Wrestling Blogs - Flowrestling Blogs

This is my last blog post. I’m retiring this blog now. However, there is a slight chance that that retirement will end up like Michael Jordon’s retirement (where it tries out for baseball and stars in a movie, then goes back to blogging, then retires again and then comes back as a blog in Washington, D.C.)

With that out of the way I’d like to talk about losing. The first thing I would like to mention about losing is that it sucks. Hands down, losing sucks. It always has and always will. Losing is necessary in… more »

From the 2008 NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Tournament held in St Louis, Missouri on 3/20-22/2008, only 40% of the the Number 1 Seeds Actually Won! That Means 60% of the Other Winners Out Performed Their Seed.

Consider These Facts:

at 133 pounds the #3 seed, Coleman Scott, Oklahoma State, pinned the #4 seed Joey Staton, Iowa to win the title.

at 141 pounds the # 6 seed J Jaggers, Ohio State defeated the #1 seed, Chad Mendes, Cal Poly 5-2 to win the title.

at 157 pounds the… more »

What an awesome year! This college year was great in so many ways. I think that some how I developed a new appreciation of wrestling. The NCAA tournament capped it off. And when I sat on the sidelines of the Quarters and Semis and All-American Round I just loved watching the tension and emotion. Even the 1-1 matches were stacked with pressure and excitement. Sometimes even more exciting than the high scoring matches.

How bout that Metcalf vs Palmer, that was awesome especially when Palmer got in deep at the end of the third and Metcalf… more »

First annual View from Section GG college wrestling awards

The college wrestling season is over and much has happened. All of the traditional awards have been handed out except the Hodge Trophy (Tervel Dlagnev?). This week I begin what I hope will become a tradition (if anyone keeps reading that long).

The, “Well, I guess he really is that good”, award

After almost three years of anticipation and message board hype we all learned that Brent Metcalf is a special athlete. His NCAA finals performance was dominating and he was named… more »

Stop and Think About Several Important Things You SAID YOU Were Going to do. DID YOU DO THEM? What attempts did you make to do them? How PASSIONATE were you in trying to do them? You get my point.

Say Less and DO MORE. Keep track of what you say and reconcile it with what you actually DO.

I'm not talking about things like "I'm going to win this tournament" or I'm going to land this big business deal" or "I'm going to discover the cure for cancer". Truth is, we can't predict or… more »

In Life by Default We All Give a Certain Amount of Effort and Passion to What Ever it is We Do. The Key to true Happiness, Contentment and Fulfillment is not to Live By Default (by giving only a certain amount) but by Giving 100% (giving it all).

Consider This:

Are you more happy and fulfilled when you give to someone in need...or when you receive something? Do you find that the more you give to someone in need the more fulfilled you are?

As a child I knew my parents… more »

I’m done with classes. Completely finally done with every class I’ll ever have to take. Grad-school, haha. I finished my last test today and I can say I made up the rules on how the world works. I was actually in a huge rush getting all my stuff together and taking care of all the last few things I needed do, so I didn’t get to study at all. Also I had been sick lately with a severe case of Senioritis . SO needless to say I couldn’t study at all (and hardly could make class, since my case of… more »

An interview with Chad Zaputil

In the early ‘90s Chad Zaputil was the leadoff man for what might be considered the “Murderer’s Row” of college wrestling: Chad, Terry Brands, Tom Brands, Troy Steiner and Terry Steiner (11 NCAA finals and 7 titles). Recently I encountered Chad through a mutual interest in saving University of Oregon Wrestling. He graciously allowed me to interview him. To kick off NCAA Championship week – here’s the interview.

What made you want to attend the University of Iowa?

The biggest reason was of course because… more »

Well folks it has been awhile a few months since I have written a blog. My last blog was on Thanksgiving when I was in France wrestling in a tournament. I was not pleased with the way I had been wrestling in October and early November and then I stepped it up. I wrestled a dual meet against Russia in New Jersey and I beat the number 5 ranked Russian wrestle in the final seconds of the 3rd period. I tweaked my knee so I sat out the NYAC tournament that weekend so I was ready for France. In the… more »

I’m so over it. After sixteen years of wrestling repetition seems to be an overwhelmingly emphasized subject. Do this. Ok now do it again. Ok now do it forty more time. Now do it EVERY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Haha, ok it’s not that bad, but really now, is it necessary? What makes someone a great wrestler… repetition? coming in every day to wrestle? Pushing yourself to the limit everyday, despite injuries and illness? I’m over it.

There were several wrestlers on my youth team that did gymnastics before they ever started wrestling. From… more »

Im back in Texas! It feels good. New Jersey or Dirty Jersey is a bit of a culture shock for me. I almost got in a fight with a camera man, was on thin ice with the tournament director (I have no idea why) and was constantly being berraded when I was in the stands getting the word out about Flo. Its all part of the Jersey experience though, and I guess its one of those deals that if they dont give you a hard time and you dont come to blows, then they dont like you....or something like that. more »

Because they care

I wish that two of the “enemies” of University of Oregon wrestling had been in Cedar Rapids this weekend. In one of his comments justifying the elimination of the Duck wrestling team, U of O athletic director, Pat Kilkenny, said that, “wrestling is no longer relevant” (to today’s college student). In a recent article in the Oregon Daily Emerald, sports reporter Jeffrey Dransfeldt, implied that no one cares about wrestling.

http://media.www.dailyemerald.com/media/storage/paper859/news/2008/02/19/Sports/Wrestling.Is.Being.Cut.But.Do.You.or.I.Really.Care-3218598.shtml

Well Mr. Kilkenny and Mr. Dransfeldt – I sure wish you had been here for the NCAA… more »

This very question reverberates throughout Iowa City today and as Big Tens/NCAAs approach I'm sure many others are curious.

First off, it comes down to an issue of team mentality and none appear to be stronger than that of this year's Iowa squad. The boys in black and gold have bought in to Brands' philosophy of utter domination and what many like to call "The Iowa Style". With a aggressive style and a focused approach the Hawkeyes have almost controlled the rankings for the entire season and are looking to finish the job in March. Brands and… more »

I hate naming my posts by topic. I know it makes it hard to categorize and remember but you’ll just have to read all of them if you want any bit of wisdom I have to offer. How do you even explain to someone why A Treatise on ‘Watchamacallit’ is an article about position? This week I mean it, I’m going to talk about hiking, I’m also going to talk about the difference between the terms ‘position’ and ‘technique’.

My high school speech teacher told me all analogies are false. That’s a pretty bold statement. Since… more »

I have a lot of fans and friends from Ohio. It seemed like everywhere I went I was meeting new people and shaking hands with them and even taking pictures. Zeb Miller might be one of my biggest fans right along side Zach Smart. Zeb Miller hooked me up with a hotel room and rides from everywhere. He also found two extra cameras to shoot matches with. I did the majority of my work in his hotel room before I would crash hard. A state meet like Ohio you are running around 100 mph and your sleep intervals are pretty… more »

The match-up

The internet has been good for wrestling. The abundance of fan forums, live match streaming, youtube and flowrestling have all served to heighten interest in the sport. The potential match-up between Brent Metcalf and Dustin Schlatter has been one of the hottest college wrestling topics on the ‘net for the past two years.

Both came out of high school with legendary prep careers – and in fact – they wrestled – and split – high school “all-star”matches. Schlatter chose to join his brother CP with J Robinson at the University of Minnesota… more »