Why doesn’t the NFL, or the NBA, have rules that state; when any player scores two touchdowns or 30 points in basketball, they’re done for the game and must sit the bench?
I’m sure ESPN, CBS, and all the other networks might have a problem with that ineptness of thought. Not to mention what the Commissioners of each league might say about benching their stars. And, what ticket holder, who paid big bucks to be entertained by their favorite athletes, would applaud such lunacy?
So, why should we be forced to smile sweetly when our NCAA Wrestling Rules Committee pulls our whirling dervishes off the mat once they accumulate enough points for a tech fall?
Would that have something to do with why you see television commercials of athletes touting a company’s products; wrestlers are never anywhere to be found.
The reason is obvious. Wrestling refuses to allow our athletes to become remarkable.
The best of our best are ushered off the mat almost as soon as they walk on it. Who wouldn’t love to watch Bo Bassett wrestle a whole match, or two matches back-to-back?
Heaven forbids that might happen; why would we want that? We’d be making a legends legend of our best athletes that way.
A better question might be . . . who came up with the idea that wrestling is the toughest sport in America and yet, the best of our best are the first ones we send to the showers?
When the Rules Committee decided last year, “hey, how about we make wrestling more exciting, we’ll add a point to a takedown. That will definitely encourage more action.”
Well, two things happened, both contradictory to what they were thinking.
At last year’s NCAA Tournament, there were less takedowns scored with the new rule than in the previous year while the number of tech falls increased.
So, the Rules Committee actually slowed down the sport while sending our stars to the showers sooner than before.
Somehow that seems contrary to what our sport needs.
Here’s a suggestion to be ignored; why don’t we move tech falls up to 20 points? Actually, I’d prefer to see tech falls go the way of the dodo bird. There’s no mercy rule in any sport I’m aware of other than wrestling. So, why do we pull our best off the mat?
And we still believe our sport is the toughest one of them all. Not according to the Rules Committee.
