jcook

Great point. It is frustrating when the rule book isn't followed.

I'm friends with both Fitch and Moore, but much better with Nate...however, Nate was much, much better than Fitch at Purdue. Leaving him off this list doesn't make any sense at all. He could bump up and beat people on the list.

"This is true. In the late 1980s and into 1990 America's best wrestlers were now dinosaurs such as John Smith, Dave Schultz, Andre Metzger, Gene Mills, Randy Lewis, Kenny Monday, Bill Scheer, and Bruce Baumgarter. Top college wrestlers included Kendall Cross, Tom Brands, Royce Alger, Zeke Jones, Terry Brands, and Kurt Angel. None of these guys would stand a chance in today's advanced wrestling world. The technique and training of today would simply overwhlem them to allow sucess 20+ years later. They would not know what was hitting them as the sport has changed so much since then." Matts, I hope we are on the same page... Total bunch of scrubs listed here... Kenny Monday's fireman's has ceased to work in a match since 1997, due to wrestling changing so much. John Smith's low single did not lead him to an undefeated run at his second Olympic gold medal, and then immedietely stopped working on every one in the world. His demo. tapes are now sold at wrestling meets as novelty gifts to the aged and once flexible. Terry Brands has no technique and can't coach at a high level due to his insistance upon his definition of the Iowa style: collar and tie, underhook, snap, then hip push your opponent out of bounds while signalling for stalling without actual moves ever being attempted. Lance Ellis's 151 pins would not translate into today's success because pins in the 80's relied heavily upon a Hair Band playing a guitar rift to signal the referee of the fall, while most high schools do not even have their high school band at wrestling meets, and arenas play more pop hits than 80s rock ballads. Also, what very little people know, Ellis was born throwing laterals with his foot in the air, and with today's wrestlers, that wouldn't work, and since he did not work to develop the skills that lead him to 180-0, he would probably just be a JV wrestler at most high schools.

Ramos and Bradbury were not in the same sectional, but the same conference, regional... They met at the Hobart invite as well, and maybe some other places. Ramos won every time. Plenty of the matches had Ramos down, but he was always a rock and always kept his composure. I think at regionals their junior/senior year, Alex was down six, but came back for the win. Beating a guy that good, that many times is pretty ridiculous. I think about 13 in two years, with the last being Alex Ramos's first state title his junior year. I believe Bradbury went on to win a D3 title in college.

The organ at Market Square was awesome. I always expect to hear it when the lights go out at Conseco Banko whatever, but it is gone, and we can't repeat the past.

I agree with your sentiment about officials, but to say that you should "always build a safe lead when you can and this kind of stuff won't happen!" is to give a blanket excuse to officials. I do not agree with that, especially when you are talking about a round-to-go match. We love our sport because it is tough and because you must work to achieve goals. This toughness is what makes it so rewarding. Our round-to-go matches better be close for the most part, or else we are getting awfully excited for no reason. The stall call in the 220 match left everyone extremely confused. My team was wondering if the insincere/just-for-fun cheering they were doing for the M-ville wrestler was the reason for the call. If that is the case, it is not a good thing for the sport or the kids. The better the wrestling produced in our state, the more and more one point matches we should have at the end of the season with all wrestlers. To say that anyone loosing because of a call is at fault because they did not build a lead is not fair to the kid wrestling. If Devon Jackson was hit for stalling against Jason Tsirtsis in their OT state finals match, would we say he should have built a lead? Would we have told Goldman, Steveson, Roach, or Weekly to build a lead if their state finals matches were decided by stall calls? Maybe you are going off of Gable's statements about how each match can be swung two points by the official so do not sit on a lead or plan to win by three, etc. However, this is to prepare his wrestlers for the best possible mental outlook on the match, not to judge the entirety of the situation.

My dad always called Al Smith his hero. He was sarcastic much of the time, but not when he said that. Tom Cameron should be mentioned as well. He is one whose "playbook" is often used in my coaching circles. He also coached many coaches mentioned on here, just as Al Smith did.

Ptax would have been nasty in freestyle when the tech. was still 15 and passivity was basically alternately awarded in low/non-scoring matches.

Tom Cameron would be near the top of my list. He coached with Chris Joll. He coached coach P. and Tharp. I remember that my dad and he were always talking and discussing better ways to approach kids and kids. I think about him all the time when I am coaching, and when I am not thinking of things he did or said, I am usually thinking of people who were also influenced by him.

Should be a fun one to watch in the morning.

The organ did make the finals more unique. You have middle school meets that will play ACDC during intros. Is there an organ still at Conseco? I feel like high school kids are reading this thinking we are talking about phonographs and Morse code.

Moment of the state meet this year would be Stein staying in stance for the last four seconds of the match despite his opponent not attempting to wrestle him. It is fun to watch a kid stay focused no matter what.

What are teams that did not have snow keep them from getting to semi-state?

If da rat wins, will he reveal his identity? I can try to understand if it is a luchador-mask type of thing, but the public needs to know.

Is it the six minutes, or what happens in those six minutes?