Monday, July 28, 2008
Fargo
No wait – that isn’t what I’m writing about – jeez!
No – I’m writing about Iowans in Fargo.
No that’s not right either. C’mon, Jim, get it together.
Saturday morning, after three days of wrestling, Team Iowa won the team title at the National Junior Freestyle Wrestling Championships – commonly called, “Fargo” (anyone wanna guess why?). Iowa crowned two champions, had two other finalists and a total of thirteen All-Americans.
According to one published report it has been 21 years since a team from Iowa won this championship. Coincidentally, that’s the same number of NCAA wrestling championships won by the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
By all accounts the match of the championships did not occur in the finals. It happened in round seven when 2007 125 pound freestyle champion, Nate Moore of Iowa, faced 2008 Junior Greco Roman champ, Eric Grajales of Brandon, FL at 130 pounds. In what most observers have called the best junior freestyle match in the past five or six years, Moore won 7-4, 6-7, 4-2. Nate went on to win his second national junior championship with a first period fall in the finals. He was also named Outstanding Wrestler of the event.
Many of these young Iowa wrestlers will be toiling in NCAA Division I wrestling rooms next season. Heavyweight champion Eric Thompson and 215 pound runner-up Byron Tate will be wrestling for Cael Sanderson at Iowa State. Fourth-place finisher, Josh Ihnen, is headed to the University of Nebraska and and fifth place finisher Alec Hoffman will be a UNI Panther. Third place finishers, Matt McDonough and Grant Gambrall will join Moore as Iowa Hawkeyes. Some of the younger members of the team will be among the most sought after recruits in the next class.
High school wrestling fans generally view Fargo as the ultimate championship for interscholastic grapplers. However, is a strong performance at Fargo always a harbinger of future intercollegiate success? Of the 150 NCAA Division I individual champs in the past 15 years, 79 have won at least one junior freestyle or Greco Roman championship. Look for these young Iowans to be scoring NCAA points for the schools of their choice in the next two or three years.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Breaking down barriers
In several ways, fourteen-year-old Karissa Avallone of Newkirk, Oklahoma is like many other teen-age girls in America. She is a varsity cheerleader, active in her church youth group and competes in beauty pageants. What distinguishes Karissa?
She wrestles. OH MY – how she wrestles!
Karissa is a two-time United States Girls Wrestling Association National Champion including being the reigning Middle School 94 pound title holder.
Karissa doesn’t always wrestle other girls. Her interscholastic wrestling has been as a member of, first, her middle school boy’s team and now her high school boy’s team. According to her dad, Tony, it started when she walked into the wrestling room after soccer practice to watch her brother. Says Karissa, “It looked like fun.”
It hasn’t been easy. Tony says, “… she was 6 and just getting her tail whooped by the boys but she just kept coming back for more. She won maybe three matches in her first three years of wrestling.” There have been other challenges. She has been teased because she wrestles. “I have been called names, and one boy told me to go home and bake some cookies.”
Karissa is among 5,000+ girls who will wrestle in high school this year – compared to over 250,000 boys. Almost half of the girls participating are in Texas and Hawaii – states with separate championships for girls and in California, which has girls only competitions but no state championship yet. Most of the rest must belong to boy’s teams if the wish to participate in “the world’s oldest and greatest sport”.
In a highly unscientific poll I asked a dozen parents of girls if they would encourage their daughters to wrestle. Eight of the parents have sons who wrestle. NOT ONE respondent said yes – if girls had to wrestle boys in order to participate. Four said they would let their daughters try wrestling if there was “girls only” competition.
One of the poll participants was my youngest daughter. She has a second-degree brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, so she is definitely not against girls (women) in martial arts. She, too, objected to the co-ed competition, but also raised weight control as an issue. Three other parents (moms) also mentioned weight control as a negative.
Many internet discussions of Title IX will suggest adding women’s varsity intercollegiate wrestling as a way to offer new athletic opportunities and as a way to comply with proportionality guidelines. This argument may well be putting two carts before the horse.
Troy Dannen is the new athletic director at the University of Northern Iowa – a school with a rich wrestling heritage that includes an NCAA Division I national team title. Prior to his hiring at UNI, he was executive director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. He has a unique perspective on what it would take to add a women’s wrestling team.
I first asked Mr. Dannen, why a state like Iowa – with strong traditions in both wrestling and girl’s athletic opportunities did not offer “girls-only” wrestling.
“The thing you’ll find at the HS level is the creation of new sports is completely driven by the grass roots. We added soccer and bowling in Iowa the last ten years and neither were initially welcomed by the schools or even supported at the state level… In my six years as director of the IGHSAU I received one email asking us to sanction girls wrestling. I received dozens asking us to sanction gymnastics, rodeo – even field hockey. If girl’s wrestling is going to be a stand alone sport, its supporters cannot wait for that chance, they have to pursue it.”
His comments about adding women’s wrestling at UNI were very similar. “At UNI, we have to increase female opportunities. While wrestling would seem logical, the latest surveys of student interest don’t show a desire (for) wrestling. That is likely in some part due to the fact that they haven’t experienced it at the high school level…the key is the grass roots – kids and parents pushing the schools, who will then push for a state championship, which then builds the interest at the collegiate level.”
It becomes apparent that there is a need to encourage more girls to wrestle – and not just so colleges and universities can meet Title IX guidelines. Maggie Hendricks is an avid fan of all martial arts. In her blog, Chicks Heart Fights she comments on wrestling and MMA. Maggie has this to say about girls and wrestling, “…wrestling is a fantastic sport for young women. Wrestlers learn confidence, discipline and the value of hard work-these lessons are just as valuable for young women as they are for young men. Opening the sport to women will not only help young women, but the sport overall.”
