Wrestling Blogs - Richard Rockwell

As I sit here thinking about what more could be done to save the University of Oregon wrestling program, I can't help but think that we as wrestlers are somehow compared to the warriors of the movie "300."

For those who don't know, the story of the 300, goes back to ancient Greece when 300 Spartans tried to hold off a million Persians and nearly won. It talks of their bravery, standing up for their beliefs and never backing down no matter what.

I liken the programs or wrestling leaders who are fighting for survival or have been cut in the past to the 300 (Gable, Robinson, Gardner, Sanderson, Smith, Kerr, Douglas, Hellickson or anyone else involved in a similar fight) and for right now, Ron Finley of UO is King Leonidas.

Xerxes, was the ancient Persian God-King who threatened all of the world with his huge army of slaves and warriors. Xerxes only lived for power and greed and cared nothing for the livelyhood of mankind and would do anything to crush anyone who stood in his way. I liken Xerxes to Pat Kilkenny and his army represents all the other power and money hungry AD's and boosters who feel because wrestling doesn't entertain them or make them money, is "unfashionable" and should be cut away from existance and bow down them.

The messenger at the beginning of the movie, could very well be Renee Baumgartner or any other associate AD who comes bearing false messages or threats. And Leonidas's wife could very well represent our own mothers, as when the messenger asks "What makes this woman think she can speak amongst men?" And she replies, "Because only Spartan woman give birth to real men." You know only wrestling moms give birth to real men.

So in this battle, its the main 300 wrestling people of our sport fighting to save it from the evil AD's and boosters of college sports. Kilkenny is throwing everything he has at us, making excuse after excuse, trying to make us back down only to find we are there facing them, beating those excuses down to a pulp. What guys like Kilkenny don't understand is no matter what he does or says to us, we'll never back down, never stop fighting until we take our last breath.

Now in the story of the 300, eventually, the 300 finally lose to Xerxes and his mighty army and Leonidas is killed. Xerxes battles on only to face the entire Spartan army. This is where we can break off from this metaphor. You see, our Leonidas (Finley) will not die during this fight, he will continue on fighting until his fight is won. The rest of the 300 are still standing ready to do more battle. They unite the rest of us Spartans (wrestlers, fans, parents, coaches, etc), by the hundreds of thousands and they teach us to make a stand. To stand in the face of these evil powers that threaten our great sport and tell them we will never give up, never stop fighting for our sport and never accept defeat. We will continue fighting on until what's right happens and that's re-instating past programs or supporting our current ones because we are taught never to retreat, never to surrender.

So right now, the battle has only just begun and this is a battle we must continue to fight until we win.

While these AD's and boosters may think we are mad for wanting to fight for our sport remember one thing....

WE ARE WRESTLERS!!!