Wrestling – Regular Guy

Caring by Not Caring

brian — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 19:27:25 +0000

My career as a full-time journalist ended almost 22 years ago. I last wrote something for a newspaper about 7 years ago. My identity is no longer wrapped up in that profession. I haven’t felt that way for a long time. However, I am immensely grateful especially right now for one of the lessons I learned in the decade where newspapers ruled every aspect of my life.

I have an incredible ability to not give a shit about the minutiae around sports because I had to write about the minutia around sports all the time.

Spending so much time as a full-time sports writer made me gain an incredible appreciation for sports on their own. I didn’t need to argue every finer point or take a position on every drama. I learned that I could just sit back and watch a game to appreciate the skills of the people involved and the chaos that can come from any competition.

In the end, I realize that none of it matters. Maybe a few things do, but they only matter to the people involved. That’s why I ask you sports talk radio or punditry because they really are just exercises in useless conversation.

Fast forward to this week when the college wrestling community, especially on Twitter, lost their collective minds over an injustice that some worry will destroy the sport as we know it for all eternity. The crime that will bring about this ruin? Some wrestlers decided to not compete in the final match of their conference tournament instead of risking injury or an embarrassing loss two weeks before the NCAA championship tournament.

Pretty much all of these guys were guaranteed a spot in the national tournament when they decided to take what is known in the sport as a medical forfeit. The extent of their injuries was not always clear, but the rigors of a collegiate wrestling season catch up to everyone by this time of the year.

That is the worst insult grown-ass men watching on television could ever imagine. I could not believe how people lost their minds. Well, I guess I should because as I sit back in my hobby chair of enjoyment, I have seen lots of idiots going crazy over things that matter very little in the scheme of things. But this was beyond the pale.

One guy even traced back to a match in December when one wrestler decided not to compete in a dual meet against another highly ranked opponent. He said that decision was part of a season-long scheme to game the system in order to have a better road to the finals match at the national tournament. Somehow, this kid and his coach knew how every other match in his weight class would end up back in December so he could enact his master plan in March. Diabolical!

These points often come from people who are sad that they never achieved what they wanted to and need to insult other athletes in order to overcome their weaknesses. One of my problems with the wrestling community, like other niche communities I am part of, is the people involved. They can ruin it with their myopia and selfishness.

But I won’t let that get to me. I intend to sit in front of the television watching all three days of the NCAA tournament and loving every second of it because sports, when it comes down to it, are awesome. I can just do without the fans.

Adults Ruin Sports

brian — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 15:03:17 +0000

I had a pretty good high school wrestling career. I set a bunch of school records. I sat high in the state rankings most of my last two seasons. I won a bunch of tournaments.

However, I can’t say that I won a state championship. That’s not for lack of trying. I literally could not even compete for a state title.

I grew up in Maryland where the state tournaments are restricted to public schools by state law. The private schools have a state championship now, but that didn’t exist until long after 1986 when I graduated.

I think of this now as the annual complaining about separating public and private schools in post-season competition heats up in Pennsylvania. One thing comes to mind when I hear about this idea.

It’s stupid.

Looking back on my high school athletic career, nothing wrankles me more than not knowing how I would have stacked up against the public school wrestlers.

I kind of know who I could and couldn’t beat, but all of that happened in out-of-season competition, which doesn’t count in many official eyes.

I have no doubt that I would have rather wrestled in a state tournament and lost to Greg Day or Keith Burgess (the state champs in 1986 at my weight) than have the situation where public and private school athletes competed separately.

As it stood, I won the Maryland Scholastic Association title, a league comprised of Baltimore City public schools (who chose to compete outside the state championships) and Baltimore area private schools. The MSA title was prestigious, but there is still that question: could I beat Greg or Keith?

I didn’t even have a senior all-star match that would have let me at least wrestle Greg. (Keith was an underclassman.) He probably would have handily won the match, but Maryland didn’t begin their senior all-star match until a year or two later.

