My grandfather Craig was pretty cool. He could play almost any stringed instrument, but the banjo was his specialty. When I was little he would play and sing silly kids songs to me and I would sit rapt in front of him. He had been a championship roller skater and my mother said that on Friday nights when they would go skating everyone would clear the floor and watch him skate.
As he got older he developed some health issues and was put on a very strict diet. He took great joy in waiting until my grandmother was asleep and then getting up and sneaking forbidden foods. If I was staying overnight he would wake me so I could be his partner in crime.
And – man – could he tell stories. He was born in the South Dakota Badlands and worked as a ranch hand in his younger years. He loved telling about the time he was baling hay and had to kill two rattle snakes with his knife. He later moved to Detroit and worked in the Ford plant. Grandpa became a Tigers fan and liked to talk about what a mean SOB Ty Cobb was. Then came the depression and like millions of others he lost his job and hit the road looking for work. Somehow he ended up in Muscatine, Iowa, met my grandmother and – well – here I am.
When I was little I just couldn’t get enough time with him. It was all so fun – sitting up late at night watching Jack Paar and eating peanut butter stuffed celery or sitting on his lap in his rocking chair watching the Game of the Week with Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese (and then listening to him sing along when Dizzy would break into The Wabash Cannonball).
Then I became a know-it-all teenager and suddenly Grandpa Craig was a boring old man. He’d start one of those marvelous tales and I would think to myself, “please, not that one again.” He died when I was 18.
So now I’m 60 and a grandfather and my grandkids think I’m pretty cool – and I love to tell stories. I know, however, that someday soon I will become just another boring old man.
I spend way too much time on the internet reading other people’s thoughts about wrestling and there is a noticeable lack of respect among many young posters for those who have preceded them. I suspect that a lot of that is “know-it-allitis”. Three or four times a year someone will post a “Gable couldn’t beat (insert young phenom’s name here)” thread or make comments like, “With that stance (insert the name of a member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame here) couldn’t beat anyone today.” It’s all part of the natural scheme of things.
I like to read wrestling books. Anything by Mike Chapman or Jay Hammond is well worth your time. Last winter I was fascinated by Jamie Moffatt’s, Wrestlers at the Trials”. Arno Niemand’s much anticipated book about the 1947 Cornell College national championship team is to be released soon and I will definitely read it. I’m sure I will like it – but it won’t be anywhere near as fun as listening to Bob Majors tell stories about the great Cornell College teams of the late ‘40s and early ‘50s. You see – he was on those teams and – man – can he tell a story.
Karma is a funny thing. Last year I attended the USA vs Russia freestyle dual at Cornell and Bob and his wife came up and sat by me. We introduced ourselves to each other and began talking about wrestling and Cornell history. I soaked up every word. Since then we’ve had occasion to run into each other a couple of more times and I can’t wait to hear what he has to say.
It was my distinct honor to be chosen as a marshal for the 2010 NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships. The highlight of the experience was spending time with another of the marshals, Lloyd Corwin – a teammate of Bob Majors at Cornell. Lloyd was a two-time All-American in the ‘50s and beat future Olympic gold medallist, Doug Blubaugh, in the NCAA tournament. He’s a wonderfully charming man and I was riveted by his stories.
Paul King is a wrestling fan from Colorado. I met him a couple of years ago at the Iowa/Iowa State dual meet. Paul has a fascinating concept – a video library of great wrestlers sharing their stories. Think how marvelous that would be. In today’s world it could be housed online so that once we get beyond our “know-it-all” stage we could listen to the history of wrestling in America.
I hope someone makes it happen.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Who pays Tom Brands?
Who pays Tom Brands salary? No, that’s not a trick question. We all know that he is paid by the University of Iowa.
What is he paid to do? Nope – I’m still not trying to fool you. He is paid to teach young men, make them better wrestlers and win championships for the Hawkeyes. So far he’s been pretty successful at those tasks.
I’ve not seen his contract, but I’m reasonably certain that there is no clause in there that says anything like, “You must always do what’s best for the future of wrestling.” In fact, I’m willing to bet that his boss, Iowa athletic director, Gary Barta, mandates that Brands put his athletes’ best interests first.
Never one to care much about anyone else’s reactions, Coach Brands brought an avalanche of criticism down on himself last week when it was released that the Iowa Hawkeyes will not be competing in this season’s National Dual Championships. As was his wrestling style, he has faced the controversy head on.
You and I may not like his decision – AND I DON’T – but it is his prerogative to decline an invitation to the National Duals. But – make no mistake – this decision has the potential to seriously damage one of the sport’s top events AND this year’s host, the University of Northern Iowa.
The National Duals have evolved into the most unique format in all of wrestling. In one venue you can watch the best teams and athletes from all 3 NCAA divisions, the NAIA, the NJCAA and from women’s intercollegiate wrestling. Hardcore wrestling fans, like me, wander around the UNI Dome and enjoy a variety of competition that you just can’t experience anywhere else.
With all of that diversity, it’s still undeniable that the NCAA Division I teams are the star attractions and that no one brings more fans than the Hawkeyes. The NWCA reports that over 16,000 tickets have been sold for National Duals each of the last two years. It’s hard to know just how many of them are dressed in black and gold – but it’s a major chunk. Tom Brands’ decision throws a daunting challenge out there for Mike Moyer, Pat Tocci and Tammy Tedesco of the NWCA and Troy Dannen, the UNI athletic director.
The wrestling community is already stepping up to help meet the challenge. Last week fans from Coe, Cornell College, Luther and Iowa State all made Tickets for Kids pledges specifically for the National Duals. A Waterloo business man with wrestling ties is working to involve the Cedar Valley business community. Scott Casber from Takedown TV has already done several interviews (including me) about the issue. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum is also getting involved.
You, too, can lend your support in a couple of different ways. You can help fill the UNI Dome with youngsters by donating to Tickets for Kids. Either email your pledge to me at jim@dmsolutions4u.com or send your check to
Tickets for Kids
c/o Jim Brown
130 24th St NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-4936.
If you want your contribution to be specific to the National Duals, please make note of that fact.