So – how many girls other than those 5,000 in high school are wrestling. It’s hard to know – but definitely not enough. There are 204 girls entered at Junior Freestyle Nationals in Fargo this week – 59 of whom come from the three previously-mentioned states with girls vs. girls interscholastic competition (TX, HI and CA). Another 42 come from the states of Michigan (where the women’s US Olympic wrestling education center is located), Wisconsin and Kansas. Girls from just six states comprise almost half the entrants of the national championships.
I asked popular camp operator, Ken Chertow, how many girls attend his “girls only” camps. He said 20 – 30 girls between the ages of 8 and 18 participate.
Clearly, if we believe wrestling to be a valuable sport for all, we have to encourage more girls to participate. It’s just as clear that we need to change the perceptions that girls and parents have about wrestling. Even Tony Avallone reacted to Karissa’s initial request to try the sport with, “NO, it’s for boys.”
Women’s wrestling became an Olympic sport in 2004. Olympic medallists like Patricia Miranda and Sarah McMann give girls solid role models. While television coverage from Beijing is likely to be hit or miss, at best, many girls will have their first opportunity to see females wrestle.
However – as Troy Dannen suggests – we need to do more than that. We need to take matters in our own hands. Where possible, let’s add exhibition matches to high school and college meets. There is a women’s division at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National College Duals. Why not offer a girl’s clinic in conjunction with the event? What about a traveling demonstration team to visit elementary and middle schools (heck Duncan Yo-Yo used to do that).
Let’s get moving. Let’s make it easier to get more girls like Karissa in the sport.
She wrestles. OH MY – how she wrestles!
Karissa is a two-time United States Girls Wrestling Association National Champion including being the reigning Middle School 94 pound title holder.
Karissa doesn’t always wrestle other girls. Her interscholastic wrestling has been as a member of, first, her middle school boy’s team and now her high school boy’s team. According to her dad, Tony, it started when she walked into the wrestling room after soccer practice to watch her brother. Says Karissa, “It looked like fun.”
It hasn’t been easy. Tony says, “… she was 6 and just getting her tail whooped by the boys but she just kept coming back for more. She won maybe three matches in her first three years of wrestling.” There have been other challenges. She has been teased because she wrestles. “I have been called names, and one boy told me to go home and bake some cookies.”
Karissa is among 5,000+ girls who will wrestle in high school this year – compared to over 250,000 boys. Almost half of the girls participating are in Texas and Hawaii – states with separate championships for girls and in California, which has girls only competitions but no state championship yet. Most of the rest must belong to boy’s teams if the wish to participate in “the world’s oldest and greatest sport”.
In a highly unscientific poll I asked a dozen parents of girls if they would encourage their daughters to wrestle. Eight of the parents have sons who wrestle. NOT ONE respondent said yes – if girls had to wrestle boys in order to participate. Four said they would let their daughters try wrestling if there was “girls only” competition.
One of the poll participants was my youngest daughter. She has a second-degree brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, so she is definitely not against girls (women) in martial arts. She, too, objected to the co-ed competition, but also raised weight control as an issue. Three other parents (moms) also mentioned weight control as a negative.
Many internet discussions of Title IX will suggest adding women’s varsity intercollegiate wrestling as a way to offer new athletic opportunities and as a way to comply with proportionality guidelines. This argument may well be putting two carts before the horse.
Troy Dannen is the new athletic director at the University of Northern Iowa – a school with a rich wrestling heritage that includes an NCAA Division I national team title. Prior to his hiring at UNI, he was executive director of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. He has a unique perspective on what it would take to add a women’s wrestling team.
I first asked Mr. Dannen, why a state like Iowa – with strong traditions in both wrestling and girl’s athletic opportunities did not offer “girls-only” wrestling.
“The thing you’ll find at the HS level is the creation of new sports is completely driven by the grass roots. We added soccer and bowling in Iowa the last ten years and neither were initially welcomed by the schools or even supported at the state level… In my six years as director of the IGHSAU I received one email asking us to sanction girls wrestling. I received dozens asking us to sanction gymnastics, rodeo – even field hockey. If girl’s wrestling is going to be a stand alone sport, its supporters cannot wait for that chance, they have to pursue it.”
His comments about adding women’s wrestling at UNI were very similar. “At UNI, we have to increase female opportunities. While wrestling would seem logical, the latest surveys of student interest don’t show a desire (for) wrestling. That is likely in some part due to the fact that they haven’t experienced it at the high school level…the key is the grass roots – kids and parents pushing the schools, who will then push for a state championship, which then builds the interest at the collegiate level.”
It becomes apparent that there is a need to encourage more girls to wrestle – and not just so colleges and universities can meet Title IX guidelines. Maggie Hendricks is an avid fan of all martial arts. In her blog, Chicks Heart Fights she comments on wrestling and MMA. Maggie has this to say about girls and wrestling, “…wrestling is a fantastic sport for young women. Wrestlers learn confidence, discipline and the value of hard work-these lessons are just as valuable for young women as they are for young men. Opening the sport to women will not only help young women, but the sport overall.”
So – how many girls other than those 5,000 in high school are wrestling. It’s hard to know – but definitely not enough. There are 204 girls entered at Junior Freestyle Nationals in Fargo this week – 59 of whom come from the three previously-mentioned states with girls vs. girls interscholastic competition (TX, HI and CA). Another 42 come from the states of Michigan (where the women’s US Olympic wrestling education center is located), Wisconsin and Kansas. Girls from just six states comprise almost half the entrants of the national championships.