And I know I would have beaten Jeff Klapka, who was named Second Team All-Metro ahead of me by the Baltimore Sun that year. Not that I am bitter more than 30 years later or anything. I beat him that summer and took out my frustration on the paper’s bad decision and the stupid split system on him.

Never knowing who will win a competition should wrankle people more than whether a private school recruits. Let the kids compete. The parents are the ones always ruining things. Don’t let them ruin this further by segregating high school sports even more.

Wrestling with Pain

brian — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:27:10 +0000

As I hobbled around last week because of a sore knee, I realized that this summer marked a pretty important anniversary.

I thought about this because I tried to trace the root cause of my pain. I hadn’t taken a fall or had anything else serious happen. I had been exercising, but didn’t think overuse was a concern since I just came off a week without exercising while on vacation.

A few theories popped into my head, but one thought lingered in my head. I can always blame a lifetime of wrestling when something like this happens.

My career on the mats started about 35 years ago. That’s when I began competing for the first time, but I had goofed off with my older brothers before that.

Since that time, I have had some consistent connection with the sport. I coached for 11 years after finishing my college career (including a couple of years where I still competed) and have officiated for the past four or five.

The few years between those stints mainly consisted of covering the sport for the paper, my non-contact phase. But the injuries still lingered, including my latest issue.

I can’t directly connect my sore knee to what happened 30 years ago this summer, but it does count as part of the cumulative problem. In 1984, I made a long car trip to wrestle in my first national tournament.

The Junior National wrestling tournament pits the nation’s top wrestlers (plus guys like me) in Greco-Roman and freestyle, the two international styles. I never wrestled in the Greco tournament, but competed in freestyle three times.

When I headed to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete at the huge domed arena on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa, i had no idea what to expect. That winter, I had my first strong season as a high school sophomore and hit the summer wrestling circuit to get even better.

The Maryland contingent at that time defined the term “rag tag.” I made the drive with two wrestlers and two coaches in a Dodge Colt. I sat on the back seat hump. For 24 hours. Next to a guy who never stopped rocking from side-to-side.

I ended up on the hump because both the other guys in the back had won state championships, but I hadn’t. The picture they took for my ID badge when we registered was frightening.

But we got to meet world champion Greco wrestler Steve Fraser there when he showed up to register at the same time. Then I went out and won my first match, beating a guy from New Mexico. At least I think he was from there.

I lost my next two matches and was eliminated. I went 2-2 the next year and 0-2 after my senior year, losing only to guys who were among the top wrestlers in the country. Three of the four guys who beat me in my final two visits ended up winning some sort of national title in their career.

So I can at least say some pretty talented people rubbed my face in the mat. And it all started with that long car ride 30 years ago.

I wonder if my knee hurt as bad after that ride as it did last week. I know I probably recovered quicker than I do these days.

A Weighty Subject

brian — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 13:37:16 +0000

We all have those things in our life that slowly turn into obsessions. You know, the little daily routines that we do even though we know we might benefit from taking a break.

Maybe you trim your nails a little too close or take an extra critical look at yourself in the mirror.

As we get older, these things don’t always make us feel good, but we do them anyway, if only because we have always done them. I am here to tell you that you can slay the beast.

I have not weighed myself in about two weeks as I write this.

That might not sound like a big deal, but you have to know what the scale means to someone who has spent their life around wrestling. I barely remember a time where I didn’t see controlling weight as an important role in someone’s life.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to really worry about it myself until my second year in high school, but I watched my brother’s friends or my own teammates live and die by the numbers on the scale. Or the balance on one of those old-timey ones.

The numbers became shorthand for self-preservation. “Where are you?” was the common question, second to “How much are you over?”

This wasn’t about self-worth so much, but about making weight. I don’t think we judged one another one how much we weighed or how we looked – in fact, looking bad while still managing to compete pretty much became a badge of honor. We worried about hitting that magic number just long enough to make weight.

Like all wrestlers, I have the stories. The eight pounds in seven hours at Mount Union College. Sneaking into the pool at my high school to make weight against McDonogh while the rest of the school huddled around TV’s to find out what went wrong with the space shuttle Challenger. Stunning new friends at college with how much I could eat in a short time.

