I don’t want to be a link dropping scavenger here, but I think many of you will find this article that I wrote a couple weeks ago on Josh Budke interesting... he was always one of my faves when he was in HS and after I met him personally, he is one of my all time fave wrestling personalities. He is great. I always felt bad that his great career ended in the manner it did, which was being portrayed in an unflattering way on a documentary.... I will start out with his Remember The Wrestler Article link and state vids and follow with the ESPN article. I feel great to have provided him the outlet to tell his side of things.
REMEMBER THE WRESTLER: JOSH BUDKE
http://thepindoctors.com/index.php/...restler-josh-budke-cedar-falls-iowa-hawkeyes/
JOSH BUDKE WEIGHS IN ON ESPN’S THE SEASON
http://thepindoctors.com/index.php/2020/05/22/josh-budke-weighs-in-on-espns-the-season/
Several years ago, ESPN produced a documentary about Iowa Hawkeye wrestling called “The Season.” I have always hated this documentary. I got the vibe that the footage/material was tailored to create a false impression to ensure that whatever narrative they had in mind was followed. I have always been skeptical of that documentary’s intentions.
The wrestler who had the most negative experience with this documentary was Josh Budke. Budke was in his final season of college and struggling to make the lineup for the Iowa Hawkeyes at the time. The ESPN crew caught him at one of the most stressful phases of his life. And with the skits they cherrypicked, I mean chose to use for the documentary, they painted this picture of him as if he never won any of the matches he wrestled (which wasn’t the case) and as if he were feeling sorry for himself. The part of the documentary that stood out to fans was Tom Brands’s thoughts on Budke and his situation. Here is a short clip That includes it:
Budke took a ton of crap for that. Internet badasses freely and regularly called him names, disrespected him, disregarded everything he had done prior to that, etc. Not to mention, the overwhelming majority of people who watched it, couldn’t stop talking about how cold and harsh Tom Brands came off when he made the “I don’t feel sorry for Josh Budke. You get what you earn” comment. This wasn’t fair to Tom Brands either, for everyone seemed to not hear the part where he said he would want nothing more than for Budke to succeed. So it’s not like the man was trying to be cold and harsh for the sake of being cold and harsh to Budke. It came off to me as a “tough love” approach, which was not how it was perceived by the masses at all. Sometimes when either Brands says something that is down to Earth and/or moderately sensitive, it goes totally unnoticed due to being upstaged by their own intensity.
You do get what you earn and because of that, there’s no need to feel sorry for Budke. It is pretty hard to dispute that logic from Brands. However, I will freely admit that I did and still do feel bad for Josh Budke for a couple of reasons. 1.) I feel bad that Budke’s career ended in such negative fashion that it gave him a bitter taste in his mouth about wrestling. Budke had a brilliant career that he should feel proud of. It is so unfortunate that something like this documentary would put a wrench in his personal feelings for the sport. He deserved a better send off than that. Ok, so maybe he wouldn’t make the lineup, but the embarrassment he endured as a result of a documentary that aired on ESPN and prompted tons of fans to ridicule him for years? Come on. He didn’t deserve that. And 2.) I feel bad for him because I don’t think he knew what he had gotten himself into when he agreed to be interviewed. I don’t think he had any idea that agreeing to simply be interviewed by them would result in his entire career and reputation being tarnished to those who didn’t know better. It’s not right that so many wrestlers end on a sour note that sticks with them especially considering the blood, sweat and tears they sacrificed for years.. My brother Justin had a great career and he couldn’t talk about wrestling for 10 years due to how bad his ending hurt his soul. It’s sad that so many wrestlers experience this. When a guy like Budke, a 3X state champ, calls it quits, he should feel proud of what he accomplished opposed to ashamed of himself because of how it ended, but that’s likely easier said than done in his case, for his situation was laid out in a manner in which constant reminders of the dark phase is a certainty.
Budke was always one of my favorite wrestlers growing up and I have always refused to let “The Season” affect the way I perceive Josh Budke because I was always pretty confident that there was a lot of B.S. included to create dramatic effect. I felt like the entire Hawkeyes squad was misrepresented to some degree. I knew that team… knew many of them personally. Saw them all the time at college opens when I was wrestling at Loras. The Hawkeye wrestlers could most certainly be a grouchy crew at these events, but I don’t blame them for not wanting to discuss some forgotten AAU match they had from 1993 with some spazzy D3 guy that they forgot about. Outside these events though, every one of them that I ran into were fun to be around and good people. Not nearly as “robot-caveman” as the filmmakers would like you to believe.
Josh Budke was nice enough to provide an inside look at his experiences while interacting with the crew who put The Season together. Josh Budke… a guy who dedicated a large portion of his life to wrestling and was sent off with media-ringworm. I think this man’s voice deserves to be heard.
ESPN’s documentary on the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team called “The Season,” depicted you in a manner that I assume was not flattering to you. What was your experience with that? Did you feel like it depicted you accurately?
