I know I promised I'd be back to regularly scheduled Cubs stuff today but I just can't.
Let me start off by saying I think I might have picked up a curse!
Sunday's post was about my 2012 Tony Campana Topps minis. Later that day, he was designated for assignment by the Cubs.
Monday's post was a recap of my sons' wrestling filled weekend. Tuesday morning it is announced that the IOC had voted to eliminate wrestling from the 2020 Olympics. What?!? I was upset when they cut baseball but wrestling?!? Which sport exemplifies the Olympics more than wrestling? I usually deal with change pretty well as a military brat but when you have an event such as the Olympics that is so focused on tradition, why do you remove the most traditional sport?
I have loved watching the Olympics as far as I can remember and I may be biased towards wrestling but this is ridiculous. I was never going to play basketball or football and when baseball coaches overlooked me because of my size to start bigger, but not as good players, wrestling became my sport of choice. Unlike football, basketball or baseball, nobody got cut from my high school wrestling team. The sport itself weeded out those who didn't want to be there.
There are no politics in wrestling for who gets the starting job. It's settled on the mat. One on one against guys your own size. If you can beat the guy, you're now the guy. There's a bond between wrestling teammates as there is in many other sports but nobody can help you once you're on the mat. You get out of it what you put into it. Great life lesson there.
You can't tell me that golf (being introduced for the 2016 Olympics) is more exciting to watch than wrestling. I play golf myself. Not often, but I enjoy it when I do. But watch it on TV? No thanks! If they actually showed wrestling on one of the bigger channels and a reasonable time, that would help the ratings.
Oh, I get it. That might hurt the ratings of the some of the sports that utilize judges that can be bought. This might alienate some of you, but in my opinion, I don't think sports that use subjective scoring criteria should be in the Olympics. And when it comes down to it, that includes the big breadwinners, gymnastics and skating. With a tenth of a point deduction from one judge here and two tenths from another judge there, it's downright silly when you think about it. How can you compare one stumble or wobble or other miscue to the next? I'm not saying they're not athletes, those sports are tough in their own rights. But give me a sport where the winner decides their own fate any day.
Wrestling is 7 minutes (or less with a pin) of speed, strength and technique that dates back to the original Olympics hundreds of years ago. There is no sport, I believe, more triumphant and/or gut-wrenching I urge you to go check out your local high school's team as most of them are moving onto the postseason this time of year. That makes for some exciting wrestling!
Or if you're more of an armchair sports watcher, the NCAA Championships are in mid-March and are shown on one of the ESPN channels. They do a pretty good job with the coverage, giving background stories on each of the guys so you have a vested interest in the outcome of each match. And there's no money in wrestling so you know these guys are doing it for the love of the sport, not just a seven or eight figure payday. Now that there's not even Olympics to shoot for, I fear the future of this sport.
But if you prefer flips and pirouettes and being told who the winner is, I guess the IOC has your back.
And seriously, Cubs stuff tomorrow as my 2013 cards are trickling in.
Showing posts with label Wrestling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wrestling. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Off Topic, Busy Weekend - Whew!
What I thought would be a fun easy going weekend turned into a pretty hectic one (but still fun) so I am totally unprepared for today's post. My laptop is a little buggy so I don't have any scans to make an impromptu post. I'll just relay my weekend. I knew it would be busy with two wrestling tournaments in two states, one on Saturday and one on Sunday but man, I forgot how long those days can be. If you don't like wrestling (middle school/high school style, not WWE) this may not interest you at all. Bragging dad coming up, bail out now if you need to!
My older son is an 8th grader and joined a travel wrestling team that has gone to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland to wrestle this winter to seek out some better competition. He also participates on the local club team when time allows. Just trying to get him as much mat time as possible before he starts high school in the fall.
My younger son is a 6th grader and part of the local club. He was a pretty reluctant wrestler but is actually quite good as well. He didn't enjoy the immediate success his brother did but has developed a different, more defensive style of wrestling that works for him. I call it the "Little Brother Style" because as a second born myself, I remember constantly having to defend myself from my older brother when he learned a new move. The more successful he's been, the more he's coming around to actually enjoying it.