I have left those days in the past, and the sport in general has a much healthier attitude to weight management than when I grew up. But the scale still follows me around even though it sits all by itself in the corner of the bathroom.

You have no idea how hard it has been to not step on it the past few weeks just to check. Before I tried this little experiment, I would check at least once a day, sometimes two or three even though I had no weigh-in approaching.

And I didn’t like the number I saw. In fact,. I haven’t liked it for a long, long time. As I started my new workout regiment, I noticed that the number didn’t drop drastically right away.

That’s when I decided to stop checking. I figured if I could make it to the end of May, I could just focus on making strides in other areas instead of walking around with that number in my head all day.

In short, I may have grown up a little in the past few weeks. I just hope when I get back on that scale, I haven’t grown out any more.

Now if I could just learn not to stay up late on weekends when I have actual adult responsibilities the next morning.

Save Olympic Wrestling

brian — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:40:16 +0000

I have had the good fortune to take some really cool trips in my life. When I think back over them, one stands out in particular.

In 1984, I went to Los Angeles with two of my brothers to see the Olympics. Back then, a 16-year-old had a chance to get pretty good Olympic tickets with his two older brothers without breaking the bank.

We found lodging with a sibling of a family friend, managed to get tickets to three of the six freestyle wrestling sessions in the ticket lottery and figured we would just wing it for the rest of our time at the Games.

I will never forget seeing Randy Lewis execute some wacky reach-back throw in his gold medal match or hearing the scream of the Turkish competitor as American Mark Schultz used what was later ruled an illegal hold to break the Turk’s arm. As a young wrestler, I thought I had found heaven even though the Russians and many other top wrestling nations boycotted the Games.

Now we have to wonder if future generations of wrestlers will get a chance to experience the same thing, either in person or on television. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee decided to drop wrestling as a “core sport” starting in 2020.

The upshot is that wrestling will have to fight its way back into that year’s program as well as every other future Olympics. That is, if the IOC doesn’t come to its senses and reverse course.

The whole thing makes no sense to me. On a micro level, I react as a wrestler, as someone who has gained so much from the sport. I couldn’t imagine being who I am today without those long workouts, the painful weight cutting, the friendships forged on long rides crammed into cars, vans and even lounging on buses.

But as a sports fan, I recoil at the whole notion of limiting participation in the Olympics. Some people reacted to the wrestling news by picking the sport they find less worthy and making fun of that. I refuse to do that.

Sure, you may find the idea of table tennis or rhythmic gymnastics or modern pentathlon taking up room on the Olympic program silly, but the people who excel in those sports work their butts off too. They have suffered and sacrificed to get to the top of their game. Why punish them?

I know the Olympics have developed into a huge commercial and political organism. Those Olympics I attended probably represented one of the last ones that people could enjoy simply for the sports. My brothers and I walked up to the gate of a field hockey triple header, bought tickets for less than $5 each and sat in the front row.

Now, you need to plan months ahead of time just to get to any event. I don’t blame the inclusion of pro athletes. I don’t really blame anyone. Times change.

But that’s no reason to start telling people their sport doesn’t have enough TV viewers or doesn’t fit the Olympic ideal to fit some randomly-determined number of “core” sports. Aspects of the Olympics may have changed, but the notion of athletes testing themselves against the best in their sport shouldn’t apply to a select few.

The Olympics need more sports, not fewer. I’ll always believe that whether wrestling gets back in the Games or not.

Wardrobe Malfunction

brian — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:03:43 +0000

I knew the sound the moment I heard it. Unfortunately, I have experience in this area and started to think about the potential fallout.

The problem was, this all happened while I was in the midst of officiating a youth wrestling event, and I really had no chance to react or even fully assess the situation for a while. Finally, one of the young wrestlers watching the action from the sidelines alerted me to my plight.

“Hey, ref. You have a hole in your pants.”

From the mouths of babes. He was right. As I squatted down to start two little guys for one period, I heard the unmistakable sound of fabric ripping. I hoped I had not ripped too big a hole and pretty much put the problem out of my mind until the kid brought it to my attention.