And, hey you Hawkeye fans – the Hawks are idle those two days (January 8 & 9,2011) after wrestling SIU-Edwardsville on Friday night. Come on up to Cedar Falls and root for your favorite Division III team.
What is he paid to do? Nope – I’m still not trying to fool you. He is paid to teach young men, make them better wrestlers and win championships for the Hawkeyes. So far he’s been pretty successful at those tasks.
I’ve not seen his contract, but I’m reasonably certain that there is no clause in there that says anything like, “You must always do what’s best for the future of wrestling.” In fact, I’m willing to bet that his boss, Iowa athletic director, Gary Barta, mandates that Brands put his athletes’ best interests first.
Never one to care much about anyone else’s reactions, Coach Brands brought an avalanche of criticism down on himself last week when it was released that the Iowa Hawkeyes will not be competing in this season’s National Dual Championships. As was his wrestling style, he has faced the controversy head on.
You and I may not like his decision – AND I DON’T – but it is his prerogative to decline an invitation to the National Duals. But – make no mistake – this decision has the potential to seriously damage one of the sport’s top events AND this year’s host, the University of Northern Iowa.
The National Duals have evolved into the most unique format in all of wrestling. In one venue you can watch the best teams and athletes from all 3 NCAA divisions, the NAIA, the NJCAA and from women’s intercollegiate wrestling. Hardcore wrestling fans, like me, wander around the UNI Dome and enjoy a variety of competition that you just can’t experience anywhere else.
With all of that diversity, it’s still undeniable that the NCAA Division I teams are the star attractions and that no one brings more fans than the Hawkeyes. The NWCA reports that over 16,000 tickets have been sold for National Duals each of the last two years. It’s hard to know just how many of them are dressed in black and gold – but it’s a major chunk. Tom Brands’ decision throws a daunting challenge out there for Mike Moyer, Pat Tocci and Tammy Tedesco of the NWCA and Troy Dannen, the UNI athletic director.
The wrestling community is already stepping up to help meet the challenge. Last week fans from Coe, Cornell College, Luther and Iowa State all made Tickets for Kids pledges specifically for the National Duals. A Waterloo business man with wrestling ties is working to involve the Cedar Valley business community. Scott Casber from Takedown TV has already done several interviews (including me) about the issue. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum is also getting involved.
You, too, can lend your support in a couple of different ways. You can help fill the UNI Dome with youngsters by donating to Tickets for Kids. Either email your pledge to me at jim@dmsolutions4u.com or send your check to
Tickets for Kids
c/o Jim Brown
130 24th St NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-4936.
If you want your contribution to be specific to the National Duals, please make note of that fact.
And, hey you Hawkeye fans – the Hawks are idle those two days (January 8 & 9,2011) after wrestling SIU-Edwardsville on Friday night. Come on up to Cedar Falls and root for your favorite Division III team.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Women, wrestling and me
Many of you know this. Nine months after we started dating my, now wife, gave us Iowa wrestling season tickets as a Christmas present. It took me a little while, but I finally came to my senses and asked her to marry me. Thankfully, she said, “yes”. This coming Saturday is our wedding anniversary.
When you hang around wrestling you hear a lot of macho guy stuff, but – some of the most interesting people I’ve met in wrestling are women.
The first 15 years that we had seats GG, 12, 1 & 2; Gretchen Goodwin sat next to my wife. When we got those seats she and her husband, Don, had already been ensconced in seats 3 & 4 for a while. Over the years we became friends and attended Big Tens in Wisconsin and Nationals in Ames together. Gretchen loved Royce Alger and swooned every time he entered the arena – as an athlete or as a coach. Sadly, a few years ago Don contracted a rare congenital liver disease and passed away after a long, painful battle. We’ve not seen Gretchen since then and I now have their old seats. I think of them every time I give those seats away.
Debbie Connell has been my good friend for 40 years and she’s been a Hawkeye wrestling season ticket holder since the Field House days. If you’ve ever attended a meet in Carver Hawkeye Arena, you’ve probably seen her. When the Hawks run out of the tunnel look in the middle of the first row just above the tunnel and the woman you see is either Deb or her sister Jody. Debbie worked with me at the Dairy Queen the Sunday morning when the state of Iowa was crushed by the Des Moines Register headline, “Gable Fails”.
When I started this blog I really had no clue about what I should write after the first couple of editions. Then, Danielle Hobeika agreed to an interview. Danielle is one of the most fascinating people around the sport. A Harvard psychology grad, Danielle wrestled in the room on the Crimson team and became a top level freestyle wrestler. She is the goddess of wrestling websites and one of the sport’s best photographers. You know that photo you love with Brent Metcalf and Bubba Jenkins “on their heads” – that’s Danielle’s. She’s still doing the photography and web development, but is now also an MMA fighter.
Sandy Stevens taught my wife as a substitute English teacher at Cedar Rapids Kennedy more than a couple of years ago. If you don’t know the name, you surely know the voice. She has been the voice of Fargo, DI Nationals, the California high school championships and the Olympics. I first met Sandy in person the night before she was announcing the Division III Championships in Cedar Rapids – her home town. I’ve met very, very few people as passionate about wrestling as Sandy.
Maggie Hendricks had been an online “friend” for at least three years when she introduced herself to me at National Duals last year. Maggie was a manager for the Missouri Tiger wrestling team and loves to write about wrestling, football and MMA. Her blog in memory of her grandfather, who taught the whole family to box, is still one of the best online pieces I’ve ever read. “Thumbs up, pointed to God” is a phrase I’ll remember the rest of my life.
One day before I met Maggie, I also met Tammy Tedesco from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Among her many duties, Tammy is the tournament director for National Duals. This upcoming season she is planning to engage wrestling in the “Coaches Against Cancer” campaign. Please stay tuned for further details.
I met Dee Pollard in a bar in 2008. The mother of TCNJ assistant coach, Joe Pollard, she was sitting at the bar as I was hosting my first Division III Championships fan reception. We struck up a conversation and have become good friends and have met after every session of the past three NCAA DIII Championships. Every Saturday night after finals Joe has joined us. Last March the three of us made our plans to meet in La Crosse next spring. Yes – my wife and Dee’s husband know about this. After all – it’s all about the wrestling. (As an aside – one of my happiest moments as a marshal at the DIII Championships was handing one of Joe’s wrestlers his All-American trophy.)
