To all the booing, cursing fans at Merrillville

[friendofrunningwriter]

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/wrestling/portage-s-torres-disqualified-coach-vega-ejected-at-merrillville-semistate/article_24911bc6-2412-5322-997b-63181b181251.html

 

By friendofrunningwriter

With 10 seconds remaining in the 120-pound quarterfinal match between Portage’s Gaige Torres and South Bend Clay’s Jake Hartman, during Saturday’s Merrillville Semistate, Torres was leading 5-1.

 

Then the Portage star was called for an illegal slam, and all hell broke loose.

 

It doesn’t matter what fans sitting 200 feet away thought about the call. The refs saw Hartman’s arm was trapped, he had no way to defend himself, and that was that.

 

I’m not here to debate whether it was the right call. It doesn’t matter now. The call was made.

 

I do have some words for the troglodytes in the stands, however. The ones who booed and cursed Hartman when he finally staggered to his feet. The ones who flipped off he and his father as they left the floor. The ones who screamed at the refs.

 

You’re pathetic.

 

Torres didn’t intend to slam Hartman. Of course not. Nobody believes that for a second.

 

Any more than Hartman intended for his head to bounce off the mat. Or to pass out. Or to wake up and not know where he was, or what he was doing.

 

For the record, after he regained his senses, and before he left for the hospital, Hartman asked if it would be possible for him to default the match. He didn’t want to win that way. He wanted Torres to move on.

 

But the match was over and done. He was told it was too late for that.

 

As of today, Clay’s coaching staff doesn’t even know if Hartman can compete next week. And after the way some of you brain surgeons in the stands reacted, I doubt that he wants to.

 

I can understand why coach Vega would come unglued. I can understand why parents would be upset. That’s their kid out there.

 

But the rest of you? P-a-t-h-e-t-i-c.

 

I was going to write this for the newspaper, but then it occurred to me that people who would curse an injured 16-year-old kid probably don’t read newspapers. Or anything else, for that matter.

 

Seriously, what planet are you from? Do you have any sense at all? Any?

 

I had a fan tell me that he paid money to get in, he has the right to boo.

 

The only problem with that logic, boo-boy, is that these are not professional athletes. These kids aren’t seeing any of that dough. You are booing the wrong people.

 

If you want to shell out $105 and go to a Chicago Bears game and boo the players, go ahead. Boo your head off. Just pray that some drunk fan doesn’t kick your butt.

 

Does that mean you should only cheer and think happy thoughts at a high school event? No, don’t be ridiculous. But cursing an injured kid?

 

There’s a line. You crossed it.

 

I’ve been watching this stuff for 35 years. I’ve seen idiots in every sport.

 

I once watched a parent chase a ref into the locker room at a girls basketball game because he didn’t call a foul. I saw a parent walk onto the course at the state cross country finals and knock down the kid who was winning the race. (Fort Wayne Concordia’s Beth Drees in 1983, if you really want to know.)

 

I’ve seen it and I’ve seen it and I’ve seen it. I’m tired of seeing it.

 

At some point, the string just snaps. I guess yesterday was that point.

 

So to the guy over to my left who was shouting, “Be a man, grow some balls!” as Hartman left the floor, I have a message.

 

Be a human. Grow a brain.

 

[SLP]

I don't know you but I applaud you.  Nail on the head.

[sportsfangms]

I'm not sure where you were seated, I'm assuming near the Portage contingent because where I was, which was across the gym from that fan base, I can honestly tell you, not a word was uttered that was offensive. I can tell you I heard some boos, and looks of disbelief, mine being one of them, but the filth you described was something I didn't hear. I only bring it up because I don't want the entire semi-state painted with a broad brush because of the actions of a small few.

[headlock83]

I have already stated on another thread, that anyone that booed that injured 15 year old kid is nothing short of a dirt bag.  Think hard because if you contributed to the booing, you my friends are true losers that don't belong at a high school sporting event.  I was truly ashamed to be there.  Some adults amaze me at their lack of class.  Wow!  I still can't believe it occurred.  Where is the line drawn?  Would those ass bags have booed if the kid was paralyzed or worse?

