en-us Copyright 2006-2009 Flocasts Inc Fri, 3 Jul 2009 21:35:15 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/assets/portal/simple30/images/logos/flowrestling-logo.gif http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7759-55-and-60-kilos-in-the-books Alright, I just got to a cafe with poor internet. The first days wrestling was great. Zeb and I shot every single match, I think about 80. It was kind of crazy because there were 3 mats and only 2 of us. We were wielding 3 cameras at once. I was just told that this place closes in 5 mins so excuse errors and length. I met a man names Paul today and he came to meet us at the tournament. He ended up translating 2 interviews for us. One with 60 kilo Russian champ (world champ and olympic bronze medalist at 55 kilos) Kudukov, and the other with his trainer. I was pumped. I was also nervous, somthing I have not been during an interview for a long time. While we were doing the interview a few reporters came up and used their audio recorder and took some pictures. I cant wait to upload videos for you. I feel bad that you can't see this great action, at least I can watch it over and over. I will for you guys. Ha Last night was crazy, we went to a fair type thing. THere was some live music and lots of people probably between 20 and 25 years old. The people we sat with did not believe that we were from America. We then raced crazy go carts at 1:30 in the morning. Zeb is a mad mad behind the wheel. Crushing that track. There is no way that these go carts would be legal in the US. Next was the scariest cab ride ever. We called the area we drove through shadyville and the ride seemed way to long. It was so dark and we were riding with a stranger. Having Zeb and Tigran around made it a little better though. Wow, i just got to a McDonalds, I got kicked out of the other place immediately and he would not even give me 20 seconds to put up the blog. I hope this blog is not terrible, I am a little wiped out. I think it is time to get back to the flat and start organizing and naming all these vids. A few other things, still no borsh but Tigran said his mother would make us some, I can see my abs again, starting the second rotation on the clothes that I brought. See you soon guys. Discman http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7759-55-and-60-kilos-in-the-books Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:09:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7743-super-pumped Zeb and I are here at a McDonalds and have a little time to fill you guys in. We arrived in Kazan this morning by train. As soon as we got in Tigran talked to a man who took us to his mothers flat. This is now where we are staying. They just packed up and left. It is three rooms with a kitchen and is costing us about 33 dollars per night. At first it was a little awkward for Zeb and me as we though they were staying. We made a video but cannot upload it now. Unfortunately we are unsure if we will be able to upload any wrestling matches until we get back to Moscow due to a file size limit. Please understand this time around. We are super pumped to be here. We were at the arena earlier and saw many wrestlers. A few standouts were Gotsalov, a world and olympic champion, and Ahkmedov,an olympic silver medalist. Tigran has been a huge help for our travels. We would not be able to do any of this wthout him. Send him your thanks. Wrestling starts tomorrow with 55 and 60 kilos. This years Russian nationals will feature many young athletes. Lots of the Russian stars will sit this year out, but not all of them. We are going to check out the Kremlin. So many more great videos to come. Still no Borsh. Discman http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7743-super-pumped Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:56:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Mister74kilo/7731-message-87-want-to-improve-your-performance Keep a Consistent and Focused Goal Oriented Attitude! Attitude is defined as "a mental position (or a feeling or emotion) with regard to something". Most of us are quick to let a negative circumstance change our attitude and feelings about something. This type of attitude, unfortunately, is determined by circumstance and not really focused on a particular goal or outcome. Therefore when our circumstance changes...so does our attitude. Circumstances change alot...and unfortunately with most of us, so does our attitude. Example; something happens we don't like...we get a negative attitude about it. This attitude is usually negative, strong and changes our thinking. This type of attitude reacts to the circumstance. When attitude is determined by the circumstance...Consistent high level performance is impossible. WE ARE ALWAYS IN THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT WE ARE IN! So don't fret over your circumstance. Circumstances will always happen. Remember...Bad Stuff Happens, but it doesn't have to negatively impact our ATTITUDE. Instead Focus your ATTITUDE on a GOAL! A