During my next break, I scooted into the official’s locker room and surveyed the damage. The hole was bigger than I thought (bad news) but right along the seam (good news), meaning my wife could come to the rescue and fix it later in the week. Well, once she finished laughing at me.

Luckily, I wear dark-colored athletic shorts under my pants when I ref. Too much information, I know, but it spared me even further embarrassment. I still didn’t feel 100 percent comfortable sticking with the ripped pants for the rest of the day.

Saying I should just lose weight is easier said than done. I think we all know that. Even though I don’t have a big butt, it can still do some damage on pants when I bend over or squat down a little too quickly.

I did not have any sort of repair kit in my gym bag for this kind of situation. When I started reffing, I made sure to get a pair of pants which not only fit comfortably, but had an expandable waist to try and avoid this kind of situation. I didn’t have a spare pair because I had to officiate again that evening and left all my backup equipment at home for that event.

The school had its training room open, but I couldn’t find any safety pins or anything like that. No one I asked had any, but a woman selling decals and other items to the wrestlers had some black acrylic tape.

She apologized profusely as I stood with my backside facing her so she could se ejust how long of a piece of tape she needed for me. I put the black tape on the inside of the pants along the seam and reinforced it with some duck tape one of my colleagues had in his bag.

Voila!

I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to not reach back and see if the seam had split again. I already had one father jokingly tell me how I was driving the ladies crazy with the split pants so I managed to keep my sense of humor about the whole affair.

I just hoped my entire paycheck from the day doesn’t end up paying for extra pants as well as duck tape, safety pins and anything else I could think of to avoid this situation again.

My primer on Olympic Freestyle Wrestling

brian — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:39:56 +0000

Since I follow international wrestling, some people have asked me about my thoughts on the Olympic competition. Men’s freestyle, which starts tomorrow, is the area where I pay the most attention so I thought I’d put together a little primer on our US team. The ceiling is the highest I think a guy can place. The expected is self-explanatory. Some of this is hard because there is a blind draw and the only wrestlers eligible for the bronze medals (two in each weight) are guys who lose to the finalists so luck plays a big part of this. The 121 and 163 pound draws have already been released.

121 lbs. – Sam Hazewinkel: Haze will wrestle tomorrow and has a tough bout with a 2011 world bronze medalist from Kazakhstan last year right off the bat. I expected Nick Simmons, fifth in world last year, to take this weight, but Haze beat him at Trials. He won a couple of matches at the World Cup, but that wasn’t against the top guys. He was a Greco specialist until a few years ago. Ceiling: Fifth Place. Expected: No medal.

132 lbs. – Coleman Scott: This weight is one we should always do well in, but have only medaled in once since they went to the existing seven-weight system in 2002. Scott has been a standout since his high school days in western PA, but faces a difficult weight including Russia’s Besik Kudukhov, a multiple world champ, and Puerto Rico’s Franklin Gomez, who finished second to Kudukhov at worlds last year, but beat him in a match this year this year. Ironically, Scott’s only NCAA title came in a weight where Gomez was seeded first, but he was upset before the finals. I have irrational confidence in Scott, depending on the draw. Ceiling: Silver medal. Expected: Fifth Place.

145.5 lbs. – Jared Frayer: On paper, you should not expect much from Frayer. Another weight where we should reallye xcel, but no one really steps forward is left to this 33-year-old who has been on the fringes of the World team, but never broken through. The difference between him and a guy like Hazewinkel is tht Frayer has shown the ability to score points in bunches, especially off throws. I’m prepared for him to struggle, but know he can break through in a heartbeat. Ceiling: Bronze medal. Expected: No medal.

163 lbs. – Jordan Burroughs: It’s hard to believe that before last year’s World Championships, Burroughs did not have a freestyle background. Then he ran through that tournament, including a tough three-period win over defending champ Dennis Tsargush from Russia. Burroughs has an interesting draw with many of his top competitors in the same half of his bracket, but they will have to battle each other to see who reaches the semi. With his big smile and explosive double leg, Burroughs is poised to be a star this weekend. Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Gold medal.

