Wrestling Blogs - Martin Floreani
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No More Communism
April 1, 2008
In St. Louis when I was covering the NCAAs I received an email that I found interesting to me. It was from the NWMA (National Wrestling Media Association). It was a press release on giving the media awards for 2007-8 year. I opened it eagerly knowing that it was going to be pretty tough to snub flowrestling again this year on every single award including web site of the year. But sure enough the powers at be found a way.
This act is significant because it shows how the powers at be are trying to "rig the vote" in an effort to change perception hoping that this will change reality because they see flowrestling as a threat. It reminds me of an election in the USSR or China where the government speaks through their state run tv station and newspaper making an official statement of the official outcome of the rigged vote. Im not belittling the winner, Mike Bare from Illinoismatmen.com (winner of the national website of the year). I respect what he does and I believe he does more with his forum site than many others. But really to ignore what flowrestling.org has accomplished is symbolic of the decision making ability and the overall mindset of the "leaders" of this sport.
To list just a few things that Flowrestling has accomplished and committed to this year:
• We covered, with extensive video, 43 of the largest and best events in the nation on all levels.
• Traveled to 21 different states to cover wrestling....California, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, North Dakota, and Florida.
• Did video Features at 25 Collegiate Division 1 wrestling programs
• Did Features videos with High schools like Blair, St PAris Graham, Sandburg, Los Gatos, David Brealy and clubs like Team Overtime, Edge, Premeir, and Team Central
• Introduced a new video storage system FREE to every high school and college and wrestler.
• Signed up over 15,000 to join Flowrestlr
• Traveled with the World Team to Azerbaijan and did video coverage of their behind the scenes experiences.
• Did behind the scenes training videos and team talks of the team prior to the World Championships
• Became the largest wrestling website in the world in terms of the amount of visitors coming and content available.
• Have thousands of interviews up of hundreds of the best wrestlers coaches and promoters of wrestling in the nation and world available for FREE for anybody to learn about wrestling when ever they choose.
• Have the largest library of videos available online to the wrestling community all of which are free and most of which are open to anybody.
I went up to Jay Hammond, a guy who does great things with stats and wrestling history but is a major part of NWMA, and asked him what was up with the decision. He told me that when he mentioned flowrestling as a definite possibility for the award but that Jason Bryant an employee of NWCA (National Wrestling Coaches Association) and Vice President of the NWMA who also runs intermatwrestle.com said we shouldn't be considered so we weren't. He stated, according to Jay Hammond, that we have copyrighted material on our site and thus we shouldn't be considered.
Its ironic that an employee of the NWCA brings up concerns about ethics when the NWCAs relationship with intermatwrestle.com is totally unethical. Wrestling's best interest is a healthy and hearty competition of media sites covering wrestling. The NWCA exists to help wrestling. However the NWCAs financial interest is only for their media companies success which means beating out other media companies.
This would be kinda like if the government owned a newspaper and made rules and gave only certain access to this newspaper. Sounds a lot like communist country.
Is it a coincidence that intermatwrestle.com has the only compilation of results of NCAA wrestling on the internet? Is it a coincidence that before they had an arrangement with the NCAA that all college programs had to enter them on the NWCA online that their results were inaccurate and inconsistent? Thats rhetorical.
I also found it interesting how someone at the NWCA has so much influence over the NWMA.
This snub is a small example of a bigger mindset that the NWMA and employees of the NWCA hold. Reminds me of a communist decision making, totally inept. Once again these organizations have shown their ability not to be visionaries but to be followers. They react instead of see opportunity and embrace it.
The NWCA is fat with infrastructure that ends up taxing the sport in the name of helping wrestling. Media outlets across the nation grumble at such an inappropriate relationship. This relationship is unethical. The NWCA is suppose to run a company and look out for the best interest of wrestling? Mike Moyer, the leader of the NCWA, has set up a communistic sport. And just like communism was defeated by capitalism, wrestling is being defeated by other sports that maintain a healthy capitalistic environment. Point and Case the dropping of the University of Oregon program for baseball. NOTE: Anyone can download a list of results and detailed stats free for all NCAA baseball.
Wrestling needs a visionary to see how the landscape is going and embrace things like flowrestling.
When I read the email of the media awards at St. Louis I laughed and then got motivated, not to win any award but because the communistic and unethical mindset needs to be completely removed from our leadership in one way or another. One step with one fan at a time.
This act is significant because it shows how the powers at be are trying to "rig the vote" in an effort to change perception hoping that this will change reality because they see flowrestling as a threat. It reminds me of an election in the USSR or China where the government speaks through their state run tv station and newspaper making an official statement of the official outcome of the rigged vote. Im not belittling the winner, Mike Bare from Illinoismatmen.com (winner of the national website of the year). I respect what he does and I believe he does more with his forum site than many others. But really to ignore what flowrestling.org has accomplished is symbolic of the decision making ability and the overall mindset of the "leaders" of this sport.
