Lately, we’ve been trying to focus more on the positive side of sports news and gossip, which means more Dirk Nowitzki dressed up as Dr. Satan for the benefit of children or Daniel Bryan letting a little boy with cancer tap him out and less TMZ comparing women to sows. Even that had Kate Upton pictures in it. This trend will probably reverse when the new year drops and suddenly everybody has a sex tape, but for now, it’s a good thing.

In the spirit of positivity, here’s my favorite story of the day — a young Houston Texans fan became concerned when Arian Foster left the team’s 23-6 loss to the Minnesota Vikings early with an irregular heartbeat, so she decided to write him a letter to tell him he’s the best player on the team, and that she hopes his heart feels better. And she drew the logo!

As cute as that is, what makes the story truly great (and different from the time I wrote a letter to Cal Ripken Jr. when I was four with an enclosed macaroni & cheese baseball card and did not/have not heard back from him in almost 30 years) is the fact that Foster saw the letter, and took to Twitter to respond. He didn’t draw any logos, but it’s almost as adorable:

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We don’t really ease back into our regular features scheduling until Monday, but Christmas is over, right? That’s it. When the 26th hits, it’s the end of the “everybody singing Jingle Bells” jazz and straight into non-stop year-end lists until January.

We didn’t get to write about EVERYTHING Christmas-related this season and a lot of stuff is just being shared around today, so I thought I’d perform a gesture of good will and put everything relevant to post-Christmas Wednesday in one handy spot for the enjoyment of all. Or the enjoyment of anybody still clinging to Christmas, I guess.

Up first: School children singing a Robert Griffin III Christmas carol.

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We write about a lot of stupid kids at With Leather — the little girl who held fish over a dolphin tank and stopped paying attention, kids who let soccer players wipe boogers on their faces, kids who don’t keep their head up at hockey camp and whimpery little baseball kids who cry to get what they want among them — so it’s nice to occasionally take a step back and remember that there are kids in the world who have it together, and could straight-up kickbox you to death.

Case in point: Reshat Mati, a kid who is 13-years old and good enough at murdering you that adults (adults!) call him THE ALBANIAN BEAR. You know, the kind of nickname you get when you’ve garroted somebody with piano wire in the background of an episode of ‘The Wire.’

From The Show PRODIGIES – They take you inside the gritty, adrenaline-fueled world of youth boxing and martial arts. Meet Reshat Mati, known as the Albanian bear. At thirteen years old, Reshat is already a world champion kickboxer, muay thai fighter and grappler, and a United States National Silver Gloves boxing champion. (via MMA TKO)

Also impressive is this kid’s collection of “like 22″ championship belts, including one that says NAGA NORTH AMERICAN GRAPPLING CHAMPION but is pretty clearly Ric Flair’s “Big Gold” World Heavyweight Championship:

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So far, our exposure to kids MMA has been pretty horrifying. It’s either Armenian businessmen organizing child shootfights in bars or daycare workers lining kids up and making them hit each other on video, and that doesn’t leave a lot of room for happiness and compassion. That may have all changed thanks to this video of Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy waving a kid over and letting him throw knee strikes at pads and punch him in the face. It is adorable.

From Maggie Hendricks at Cagewriter:

While training for his bout with UFC on Fuel 5 with Amir Sadollah, Dan Hardy tried working with a new partner. This one brought speed and heart, but did have to ask his mom before he worked out with Hardy.

I’m glad someone finally found the right way to introduce mixed martial arts to children: introduce it as a fun, healthy activity they can get into now and be great at when they grow up. That seems a lot better than “put a kid in flame shorts and let him punch a crying baby while we laugh and smoke cigars”.

You’re pretty awesome, Dan Hardy.

Straight from Russia (I think) comes this great video of a kid in a fox costume become the ultimate ballet troll. (via The Daily What)

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Links

5 Reasons Why Birthday Boy Bruce Springsteen Might Be The Coolest Musician Ever |UPROXX|

‘SNL’ Recap: Joseph Gordon-Levitt And Mumford & Sons |Warming Glow|

James Franco’s new band sounds hella James Franco-y |Film Drunk|

These NBA Doppelganger GIFs Are Pretty Terrifying And Accurate |With Leather|

6 Reasons The Wii U Could Win The Upcoming Console Race |Gamma Squad|

The 5 Most Interesting People From The “American Juggalo” Documentary |Smoking Section|

Philip Rivers Handles Season’s First Loss With Typical Maturity |Kissing Suzy Kolber|

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Elijah Earnheart, a six-foot tall, 297-pound 12-year-old from Mesquite, Texas, has been banned from his Pee Wee Football league for being too big. The Pee Wee league has a rule that states any 7th grader exceeding 135 pounds can not play, but must play in the school league with older kids instead.

Also, he RIPS OFF THEIR HEADS. (via NMA World Edition)

- Follow us on Twitter @withleather
- Follow me personally @MrBrandonStroud and Burnsy @MayorBurnsy
- Like us on Facebook.

Links

The Undertaker Goes Shopping For A Baseball Bat: More Wrestler Run-Ins |Deadspin|

21 MMA Ring Girls Who Have Posed Nude: A NSFW Celebration |Cage Potato|

The 15 Most Cringe-Worthy Scenes From ‘The Newsroom’ |Warming Glow|

10 Bands That Should Be On ‘SNL’ This Season |UPROXX|

Batman Rumored To Be Rebooted Only Two Years From Now In ‘Justice League’ |Gamma Squad|

Ten NYC Rappers Who Will Bring The Big Apple Back |Smoking Section|

The 10 Best Moments From The Fourth Episode Of Dolphins ‘Hard Knocks’ |Kissing Suzy Kolber|

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