In martial arts we would do 100 repetitions of basic movements in order to get it to the point of reactionary when needed. I will never forget the day when I kicked a buddy in the face for slapping me in the back of the head playfully. At the time I was competing and my teacher would have us doing those kicks all day, every day, in an attempt to remove conscious thought (over-thinking things) and let the moves flow whenever they were needed. What I didn’t realize back then is how many of life’s little things involved the same process. We commit things to memory and then we execute whenever we need them, it is the same in everything and the people who are best at it seem to retain the information better than the rest of us. In competitive video games the same holds true of muscle memory; you may laugh at the nerds… [Read more]

Taking part in exercise, whether it’s playing sport, running or working out at the gym, provides numerous benefits; fitness, physique, current and future health all see gains in a variety of ways. However, injuries during exercise are not uncommon and after sprains, strains and pulled muscles, ligament damage is amongst those most frequently seen. Ligaments are the tissues that connect bones to each other and therefore play an important role in movement. Those who take part in sport are most likely to tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), one of the ligaments in the knee, which usually occurs when you stop or change direction abruptly. You will soon know if this ligament has been damaged, as besides the “pop” you are likely to hear at the time it occurs, severe knee pain and swelling are accompanied by an inability to straighten your leg or place any weight on it. While some doctors will recommend reconstructive surgery… [Read more]

It’s the start of the NFL season and I found myself at the local sports bar being waited on by a drop dead gorgeous blonde who had all the right things going on for her – she was cute, bubbly and had a sense of humor. Of course we weren’t the only ones in the bar noticing this. Guys of all kinds were vying for her attention; some smooth, most crass; it was just so many hard legs flirting with the girl that it started to become embarrassing. One of the other girls waiting was also pretty damn cute and on her game with the service unlike blondie who was having trouble making me a rum and coke for whatever reason… I guess some lames think being bad at your job adds to the hotness but whatever. While I considered bagging this chicken with some tried and true tactics, I realized that I would only… [Read more]

Shocking… I know. It seems to be a common theme in this country – someone dies recklessly by a gun, people get upset, blame is issued and the discussion downgrades into another tired argument about gun control. Much of these arguments are a lot about nothing, you have a few scared people who own firearms not wanting them to be taken away and you have another set of people who think that without guns senseless violence would not occur. Intelligent people see it for what it is: opportunistic politicians back guns because a certain type loves them; other opportunistic politicians call for gun control because they know that another type hates them. It’s all a big bunch of noise that takes away from the real criminals, the real crimes and the real victims of every single shooting. In the last year Trayvon Martin was gunned down by a mousy looking weirdo named George Zimmerman and guns… [Read more]

Do We Allow Men To Be The Fathers We Ask Them To Be? – We’re always begging men to step up, complaining about the prevalence of deadbeat, absentee fathers. There are plenty of them; but when there are men who are stepping up, are taking the initiative to care for their children, just like women have been and continue to do… (MNOIRE) Washington Redskins Alfred Morris Drives The Best Car In The NFL – In something that is on the opposite side of that spectrum, Washing Redskins running back Alfred Morris drives probably the least valuable vehicle in the NFL.  Morris is driving around in a 1991 Mazda 626 sedan, and it’s got a name as people around the Redskins organization call it, “The Bentley”… (SSESSION) 10 Years Later: What I Learned From The Man Who Told Me I Was Not His Ideal Woman – Ten years later, I look back on my short-lived relationship… [Read more]

I was having lunch with a few of my co-workers at a sports bar when we noticed that the Quarterback from our local College team was there eating with a young woman. This was no big deal of course but when he left one of the guys asked the rest of us “did you see what that chick looked like?” and unfortunately no-one could confirm. So you know why he asked this question? It’s pretty simple actually, we all expect superstar athletes to mess with beautiful women exclusively. Talk about pressure right? I have often heard conversations by men on an athlete’s girlfriend or wife and it often takes on a different tone depending on what the woman looks like. As an example we can use Tom Brady who is married to Supermodel Gisele Bundchen; men speak of Tom as a full on stud based on not only his remarkable career but because of the… [Read more]

In my humble opinion, nothing is a greater test of heart for a man than sports and combat. You can train, study and read all you want but when the jaws of life slams shut, you only have 2 choices – fight or fold. It is after reacting and recovering that you truly know what you are; are you the champion, rolling off of your oponent with his warm heart beating within your teeth, or are you the victim being tended to by the medical staff? The deciding factor isn’t about winning or losing, no, the decider is whether or not your spirit fought back. People try to theorize that the instinct to fight is born of our environment but I believe that it goes deeper than that. Sure the poor kid who has been fighting since birth has enough experience to fight when pushed but that isn’t to say that the trust-fund baby won’t… [Read more]

On its surface intramural sports for grown men seems like the perfect opportunity to get in shape, bond with a couple guys and praise the gods with the spirit of competition. Well it may be these things if you play in a league of friends who all know and respect one another but for the standard leagues that you will join it is not. My experience with intramural sports having done it for both basketball and football is that there are 3 types of people who come out to play against you. The first is the dad who wants an excuse to run around in hopes of losing his beer gut, the second is the ex-athlete that misses the game and the third (who ruins It for every one) is the never-was, the once-was or the wannabe. This third player is a guy who is either disillusioned that anyone outside of his screaming wife cares… [Read more]