Nearly 30,000 fans attended the Iowa vs. Minnesota and Iowa vs. Penn State dual meets over the past two weeks, and those numbers lend to the idea that dual meets can pack the house and make press. So why not embrace the dual meets and the potential of the National Duals to provide more of the same?
There is no rational reason to distance wrestling from a dual meet format outside of a reluctance to "risk" the success of the NCAA tournament. But if nearly 30,000 people witnessed a pair of dual meet matches and 20,000 fans visit three 12-hour days of wrestling, aren't we missing an opportunity?
Of course we are.
Time to hit the lights on the idea that NCAA tournament is the only way to generate interest and income in the sport of wrestling. Back the duals and back progress.
To your questions ...
Q: Everyone's ideas still have riding time at one minute. In order to create more action, wouldn't we want to shorten the window of riding time rather than keep it at one minute, but still have a way to reward a wrestler who is working towards nearfall points or the fall?
Instead of having a riding-time clock, have a clock set for 25 seconds. When a wrestler gets a take down and establishes control, the clock starts. The wrestler has 25 seconds to get nearfall points. If after 25 seconds, no nearfall points are established, wrestlers start back in neutral position and the bottom wrestler does not get a point for an escape. If nearfall points are awarded, a new 25-second clock is started for the top wrestler to acquire more nearfall points.
This promotes action from the top wrestler to be working towards a fall. It rewards the bottom wrestler as well for escaping in a 25-second window. It eliminates riding snooze-fest without added nearfall points or pins. The time allowed could be adjusted but I think it would definitely bring up the intensity factor.
-- Justin L.
Foley: The shot clock in international wrestling has been very successful in creating points and driving action. I don't see why your solution wouldn't generate the same type of action on the mat. Even if wrestlers attempted to stall for 25 seconds, the top man would be incentivized to act as well.
The riding time issue should be solved in the next few years, but what should change and what will change are always separated by miles of bureaucracy and the self-interest of those in positions of authority.
Q: Over the last five years, the Big Ten has always brought a "Power 3" to the NCAAs: Penn State, Iowa and Minnesota. Based on the InterMat rankings, only Chris Dardanes (Minnesota, 133) and Dylan Ness (Minnesota, 157) are ranked No. 1. Both guys are far from locks. This year could we see a scenario where none of the Big Ten Power 3 crowns an NCAA champion.
Naturally, all three schools have a decent chance at crowning a champion at almost any weight class. Still, it's a safe bet that Penn State will have no champions, probably a 50/50 that Iowa does not crown a champ, and not out of the realm of possibility that Minnesota doesn't see a champion either.
Is this a commentary on the parity of wrestling? Has a team won the NCAAs without crowning a single champion?
-- Chuck R.
Iowa freshman Brandon Sorensen defeated Penn State's Zack Beitz to improve to 27-2 this season (Photo/Bill Ennis)Parity has everything to do with this type of spread in talent. Sure, Penn State is "down" and Iowa is solid across without having a standout leader, but add in Minnesota's lineup and it seems like less of a coincidence.
I think that one of these schools will have an NCAA champion, if only because Iowa has a nasty habit of putting believers into the finals and Brandon Sorensen strikes me as a true believer. The opportunity will be available to all three schools and should happen, but your point remains in good standing.
Schools like Cornell, Illinois and Northwestern are becoming adept at creating one, two or three NCAA champions in a season. That's not a fluke. That's coaching and institutional support. Drew Pariano has done a phenomenal job collecting and curating talent, so much so that it's possible that Northwestern has two NCAA champions this year (Jason Tsirtsis and Mike McMullan) while Penn State, Iowa and Minnesota are blanked.
Parity is the new normal, which oddly also explains why Iowa's resurgence this year is so comforting -- in a sea of change it's inviting to have a favorite team (or heel) for which to base your cheer section.
As for the never-have's it was the infamous Minnesota team of 2001 that put no wrestlers in the NCAA finals, but placed all 10 wrestlers to win the NCAA championship.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Jason Bryant interviews Matthew Modine (Louden Swain) on the 30th anniversary of Vision Quest
Sometimes I love brutality
Post by DJ Reminise.
Q: You've probably already addressed or thought about addressing this topic, but I was extremely disappointed with the lack of results provided for some of the big international tournaments recently. I know United World Wrestling has done a lot recently to improve the product on the mat, but I am still amazed that in this day and age, we are unable to get any sort of live/semi-live results for a tournament as big as the Yarygin International.
Even in instances where there have been updates to brackets, the interactive brackets provided online have been extremely clunky to navigate. I know this may be a small, nit-picky thing, but it's been extremely aggravating to me, and I'm sure to others as well. If UWW wants the fans to be more engaged, providing better ways to find the results would be a good place to start
-- Gabe S.
