It’s just about quittin’ time here on what is an absolutely spectacular day in Amish Country. The birds are chirping, there’s some clouds in the sky … and the air is just right for … well, again, another reference I can’t quite make.
One of the best things about it warming up is when a staff member reluctantly makes a trip over to the new Dunkin Donuts in Mt. Joy, about three miles down the road from our digs here on Auction Road. I don’t really go for the coffee much, but right behind Dunkin is one of the greatest inventions of all time.
Yes, I’m talking about Rita’s Ice … man, oh man is that stuff the bomb diggity. Today, Mango Gelati. Ah, seriously, the brain freeze is working its magic.
Apparently there are some basketball and hockey playoffs going on. Let’s see, the NBA playoffs started in April and will end somewhere around the time Voyager circles Uranus and comes screeching back to earth.
Ugh, I loathe roundball. I used to be a fan, following the Orlando Magic from its inception during the 1989-90 season.
I still have vividly horrible memories of the 1995 NBA Finals as Nick Anderson blew four free throws, where only one of which would have iced Game 1 of the series. Then to my horror, Vernon Maxwell’s prayer at the buzzer to force overtime and then and eventual sweep by the Houston Rockets.
Yeah, I have some bad memories of roundball.
Weather: 72 degrees and too nice to be inside.
Gas: Same as yesterday.
Answer to Yesterday’s Trivia Question: The S.S. Minnow.
Who is the mystery man?
Getting word around the water cooler the Maryland coaching search has another wrinkle to it. Some coaches have been interviewed, but now, a shadowy figure could be lurking around College Park. With only crude and cryptic text messages and e-mails being traded, it’ll take the longest game of Super Password to figure it out.
I know you’re toiling over the fact we have some interest, and some good interest for an ACC job … or is it more shock someone in their 20’s mentioned “Super Password” as a pop-culture reference.
So who’s lurking around Terpland that wasn’t one of the three teases I dropped the other day? I’m curious to know myself. Looks like even the moles are in the dark on this one.
Have I mentioned lately how much rankings annoy me?
It’s bad enough college rankings threw me an added curveball this year with Las Vegas counting in all rankings but not counting for NCAA seeding purposes, but it gets worse.
This year, I was pretty disappointed in myself for not getting more sets of high school rankings completed. But, as you’ve heard me discuss several times (not as an excuse, mind you), InterMat is a full-time staff of 10 … fingers.
So even though we’re past all the high school all-star events, the InterMat H.S. rankings are currently in the draft, overview and pulling-out-your-hair stages. We go 20 deep on the All-Class, 12 deep on Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores. We were going for an All-Underclass last year, but due to redundancy, and angry parents, we kept with our standard four sets.
One such discussion I’m having with my staff (translation: myself) is what do to at 171 pounds. We’ve got some stellar wrestlers, like PA’s Quentin Wright, Illinois’ Chris Spangler, Michigan’s Ben Bennett and Iowa’s Grant Gambrall.
Here’s the funky thing. Bennett wins NHSCA Seniors, where neither of the other three are involved. Spangler beats Gambrall during the season, Wright beats Spangler at the Dapper Dan and Gambrall beats Wright at the Dream Team Classic.
Who the heck is #1? I know who others have chosen, but this is going to involve some thought … thankfully for most of us who read the boards, there isn’t a NY kid in the equation, which could really complicate things. Only kidding.
Bring in the women
Yesterday afternoon, women’s wrestler and web design bad@ss Danielle Hobeika pointed to a story posted over at themat.com on another women’s college wrestling program. It again goes to the NAIA and Lindenwood University.
What made the move even more notable was Lindenwood naming an alum, a young one at that, to the head coaching position. Jake Dieffenbach, who finished his last year of eligibility at Oklahoma State, was a two-time NAIA national champion for coach Joe Parisi. He’ll return to guide the newest addition to the large Lindenwood sports line-up.
This brings the total list of women’s varsity college programs to eight, and seven of them are in the NAIA. What is it going to take for the NCAA to recognize women’s wrestling as an “emerging sport?” I frequently use women’s bowling as my whipping post when discussing emerging sports … that or equestrian, where I again ask, who is on scholarship, the rider or the horse? Ok, not exactly fair, so I’ll apologize, but there is currently only ONE NCAA program which sponsors women’s wrestling — Division III Pacific University in Oregon. (More on the NWCA Program Entrenchment Page)
Maybe a quick way to get more clubs at the NCAA level is what the NCWA women’s wrestling movement is doing, piggybacking off the success of its men’s division and creating a folkstyle women’s division at the same set of schools, most of which are associated with the NCAA. This could give the numbers of “clubs” needed to make the NCAA grant “emerging sport” status to women’s wrestling.
It’s an Olympic sport and has been growing year after year. There’s more women’s wrestlers in high school than women’s rowers, yet there are a slew of SCHOLARSHIP women’s rowing teams … and scholarships going to women who’ve never even put an oar in the water.
Women’s wrestling NEEDS to be an NCAA emerging sport. I wonder if the NCAA is going to look down at the NAIA and say, “what the heck are they doing down there?”
In the last month or two, we’ve seen programs added at Jamestown College in North Dakota, Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis and now Lindenwood. Sweet.
Finally this …
We got word yesterday about Mike Chapman stepping down as the man behind the Dan Gable Wrestling Institute and Museum. Chapman, a long-time scribe for the sport of wrestling and author of more than 3 billion books (ok, 19) on wrestling, branches the DGWIM from the old days of real professional shoot wrestling and Catch as Catch Can (I think that’s how you say it, I always say it wrong) to the modern-day collegiate wrestling era.
If you haven’t read Mike’s columns in W.I.N., I’d highly suggest it. He brings a wealth of old-school knowledge to the new-school game.
Funny thing is … I’ve been covering wrestling for, I dunno, 10-11 years or something like that, and I’ve never met the guy. Maybe now he’s working on some screenplays and more books, we’ll cross paths.
I’m always in need of some background extra wrestling-announcer role.
Good luck Mike!
2 Comments
May 3, 2008 at 8:44 am
Clearly, you need to rank Spangler first, because he’s from Illinois, and people from Illinois are the coolest.
May 3, 2008 at 9:19 am
Let the arguments begin – Gambrall.
But seriously – major kudos go out to Lindenwood and all of the schools that are adding women’s wrestling. However – are we putting the cart before the horse (something Horace N Buggy would know not to do)? Would it make more sense to get more girls competing at the middle school and high school level first? Are we giving girls enough opportunity develop an interest in the sport? Do we inhibit that interest by forcing girls to compete with boys in most states? The state of Texas arrived late at the “interscholastic wrestling” party, but one thing the did right when they finally decided to join in was offer separate opportunities for boys and girls. I’m 100% behind all colleges that are willing to add wrestling opportunities for women, but wouldn’t that be more easily done if built upon a solid foundation of girl’s interscholastic participation?
BTW – since you mentioned Danielle, she recently sent me a link to http://www.thewomensmat.com. Check it out.