Chuck Norris

[amadeus]

Now that the Internet has made Chuck Norris a superstar among geeks, what sort of opinion do you have about his films and television roles? Are there people here, other than myself, that enjoy watching them?

For the record, I haven't seen Walker, Texas Ranger, but I'd have to assume that it is similar to his movies. I have seen many of the movies and do enjoy them, as reflected in my poll choice.

 

[madviking]

I all I know is he the first westerner in 4500 years to get a 8th black belt in tae-kwon-do.

 

[Fetus4188]

I enjoy his films, much as I enjoy Steven Seagal, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Harrison Ford, and other action stars.

 

[Alex the Great]

Dude, he was in Delta Force with Lee Marvin. Last time I checked only the top actors have ever starred alongside Lee Marvin...

Plus who doesn't like rockets on motorcycles?

 

[Rhymes]

i hate Chuck Norris just a little less then I hate Steven Seagal.

A white bearded man doint martial art just doesn't fit right imo.

 

[amadeus]

I all I know is he the first westerner in 4500 years to get a 8th black belt in tae-kwon-do.

That's because up until the 20th century, we didn't have any mini-malls.

 

[storealex]

He sucks and only appears in B movies, which is why he is funny.

 

[Taliesin]

I hadn't heard of him until perhaps a month ago.

 

[Fifty]

I hate most martial arts movie people for the skewed picture of fighting that they portray.

People these days honestly think that karate is remotely useful in a fight, which of course it is not. Ask the average person who would win in a fight between the worlds best karate black belt and an olympic wrestler and they would choose the black belt which just irks me.

Beyond that, I find the whole Chuck Norris thing generally annoying. Recent years have yielded this whole humor movement that is supposed to be some kind of a backlash against political correctness and the like. When it started out, it was legitimately funny (think The Man Show, Maddox, Some early Conan sketches) but now everybody is copying it and it has become officially burnt out and unfunny (think Family Guy, internet forum users everywhere, all those 'fact' sites about action stars).

 

[storealex]

Fifty, Karate is useful. Not as much as many other martial arts, but if you train it for many years, you learn many things you can use in a fight. As for the wrestler thing, I disagree. Wrestlers are not used to kicks, and can therefore have their kneecaps kicked fx, before they ever come close enough to do their thing. Plus a quick punch at the nose is always effective.

 

[The Yankee]

He was entertaining in those films. So what if things in the movie aren't true to life?

 

[Xen]

Hitro loves them ("chuckisms") you know.

 

[CoolioVonHoolio]

ive seen some walker texas ranger and the movie code of scilence, i am embarassed to admit i loved them both!

 

[The Yankee]

Ask the average person who would win in a fight between the worlds best karate black belt and an olympic wrestler and they would choose the black belt which just irks me.

If you mean Greco-Roman wrestling, then there is no question that karate or another martial art style would win the day.

 

[Irish Caesar]

I enjoyed Walker, Texas Ranger, but that's all I've seen of his.

 

[Fifty]

Fifty, Karate is useful. Not as much as many other martial arts, but if you train it for many years, you learn many things you can use in a fight. As for the wrestler thing, I disagree. Wrestlers are not used to kicks, and can therefore have their kneecaps kicked fx, before they ever come close enough to do their thing. Plus a quick punch at the nose is always effective.

That's the classic karate response to the idea of getting beat by a wrestler, and it simply is not the case. I'm not sure if you have a clue as to how good olympic wrestlers are at take downs. Try looking up the fight between Royce Gracie (a then 16 year old jiu jitsu guy who has MAYBE 1/10th of the takedown ability of an olympic wrestler) and the then world kung-fu champion Jason Delucia. Royce absolutely manhandled Jason. Think about that. a wiry 16yr old with nowhere NEAR the takedown ability of an olympic wrestler totally DESTROYS the world champion of kung-fu.

