The Official Random Video Thread!

Good on yer friend!

Yeah everybody tends naturally to be more of either a striker or grappler afaik. I too would be more of a grappler. Wonder if it's a tree guy thing?!?
 
Wrestling was big up here when I was growing up. Olympic style was taught in school and so inevitably it became a contest to see who was the 'best'. I like grappling. It was a joke amongst my pals and I when we were younger. All disputes were ultimately decided by dry pavement wrastling. Stupid young guy stuff. Lol.
 
I had one good friend who was literally a stump. I'm not a skinny minny but that guy was virtually unmoveable. No neck and just muscle top to bottom. He had respect for me but we both knew if it came to it he'd have his way with me. Just to strong to ever manhandle. And out of our group he was a striker. Ko'd more people then I can probably remember.

Funniest story was on main st in our hometown some guy pulled a road rage stunt and cut him off and jumped out to square up. My buddy knocked that guy out so hard he threw him in his own pickup and drove him to the hospital. Thought he'd killed him. He served weekends for that. not that funny but we still laughed about it a lot because we bugged him about missing so many parties from being a hothead. The victim recovered fine. That was but one in a long line of beatings that he dolled out during our youth. When I saw someone messing with him I'd just smh. I knew what was coming.
 
Actually might not be the funniest story. When we were in our early twenties he put his truck in the ditch. Insurance and whatnot, had it repaired at a shop and got it back and on the maiden voyage the motor seized. Obviously something was missed in the repair but the government run insurance adjuster denied his claim to have it fixed. He slammed that guy against the wall with his own desk and then ripped his office door off the hinges and threw it at him. Yup, assault charge and served weekends again. Lol.
 
I worked with a fellow who killed someone. He KO'd him and his head hit the curb. He never really talked much about it.
 
I feel so lucky to have gotten through my misguided youth relatively unscathed. My group of friends and I were really lucky. And when I think back on it, it was luck not smarts. Pure chance that we never suffered any horrendous tragedies.
 
What did/does your friend do for a living?

Wild guess: logging
 
Yup. Born and raised highlead. Youngest brother. Sometimes when you'd visit with his dad and his older brother you'd leave feeling like you'd been assaulted. No kid gloves in that family.

We worked together for a number of years.

Like i said. I'd just smh how someone would ever pic him out of a crowd to start sh-t with. Total death wish. He was a hothead too though. Anyone started sh-t with any of our core group of friends and he'd step front and centre. Always ready to go. I was at a party once where even for Canadians shots were fired to get him to stop swinging. Only time I've ever experienced that. He was a hell of a nice guy but if someone was being an ass he'd always step up first to put and end to it. And then it didn't matter how many more kept coming or what you did to him. He had no off switch.

He now has his own logging company north of me. And a family too. Like all of us he finally grew up and settled down a bit.

I've seen someone bust a beer bottle over his head, foolish, only antagonized him. And I saw him get his foot crushed with a section of yarder boom and laugh it off. Multiple breaks, a trip to the histpital and a cast for months. Worst pain I ever saw him show was passing kidney stones. Another oddest event ever. I was skiing with another buddy who took a huge jump and broke multiple ribs upon landing. Ski patrol sleigh ride out and ambulance ride to the hospital and while I was with him in the ER I hear this crying out in the next aisle over(separated by curtains). And I'm like damn that sounds like Jeff. Sure enough, passing kidney stones. All he drank was pop. At work or play. Stupid. Passed kidney stones super young.
 
Quote Originally Posted by pantheraba
I changed the way I viewed folks after that.
Click to expand...

cory said:
I can imagine, but would you care to elaborate?
Click to expand...

In our Bando there are basically 3 "paths"...athletics (sport), aesthetics (forms/fantasy/performance) and combatics (self-explanatory)...also referenced in our Bando as fitness, fantasy and function.

Our Atlanta group worked mainly the first 2...this was back in the mid 70's...we sparred hard, trained physically very intensively and did forms. We thought we had the combatics ciphered since we did well at sparring, physical agility, strength, etc. and had good forms.

