Sammy Seal Franco spins a yarn again.

[Thai Bri]

Remember I said he looks like Lurch from the Adam's family? Well heres a little song I wrote about him. It is, surprisingly, to be sung to the tune of.......The Adam's family!

A fraudster and a crooky
He's never had a f uckey
He makes girls want to chuckey
Sammy Lurch Franco!

He likes to think he's vicious
And to women be delicious
But they make him do the dishes
Sammy Lurch Franco

His respect for women is sparse
His views on girls a farce
He takes it up the arse!
Sammy Lurch Franco!

LEOs are on his list
Of trainees, but theres a twist
None of them exist
But Sammy Lurch Franco!

People think he's sick
He has the brain thats made of brick
He spends his day Razing his dick!
Sammy Lurch Franco!

He calls his stuff the Widowmaker
He says he'll send you to your maker
But he's not the giver he's the "taker"
Sammy Lurch Franco

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There! Do you like it? Don't forget to include all the "na na na na - waaa waaa's" into the verse as you go.

[ryanhall]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Bri,

That was literally one of the funniest thigns I have ever read in my entire life. Thank you

[Nox]

Hello folks, I was surprised to see Ryan Halls post. By the way, Ryan Hall is his real name. For those of you who are not aware, Ryan was a student of mine for about 1 year. He joined CFA when he was 17 years old. Compared to most of my students he was very small and frail.

When Ryan first came to me I was very reluctant to teach him. First, Ryan was physically ill. He was significantly underweight (5' 11'' and 130 pounds.)
He was anemic and had a very hard time working out with my beginners. Most of the time, Ryan would have to stop training because or nose bleeds or he would puke. I had to remove him from many CFA drills because his face would turn white and he looked like he was going to pass out.

Second, Ryan comes from a very traumatic childhood (how do I know , he told me) and suffers from SEVERE depression. He takes heavy doses of Zoloft. I actually felt sorry for him. Actually, there were several occasions that Ryan threatened to commit suicide. He would often call me up and cry about his life. I told him that I am not trained for this type of problem and advised him to seek professional help. I kept Ryan around CFA because I did not want him to feel abandoned by me and the guys. His workouts still suffered and they were relatively "tame" because of his weak physical condition.

Over the past months Ryan was getting "crushed" in class. He was slowing down the progress of others in class. There was nothing else I could do but to ask Ryan to leave CFA. As you could imagine, he was mad. But I had to look out for his well being as well as the other students. The bottom line is.....the kid simply did not have the mental and physical fortitude to study Contemporary Fighting Arts.

Who the hell is Ryan and how is he in this discussion I thought it was Mike who posted the reply to Sammy hoax of letter??

[kengar]

Who the hell is Ryan and how is he in this discussion I thought it was Mike who posted the reply to Sammy hoax of letter??

Well, if you read the previous page Ryan is at the bottom.


I CAN'T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY SANG THAT SONG IN MY HEAD. It did go with the tune though.

[ryanhall]

Ryan is me--the guy who personally knows about Sammy and CFA. Every time someone up and leaves, Sammy goes and makes things up about them. It happened with his protege, Pete, and it happened with me. Frankly, it's not even worth my time to begin correcting the nonsense that this unstable moron decided to invent, so I won't do it. Suffice it to say that the only true part of what he wrote was that I was 17 when I took CFA for one year. Outside of that, each of the things Sammy claimed was not only completely false, but also somewhat ironic if you know him.

Clearly, when someone takes issue with Sammy and his self-absorbed, blustering, fraudulent crap, the problem is with them rather than Sammy. I would point out that it was not me who started with ad homynym attacks, nor will I resort to that now. I base my arguments on facts alone. Stooping to personal and clearly false attacks on an individual is an obvious sign of someone who has been backed into a corner and is unable to even start to salvage their position by intelligent debate.

Also, thanks to my "weak physical condition," and my proclivity towards nose bleeds and spontaneous vomiting during CFA's hardcore hubud sessions, I was able to successfully play a number of varsity sports in high school, compete successfully in NAGA and Grapplers Quest submission wrestling and BJJ tourneys during my first year of college, and I hope to be fighting MMA in the not-too-distant future. I won't bother relating to you the skill level or physical condition of the average or even the above average "CFA warrior" .