I asked popular camp operator, Ken Chertow, how many girls attend his “girls only” camps. He said 20 – 30 girls between the ages of 8 and 18 participate.
Clearly, if we believe wrestling to be a valuable sport for all, we have to encourage more girls to participate. It’s just as clear that we need to change the perceptions that girls and parents have about wrestling. Even Tony Avallone reacted to Karissa’s initial request to try the sport with, “NO, it’s for boys.”
Women’s wrestling became an Olympic sport in 2004. Olympic medallists like Patricia Miranda and Sarah McMann give girls solid role models. While television coverage from Beijing is likely to be hit or miss, at best, many girls will have their first opportunity to see females wrestle.
However – as Troy Dannen suggests – we need to do more than that. We need to take matters in our own hands. Where possible, let’s add exhibition matches to high school and college meets. There is a women’s division at the NWCA/Cliff Keen National College Duals. Why not offer a girl’s clinic in conjunction with the event? What about a traveling demonstration team to visit elementary and middle schools (heck Duncan Yo-Yo used to do that).
Let’s get moving. Let’s make it easier to get more girls like Karissa in the sport.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Matbe we should hold a bake sale
Maybe we should hold a bake sale
According to a July 6 article on desmoinesregister.com, 16 year-old Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson may already be worth close to a million dollars. Swimmers Michael Phelps and Amanda Beard already are. In his heyday, track immortal Michael Johnson earned over a million dollars a year.
Ben Askren is selling t-shirts.
That’s right, Olympian (and 2X winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy as America’s top collegiate wrestler) is selling tees online to help finance his family’s trip to Beijing - so are Spenser Mango, Henry Cejudo, Jake Deitchler, Andy Hrovat and Doug Schwab (to order a Doug Schwab t-shirt email allyson.campbell@yahoo.com).
Wrestling is one of the original ancient Olympic sports and in all of those thousands of years winning the Olympics has been the ultimate triumph. There is no big payday at the end of the journey. Many of our wrestlers will end up in coaching. Three of the highest paid college head coaches (Cael Sanderson, Tom Brands and John Smith) are all past Olympic gold medallists. According to a Des Moines Register survey, each is paid in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year.
There probably aren’t many athletes that take up an “Olympic sport” with the hopes of future wealth. It is simply a function of “capitalism” or “business” that makes some of these athletes wealthy. At some point, corporate America realized that images of Bela Karolyi carrying Kerri Strug or of Michael Johnson and his golden shoes could sell credit cards, hamburgers or soft drinks. With the exception of the Cael Sanderson Wheaties box, this rarely happens to wrestlers. Multi-million dollar endorsement contracts do not likely await an American 55KG freestyle gold medallist.
So – in order to get their families to Beijing to watch them pursue the ultimate dream, many of our wrestlers have resorted to selling t-shirts to raise money. They need to sell a lot of shirts – it is estimated that a trip to Beijing will cost $6,000 to $7,500 per person. USA Wrestling also understands the challenge. It has launched the Fuel the Dream fund raising effort. Half of the funds raised by the Fuel the Dream drive go directly to our Olympic wrestlers – many of whom will use the money to get their families to Beijing. The other half goes to the development of future American wrestling teams.
When I was a kid in the ‘50s and 60s, the March of Dimes was quite different than it is today. If you brought a dime to school and dropped it into the slot of the collection can, the teacher gave you a plastic crutch lapel pin – which you wore proudly. I, and millions of American children, helped wipe out polio. My ten cents made a difference.
You can make a difference. Pick one of the hyperlinks above and order a t-shirt from your favorite wrestler. Wear it with the same pride that I wore that silly little plastic crutch. Or – go the Fuel the Dream site and make a contribution to the future of American Olympic wrestling (or do both).
Note: If you are aware of an Olympic wrestler that is trying to raise money to send his/her family to Beijing and I have missed them, leave a comment or send an email to jim@dmsolutions4u.com and I will add a hyperlink for them in my comments.
PS My brother, Bruce, is the popular myspace blogger, The Judge. Today (Monday, July 14) is his 56th birthday. Stop by his blog and wish him a Happy Bastille Day.
According to a July 6 article on desmoinesregister.com, 16 year-old Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson may already be worth close to a million dollars. Swimmers Michael Phelps and Amanda Beard already are. In his heyday, track immortal Michael Johnson earned over a million dollars a year.
Ben Askren is selling t-shirts.
That’s right, Olympian (and 2X winner of the Dan Hodge Trophy as America’s top collegiate wrestler) is selling tees online to help finance his family’s trip to Beijing - so are Spenser Mango, Henry Cejudo, Jake Deitchler, Andy Hrovat and Doug Schwab (to order a Doug Schwab t-shirt email allyson.campbell@yahoo.com).
Wrestling is one of the original ancient Olympic sports and in all of those thousands of years winning the Olympics has been the ultimate triumph. There is no big payday at the end of the journey. Many of our wrestlers will end up in coaching. Three of the highest paid college head coaches (Cael Sanderson, Tom Brands and John Smith) are all past Olympic gold medallists. According to a Des Moines Register survey, each is paid in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year.
There probably aren’t many athletes that take up an “Olympic sport” with the hopes of future wealth. It is simply a function of “capitalism” or “business” that makes some of these athletes wealthy. At some point, corporate America realized that images of Bela Karolyi carrying Kerri Strug or of Michael Johnson and his golden shoes could sell credit cards, hamburgers or soft drinks. With the exception of the Cael Sanderson Wheaties box, this rarely happens to wrestlers. Multi-million dollar endorsement contracts do not likely await an American 55KG freestyle gold medallist.
