Intermat article - why we should be worried about wrestling in the Olympics
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This is nothing new. Officiating is the bane of Olympic competition and always has been. Money might not sway athletes who dream of Olympic gold since childhood, but Olympic officials routinely appear to work for best offer .
That's Sammy Brooks' mother, isn't it? Good article (it helps to be a journalism professor at Northwestern) and I think her analysis was right on the money. I didn't realize that the refs in the Franklin Gomez match had been removed from any additional officiating in the aftermath of their blown call in Gomez's match. Not that it does a darn thing for Gomez.
Agree, but her take on the Mongolian coaches' behavior was something I hadn't really thought through. Their outrageous conduct -- however bad the underlying reffing -- is what most casual observers of the sport will remember of wrestling in the Rio Olympics. Not the way to grow the sport, when the "real" thing begins to resemble the cartoonish antics of WWF.
That could be ^^...but I am not sure that too many people make up their minds on things based on the behavior of Mongolians.
At least I hope that they don't.
Not sure is this is the death knell or not on Olympic wrestling, but it was surely a very poor example of our sport on so many levels. The coverage that NBC gave wrestling was terrible (along with their entire package of coverage), the officiating mess was not only embarrassing, but cheated young men that have worked harder than many of us, myself for sure, have ever worked for anything, and then the coaches doing a striptease was just the icing on the cake. Not to mention the performance enhancing drug issues that hung over many of the competitors and their countries.
Basically it was a tournament where you really had no idea which of your competitors might be cheating and if you overcome that, you never know which of the ref's are going to be cheating. Add to this that the lack of coverage made it seem like all this was taking place in the dark and it made me wonder who was running the show, the East Germans or the Soviets.
Very sad low point IMO, coming off what I really felt was a high water mark / FS coming out party, a few months back at the trials in CHA. This was to be the new and improve product and the governing body + NBC allowed it to be drug back down in the mud that got it kicked out in the first place. So many great stories overshadowed by the same ol same ol.
Basically it was a tournament where you really had no idea which of your competitors might be cheating and if you overcome that, you never know which of the ref's are going to be cheating. Add to this that the lack of coverage made it seem like all this was taking place in the dark and it made me wonder who was running the show, the East Germans or the Soviets.
Very sad low point IMO, coming off what I really felt was a high water mark / FS coming out party, a few months back at the trials in CHA. This was to be the new and improve product and the governing body + NBC allowed it to be drug back down in the mud that got it kicked out in the first place. So many great stories overshadowed by the same ol same ol.
Good article....well done.
Wrestling is, by far, my favorite sport but I think it is in trouble at the Olympic/World level. The wrestling community is so competitive that reaching a reasonable solution on any issue is very difficult....hell, this message board is a good example.
The part that blows me away though is that 2 of my adult wrestling children (both were multiple Iowa p/w's) are absolutely frustrated and indifferent to the international side of the sport....asking me about the rules....asking about the rule changes. Similarly, I have several wrestling fan friends and most of them could give a crap less about the international sport...they say it doesn't make sense....not worth their time to tune in.
Holy crap, if wrestling people from Iowa can't easily explain and understand the sport, how in the heck will the rest of the world ever embrace it?
Perhaps we just need to end greco, freestyle, folkstyle, and grappling and just concentrate on one discipline to be followed by all.
Wrestling is, by far, my favorite sport but I think it is in trouble at the Olympic/World level. The wrestling community is so competitive that reaching a reasonable solution on any issue is very difficult....hell, this message board is a good example.
The part that blows me away though is that 2 of my adult wrestling children (both were multiple Iowa p/w's) are absolutely frustrated and indifferent to the international side of the sport....asking me about the rules....asking about the rule changes. Similarly, I have several wrestling fan friends and most of them could give a crap less about the international sport...they say it doesn't make sense....not worth their time to tune in.
Holy crap, if wrestling people from Iowa can't easily explain and understand the sport, how in the heck will the rest of the world ever embrace it?
Perhaps we just need to end greco, freestyle, folkstyle, and grappling and just concentrate on one discipline to be followed by all.
