Received a question the other day from an All-American wrestler who is affiliated with one of the nation’s most successful programs. He was questioning whether it was right, or fair, to limit a travel team to 13 athletes? He felt it doesn’t work well for the visiting team whereas the home team basically has any… Read More »
The Penn State-Iowa dual meet. If that match up would have used A point Earned is a Point Scored system; PSU would have won 87-30. That’s somewhat similar to what actually happened, mine being roughly three to four times that of the actual score. Although people might say; why change to A Point Earned, if… Read More »
I feel I have to apologize. Up until now, I was absolutely convinced that coaches would see the benefits of A Point Earned, Is A Point Scored and adopt the change, maybe not whole-heartedly, but at least begrudgingly. I just thought the Rules Committee, and then the coaches would realize it would be the most… Read More »
This wrestling tidbit is for coaches, but more likely for parents who realize that they are unfamiliar with the sport of wrestling. Regarding tournaments, trust me. Those dastardly weekend events are meat grinders for children. Only the strong survive intact. As for the rest of the entrants, mostly rookies, I have a suggestion for coaches,… Read More »
Given where Vito Arujau from Cornell is sitting, in the bottom bracket at 6th seed, who came up with that madness? I’m not sure the Seeding Committee is aware of it or not, but Vito is the returning NCAA Champion and the defending World Champion! Granted, he has two losses on the season. Both of… Read More »
With the wrestling season completed, there’s way too much to cover in one writing, Or three. So, I’ll just focus on a few topics and keep doing that each week until I exhaust my list; or myself. To brick or not to brick, that is the question? This perceived model of fairness (throwing a protest… Read More »
The announcement is close . . . who’s going to win this year’s Sullivan Award? Vegas has it hands down for Katlin Clark. I’d have to agree. She had a fabulous year, and even more stellar career. For the sport of wrestling, David Taylor is one of the six finalists that will at the ceremony… Read More »
The latest television ratings are out for the NCAA Championships and they are amazing. I know I’m been on your backs about what I believe you’re not doing, or should be doing; I’m sorry. This mea culpa is in direct reflection to the sport of wrestling attracting the smallest viewing audience ever! You see, if… Read More »
This is for the wrestling fans, and not necessarily the Rules Committee. There are two ways to motivate people; penalizing or incentivizing. The Rules Committee prefers the former and why we always find ourselves rolling our eyes, and having continuous arguments. If I could fix just one challenge the sport has, it’s those blasted out… Read More »
Interesting stats from Jason Bryant that I have to take credit for sharing with you, or botching the math as I write. Currently we have 285 D-I, D-II and D-II teams competing in wrestling. According to the NCAA, at our peak in 1972, the sport had 393 teams. In the stats that Jason posted, he… Read More »
Below I have listed quite a few sporting organizations and listed their sponsors. I thought you might find this interesting when you try and compare what others are doing to what we aren’t doing. PGA . . . Fed-Ex, Anheuser-Busch, Mastercard, Charles Schwab, John Deere, Rolex, Avis, United Airlines, plus 44 other nationally recognized brands.… Read More »
With the wrestling season completed, there’s way too much to cover in one writing, Or three. So, I’ll just focus on a few topics and keep doing that each week until I exhaust my list; or myself. To brick or not to brick, that is the question? This perceived model of fairness (throwing a protest… Read More »
Below I have listed quite a few sporting organizations and listed their sponsors. I thought you might find this interesting when you try and compare what others are doing to what we aren’t doing. PGA . . . Fed-Ex, Anheuser-Busch, Mastercard, Charles Schwab, John Deere, Rolex, Avis, United Airlines, plus 44 other nationally recognized brands.… Read More »
I feel I have to apologize. Up until now, I was absolutely convinced that coaches would see the benefits of A Point Earned, is a Point Scored and adopt the change, maybe not whole-heartedly, but at least begrudgingly. I just thought the Rules Committee, and then the coaches would realize it would be the most… Read More »
The Penn State-Iowa dual meet. If that match up would have used A point Earned is a Point Scored system; found at wadechalles.com, PSU would have won 87-30. That’s somewhat similar to what actually happened, mine being roughly three to four times that of the actual score. Although people might say; why change to A… Read More »
