Paris was a disaster, not for the ladies, but certainly the men . . . in both styles. 12 opportunities for Gold; zero materialized. How could we have fallen so far, so fast? It wasn’t that long ago when we were the best in the world. At issue . . . a failing of senior… Read More »

Is there such a thing as being oblivious to that which is right in front of you? To the point; how many of you have seen the commercials on NBC for the upcoming Paris Olympics? They’re truly well done and for me, they get the juices flowing. But the oblivious aspect I’m talking about is… Read More »

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re already aware of our production, or lack thereof. The men ended five days of competition with what could only be called an underwhelming effort, failing to win even one gold medal for the first time in 56 years. And remember, this was without the powerful Soviet… Read More »

This is for the wrestling fans, and not necessarily the Rules Committee. There are two ways to motivate people; either penalizing them, or incentivizing them. 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… 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 »

People who administer collegiate athletic programs are struggling. They’ve known for a while their train was on the wrong track. But what can they do about it now, or should they do about it? The challenge is House v. NCAA, the recent 2.8 billion court settlement over antitrust claims in collegiate athletics. It’s just another… Read More »

Recently, there’s been an interesting article posted on a lot of our social media platforms. It concerns itself with which style is best scholastically for our women’s programs; freestyle or folkstyle? Before I even read the article, I knew the position the author was going to take. Without lengthening this post more than I could,… Read More »

Is there such a thing as being oblivious to that which is right in front of you? To the point; how many of you have seen the commercials on NBC for the upcoming Paris Olympics? They’re truly well done and for me, they get the juices flowing. But the oblivious aspect I’m talking about is… 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 »

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 »

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 time it’s also… Read More »

I’m not the most knowledgeable technician that wrestling has ever known, but I’m close. And I mention this because most of the wrestling you see today, which is referred to as funk, started with me. Actually, it was called garbage wrestling when I first started to experiment with techniques in the 1960’s that weren’t common… Read More »

Here’s a thought for ESPN. Just another off the wall muse by Wade relative to upgrading the sport and increasing the viewing pleasure of the fans we don’t have, but could have. And, dare I say, something that isn’t on our leaderships radar; increasing our power rating within the entertainment community. Question, how many people… Read More »

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 »