Bill Cammack

Frank Shamrock decided to knee Renzo Gracie in the back of his head… TWICE!!! while they were both on the ground. That’s clearly illegal, and Shamrock was rightfully DISQUALIFIED.

The win goes to Renzo Gracie.

It’s pretty ridiculous that Shamrock’s “defense” was “I thought we came here to fight”. That doesn’t have anything to do with the clear and obvious rules that are explained to everyone before the fight… WAY before the fight. It’s not possible that Shamrock didn’t know knees or kicks to the head while your opponent is on the mat are illegal. On top of that, you can clearly see that Shamrock had his hand on Renzo’s head. He MOVED HIS HAND so he could knee Renzo, then put his hand back. He MOVED HIS HAND AGAIN so he could knee Renzo in the head AGAIN, and then put his hand back. CLEARLY illegal. CLEARLY intentional. Pathetic. :/

Apparently, Shamrock knew the rules of the match, because he was stalling on the bottom and looking for the ref to stand them back up again. How is it that he knew that there was a 15-second rule in effect, but he didn’t know kicks/knees to the head while your opponent’s on the mat are illegal? That’s good for him that he got disqualified. It would LITERALLY have been insult to injury if anything less had been the decision. No draw, No win, No “no contest”… D.Q. Period.

That’s pretty disgusting. Shamrock looked pretty smug at the end of the fight, but he SHOULD feel embarrassed. Maybe he thought it was still back in the day when A) just about anything was legal, and B) there weren’t cameras to record what you did and play it back to everyone in the arena on the spot. There was no reason for Renzo to feel he had to defend himself against knee strikes while he was on the ground. EVERYONE, including Shamrock KNEW that’s illegal. Renzo had control of both of Shamrock’s arms, so he wasn’t worried about elbows either. That was a completely pathetic showing by Shamrock. He completely cheated everyone out of seeing the true potential outcome of that fight.

I hope Renzo’s ok.

Rox said in a reply to “Hollaback Girls 02″:

I’m all for some consciousness raising Bill and you’re to be lauded by jumping in here. I draw a distinction between “boys being boys” and actual harassment and assault. Women who are waiting for men to change will wait forever to feel at ease on the street. Girls, it’s an inside job! Let’s start building up our “ignoring muscles” and stop letting them get to us. “Aura In” and they’ll either notice you less or you’ll notice it less, or both! Vent as necessary to get back on center. And to those slime balls who cross the line to actual assault, haul ‘em into court.

Thanks Rox. I agree with making distinctions in these situations. A lot of what I read was egregious behavior that should be reprimanded, and some of it prosecuted. There were other cases where the women were upset that a guy was looking at them from far, far away or that he added “baby” or “sweetheart” to his verbal greeting to them. They were upset by ANY indication that a guy wanted them, sexually. Unfortunately, except for test-tube-babies and sperm banks, that’s what we’re all doing here…. SOME guy wanted to have sex with SOME girl, and they did it and someone raised that baby and now that baby is YOU. I think those women that are hoping that guys are going to stop being sexually attracted to them could use your “Aura In” suggestion. :D

OTOH, there’s tons of incorrect behavior that goes on that should be stopped. Again, I have the benefit of being a guy, so I can walk past construction sites without incident. I can order food or a beer without someone asking me personal questions. I can walk down the street and think without random people interrupting my train of thought because they want something from me. I can walk past a group of guys that I KNOW are going to harass the next attractive female they see without them saying anything to me. It’s easy to not be able to empathize with women in these cases, because A) men don’t get sexually harassed in the street, and B) our reaction to harassment is going to be the buildup of adrenaline and aggression as opposed to fear and just HOPING nothing happens to us or counting on words to get us out of the situation instead of physical action.

