I’m not really a fan of this Pacific Daylight Time thing … waking up at 4:30 in the morning without any particular reason might be some of it. Or by the time we finished dinner last night, the Lakers-Celtics game was already over.
I’m not a roundball fan much anymore, but it did allow me to watch the Angels at a reasonable “daylight” hour at the Sportsbook here in the Excalibur.
Last night, we grubbed at rumjungle over in the Mandalay Bay. Bangin’ food, that’s all I can say. Ambience was pretty good and it had probably the biggest bar I’d ever seen.
Anyway, we’ve got some Exec. Board meetings rolling around right now downstairs in the conference rooms – I had to run upstairs to get some work done and plan my airport runs. I’m wearing the boot in the room, but no way am I wearing that thing in the casino. Achilles’ be damned.
Here’s what we’ve got today on the Four Points … oh, it’s 82 and sunny … 20 degrees cooler than yesterday.
Yakima Valley will OK the women
Just a few months ago, Yakima Valley Community College’s wrestling program was in danger of being cut. With a high female student body ratio as it relates to the (misguided) prong one of Title IX, the school was potentially looking at dropping it. Well, in a matter of weeks, there was discussion about adding women’s wrestling as an alternative to the numbers, allowing the school to keep much of the financial structure in place. There was also some help from folks ponying up some money to keep the program afloat. Well, after initial hesitation, The Yakima Herald reports today the YVCC admins will be welcoming women to the team. Now the only issue I have here, is will it be a “team” or will it be women’s participants on the men’s side. Personally, they need the “team” dynamic – it will help the sport in the long run.
The Seven Deadly Sins
With the lawsuit filed from Equity in Athletics in Oregon aimed at halting the removal of Oregon’s wrestling program from the athletic dynamic in Eugene, the Save Oregon Wrestling movement has shown it’s still alive and kicking. With anywhere from $2.3-3 million raised (figures vary, depending on the newspaper) in less than a year, there’s plenty of evidence of support. Now, the SaveOregonWrestling.com web site has published the Seven Great Myths as it relates to the Oregon admins’ reasons for cutting wrestling. There should also be Seven Great Steps one should take to be an Athletics Director – Step #1: Graduate. Step #2: Have Experience. Step #3: Follow the Rules. #4: Rinse, Repeat.
Signing news
Well, it wasn’t really a signing, but Kevin Schlosser at The O-Zone.net is reporting Collin Palmer has announced a verbal commitment to join his brother Lance and compete for Ohio State. A few months back, this was rumored, but Schlosser, who has started www.buckeyewrestling.com as another outlet for wrestling news from Ohio State from the O-Zone.net, did get the go-ahead from Collin on this one. Palmer’s now the latest junior to announce a commitment, following last Tuesday’s revelation David Taylor was going to head to Ohio State.
Cal Baptist and new coach John Petty announced his first signing class for the new NAIA program slated to start wrestling next season. Oregon’s Kyle Bounds, founder of the Save Oregon Wrestling group on Facebook, has three years of eligibility remaining … and they won’t be in Eugene, unfortunately. Bounds has announced a transfer to Michigan State and is the second starter to have announced a transfer in the past month. Heavyweight and NCAA qualifier Charlie Alexander, an Oregon native, is transferring to Division II Western State (Colo.) College to play football and wrestle.
Getting to Know hopefuls
This might speak volumes about the interest in international wrestling in this country. For as much as we clamor about coverage and for interesting things about wrestlers – when folks who wrestle the international styles are featured, the response is rather minimal. We’ve featured eight Olympic hopefuls coming into this weekend’s Olympic Trials (with free teases to the Premium Service), yet the response has been absolutely … well, disappointing. Perhaps the fact we’re not focusing on men’s freestyle could be the tell-tale sign, but then again, contacting 20-or-so athletes and only having two of the freestylers respond – and only one actually answer – Mo Lawal (Featured tomorrow), might shows us the double standard among wrestling fans to start with (not all, but in large).
The Greco-Roman wrestlers have been quick to respond, as have the women we’ve featured. We didn’t contact as many Greco folks, but guess what, we’ve gotten nearly a 75 percent return rate. These are people American wrestling fans NEED to know about, rather than re-hashing the college careers of the freestylers all the time.
Yes, I support all our athletes who represent our country, regardless of style, I just wish more fans would do the same thing. Apathy, I tell ya!
Do you know much about Marcie Van Dusen?
1 Comment
June 18, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Re: YVCC wrestling: “Now the only issue I have here, is will it be a “team” or will it be women’s participants on the men’s side. ”
The short answer is yes and no. The administration there does not consider the women to be a separate team, since there is no NJCAA women’s wrestling. However, the boosters have come up with money for separate coaches and scholarships. At any rate I suspect the women will practice with the men and the men’s competition schedule has been adjusted so many of the events have a women’s division too.