We live in Virginia but on Saturday, we made the two hour trek up to Shippensburg, PA for a tournament that most of my older son's travel team was attending. Because it was an open tournament as opposed to a team dual meet, my younger son tagged along and particpated too. My older son had a fairly easy route to the finals where he was matched up against a kid to whom he had lost just a couple weeks prior. It had been a close match that he felt he could have won so he was anxiously optimistic about a rematch. This match was close as well, complete with a scoring controversy and everything, but my son prevailed and won his first individual tournament. He was excited to avenge the previous loss, earned a trophy (rather than the standard medal) and if you know anything about wrestling, the winner gets to take home a posterboard version of the bracket for his weight class.
My younger son lost his first match (mostly jitters for his first interstate tournament) but battled back to pick up a third place trophy for his age and weight division. There's something to be said for earning a trophy in a sport like wrestling, where you go one on one against opponents your own general size. I think he was just as excited with his third place trophy as my other son was with his first place winnings.
On Sunday, we stayed in Virginia, but went about two hours in the other direction for a tournament in the "local" club league. Usually my sons have meets on Sundays and my wife will take one and I'll take the other but this was one of those rare weekends we could double dip and do two tournaments.
My younger son again lost a close first match by points but battled back and won his last two, one with a pin and the other by points. This tournament uses a round robin system rather than brackets so he earned second place this time.
Wrestling's version of the slaughter rule dictates the match stops when one wrestler is winning by 15 or more points, called a technical fall. My older son "teched" his first kid 15-0. He was beating the second kid 10-0 when he pinned him. And he "teched" the third kid 17-2.
So, not a bad weekend in the Major household. There are some big post-season tournaments coming up before we move on to spirng little league so getting this extra mat time has some advantages. If I have some time later, I'll try to add some videos for those interested.
Hopefully, back to regularly scheduled Cubs talk tomorrow, although I am extremely disappointed that the Cubs DFA'd Tony Campana! Blurg!
My older son is an 8th grader and joined a travel wrestling team that has gone to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland to wrestle this winter to seek out some better competition. He also participates on the local club team when time allows. Just trying to get him as much mat time as possible before he starts high school in the fall.
My younger son is a 6th grader and part of the local club. He was a pretty reluctant wrestler but is actually quite good as well. He didn't enjoy the immediate success his brother did but has developed a different, more defensive style of wrestling that works for him. I call it the "Little Brother Style" because as a second born myself, I remember constantly having to defend myself from my older brother when he learned a new move. The more successful he's been, the more he's coming around to actually enjoying it.
We live in Virginia but on Saturday, we made the two hour trek up to Shippensburg, PA for a tournament that most of my older son's travel team was attending. Because it was an open tournament as opposed to a team dual meet, my younger son tagged along and particpated too. My older son had a fairly easy route to the finals where he was matched up against a kid to whom he had lost just a couple weeks prior. It had been a close match that he felt he could have won so he was anxiously optimistic about a rematch. This match was close as well, complete with a scoring controversy and everything, but my son prevailed and won his first individual tournament. He was excited to avenge the previous loss, earned a trophy (rather than the standard medal) and if you know anything about wrestling, the winner gets to take home a posterboard version of the bracket for his weight class.
My younger son lost his first match (mostly jitters for his first interstate tournament) but battled back to pick up a third place trophy for his age and weight division. There's something to be said for earning a trophy in a sport like wrestling, where you go one on one against opponents your own general size. I think he was just as excited with his third place trophy as my other son was with his first place winnings.
On Sunday, we stayed in Virginia, but went about two hours in the other direction for a tournament in the "local" club league. Usually my sons have meets on Sundays and my wife will take one and I'll take the other but this was one of those rare weekends we could double dip and do two tournaments.
My younger son again lost a close first match by points but battled back and won his last two, one with a pin and the other by points. This tournament uses a round robin system rather than brackets so he earned second place this time.
Wrestling's version of the slaughter rule dictates the match stops when one wrestler is winning by 15 or more points, called a technical fall. My older son "teched" his first kid 15-0. He was beating the second kid 10-0 when he pinned him. And he "teched" the third kid 17-2.
So, not a bad weekend in the Major household. There are some big post-season tournaments coming up before we move on to spirng little league so getting this extra mat time has some advantages. If I have some time later, I'll try to add some videos for those interested.
Hopefully, back to regularly scheduled Cubs talk tomorrow, although I am extremely disappointed that the Cubs DFA'd Tony Campana! Blurg!
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