@yankee

same thing. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that karate is a good match against wrestling. The only standup styles that are all that good are muay thai, vale tudo, and kickboxing. NOT karate


In a statistical analysis of what fighting styles win fights in MMA (which is the only real fight sport) these are the results:

BEST STYLES (in order):

Wrestling
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (ground/wrestling based)
Submission fighting (ground/wrestling based)
Kickboxing (standup based, but far different than stupid karate)
Muay Thai (standup based, far different than karate, teaches sprawls)
Sambo / Judo (wrestling/throw/takedown based)
Greco-Roman Wrestling
Ruas Vale Tudo (combination standup/wrestling)
Submission Wrestling
Rings Submission Fighting (wrestling based)

That is, 7/10 of the best styles are wholly ground/wrestling based, and 1 of the remaining has a large ground component, and the other two are completely different than stupid karate. Lets see you find anywhere near as many accomplished fighters who are practitioners of karate than I can find that are wrestlers in one capacity or another.

 

[Whomp]

This is an interesting phenomenon. I see it as a under 30 year old thing versus a geek thing. Every person I know over 30 would say Bruce Lee over Chuck Norris. When did mullets and doing workout videos become cool?

versus

Cato on the Green Hornet or Walker: Texas Ranger?
Give me Bruce Lee any day.

Forget about winning and losing; forget about pride and pain. Let your opponent graze your skin and you smash into his flesh; let him smash into your flesh and you fracture his bones; let him fracture your bones and you take his life. Do not be concerned with escaping safely - lay your life before him. Who said that? Bruce Lee

Let's not forget, Chuck Norris was only a student at Lee's academy. Not the master but the padwan.

 

[Xen]

simple- chuck is alive, lee isnt.

 

[storealex]

Fifty, I thought we were talking about Karate in a normal streetfight? If it would be useful? Well I can tell you it is. My best friend trained karate for five years, and though a streetfight is miles away from the Karateclub, he does have an advantage over the average guy (No training at all) in a street/barfight. I totally agree that Karate is among the less effective martial arts, but it is never the less better than nothing, which makes your initial statement about Karate wrong.

About Wrestling, well I don't know all the genres of it, but I've had some "for fun" fights against a guy I know doing traditional wrestling. I was usually able to punch or kick him, before he got close. Of course it was for fun, so I didn't hit him on the nose, or kick his kneecap hard or something like that, but I could have, a frankly a nose is a nose, and a kneecap is a kneecap. No matter how good he is once he get's close enough to wrestle, he is in trouble when a well placed fist breaks his nose.

 

[Fifty]

Fifty, I thought we were talking about Karate in a normal streetfight? If it would be useful? Well I can tell you it is. My best friend trained karate for five years, and though a streetfight is miles away from the Karateclub, he does have an advantage over the average guy (No training at all) in a street/barfight. I totally agree that Karate is among the less effective martial arts, but it is never the less better than nothing, which makes your initial statement about Karate wrong.

I'll give you that. Of course any training is better than no training, but that time training karate could be used to far better effectiveness in another discipline.

About Wrestling, well I don't know all the genres of it, but I've had some "for fun" fights against a guy I know doing traditional wrestling. I was usually able to punch or kick him, before he got close. Of course it was for fun, so I didn't hit him on the nose, or kick his kneecap hard or something like that, but I could have, a frankly a nose is a nose, and a kneecap is a kneecap. No matter how good he is once he get's close enough to wrestle, he is in trouble when a well placed fist breaks his nose.

Simply put then, your friend was either a horrible wrestler or wasn't trying. It simply does not happen that way, period. First of all, a kick to the kneecap is a completely bogus move against anybody with an ounce of knowledge about fighting. You will never see anybody of any skill whatsoever use a kick to the kneecap in an MMA fight. The best use for standup in skilled fighting is to take enough wrestling/jiu jitsu classes to know how to sprawl and get in guard, and then hack away methodically. leg kicks are fine, but kicks to the knee-caps?!? That simply will NOT work against anybody with skill. It never has, and never will, and that is simply a fact. The idea that one could get in a pop on the nose or a kick to the kneecap while the other is going in for a double leg is absolutely insane.