I still haven’t yet met Julia Labua face-to-face. She’s all over the wrestling internet with at least 3 online identities and her posts are among the most intelligent you’ll ever see. Last winter she pulled off her own wrestling promotion coup when she emailed the entire staff at her place of employment, offering them free tickets, hot dogs and sodas for a Hawkeye dual meet. Eleven co-workers took her up on the offer and attended their first ever wrestling meet. When one of her friends asked about one of the finer points of wrestling Julia responded, in part, with a phrase that has become popular on the internet, “There will be answers. They may not be right answers, but there will be answers.”
There are many adjectives that would describe Gail Rush. “Dynamic” is at the top of my list. Since the flood of 2008 she has responded to several of my requests to help wrestlers and wrestling. In those years I’ve heard from several people that she and her husband, Rick, have done that for years. This past week her efforts led to the Coe College Kohawk wrestling fans taking the lead in the Tickets for Kids fan challenge.
But - it still comes back to my darling wife. I don’t know how it happened, but I won the marriage lottery. If I’d never met her there would probably be no season tickets, no blog and no Tickets for Kids. Thank you dear. I love you and may we grow old watching wrestling together. Happy anniversary.
When you hang around wrestling you hear a lot of macho guy stuff, but – some of the most interesting people I’ve met in wrestling are women.
The first 15 years that we had seats GG, 12, 1 & 2; Gretchen Goodwin sat next to my wife. When we got those seats she and her husband, Don, had already been ensconced in seats 3 & 4 for a while. Over the years we became friends and attended Big Tens in Wisconsin and Nationals in Ames together. Gretchen loved Royce Alger and swooned every time he entered the arena – as an athlete or as a coach. Sadly, a few years ago Don contracted a rare congenital liver disease and passed away after a long, painful battle. We’ve not seen Gretchen since then and I now have their old seats. I think of them every time I give those seats away.
Debbie Connell has been my good friend for 40 years and she’s been a Hawkeye wrestling season ticket holder since the Field House days. If you’ve ever attended a meet in Carver Hawkeye Arena, you’ve probably seen her. When the Hawks run out of the tunnel look in the middle of the first row just above the tunnel and the woman you see is either Deb or her sister Jody. Debbie worked with me at the Dairy Queen the Sunday morning when the state of Iowa was crushed by the Des Moines Register headline, “Gable Fails”.
When I started this blog I really had no clue about what I should write after the first couple of editions. Then, Danielle Hobeika agreed to an interview. Danielle is one of the most fascinating people around the sport. A Harvard psychology grad, Danielle wrestled in the room on the Crimson team and became a top level freestyle wrestler. She is the goddess of wrestling websites and one of the sport’s best photographers. You know that photo you love with Brent Metcalf and Bubba Jenkins “on their heads” – that’s Danielle’s. She’s still doing the photography and web development, but is now also an MMA fighter.
Sandy Stevens taught my wife as a substitute English teacher at Cedar Rapids Kennedy more than a couple of years ago. If you don’t know the name, you surely know the voice. She has been the voice of Fargo, DI Nationals, the California high school championships and the Olympics. I first met Sandy in person the night before she was announcing the Division III Championships in Cedar Rapids – her home town. I’ve met very, very few people as passionate about wrestling as Sandy.
Maggie Hendricks had been an online “friend” for at least three years when she introduced herself to me at National Duals last year. Maggie was a manager for the Missouri Tiger wrestling team and loves to write about wrestling, football and MMA. Her blog in memory of her grandfather, who taught the whole family to box, is still one of the best online pieces I’ve ever read. “Thumbs up, pointed to God” is a phrase I’ll remember the rest of my life.
One day before I met Maggie, I also met Tammy Tedesco from the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Among her many duties, Tammy is the tournament director for National Duals. This upcoming season she is planning to engage wrestling in the “Coaches Against Cancer” campaign. Please stay tuned for further details.
I met Dee Pollard in a bar in 2008. The mother of TCNJ assistant coach, Joe Pollard, she was sitting at the bar as I was hosting my first Division III Championships fan reception. We struck up a conversation and have become good friends and have met after every session of the past three NCAA DIII Championships. Every Saturday night after finals Joe has joined us. Last March the three of us made our plans to meet in La Crosse next spring. Yes – my wife and Dee’s husband know about this. After all – it’s all about the wrestling. (As an aside – one of my happiest moments as a marshal at the DIII Championships was handing one of Joe’s wrestlers his All-American trophy.)
I still haven’t yet met Julia Labua face-to-face. She’s all over the wrestling internet with at least 3 online identities and her posts are among the most intelligent you’ll ever see. Last winter she pulled off her own wrestling promotion coup when she emailed the entire staff at her place of employment, offering them free tickets, hot dogs and sodas for a Hawkeye dual meet. Eleven co-workers took her up on the offer and attended their first ever wrestling meet. When one of her friends asked about one of the finer points of wrestling Julia responded, in part, with a phrase that has become popular on the internet, “There will be answers. They may not be right answers, but there will be answers.”
There are many adjectives that would describe Gail Rush. “Dynamic” is at the top of my list. Since the flood of 2008 she has responded to several of my requests to help wrestlers and wrestling. In those years I’ve heard from several people that she and her husband, Rick, have done that for years. This past week her efforts led to the Coe College Kohawk wrestling fans taking the lead in the Tickets for Kids fan challenge.
But - it still comes back to my darling wife. I don’t know how it happened, but I won the marriage lottery. If I’d never met her there would probably be no season tickets, no blog and no Tickets for Kids. Thank you dear. I love you and may we grow old watching wrestling together. Happy anniversary.
Monday, August 23, 2010
It's too comfortable on the sidelines
Long time blog readers know that it is named after where I have watched much of the wrestling I’ve seen over the past 20+ years – Section GG, Row 12, Seats 1 & 2 in Carver Hawkeye Arena. When I started the blog it was meant to reflect the opinions of a fan sitting on the sidelines. Other than middle school intramurals, I never wrestled. Neither my brothers nor my daughters, nor any other member of my family wrestled. I have no official ties to wrestling in any way. I AM JUST A FAN.
