Insanoflex

Nick, Where can one get tickets if I dare show my maize and blue face in Columbus?

Coach, Y0u might want to check into IHSAA regulations. Unless you're an ISWA Regional Training Center, you can only open up your room to the wrestlers who attend Highland. This was instituted a couple of years ago and was not a big hit among numerous coaches.

Rat, That's the head of the cooler patrol at MHS dontcha know.

You have the ARC on your wish list, you'll get green mats. I know you get plenty of the color green on your plate at the Bremen Super Dual, but Valpo would be the host school. But this is a pipe dream. Like it's been said before in this thread and numerous times, the Purple Matriarchs aren't letting go of that semistate until it's pried from their cold, dead hands.

The first round at the local watering hole after a loong day at semistate.

Good luck transporting those one-peice resilite mats over from VHS.

I bet Hungus has some good stories on this topic.

I've been following this thread with great interest, and as a former coach, I'd like to chip in my two cents (1.9 cents in Canada--check the current exchange rates) on the "renegade programs" and ethical issues. There was a school that we used to wrestle in a dual, and the match was more akin to a street fight than a sport (initiated by the other team, but I won't say my guys were choir boys and didn't retaliate, which didn't sit well with me). So I took action as I saw fit: we stopped scheduling them. Think about it: if your AD hires a wrestling official who (sorry Chuck, just a hypothetical) consistently misses calls (and I know a lot of the interpretations are subjective), would you schedule that official again? No coach in his right mind would, granted I realize the AD does this hiring, but I would let him/her know that I don't want to see that official on our mat again. The same can be done for schools who continually "play the edge" with coaching ethics. I do realize this would not be the easiest undertaking, but think what sort of message you send to a team when no other school wants to wrestle them? The smart money says changes will be made in the violating program if this were to happen. Granted I know conference affiliations and current contracts might make this tougher than what I've outlined, but it could happen and Indiana wrestling as an entity could police itself. Or I could be tilting at windmills with this idea. It was just a thought that crossed my mind when the sanctioning issue came up in a post. Upon rereading this, I realize I'm quite paranthetical, so I apologize if that bothers anyone.

Then I guess you get cut some slack.

Um, Joe, you're looking a little gangster with the spatial orientation of your chapeau.

"That kid could screw up a wet dream!"

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/columnists/jim-peters/jim-peters-billy-maldonado-at-home-in-dixie/article_6866ccc4-28fe-5281-a1e7-9f945fe12256.html

He used to go by "Mike", BTW. And I have Zsa Zsa Gabor lined up for the first of many celebrity interviews.

You do realize they're giving me a microphone on Saturday and a captive audience? Hmmm, do internet broadcasts come with a 6 second delay?? Darrell-calm down, that's just a joke.

I honestly don't know why Darrell didn't use my real name. . . . Mr. Insanoflex

NSC tournament. I'm a rookie at this, so please take that into consideration.

I would expect the Buckeye Exemption Rule to include free tattoos from a "reputable" merchant.

Ever tear a ligament WrestlingMonster? It's not a pulled muscle by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not defending Cutler but I will say if it's a severe grade 3 tear then this was a legit injury. Maybe braces have come far enough along he could have worn one, but I'm not well versed on cutting edge knee brace technology

I predict that after the meeting most of the coaches will go the Third Base for wings.

I know from personal experience after the MCL is torn your knee swells up. It's uncomfortable but not excrutiating and the fact he was on the stationary bike is moot: it is a lateral stabilizer.

Just because Cutler's walking on the leg doesn't mean his knee wasn't damaged. I walked on a torn MCL in college and walked into the hospital on a broken leg that I suffered. Mobility does not equal functionality. Wait until you hear about the MRI results to pass judgement.

Is on the card for a UFC fight on February 5th at the Century Center in South Bend battling Eric Moon. Not sure if he's the main event, but current Indiana Tech head coach Mike Ester is working the corner. Not sure of the time but having been in attendence for one of Nick's fights before, I can tell you it's an electric atmosphere and a lot of fun. I was going to link the Century Center website but there's nothing on it right now.

This past Saturday (April 17th), former New Prairie wrestler Jordan Martin lost his mother in a very tragic event in New Carlisle. Without going into detail (you can find out very easily what happened if you look for it online), it is without question that right now the NP wrestling community members have very heavy hearts and our thoughts and prayers are with Jordan, his three brothers, and his father. Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday April 22nd at 2pm EST at the New Carlisle Wesleyan Church. Visitation is set for Wednesday from 2-4pm and 6-8pm EST at the Kaniewski Funeral Home, 201 S. Filbert St in New Carlisle. If you've either competed against Jordan or coached against him, you are aware that he is a fantastic young man who I thoroughly enjoyed coaching for four years. My sympathies go out to him and his family in this very trying time. Wes Hobart Head Coach, New Prairie

Wisconsin dropping baseball was a Title IX issue.

