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3-Pointer by Gary Whittaker
Now there's a big surprise! Ya'll better sit down for this one. It seems that Vince Carter has admitting to...are you ready...not playing hard all the time with the Raptors. Hello? You still there? Yes folks, it's true. The sky is blue, what goes...
Essential Pool Table Accessories
There are many necessary accessories that make a pool table function properly, such as pool able felt, covers, cues, chalk, balls, and racks. These are outlined in detail below.
Pool Table Felt
Pool table felt is the (usually green or red)...
Fly Fishing For Fun
Fly fishing is very different than fishing with a lure or worm type baits. The fly fisherman uses a artificial fly consisting of bites of feathers, foam, hide, fur, yarn, and other materials to be tried on to a hook that make it appealing to the...
Great Quotes
Great Quotes
I love what prominent baseball people have to say about the great ballplayers. They seem to eloquently capture what we are thinking.
"It was his solemn duty to catch a ball that wasn't in the stands." - Monte Irvin (Newark Eagles...
Interesting game : Bowling
Bowling is a game in which balls are rolled at an object or group of objects with the aim of knocking them over or moving them
Bowling can refer to two distinctly different types of game. The first is played along an "alley", most commonly made of...
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Martial Arts in Each Season: Nature in Training
We of the Upper Peninsula, Michigan, the people who inhabit the wild lands north of The Bridge, are at the crest of winter. Which isn't saying much, because no matter what time of year, up here, winter has a way of creeping gleefully nearby, like an antic, poised to drop in on even the most summery of days - like an August wedding (mine), and remind all who live here that we live, first and last, at nature's pleasure, and not she at ours.
I love nature and the outdoors. Here, you would be hard pressed not to, since nature is ever present and wild, and cannot be constrained. We live here among the big forests, the blue-black waters of Mother Superior.
At my Center, we are about to dive into our first kangeiko, which is intensive winter training. The windows will be open, and the cold will surely come. The indoor sanctity of the dojo will be broken by the outdoors, the rude ways of the howling, northern winds.
It occurs to me - we spend so much of our time trying to protect ourselves. When it is hot outside, we try to
cool down; when it is cold, we try to keep our warmth. In Japanese martial arts tradition, kangeiko and its summer counterpart, shochugeiko, are ways of marking one’s training, and giving over to nature. When the sun is raging, and summer's heat is on - train fully, sweat, give over to the experience and hold nothing back; in the depths of winter's cold, do not tighten and try to stave it off, but accept the cold, relax into it and break through to a new understanding.
But in this training, I believe, we find a mirror to life itself. Beautiful, chaotic, demanding - nature. Nature just is.
About The Author
Paul Smith is the Founder and Director of the Aikido Center of Marquette (www.aikido-marquette.com), located in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan. He is an avid outdoorsman, and is also the webmaster of www.a1-outdoors.com, a website serving as a resource for outdoor sports gear and information.
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