Just when I thought wrestling’s challenges couldn’t get any worse . . . The NCAA has been trying for years to deal with many of the nation’s very vocal State Legislators on how to handle the distribution process of collegiate athletic-department funds from an employee standpoint. Not only is it complex, but at the same… Read More »
Does anyone remember what team scoring was like in wrestling during the 1970’s? If you pinned your opponent, it was worth 6-team points. A decision of any point differential was worth 3-team points. And a tie was worth 2-team points. And everyone was happy with the way it was. Everyone. But please notice, the pin… Read More »
Let’s add a 7th rule alteration to my well received Super 6, which have been designed to lessen the thickness of the Rules Book, while reengaging the fans. If you didn’t get a chance to read about the first six, they can be found at this site. If you look them up, and don’t know… Read More »
I was floored when I saw WIN’s pre-season collegiate rankings. You could double the number of points the pollsters gave the second-best team in America and they’d still be in second place. I never imagined that would ever be possible. Penn State is now so dominant that conceivably, the Nittany Lion’s second string could finish… Read More »
What’s going on at USAWrestling with Greco? America won zero medals at this year’s World Championships with eight of their ten entries only winning one match each. And, their grand total of 14 team points represents a new performance low for our Colorado based leadership corp., especially when you consider the men’s freestyle team won… Read More »
The answer is no, we shouldn’t. At least in the way it’s currently being handled. I understand the importance of seeding, and the need to separate the best athletes in each weight class, but using the NCAA Championships as an example, seeding down to 33 in a field of 33 is absolutely absurd. I can… Read More »
Not all yard sticks measure the same. The one Flo used to create their Top 100 Greatest seems to put a great deal of emphasis on international successes, while at times, overlooking greatness. And to be clear, and eliminate any confusion, here’s how I define greatness. It’s a career of achievement; scholastically, collegiately, and internationally.… Read More »
I wrote this article for a local newspaper back in the early 1980’s, and a friend of mine just sent it to me out of the blue. I had forgotten all about it. But after re-reading, I thought it was interesting enough to republish. Hope you enjoy. Reverse Instruction I’m sure you realize how difficult… Read More »
I’ve always wondered, who in the sport of amateur wrestling are, or were, the country’s most popular, and effective clinicians? To find out, I asked almost five thousand fans to weigh in on the subject. To make it into the Top 20, these no-nonsense nurturers had to have scored superior marks in each of three… Read More »
Recently, I read a series of posts on Facebook addressing the question of who was America’s greatest pinner? Given that I have some background on the subject, I decided to weigh-in. My first thought is, there’s never a clear cut answer to any question in wrestling. Our sport never seems to be able to get… Read More »
As I’ve mentioned throughout the first two installments of challenging Flo’s Top 100 is the importance of weighing the many variables, that it appears weren’t taken into account when the list was made. In case you’re wondering what, those variables might be . . . here’s a list of the ones that I feel are… Read More »
As to the most egregious oversite of Flo’s Top 100 Greatest Wrestlers of all time was the absence of Gray Simons on the list. I would have put him somewhere in the Top 20, and he certainly belongs, without an argument in the Top 30. While Gray was at Lock Haven, he won 4 NAIA… Read More »
Last year Flo Wrestling ran a story regarding who they believed were the sport’s Top 100 Greatest Wrestlers of All-Time. Granted, what they created was very informative for the curious, and a great starting point for what will become the basis of some memorable discussions. And, I’m sure a lot of work went into the… Read More »
Be careful of what you see and hear . . . I’ve been on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook recently studying the various techniques wrestling professionals are demonstrating. Some have great insight, creativity, and technical skills; others, need some help. When I replay a technique for a second and third time, I often notice a very… Read More »