goal that does not change. A goal that you are Passionate about. Click HERE to read the quote on ATTITUDE by Chuck Swindoll www.LeeKemp.com Mister74kilo http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Mister74kilo/7731-message-87-want-to-improve-your-performance Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:14:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7720-we-are-leaving-for-kazan-today The trip has been great so far. Zeb and I have been able to get out and see a lot. Yesterday we went to red square and old arbot with the Kolesnikov's. I met Gennady Kolesnikov through facebook. he is an 18 year old wrestler from Moscow. He is very in to his training and knows a lot about freestyle wrestling. He and his brother picked us up and helped us get around Moscow. Unfortunaly, and you may have seen the video as Zeb has not turned his camera off the entire trip, they wanted to eat at McDonalds for lunch. I have been looking forward to eating Borsh for a year now and still have not had any this trip. As soon as I get off this computer, i will trek to the nearest restaurant and get some. Zeb and I have had a running joke about how he films everything, we call his coverages, shotgun coverages. Red square was fun. It was a lot like last year but being there is amazing. Everything is so big and it is kind of surreal to be in a place that you see in history books all the time. One thing I did not see last year was people standing in the center of Moscow, which is by Red Square, and throwing change. It is supposed to be good luck. Anyways, as soon as the person throws the change, several older women rush to pick it up. We have video of it if you would like to see. It is kind of crazy to me. We had a lot of fun last night. Zeb and I walked back to old Arbot and checked out the night life. It was weird because I felt safer then than the rest of the trip. Maybe it was because there were way fewer people. We met some new people and had an interesting time communicating. We did stay out way to late but that is fine because we will be in a train overnight tonight for 13 hours and I will be able to sleep well. I am super pumped about the tournament. i did find out that there is no internet at the flat we will be staying in at Kazan. We will have to go to an internet cafe to work. This will make things intesting as we will be at the tournament most of the day. Please do not rip our heads off if the coverage takes a few extra days. We will do our best. I am leaving so much out right now but will work on something while on the train. My stomach is telling me it is borsh 30 PM. Zeb says What's up. He will do a video blog later. Discman http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7720-we-are-leaving-for-kazan-today Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:24:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7686-we-are-in-russia Alright guys, I just got up from a nap. Zeb is still out like a bear. We landed in Moscow today and got picked up by my friend Tigran. If you remember I met him in St Petersburg last year on the last day of Russian Nationals. Tigran is great. He has provided us with a nice flat and has been very accomodating. He also got us some train tickets to Kazan where the tounrnament will be held. Tigran is very enthusiastic and knows everything about freestyle wrestling. He rattles of results and information about wrestlers from every country going back for many years. I will attatch the viseo from last year where Tigran does a prieview for us before the finals of the last three weight classes. Having Zeb with me is great. Last year I was anxious and on edge the entire trip. Being able to communicate with someone and knowing that someone else has an eye on you is comforting, esspecially in such a large populated place. Tigran has a massive wrestling video collection. He told me that he will make me some dvds to bring home. I will make sure and put them on the site. One dvd I am pumped about is a dvd with all Saitiev matches from many different tournaments. It will be nice because we will not see him wrestle at the Russian Nationals. Anyways, I am going to go walk around and see what is near by. I am pumped to go watch the tournamnet in a few days. Zeb will also be keeping you posted. Sorry if I was rambling too much, I am still very tired. In a minute I will try to upload some videos we made. Hope the internet speed is Ok. Discman http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/7686-we-are-in-russia Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:34:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Jimharshaw/7647-obamas-wrestling-style Did you ever notice how a wrestler’s personality dictates his wrestling style? There is a clear link between behavioral disposition and sports performance. The Brand’s brothers – unmatched intensity; Ben Askren - funky and individualistic; Scott Moore – fun, aggressive, and a risk taker. I never watched J Robinson wrestle but I can imagine what kind of style he had