185 lbs. – Jake Herbert: Full of personality, Herbert has seen all ends of the spectrum. Three years ago, he was second in the world. Two years ago, he had a brutal draw, losing to the eventual bronze medalist in the first round who lost to the eventual silver medalist the next round. Last year, former Olympic champ Cael Sanderson came out of retirement and beat Jake in World trials (then finished fifth in the world). He can beat anyone, but will the planets align to let him? Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Bronze medal.

211.5 lbs. – Jake Varner: This is where I really have high hopes. Varner was third at worlds last year and seems to be primed for a run. He trains with Sanderson, who has coached the last two NCAA Championship teams, and I just feel like he’ll be the solid, no-nonsense guy who will really frustrate the veterans here. At worlds, he got a pin in the wrestlebacks and beat a 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in three periods after losing the first one. Plus, he will wrestle on the last day so if we do well prior, he seems like the kind to feed off that. Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Silver or bronze medal.

264.5 lbs. – Tervel Dlagnev: Like the guys in the previous two weights, Tervel has been there. He was third three years ago and made the semis last year before ending up fifth. At that event, he beat two-time Olympic and two-time World gold medalist Artur Taymazov from Uzbekistan so he can hang with the big boys. Once again, it comes down to the draw, but we have traditionally done well in this weight. Ceiling: Gold medal. Expected: Bronze medal.

I am pretty optimistic in this assessment, I know. The draws will be huge, but I think our guys have trained well for this event. We tend to compete better when the competition is closer to home so hopefully London will be friendly.

Trying to Uncover NCAA Wrestling Coverage

brian — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:42:59 +0000

Across the country tomorrow, one of the most exciting days on the college wrestling calendar will take place. Seven conference tournaments will determine most of the 330 wrestlers who will compete in the NCAA Division I Championships in St. Louis two weeks from now. The Pac 12 had their tournament last week and wild cards will be announced after all the qualifiers are completed.

I have attended both qualifying tournaments as well as the NCAAs. While the nationals are obviously the pinnacle of the collegiate system, the qualifiers can sometimes provide more exciting action than some rounds at the NCAAs with the brass ring of qualification out there. Unfortunately, wrestling fans will get to see very little of that excitement tomorrow.

I’m worrying most about the Big Ten Championships since I most closely follow Penn State. The conference has one of the best video packages available for their tournament. Unfortunately, that’s not saying much. The Big Ten Network will broadcast the finals live on Sunday, but all of Saturday’s competition – probably more compelling than the finals – will be streamed online with a subscription of one of the various “all access” passes available through the conference or conference institutions.

So if I want to see any of Saturday evening’s epic semifinal bouts or key consolation matches which could determine whether a wrestler will qualify for nationals, I need to pay at least $9.99 and watch on my computer.

Before I rail about my problems with both of those factors, I need to admit that I am indeed one of those people who gets angry when people complain that don’t get access to every form of entertainment on their terms and at their price. I might even be forced to make fun of myself for this one. But there’s a big difference between wanting free access to everything ESPN and CNN do without any restrictions or cost and wishing that a sport desperately trying to raise its national profile would find a way to make its broadcasts more readily available.

At least two conferences will show free online video of their whole tournament this weekend. The ACC has a feed on ESPN3 (which amazes me) and the Southern Conference will broadcast on SoConTV, which offers free registration. I couldn’t find any really detailed info on other live coverages, although The Open Mat website indicates it will show the EIWA and Big 10 tournaments live and free. We’ll see if that happens.

UPDATE: The Big 12 Digital Network looks like it will show the semis and consolations live and free online. The Big 12 finals are broadcast on Fox Sports regional networks, usually on tape delay.

If I can watch the Big 10s tomorrow free via The Open mat, my disappointment will dissipate a little. But the conference should lead the way here. I know they have a pricing model for all their coverage and would probably not mind paying if they actually attempted to market and show some commitment to the event. This is the premier wrestling conference event of the year, yet they just treat it as an afterthought. That’s insulting to wrestling fans. This is a special event – treat it as such.

