Do you want to read a past mailbag? Access archives.
Chance Marsteller is arguably the best high school wrestler in the country right now. He wins a lot of wrestling matches in a state that really enjoys watching kids win wrestling matches.
Recently Chance switched his mind about which college to attend. Originally he chose to dress himself in Nittany Lion blue and take his cues from head wrestling coach Cael Sanderson. In as much as anything can make sense, a Pennsylvania boy staying home to compete in front of family and friends seemed a logical conclusion -- that the decision was made so early only reaffirmed that belief.
But then Chance posts on his Facebook that he will be attending Oklahoma State, the season's first big drama erupts and wrestling fans are scrambling to make sense of his actions.
Why?
I assume that Chance could outline a few reasons for his decision, but that would only cause more speculation and anger among fans. Ultimately it doesn't matter why he changed his mind. Chance is a teenager, and it's been my experience that most wrestlers his age have little to no clue what they want from their life outside their doctrine of "MORE." They want more championships, more attention, more free time, more friends, more sex, more Twitter followers.
The only way to predict the action of a teenage wrestler is to guess where you'll find MORE of the things he wants.
What's the MORE of Okie State? I don't have the faintest, and it doesn't matter to me in the least. Chance is a kid and he didn't make a bad decision by going to Oklahoma State, and it wasn't the right thing to do to go to Penn State. His school choice is his alone to make, and up until the day he steps foot on campus, he's within his rights to change his mind.
The villain, if there is one, is that the process has become much more visible to the public. The high school wrestlers whose accolades were once only spread across in the local paper are now splashed on Facebook and Twitter. A personal decision magnified by thousands of fans inside a growing sport.
Chance seems like a good kid and if he wants to wrestle for Okie State, Oregon State or the University of Virginia it's his decision to make and we should be nothing but supportive.
To your questions ...
Q: I have seen Logan Stieber billed as having a 60-2 overall record. But I am fairly sure he lost five matches as a true freshman before deciding to take a redshirt. Is it correct that those matches don't count against his overall record? How could that be?
-- Dan A.
Logan Stieber has two official losses in his college career (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Though I know this takes the GOAT wind from Logan Stieber's sails there is plenty of reason to think that despite his rash of true-freshman losses he still might make a claim for the title. It's my opinion that if Logan wins a fourth NCAA title, he'll be the most exciting of the four to perform the task. Logan's style is wide open, and although that has cost him some losses, he'll earn mention among the GOAT, because that type of wrestling helps endure you to the fanbase on an emotional level.
Q: Beast of the East, Super 32 Challenge, POWERade, Cheesehead, Freakshow, and Reno --
of these tournaments, which was is the toughest and why? How does a team decide which ones to go to? Can they go as an individual as well? With budget cuts how do these high schools afford to travel?
-- Gregg Y.
Foley: We are very fortunate at InterMat to have a high school wrestling expert who is well-informed on all matters of competition strength. Josh Lowe is the only guy to seek out for this type of insight, and though I don't often hand over the lectern for fear of never again being ceded the floor, I will go ahead and shove this over to Josh, who I think does a nice job explaining the differences.
The Super 32 Challenge and Freak Show are both out-of-season competitions; which means they are independent of the high school seasons, high schools, travel constraints, and any of that. Kids, parents, and club programs arrange travel logistics for those events. Therefore, comparing those two tournaments to any in-season events is an apples to oranges comparison.Q: Any insight into why Atlanta didn't make the list of finalists for host cities? I know the people here were very confident that they would be included.
Looking at those two events in particular, the Super 32 field was a much deeper and geographically broader field. Super 32 field was an East Coast and southeast primary event with some Midwest and plains states sprinkled in; Freak Show was a West Coast field with other areas sprinkled in. The threshold to place high in the Super 32 was greater than at the Freak Show, while the threshold to merely place and/or hit the round before placing top eight was WAY higher at the Super 32 (field was much superior in terms of depth, and the brackets were bigger).
In terms of in-season tournaments, I wrote an article last summer discussing some of the nation's top tournaments. Things remain relatively similar heading into the 2013-14 season.
When asking about travel arrangements for schools to in-season tournaments, it really is a case-by-case basis. Obviously some of those tournaments are local for teams; while in other cases, individual teams and/or booster clubs do fundraising.
-- Joel H.
Foley: I get the sense that they might not have applied. Do you know for certain that they sent in the initial bid paperwork?
I ask because when I contacted the NCAA they explained that their bid process is held entirely behind closed doors. According to their PR department:
It is our standard practice to not release the names of cities who have submitted bids for any of our championships. We do this for a number of reasons, including the protecting of the involved cities' interests on a number of levels.
We don't have any issue with individual cities publicly discussing their intents to, or actual submitting, bids to host future championships. That is obviously their prerogative to do. However, it is something we do not publicly discuss at this time.