There really isn’t a reverse equivalent. Women can’t sexually harass men in the same way. As long as the woman is attractive to the guy, he’s going to be glad she’s kicking it to him. He’s still going to choose whether he has sex with her or not (because he’s married, because he thinks she’s “too easy”, whatever), but it’s a POSITIVE thing that she’s interested in getting with him. From what I read, a lot of women just hate the fact that guys want to have sex with them without knowing anything about them other than what they look like, or in the cases where their bodies are covered, just the fact that they’re females. I’m not talking about the guys that clearly have no chance of getting on and are just saying things to the women in order to be jerks. I’m talking about the guys that have a certain percentage chance that a woman’s going to like how they look and accept their rap and take things from there. They say the same things to women all day and all night, and most of them don’t go for it, but some of them do.

If the woman ISN’T physically attractive to the guy, hahaha, that’s STILL not the same thing, because the element of intimidation isn’t there. If he’s not attracted to her, he’s not having sex with her, regardless of what she says, so it’s more like an annoying fly buzzing around. If she presses him, it’s the same situation as the bum in front of McDonalds. She’s going to have to back off, or there will be “consequences & repercussions”! :D (Eddie Murphy, “Life“)

The point is that many of the things that make women feel harassed, like a guy saying “hey baby” can’t really be understood by guys, because there’s no equivalent. Any pressure put on a guy is going to lead to self-defense. It all falls under the umbrella of ‘disrespect’, and will be dealt with accordingly. Women have too many examples of their own and from other women where a situation started out “just like this” and ended up in a really bad situation for them. The only way around this, IMO, is to increase male awareness about the intimidation aspect that women perceive in what they’re doing. I know guys that will go “hey ma” and “hey beautiful” and “you look good” etc etc ALL DAY, up and down the block… but if they see some guy actually harassing one of these women, they’ll beat the living tar out of him. This is because what they’re doing is SOCIALIZING. They’re making it known to the women in whatever style they use that they’re interested in them, and they’d like to spend some time with them. If the women aren’t interested, they keep going and that’s that. The guys doing it have ZERO bad intentions towards the women, but I’m sure a lot of them don’t connect their socialization style to the women feeling intimidated at all.

OTOH, there are lots of guys that act like jerks just because they can, to guys & girls alike, and they enjoy and abuse the advantages they have over women, so all you can do is “fight the good fight” of education, awareness and rarely, legislation.

http://www.renzogracie.com/news.aspx

January, 2007 News

1/5/2007

Congratulations to Carlos Feliz for recieving his blue belt!! Carlos came back from a dislocated shoulder to earn his blue belt with true Gracie Jiu Jitsu spirit. Congratulations again to Carlos for his big heart and hard training mentality!

Congrats to Carlos, because of whom I was privileged to watch the Renzo Gracie vs. Carlos Newton fight in person @ Mohegan Sun last month!

Their caption says it all… almost…

What it doesn’t say is that Renzo Gracie himself was instrumental in making sure that Carlos’ injury wasn’t as bad as it DEFINITELY COULD have been. I know Carlos has thanked him personally and sincerely, but I’d like to add my thanks as well to Renzo for going “above and beyond” what’s expected or perhaps required of someone running a school or leading any kind of group. That love for and attention to his students is what has created the enthusiastic and hard-working family that surrounds him.

CONGRATS, CARLOS!!! :D

My friend Carlos trains in Jiu Jitsu under Renzo Gracie.

Last night, we took a road trip up to Mohegan Sun to cheer, support and watch Renzo fight Carlos Newton as a Superfight @ the IFL World Team Championship Finals.

There were quite a few Renzo Gracie Academy T-shirts in the arena:

http://www.renzogracie.com/news.aspx

Here’s mine:

The trip was a great way for me to end 2006. We met up in front of RGA in Manhattan, and took about a 5-hour chartered bus ride (thanks to endless traffic) up to Mohegan Sun. The group hustled to get food before the fights started, then it was ON! :D

They’re going to show the fights on Fox Sports Net (FSN) sometime within the next week or so.