as a competitor-innovative and tough. So this makes me wonder what kind of wrestling style some of the most popular personalities might have. Here are some guesses. Barrack Obama- A savvy and fundamentally sound wrestler. Has no big move. Prone to cauliflower ear.Arnold Schwarzenegger- Brock LesnarAl Gore- Smart but kind of a sissy. (In addition to inventing the internet he also invented Flo Wrestling)Simon Cowell- Though he would have never made it as a wrestler, he would have tried it, realized he’d get his ass kicked, then promptly quit and make fun of the remaining team.Conan O’brien- Probably tougher than his personality lets on. Like Greg Warren, a funny guy who can wrestle with the best.Matthew McConaughey- Sneaky but no gas tank. Make it through the first and you’ll tech him (or he’ll default).Robert De Niro- Nasty legger, rip your face off. David Spade- Calls injury time at least twice a match. Russell Crowe- .hmmessage P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body.hmmessage { font-size: 10pt; font-family:Verdana } He took down a tiger in the Colliseum, so he can hold his own on the mat, but he has been known to drink and pick fights out at the local bar.Denzel Washington- Intimidating and a nasty double.Barry Bonds- Alexander Leipold Dick Cheney- Nice shot (bad aim)Jesus of Nazareth- Sanderson or Gable? Either way he was a CycloneLeonardo DiCaprio- Backup for Keanu.Clay Aiken- Gets pinned. A lot.Gandhi- Cuts a lot of weight and always shakes the other coaches handMike Ditka- Alexander KarelinWhat about John McCain, George Clooney, Joe Biden, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, George Bush, Moses? Here are the hypothetical first round draws of our celebrity tournament. Who are your picks? We’re still accepting late entries for participants. All suggested participants must have an accompanying wrestling style description.Obama-O’BrienSchwarzenegger-BondsGore-WashingtonMcConaughey-CroweDe Niro-CheneyCowell-DiCaprioJesus-DitkaAiken-Gandhi Jimharshaw http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Jimharshaw/7647-obamas-wrestling-style Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:36:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Mister74kilo/7494-message-86-thinking-vs-doing This is the one thing most of us do too much of... Most of our time and energy is spent thinking about doing something...rather than doing it! Thinking about doing something and doing something yields entirely different results. Thinking is way overrated. Most of us over think things, and as a result never get moving to actually doing the thing(s) we were thing about. 99% of why we don't accomplish things in life is because we never get to them. The more we think, the more we talk ourselves out of the thing we want. In fact the circumstance we find ourselves in reflects back what we were thinking. Keep your thinking short, direct and to the point! Mister74kilo http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Mister74kilo/7494-message-86-thinking-vs-doing Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:55:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/7264-steps-in-the-right-direction Everyone talks about wrestling and how to improve it. Everyone has their two cents. Wether it is rules, promotion or the system, everybody has an opinion. One thing really rings true...we need to support our wrestlers financially. I have to say that Mike Novogratz and Dave Barry are trying to create that support structure. They have created a fund that directly goes to our wrestlers. Everyone agrees that our wrestlers shouldnt be monieless. Everybody agrees that if they were supported more financially we may be able to retain more of them. This is our chance to do what is right. Time to put our monies where are passion is. Im not a rich dude by any means but I like what they are doing. Im going to be a part of supporting our athletes, even if it is just $20. This is not the end all and be all....but this is a first step in the right direction. These guys need commitment from our community. Our athletes shouldnt have to sacrifice their monetary future by competing. If they take a chance to become the best in the world and succeed then we owe it to them to back them up financially without any strings attached. Lets support wrestling and build a financial incentive for our elite members. This is no doubt a step in the right direction for wrestling. [Click here to properly incentivize wrestling] World Team Trials was a 1000x better that it was out of Vegas. Kudos to the USA Wrestling staff and decision makers on choosing Council Bluffs. The venue in Council Bluffs was awesome...perfect size to grow into. (Looking ahead, my prediction is that Omaha is going to be one of the all time great places to hold NCAAs next year.) Although everything didnt run smoothly with the Trials, I really liked what I saw as a concerted effort by USA Wrestling as to take chances on doing something different to improve the event. Obviously some logistics need