To list just a few things that Flowrestling has accomplished and committed to this year:
• We covered, with extensive video, 43 of the largest and best events in the nation on all levels.
• Traveled to 21 different states to cover wrestling....California, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, North Dakota, and Florida.
• Did video Features at 25 Collegiate Division 1 wrestling programs
• Did Features videos with High schools like Blair, St PAris Graham, Sandburg, Los Gatos, David Brealy and clubs like Team Overtime, Edge, Premeir, and Team Central
• Introduced a new video storage system FREE to every high school and college and wrestler.
• Signed up over 15,000 to join Flowrestlr
• Traveled with the World Team to Azerbaijan and did video coverage of their behind the scenes experiences.
• Did behind the scenes training videos and team talks of the team prior to the World Championships
• Became the largest wrestling website in the world in terms of the amount of visitors coming and content available.
• Have thousands of interviews up of hundreds of the best wrestlers coaches and promoters of wrestling in the nation and world available for FREE for anybody to learn about wrestling when ever they choose.
• Have the largest library of videos available online to the wrestling community all of which are free and most of which are open to anybody.
I went up to Jay Hammond, a guy who does great things with stats and wrestling history but is a major part of NWMA, and asked him what was up with the decision. He told me that when he mentioned flowrestling as a definite possibility for the award but that Jason Bryant an employee of NWCA (National Wrestling Coaches Association) and Vice President of the NWMA who also runs intermatwrestle.com said we shouldn't be considered so we weren't. He stated, according to Jay Hammond, that we have copyrighted material on our site and thus we shouldn't be considered.
Its ironic that an employee of the NWCA brings up concerns about ethics when the NWCAs relationship with intermatwrestle.com is totally unethical. Wrestling's best interest is a healthy and hearty competition of media sites covering wrestling. The NWCA exists to help wrestling. However the NWCAs financial interest is only for their media companies success which means beating out other media companies.
This would be kinda like if the government owned a newspaper and made rules and gave only certain access to this newspaper. Sounds a lot like communist country.
Is it a coincidence that intermatwrestle.com has the only compilation of results of NCAA wrestling on the internet? Is it a coincidence that before they had an arrangement with the NCAA that all college programs had to enter them on the NWCA online that their results were inaccurate and inconsistent? Thats rhetorical.
I also found it interesting how someone at the NWCA has so much influence over the NWMA.
This snub is a small example of a bigger mindset that the NWMA and employees of the NWCA hold. Reminds me of a communist decision making, totally inept. Once again these organizations have shown their ability not to be visionaries but to be followers. They react instead of see opportunity and embrace it.
The NWCA is fat with infrastructure that ends up taxing the sport in the name of helping wrestling. Media outlets across the nation grumble at such an inappropriate relationship. This relationship is unethical. The NWCA is suppose to run a company and look out for the best interest of wrestling? Mike Moyer, the leader of the NCWA, has set up a communistic sport. And just like communism was defeated by capitalism, wrestling is being defeated by other sports that maintain a healthy capitalistic environment. Point and Case the dropping of the University of Oregon program for baseball. NOTE: Anyone can download a list of results and detailed stats free for all NCAA baseball.
Wrestling needs a visionary to see how the landscape is going and embrace things like flowrestling.
When I read the email of the media awards at St. Louis I laughed and then got motivated, not to win any award but because the communistic and unethical mindset needs to be completely removed from our leadership in one way or another. One step with one fan at a time.
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That aside, Flowrestling is both outstanding and revolutionary. I wish you unprecedented success going forward and hope that one day soon, ALL of the wrestling family can unite to broaden the scope of the sport everywhere, rather than fight to keep the newcomers and trailblazers down. In the meantime, if you ever need any help or contribution to the site, you know how to contact me. I'm always willing.
More wrestling for everyone! Politics aside, you and your crew are making that happen. Thank you.
They can't hold back an army and the army is building.
Les - I do understand what Martin is saying about not being considered and it is a good point. However, I just think he should have gone about it in a different way, so that he did not burn as many bridges as he probably did with this blog. Perhaps if they had not had another site in mind that they felt was very deserving, than FLO would have been considered.
Finally, I do something that is far more important than what the people at the NWCA do. I respect those people for what they do for wrestling, but could never be a part of that organization.
Second I cant believe your trying to be serious, How many times does Martin he doesnt care about the award. I think he cares about the unethical relationship of Intermat and NWCA. Leads to problems that most people could foresee.
A) If you truly believe that Flowrestling is nothing more than a YouTube for wrestling, you're sorely mistaken. The ability for fans to come an upload wrestling content is only one feature of the site. Don't dumb down and misrepresent the content that Flowrestling provides.