So – in order to get their families to Beijing to watch them pursue the ultimate dream, many of our wrestlers have resorted to selling t-shirts to raise money. They need to sell a lot of shirts – it is estimated that a trip to Beijing will cost $6,000 to $7,500 per person. USA Wrestling also understands the challenge. It has launched the Fuel the Dream fund raising effort. Half of the funds raised by the Fuel the Dream drive go directly to our Olympic wrestlers – many of whom will use the money to get their families to Beijing. The other half goes to the development of future American wrestling teams.
When I was a kid in the ‘50s and 60s, the March of Dimes was quite different than it is today. If you brought a dime to school and dropped it into the slot of the collection can, the teacher gave you a plastic crutch lapel pin – which you wore proudly. I, and millions of American children, helped wipe out polio. My ten cents made a difference.
You can make a difference. Pick one of the hyperlinks above and order a t-shirt from your favorite wrestler. Wear it with the same pride that I wore that silly little plastic crutch. Or – go the Fuel the Dream site and make a contribution to the future of American Olympic wrestling (or do both).
Note: If you are aware of an Olympic wrestler that is trying to raise money to send his/her family to Beijing and I have missed them, leave a comment or send an email to jim@dmsolutions4u.com and I will add a hyperlink for them in my comments.
PS My brother, Bruce, is the popular myspace blogger, The Judge. Today (Monday, July 14) is his 56th birthday. Stop by his blog and wish him a Happy Bastille Day.
Monday, July 7, 2008
2008 - an internet odyssey
2008 – an internet odyssey
I found internet wrestling sites two years ago. I had never been much of a surfer, but my wife had developed such a network of relationships among fans of The West Wing (a couple of whom are now very good friends of ours) that I thought that, perhaps, the same opportunities existed for fans of amateur wrestling.
From the ridiculous …
I found themat.com first and lurked for a couple of months. While the site was incredibly slow (even by 2006 standards), I found the news sections highly enlightening. The message board – now that was something else. Here are a couple of threads I actually read that were discussed extensively:
“If Dan Gable were wrestling today, he couldn’t beat Troy Nickerson”
“If Cael Sanderson hadn’t wrestled in such weak weight classes he never would have gone undefeated.”
Interestingly, these (or similar) threads get posted at least twice a year.
I would not be surprised to read the following post:
“Jake Deitchler is ducking all of the best guys by not going to Fargo.”
(Note to the non-wrestling fan readers: Jake Deitchler just graduated from high school and is, therefore, eligible to compete in the national junior freestyle and Greco-Roman championships in Fargo, ND. He will not do so because he became the first high school student in 32 years TO MAKE THE OLYMPIC WRESTLING TEAM.)
to the sublime.
Happily, about 18 months ago I found Hawkeye Nation. Yes these people were Hawkeye fans like me, but they also seemed to be real wrestling fans. There wasn’t much of the, “my team (recruiting class, coach, mascot) is better than yours and you’re an idiot if you disagree” posting that is so prevalent on some other wrestling sites.
http://forums.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=8&F=2386&MF=2386
After that I was hooked – www.intermatwrestle.com was next. Here was a site that gave me in-depth articles and the best recruiting coverage on the ‘net.
Then I found www.flowrestling.com, and the collection of videos from the 1972 Olympics was a true gift.
Wrestler, photographer and web developer extraordinary, Danielle Hobeika, introduced me to The Wrestling Talk and I found smart, international and (sometimes) humorous wrestling discussion.
http://www.thewrestlingtalk.com
Several of the best contributors to TWT are women. I’m beginning to believe that, as a gender, women make the best wrestling fans. They seem to be far more appreciative of the overall subtlety of the sport and far less into the “my guy can beat your guy” mentality. TWT is blessed with bluestater who writes a couple of blogs about sports as they appear from the “distaff” side. Her Chicks Heart Fights is one of the best I’ve seen about both wrestling and MMA.
http://chicksheartfights.today.com/
The aforementioned Danielle Hobeika was instrumental in creating The Women’s Mat. It has fast become one of my favorite websites. As we approach Beijing, I highly recommend that you visit.
http://thewomensmat.com
I write this blog once a week and there has been a time or two when I was challenged to come up with material. Jason Bryant of the National Wrestling Coach’s Association/intermat writes a DAILY blog called The Four Points. It ought to be a part of your regular reading – especially the guest blog written by Jake Deitchler. This young man, at 18 years old, is beautifully sharing his journey from Anoka, MN
to Beijing.
http://intermat.wordpress.com/
Andy Vogel, the head coach at Gettysburg College, writes and manages www.d3wrestle.com about NCAA Division III wrestling. The site is so in-depth I sometimes wonder when Andy sleeps.
So fans – fire up the old Commodore 64 and enjoy following the world’s oldest and greatest sport.
I found internet wrestling sites two years ago. I had never been much of a surfer, but my wife had developed such a network of relationships among fans of The West Wing (a couple of whom are now very good friends of ours) that I thought that, perhaps, the same opportunities existed for fans of amateur wrestling.
From the ridiculous …
I found themat.com first and lurked for a couple of months. While the site was incredibly slow (even by 2006 standards), I found the news sections highly enlightening. The message board – now that was something else. Here are a couple of threads I actually read that were discussed extensively:
“If Dan Gable were wrestling today, he couldn’t beat Troy Nickerson”
“If Cael Sanderson hadn’t wrestled in such weak weight classes he never would have gone undefeated.”