to be worked out with the running of the event. A lot of people complained about getting out at 10pm. Some people complained about the breaks. Some people complained about how Finals were run with an announcer talking to the winner of one weight class right next to another final in progress. The fact is people will always complain. I just hope that USA Wrestling can continue to make decisions not based on the lowest common denominator of what will get the least complaints but an ultimate vision they have for improving the event. When you break things down to the lowest common denominator you have what we had in Las Vegas....blah. There are no doubt improvements in the event but it is an iterative process. The important thing is that USA Wrestling made some mistakes because they were trying to improve the event...making mistakes are in many ways paths to improvement. I loved the singer for the national anthem. The guy was really unique and sang it in a really different way with a lot of passion. For some people it wasnt their cup of tea but for me it was great and memorable. I believe having more passion and memories at the event is always a good thing. I know he is a different experience but I hope he becomes the mainstay and I know I will look forward to his performance every time. I think it is clear to say that Darrion Caldwell is the real deal. I doubted Darrion in March. Leading up to last weekend I learned my lesson from doubting him in March. Even so, I didnt really know if Darrion Caldwell would have a chance to place in this tournament with just a couple weeks of freestyle training in the last 4 years. Never again will I think twice. He is a real and present threat! Right now he has surpassed Jake Herbert as the most exciting wrestler to watch (sorry Jake). The whole audience just gravitates to his mat. I think that him and Frayer got a match that was taken out of their hands by refs. It was a disservice to both athletes. One thing that Darrion didnt do was let his match up to chance with the ball grab game. You know who else doesnt leave their matches up to chance with Ball grabs?...the Russians. Just ask JoeFlo. He went there last year for their trials and didnt even know the ball grab game was the new substitute for flipping the coin until nearly the end of the tournament. There was just so few matches that went to the ball grab game. It was ridiculous how many balls were grabbed from the bag in Council Bluffs last weekend. Even the Omaha reporters next to us couldnt believe that wrestling worked on chance. I dont think that the rules need to change again, I think our offensive skills as a country need to improve. Either that or if a match has more than one ball grab both guys end up losing causing complete havoc on the bracketing system. Greco rules improved tons! Kudos to Fila for making Greco an actual sport again instead turning it into one big ball grab game. Greco was really exciting and interesting this weekend! Overall last weekend was great. Remember lets financially support those who take a chance at greatness and achieve! A donation big or small will let our athletes know that we value them winning Gold! I know I do. [Click here to properly incentivize wrestling] Martino http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/7264-steps-in-the-right-direction Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:45:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/7118-questions-remain-usaw-and-aa-wrestling-supply Part of our problem with Wrestling in this country is our leadership doesn't have to answer to anybody. So where is the critical independent media? It is either owned by our governing body or they arent willing to ask the hard questions. Questions of our governing body are good, especially when no one is asking them. Over the past year, I have been approached by several different people in regards to All American Wrestling supply's relationship with USA Wrestling. Dave Miller the former CEO at USA Wrestling now owns All American Wrestling Supply. All American Wrestling Supply has an exclusive contract with USA Wrestling in its Merchandise. It could be a coincidence that the former CEO of USA Wrestling now has the exclusive contract with the former organization that he led . So I went to the source and asked Rich Bender, the current CEO of USA Wrestling 6 questions to try and get to the bottom of what could be seen as cronyism. 