I'm a Karate man. That's my bottom line. I love classical Traditional Martial Arts, I love non traditional Martial Arts. I just love Martial Arts. As Twin Fist said, Bruce Lee was speaking of Martial Arts as it was taught in the sixties. It was different then. It was no better than now, it was no worse, it was just different. And there was even more trash talk of "he's no good, our style is better" talk than there is now. (if you can imagine)
But I must be going senile. I remember when that statement was made. I remember it as "free yourself from the classical mess", not classical "karate". No matter, really, I think his point was to explore movement as it applies to your particular goals, not anybody else's goals.
I was talking to Bernice Jay one day (Wally Jay's wife). She was telling me of their home and the dojo they had in the basement. (I believe it was California) She told me that Martial Art friends of Wally would come over all the time and down they would go to the basement, not coming up for hours at a time. She said, "Except for that young Bruce Lee. When he came over they would push the furniture in my living room to one side, roll up the carpet, and work out like children. What a mess they would make of our house!" She took out her wallet, rooted around for a while and came out with an old black and white photo and showed me. There was Wally Jay and Bruce Lee in her living room. They were drenched in sweat, the furniture was shoved aside, lamps were tipped over, coffee table on it's end. Both men were smiling like little boys. Mrs Jay said, "He was a nice young man."
Her stories made my heart soar.
I remember when Bruce Lee died. I was in the dojo when I heard. It took the wind right out of me. He was a bright star that shone bright. I believe he changed the face of training as we know it. As I said, I love Martial Arts, especially Karate. But as for me, personally - I consider myself the bastard infidel son of American Martial Arts. Damn proud of it, too. I thank Bruce Lee for that.