushing, shoving, bad mouthing each other.  All in the name of toys.  Just to save a few dollars at that.  Now if you have ever been in a K.B. Toy Store, you'll know that they are not the biggest store in the world.  They are actually pretty small.  The one in my town has 5 small aisles, 4 which are about 30 feet and then the 5th being about 25 feet.  They also have a small area when you first walk in about 15 feet long by 25 feet but that area is packed with toys so it's hard to get around them.  Now just imagine a quarter mile of people in that small of a store.  People couldn't move in that place.  I have since decided that shopping on Black Friday is not for me!

The thing that bothers me is the enormous amount of people who get hurt every year in Black Friday incidents.  Some people are even killed by trampling, such as the Wal-Mart employee.  Some get hurt on accident(as much as I hate to say the word accident), while others are hurt physically by others trying to get a good deal.  There was one time that I worked at Lowe's in which one of the items on sale was a small shop vac, around 6 gallons.  The original price was $40 dollars I believe and Lowe's had slashed the price by 50% making it $20 dollars.  People fought like mad to get this little shop vac.  I can remember two women fighting over the last one.  Both would not let go when finally one threatened the other with physical harm.  Only then did the other lady let go.  But that's just in my town, and by the way, I live in one of the most peaceful places in the United States!  

It's not so peaceful in other places.  I remember seeing on the news that people were punched, and shoved so that others could get a "bargain".  Is violence the only answer we know on Black Friday?  I also heard one time that people were getting mugged as they came out of the store or as soon as they got to their vehicles.  Crazy!

Now I'm not sure how Best Buy does Black Friday does it in other cities, but in mine, they hand out coupons to the people waiting in line.  So lets say that their ad advertises a laptop computer for $399, regularly $699.  The store only has 20 on hand to let customers get.  So the store prints out 20 coupons and goes outside the store and asks who is there for the laptop and the first 20 customers in line who say that they are there to buy the computer get the coupons.  Then only those 20 customers are allowed into the store.  But it doesn't stop there.  They have to go to the register where their laptop is brought up to them.  When they are done, they get a police escort back to their car.  This goes on for nearly every item because they are high dollar items at very low prices.  Now I know that not every Best Buy will have a police escort, but the coupon program is a good start!  Other stores should implement this same type of program if they are going to have big sales going on during Black Friday.

Personally I think that Black Friday should be gotten rid of all together.  When people get hurt or even killed, it should awaken America to the horrific behaviors that people take on during these type of sales.  When people can beak down doors and shove the people down trying to let them in and then trample them to death without even looking back or stopping to help, then we have a problem!  Personally, I think that these sales should be held on days when the general public doesn't know about it!  After all, sales can go on at anytime.  If businesses didn't have major sales when the public knew about them, then these type of incidents would not happen!

Anomalous Claims

If there is one thing in life that I just can't seem to understand, it's these claims that people make on anything and everything.  From hot coffee to medical malpractice.  You name it and someone out there has said that they were either hurt by it physically or emotionally.  What I find amazing is that all these people turn around and sue the people or places that supposedly did this to them and the claims that these people make are so far fetched that I think that God himself gets a kick out of them.  What's even more amazing is that other people actually believe them.  If they sue and actually get money, it's an ungodly amount of money. 

Take for instance the case of Donna Aslanis.  Donna Aslanis sued Burger King back in 2002 and said that  Burger King was negligent for injuries to her legs, thighs, buttocks and genitalia after she spilled coffee purchased in 1998 from a restaurant drive-through window in the central Missouri town of Rolla.  That's right...1998.  Four years after the fact.

The most famous coffee incident, and the one that everybody has heard of,  is the 1994 case of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants.  Liebeck v. McDonald's is a well-known 1994 product liability lawsuit that became a flashpoint in the debate in the U.S. over tort reform after a jury awarded $2.86 million to a woman who burned herself with hot coffee. The trial judge reduced the total award to $640,000, and the parties settled for a confidential amount before an appeal was decided. The case entered popular understanding as an example of frivolous litigation.   ABC News calls the case “the poster child of excessive lawsuits.”

Others, especially opponents of tort reform, argue that Liebeck's recovery was just. They argue that the popular understanding of the case omits significant and relevant information. Liebeck's attorneys argued that McDonald's coffee was "defective", claiming that it was hotter and more likely to cause serious injury than coffee served elsewhere. Moreover, McDonald's had refused several prior opportunities to settle for less than the $640,000 ultimately awarded.  Reformers defend the popular understanding of the case as materially accurate; note that the vast majority of judges to consider similar cases dismiss them before they get to a jury; and argue that McDonald's refusal to offer more than a nuisance settlement reflects the meritless nature of the suit rather than any wrongdoing.