[Rogerthat14]

Alright first off I'd like to say that I agree with your take on, adult fans displaying very little class. Wrestling is an intense sport, that sometimes brings the worst out in parents, family, and friends. (And what a more grand stage for this to take place in, than an overcrowded, stuffy venue to decide who gets to take that walk of champions) If you have been to more than a handful of wrestling matches you have seen this take place, grown adults acting immature (Far beyond booing). I am not sure this will ever change as a wrestling community, these kids are warriors, it is a very up close and personal, contact sport. I cannot lie or pretend that I myself haven't been on the negative end of letting my emotions get the best of me. You put people in a pressure cooker in a stressful all day environment expect "all hell to break loose". 

 

Now this next portion is the other side of the spectrum and it is in no way intended to insult anybody or to stab at anybody, especially not the Hartman family. Playing a little bit of devils advocate here. The call was close, the match wasn't some say he was returned back down to the mat Torres  went with him to the mat, some say his arm was trapped (which is how the call went). I will let the refs make the call on that one.

 

Now onto the booing fans point of view, this call and out come couldn't have been synonymous with an worse of a last name for this type of situation. There were heated discussions on this message board around this same time last year. This is how some of the fans feel, I personally do not have a dog in the fight and stand totally neutral on this situation.

 

The booing could have been avoided as it was in the Chastain vs Smith this weekend over at the New Castle Semi-State. A decision was made to take the ticket to state, and deal with the booing. Was this wrestlers mood or stability last night one of sadness or distraught, because of the booing ? So the playing the victim scenario of this is a teenager out there "while I understand it" doesn't work in this situation.

 

The score was 5-1 with 10 secs, that means in 5:50 secs you have earned one point, one point in a 120lb match doesn't get it done. Where I am going with this that even after the slam (if a DQ hadn't taken place) it would have been 5-2. There was virtually no chance for a win. The wrestler made a decision to do the unpopular thing and take the Win in a Losing situation. Austin McCloskey three years ago as a Freshman could have taken a match away from a superior wrestler, he didn't do it. What I am getting at is that these types of calls are made numerous times throughout the year. However when they are made this deep in the season on this type of stage, there is naturally going to see a bigger stink made about it.

 

As Coach Vega explained Torres was up 5-1 with 10 seconds in the "Ticket Round" he stood nothing to gain by performing an illegal slam here. (Common Sense). You will not get me to believe that Torres did this to cause harm or injure Hartman. This wasn't a big rivalry dual match here (you know the ones where the fans fight out in the parking lot), this one for all purposes was individual. We sometimes see these things happen in heated duals, but lets call a spade a spade "There is NO South Bend Clay / Portage Rivalry it doesn't exist.

 

In hindsight what can we learn from this.

 

Lesson #1 - Always wrestle hard to the whistle, Mr. Torres you will continue to get better. Keep your head on and your wits about you. The pain in which you are feeling at this given time is unmeasurable. However harness this energy you feel inside to do something special with it. Don't be another great Portage wrestler who loses sight of his goals. Work hard, keep your nose clean, and fall into that category that only the Elite can fall into (3X State Placer).

 

Lesson #2 - "What is always popular isn't right, and what is right isn't always popular" The call was up to refs and thats where I stand on that.

 

Lesson #3 - Sports Safety - We are more conscious than ever before about this issue. As a parent thats what we should care about most is the well being of our children. With that being said I really don't see the rule on this situation changing very much. Mr. Hartman, I hope all is well with you. Only you know what you felt, you got put in a tough situation as young man. Take it in stride my friend, wrestling teaches us a lot of things that we continue to encounter throughout life.

 

 

 

[That1Guy]

This entire situation could have been avoided if the "Official" had done his job and instantly stopped the match for potentially dangerous when the kids came to their feet, and Hartman's arm was trapped.  For the safety of the kids that's why we have a rule book - blow the whistle "potential dangerous"

 

Second, if coach Hartman was so worried about doing the right thing...knowing young Hartman was going to lose with 10 seconds on the clock....why don't they both stand on the line let the 10 second tick off?