Interestingly, these (or similar) threads get posted at least twice a year.
I would not be surprised to read the following post:
“Jake Deitchler is ducking all of the best guys by not going to Fargo.”
(Note to the non-wrestling fan readers: Jake Deitchler just graduated from high school and is, therefore, eligible to compete in the national junior freestyle and Greco-Roman championships in Fargo, ND. He will not do so because he became the first high school student in 32 years TO MAKE THE OLYMPIC WRESTLING TEAM.)
to the sublime.
Happily, about 18 months ago I found Hawkeye Nation. Yes these people were Hawkeye fans like me, but they also seemed to be real wrestling fans. There wasn’t much of the, “my team (recruiting class, coach, mascot) is better than yours and you’re an idiot if you disagree” posting that is so prevalent on some other wrestling sites.
http://forums.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=8&F=2386&MF=2386
After that I was hooked – www.intermatwrestle.com was next. Here was a site that gave me in-depth articles and the best recruiting coverage on the ‘net.
Then I found www.flowrestling.com, and the collection of videos from the 1972 Olympics was a true gift.
Wrestler, photographer and web developer extraordinary, Danielle Hobeika, introduced me to The Wrestling Talk and I found smart, international and (sometimes) humorous wrestling discussion.
http://www.thewrestlingtalk.com
Several of the best contributors to TWT are women. I’m beginning to believe that, as a gender, women make the best wrestling fans. They seem to be far more appreciative of the overall subtlety of the sport and far less into the “my guy can beat your guy” mentality. TWT is blessed with bluestater who writes a couple of blogs about sports as they appear from the “distaff” side. Her Chicks Heart Fights is one of the best I’ve seen about both wrestling and MMA.
http://chicksheartfights.today.com/
The aforementioned Danielle Hobeika was instrumental in creating The Women’s Mat. It has fast become one of my favorite websites. As we approach Beijing, I highly recommend that you visit.
http://thewomensmat.com
I write this blog once a week and there has been a time or two when I was challenged to come up with material. Jason Bryant of the National Wrestling Coach’s Association/intermat writes a DAILY blog called The Four Points. It ought to be a part of your regular reading – especially the guest blog written by Jake Deitchler. This young man, at 18 years old, is beautifully sharing his journey from Anoka, MN
to Beijing.
http://intermat.wordpress.com/
Andy Vogel, the head coach at Gettysburg College, writes and manages www.d3wrestle.com about NCAA Division III wrestling. The site is so in-depth I sometimes wonder when Andy sleeps.
So fans – fire up the old Commodore 64 and enjoy following the world’s oldest and greatest sport.
Monday, June 30, 2008
What's in a name?
What’s in a name?
For about 50 years I have heard the same jokes about my name. It’s not that I have an odd one – in fact – it is one of the most common in America. No – the jokes come because I bear absolutely no physical resemblance to the greatest lacrosse player in the history of Syracuse University (you have to be a middle-aged sports geek to get that one) nor do I look like the “hardest working man in show business”.
Then around 1970 Jim Croce had a hit song with a title that included my middle and last names.
All my friends had fun with that one.
The City of Five Seasons
When I moved to Cedar Rapids in 1987 I learned that it was called “The City of Five Seasons”. After a little digging, I discovered that the phrase was coined by a local ad agency as a marketing tool and that the fifth season is “time to enjoy the other four”.
After I had lived here for a couple of years I decided that, really, the fifth season might well be “wrestling season”. With the possible exceptions of Stillwater, Waterloo and Iowa City, there are darn few towns in America that love wrestling as much as we do in Cedar Rapids. At least eleven NCAA championships have been won by wrestlers from Cedar Rapids high schools:
Gary Bentrim won 3 DII titles at UNI.
Hall-of-Famers Barry Davis and Jim Zalesky each won 3 DI championships at Iowa and Mark Ironside won another 2 (and The Hodge Trophy) as a Hawkeye.
There aren’t many other places where you can attend a high school wrestling dual meet and watch two future 2X NCAA champs (Ironside and Jeff McGinniss) go against each other.
And the beat goes on – last season’s Midlands champion and NCAA finalist, Joe Slaton is from here.
It’s not just the wrestlers. Hall of Fame coach Gary Kurdelmeier coached here for a short time. One of the most famous voices in wrestling, Sandy Stevens, got her start announcing here. Her husband, Bear, was the first wrestling coach at Kennedy High School and he needed someone to announce a dual meet. Sandy was pressed into service and the rest – as they say – is history
Our newspaper covers the sport – regularly. Our TV sportscasters respect the sport as much as they do any other. If you’re a wrestling fan – there’s no better place to be.
A little over 2 weeks ago, this city that loves wrestling so much, was devastated by the worst flooding in history. The Cedar River crested over TEN FEET higher than had ever been recorded.
We need a name.
The problem with flooding is that the sun comes out, the waters recede and, unless you’re one of the thousands of families putting your lifetime out on the curb, all appears normal.
It’s far from normal – over a billion dollars in damage, thousands still homeless and/or unemployed, businesses that will not recover…
Hurricanes have names. When you hear “Andrew” or “Katrina” images of devastation come to mind. Our flood needs a name. I’m willing to consider all suggestions, but I have one of my own – Ashraliev.
Huh? It’s hard to spell, hard to pronounce, almost impossible to remember and – seemingly – meaningless.
After Dan Gable won the World Championship in 1971 the mighty Russian sports machine vowed to search the country to find and train THE wrestler that would defeat Gable. Ruslan Ashraliev was that man – the best the Russians had – and Gable won. The Cedar River threw everything at us it could just like the Russians and Ashraliev – and this is the image I choose to represent Cedar Rapids in 2009:
Gable – battered, tested, victorious.