The past few years it’s been hard sitting on the sidelines and watching what is happening to this great sport we all love, so a couple of years ago I started to act. My thoughts at the time were, “It might be meaningless, but let’s see if one fan can have any impact at all.” I started small and bought a few tickets to the NWCA All Star Classic when it was in Oregon. I sent them off to Rick Stewart and asked him to find some kids out there to give them to.
Later that season I stretched a little and bought 20 – 30 tickets for every Hawkeye home dual meet and gave them away to kid’s wrestling clubs or middle school teams. My logic was fairly simple – kids need idols. If I could get youngsters just starting in the sport to see the best college wrestlers in America, perhaps they would see something that would cause them to hang with it.
Last year I launched Tickets for Kids. My goal was to raise enough money to send 1,000 kids to a morning session of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Cedar Rapids. I didn’t make my goal, but, thanks to many of you, over 600 kids got to see some very exciting college wrestling. I’ve heard from coaches and kids since then and I think we, in some small part, accomplished what we’d hoped for.
I own and operate a small business and after last spring I wondered if I should continue with Tickets for Kids. I sent out surveys to some of the larger donors and asked them if they would continue to support the effort. Most said they would. But still, I couldn’t decide. It’s more work than I had imagined.
Then last Thursday, Eric Betterman, the co-founder of theopenmat.com, threw out a challenge – “Let’s make it a goal to sell out every single (Division I) dual meet in the nation.” He pointed out that we didn’t actually need to attend if that was physically impossible – just buy them. I drew upon my experience and followed that with a challenge of my own, “Which fans of which school could raise enough money to buy enough tickets to send at least 20 kids to a dual meet at their favorite school first?” Then I called upon Hawkeye fans to bail my butt out after shooting off my mouth. They did. In three days I received enough pledges to send over 160 kids to Hawkeye dual meets. One Nebraska fan committed to sending 20 youngsters to a Cornhusker meet – and no one else responded. Apparently, they all prefer to sit on the sidelines as the “world’s oldest and greatest sport” is assaulted from multiple directions.
That flurry of activity answered the question – Tickets for Kids must continue.
Every survey respondent asked that we expand the scope – that we offer a greater variety of wrestling events for kids to attend. We’re doing that. Donations will be used to provide tickets for the NWCA National Duals, the Division III Championships in La Crosse, the NAIA Championships in Cedar Rapids and any college dual meet you select. If you have another event you wish to support email me.
I’m going to run two campaigns, the “Preseason Fan Challenge” and the “Championship Run”. The Preseason Fan Challenge starts today and runs to November 30. The basic premise is simple: which school’s fans will best support wrestling by sending kids to wrestling events. We’ll have five divisions and crown both divisional and an overall champion.
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division III
NAIA
Women’s
I still don’t have PayPal and can’t take credit card donations, but we’re working on it Please make your check to “Tickets for Kids” and send it to
Tickets for Kids
c/o Jim Brown
130 24th St NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-4936
or email a pledge to me at jim@dmsolutions4u.com and I’ll send you a reminder as we get closer to the season (which can’t get here soon enough).
Please include the name of the school you want your donation credited to and the event you want to support. If you want to support an endangered program like Cal State Fullerton, but you are a Minnesota fan – I’ll credit your donation to the Gophers, but send tickets to some California kids who can attend a Titan dual meet. Once the tickets have been distributed I will send each donor a copy of the ticket purchase receipt and the name of the club leader or coach whose kids got the tickets.
In the interest of fairness, the Hawkeye and Cornhusker fans will start even with everyone else.
If you like the concept and want to join in the challenge – but don’t want to do it through Tickets for Kids – you can. Buy enough tickets to send at least 20 kids to an event, send me a copy of the ticket purchase receipt and the name of the club leader or coach whose kids got the tickets and I’ll credit your school with the donation.
Reminder: NCAA rules will not allow you to give tickets to high school wrestlers so focus on the elementary and middle schoolers.
If you really want your school to win, you’re going to have to get off of the sidelines. Email your friends and alumni and the people that sit next to you at wrestling meets. Post a link to this blog on your favorite team’s sites. Rally your fans on facebook. Let’s send 10,000 kids from all over the country to college wrestling events.
Here’s the real challenge. I’m almost certain that Hawkeye fans will win this in a cake walk. Which one of you is going to get mad enough to prove me wrong?
Or – you can remain on the sidelines and do nothing.
The past few years it’s been hard sitting on the sidelines and watching what is happening to this great sport we all love, so a couple of years ago I started to act. My thoughts at the time were, “It might be meaningless, but let’s see if one fan can have any impact at all.” I started small and bought a few tickets to the NWCA All Star Classic when it was in Oregon. I sent them off to Rick Stewart and asked him to find some kids out there to give them to.
Later that season I stretched a little and bought 20 – 30 tickets for every Hawkeye home dual meet and gave them away to kid’s wrestling clubs or middle school teams. My logic was fairly simple – kids need idols. If I could get youngsters just starting in the sport to see the best college wrestlers in America, perhaps they would see something that would cause them to hang with it.
Last year I launched Tickets for Kids. My goal was to raise enough money to send 1,000 kids to a morning session of the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships in Cedar Rapids. I didn’t make my goal, but, thanks to many of you, over 600 kids got to see some very exciting college wrestling. I’ve heard from coaches and kids since then and I think we, in some small part, accomplished what we’d hoped for.
I own and operate a small business and after last spring I wondered if I should continue with Tickets for Kids. I sent out surveys to some of the larger donors and asked them if they would continue to support the effort. Most said they would. But still, I couldn’t decide. It’s more work than I had imagined.
Then last Thursday, Eric Betterman, the co-founder of theopenmat.com, threw out a challenge – “Let’s make it a goal to sell out every single (Division I) dual meet in the nation.” He pointed out that we didn’t actually need to attend if that was physically impossible – just buy them. I drew upon my experience and followed that with a challenge of my own, “Which fans of which school could raise enough money to buy enough tickets to send at least 20 kids to a dual meet at their favorite school first?” Then I called upon Hawkeye fans to bail my butt out after shooting off my mouth. They did. In three days I received enough pledges to send over 160 kids to Hawkeye dual meets. One Nebraska fan committed to sending 20 youngsters to a Cornhusker meet – and no one else responded. Apparently, they all prefer to sit on the sidelines as the “world’s oldest and greatest sport” is assaulted from multiple directions.