B) The way I read Martin's post doesn't lead me to believe that he's bent out of shape from not getting the award. It is more about the reasons why Flowrestling isn't even in the discussion of being considered. It seems to me that Martin wants consideration in a fair market, and if he loses fine but at least the site is in the discussion (If I'm wrong maybe Martin can clarify). I myself have been very surprised and disappointed at how little tolerance there has been over at theMat.com forums in being allowed to discuss what Martin implies (right or wrong). Everytime a thread was started to congenially discuss, it was removed. What does that tell you, when one of the most respected online forums in the country censors everything about this discussion? To me it was validated some of Martin's fears.
Publicize the heck out of it and make it an event.
~Matt Kelly
Well Put
Mr. Hammond, your remarks that say, "they are a foundation of journalism" are not clear...who is they? Who is "internet"? If you meant "Intermat", then how can you be a media outlet and also a "foundation of Journalism"?
I do enjoy both your writing (Mr. Hammond) and Mr. Floreani's video and Coaching Tools - It is hard to deny that Mr. F has truly REVOLUTIONIZED how we look and THINK about internet content for our great sport. I hope that Mr. Hammond and Mr. Bryant find a way to join efforts with Mr. Floreani - NOW THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING TO GET EXCITED ABOUT!!!
I'm sure your motivation behind this blog is probably more out of frustration from the politics instead of actual disappointment in not winning the award.
What you've done with this site in the past year, mostly on your own dollar, is unparalleled, in my opinion. The real fans out there appreciate it, and that's what really matters.
Shake's on me this fall, whatever flavor you want :)
Also, if you are that interested in winning media awards, you should really shore up your grammar. Media-types seems to like apostrophes in their contractions.
But there is no getting around the fact that suppression of free speech/press and "Ministries of Truth" a la Orwell's 1984 are manifestations of communist ideology, and it goes against what the founding fathers envisioned as being one of the key principles that perpetuate life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I don’t know if I would go so far as to say the relationship between NWCA and Intermatwrestle is “unethicalâ€, but there is certainly a conflict of interest that needs to be addressed.
The fact that Martin made this blog post pretty much kills all future chances that he has of getting these awards, but the effect in 24 hours is interesting. Lets be real. When two or three threads over at theMat.com are deleted for merely discussing the issue, I can’t help but raise my eyebrows. What is going on behind the scenes?
Does anyone else find it intresting that the official site of the USAW governing body is the message boards for college, high school wrestling...
Not only do you give a peak into the next level you show many that it is attainable for the average wrestler to attain with a bit more dedicated work.
To not receive awards for covering wrestling it is no shame, because this sport has nothing to do with awards. Wrestling is all about working through situations that are tough and finding ways to challenge your self when they are not. The best person doesn’t always win, but you know they will be back.
I can not speak for against illinoismatmen.com because till now I have never been to or herd of there page. But after a quick look I would be willing to say that many states do as good a job as that site. Heck if you go to PA, the state does not do the best, but each district does a good job on there own. NHSCA has tried to jump taken over but I think they need to do more than report, especially for the money you are required to pay, because every high school (PA) has to be a member.
As for Intermatwrestling, I never thought they did a very good job. You have to be a premier member to benefit from there material, but the fact is they had material I wanted. So after paying I had access for a bit but my account disappeared prior to expiration. There coverage the coverage of nationals this year was horrible and when I attempted to get my membership back they offered to extend it a year for my problems. To little to late, I said flo is a much better resource and that I would stick to them. Intermat replied with “Flowrestling is junk, and are considered the youtube of wrestling.†Martin you have to be doing something right to be compared to a company that is valued at over 1 billion dollars.
In fact people have said that this page steels videos off youtube, but in fact thoes videos are linked to youtube so all is fair.
Keep up the good work. I just ordered some flo gear in support of what you do.
I wish you would get some recognition for all of your hard work but when does wrestling ever get any recognition? We are a lesser sport and thats just how it is. However people like Martin are the ones bringing wrestling to the masses.
Keep up the good work and everyone should donate to Martin to enable him to continue to give us this awesome resource of wrestling videos.
Where your wife grew up is irrelevant. You have overlooked the point of the analogy and tried to pull some stuff out about your wife having lived under Soviet rule. Its not like you can get all offended because a Commy reference was made. Give me a break. You failed to address the facts and points of the article and instead resorted to a cop-out with your wife as your foundation. boo. man-up and use some worthy information to back up your arguments.
Furthermore running a forum site is journalism? How much red herrings are made on a forum site. How much trash is spewed on a such sites. Give me a break. Was it website of the year or journalist of the year?
Addressing the substance, rather than the unfortunate reference, of the post, there was no response to the question of copyright violations. Internet can be rather careless when it comes to issues of copyrights. However, they are a foundation of journalism and the NWMA is a organization of journalists.
take the advice of people in Jersey, and Fughettabout those guys at the nwca websites.
Keep on Rockin in a Free World, hehe
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