Foley: Full disclosure: I am the media and editorial manager for United World Wrestling.
With that out of the way, I know that I can best describe to you the errors you see and how there are things in motion to create some positive change. The old system "Heracles" is being replaced with "Arena."
The system can be adapted to produce results in a much-less clunky manner and will do so soon, but as with anything new it will take some time to implement and to teach to 179 national federations. I know it's tough to ask for patience, but do know that everyone has the same goal.
In the meantime, the United World Wrestling events on the calendar (World, Continental and Grand Prix championships) will largely have streaming, live results and previews/wraps. Some, like the Asian Junior Championships in Myanmar, will be difficult to guarantee Internet connectivity. While that might frustrate fans for a moment, remember that it's important to grow the sport in new locations.
This also goes for this weekend's Granma y Cerro Pelado in Cuba. United World Wrestling adds it to the calendar to ensure that wrestlers will attend, but it doesn't imply that we have a presence at the event.
In the meantime be sure to check out the site as often as possible and hopefully you'll see positive change!
Comment of the Week
By Matt C.
Regarding last week's comments with riding time I think this falls more on the poor officiating rather than the concept. Point being, if the wrestler in the advantage position isn't warned for stalling then nothing changes in tight matches, especially with high-level wrestlers and who's to blame them? I'd do the same thing.
I haven't been more disappointed than I have been this past year, especially with the new out-of-bounds stalling rule, which could work if called according to the creation of this, and my final thought to you regarding the Mike Evans takedown, I personally loved the call due to the rule. There shouldn't be reaction time for the defensive wrestler in sudden victory. Get it done in regulation.
I truly hope our sport takes it to the next level by creating rules that would bring more fans to the sport as I believe it's an exceptional one that teaches life lessons like no other.
Your definitive Big Ten undefeated wrestler entry
By Russ Ruhf (State College, Pa.) and Larry Ruhf (Herndon, Va.)
Ever since the end of last season, when I learned that both Ed Ruth (59-0) and David Taylor (56-0) finished their remarkable wrestling careers without losing to any Big Ten competition, my father Russ and I wondered if any other wrestler had achieved such an amazing feat.
One might think if anyone else could make this boast, it would only take a couple of Internet searches to learn the answer. Much to our surprise, it was a lengthy and painstaking endeavor. In our pursuit, we sent several emails and made phone calls, all of which helped us to narrow the list. Then, and thanks to Ray's article, we learned that Tom Milkovich was the first wrestler to finish his Big Ten career undefeated against all other Big Ten competition. Ray goes on to mention that Ed Ruth also equaled this, " ... seemingly unreachable mark." However, since Tom and Ed, there are others.
As you probably know, there have been 13 four-time Big Ten champions:
Verne Gagne, Minnesota: 1944 (175), 1947 (HWT), 1948 (191),1949 (HWT)
Arnold Plaza, Purdue: 1947, 1949-50 (121), 1948 (114 1/2)
Joe Scarpello, Iowa: 1947-48-49-50 (175)
Tom Milkovich, MSU: 1970-71 (134), 1972-73 (142)
Mike DeAnna, Iowa: 1977-78-79-81 (167)
Ed Banach, Iowa: 1980-81-82 (177), 1983 (190)
Barry Davis, Iowa: 1981-82, (118), 1983-85 (126)
Duane Goldman, Iowa: 1983-84 (177), 1985-86 (190)
Jim Heffernan, Iowa: 1983-85-86-87 (155)
Mark Ironside, Iowa: 1995-96-97-98 (134)
Kellen Russell, Michigan: 2008-09-11-12 (141)
Ed Ruth, Penn State: 2011-12 (174), 2013-14 (184)
David Taylor, Penn State: 2011 (157), 2012-13-14 (165)
Here's what we have learned:
The following four-time Big Ten champions have lost to Big Ten competition:
Iowa:
Joe Scarpello, Iowa (47-50)
Mike DeAnna ('77-'81)
Barry Davis ('81-'85)
Duane Goldman ('83-'86)
Jim Heffernan ('83-'87) - Russ called Jim, and Jim indicated he tied a Michigan State wrestler and thinks he lost his freshman year to a Big Ten opponent.
Mark Ironside ('95-'98)
Michigan:
Kellen Russell ('08-'12)
Minnesota:
Verne Gagne ('44-'49)
Purdue:
Arnold Plaza ('47-'50)
The following four-time Big Ten champions never lost to Big Ten competition:
Iowa:
Ed Banach ('80-'83), although he did have a tie with Steve Fraser from Michigan.
T.J. Williams ('99-'01), although he was only a three-time champion.
Michigan State:
Tom Milkovich ('70-'73)
Penn State:
Ed Ruth, Penn State ('11-'14)
David Taylor, Penn State ('11-'14)
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