I quit CFA of my own volition more than a year and a half ago due to the fact that I concluded that Sammy as an individual was unworthy of my support (it really wasn't that hard, I'm sorry to say), as well as that CFA was nonsense and largely useless in terms of fighting--nothing like showing up at a SBG (the one in New York City) and getting owned by people 30 lbs lighter than I am to awaken me to the fact that what I had been spending my time on didn't do me much good. Now, from that you could conclude that I suck, but I would point your attention to the fact that I have been placing (every time I have competed) in large divisions in regional tournaments after less than a year of training. I credit that to good instructors (SBG, Team Lloyd Irvin) and good training partners, but one cannot overlook the fact that I had a little talent to begin with--more talent than an anemic, skinny, projectile-vomiting little kid would have. Also, I can speak volumes as to how much more positive my outlook on life has become since dropping Sammy and anything that has to do with him. I hate to be an advertisment, but I am litearlly a poster boy for the benefits of athletic training in the martial arts over the angry, eye gouging, throat-ripping, talk-tough-because-you're-really-afraid crap that we see so often (particularly in the RBSD world). Since I really started training athletically again (I sort of stopped after Judo, looking instead for the most extreme thing out there because it had to be the best...), I have improved more than I ever thought I would, I am competing successfully, and I feel better in general. I have a very realistic understanding of my skills, and I really pity people who walk around angry all day thinking about which eye they are going to rip out if someone tries to do some of that "sport stuff" to them.

Look, guys. I feel like a jackass listing the reasons why I don't suck or why am a good athlete, but I think that it is important to do so so that I may illustrate that it was not me, but rather CFA and Sammy that had the problem. This is the last thing that I will say on this, but I hope that you all came away with a better understanding of the issues that are present here. Sammy and people like him are both unhealthy and unworthy of any sort of committment on your part, be it financial or otherwise. Don't waste your time or money like I did.

The end.

Ryu,

I'll get that PM back to you asap. Unless this answered some of your questions.

Ryan

[Rashid]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience with Franco Ryan. I'm curious though because you seem to now label all RBSD systems into the same category and I know you've attended a few Senshido seminars would you categorize Richard Dimitri and Senshido as "angry, eye gouging, throat-ripping, talk-tough-because-you're-really-afraid crap that we see so often". I only ask this because I have dealth with Mr. Dimitri on several occasions and attended one of his seminars in the past and didn't get that impression at all from him or his materials. Contrarily he comes across as a really good hearted guy and his materials are very alive and dynamic (I know he doesn't do hubud ) I just wanted to know your opinion?

[Thai Bri]

When I emailed Franco about his stuff, his gruff reply was along the lines of "just pay the dough and see for yourself".

When I emailed Dimitri I got an in depth description, and was treated like a valued customer.

I think thise gives a clear indication as to their respective personalities.

[Thai Bri]

ps - glad you like the song Ryan. I bet Sammy Sea Horse shat his pants in anger when he sang it! Haw haw haw!

[Nox]

Ryan, Sorry I missed your previous post. This guy is a total moran. Although I don't know if I agree with Mike idea that Sammy is hiding gay tendacy I think its obvious to anyone who has been folowing this post that he has some serious issues. I can't believe he has stooped to character bashing his own previous students. Unbelievable!!

[Thai Bri]

I think Sammy should come onto the thread and talk about this. Come on Sammy Sea Horse! Lets see how bright you are ("Uuuurrrr, you rannnnng?") and take on the Thai Bri! Come and kick my pretentious behind for the sake of all your students. They are both dying to see you do it! And bring all your imaginary friends too! Make yourself at home! Log on with as many different names as you like!

HAW HAW HAW!!!!!! I'm laughing at you, ya Dim Chauvanist Closet Camp Queen! HAW HAW HAW!

[ryanhall]

Rashid and Nox,

I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not sorry about the whole thing. It was a waste of time and money, but I definitely grew as a result of dealing with a tool like Sammy, and I wouldn't be where I am today if I did not take that path.

I would, however, like to make one important point of clarification.

In no way, shape, or form do I associate Richard Dimitri or Senshido with what I was referring to in my previous post. In all my dealings with Rich (2 seminars, a number of e-mails), he has come across as both personable and professional. He and his representatives bear no resemblance whatsoever to the cammo-wearing, multiple-knife-carrying wannabe tough guys that populate the self-defense scene. Rich does not discount in any way the benefits of athletic training (he practices and teaches it), nor does he parade around telling people how much they suck while extolling the benefits of his own teachings (an uncommon feat in his field).