That flurry of activity answered the question – Tickets for Kids must continue.
Every survey respondent asked that we expand the scope – that we offer a greater variety of wrestling events for kids to attend. We’re doing that. Donations will be used to provide tickets for the NWCA National Duals, the Division III Championships in La Crosse, the NAIA Championships in Cedar Rapids and any college dual meet you select. If you have another event you wish to support email me.
I’m going to run two campaigns, the “Preseason Fan Challenge” and the “Championship Run”. The Preseason Fan Challenge starts today and runs to November 30. The basic premise is simple: which school’s fans will best support wrestling by sending kids to wrestling events. We’ll have five divisions and crown both divisional and an overall champion.
NCAA Division I
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division III
NAIA
Women’s
I still don’t have PayPal and can’t take credit card donations, but we’re working on it Please make your check to “Tickets for Kids” and send it to
Tickets for Kids
c/o Jim Brown
130 24th St NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402-4936
or email a pledge to me at jim@dmsolutions4u.com and I’ll send you a reminder as we get closer to the season (which can’t get here soon enough).
Please include the name of the school you want your donation credited to and the event you want to support. If you want to support an endangered program like Cal State Fullerton, but you are a Minnesota fan – I’ll credit your donation to the Gophers, but send tickets to some California kids who can attend a Titan dual meet. Once the tickets have been distributed I will send each donor a copy of the ticket purchase receipt and the name of the club leader or coach whose kids got the tickets.
In the interest of fairness, the Hawkeye and Cornhusker fans will start even with everyone else.
If you like the concept and want to join in the challenge – but don’t want to do it through Tickets for Kids – you can. Buy enough tickets to send at least 20 kids to an event, send me a copy of the ticket purchase receipt and the name of the club leader or coach whose kids got the tickets and I’ll credit your school with the donation.
Reminder: NCAA rules will not allow you to give tickets to high school wrestlers so focus on the elementary and middle schoolers.
If you really want your school to win, you’re going to have to get off of the sidelines. Email your friends and alumni and the people that sit next to you at wrestling meets. Post a link to this blog on your favorite team’s sites. Rally your fans on facebook. Let’s send 10,000 kids from all over the country to college wrestling events.
Here’s the real challenge. I’m almost certain that Hawkeye fans will win this in a cake walk. Which one of you is going to get mad enough to prove me wrong?
Or – you can remain on the sidelines and do nothing.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Still living the dream
Shawn Johnson, Michael Phelps and Shaun White are all millionaires. Mike Zadick, Dremiel Byers and Kristie Davis are not. All six have worked tirelessly to be the best America has to offer in their respective sports and all have won medals in world championship competition. There’s really only one difference – Johnson, Phelps and White excel at sports embraced by the American television viewing public. Zadick, Byers and Davis wrestle.
No American wrestling in the three international styles is doing so to get rich. They are driven by the competition – by the quest for excellence. To be able to continue their careers they become assistant collegiate coaches, run camps or take on other jobs. The best of the best receive small stipends from USA Wrestling. For many of our wrestlers the lure of potential big earnings in the Mixed Martial Arts octagon is too great and they forego world level freestyle and Greco Roman careers.
Last year USA Wrestling and a small group of wrestling’s biggest supporters – people like Michael Novogratz, Dave Barry, Art Martori and Al Bevilacqua – created the Living the Dream Fund. The concept behind the fund is simple – it’s only right that we financially reward these hard working athletes for success on the world and Olympic stage. Under the plan, world champions will receive a check for $50,000. Silver medallists earn $25,000 and bronze winners receive $15,000. The stakes are higher in the London Olympics in 2012, where a Gold Medal will be worth $250,000, a silver will bring $50,000 and a bronze $25,000. In the program’s first year freestylers Jake Herbert and Tervel Dlagnev, and Greco Roman wrestler, Dremiel Byers, all received checks from the Living the Dream Fund.
It’s wrestling supporting wrestling. We’re not waiting for help from the government or anyone else – you and I and our friends in the wrestling community are doing it. Olympic heroes like Gable, Smith, Sanderson and Baumgartner have donated to the fund. Coaches, wrestlers, wrestling business owners, wrestling media and – yes - you “nameless” denizens of the internet have given to the fund. We’ve made progress, but there is much more to do.
This Friday, August 20th you’ll have the chance to join an elite group – those who step up and act to support the “world’s oldest and greatest sport”. The leaders of the Living the Dream Fund will be holding an online telethon and benefit. You’ll be able to call in your pledges or bid on several auction items including 2 tickets to that big football game in Dallas next February whose name I can’t mention without fear of lawsuit (hint – it will have XLV after the name). Air fare and hotel room are included in that package. The telethon will run from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Mountain Time and will originate from the USOC in Colorado Springs. You can watch on either www.themat.com or www.flowrestling.com.
Special guest will be former University of Missouri All-American wrestler, Greg Warren. Greg is one of the funniest stand up comedians working today and several of his routines feature his days as a Tiger wrestler and being the son of a high school wrestling coach. If you’ve never seen Greg, be prepared to laugh.
If for some reason you have to miss the webcast, just go right now to the Living the Dream site and make your contribution.
No American wrestling in the three international styles is doing so to get rich. They are driven by the competition – by the quest for excellence. To be able to continue their careers they become assistant collegiate coaches, run camps or take on other jobs. The best of the best receive small stipends from USA Wrestling. For many of our wrestlers the lure of potential big earnings in the Mixed Martial Arts octagon is too great and they forego world level freestyle and Greco Roman careers.
Last year USA Wrestling and a small group of wrestling’s biggest supporters – people like Michael Novogratz, Dave Barry, Art Martori and Al Bevilacqua – created the Living the Dream Fund. The concept behind the fund is simple – it’s only right that we financially reward these hard working athletes for success on the world and Olympic stage. Under the plan, world champions will receive a check for $50,000. Silver medallists earn $25,000 and bronze winners receive $15,000. The stakes are higher in the London Olympics in 2012, where a Gold Medal will be worth $250,000, a silver will bring $50,000 and a bronze $25,000. In the program’s first year freestylers Jake Herbert and Tervel Dlagnev, and Greco Roman wrestler, Dremiel Byers, all received checks from the Living the Dream Fund.