It’s a different experience seeing professional fighters get knocked out “in person” from watching it on television. I think it’s because on television, you’re getting whatever they show you and in person, you get to check it out with your own eyes… with nothing but air in between you and the fight. I think there’s something that you lose by watching the fight on television because they broadcast impossible views of the action. They have cameramen standing @ the ropes using zoom lenses, AND they have computer-operated cameras floating over the action. It’s impossible for you to think of what’s going on as an actual struggle between actual human beings, because the angles keep changing and you’re right on top of the action, where you couldn’t possibly be if you went to a fight. I noticed this when I looked to my right, towards the big screens that were showing what the cameras were shooting. It was necessary at times, when the action was on the mat and facing away from me, so I had no idea who was doing what. That’s when the camera angle was really useful. It was still surreal… like I was watching something else. Diverting my eyes from the screens and back to the live fighters gave me a good idea of the difference between the two experiences.

It was cool traveling with the RGA students. I don’t train, so it was interesting being around people that learn from one man in particular, and they were going to watch that man compete. I don’t know that there’s anything like it I can think of right this minute. You’re not going to see an NFL coach or NBA coach get on the field/court and get busy. Their time for that is over. Now, they just tell people what to do. Renzo Gracie has been fighting and STILL fights. There were a couple of other guys from the school that fought on the IFL card. A couple of female RGA students drove up as well. Wives and children of the students attended also. Looking around at all the green shirts, I could see a community of people brought together because of something they love to do, and someone they love to train with.

It was also interesting watching guys “gas out” in person. You can’t see it so much on television. On TV, you can see their facial expressions, or they spit out a mouthpiece, or you can tell they’re breathing really hard. There must be intangibles that you get from being in the same room with someone that’s doing a physical activity… Indicators that tell you extra things about them that you can’t pick up through watching the same thing on television. It was like you could SEE less energy “on” them. The punches got slower. The movements got slower. The hands stayed lower and lower. Guys started relaxing in clinches… This one fight, the guys literally laid around for 3 rounds (15 minutes?) and then, SOMEHOW, a decision was given out even though neither one of them did ANYTHING to the other one. It was really lame, and the crowd was booing like crazy. Those guys weren’t gassed.. they were just lethargic from the opening bell.

OTOH, MOST of the fighters were doing what they came there to do. There were some really good matchups and mostly good endings to the fights. This one guy was beating the living tar out of this other guy for like 2 1/2 rounds, then he happened to get caught ONE TIME with ONE PUNCH and got knocked out COLD. I mean, COLD. You could tell he was out before his body hit the floor. It was odd, because he had been so animated the whole time, and in one split second, it was all over. He was well on his way to a victory on the cards. All that animation just STOPPED. If it hadn’t been for gravity, he would have remained in the air, stiff… shut down. They took him out on a stretcher after stabilizing his neck as a precautionary measure, but he was waving his arms before they took him out of the arena to the ambulance. That’s always a good thing…. waving arms… not ambulances. :D

The Renzo Gracie / Carlos Newton fight went to the cards, and the judges voted for a split decision win for Renzo (Pronounced “Henzo” because of Brazilian origin). Later, the students returned to the bus and I slept the two hours it took us to get back to Manhattan. I had a great time and it was a unique experience… going to the fights with student, admirers and fans of Renzo Gracie. I’m glad Carlos invited me. :D

hahahaha ok… Jonny’s going to have to change something over @ ReinventingTV.com! Last night’s show was OUTLANDISH! :D …

The first half was Steve Woolf & Zadi Diaz from Smashface.com / Jetsetshow. That would have been a funny and entertaining hour on its own…..

