On Wednesday, Kyle Shanahan made quite a comparison on Richard Sherman’s knee recovery and how Sherman can walk:
“Did some Mr. Miyagi stuff on him. We’ll see, though. Sherm always battles. You expect him to be out there and hopefully he’ll get better each day. I know he’s not there all the way yet, but he’s got a few more days to do it and hopefully he’ll be good on Sunday.”
Behind the scenes, it’s obvious Kyle, and I talk a lot. And something came up in our conversation Thursday: who hasn’t seen The Karate Kid? Most of you age 30 and up will be quoting, “Sweep the leg” and other gold lines in the comments section, but we realized a majority of our younger readers either missed out or have never seen it.
So with it being a quiet Saturday, I figured I’d explain what Shanahan was talking about.
The “Mr. Miyagi” name drop refers to a karate master in the film The Karate Kid. Miyagi takes Daniel LaRusso under his wing and teaches him karate to help Daniel defend himself against bullies. Still, the film has a nice undertone of Daniel finding a father figure (something he didn’t have) and Miyagi finding himself a pupil or son (as his wife and newborn son died in childbirth). The chemistry between the two is what made the movie.
Early on, Miyagi does some weird healing thing (a “reiki” if you want to get specific, I suppose) to help Daniel’s shoulders, which then lets Daniel perform the many different maneuvers Miyagi taught via chores. The chores were meant to teach muscle memory for defense (mind blown—dude was training the entire time).
The scene itself was brilliant, but it also hinted that this healing thing might be important later because Daniel gets nailed with an illegal move in the karate semi-finals by one of the bullies. The move takes out Daniel’s knee, and he asks Miyagi to heal it up so he can take on Johnny, the bully ringleader who had been harassing him all movie, in the final battle. Miyagi reluctantly does.
What does this have to do with anything? Nothing, really. It’s just for those who were wondering what the hell Shanahan was talking about with the “Mr. Miyagi Stuff.” I doubt they did a reiki per se, but it was pretty funny to see Miyagi get referenced in a 49ers’ press conference.
It’s also a shame we won’t see him in the YouTube series Cobra Kai, set decades later, and from Johnny’s point of view. Pat Morita, the actor who played Miyagi, died a few years back so he won’t be making an appearance. By the way, if you haven’t watched Cobra Kai, I’d give that a watch. The first season is very well done. The second season kind of ventures into the realm of utter nonsense, but it’s still entertaining even if it’s a step down from the first season.
I could go on forever. I just love this [site-decorum]