Bottom line is that wrestling needs an overhaul at the top of the sport. We need men and women committed to the sport and not on the take. We need fresh ideas with a participation from a cross section of the wrestling world, not just a select few. These forums alone have had some great ideas. Lastly, the int'l federation needs to hire a marketing firm to sell the sport to the masses as well as to people with money. There is NO way that synchronized swimming or water polo should be getting more face time than wrestling. That's on our sport to change.
Agree with pretty much everything except the impact of the stripping coaches. That was an irrelevant sideshow. The actionable issues are criteria vs sudden death OT, the shot clock (which my email tried to auto-correct to s#it clock, which is more accurate), and bad/corrupt officiating.
I saw both mens and womens table tennis gold medal matches. I must have seen four hours of beach volleyball. Team handball is water polo with no water - WTF. Kerri Walsh Jennings orthopeadic surgeon got more air time than Kyle Synder. Hell, Walsh Jenning's butt got at least an hour of airtime itself. It just sucked.
Maroulis > Walsh Jennings by TF
I'd still like to see it. Maybe even twice.
Maroulis is all around better than Walsh in my book. Face and body.
Oh, and PBS, get your eyes checked...
Maybe it's that picture but it didn't do it for me.I'd still like to see it. Maybe even twice.
Maroulis is all around better than Walsh in my book. Face and body.
Oh, and PBS, get your eyes checked...
Different strokes for different folks.
I think so - it's hopeless. This crowd wants 5 hours of large-breasted, natural fencing and naked ping pong.
I have been a fan of all forms of wrestling for a long time and enjoy freestyle as much as folkstyle. That being said, I agree that much needs to be done to make the sport grow. High school boys' wrestling participation declined again in 2015, while girls' participation showed the greatest percentage of increased participation of all girls' high school sports. That is, of course, misleading because when you have a relatively small starting number your growth percentage can be quite high. The reality is that 2,000 new girls took to the mat last year.
In 1984 the Olympic performances of Mary Lou Retton - shown in their entirety on television - spurred thousands, heck, tens of thousands, of little girls AND THEIR PARENTS to head to the nearest gymnastics studio and enroll. My youngest daughter was one of them. Will Helen Maroulis' history-making performance have similar impact? I highly doubt it.
Wrestling for Life is a small organization and we understand our mission. We just simply want to find ways to get kids on the mat and keep kids on the mat - not because we are looking for the next Kyle Snyder or Helen Maroulis, but because our young people should have the opportunity to learn life lessons that are best learned their. However small we are, our efforts have allowed us to participate in discussions with some of the "major players" in American wrestling and I can tell you this - with the exception of the effort to restore Olympic wrestling in 2013 - there is no unified American wrestling agenda. Every organization from USA Wrestling, to the NCAA, to Flowrestling, to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame has its own set of priorities. You would think that we would have learned valuable lessons in 2013. It does not appear to me to be so.
We at Wrestling for Life, thanks to so many of you, will just keep doin' what we do -get'em on the mat and keep'em on the mat.
In 1984 the Olympic performances of Mary Lou Retton - shown in their entirety on television - spurred thousands, heck, tens of thousands, of little girls AND THEIR PARENTS to head to the nearest gymnastics studio and enroll. My youngest daughter was one of them. Will Helen Maroulis' history-making performance have similar impact? I highly doubt it.
Wrestling for Life is a small organization and we understand our mission. We just simply want to find ways to get kids on the mat and keep kids on the mat - not because we are looking for the next Kyle Snyder or Helen Maroulis, but because our young people should have the opportunity to learn life lessons that are best learned their. However small we are, our efforts have allowed us to participate in discussions with some of the "major players" in American wrestling and I can tell you this - with the exception of the effort to restore Olympic wrestling in 2013 - there is no unified American wrestling agenda. Every organization from USA Wrestling, to the NCAA, to Flowrestling, to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame has its own set of priorities. You would think that we would have learned valuable lessons in 2013. It does not appear to me to be so.
