Projekt Label

It’s taken a while for me to come to grips with the passing of my friend “Fast Eddie” Constantine.  Perhaps the best theraputic action I’ve undertaken has been Jiu Jitsu training at Dave Camarillo’s Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu training center.  Nevertheless though, I’ve gotten to wrap my mind around what has happpend and while I very much miss our friend Eddie, I realize that what has happened is much bigger than any of us.  Eddie, in his own way, has left a mark on the world that we all should live by.

A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to be able to speak at Eddie’s memorial service.  It was hands down the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my lifetime, yet the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done.  I never told Eddie how much he meant to me, or how much I respected him, yet telling my story to 200+ people that showed up to his memorial service helped me in ways that I can never explain.  I will miss you ever day for the rest of my life, my brother, but know that my speech is just one of a many that clearly explain what an amazing person you were.

Below is my memorial speech:

I first met Eddie at a CASC Event in Kezar Pavillion.  I use the term “event” lightly as it was a total disaster.  The doors opened two hours late, when we finally got in, they were taking the ring apart and putting it back together, and on top of everything else, they oversold the seats and we had tickets, yet no seats.

For those of you that know me, you know that patience is not my strong suit.  I began yelling at the promoter and freaking out, but this guy came up to me and said “you guys can sit with us”.  So we sat down to watch the fights ringside with Fast Eddie Constantine and Danny Acosta.  Seriously, if I was this guy, I would have been, “fuck him, he’s an asshole”, yet, Eddie was totally cool with sitting next to us.

He wasn’t only cool with sitting next to us, he wanted to talk to me and get to see what I was all about.  That night, a fighter, Alvin Cacdac was fighting on the card.  He asked why we were there and I mentioned we were there to see one of our fighters, Jose Palacios fight Muay Thai.  He asked if we had ever seen Alvin Cacdac fight MMA and I happened to mention to him that he fought one of our other sponsored fighters, Chad George, the month before.

Without even missing a beat, Eddie handed me his card and said, “well you have to tell him to be on our radio show.  We’d love to interview him. I’ll get in touch with you. “.

Now most people have given me what i call the “yeah, yeah, yeah’ about a million times: they shake your hand, give you their card, say “yeah yeah yeah” and never actually plan on following up with you.  Yet, that next morning, when I was at Starbucks at 7AM, catching up on my email, what should pop into my inbox, but a message from Eddie, wanting to hook up this interview with Chad.  That is when I knew there was something special about this guy.

As I went on to get to know Eddie better, I started to pick up on things.  For instance, at fights, he was always complimentary to everyone he met.  It didn’t matter if you were the first guy on the undercard, or the main event.  He wanted to interview everyone and he treated them all equally.

He was always also willing to help out others for no other reason than helping them.  All the time he would call me to get clothes to wear on Video and during photo shoots of events.  At first I thought this was a strange request, but after a while, I realized that his videos and interveiws were being watched by thousands, if not tens of thousands of people and he wanted to help spread our brand.  Amazing.

He also loved MMA.  Hell, he was A.D.D. about it.  I can’t tell you how many times our conversations would take a sharp 90 degree turn because something I said would remind him of some past fight, story about a fighter, promoter or even just a fan at an event.  I would regularly get off the phone saying, “Crap! He did it to me again!”. Only having to call him back to try and accomplish my original goal for my call.  He loved MMA.  Not just a little bit, but 24-7.

More than his love of MMA, I think though it is his martial arts philosophy and approach to life that was the reason that Eddie was the great person he was and why so many people just seemed to gravitate towards him.  Watching Eddie interview Dave Camarillo at his gym opening in Pleasanton was the the first day this hit home for me.  It was probably the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.  Eddie was asking Dave his opinions on the differences between a fighter or cage fighter and that of a martial artist.  You could tell it wasn’t just an interview, but two people who deeply cared about martial arts, discussing their philosophies with one another.

I know Eddie really loved Dave and looked up to him, but I think that martial arts philosophy was always in his blood.  Over the past week, I’ve received many emails from eddies friends, some of whom are probably in this room tonight.  One of the ones that put a smile on my face when I really needed it was one from a grade school classmate of his, who wrote:
“I have been friends with Eddie since the first grade, I dare say I knew him well. Even as kids, he always wanted to put me in a choke hold, armbar or headlock. He has always been a martial artist.”

Eddie exercised this philosophy every minute of every day, traveling through life as some sort of passionate peaceful warrior.  As they say, if you love what you do, you will excel at it.  And Eddie did.   I know I’m biased, but I’d venture to say that Eddie could take any interview and make it interesting. He would do interviews with stuffy fight promoters, fighters nobody has ever heard of and even top tier fighters that are otherwise known to be jerks.  Yet, you’d listen to the interviews, and be hanging on every word.  His style again was one that made everyone come off looking good.  Hell, he even made my dumb ass look good in an interview.  I suppose was most likely his most challenging feat as an interviewer.

One of the hardest things for me over the past week or so has been trying to deal with the question of “why”?  Why Eddie?  How could someone who literally had more friends than anyone I’ve ever seen, end up living such a short life?  What could or should I have done differently to maybe push him more to open up, or how could I have paid better attention to anything he might have trying to been telling me?

Over the weekend, it hit me that Eddie wouldn’t want that.  The one thing that would make him happier than anything would be for us to learn from him and carry on the example that he was setting for the world.  We all need to be Eddie’s peaceful warriors.
-Do no harm
-Treat people with dignity and respect
-Spread the martial arts philosophy
-And I’m sure if he were here, he’d interrupt me right now and add “Make everyone into a fighter”

Well, the reality might be that we can’t make everyone a fighter, but we can do the rest.
-Tell your friends and family you love them, even if you think they know it already
-Never “big time” anyone.  Even the little guy deserves the same treatment as your hero gets
-Lastly and most importantly, SPREAD THE MARTIAL ARTS PHILOSOPHY

-Donate to Fast Eddie’s Fighters to help get under privileged kids into martial arts programs

-Start training yourself and learn what it’s all about
-Go to a local gym and check it out
-If you don’t have a local gym, go online to mmafaestro.com and check out online training videos        -Track down people that might know a martial arts discipline and want to teach.  Get them to offer to teach classes in a community center so your community can benefit.

If you think training isn’t your speed, get your kids, or any kids for that matter involved in martial arts.  It’ll be great for them.  They will leran discipline and respect.  There is much more to the world than big screen tv’s, blunts and gold chains.  This could open their eyes to a whole new way of being.

No matter what, just promise yourself that you’ll never forget about our friend Eddie.  If half the world displayed even 10% of the character he had, this would truly be a wonderful place to live.