We travelled to Ohio one weekend to train with the system grandmaster. The guys we trained with that fateful weekend in Athens, Ohio, were our grandmasters top level kickboxers. Fit guys, nice enough but they were "just kickboxers" to us...didn't know any of the forms that contain a lot of the knowledge of the System...if you know how to train the forms properly. They had limited knowledge of the Bando System but they were very proficient with a few well honed techniques -- combatics...the function of the system. Their punches and kicks were not like any we had ever experienced. We held pads for leg kicks...hold the pad on your forearm along your thigh. Bando guys are pretty good at shin kicks to the enemy's thigh...some of our guys can break 2x4's with a shin kick. Our instructor had good kicks and we thought they were powerful...he was very good at forms and fitness. We learned his disdain of "mere" kickboxers. These guys of "limited knowledge" were light years ahead of him. Their explosiveness and power had us limping even through the heavy pads. When we got in the ring with boxing gloves Dr. Gyi told us to use whatever technique we wanted...he limited them to one punch (right hand) and one target (our solar plexus).

They were masters of evasion, slipping...seldom had to block our blows or kicks because their agility was so good. And their pain tolerance was scary. I remember taking some hard body shots and managed to land a good solid kick to Mike's groin...bent him over and we had to pause while he got past the pain.

Which he smiled thru the whole time. It's pretty scary when a dude gets kicked in the balls and just smiles at you from his corner as he waits his chance to give you some payback.

I guess Dr. Gyi opened up the targeting somewhere along the line because my bud, Karl, got KO'd shortly after that by John...Mike's buddy. Those guys are still in our system and I have talked them about that day over the years. They said that we were just lunch for them. Dr. Gyi often had people that came up to train with him (we were there for the weekend to train)...he had folks like us fight his guys to test us and them. Last time I talked to Mike about it he said we were just one of many lunches for them.

I had to reset my understanding of what humans are capable of doing with their bodies after that weekend.
 
Sounds like a tough lesson was learned. People can condition themselves to pain for certain. I believe that's what my friend Jeff had happen through his upbringing. He was worked hard and wailed on. Made for one tough sob.

Oddly enough. Jeff introduced me to my wife. He knew both of us and thought we'd hit it off. And well the rest is history. Fifteen years on August 30th.
 
I had a best friend in high school, Ricky. He grew up in a hard place, too. He made his weight set from old tires and long sticks...trained like a SOB. He wasn't tall but was solid, strong and crazy mean when he needed to be. Learned that from his father who was a hard as nails man, nice to me but scary to be around. There was an edge to him that was palpable.

Ricky was in his 20's and had been shooting on some land with a friend. His father was working outside while they shot. Ricky stuck the pistol in his pocket and climbed a fence to leave. The .22 went off and he shot himself thru the top of the thigh and it exited above the knee...a "flesh" wound...under the skin, in the muscle. Very lucky.

Except he had to walk past his father to get to the car. He sucked it up, didn't limp and drove himself to the hospital. He knew if his father found out he shot himself he would never hear the end of it.

Ricky kind of adopted me during HS...never understood why but we had lots of great adventures. I was a scuba diver...he liked the idea but could not swim. I taught him to swim well enough to get certified. That was all it took. We had some awesome adventures diving together...each saved the other's life at least once...and always laughed about it. He was a great friend through the years. We lost touch due to family/wives/kids for about 15 years...got back together in 1995 when he was just coming down with colon cancer.

We took up adventuring again as long as he could...went to our farm in S. GA and hunted beavers and gators, shot guns like there was no tomorrow (hi-freq. hearing loss here) and raised as much hell as we could get away with for being in our 40's.

Good friends like that are priceless. I really hope there is a heaven 'cause I really need to see him again.
 
Sometimes crazy friends are the best kind. :)

Despite my recalling of some of Jeffs violent escapades he was a hell of a fun guy to roll around and adventure with.

A great trip down memory lane.
 
This can't be legal.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A1fvcp--Lzk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Snake sized my ass!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rLHQIhKy880" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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