Chicks Heart Fights

As I begin to pack my suitcase for the Olympic Trials in Las Vegas this weekend, my mind wanders to my last trip to the Olympic Trials. I mentioned this over at Fourth Place Medal , but it’s worth bringing up again - go to the trials. During the 2004 Trials, I saw wrestlers who had knee surgery three days before the tournament hobble their way to the mat. I watched guys who had long retired come back out for one more chance. In one of the best ceremonies of all sports, I saw many wrestlers who I have respected for years announce their retirement by leaving their shoes on the mat. Best of all, I saw our Olympic team: eighteen young men and women who grabbed their chance to represent the United States in Athens. In August of 2004, I cried when the US wrestlers won medals, not only because I was proud of them as American wrestlers, but also because I had just watched all of the people who were left home.

This weekend, I can’t wait to see all this drama unfold again in Las Vegas. During this week, Chicks Heart Fights will have a preview of weight classes in each discipline. First up, men’s freestyle.

(more…)

When discussing the greatest American wrestler of all time, the discussion usually focuses on two people: Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson. Both men are definitely worthy of this distinction, but it’s rather questionable that Leroy P. Kemp is quite often left out of the conversation. Just some of his accomplishments:

- Three NCAA titles - the first black man to do so

- Three World Championships - including one when he was just 21

- Seven national freestyle titles

- A collegiate record of  143-6-1, including an undefeated streak of 109 matches in a row.

Maybe he is left out of the discussion because he doesn’t have an Olympic medal. Kemp made the Olympic team ins 1980 and was considered a lock to win a medal, but didn’t compete due to the US Olympic boycott. All this from an athlete who didn’t start wrestling until his freshman year of high school.

According to a profile by the Wrestling Mall, Kemp definitely does not mind that people don’t bring up his name when discussing the greatest American wrestler:

“If people want to put me in the category of being one of the greatest in the history of the sport, I feel honored,” Kemp said recently while taking a break from his full-time job as owner of a Forest Lake, Minn., Ford dealership. “I think all competitive athletes would feel great about being compared with the greatest in the history of the sport.”

And for the record - Gable did wrestle Kemp. Kemp won 7-6.

I’ve been having issues with my cable lately, so this afternoon, Comcast is bringing me a new cable box. The bad part of this is that I will lose all my DVRed programs, including the 2007 NCAAs. I’m rewatching the NCAA’s now since I’ll be losing my cable, and I figured that this was a good excuse to share my thoughts on the tourney and the broadcast.

- I highly doubt that Cael Sanderson was hoping that his “mere presence” would inspire the Cyclones to the title, as the announcers suggested. I can just picture Cael, sitting in a recliner at practice, and yelling at Backes “Don’t I inspire you? I mean, I’m here. Isn’t that enough?”

- Moore from UC Davis’ mom was my favorite cutaway shot of the broadcast. She was sitting very close to me during her son’s match, and as a friend of mine noted, she did everything short of going out and wrestling the match for her son. It was fantastic to see it again on TV.

- Even though I knew who won the Perry-Hendricks match, while watching that match, I was still cheering him on as if he wasn’t going to get those nearfall points. Right behind Mizzou’s third place finish, Askren’s win and Pell’s third place finish, Perry’s win was a highlight for me. I’ll be honest; I didn’t really like either of the wrestlers. Seeing Perry win, though, and get that monkey off his back was fantastic, and I was once again impressed by Hendricks’ classy reaction to the loss.

- Tom Brands looks ridiculously uncomfortable when giving his “That’s a reversal” lesson.

- I liked seeing Gregor Gillespie, and Edinboro win. To me, Edinboro is the little school that could. Bruce Baumgartner’s alma mater employer continues to produce quality wrestlers, despite less funding than the Big 10 or 12, or the EIWA powerhouses.

- I did NOT like seeing the cutaways of Mark Churella during Josh’s match. Wrestlers are proud men, and father’s are generally pretty proud of their sons. Seeing Mark Churella, this amazing wrestler and father of top wrestlers, watch his son lose did not add to the quality of the broadcast.

- ESPN’s broadcasts have improved over the years, but is it that hard for them to find an effective matside reporter? Kessenich was passable, but clearly did not know wrestling. He mentioned that Churella ate the same breakfast every morning for two years - yeah, when wrestlers find meals that work within their diet, and keep them at their weight, that is a meal they will stick with. The weight management aspect of that story would be much more interesting story than easy “breakfast of champions” quip.

How many days until wrestling season?

As I mentioned in the post about Pan-Am games, Henry Cejudo jumped from high school to training for the Olympics in Colorado Springs, and depending on Henry’s success next year, he could be paving the way for more athletes to skip college. I hope that doesn’t happen. (Note: I’m aware that Henry jumped for his own reasons, and I’m not questioning his decision in any way, shape or form.)

For one selfish reason, I love college wrestling. Going to the NCAA tournament, Midlands, and assorted duals throughout the season are highlights of my year. The rivalries, the intensity of the matches, the camaraderie of the athletes, the coaches, the fans-it’s part of the reason why I love wrestling so much. Plucking the top athletes out of the mix would make the sport weaker at the college level. Can you imagine if Cael Sanderson or John Smith would have skipped school and begun to train immediately for the Olympics? The wrestling world would have been deprived of watching the most amazing wrestlers; wrestlers who helped give the sport some of it’s greatest publicity.

Also, I would be concerned for the athletes. Wrestling is not a sport that allows athletes to retire because they made enough money during their career. Wrestlers need to prepare for their lives after wrestling, which in today’s world, requires a college education. Even if the wrestlers can find a job coaching, that job requires a heck of a lot more than just knowing how to win a match. Coaches need to be savvy educators, marketers, counselors, and managers. Many colleges even require a degree for coaching positions. For a wrestler’s financial security, college is really the smartest idea.

On the other hand, a wrestler focusing on freestyle or Greco-Roman earlier on should theoretically help America at the international level. Having a wrestler jump between folkstyle and freestyle, or folkstyle and Greco-Roman, may not be the best method to beat wrestlers from countries who only have only focused on one style of wrestling for their entire life, but at the same time, the current wrestling system should not be sacrificed for Olympic gold. The two should be able to work together to make US wrestling the best in the world.

To me, the best example of how two can co-exist is the US Olympic Educational Center at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. Though, sadly for the collegiate fans, USOEC athletes do not compete in the NCAA. However, USOEC athletes have the benefit of world-class Greco-Roman training and a college education. Harry Lester, the GR bronze world medalist at 66kg, and in my opinion, one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch today, trains at the USOEC. He is the first USOEC athlete to make the senior world team, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. And when he leaves his shoes on the mat, he will still have a world of opportunity open to him because he will have a college degree. When wrestling fans want to open their checkbooks to support the sport, it seems to me that the USOEC is rather deserving of your support.