Actually, as far as I can tell, the only people in the "reality" self-defense world that actually have and encourage a healthy outlook on life are Rich Dimitri and Geoff Thompson. Just about everyone else I have seen is a scared little kid walking around with their chest puffed out trying to convince everyone how bad they are. It's sad, really, that the martial arts is such a breeding ground for these kinds of people.

I just wanted to make it clear that when I criticize the bogus people I have dealt with in the martial arts, Rich is not at all one of them. Just because what he teaches is not my personal cup of tea (in terms of athletic competition and delivery system development) does not in any way invalidate it. In fact, I would recommend Senshido to many people if they were asking me for a very good self-defense instructor. I have attended two of his seminars and I enjoyed and learned from both--much more than I can say for the namesake of this thread.

I hope that clears things up.

[C. Montes]

"Hello folks, I was surprised to see Ryan Halls post. By the way, Ryan Hall is his real name. For those of you who are not aware, Ryan was a student of mine for about 1 year. ..."

... and that's where the similarity of the earlier post and my own ends! My name is Christian and i am the instructor at Ronin Athletics (SBGi-NYC affiliate) I met Ryan about a year ago, which is when he started training MMA/BJJ here in New York. through the course of 9 months he quickly grew to be one of my most dedicated, dilligent & talented students. though he had to move back to Northern VA and is no longer at my gym, Ryan is currently training and competing with one of the top BJJ/MMA teams on the east coast. apparenlty Lloyd Irvin & Jeff Ruth don't feel like this poor kid is holding any of their top competitors back. we keep in touch and he keeps me posted on his success in local tournaments (that can be verified through the national grappling RANKED system) Basically everything Ryan says is true and so i'm not gonna repeat it. people who know him through this site don't need me to vouch for him - i'm just here to show him my support.

I would inquire from time to time about his previous martial arts experience and he would mention a little bit of judo and some HS wrestling (assuming this would be all that really mattered in relation to the SBG training curriculum) He always told me he dabbled in some other stuff and would never really get into it. Now i can see why. I, myself would also try to forget any association i would have had to such an insecure & childish Wanna-Be. Unfortunately, this experience seems like an initiation rite for anyone thats truly interested in realistic martial arts training to have to go through. However, like Ryan pointed out, this shapes us into the people and athletes we are today. At the very least we know what we DON'T wanna become and that there HAS to be a better way. Charlatans like that make us truly appreciate the path we have chosen today along with those who have helped us to grow along the way through thier [B]honesty[/B] and integrity, on and off the mat.

so while I try not to spend too much time on forums (outside of alleviating the boredom of work) let me just yell at the top of my lungs that the post at the top of this page (i'm assuming its from the CFA site) is just a shameless, outrageous, bold-faced LIE! Not an opinion, not a POV, or observation - Just plain old B@llsh#t!!!

as opposed to ...

"I am litearlly a poster boy for the benefits of athletic training in the martial arts over the angry, eye gouging, throat-ripping, talk-tough-because-you're-really-afraid crap that we see so often (particularly in the RBSD world). Since I really started training athletically again (I sort of stopped after Judo, looking instead for the most extreme thing out there because it had to be the best...), I have improved more than I ever thought I would, I am competing successfully, and I feel better in general. I have a very realistic understanding of my skills, ..."

Simply Awesome!
You've come a lonnnnggggg way since those CFA days ...
(remember the time i came in early and found you arguing and subsequently sucker-punching the BOB dummy?!?! =p)

looking foward to beating you up this weekend!

-Christian

[bartjam]

Remember I said he looks like Lurch from the Adam's family? Well heres a little song I wrote about him. It is, surprisingly, to be sung to the tune of.......The Adam's family!

That's great Bri, from now on that's your ... RAP! And I can imagine Franco the Loser all too happy....

[ryanhall]

Hey, Christian! What's up, buddy?

Thanks for the support.

looking foward to beating you up this weekend!

Beat up on me? I don't thin...oh yeah. Beat up on me is right.

Had any luck getting people together for tomorrow?

[C. Montes]

hey man ...

yeah - just a handful but the usual suspects seem to be able to show up.
Jeff, Derek, Adam, for sure ...

my friend Rene (Machado purple) is gonna fight NHB soon and he's gonna show up to do some training. you might wanna get some work in with him too.

we'll hook it up later.
take care.