You can help.
Even Gable had help - coaches, family and workout partners.
Here are some ways you can help Cedar Rapids.
Both our local Red Cross and Salvation Army desperately need funds. To help the local Red Cross you can send a check to
American Red Cross
PO Box 10375
Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0375
Or donate online at
http://grantwood-redcross.org/index.html?gwatitle.htm&1
The address for the local Salvation Army is
PO Box 8056
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
Eat more Cap’n Crunch or oatmeal – seriously. Quaker Oats is a Cedar Rapids fixture and the largest employer impacted by the flood. Buy Quaker products and you help get people back to work.
Attend the 2009 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships and spend money here. You’ll have great time.
If you’re a business owner – give a Cedar Rapids business a shot at meeting some of your needs. Just give us a fair look – you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. It could very well end up the classic “win, win” opportunity. (If you’re interested in exploring this option, email me at jim@dmsolutions.com) and I’ll try to steer you in the right direction.)
This city that loves wrestling will get off its’ back and win.
For about 50 years I have heard the same jokes about my name. It’s not that I have an odd one – in fact – it is one of the most common in America. No – the jokes come because I bear absolutely no physical resemblance to the greatest lacrosse player in the history of Syracuse University (you have to be a middle-aged sports geek to get that one) nor do I look like the “hardest working man in show business”.
Then around 1970 Jim Croce had a hit song with a title that included my middle and last names.
All my friends had fun with that one.
The City of Five Seasons
When I moved to Cedar Rapids in 1987 I learned that it was called “The City of Five Seasons”. After a little digging, I discovered that the phrase was coined by a local ad agency as a marketing tool and that the fifth season is “time to enjoy the other four”.
After I had lived here for a couple of years I decided that, really, the fifth season might well be “wrestling season”. With the possible exceptions of Stillwater, Waterloo and Iowa City, there are darn few towns in America that love wrestling as much as we do in Cedar Rapids. At least eleven NCAA championships have been won by wrestlers from Cedar Rapids high schools:
Gary Bentrim won 3 DII titles at UNI.
Hall-of-Famers Barry Davis and Jim Zalesky each won 3 DI championships at Iowa and Mark Ironside won another 2 (and The Hodge Trophy) as a Hawkeye.
There aren’t many other places where you can attend a high school wrestling dual meet and watch two future 2X NCAA champs (Ironside and Jeff McGinniss) go against each other.
And the beat goes on – last season’s Midlands champion and NCAA finalist, Joe Slaton is from here.
It’s not just the wrestlers. Hall of Fame coach Gary Kurdelmeier coached here for a short time. One of the most famous voices in wrestling, Sandy Stevens, got her start announcing here. Her husband, Bear, was the first wrestling coach at Kennedy High School and he needed someone to announce a dual meet. Sandy was pressed into service and the rest – as they say – is history
Our newspaper covers the sport – regularly. Our TV sportscasters respect the sport as much as they do any other. If you’re a wrestling fan – there’s no better place to be.
A little over 2 weeks ago, this city that loves wrestling so much, was devastated by the worst flooding in history. The Cedar River crested over TEN FEET higher than had ever been recorded.
We need a name.
The problem with flooding is that the sun comes out, the waters recede and, unless you’re one of the thousands of families putting your lifetime out on the curb, all appears normal.
It’s far from normal – over a billion dollars in damage, thousands still homeless and/or unemployed, businesses that will not recover…
Hurricanes have names. When you hear “Andrew” or “Katrina” images of devastation come to mind. Our flood needs a name. I’m willing to consider all suggestions, but I have one of my own – Ashraliev.
Huh? It’s hard to spell, hard to pronounce, almost impossible to remember and – seemingly – meaningless.
After Dan Gable won the World Championship in 1971 the mighty Russian sports machine vowed to search the country to find and train THE wrestler that would defeat Gable. Ruslan Ashraliev was that man – the best the Russians had – and Gable won. The Cedar River threw everything at us it could just like the Russians and Ashraliev – and this is the image I choose to represent Cedar Rapids in 2009:
Gable – battered, tested, victorious.
You can help.
Even Gable had help - coaches, family and workout partners.
Here are some ways you can help Cedar Rapids.
Both our local Red Cross and Salvation Army desperately need funds. To help the local Red Cross you can send a check to
American Red Cross
PO Box 10375
Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0375
Or donate online at
http://grantwood-redcross.org/index.html?gwatitle.htm&1
The address for the local Salvation Army is
PO Box 8056
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
Eat more Cap’n Crunch or oatmeal – seriously. Quaker Oats is a Cedar Rapids fixture and the largest employer impacted by the flood. Buy Quaker products and you help get people back to work.
Attend the 2009 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships and spend money here. You’ll have great time.
If you’re a business owner – give a Cedar Rapids business a shot at meeting some of your needs. Just give us a fair look – you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. It could very well end up the classic “win, win” opportunity. (If you’re interested in exploring this option, email me at jim@dmsolutions.com) and I’ll try to steer you in the right direction.)
This city that loves wrestling will get off its’ back and win.
Monday, June 23, 2008
If the great sports movies were about wrestling
If the great sports movies were about wrestling
It’s the twentieth anniversary of one of my favorite all-time sports movies – Bull Durham.
I’ve always loved sports movies. I suppose Brian’s Song was one of my first contemporary favorites. The sappier the ending – the better. I’ve seen the ending of Rudy at least 100 times. I know that he’s going to finally “get to dress”, that he’s going to play, that he’s going to sack the Georgia Tech quarterback and that the team is going to carry him off the field – and yet – I cry every single time.