I was going to update Y2 from my laptop on these, but somehow I got a problem with internet explorer that has currently no explanation. After the early morning 5 hour drive to Cedar Rapids, I met up with Nick's (Kraus) family at the hotel and we went to the US Cellular Center in CR. For those of you who've never been there, Cedar Rapids is a nothing town. Downtown Indy is much more fun and favorable, because it at least has more than two restaurants open. But I didn't come for cuisine--I came for grappling! Nick's first match was one to show how not to stay on bottom and stationary. After Nick gave up a takedown in the first period, he chose bottom. Unfortunately, the guy he wrestled was a great rider and got ahold of his arm and got 3 pts on a tilt and rode him out for two minutes. It didn't get better. Nick ended up losing 10-1. This kid was the #1 seed, so there was some work to be done before the next match. I followed the Wabash duo as well and texted Joe the update. Strausbaugh (sp) won his first but dropped the next two. Their wrestler at 197 was similarly two-and-out. Before I get to Nick's final match of his career, I have several observations. 1. Scrambles. Holy Googly Moogley!! I've never seen anything quite like this. No one gave up a takedown without contesting, contorting, bending, splinding, and mutilating. It was simply amazing some of the spots kids got themselves out of. 2. Officiating. Let's never be that critical of our HS state officials. Some of the stuff called (or not called) I found atrocious and the officials on a national level are never wrong. Except when they are, and then they're still not. There was one instance where 6 seconds was put back on the clock, but the 6 seconds of riding time (huge in college for those not in the know) wasn't. I was amazed that at a national level a gafffe this big was made. Thankfully the right kid (and I say kid and know they're men but I'm so far much older than they are) won the match in the end. Had that not happened, it would have been a travesty of Aldrichian proportions. 3. Fans. I came away impressed with the level of support from the people of Iowa for wrestling. I know there's not much else to do in that state, but the local teams (Coe College, Augsburg) had a huge number of people. With the Augsburg crowd, I was remined of the Mater Dei days when their fans would fill up half the stadium. It was loud, vocal, and a whole lot of fun to be around. Final match. I talked to Nick afterwards and he gave me the lowdown on how dirty the kid was that he was wrestling. Basically the match started and the UW Whitewater wrestler was grabbing Nick's headgear (which eventually broke under the strain) and putting his thumb in Nick's neck. Quality officiating result: stalling on Trine. The first period progressed and the UW kid kept trying to push Nick out to get the stalling call. Going to the edge, Nick threw this kid in a lateral drop (yes, a lateral. I also saw a side 3/4 nelson applied and a side headlock during the tournament) to get 2 pts and 2 nearfall. The UW kid got penalized finally for grabbing Nick's headgear, so the score was 5-0. Then it went south. UW got away. Got a takedown. 5-3. Nick got away to make it 6-3, but no one was thinking this match was in the books. Nick gets hit with not one, but two stalling calls during the match. Being tied (and Nick had :54 seconds of riding time--ouchy) at the end there was a scramble and the UW kid ended up with the takedown. Game, set, match, career. Being that I'm his old HS coach, I came away nothing but proud of the man I helped raise. I know Coach Callahan and Coach Ester were upset, but I tend to put things in perspect in my advanced age. Personally, this was a weekend to cherish because I saw this young man advance from our elementary division to a national qualifier. That he was one step away from being an All-American is huge, but what he's done for the community and New Prairie wrestling cannot be quantified. He's set such a huge example for the young kids in our program to emulate and strive for, and that's nothing to scoff at. Phenonmenal kids such as Nick only come through a program once in a while, and it was a joy and pleasure to get to know him, coach him, and (garsh, here comes the maudlin) grow to love him. He's a fantastic young man who I hope finds the right program to coach at (we're working on it at NP) because he'll be a huge assest. While the weekend ended prematurely, I cannot begin to express what this has meant to me. I don't coach at Mishawaka or Yorktown: I coach at New Prairie. To have one of my former wrestlers go and do what Nick did is beyond words. Obviously I'm not his father, but if I had a son, I'd want him to be like Nick. So, to wrap this up (and I know it's kind of long, but my laptop puked so this is what you get) it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. But it's a time I wouldn't have missed for the world. I couldn't be prouder. Wes Hobart Head Coach, New Prairie AKA Insanoflex PS That isn't my pic on the avatar