Chicks Heart Fights

Wrestling finally began in the Olympics — yay — with the 55 kg and 60 kg in Greco-Roman. The U.S. did not qualify a wrestler at 60 kg so Spenser Mango was our only wrestler to watch. Mango won his first match against Romania’s Virgil Munteanu, but lost to South Korea’s Eun-chul Park. In the follow the leader format, Mango needed Park to win, and he didn’t. He lost to Russia’s Nazyr Mankiev, who went onto win the gold over Rovshan Bayramov from Azerbaijan. Mango is young and hopefully will use this experience to continue to grow as a wrestler.

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.

A bunch of half stories in the wake of UFC 86 and in the month lull before the Olympics start:

• Fightmetric, a site that makes me wish I liked math, breaks down Griffin/Rampage blow-by-blow, and calls it a draw.
• The salaries for UFC 86 have been released, and the main card fighters got paaaaaaaaid. Josh Koscheck must be happy that he signed that contract with the UFC, as he received 70K for the fight.
• Jason Bryant is leaving Intermat and the NWCA - best of luck to Jason at Wrestling 411.
• As you may know, the Dan Gable Wrestling Museum in Waterloo, Iowa was hit pretty hard by the flooding in Iowa. Here is an update on the museum, and a link for a donation.
• NBC’s Olympic Web site has “Ten to Watch” in wrestling .

I like using Latin in my blogging. It makes my four years of studying the language in high school completely worthwhile.

- Cage Potato has an excellent interview with Forrest Griffin, in which he discusses coaching TUF, preparing for this weekend, and Rampage’s scowl.

-  The Missouri peeps are having a send-off for Ben Askren at the Peachtree Convention Center in Columbia on July 16 at noon. Tickets are $40 a person, or $250 for a table of ten. Tickets are going mighty quickly, so if you want to go, contact Brian Smith at 573-882-0735. All proceeds benefit the Missouri Wrestling Foundation. If you can’t go but you’d like to send Ben good wishes, send them to Brian at smithbq@missouri.edu.

-  Tennesse: good. Delaware: bad.

-  NBC has a profile of Greco-Roman coach Steve Fraser. For the record, 38 days until the Olympics begin. WOOT.

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.

Wrestlers usually let their actions speak for themselves. They’re not likely to call press conferences, or release news to the media, or even make cases for themselves in matters such as wild card berths and seeding. For this reason, the way a wrestler signals his retirement is both powerful and befitting of the sport. At the Olympic Trials, several wrestlers sat down after their last match, untied their shoes, and walked off in their socks. Each time this was done, the crowd gave the wrestler a standing ovation, and tears welled up in my eyes. The wrestlers - Stephan Abas, Harry Lester, Jeff Funicello to name a few - usually just gave a humble wave and put their head down as they headed off the mat. The humility of this action, and the support of the wrestling community, are just two of the reasons why the wrestling family is so special.

I greatly apologize for not posting over the weekend. Right now, I am sitting in the Phoenix airport, eternally grateful for their free wi-fi. The schedule did not allow me as much time as I thought it would, but here is complete coverage from the Mat . The team that was made is very different from the team I thought we would have, but it’s a very good team. Here are my random observations from watching the Trials over the past few days.

• The rules stink. Plain old stink. They don’t reward the wrestler who pushes the pace and tries to create scoring opportunities. Even more egregiously, the rules reward luck. Coin flips decided far too many matches. What is wrong with letting wrestlers wrestle to decide the winner of a match? Isn’t that the point?
• Ben Askren is the first wrestling Olympian from the University of Missouri. I held back tears as the seconds ticked away in Ben’s second match, as I was a Tiger for a little bit of the pre-Brian Smith era. I can’t believe I’m going to get to watch one of my own in the Olympics.
• There was music played for the duration of the tournament, and the song choices were bizarre. With the exception of Rob Koll, who exactly gets pumped up to wrestle by listening to “Dancing Queen?” They also clearly did not vet the music before playing it. When I heard the beginning beats of “Closer,” by Nine Inch Nails, I myself nearly ran down to the announcer’s table to get the song turned off before Trent Reznor screamed “I wanna f### you like an animal!” Thankfully, someone else realized the error and turned that song off.
• The addition of Judo was fantastic. I learned more about a sport I had not seen before, and the Judo fans were clearly happy to be joined by the large wrestling contingent.
• Cary Kolat was one of my favorite wrestlers to watch. His return to the national scene has been a welcome one, and I hope he keeps at it.
• Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but Sunday saw no wrestlers leave their shoes on the mat. Many wrestlers announced their retirement on Saturday, including, most shockingly in my opinion. Harry Lester. His loss to Jake Deicthler was a huge upset, and an amazing win for the 18 year old Deicthler, but I never would have guessed that this would be the last we would see of Lester. We will miss you, Harry!
• Is it me, or does T.C. Dantzler have a head wound in every match?
• One of the best moments of the weekend was when the 1980 Olympic team was honored. Regardless of the politics, it’s a shame that these men didn’t have a chance to take the mat that year. Granted, some of them had opportunities in other Games, but they were in the minority. Like many other fans, I appreciated having the opportunity to give them a round of applause.
• As usual, the wrestling world showed how we are a true family this weekend. I made new friends , reconnected with old ones, shared cabs with tons of random cauliflower-eared folk and was reminded why I love this sport so much.
• Two celebrities in the crowd: Dan Henderson and Ashton Kutcher
• Finally, as of today, Mike Zadick is FS 60 kg Trials champion. I have heard that he may receive a wildcard and get to compete in the Olympics. Keep your fingers crossed!

That’s all for now. I promise to have much, much more after I have had more than 45 minutes of sleep. It is so true that time has no meaning in Las Vegas!

Last year’s Greco-Roman team won the World Championship on the backs of Dremiel Byers, Brad Vering and Harry Lester. Though the team has gone through some setbacks, they have the talent and the opportunity to come home from Beijing with some serious hardware. Of course, they have to make the team first. (more…)

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.

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I took my first kickboxing class yesterday - you know, kickboxing? Sport of the future? Don the Dragon Wilson? I can see by your face, no - and wow. Soreness has a new definition, and I’m not so talented at jump roping. Otherwise, I loved it! Onto the links:

Microsoft announced that they will air 2,200 hours of the Olympics live this summer. Can I tell you how happy this makes me? I will get to see lots and lots of wrestling. PLUS, I love the Olympics. I take in every second I can. Hopefully, they will come to my hometown. With this news, I might not leave my apartment for two weeks this August.

The longest win streak in any sport, held by the Brandon, Fla. high school wrestling team, comes to an end. To me, a streak like this is unfathomable. A streak that started when Dan Gable was still wrestling is just plan crazy talk. The Brandon wrestlers should be proud of all they accomplished and look forward to a slightly-less pressure filled existence.

Cage Potato has a top ten list of cauliflower ear. Though it’s a decent list, it is rather lacking because it is limited to MMAers. The Steiner brothers have the best, in my opinion.