Regarding last week's "Knockout of the Month"...
I've been sending out this here 'martial arts' newsletter almost every week now for 8 years.
Same general topic. 8 years. Eiiiight yyyyears.
In this time, I've shared countless techniques, deep thought provoking articles, and on a select few "low effort" days (like last week)... I have shared some entertaining knock-outs.
It's certainly not my finest work...
And yet, some of them are the most spectacular knockouts in the history of combat sports.
These are techniques that we can strive to build.
Other examples depict sweet, sweet street justice... like this guy who pee'd on someone's gate, and then tore his shirt off to engage in a smug-faced, clownish stare down.
I challenge you to not-enjoy that guy's misfortune!
Others reenforce lessons that bear constant repeating... like never, ever stand within arm's reach of a potential opponent.
If the guy doesn't even have to take a STEP in order to hit you, you are too damn close. It's the #1 mistake that people make as a fight is breaking out, and we've seen it 1,000 times.
History repeats itself... if you are not already informed of its course.
And last week, I shared this idiot trying to kick a can off of a young man's head.
...which prompted a hurricane of butt-hurt responses, and finger wagging reprimands directed at me. Trav. Your amiable combat host.
So, I'd like to take a second and address your concerns and comments, before signing off on this topic forever:
#1. "Trav, how dare you post an 8 year old with an undeveloped skull getting kicked in the head!"
First of all, this kid looks at least 12 or 13 to me... and it's clear that his skull is disproportionately well-developed in comparison to the rest of his body.
If that's body shaming, you can stack it onto my list of offenses.
Our skulls aren't fully developed until we're approximately 20 years old. We send our soldiers to war before our the bones in our cranium have fully fuzed, and many of them probably have smaller heads than this kid's.
If your age is in the double digits, you are no longer entitled to empathy for the stupid things that you do.
#2. But Trav! He was probably paralyzed! Did you see how far his clearly over-developed head whipped forward?!
Strikes always look worse in slow motion.
Watch the video again. After the blow, he runs forward in an effort to regain his balance after being kicked. Not only is he not paralyzed... he's not even knocked out!
Are you paying attention, or just looking for a reason to be butt-hurt?
And let's recreate your 'theoretical' course of events:
The cameraman films a blunt force trauma so severe that it severs his friend spinal cord... and he laughs heartily for several seconds while also capturing the laughter of every bystander... as they stand above a motionless body.
The unbridled joy apparently doesn't fade as he takes note of the young man's unresponsive state...
...so he immediately jumps on TikTok to share the assault induced-paralysis with the world! After all, what's funnier than permanent crippling injury when coupled with their horribly misplaced, bass-riddled slow motion laughter?!
Is that what you think happened?
This is the thought process that I would expect from someone who regularly challenges piss-poor martial artists to kick cans off of your head.
Stop it.
#3. BUT TRAV! HE'S JUST A KID! WHAT IF IT WAS YOUR KID?!
To this day, I still remember the world premier of America's Funniest Home Videos. I sat at the dinner table eating my mom's spaghetti, and we all cackled with glee... whilst watching tiny children experience mild trauma on various pieces of playground equipment.
We watched them fall.
We watched them get hit in the nuts with projectiles.
We watched other kids blow out their birthday candles... inducing unabashed levels of childhood chagrin.
And America's Funniest Home Videos soon became a worldwide syndicated television program, based primarily on exploiting low-level childhood trauma.
I've been laughing at kids getting mildly hurt since I was also a kid getting mildly hurt... and so have you, you hypocritical bastard.
Stupidity transcends age, and laughing at the moderate misfortune of others is a past-time favored by all.
To conclude, let me just say that after 8 years of pumping out a martial arts related newsletter, I'm at the point where I would share an old woman getting knocked-out by a shopping cart caught in gale force winds if Jean Claude Van-Damme's stunt double happened to dodge it just before she got bodied... due to its tangential relation to 'martial arts'.
I'm aware that knockouts appeal to our 'lowest' level of entertainment. It's a fighting newsletter. We're already dealing with an unsophisticated subset of human behavior.
If you don't like knockout related newsletters, then just don't click on them.
If you disapprove of the content, POST YOUR FEELINGS IN THE COMMENT SECTION, where we will all aggressively stab the 'dislike' button in your general direction and feel mildly satisfied by down-voting you into oblivion.
I respect your dissent.
Again, feel free to unsubscribe, but don't tell me about it. And no, I won't do it for you. Click the link at the bottom of the newsletter, like we've all done on EVERY NEWSLETTER SINCE THE DAWN OF THE INTERNET.
You're not going to punish me with tasks. I have a family for that.
That's all I have to say. I'll try to post something 'high-brow' next week.
Have a fantastic weekend. And don't reply to this email!
-Trav