JOSH BUDKE: Yeah, not flattering is a nice way to say it. My wife and I do not watch reality TV the same way now, that is for sure. It was an interestingexperience to be part of the process and aspects were accurate, but they also did a great job of making it very dramatic. I can honestly say I did not realize the camera had followed me a couple times and you get used to them being around, so you are not looking for it either. Nothing was staged so it was all real, but the documentary material that was chosen was certainly used to forward the story lines they wanted and put forth a certain narrative.
I can say honestly that it has taken me years of processing my failures at Iowa to be ok discussing this, but my hope is to answer some of the questions and comments I have heard over the years and maybe add some insight.
If you watched it, you would swear I never won a match that year! After the first few weeks of the season and before tryouts I was something like 12-2. One bad loss at a Missouri tournament and I ended up 3rd. At the Omaha tournament I lost to Dylan Long from UNI in the quarters or Semi’s and ended up 3rd again. Bad way to start the year when you arelooking to earn the starting spot.
A couple weeks into the season and it was the day of tryouts. This is when the documentary gets underway and when I first knew what was going onregarding ESPN. That day I walked out into Carver (Hawkeye arena) by myself just to get acclimated to the lights and space before the matches got underway. Carver was empty other than a couple guys sitting there talking in the front row. I just wandered over to make small talk and had no idea who they were. One guy asks me some questions about who I was, and I just keep answering and chatting these guys up trying to keep my nerves in check. Next thing he says is “Hey, we are from ESPN and we are following the team around this year” “Would you mind if we ask you a few questions sometime, and we may follow you around a little and get some footage” As a 5th year Senior, I had been waiting for a long time to be the top guy as I had wrestled only a couple varsity matches as a Sophomore, otherwise I was sitting behind Schwab and Zadick and TJ Williams. So, I agreed. In my mind it was going to be my spot that year and I was going to be an All-American and how cool was it going to be to have that documented by ESPN. I thought about Jesse Whitmer and I was going to do the same thing he did. Never crossed my mind that it could go the other way.
So, I lose a very close tryout to Moffit at 141. Crushed by that I go up the room to blow off some steam on the bike. Zero clue anyone was around as tryouts are still going on at that point. No idea they captured that footage. Not long after that Zadick gets banged up so I get to travel out East with the team in case I need to wrestle 149. Zalesky never really tells me if I am wrestling or not but just to be ready. Really bad wrestling strategy on my part with a ranked guy from Penn. That ended up being a really long weekend with some interesting footage for the show.
As the season progresses, I had my opportunities. Whether at Midlands or other open tournaments to make my case for the starting spot. I never did that.
One funny side note. Right after we get married my wife and I were watching it live the summer as it came out (she has never watched it since). The last episode is closing out and all of sudden we see footage from our wedding. A few upset phone calls later we found out that while we were on our honeymoon, ESPN reached out to our family and one of our parents sent the ESPN crew our wedding tape. We had no clue.
REMEMBER THE WRESTLER: JOSH BUDKE
http://thepindoctors.com/index.php/...restler-josh-budke-cedar-falls-iowa-hawkeyes/
JOSH BUDKE WEIGHS IN ON ESPN’S THE SEASON
http://thepindoctors.com/index.php/2020/05/22/josh-budke-weighs-in-on-espns-the-season/
Several years ago, ESPN produced a documentary about Iowa Hawkeye wrestling called “The Season.” I have always hated this documentary. I got the vibe that the footage/material was tailored to create a false impression to ensure that whatever narrative they had in mind was followed. I have always been skeptical of that documentary’s intentions.
The wrestler who had the most negative experience with this documentary was Josh Budke. Budke was in his final season of college and struggling to make the lineup for the Iowa Hawkeyes at the time. The ESPN crew caught him at one of the most stressful phases of his life. And with the skits they cherrypicked, I mean chose to use for the documentary, they painted this picture of him as if he never won any of the matches he wrestled (which wasn’t the case) and as if he were feeling sorry for himself. The part of the documentary that stood out to fans was Tom Brands’s thoughts on Budke and his situation. Here is a short clip That includes it:
Budke took a ton of crap for that. Internet badasses freely and regularly called him names, disrespected him, disregarded everything he had done prior to that, etc. Not to mention, the overwhelming majority of people who watched it, couldn’t stop talking about how cold and harsh Tom Brands came off when he made the “I don’t feel sorry for Josh Budke. You get what you earn” comment. This wasn’t fair to Tom Brands either, for everyone seemed to not hear the part where he said he would want nothing more than for Budke to succeed. So it’s not like the man was trying to be cold and harsh for the sake of being cold and harsh to Budke. It came off to me as a “tough love” approach, which was not how it was perceived by the masses at all. Sometimes when either Brands says something that is down to Earth and/or moderately sensitive, it goes totally unnoticed due to being upstaged by their own intensity.