 

The kid and coach can say all they want about we wish that Torres could take his sport next week.  Fact is with Hartman Injury Defaulting to 4th Torres isn't the alternate. 

[headlock83]

This entire situation could have been avoided if the "Official" had done his job and instantly stopped the match for potentially dangerous when the kids came to their feet, and Hartman's arm was trapped.  For the safety of the kids that's why we have a rule book - blow the whistle "potential dangerous"

 

Second, if coach Hartman was so worried about doing the right thing...knowing young Hartman was going to lose with 10 seconds on the clock....why don't they both stand on the line let the 10 second tick off?

 

The kid and coach can say all they want about we wish that Torres could take his sport next week.  Fact is with Hartman Injury Defaulting to 4th Torres isn't the alternate. 

I agree with your first comment, it maybe could have been avoided.  The fact that the Portage kid doesn't get to wrestle state isn't the Hartman kid's fault or his coach.  If you have the match won with 10 seconds left why in the heck do you put yourself in a position for this to happen?  Why take the kid into the air at all?  There was nothing to gain for the Portage kid. Could have just cut him.  Why should a dizzy concussed kid stand there for ten seconds so a kid who broke the rules can make his trip to state.  It wasn't the responsibility of the Clay team to fix the Portage kid's mistake.  I too wish that the Portage kid could wrestle this weekend, but rules are rules!

[frigginhurts]

1.  It was an illegal slam WHICH knocked THE KID OUT ...instead of blaming hartman - don't slam the kid - be smart knowing that you have a 5-1 lead.

2.  it was said that that hartman wanted to injury default and they wouldn't let him...CAN YOU READ?

3.  what was the discussion on the forum a year ago and something about the last name?

 

 

[Rogerthat14]

1.  It was an illegal slam WHICH knocked THE KID OUT ...instead of blaming hartman - don't slam the kid - be smart knowing that you have a 5-1 lead.

2.  it was said that that hartman wanted to injury default and they wouldn't let him...CAN YOU READ?

3.  what was the discussion on the forum a year ago and something about the last name?

 

In response-

 

#1 Not going to elaborate too much on this one, however I will say that if you know anything about "Portage" wrestling, these are hard nosed kids, who usually have good gas tanks. They aren't too much for taking time outs or going into victory mode (and laying down and stalling).

 

#2 Yes I can read, and I did read, and I have even given examples of these types of  situations before. Its not for me to say to what the extent of his injury was, like I previously addressed only he knows that. But you kind of understand where the fans were going with this.

 

#3 I didn't address this point to re-hatch old post, however there was a big thread on here last year about his older brother taking asthma breaks (which I was not involved in), at opportune times. Look once again that is not for me to say, and I think its pretty awesome that his brother competed at the level that he did with his asthma. The point I was trying to make is how this looks, overall its an unfortunate event on both sides of the spectrum.

 

But people getting on here and insulting one another and trying to argue their cause at what benefits them is "Ignorant". Nothing is going to change the outcome. The bright side is that both of these wrestlers have next year. If you take my post as a personal attack, then I think you may need to re-evaluate, take a breather, and elaborate on it for a minute or two. I tried to clearly put it out there in my first post that this is not personal to myself, I will be going to Bankers Life as a spectator to see some great wrestling either way.

[frigginhurts]

In response-

 

#1 Not going to elaborate too much on this one, however I will say that if you know anything about "Portage" wrestling, these are hard nosed kids, who usually have good gas tanks. They aren't too much for taking time outs or going into victory mode (and laying down and stalling).

 

#2 Yes I can read, and I did read, and I have even given examples of these types of  situations before. Its not for me to say to what the extent of his injury was, like I previously addressed only he knows that. But you kind of understand where the fans were going with this.

 

#3 I didn't address this point to re-hatch old post, however there was a big thread on here last year about his older brother taking asthma breaks (which I was not involved in), at opportune times. Look once again that is not for me to say, and I think its pretty awesome that his brother competed at the level that he did with his asthma. The point I was trying to make is how this looks, overall its an unfortunate event on both sides of the spectrum.