It’s wrestling supporting wrestling. We’re not waiting for help from the government or anyone else – you and I and our friends in the wrestling community are doing it. Olympic heroes like Gable, Smith, Sanderson and Baumgartner have donated to the fund. Coaches, wrestlers, wrestling business owners, wrestling media and – yes - you “nameless” denizens of the internet have given to the fund. We’ve made progress, but there is much more to do.
This Friday, August 20th you’ll have the chance to join an elite group – those who step up and act to support the “world’s oldest and greatest sport”. The leaders of the Living the Dream Fund will be holding an online telethon and benefit. You’ll be able to call in your pledges or bid on several auction items including 2 tickets to that big football game in Dallas next February whose name I can’t mention without fear of lawsuit (hint – it will have XLV after the name). Air fare and hotel room are included in that package. The telethon will run from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Mountain Time and will originate from the USOC in Colorado Springs. You can watch on either www.themat.com or www.flowrestling.com.
Special guest will be former University of Missouri All-American wrestler, Greg Warren. Greg is one of the funniest stand up comedians working today and several of his routines feature his days as a Tiger wrestler and being the son of a high school wrestling coach. If you’ve never seen Greg, be prepared to laugh.
If for some reason you have to miss the webcast, just go right now to the Living the Dream site and make your contribution.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Wrestling as wampeter
My wife and I attended her high school reunion Friday night. Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School opened in 1967 and my wife graduated in 1969. For the last two reunion cycles the classes of ’69 and ’70 have held a joint function.
The first recognizable face I saw was that of one of America’s great bartenders, Lenny Park. Because of his hotel’s clientele, Lenny is literally known world wide. He has an amazing ability to remember the names and favorite drinks of customers from Australia, Germany and the U.K. Lenny was also on Kennedy’s first wrestling team.
If you’ve been to many reunions, you know the pattern – one group of lost friends circles up and one set of conversations breaks out. Then you move to another group and a whole new set of topics emerges. At the third such “huddle” Friday night one of my wife’s classmates said this (having never met me), “I went to the wrestling championships in Omaha with some friends (the McDonoughs) and do you know who the announcer was – Sandy Stevens!”
Almost everyone in the group had Sandy as a teacher in their days at Kennedy and were all very interested to hear about her. Sandy’s husband, Bear, was Kennedy’s first wrestling coach and Sandy got her start announcing at a Cougar meet.
I looked for, but never did find, Mary Lee Malmberg, who was also a member of the Class of ’69. Five years ago Mary Lee wowed the crowd with her karaoke performances.
One of my favorite literary inventions is Kurt Vonnegut’s concept of “karass” which he created as a plot device in Cat’s Cradle . A karass is a group of people who are, often unknowingly, working jointly toward a central cause – called a wampeter. I have lived the last 35 years believing in both concepts, and often wondering who else might be in my karass.
Every karass actually has two wampeters – one that is waning and one that is waxing. I suspect that Lenny, Sandy, my wife and Mary Lee are all in the same karass and that for 40 years I have also been a member and just didn’t know it. Our fading wampeter might be the establishment of a new school. What role I play in that is unknown – but that’s one beauty of the concept – not all mysteries are solvable.
I’m certain of the nature of our rising wampeter – it’s wrestling.
I have had more wrestling discussions with Lenny than with any other human. He has also financially supported several wrestling causes including Pledges for Pins and Tickets for Kids. Give the slightest hint of an interest in wrestling when you are sitting at his bar and Lenny will invariably steer the conversation in that direction.
If you’ve been around any level of wrestling at all, you probably recognize Sandy Stevens’ voice. She’s announced everything from Corn Cob Nationals to the Olympic Games. But that’s just scratching the surface of everything Sandy does for wrestling. In 1998 The National Wrestling Hall of Fame awarded Sandy the Order of Merit – and she has not slowed down yet.
Mary Lee Malmberg is one of the hardest working people most of the wrestling community has never heard of. Mary Lee is the Sports Tourism Director for the Cedar Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau. Somewhere along the line she developed an affinity for wrestling events and has been bringing them to our community ever since. Cedar Rapids has hosted the Iowa state high school dual tournament for a number of years and since 2008 we’ve become THE home for college wrestling championships. Here’s what Mary Lee has done: NCAA Division III Championships, 2008-2010; NCAA Division II Championships 2008 and 2012 and NAIA Championships 2011 & 2012.
And then there’s my lovely wife. The first Christmas present she gave me when we started dating twenty-some years ago was a set of University of Iowa season wrestling tickets – Section GG, Row 12, Seats 1 & 2. We’ve been sitting there since then. How could you not marry someone who gives you wrestling tickets?
That gift – oh, the joy it has brought me. I had “liked” wrestling since seeing Gable wrestle at Iowa State and I had been to dual meets and watched wrestling on IPTV before then, but once we got those season tickets I was hooked for life. Thanks to those tickets I’ve met wonderful people – fans, coaches and athletes. It has become my distinct privilege to occasionally help the sport in small ways. The time I spend around wrestling is topped only by family time.
Friday night wasn’t just a high school reunion it was the convergence of our karass. Perhaps you, too, are a member and just don’t know it yet.
The first recognizable face I saw was that of one of America’s great bartenders, Lenny Park. Because of his hotel’s clientele, Lenny is literally known world wide. He has an amazing ability to remember the names and favorite drinks of customers from Australia, Germany and the U.K. Lenny was also on Kennedy’s first wrestling team.
If you’ve been to many reunions, you know the pattern – one group of lost friends circles up and one set of conversations breaks out. Then you move to another group and a whole new set of topics emerges. At the third such “huddle” Friday night one of my wife’s classmates said this (having never met me), “I went to the wrestling championships in Omaha with some friends (the McDonoughs) and do you know who the announcer was – Sandy Stevens!”
Almost everyone in the group had Sandy as a teacher in their days at Kennedy and were all very interested to hear about her. Sandy’s husband, Bear, was Kennedy’s first wrestling coach and Sandy got her start announcing at a Cougar meet.