You do get what you earn and because of that, there’s no need to feel sorry for Budke. It is pretty hard to dispute that logic from Brands. However, I will freely admit that I did and still do feel bad for Josh Budke for a couple of reasons. 1.) I feel bad that Budke’s career ended in such negative fashion that it gave him a bitter taste in his mouth about wrestling. Budke had a brilliant career that he should feel proud of. It is so unfortunate that something like this documentary would put a wrench in his personal feelings for the sport. He deserved a better send off than that. Ok, so maybe he wouldn’t make the lineup, but the embarrassment he endured as a result of a documentary that aired on ESPN and prompted tons of fans to ridicule him for years? Come on. He didn’t deserve that. And 2.) I feel bad for him because I don’t think he knew what he had gotten himself into when he agreed to be interviewed. I don’t think he had any idea that agreeing to simply be interviewed by them would result in his entire career and reputation being tarnished to those who didn’t know better. It’s not right that so many wrestlers end on a sour note that sticks with them especially considering the blood, sweat and tears they sacrificed for years.. My brother Justin had a great career and he couldn’t talk about wrestling for 10 years due to how bad his ending hurt his soul. It’s sad that so many wrestlers experience this. When a guy like Budke, a 3X state champ, calls it quits, he should feel proud of what he accomplished opposed to ashamed of himself because of how it ended, but that’s likely easier said than done in his case, for his situation was laid out in a manner in which constant reminders of the dark phase is a certainty.
Budke was always one of my favorite wrestlers growing up and I have always refused to let “The Season” affect the way I perceive Josh Budke because I was always pretty confident that there was a lot of B.S. included to create dramatic effect. I felt like the entire Hawkeyes squad was misrepresented to some degree. I knew that team… knew many of them personally. Saw them all the time at college opens when I was wrestling at Loras. The Hawkeye wrestlers could most certainly be a grouchy crew at these events, but I don’t blame them for not wanting to discuss some forgotten AAU match they had from 1993 with some spazzy D3 guy that they forgot about. Outside these events though, every one of them that I ran into were fun to be around and good people. Not nearly as “robot-caveman” as the filmmakers would like you to believe.
Josh Budke was nice enough to provide an inside look at his experiences while interacting with the crew who put The Season together. Josh Budke… a guy who dedicated a large portion of his life to wrestling and was sent off with media-ringworm. I think this man’s voice deserves to be heard.
ESPN’s documentary on the Iowa Hawkeye wrestling team called “The Season,” depicted you in a manner that I assume was not flattering to you. What was your experience with that? Did you feel like it depicted you accurately?
JOSH BUDKE: Yeah, not flattering is a nice way to say it. My wife and I do not watch reality TV the same way now, that is for sure. It was an interestingexperience to be part of the process and aspects were accurate, but they also did a great job of making it very dramatic. I can honestly say I did not realize the camera had followed me a couple times and you get used to them being around, so you are not looking for it either. Nothing was staged so it was all real, but the documentary material that was chosen was certainly used to forward the story lines they wanted and put forth a certain narrative.
I can say honestly that it has taken me years of processing my failures at Iowa to be ok discussing this, but my hope is to answer some of the questions and comments I have heard over the years and maybe add some insight.
If you watched it, you would swear I never won a match that year! After the first few weeks of the season and before tryouts I was something like 12-2. One bad loss at a Missouri tournament and I ended up 3rd. At the Omaha tournament I lost to Dylan Long from UNI in the quarters or Semi’s and ended up 3rd again. Bad way to start the year when you arelooking to earn the starting spot.
A couple weeks into the season and it was the day of tryouts. This is when the documentary gets underway and when I first knew what was going onregarding ESPN. That day I walked out into Carver (Hawkeye arena) by myself just to get acclimated to the lights and space before the matches got underway. Carver was empty other than a couple guys sitting there talking in the front row. I just wandered over to make small talk and had no idea who they were. One guy asks me some questions about who I was, and I just keep answering and chatting these guys up trying to keep my nerves in check. Next thing he says is “Hey, we are from ESPN and we are following the team around this year” “Would you mind if we ask you a few questions sometime, and we may follow you around a little and get some footage” As a 5th year Senior, I had been waiting for a long time to be the top guy as I had wrestled only a couple varsity matches as a Sophomore, otherwise I was sitting behind Schwab and Zadick and TJ Williams. So, I agreed. In my mind it was going to be my spot that year and I was going to be an All-American and how cool was it going to be to have that documented by ESPN. I thought about Jesse Whitmer and I was going to do the same thing he did. Never crossed my mind that it could go the other way.
So, I lose a very close tryout to Moffit at 141. Crushed by that I go up the room to blow off some steam on the bike. Zero clue anyone was around as tryouts are still going on at that point. No idea they captured that footage. Not long after that Zadick gets banged up so I get to travel out East with the team in case I need to wrestle 149. Zalesky never really tells me if I am wrestling or not but just to be ready. Really bad wrestling strategy on my part with a ranked guy from Penn. That ended up being a really long weekend with some interesting footage for the show.
As the season progresses, I had my opportunities. Whether at Midlands or other open tournaments to make my case for the starting spot. I never did that.
One funny side note. Right after we get married my wife and I were watching it live the summer as it came out (she has never watched it since). The last episode is closing out and all of sudden we see footage from our wedding. A few upset phone calls later we found out that while we were on our honeymoon, ESPN reached out to our family and one of our parents sent the ESPN crew our wedding tape. We had no clue.
