Indigenous Ability

  [Consider this a companion piece to the prior offering Recreational Reading as A Laboratory for Honor. ] Warrior cultures from time immemorial have what may be a curious, to our modern eye, intimacy with poetry. Our spare and laconic Spartans may have been averse to physical comforts considering them wasteful wallowing yet…they considered poetry as part and parcel of good martial development. We must never forget that “Homer’s” The Illiad and The Odyssey and other like poetic epics are collections of tales that were meant to be recited, told, sung, and pondered. Poetry to our Spartans was not just fireside entertainment or academic gloss to give a false sheen of bookish smarts. It was chosen carefully, composed with an eye on utility, recited and memorized to inculcate principles, ethics, and core attributes. It was used as a yardstick for the young to aspire to, a signpost for the brave to follow, a bolster for the temporarily weakened, a salve for those in straits.

  Crew, to get that underhook, that duck-under, that roof, or any descending go-behind, there is often an affinity for flaring [lifting the obstructing limb] to get to where you want to be. Counter-intuitively, I’ll tell you that is the opposite of what you want to do. We discuss in this clip an easier wedge exposure [the wedge in question here will the be the right armpit wedge] and offer a hint or two at why flaring is… 1)     Wasted effort 2)     Poor bio-mechanics. 3)     Thinking “strength” not old school smarts. 4)     How you are unwisely opening your own wedge in attempting to gain a wedge, in other words creating the self-same opening on yourself that you want on your opponent. [Would you drop your hands to throw a punch? Of course not.] When a clinch hits, you can feel who wants to flare as soon as you “slap on.” Give ‘em a clock-tick and they’ll give you a wedge with their unwise “offense” and you’ll have the angle and be wearin’ ‘em out lickety-split. We l

  Let’s talk “Scarface” Al, Gangs of New York , dirty tactics boxing and wrestling, and the focused “ training of the bad element .” First, a bit of info passed along to me by more than one friend in the law enforcement profession. [Names of officers and contemporary gangs will be excised from this tale.] Beginning, oh, a decade or so ago friends on this side of right have related to me that upon raiding various and sundry biker hang-outs, gangbanger residences and like abodes that in addition to what is considered contraband they often find fight training material. I was told this by the few because some of my titles were there. I always inquired who else, and the laundry list of squared away cadre always included a stable of straight-talking sorts with an eye on reality. Now myself, and these other gents whose titles found their way wherever, offer our ministrations in aid of self-defense on the right side of the line, self-edification, and, in my case, a bit of historical re