Very good post and so true.
Watching these clips reaffirms what I have been saying for years about street fights being none other than total chaos.
Reason why what we work with in any style that emphasizes the block then strike concept is only marginally useful, if at all, when in an altercation.
Like Art says, the human reaction time is the enemy in a fight. The reading is the key as Art has explained and I also teach.
And by reading I mean 'reading intent' being the most critical factor. You don't practice reading an incoming punch so you can block it or counter it, because you will get nailed most of the times.
If you want to use the word block then think of
blocking your opponent's intent...and by blocking intent I mean shutting down the opponent's 'thoughts' of hitting you by the best strategic response, i.e., physically striking first as he is about to transaction from thought to action upon you...or
to angle off and do something else if up against a huge, mean, or 'scuzzy' foul ...opponent where you are better off not going 'skin to skin'_ and remember that if you hit the wrong guy he will pick you up and slam you down as you see in one of the clips.
As a matter of fact, Art, you will recall that time when you and I laid up a couple of 'out of towners' Uechi punks using these concepts of shutting down intent.
Here's a game you can play that will sober you up on the 'block/counter' beliefs you may have.
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/dashboardI scored in the upper 32% _ many of you should do even better while still realizing that action will beat reaction every time.
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/dashboardGood post.