But it doesn't stop there.  In March of 2007, a woman has filed a lawsuit against Vivendi Games, Sierra Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment America, and a defunct rental store called Hiawatha Video, after her infant suffered an epileptic seizure while playing Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly on a PS2 console. The lawsuit alleges the defendants were "negligent, careless, and reckless with regard to the design and manufacture" of Spyro.

According to the lawsuit, the child has suffered permanent disabling injuries that will affect him "in all activities of daily living." As with all other games, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly came with a warning about the possibility of experiencing epileptic seizures "when exposed to certain light patterns or flashing lights."

The woman was seeking damages on behalf of the child "for such fair and reasonable amount as may be awarded by a jury of his peers."  So it really doesn't matter if you put a warning on anything, because if something happens, then plan on getting sued.

Many of you have heard of the teen that got decapitated at Six Flags in Georgia a few months ago.  Now they are saying that Six Flags can be sued for his death and be held responsible.  Regardless of the fact that signs were posted all over the park of the dangers of the area that the boy was in.  Regardless of the fact that Six Flags fences were higher that the states required height limit for amusement parks.  Solely on the fact that the boy was able to get over the fences.  Just expect one thing, you can bet if the family of the boy does sue Six Flags and they win, you can bet that Six Flags around the nation are going to start looking more like prisons rather than amusement parks.  I can just see all the razor wire going up around 15 foot high fences!

The latest one that amazes me the most is the one that came out today about Dr. David Charles Lindsay, 42, who ran Sydney Skin Care Clinic over the past 10 years.  A female patient has testified Lindsay failed to apply a topical anesthetic after he removed a skin lesion from her thigh.

“He sprayed something briefly on the surface of my leg and I experienced what felt like an incision, deep into the flesh,” claims the woman. “I let out a cry of pain. He looked at me for a moment, and without saying a word, he went on with his work.”

Oh and you just let him...

But wait, it goes on.

"Again he cut into my leg. The pain was so excruciating that I asked, 'Have you got ether or something?' Again he said nothing. I could feel the implement being dragged through my flesh".

And still you just sat there and took it?  The guy is doing a skin graph on you.  He doesn't use any type of numbing medicine or anything after part of the session is over, so you continue to let him do it again for a second session?  Ok, this seems a little to unreal for my taste.  Who in their right mind just sits there through the pain like this woman claims she did?  Her claim is just a little hard to swallow!  Yet the Medical Tribunal of New South Wales has suspended Lindsay saying that he lacked the sensitivity a doctor should have.

The funniest thing about this whole case is that after the Doctor found out that this woman was making a claim against him, he took out her medical records and wrote in them, "Severe personality disorder - wants to destroy doctor's career. Nice."

Will there ever be another Michael Phelps?

History has been made.  Michael Phelps has gotten 8 Gold Metals in the 2008 Summer Olympics.  Something that no other person in Olympics History has ever done before. 

But here is the real question, will this ever happen again?  Is there anybody out there that can match the feat of 8 Gold Metals in a single Olympics?  I have been hearing that what Michael Phelps has done may never happen again.  I have also heard that it WILL NEVER happen again.  But how can they be so sure?  Even though it has been 36 years since Mark Spitz received 7 Gold Metals in a single Olympics, it was finally surpassed by Michael Phelps.  Many thought that Mark Spitz's record could not be broken.  Obviously that is not the case.  So can another swimmer match the accomplishment of Michael Phelps?  Sure.  I mean, why not?

On May 6th, 1954, Roger Bannister did what the "experts" said could not be done.  Bannister ran a mile in under 4 minutes.  For years the "experts" said that this could not be done.  Many had tried and many had come only seconds short, but none had succeeded in breaking the 4 minute mile.  Because no one was able to do it, people just assumed that it was impossible. 

Even more incredible than that was that just 46 days after Bannister broke the 4 minute mile, another man by the name of John Landy, of Australia, broke Bannisters record.

On August 7, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, B.C., Bannister competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record. Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap (of four), but was overtaken on the last bend, and Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s. Bannister and Landy have both pointed out that the crucial moment of the race was that at the moment when Bannister decided to try to pass Landy, Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right, never relinquishing the lead.

As more and more people knew it was possible to break the 4 minute mile, more and more people trained to break it and break the records of Landy and Bannister.  Within 10 years after Bannister broke the 4 minute mile, 336 other people had broken the 4 minute mile as well.  If you look at today's runners, more and more of them are breaking the 4 minute mile as well.  Most runners who run a mile in the Olympics as fast as they can are able to break the 4 minute mile.  The difference is not dramatic between runners, but the fastest person to ever run the mile was Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999 at a time of 3:43.13.

My point is simple.  People can match what Michael Phelps has done with a pure determination to do so.  All it takes is a little bit of effort.  Michael Phelps had the determination to get 8 Gold Metals in a single Olympics and surpass Mark Spitz and he did.  If there is another swimmer out there with as much determination or even more determination than Michael Phelps, then the impossible becomes possible.