Chicks Heart Fights

Coming home from the Sox game last night, I checked my email, and I read the news. Arizona State was reinstated! I nearly started crying, I was so happy. We had done it. Not so much me, but the wrestling community. The deep pockets . The vocal media . The quick acting fans . The alumni . And maybe even me . (Probably not-I’m not sure that posting pictures of hot guys is truly grassroots activism, but it worked for me.) To the entire group, I say: well done. You brought the noise, the funk, and the money, and kept the wrestling family from losing a much-loved member. Well done.

But now what? How do we keep this from happening again? We need to take a stance. We need to not buy any more t-shirts, sign any more petitions, or make any more last minute donations. We need to do everything we can to say: Not one program more. How?

Be proactive. Go to wrestling meets. Buy season tickets, if you can. Bring some friends with you. Even better, bring children with you. Get them hooked on the sport that you love. Go to the meets, eat at the concession stand, buy a t-shirt. Your attendance and yes, your money, helps.

Speaking of money-donate what you can. Find a program that you believe in and write a check. You don’t have to be a millionaire to give. I don’t think there is a coach out there who would turn down a check-whether it’s $5 or $5,000. If you can’t find a program you like, try the USOEC or Iowa Public Television. Both groups are incredibly important to our sport.

Speak up! Write letters to your favorite athletic director. Tell them why you think wrestling has enriched the university. Let them know if you enjoyed your time at a meet. Write letters to your newspaper, demanding to know why they did not cover your team. Both constituencies need to know that wrestling is an important part of the sporting world.

I have hardly been the perfect fan-I don’t go to enough meets or give enough money. Sometimes I don’t go because it’s snowing, or I’m tired, or because there is a new episode of the Office on that night. This winter, however, I am going to try a new mantra - not one program more. I don’t want to drive up to Evanston? Not one program more. Do I buy a ticket to the meet or a new lipgloss? Not one program more. I encourage all of you to do the same, and remember - NOT ONE PROGRAM MORE.

Elmo is happy because Arizona State has reinstated wrestling! Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!! I will write more tomorrow, but well done to all of the ASU peeps for making this happen.

Buried during last week’s announcement of ASU dropping its wrestling program was the fact that Maryland hired Kerry McCoy to replace Pat Santoro . Though a tough loss for Stanford, this is great news for the Terps. McCoy will continue the great work that Santoro had started at the up and coming school. With alumni support and full funding, McCoy will get Maryland to a top ten standing, and more importantly, in my opinion, fuel growth of the sport in the Capitol region.

Back to ASU, CB Dollaway, ASU All-American and current TUF cast member, wrote a column for MMA Junkie expressing his feelings about the cut. Jason Bryant had two interviews - first with Anthony Robles, ASU freshman wrestler , and Lisa Love , ASU AD.

Now onto things that don’t get me nearly as angry, ESPN has stepped up its coverage of MMA. With Sherdog’s help, MMA now has its own page on ESPN.com ,  and a weekly internet only show, MMA Live (found on the left side of the MMA page.) Kenny Florian is one of the contributors, and its a decent rundown with results, profiles and general MMA discussion. The only thing I don’t like is the “MMA 101″ segment, where Florian taught us the basics of MMA. I wouldn’t be watching a 30 minute MMA show if I needed the basics. Save those segments for a Sportscenter broadcast before a big fight.

Today, Arizona State announced that they dropped wrestling, men’s swimming and men’s tennis, effective immediately. They cite: financial impact, potential competitive success, conference/regional support and gender equity.

I cite: bullshit.

If their finances are such a problem, why can they pay football coach Dennis Erickson $5.6 million over five years? That is what you earn when you take your team to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl? If they are just trying to be competitive with their Pac-10 brethren, they’ve got a long way to go.

If a lack of competitive success is the issue, then why cut the second most successful program in school history? The news of the cut came the day after ASU received signed LOIs from five recruits. In addition to these recruits, ASU had 5 NCAA qualifiers this year, including the fantastic Anthony Robles (pictured above). Not only did Robles come within one match of being an All-American as a freshman, he is one of the best stories to ever exist in wrestling. A native Arizonan, he will now have to travel out of state to continue wrestling. Is he the type of wrestler who won’t be competitive?

If conference regional support is the problem, then why are there 10 schools in the Pac-10 for wrestling? That’s double the amount that the Big 12 have. There is plenty of competition in California, not to mention that Nevada hosts two huge tournaments every year. Is it that hard to get to Vegas?

Finally, if gender equity is the problem, then why didn’t adding women’s water polo two years ago help? If gender equity is the problem, why did it take this long to get into compliance? 70 athletes are being shown the door due to these cuts. Were they really missing quotas by that much?

These cuts were not about money, winning or Title IX. They are about mismanagement, and choices that the AD made. Is it more important for Dennis Erickson to get a bonus, or should we have a wrestling program? Jason Bryant of InterMat interviewed some ASU alums today, and Aaron Simpson, who coached at ASU until the past season, said it best:

“I heard ASU was in a deficit, but (ASU) is building a multi-million dollar indoor football practice facility in a place where there is no snow,” said Simpson. “If you’re an A.D. who can’t raise money and can’t find solutions to keep programs, you’re not doing your job.”

To continue to follow the story and find out about advocacy, bookmark Save ASU Wrestling and check back often.

Like every wrestling fan, I had read about Anthony Robles, Arizona State’s 125 lb. wrestler. Robles was born without a leg. I have seen the videos, read the stories, and voted for him to win the ESPY. Until I saw him wrestle, though, I had no idea how incredible he is.

Watching him hop out unto the circle for his first match, you could sense that the entire arena was watching his match. This was not out of some sense of obligation; rather, it was exciting to see him take the mat. He uses his incredible strength and flexibility to defend shots. Despite not having the leverage to get on both toes, he easily pushes opponents to their backs.

Robles had an impressive run through the tournament for any redshirt freshman. He gave eventual champion Angel Escobedo a scare, taking him down in the first period. Only one match, a loss to Stanford’s Tanner Gardner, prevented Robles from standing on the All-American podium. When his match with Gardner ended, Robles was given a standing ovation by the crowd at Scottrade. I text messaged a friend of mine to tell him the result of the match, and mentioned the standing O. He asked “Were they cheering his wrestling, or was it out of pity?”

There is no doubt in my mind: they were cheering his wrestling.