I looked for, but never did find, Mary Lee Malmberg, who was also a member of the Class of ’69. Five years ago Mary Lee wowed the crowd with her karaoke performances.
One of my favorite literary inventions is Kurt Vonnegut’s concept of “karass” which he created as a plot device in Cat’s Cradle . A karass is a group of people who are, often unknowingly, working jointly toward a central cause – called a wampeter. I have lived the last 35 years believing in both concepts, and often wondering who else might be in my karass.
Every karass actually has two wampeters – one that is waning and one that is waxing. I suspect that Lenny, Sandy, my wife and Mary Lee are all in the same karass and that for 40 years I have also been a member and just didn’t know it. Our fading wampeter might be the establishment of a new school. What role I play in that is unknown – but that’s one beauty of the concept – not all mysteries are solvable.
I’m certain of the nature of our rising wampeter – it’s wrestling.
I have had more wrestling discussions with Lenny than with any other human. He has also financially supported several wrestling causes including Pledges for Pins and Tickets for Kids. Give the slightest hint of an interest in wrestling when you are sitting at his bar and Lenny will invariably steer the conversation in that direction.
If you’ve been around any level of wrestling at all, you probably recognize Sandy Stevens’ voice. She’s announced everything from Corn Cob Nationals to the Olympic Games. But that’s just scratching the surface of everything Sandy does for wrestling. In 1998 The National Wrestling Hall of Fame awarded Sandy the Order of Merit – and she has not slowed down yet.
Mary Lee Malmberg is one of the hardest working people most of the wrestling community has never heard of. Mary Lee is the Sports Tourism Director for the Cedar Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau. Somewhere along the line she developed an affinity for wrestling events and has been bringing them to our community ever since. Cedar Rapids has hosted the Iowa state high school dual tournament for a number of years and since 2008 we’ve become THE home for college wrestling championships. Here’s what Mary Lee has done: NCAA Division III Championships, 2008-2010; NCAA Division II Championships 2008 and 2012 and NAIA Championships 2011 & 2012.
And then there’s my lovely wife. The first Christmas present she gave me when we started dating twenty-some years ago was a set of University of Iowa season wrestling tickets – Section GG, Row 12, Seats 1 & 2. We’ve been sitting there since then. How could you not marry someone who gives you wrestling tickets?
That gift – oh, the joy it has brought me. I had “liked” wrestling since seeing Gable wrestle at Iowa State and I had been to dual meets and watched wrestling on IPTV before then, but once we got those season tickets I was hooked for life. Thanks to those tickets I’ve met wonderful people – fans, coaches and athletes. It has become my distinct privilege to occasionally help the sport in small ways. The time I spend around wrestling is topped only by family time.
Friday night wasn’t just a high school reunion it was the convergence of our karass. Perhaps you, too, are a member and just don’t know it yet.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Do gold medals really matter anymore?
John Smith won two NCAA titles at Oklahoma State and then went on to win 2 Olympic Gold Medals and four freestyle World Championships. Dan Gable also won two NCAA championships while wrestling for the Iowa State Cyclones. Gable’s post-graduate freestyle career includes a Pan American Games title, the 1971 World Championship, the championship at the 1972 Tbilisi tournament and the 1972 Olympic Gold Medal. Bruce Baumgartner, too, was an NCAA champion while wrestling at Indiana State. In his storied freestyle career he accumulated more Olympic and World hardware than some entire countries have won.
For decades America’s best college wrestlers successfully transitioned from intercollegiate competition to the international stage. Glen Brand, Bill Smith, Doug Blubaugh, Tom Brands and countless others advanced from NCAA championship trophies to Olympic gold. And then – as if to keep the chain unbroken – many of them went in to coaching and trained the next generations of international freestyle champions.
At least to this fan, the chain seems to be weakening.
I like to watch all forms of wrestling and freestyle is no exception. But FILA, the international governing body of amateur wrestling, has changed freestyle rules so drastically in the last ten years that modern freestyle bears far less resemblance to American folkstyle wrestling than in years past. Do these changes contribute to the seeming American decline? I think so.
It’s not just that we wrestle a different style in America, it’s also that our organizational structure is different. The United States is one of very few countries in the world (Canada might be another) where kids get most of their wrestling opportunities within our schools – and American schools are almost inextricably tied to folkstyle wrestling. Most of the world’s wrestling powers develop their athletes through a “club” type system. Some of them may be privately funded and others government run, but this formula allows them to more freely adapt to changes in freestyle.
Here in the US our kids spend thousands of hours working toward winning first a city middle school tournament, and then a high school state championship and finally an NCAA crown – all in our prevalent “national” style. The most dedicated of those will spend a couple of “offseason” months competing in freestyle and/or Greco Roman wrestling. Thanks to USA Wrestling and Jason Bryant I just finished watching more hours than I should have of the Cadet and Junior Freestyle Championships in Fargo. By and large it was very entertaining wrestling, but I’m willing to bet that there are at least a half dozen 17-year-old kids in each of the former Soviet republics that could easily handle most, if not all, of out Junior Champions in freestyle competition. The number one reason is simple – those kids devote their entire lives to freestyle wrestling.
The disparity doesn’t disappear at the elite level. Our best wrestlers will have prepared for years to win an NCAA championship – or two – or three - and then at age 22 or 23 switch to a style where their opponents have a 10 – 15 year head start on them.
There are those who say the answer is simple – convert American interscholastic and intercollegiate wrestling to freestlye. If our primary goal for wrestling is to win more international medals that might be the answer. But what if our goal is to expose more kids to the intrinsic value of wrestling? Does a change in styles help there? I’m not sure – but I suspect not. It’s not that I think young athletes would naturally prefer folkstyle to freestyle. That defies logic. The difficulty would come at the teaching/coaching level. I fear that we would have too may coaches who, brought up completely in folkstyle, would lose their enthusiasm for the sport – and without motivated teachers we would see a drop in participation.