 

But people getting on here and insulting one another and trying to argue their cause at what benefits them is "Ignorant". Nothing is going to change the outcome. The bright side is that both of these wrestlers have next year. If you take my post as a personal attack, then I think you may need to re-evaluate, take a breather, and elaborate on it for a minute or two. I tried to clearly put it out there in my first post that this is not personal to myself, I will be going to Bankers Life as a spectator to see some great wrestling either way.

 

fair enough...my only complaint is that if this kid truly did ask to injury default and the refs wouldn't let him, why the insults at the hartman kid saying he didn't do the right thing?

 

 

 

[NICfan]

I thought they said the trainer wouldn't let the match continue, so he couldn't just sit on the line for 10 sec and take the loss.

[ddcc]

Last year his brother flipped off the crowd at Rochester Regionals...classy

[NICfan]

He isn't his brother. ..

[littlevito]

I thought they said the trainer wouldn't let the match continue, so he couldn't just sit on the line for 10 sec and take the loss.

 

If a kid gets knocked out, no matter what sport, he/she is done for the remainder of the competition. Doesn't matter if it is for a couple seconds or minutes. Even if the athlete is able to continue, he still isn't allowed to stand on that line the last 10 seconds.

[NICfan]

If a kid gets knocked out, no matter what sport, he/she is done for the remainder of the competition. Doesn't matter if it is for a couple seconds or minutes. Even if the athlete is able to continue, he still isn't allowed to stand on that line the last 10 seconds.

I agree, but someone said that's what he should have done,  I was saying it wasn't an option.

[Wrestling Scholar]

On the call on the Hartman vs Torres match, this was a tough call to make by the refs but it obviously was the right call.  Torres made a serious mistake and did not take him safely to the Mat.  You have to be safe, as kids getting seriously really damages the future of the sport.  And Hartman wasn't faking, he was out of it and had typical concussion symptoms.  And there is not a trainer or Doctor that would of let Hartman continue.  Hope the kid has a rapid recovery as concussions can be tricky.  Its BS to blame the 15 year old kid here.  Bad break for Torres,  but lets not get on line say he screwed, he made his own bed on this. 

[Navy215]

Last year his brother flipped off the crowd at Rochester Regionals...classy

 

Attempting to justify your trash behavior. Just shows how grown up you truly are. How would you have reacted after facing thousands of adults booing you over a three year span when you were 17 or 18? I'm sure you would have shaken each one of their hands with a smile on your face. Is flipping them off the right thing to do? No. But we're talking about kids reacting to the deplorable behavior of adults.

 

I don't recall which year it was, but I saw him have to take a puff from his inhaler 30 seconds into the match at semi state. Of course the gym erupted in boos. One fan base in particular had some vulgar things to say. But the funny thing I heard was, "He's f*****g gassed! He's a cheater!" Yea, I'm sure a three time state qualifier and two time placer was absolutely gassed 30 seconds into a match, genius.

 

To boo a kid ever is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. But to boo a kid for a medical problem or an injury? Unacceptable! If you do that you need to get your head checked and reevaluate what's important to you.

[ddcc]

Wow how do you get trash behavior out of saying classy for a kid to flip off the crowd? What does that say about you? I have never booed  a kid and would not! My child would not act that way because if he did I can tell you that he would have consequences for his action! Sportsmanship is huge in our house whether you win or lose or the crowd boos you!!

 

 

 

[NICfan]

My question is why are you bringing up his brother in the first place. He had nothing to do with this conversation.

[stevens103]

I agree with your first comment, it maybe could have been avoided.  The fact that the Portage kid doesn't get to wrestle state isn't the Hartman kid's fault or his coach.  If you have the match won with 10 seconds left why in the heck do you put yourself in a position for this to happen?  Why take the kid into the air at all?  There was nothing to gain for the Portage kid. Could have just cut him.  Why should a dizzy concussed kid stand there for ten seconds so a kid who broke the rules can make his trip to state.  It wasn't the responsibility of the Clay team to fix the Portage kid's mistake.  I too wish that the Portage kid could wrestle this weekend, but rules are rules!