We at Wrestling for Life, thanks to so many of you, will just keep doin' what we do -get'em on the mat and keep'em on the mat.
2015-2016 = Grapple on the Gridiron
2016-2017 = PENN STATE VS IOWA ... HELL IN A CELL
The problem with Kerry Walsh Jennings is her drug problem....she's addicted to Noassatall.
espn seems to think wwe is a real sport, they have several stories, recaps, and videos of, whatever sundays ppv was called, on the main page of their website.
Okay, can we please get an "Unlike" button......PBS....very disappointed. I don't think anyone should be using the high volume of Women's Beach Volleyball coverage as a point to show contrast with lack of other coverage. More wrestling coverage = YES, more beach volleyball coverage = YES. It's a win / win.
I got a feeling that the pic might be too big for this platform.
ESPN is an entertainment/journalism company, not a sports company. They are basically TMZ, except they use sports as their base as opposed to TV/Movies.
The sooner you realize that the better. ESPN is utter trash. I'm glad they've been doing so poorly.
ESPN does a remarkable job covering D1 Wrestling Championships.
Moving on from the tushes (um, thank you), here's the tally from Youtube:
Number of viewers of Youtube video of Mongolian coaches' stripping: 783,000 and counting;
Number of viewers of Youtube video of Snyder's gold medal match: 9,800.
i didnt say i was surprised by it, i was just making a statement of fact for others that didnt know. i dont and havent thought for quite awhile that espn was an unbiased reporting organization.
Lol
Not oversized.
And with that I'm bowing out because I know that Caryn, as a champion of feminist issues, would not appreciate a thread about her article on wrestling devolving into weekend barstool talk about arses. I like and respect her too much for that.
Wrestling is failing in the US, not because it doesn't have fans or strengths, but rather because the most vocal and active part of the fan base is oblivious to the weaknesses of the sport as a spectator sport. I'm not going to list them here, but I will say that our own Hawkeye Fan-base provided a perfect example last year. We had the biggest, best wrestling event in decades and when all was said and done the idea of a Yearly Outdoor Event @Iowa was essentially nixed because it was--and I'm paraphasing here: " ..."too much work, "" not likely to be duplicated," "a perfect storm," and finally "a great event, but merely a novelty which would lose it's appeal if done every year".... "so yeah it was successful but the smart guys deemed it as something that should be only done once every three or four years at the most."
The sport has two things going for it as far as growth potential--MMA uses wrestling and women are beginning to wrestle in higher numbers. Until the smart guys figure out how to incorporate these elements for growth and popularity it's smoke and mirrors and the back of the bus for wrestling in the US. If the Grapple on the Gridiron showed me anything, then I'm not holding my breathe.
Anyone have a link to those dicussions regarding the Grapple?
The sport has two things going for it as far as growth potential--MMA uses wrestling and women are beginning to wrestle in higher numbers. Until the smart guys figure out how to incorporate these elements for growth and popularity it's smoke and mirrors and the back of the bus for wrestling in the US. If the Grapple on the Gridiron showed me anything, then I'm not holding my breathe.
Anyone have a link to those dicussions regarding the Grapple?
I could agree with your post if you substituted 'fan base' above with 'powers that be'. What you and I think doesn't amount to a hill of beans in the wrestling world. Where it matters is with the administration of the sport at the national and int'l levels, and that includes prominent coaches. For example, the NWCA fiddles away about trying to get a Dual Championship to line their own pockets while the sport as a whole burns. I can't imagine that they actually think the sport will be saved by having a Duals champion and that this is our most important issue. Just one of many examples of a self-serving, fractious leadership both here and abroad.
The people saying that an event like Grapple on the Gridiron is not sustainable on a yearly basis weren't fans in this forum (well, they were saying it, too, but who cares what we think?) it was Luke Eustice and Tom Brands and the people who, you know, actually did the massive amount of work that went into the planning and logistics of the event. So slide off your high horse and send an email to Tom telling him you think he's bad for the sport. I'm sure he'd be grateful to have you set him straight.
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