/Chula Vista

Do you know who I am?
THAGAME Not since the likes of Sensei John Kreese of the Cobra Kai Dojo (The Karate Kid) have we seen a man like 1992 Olympic Gold Medalist Master Herb Perez. You remember the guy who said:

Sensei John Kreese: We do not train to be merciful here. Mercy is for the weak. Here, in the streets, in competition: A Man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy deserves no mercy…

Let me tell you a little interaction I had with Master Perez on a Beautiful Sunday (March 30, 2008) afternoon while I was on my way to lunch with my wife…and then you decide if this is the man who you want teaching "your" kids ethics and morals and values of martial arts:

Any one who has been to the Edgewater Shopping Center in Foster City knows what it is like to park on a weekend (let alone any weekday). We drove around in my Jeep (which I admit can be intimidating at times with 35" tires and a 4 1/2 inch lift kit and has been referred to before as a tank…lol…but I digress…

We found a spot, I opened my door for my beautiful wife, and we started walking hand in hand towards Chevys…

All of a sudden, out of nowhere this guy (Master Herb Perez) is walking towards me very quickly and stops 4 inches from my face, puts his finger in my face and says "you just blew through that stop sign (the one on the corner between Gold Medal Martial Arts and Chevys)"…I immediately said "OH I did I apologize for that (knowing in my head that I was a little lightheaded and hungry and very well could have)…Then I asked him with all the anger management I could muster to please back up out of my face (knowing where it could go and not wanting it to go there), he immediately responded with "Do you know who I am, you don't know who I am do you?"…I told him at that point I don't care who you are get out of my face…Then he starts to take his jacket off (woah, hold the bus, slow your roll, I would expect a guy with 38 years of martial arts training to have a lot more patience then to want to fight someone who "blew through" a stop sign (and admitted in, and apologized"…

I said "you are going to fight me because I went through a stop sign", really confused and at that point I put my hands in my pocket and said OK if that is what you want to do, go ahead…

At that point he put his jacket back on and said "I am just going to call the cops", which I responded "go ahead I have not done anything wrong that the cops would get involved with" and he responded that "I am a lawyer and I would get a ticket for a civil complaint for running the stop sign (as I am laughing inside knowing it is private property and they will not give a ticket on private property (great lawyer…lol)…

At this point a bystander (which neither him or I knew) walked up and told him he was out of line because I apologized as soon as he told me what I had done and he kept being aggressive trying to provoke me…At that point he told him it was none of his business and hung the phone up (which we all knew he was bluffing anyway about the police).

To make a long story short the bystander called the cops, they came, ran everyone for warrants and told me not to run stop signs (which I felt was redundant at this point since I had already acknowledged it and apologized for it half a dozen times), and told him that he should not have come up to me in an aggressive way, and the last thing he said was that I was the first one to be aggressive, that I was also speeding (even though I was looking for a parking space at about 2 miles an hour but OK), and that there were 2 and 3 year olds in the street while I was driving (what an imagination this guy has...

Bottom line if you want this man who lies and finds his resolutions in life by being a bully and confront people in a confrontational matter (did I mention that when his pregnant wife came out of the dojo to see what was going on he very roughly told her to go back inside and dismissed her), then by all means sign your child up for Master Herb Perez's classes but know this is what they will be learning:

Kreese: Fear does not exist in this dojo, does it?
Karate Class: NO, SENSEI!
Kreese: Pain does not exist in this dojo, does it?
Karate Class: NO, SENSEI!
Kreese: Defeat does not exist in this dojo, does it?
Karate Class: NO, SENSEI!

OH…BTW…Herb if you end up reading this, I realized the reason I did not recognize you is that your "Gold Medal" days were 16 years ago (let it go) and you are also about 50-75lbs heavier than you were…IMO, so I apologize for not knowing who the has been was...Take Care...