Who knows if anything fishy is going on, but when compared with other major athletic organizations who launch bidding processes, the NCAA is utterly opaque. While the IOC and FILA haven't run pristine systems, the fans and those interested in the bidding process at least know who they're competing against. The NCAA keeps their process behind closed doors.
It's not shameful yet, but as the sport grows we deserve to know where the revenue is going, which cities are bidding, and why they are being rejected. Without an open process the NCAA is limiting the ability for secondary and tertiary host locations to get involved. Though I can't know for certain, it reeks of a god 'ol boys system where traditional bid cities in wrestling and other sports (Louisville) have an upper hand on the competition due to their access.
I'd love to know that my concerns are unwarranted, but when the process is closed to the public and the media it becomes anybody's guess.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Mark Cody and the Sooners look ready fro the 2013-14 season.
I mean ... c'mon, guys. This advertisement below makes me want to take up modern pentathlon or start a wrestling club where we compete in faux fur. Imagine you had a choice to wear or not wear a singlet. Would you instinctively choose a tight piece of shiny Lycra? Of course not.
Q: What ever happened to Jahwon Akui and Edwin Cooper? I know they both committed to Iowa Central Community College back in 2011. I remember reading somewhere that they were going to wrestle as true freshmen and then redshirt afterwards so that they can transfer to bigger schools and still have three years eligibility left. Where are they now?
-- William S.
Foley: Edwin Cooper made his way to the University of Iowa and almost immediately was arrested and charged for an assault near campus. He is enrolled at Upper Iowa.
Jahwon Akui is subject to plenty of rumors. There is a popular one that he might try for Arizona State, but will first need to finish his Associates.
Best of luck to both these young men!
Q: A while ago, Anderson Silva was asked whether he thought wrestling was a martial art or not. He said that it was his opinion that it was not a martial art, as it didn't incorporate any real life training against strikes and weapons. I can kind of see the point he was making, but I don't think he's quite right. Wrestling has been used to train men for war since ancient times, right?
-- Nolan
Foley: Anderson has a very narrow view of what constitutes a martial art. He also just got knocked unconscious by Chris Weidman so he's sensitive to saying nice things about the sport that was the main training ground for the new middleweight champion.
Of course wrestling is a martial art. No, it doesn't teach you how to defend against a knife wielding maniac in a defined way, but it does teach control and how best to transport an opponent from the feet to the ground.
Wrestling techniques have been incorporated in war training since the beginning of man. When the world didn't have bullets and bombs, it was hand-to-hand combat and the ability to keep your feet that kept soldiers alive on the battlefield. Learning to wrestle, and competing outside of the battlefield is what kept Geghis Khan's armies in line. They took over the world.
Turkish soldiers are reported to have survived prison camps during the Korean War because they would spend their downtime wrestling, in part to show they couldn't be beaten psychologically, but also to show their enduring physical strength and maintain their unity. Other soldiers, including America's Army, had high mortality rates in part because they didn't communicate, or keep ranks like the Turks.
Today, soldiers around the world use wrestling to cobble together the various standing and ground techniques they look to employ. The ground portion of the Marine Corps Martial Arts program is particularly worthless if you have no mechanism by which to get an opponent to the mat.
So yes, Anderson Silva is full of shit.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
By Jordan L.
The matches at the NWCA All-Star classic were phenomenal. I don't think I've ever seen more, great & epic matches in a single night. However, the matches were overshadowed by the pageantry of the event. There were too many award ceremonies, introductions, breaks in the action, and exhibition matches.
The exhibition matches were excellent, by the way. Sahid Kargbo (GMU), David Terao (AU) ABSOLUTELY delivered with crazy, high-flying moves. But given that the most precious commodity we have is fans' attention spans, I believe that exhibition matches detract from the main event.
After the exhibition matches there was an introduction ceremony, which was unnecessary because each wrestler was introduced prior to their respective bouts. After all, isn't it the announcer's job to tell the stories of our wrestlers and their coaches just before and during the respective matches? I also believe that we need to do a better job telling/promoting the stories of each of our athletes. Each wrestler should have a story that is communicated to the fan and general public as much as possible.
I was on a planning committee for last year's Classic, and we interviewed each competitor, asked them a series of unique questions, and published it in our program.
I also believe we need to come up with best practices for dual meets and marquee events, and hold the schools who run the events accountable to following them. Example: Address the program that is running four exhibition matches prior to a dual meet for boring the fans. Big or small, every single event that involves wrestling is representative of our sport, and we need to remember that as we continue to plan marquee matches.
Lastly, we should never allow our wrestling fans to endure a three-plus hour event. Instead, we should try and end events leaving our spectators wanting more.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now