Online belts?

I recently received a telephone call about sponsorships. A kid wanted to know whether we sponsor jiu jitsu fighters.

Well, here's my rant o'the day:

1. Jiu Jitsu "fighters" aren't fighters in the strictest sense of the word. They don't punch, strike or kick. They are specialists on positional movement, pins, controls and submissions via chokes and joint locks. You could say the title "doctor" applies to all in the medical field but just as there are medical doctors there are probably just as many academic doctors whom you can't consult for a health concern. They are not the same. Military people who go to war and shoot each other are fighters. They fight for survival. They fight so that you and I can enjoy our freedom. They fight for a cause.

People who sit behind a desk for 8 hours a day and train for 2 two nights a week are not fighters. They're enthusiasts who play the sport of jiu jitsu.

2. There are little to no jiu jitsu competitions in the country (Malaysia), at least not like how you expect what a sanctioned, ranked and rated jiu jitsu competition is like anyway. Rolling about in your living room with cousin Benny doesn't make you a competitor.

3. Sponsoring someone who hasn't been on the mats and trained against a live, fully-resisting opponent is never going to happen because they don't know what it is really like. You don't know side control until you've been under side control.

4. Getting a belt online doesn't qualify or certify you for sh*t. It's just a piece of paper and a bit of cloth you tie around your waist and you would be a fool to believe otherwise. Try downloading a degree from an online university to see how far you would get in any Fortune 500 corporation job interview. You will probably get the same results here.

5. Cheap things ain't good, and good things ain't cheap ~ that's my red neck impression for the year.

6. Getting certified online means you never know what a "tap" means.

7. The dictionary is the only place where Success comes before Work (not my quotation)

8. It's disrespectful to those who earned their belts through real mat time, not virtual "online" study time at 2:30am

9. True, you'll never get ringworm or mat burn but that's what makes you, you and me, me.

10. I don't have to pay RM32 per technique video streaming download in FLV or MP4 format. I get the whole thing for much less and it's sweaty and it's real.

/rant