Then there’s the web-only issue. I don’t get too up in arms about this because I realize streaming video is the future for sports like wrestling. I just wonder if only streaming on your website is the future. I’m not shy about how much I love my Roku player. Some people (like USA Wrestling) have apps for their video, but more groups streaming wrestling need to consider developing a Roku channel so fans can watch on their TV instead of on a computer monitor.

So I will probably spend $10 on Saturday after navigating the Big 10 Network website to get the all access pass for the month so I can sit in front of my computer and watch some of the action when I really wish I could go to my Roku and watch a feed for each mat. Like I said, I don’t mind paying for it. The event just shouldn’t be an afterthought.

The Greatest Name Ever

brian — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:06:32 +0000

Sports Illustrated has posted a fascinating article about the growth of high school wrestling and its connection to the popularity of mixed martial arts. I find the discussion very interesting because both sides do have a point. But if you want to understand the title of this post, you need to read to the end.

Part of me agrees with the wrestling purists who disdain the newer, more popular sport because it goes beyond what so many of us were taught were the honorable boundaries of the sport. I always had the philosophy that anyone can fight, but it takes a special person to succeed at wrestling.

But the MMA advocates – of which I am moving closer to philosophically – make perfect sense when they point out that the need for wrestling skills in the octagon has helped fuel the sport’s popularity for young MMA viewers.

As long as wrestling doesn’t start to move its rules anywhere near MMA, I don’t see the harm in high school programs benefiting from kids who want to learn wrestling for some other end. The reality is that they will never succeed if they don’t take it seriously and respect wrestling as its own discipline and not just a way to bide their time before they can fight.

But I had two important reasons to highlight the article besides my poetic thoughts on the topic. First, the photo features a great shot of Jordan Conaway, who is a senior at New Oxford High School about 15 minutes from me. He won the PA state title this year at 112 and will attend Penn State to continue his career.

Jordan’s father Dave is his high school coach. I remember seeing Jordan run around the mat in the mid-1990s as I interviewed Dave during my days as a prep sports writer. It’s pretty cool to see that little kid grow up into such a good wrestler (and a great kid, I might add).

Secondly, the article discusses Beat the Streets, a program designed to stimulate interest in wrestling at inner-city schools. A New York City school qualified two kids for the state tournament this year.

This year Flanagan had his first two qualifiers for the individual state wrestling tournament: Ahmed Elsayed (135 pounds) and McZiggy Richards (189 pounds). With those championships, the pair qualified for the New York State Federation of Secondary Schools Wrestling Championships, which took place in February.

Is McZiggy just about the greatest first name ever or what? I don’t care whether it’s the Olympics or MMA, this kid needs to become a star.

It Was Madness

brian — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:39:39 +0000

I took off last Thursday and Friday to watch the first two days of March Madness along with the NCAA wrestling tournament. That’s why blogging has been light. Oh, and because I’m a master procrastinator. A few tidbits from my long weekend:

The coffee maker broke. More on this in next week’s column. Short version – I wimped out on buying a Keurig or similar machine
Thanks to play rehearsals both nights during the week, I did not drink during the day. I know some of you are quite shocked at that.
I actually did OK in my brackets. I’m still in the hunt to win at least one. We’ll see how that goes this weekend.
The way they scheduled the games on Sunday absolutely sucked. Most of them were in the evening. I had to return to work and needed to go to bed at a decent hour one night during the weekend.
I finally figured out how to use the “Favorite Channel” on my remote because there was no way I was remembering what numbers I needed to press for TruTV and the HD feeds for TBS, TNT and CBS.
Abstaining from meat on a Friday during Lent is a lot harder when you’re home alone watching sports. Thankfully, pretzels and peanuts do a pretty good job at satisfying chicken wing cravings.
Between all the games, I also managed to finish Season 1 of Party Down on Netflix and win the PGA Championship in Tiger Woods on the Wii.
My wife did not leave me. That’s the best achievement of all, I think.