Chicks Heart Fights

Mark from Rev Wrestling pointed out an interesting trend to me-wrestling has more coverage from the media than it has in the past. Well, it seems so. I have no empirical data to support this claim, but there have been many great profiles of wrestlers in large publications, including:

• T.C. Dantzler in the Sun-Times
• Jake Deitchler in USA Today
• Henry Cejudo in the Arizona Republic
• A visit by Cejudo and Deitchler to the offices of ESPN the Magazine
• Steve Mocco in USA Today
• Dremiel Byers in the Charlotte Observer
• Ali Bernard in the Pioneer Press
• Randi Miller in the Kansas City Star
• Best of all, you can download  Doug Schwab wallpapers at the  Des Moines Register.

I can’t explain the uptick in coverage, but I am not going to question it. Increased coverage for the sport can only be good for it.

For no reason at all, I am having serious writer’s block today. For that reason, I will bring you the best of what other people are writing.

- MMA News is reporting that Aleksander Emelianenko was kept from fighting in the Affliction event this weekend because he has hepatitis B .

- Dann Stupp, MMA Junkie, writes that EliteXC is going into this weekend’s fights with much lower expectations than their first event on CBS which was, in my opinion, a debacle.

- The ladies of EliteXC are disappointed that Dana White doesn’t think that there is enough depth in women’s MMA to put together a women’s fight on a UFC card. So disappointed that Cristiane Cyborg is willing to kick Dana’s ass. (Raise your hand if you’re ready to see that fight.) I agree with Cage Potato-the depth in the heavyweight division is non-existent, but we still see those fights.

- USA Today profiled the teenaged Olympian, Jake Deitchler.

- Kevin Iole’s mailbag has some good information from Affliction VP Tom Atencio . He believes that the pay-per-views will come in well over 100,000 buys.

- And from DH, Anderson Silva is a hungry ninja. He makes me want to learn Portugese…

silva ninja
Uploaded by blue183c

I coach at a high school, and I have an 18-year-old niece. These kids are fantastic, but on the whole, they can be idiots. I think any parents of teenagers will agree with me on that.

Jake Deitchler is not your typical 18-year-old.

The youngest member of the Olympic wrestling team is grounded and focused. He knows the history of wrestling, and takes the time to learn from the titans of the sport. While in New York with the Olympic wrestling team, he spent time with Lee Kemp, discussing sports psychology and the pressures of being an Olympian.

Of course, he is still an 18-year-old kid. When naming the other Olympians he’d like to meet , he skipped right over Kobe and LeBron, and went straight to gymnast, Nastia Liukin. Nastia, you could do far worse than someone who you can find in the pages of Sports Illustrated, who graduated early from high school and who will be a Minnesota Gopher after the Olympics.