(BTW – Does anyone know if the Ruettigers that have wrestled at Northern Illinois over the past few years are related to Rudy)?
What if some of my favorite sports movies had been about wrestling.
Pin Durham
Scene: Office of Durham University wrestling coach, “Cement Mixer” Jones. Coach Jones speaks to his assistant, Bud Cauliflower.
Jones: “Bud, we gotta do something about LaMat. He’s either scoring spectacular pins or getting pinned himself. I never know before a meet whether to expect six points for us or six point for them.”
Enter Terry “Crash” Brands.
Crash: “Cement Mixer, what in the heck am I doing back on a college campus. I’ve been working the last few years at the Olympic Training Center.”
Jones: “Have you ever heard of “suspension of disbelief?”
Crash: “What?”
Jones: “Never mind. Crash, we got this kid – Nuke LaMat – I’ve never seen anyone with more potential. He has a complete arsenal of skills and he’s as quick as all get out. He just can’t stay under control. He’s the ultimate “pin or get-pinned” wrestler. The big club (USOC) wants you to see if you can bring him along.”
Scene: Durham University student union. Nuke is the center of attention among a group of college co-eds. Crash walks up to Nuke.
Crash: “Hey – I hear you’re the wrestling stud around here. Ya wanna go?”
Nuke: “You don’t wanna go with me, Old Man.”
Crash: “Come on kid – I gotta hunch about you.”
They tie up, circle for a few seconds and Nuke tries an inside trip. Crash
counters, throws Nuke to his back and pins him.
Nuke: “Wow, that was some move. Who are you?”
Crash: “I’m your new workout partner.”
As the movie progresses Nuke gets under control and he starts beating
better and better opponents. The Olympic Trials are nearing. Crash sits down
for one last talk with Nuke.
Crash: “Nuke, at first some of these guys are going to light you up. They’ve wrestled a lot more freestyle than you have – but you’re going to be great.”
“You need to start working on your clichés.”
Nuke: “My what”
Crash: “Your clichés – for the interviews. Here – write these down.”
“I love the sport because it’s just you and your opponent. There’s no place to hide. There are no excuses.”
“I don’t worry about my opponent’s style. I just try to force my style on him.”
“I’m just focusing on the next match.”
Rams (Hoosiers)
Scene: Coach Paul Scott leads his team from Cornell College into the gym on the University of Illinois campus.
Scott: “Lowell, take this tape measure. How wide is the mat?”
Lange: “40 feet, coach.”
Scott: “How long is the mat, Lowell?”
Lange: “40 feet.”
Scott: “That’s exactly the same size as our mat at home.”
Coach Scott, Lowell Lange, Dick Hauser and the rest of his team from Cornell
College in Mount Vernon, IA would go on to become the smallest school ever
to win the NCAA wrestling championship.
Jesse (Rudy)
Scene: Hallway outside of the University of Iowa wrestling room. Kindly janitor speaks.
Janitor: “You are so fulla crap! You’re five foot nothin’ – a hundred and nothin’ – and you ain’t got a speck of athletic talent. Yet you hung in there for four years with the best wrestlers in the country. Now get out there and let’s see what you can do.”
“Strongest man in the world!”
Pac-Ten (Major League)
Scene: College dropout athletic director walks into the office of his wrestling coach.
AD: “I want a baseball team and I don’t like wrestling. You guys are gone.”
The ending of this movie is not yet written. You can help with the script. Go
to http://www.saveoregonwrestling.com/ to find out how.
It’s the twentieth anniversary of one of my favorite all-time sports movies – Bull Durham.
I’ve always loved sports movies. I suppose Brian’s Song was one of my first contemporary favorites. The sappier the ending – the better. I’ve seen the ending of Rudy at least 100 times. I know that he’s going to finally “get to dress”, that he’s going to play, that he’s going to sack the Georgia Tech quarterback and that the team is going to carry him off the field – and yet – I cry every single time.
(BTW – Does anyone know if the Ruettigers that have wrestled at Northern Illinois over the past few years are related to Rudy)?
What if some of my favorite sports movies had been about wrestling.
Pin Durham
Scene: Office of Durham University wrestling coach, “Cement Mixer” Jones. Coach Jones speaks to his assistant, Bud Cauliflower.
Jones: “Bud, we gotta do something about LaMat. He’s either scoring spectacular pins or getting pinned himself. I never know before a meet whether to expect six points for us or six point for them.”
Enter Terry “Crash” Brands.
Crash: “Cement Mixer, what in the heck am I doing back on a college campus. I’ve been working the last few years at the Olympic Training Center.”
Jones: “Have you ever heard of “suspension of disbelief?”
Crash: “What?”
Jones: “Never mind. Crash, we got this kid – Nuke LaMat – I’ve never seen anyone with more potential. He has a complete arsenal of skills and he’s as quick as all get out. He just can’t stay under control. He’s the ultimate “pin or get-pinned” wrestler. The big club (USOC) wants you to see if you can bring him along.”
Scene: Durham University student union. Nuke is the center of attention among a group of college co-eds. Crash walks up to Nuke.
Crash: “Hey – I hear you’re the wrestling stud around here. Ya wanna go?”
Nuke: “You don’t wanna go with me, Old Man.”
Crash: “Come on kid – I gotta hunch about you.”
They tie up, circle for a few seconds and Nuke tries an inside trip. Crash
counters, throws Nuke to his back and pins him.
Nuke: “Wow, that was some move. Who are you?”