He was returning him to the match . Sure u can cut him but why take the chance of cutting him and him throwing a headlock for desperation ?

[JakeHartman120]

Since all you on here are so worried about me not making the right decision, let me tell you what happened. I walked out to the mat with every desire to go out and give the match my all. Then I wake up in the middle of the mat, not sure what I'm doing, or where I am. All I hear is boo's and a trainer in my face trying to instruct me how to breathe. I staggered to my feet, not knowing what happened and then I got my hand raised, still not sure what was happening. Before I knew it I was in the trainers room with all the lights off and ice on my head. They told me I was slammed and that I was losing the match 4-1 when it happened.  My heart goes out to Gaige and his father, I would've never wanted to win in this way, I have already personally messaged him and told him the same thing. I'm sorry all of you feel I don't deserve to be where i am, but I didn't choose to be thrown on my head. I didn't choose to get a concussion. And i sure as hell didn't choose to upset everyone in the wrestling community. I'm not sure if I'll be cleared to wrestle in the state finals on Friday night, but I do know that I worked my ass off this year, And I'm not letting any of you take that away from me. Good luck to the rest of the wrestlers at the state finals, and Gaige in the off season.

[XCard]

Since all you on here are so worried about me not making the right decision, let me tell you what happened. I walked out to the mat with every desire to go out and give the match my all. Then I wake up in the middle of the mat, not sure what I'm doing, or where I am. All I hear is boo's and a trainer in my face trying to instruct me how to breathe. I staggered to my feet, not knowing what happened and then I got my hand raised, still not sure what was happening. Before I knew it I was in the trainers room with all the lights off and ice on my head. They told me I was slammed and that I was losing the match 4-1 when it happened.  My heart goes out to Gaige and his father, I would've never wanted to win in this way, I have already personally messaged him and told him the same thing. I'm sorry all of you feel I don't deserve to be where i am, but I didn't choose to be thrown on my head. I didn't choose to get a concussion. And i sure as hell didn't choose to upset everyone in the wrestling community. I'm not sure if I'll be cleared to wrestle in the state finals on Friday night, but I do know that I worked my ass off this year, And I'm not letting any of you take that away from me. Good luck to the rest of the wrestlers at the state finals, and Gaige in the off season.

 

Classy post kid, good luck this weekend should you be cleared.

[tyandky]

Bud you don't owe anyone an explanation. You did nothing wrong. You went out and competed like you do every weekend. This will be a learning experience for gage. Hope you the best this week.

 

And i really hope them people were not booing at you but instead at the circumstance even though there shouldn't of been any boo at all.

[ontherise219]

Since all you on here are so worried about me not making the right decision, let me tell you what happened. I walked out to the mat with every desire to go out and give the match my all. Then I wake up in the middle of the mat, not sure what I'm doing, or where I am. All I hear is boo's and a trainer in my face trying to instruct me how to breathe. I staggered to my feet, not knowing what happened and then I got my hand raised, still not sure what was happening. Before I knew it I was in the trainers room with all the lights off and ice on my head. They told me I was slammed and that I was losing the match 4-1 when it happened.  My heart goes out to Gaige and his father, I would've never wanted to win in this way, I have already personally messaged him and told him the same thing. I'm sorry all of you feel I don't deserve to be where i am, but I didn't choose to be thrown on my head. I didn't choose to get a concussion. And i sure as hell didn't choose to upset everyone in the wrestling community. I'm not sure if I'll be cleared to wrestle in the state finals on Friday night, but I do know that I worked my ass off this year, And I'm not letting any of you take that away from me. Good luck to the rest of the wrestlers at the state finals, and Gaige in the off season.

 

There you guys go. First hand what happened. Hopefully this topic dies.  Jacob great post and I'm sure Gat appreciated the message. Both of these kids have big careers ahead of them good luck jake in your recovery. I'm sure Gaige will be gunning for a title in 2015