… but then Dan McVicar (LateNiteMash.com) jumped up in the mix, and everything went berserk! :D

Somebody says something funny, and then I’m laughing, but then I need to read the text chat then I look back up and Laurel & Hardy have bogarted Dan’s screen, so I’m laughing again and trying to type… Next thing I know, Jonny has an afro-wig, and he’s playing some instrument it looks like he created himself… Meanhile, Zadi & Steve are talking about Dan while the text chat peanut gallery’s talking about Zadi & Steve… :D

It was CRAYZEE!!! :D It was like the video-intenet-webcam-text_chat version of when they get into fights in the cartoons and all you see is a cloud of dust spinning around with fists flying in and out of the cloud. Hilarious. I’m going to have to watch the show MYSELF, just to see/hear what was happening while I was laughing or trying to get my own jokes in on the text chat or watching one brady bunch box when there was action going on in another box.

Hilarious. THAT show should definitely have been two hours instead of one, because the crowd was getting more amped the whole time! The show was just getting better and better, hahaha.

Anyway, this week’s Reinventing Television was a blast! Kudos to the hosts, guests and the “live studio audience” for keeping the party rollin’ hahaha :D

A few days ago, I became aware of a… series of comments (because it wasn’t actually a conversation or a debate) that revolved around the reasons someone would choose or hire someone else to be a spokesperson for them. I missed that conversation, entirely, so I’ll just mention my thoughts about it here, and be done with it. Specifically, it pertained to whether a woman should be chosen for the job? and if so, should it be an attractive woman? and if so, should that be the deciding factor in hiring her? To be even more specific, they were looking to hire someone to be on-air talent… not on television, but on the internet. A host of a show. “The Face” of their broadcast.

Anyone could have been chosen to be the host of this show, yet they specifically requested an attractive female. This was called “sexism”. Definition #2 of sexism, according to m-w.com/dictionary/sexism, is “behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex”. Could choosing an attractive female to host a show foster stereotypes of a woman’s social role? Could choosing a more attractive woman who knows nothing about the topic (but is going to be fed her lines anyway, via a script) over a less attractive woman who knows a lot about the topic imply things to the viewers or people that become aware of this situation about the role of a woman in this society or what’s valued about her? I think it says more about the people looking to hire this attractive woman and their target demographic than it says about the woman herself or women in general. What could be the reason that an attractive woman was desired for the position? How about RATINGS? :D

How about if one of the reasons… if not the ONLY reason to put on the show was to get viewers? How about if they knew that they would get MORE viewers to tune in with an attractive female spokesperson than an unattractive female or a male? What’s their incentive to go with decidedly less effective ‘bait’ when they’re fishing for viewers? Where’s the ROI?

On top of all that, it’s not like they were trying to hire her for some kind of intellectual show
like “On The Record w/ Greta Van Susteren”. :D

All this new spokesperson has to do is study some simple introductory lines or read them from a teleprompter. She’s there to wave and smile and look good and ATTRACT viewers to watch the show, which benefits the guys that were looking to hire her in the first place. Mission accomplished. If you’re trying to do a show about lawyers, and you hire a woman that looks good and is NOT and never WAS a lawyer, you’re a fool. If you want someone to turn letters on a game show, there’s no need to hire a lawyer. :)

What does that say for the _content_ of a show that needs eye-candy to get viewers? hehehehe… well…… :)

However, like I said… I think it says more about the show and the show’s demographics than it says about women. If the show’s topic is appealing to men, then putting an attractive woman in the spotlight is only going to benefit you. Look at Harlequin….

They’re selling fantasies to women. Does Harlequin hire busted-looking, out-of-shape, unsuccessful-looking ‘Joe Average’s to model for the covers of their novels for women? NOPE! :D You know why? Because fewer women would BUY.THE.BOOK. They’re better off using covers that don’t imply anything about the guy’s looks at all than they are using a cover that defines the protagonist as visually unattractive.