Crash: “I’m your new workout partner.”
As the movie progresses Nuke gets under control and he starts beating
better and better opponents. The Olympic Trials are nearing. Crash sits down
for one last talk with Nuke.
Crash: “Nuke, at first some of these guys are going to light you up. They’ve wrestled a lot more freestyle than you have – but you’re going to be great.”
“You need to start working on your clichés.”
Nuke: “My what”
Crash: “Your clichés – for the interviews. Here – write these down.”
“I love the sport because it’s just you and your opponent. There’s no place to hide. There are no excuses.”
“I don’t worry about my opponent’s style. I just try to force my style on him.”
“I’m just focusing on the next match.”
Rams (Hoosiers)
Scene: Coach Paul Scott leads his team from Cornell College into the gym on the University of Illinois campus.
Scott: “Lowell, take this tape measure. How wide is the mat?”
Lange: “40 feet, coach.”
Scott: “How long is the mat, Lowell?”
Lange: “40 feet.”
Scott: “That’s exactly the same size as our mat at home.”
Coach Scott, Lowell Lange, Dick Hauser and the rest of his team from Cornell
College in Mount Vernon, IA would go on to become the smallest school ever
to win the NCAA wrestling championship.
Jesse (Rudy)
Scene: Hallway outside of the University of Iowa wrestling room. Kindly janitor speaks.
Janitor: “You are so fulla crap! You’re five foot nothin’ – a hundred and nothin’ – and you ain’t got a speck of athletic talent. Yet you hung in there for four years with the best wrestlers in the country. Now get out there and let’s see what you can do.”
“Strongest man in the world!”
Pac-Ten (Major League)
Scene: College dropout athletic director walks into the office of his wrestling coach.
AD: “I want a baseball team and I don’t like wrestling. You guys are gone.”
The ending of this movie is not yet written. You can help with the script. Go
to http://www.saveoregonwrestling.com/ to find out how.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Wrestling with disaster
Wrestling with disaster
My friend Terrance is a Hawkeye wrestling fan. Truth be known, he’s as much a fan of the ice cream and caramel corn at Carver Hawkeye Arena as he is of the wrestling.
Terrance has no vision in his right eye and only about 20% in his left so he views the matches by using binoculars and watching on the arena big screen or by shooting 20-second videos with our digital camera and holding them up to his left eye.
Last week Terrance, his mother, two younger brothers and his little sister – like thousands of other families in Eastern Iowa – lost everything to what some are calling a “once in a millennium flood”. Here in Cedar Rapids 1300 city blocks were flooded and 24,000 people were forced from their homes.
Yes – as you may have heard – the wrestling world was directly affected. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo was flooded and much of the memorabilia damaged beyond salvation. Members of the Iowa City contingent at the Olympic Trials are coming home to circumstances that are far more dire than when they left. Some may actually not be able to get home.
Later this week the floodwaters will crest in Iowa City. Just as here in Cedar Rapids, they will reach record levels. (In Cedar Rapids the crest was OVER TEN FEET higher than ever before recorded).
So many need so much. Can you help?
You can send a check to
American Red Cross
PO Box 10375
Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0375
Or donate to the local Red Cross online at
http://grantwood-redcross.org/index.html?gwatitle.htm&1
Our local Salvation Army is also providing disaster assistance. You can send them a check at
Salvation Army
PO Box 8056
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
Please, don’t put this off – donate today.
Here’s another way for wrestling fans to help. Our downtown is devastated. For many of our businesses recovery will be a struggle. Next March come to Cedar Rapids for the NCAA Division III wrestling championships. Eat at a downtown restaurant, drink at a downtown bar, stay at a downtown hotel and shop at downtown businesses. You’ll have a wonderful time, see some outstanding wrestling and help a great community bounce back.
Terrance and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
My friend Terrance is a Hawkeye wrestling fan. Truth be known, he’s as much a fan of the ice cream and caramel corn at Carver Hawkeye Arena as he is of the wrestling.
Terrance has no vision in his right eye and only about 20% in his left so he views the matches by using binoculars and watching on the arena big screen or by shooting 20-second videos with our digital camera and holding them up to his left eye.
Last week Terrance, his mother, two younger brothers and his little sister – like thousands of other families in Eastern Iowa – lost everything to what some are calling a “once in a millennium flood”. Here in Cedar Rapids 1300 city blocks were flooded and 24,000 people were forced from their homes.
Yes – as you may have heard – the wrestling world was directly affected. The Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum in Waterloo was flooded and much of the memorabilia damaged beyond salvation. Members of the Iowa City contingent at the Olympic Trials are coming home to circumstances that are far more dire than when they left. Some may actually not be able to get home.
Later this week the floodwaters will crest in Iowa City. Just as here in Cedar Rapids, they will reach record levels. (In Cedar Rapids the crest was OVER TEN FEET higher than ever before recorded).
So many need so much. Can you help?
You can send a check to
American Red Cross
PO Box 10375
Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0375
Or donate to the local Red Cross online at
http://grantwood-redcross.org/index.html?gwatitle.htm&1
Our local Salvation Army is also providing disaster assistance. You can send them a check at
Salvation Army
PO Box 8056
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406
Please, don’t put this off – donate today.
Here’s another way for wrestling fans to help. Our downtown is devastated. For many of our businesses recovery will be a struggle. Next March come to Cedar Rapids for the NCAA Division III wrestling championships. Eat at a downtown restaurant, drink at a downtown bar, stay at a downtown hotel and shop at downtown businesses. You’ll have a wonderful time, see some outstanding wrestling and help a great community bounce back.
Terrance and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
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