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Rankings for start of season


Novice Bat

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Last time I'm posting on this foolishness, I'll stick to wrestling talk. I never said they'd book Bankers Life without fans, but the show would go on without you or I there. Moms, dads, grandmas, and so on would fill the seats, along with family friends, so even if the casual fan isn't there, people would be there to watch. The point is, you don't have the power you think and are entitled to nothing but a green seat when you enter the arena. 

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Can we agree that forfeiting for strategy is poor form when it isn't due to injury? However, when it involves injury a coach needs to consider what's best for his student-athlete. Secondly, it's not as if forfeits at the individual state finals is a rampant problem, so let's not go overboard here. There will still be a state finals this year, nobody is getting a refund, and this isn't a $64.95 PPV card with a main event fighter withdrawing an hour before the broadcast. 

 

Lastly, in my opinion, Yorktown has "earned" ridicule with their past/present student transfer practices, but drudging up the forfeit stuff with Micic is not a fair characterization of what actually occurred.

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Funny, I cannot ever remember Perry Meridian, EMD, Penn, or Warren Central, ever forfeiting a match at state.

Wrestlers at semi-state and state with injuries have been protected many, many times over the years--even by the best schools.  

 

Danny Williams of Warren Central was coming back from a broken ankle his senior year and forfeited his semi's and conso's matches at semi-state after he'd qualified for state.  That set the defending state champ up to wrestle the #2 guy in the state (Mora from Lake Central) in the first round on Friday night at state.  You could argue it was completely selfish for him to deny the fans the right to see those two matches at semi-state and the right to see Mora wrestle more than one match at state.  But that, as with this entire discussion, would be silly.  Clearly Warren made the right decision for their kid to protect him from undue exposure when he was hurt and he was only concerned with winning state.  Coaches, kids, and their families should always have the right to do what's best for them.  

 

(It's what made the team state tournament such a tricky proposition and such a tricky event to design well.  It's too bad the IHSAA can't consider wrestling for what it is--a physical sport with short, intense battles that are prone to fluke upsets and injuries, making it an entirely different entity from any other sport the IHSAA handles.  Tournament design for both individual and team series should reflect and allow for these issues.)

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Danny Williams of Warren Central was coming back from a broken ankle his senior year and forfeited his semi's and conso's matches at semi-state after he'd qualified for state. That set the defending state champ up to wrestle the #2 guy in the state (Mora from Lake Central) in the first round on Friday night at state. You could argue it was completely selfish for him to deny the fans the right to see those two matches at semi-state and the right to see Mora wrestle more than one match at state. But that, as with this entire discussion, would be silly. Clearly Warren made the right decision for their kid to protect him from undue exposure when he was hurt and he was only concerned with winning state. Coaches, kids, and their families should always have the right to do what's best for them.

I think most people see that situation as different from a wrestler winning Friday night, forfeiting to the best wrestler in the weight class, then going on to wrestle two consolation matches just hours after forfeiting.
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I think most people see that situation as different from a wrestler winning Friday night, forfeiting to the best wrestler in the weight class, then going on to wrestle two consolation matches just hours after forfeiting.

 

Forfeiting gives you 0% chance of winning, wrestling at least provides a 1% chance.  Micic was an absolute beast that year, but I don't recall any matches where he ripped limbs from an opponent's body or rendered anyone unconscious. If he did, kudos to Stevan!! Given his talent,  I guess I don't buy the conspiracy theories that McCormick forfeited the match to avoid the potential for a new injury or avoiding embarrassment. In fact, you can make the argument forfeiting is far more scrutinized than getting destroyed in a match. Otherwise, we wouldn't be talking about this topic. Then again, maybe I'm giving certain people too much credit for doing the right thing?  

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They conceded that McCormick could not beat Micic.  There was a competitive advantage for them to have McCormick rested for the remainder of his matches.  

 

I understand the strategy of it, however my opinion is that if you forfeit a match like that you should be done for the rest of the day at whatever tournament you are at.  Takes all the BS out of it.  If you're hurt....you're hurt.  If you can still get through on placement to the next week, then maybe you've had a chance to rest/recover/get checked out and be cleared to wrestle again

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They conceded that McCormick could not beat Micic.  There was a competitive advantage for them to have McCormick rested for the remainder of his matches.  

 

I understand the strategy of it, however my opinion is that if you forfeit a match like that you should be done for the rest of the day at whatever tournament you are at.  Takes all the BS out of it.  If you're hurt....you're hurt.  If you can still get through on placement to the next week, then maybe you've had a chance to rest/recover/get checked out and be cleared to wrestle again

 

Like I said, I guess I gave the people involved the benefit of the doubt to do the right thing.   

 

That being said, I think there are situations where living to fight another day are appropriate.  For example, Mark Myers with a torn ACL forfeiting to Andrew Howe several years ago.  

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