There is no rule that says a young American wrestler must follow the traditional path to Olympic glory. The recent improvement in American Greco-Roman wrestling may be due, in part, to more young athlete’s foregoing a college career to focus on their GR training. Let’s also not forget that America’s only freestyle gold medallist in Beijing, Henry Cejudo, opted to go directly from his high school graduation to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Now there’s a new factor in the equation – Mixed Martial Arts. An international freestyle career has never been a gateway to great wealth for American competitors. Traditionally, the top athletes have earned a small stipend from USA Wrestling and supplemented their incomes with college assistant coaching jobs. The latter again brings the style conflict into play as they sacrifice their own freestyle training time to teach better folkstyle techniques to younger athletes.
Increasingly, graduating wrestlers are lured away from the sport by the potential for big money in MMA, where the top stars can earn six figures per bout. Former Oklahoma State Cowboy stars Jake Rosholt and Johnny Hendricks were among the first to eschew international wrestling competition and move quickly into MMA fighting. 2010 graduates Lance Palmer of Ohio State and Missouri’s Mark Ellis both recently announced upcoming forays into mixed martial arts. Will this trend continue and how will it impact the future of American wrestling?
Many MMA fans believe that the growth in “ultimate fighting” will only help wrestling when young grapplers see the potential for future wealth battling in the octagon. I’m not sure that I believe that premise. Look at baseball where even journeyman players are millionaires. Yet, participation in Little League has dropped 13% since 1997.
Do we, as fans, really care what happens on the international stage? Unfortunately, I suspect that the answer is that fewer and fewer of us do. If you are among those who do, there is a way to help our top freestyle, Greco-Roman and women wrestlers. The Living the Dream Fund was created to provide cash rewards for medal winners at the World Championship and Olympic competition. An American gold medallist in Moscow in September will receive $50,000 from the fund, while a silver medal is worth $25,000 and a bronze will net $15,000. You can contribute online at the Living the Dream website. You'll be strengthening American wrestling.
For decades America’s best college wrestlers successfully transitioned from intercollegiate competition to the international stage. Glen Brand, Bill Smith, Doug Blubaugh, Tom Brands and countless others advanced from NCAA championship trophies to Olympic gold. And then – as if to keep the chain unbroken – many of them went in to coaching and trained the next generations of international freestyle champions.
At least to this fan, the chain seems to be weakening.
I like to watch all forms of wrestling and freestyle is no exception. But FILA, the international governing body of amateur wrestling, has changed freestyle rules so drastically in the last ten years that modern freestyle bears far less resemblance to American folkstyle wrestling than in years past. Do these changes contribute to the seeming American decline? I think so.
It’s not just that we wrestle a different style in America, it’s also that our organizational structure is different. The United States is one of very few countries in the world (Canada might be another) where kids get most of their wrestling opportunities within our schools – and American schools are almost inextricably tied to folkstyle wrestling. Most of the world’s wrestling powers develop their athletes through a “club” type system. Some of them may be privately funded and others government run, but this formula allows them to more freely adapt to changes in freestyle.
Here in the US our kids spend thousands of hours working toward winning first a city middle school tournament, and then a high school state championship and finally an NCAA crown – all in our prevalent “national” style. The most dedicated of those will spend a couple of “offseason” months competing in freestyle and/or Greco Roman wrestling. Thanks to USA Wrestling and Jason Bryant I just finished watching more hours than I should have of the Cadet and Junior Freestyle Championships in Fargo. By and large it was very entertaining wrestling, but I’m willing to bet that there are at least a half dozen 17-year-old kids in each of the former Soviet republics that could easily handle most, if not all, of out Junior Champions in freestyle competition. The number one reason is simple – those kids devote their entire lives to freestyle wrestling.
The disparity doesn’t disappear at the elite level. Our best wrestlers will have prepared for years to win an NCAA championship – or two – or three - and then at age 22 or 23 switch to a style where their opponents have a 10 – 15 year head start on them.
There are those who say the answer is simple – convert American interscholastic and intercollegiate wrestling to freestlye. If our primary goal for wrestling is to win more international medals that might be the answer. But what if our goal is to expose more kids to the intrinsic value of wrestling? Does a change in styles help there? I’m not sure – but I suspect not. It’s not that I think young athletes would naturally prefer folkstyle to freestyle. That defies logic. The difficulty would come at the teaching/coaching level. I fear that we would have too may coaches who, brought up completely in folkstyle, would lose their enthusiasm for the sport – and without motivated teachers we would see a drop in participation.
There is no rule that says a young American wrestler must follow the traditional path to Olympic glory. The recent improvement in American Greco-Roman wrestling may be due, in part, to more young athlete’s foregoing a college career to focus on their GR training. Let’s also not forget that America’s only freestyle gold medallist in Beijing, Henry Cejudo, opted to go directly from his high school graduation to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Now there’s a new factor in the equation – Mixed Martial Arts. An international freestyle career has never been a gateway to great wealth for American competitors. Traditionally, the top athletes have earned a small stipend from USA Wrestling and supplemented their incomes with college assistant coaching jobs. The latter again brings the style conflict into play as they sacrifice their own freestyle training time to teach better folkstyle techniques to younger athletes.
Increasingly, graduating wrestlers are lured away from the sport by the potential for big money in MMA, where the top stars can earn six figures per bout. Former Oklahoma State Cowboy stars Jake Rosholt and Johnny Hendricks were among the first to eschew international wrestling competition and move quickly into MMA fighting. 2010 graduates Lance Palmer of Ohio State and Missouri’s Mark Ellis both recently announced upcoming forays into mixed martial arts. Will this trend continue and how will it impact the future of American wrestling?
Many MMA fans believe that the growth in “ultimate fighting” will only help wrestling when young grapplers see the potential for future wealth battling in the octagon. I’m not sure that I believe that premise. Look at baseball where even journeyman players are millionaires. Yet, participation in Little League has dropped 13% since 1997.
Do we, as fans, really care what happens on the international stage? Unfortunately, I suspect that the answer is that fewer and fewer of us do. If you are among those who do, there is a way to help our top freestyle, Greco-Roman and women wrestlers. The Living the Dream Fund was created to provide cash rewards for medal winners at the World Championship and Olympic competition. An American gold medallist in Moscow in September will receive $50,000 from the fund, while a silver medal is worth $25,000 and a bronze will net $15,000. You can contribute online at the Living the Dream website. You'll be strengthening American wrestling.
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