…

That’s not to say that I don’t see the other side of the ‘argument’. Television’s filled with uncommonly attractive people, percentage-wise. Most places you go, people don’t actually look like that. :D I understand that a lot of girls and women feel pressure to attempt to make themselves look like models because they think models are the definition of good-looking, when, in fact, models are models because they fit the ONE.SIZE.OF.THE.DRESS that the designer made for the show. They hire models to fit clothes… they DON’T make the clothes to fit the models. I understand the reasons that women want to ‘fight the power’ and get more unattractive women into on-air-talent positions. However… what they’re missing is that the woman wasn’t being sought because she was a woman. They were looking for someone that would have been attractive to their target demographic… MEN. If you take away the desire to hire someone attractive, that doesn’t mean that the unattractive woman has a chance at all. She’s on the same level (if not lower) than a man now, because neither the man nor the unattractive woman is going to add to the show’s ratings. Unfortunately, even fighting the power doesn’t mean a win for the unattractive woman… it’s merely a loss for the attractive woman. And, yes… I’m aware that I’m using terms that relate to _visual_ attractiveness, because that’s the line that was drawn in this particular case.

Do I think this situation was sexist? No. It would have been sexist if what the new employee looked like wouldn’t have mattered at all to their ratings. If they were hiring a video editor, who was never going to be seen on the broadcast, choosing a more attractive and less qualified woman would have been a sexist decision, benefitting the men in the company that would rather walk in the editing suite and see an attractive woman, and hurting the bottom line, since she would be less effective at getting the job done than the less attractive woman. In the case of hiring on-air talent for a mindless hostess position, go for the gusto. Get all the ratings you can, because that’s where you’re going to get viewers, fame, advertisers, more work… whatever. If you need the new hire to actually DO SOMETHING, go with the most qualified person in the best interests of your business.

…

Like I said, I missed the boat on this conversation, but it ended with ZERO resolution, whatsoever. Each camp rallied around their respective positions, and no solutions came up that might have gotten a less attractive, yet more qualified female the job. In this case, its absolutely right what the women were saying, that her personality wasn’t being showcased and that she was chosen for her looks instead of her ideas and thoughts. “Someone” also said something that I found interesting and true. One of the arguments from the “good looks” side was that “sex sells”. Her response was that it wasn’t actually sex that was “selling”… it was how attractive the woman looked. I think she’s absolutely right. I don’t think a more sexual or sensual, yet visually unattractive woman would have stood a chance of being hired for this position, because she still wouldn’t have helped the ratings.

What never came up in the conversation is Human nature. Regardless of the technology, it’s still people on the other end of the line. Attractive people get more ‘stuff’ in this world. That’s how it is. Every time there’s a scientific study done, those are the results. All other things being equal, attractiveness wins the position. Even when things AREN’T equal, attractiveness wins the position. It’s valiant and respectable to fight the good fight, but until the society changes to the point where the viewers don’t care what the host / hostess / romance novel cover model looks like, their visual or physical attractiveness is going to be a tool to use to bait viewers into watching something they otherwise wouldn’t even consider taking a FIRST look at.

Yankees’ Cory Lidle Plane Crash on 72nd Street in Manhattan, NYC

NEW YORK — A small plane with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle aboard crashed into a 50-story condominium tower Wednesday on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, killing two people, authorities said.
There was no immediate confirmation Lidle was among the dead, and earlier reports indicated four had died. A law enforcement official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Lidle was on the plane. And Federal Aviation Administration records showed the single-engine plane was registered to the athlete, National Transportation Safety Board spokeswoman Deborah Hersman told reporters.

An instructor and a student pilot were on the plane when it struck the tower at 524 E. 72nd St., New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “The metal parts are basically in the street. The engine was on one of the floors,” he said.

“The initial indication is that there is a terrible accident,” Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said, and Bloomberg said there was “nothing to suggest that anything remotely like terrorism was involved in this.” Nevertheless, fighter jets were scrambled over U.S. cities as a precaution, the Pentagon said.

The crash at the Belaire overlooking the East River struck fear in a city devastated by the attacks of Sept. 11 five years ago. Sirens echoed across the neighborhood as emergency workers and ambulances rushed in with stretchers. Broken glass and debris were strewn around the neighborhood.