1. What is the relationship between USA Wrestling and All American Wrestling Supply? RB: "All-American Wrestling Supply is presently the exclusive supplier of merchandising services for USA Wrestling in accordance with a Merchandise License Agreement entered into as of April 1, 2008" Typically this means that All American Wrestling owns the licensing of all USA Wrestling products. From the hats to T Shirts to anything that has the USA Wrestling name logo and trademark. In one way or another anything that has our governing body's trademark on it has to go through All American either directly or indirectly. There may be other benefits and terms but we dont know. (see next question) 2. How much does All American Wrestling Supply pay USA Wrestling to be its official Merchandiser? RB: "the provisions of our contracts are treated with confidentiality and, therefore, as a matter of legal responsibility and policy we do not disclose the provisions of contracts to third parties. Therefore, I am not in a position to respond to any of your specific questions about the contract with All-American Wrestling Supply." I wonder which party decides to make this confidential. Whose interest is it in to make the bid confidential. Why are all of USA Wrestlings contracts confidential? We have no idea how much the contract is and apparently its none of our business. 3. When was the last time the contract was negotiated? After a second follow up email to Rich Bender,Jim Ravanack the President of USA Wrestling contacted us. In the conversation he told me that he negotiated the contract personally with Dave Miller. 4. When was the last time it was up for bidding for other companies? According to Jim Ravanack, he didnt have the contract in front of him, but he thinks it was in 2002. 7 years ago USA Wrestling was open to competitive bids. Is 2002 right or is it just Jim Ravanack's memory? Why is so long ago? Can anyone on the board of directors of USA Wrestling explain to the wrestling community why the last time the licensing of USA Wrestling logo and trademark has not been open to competitive bidding in 7 years. In my conversation with the President I got absolutely no insight. In USA Track and Field for example, Company A will get rights to be USA Track and Field's official apparel company. After a couple of years other companies can make a bid. In the end the Company A has the first option of refusal. So if Company B raises the bid Company A can either match it or let Company B take it. This keeps the bid honest while being loyal to people who have invested in the community in the past. Most importantly it is an open process for other companies to understand how the game is played. So why is Jim Ravanack only negotiating with one company? All American knows what the value of the USAW exclusive contract is to their business, heck they have had it for 7 years. They arent going to overpay for it, however they will underpay for it if they can....like any business would do. The only people that benefit by not having anyone else in the game is All American Wrestling Supply. What we do know is that All American Wrestling Supply entered into the contract because it is worth it for them as a business. It is logical to assume that it would be worth it for other companies who compete with All American Wrestling Supply if given the chance to bid on it. 5. What is your [personal] relationship with the ownership of All American Wrestling Supply? I got no answer. 6. Have you or anyone from USA Wrestling ever been on any trips, gifts or compensation by All American Wrestling Supply or anyone associated with the company? I got no answer. Who is looking out for the wrestlers at USA Wrestling? How can they honestly claim that they know what the market will pay to be the exclusive merchandiser of USA Wrestling. Is this an act of cronyism. If this is the way they handle their merchandising, then how do they handle other affairs? These questions need to be addressed not only by Rich Bender but the board members of USA Wrestling have an obligation to know what is going on here. If there are good answers to these questions let us hear it, but right now we dont have answers to many important questions. Martino http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/7118-questions-remain-usaw-and-aa-wrestling-supply Fri, 22 May 2009 11:11:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Jimharshaw/7041-saving-a-program-20 <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui> </object> <style> st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> Jimharshaw http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Jimharshaw/7041-saving-a-program-20 Fri, 15 May 2009 14:29:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/6514-summary-for-2009-ncaas If this weekend taught us anything it is that wrestling is the greatest sport in the world and it is the most exciting sport in the world hands down. I wanted to say thanks to Matguard for talking a chance on Flowrestling and Mineful.com (business intelligence) for performing in the clutch. Here is my summary of this weekend before we move on deeper into the 2009 wrestling season (we go year round!!!). Iowa showed vulnerability. Brent Metcalf in his interview said that Iowa "we were duped" coming in. I think 99% of people in the nation didnt give anyone else a chance to win this tournament including me. Iowa maybe went into the tournament thinking other wrestlers were going to lie down for them because they were wearing black and gold singlets. Who knows...but they did find a way to pull it out....something very characteristic of champions. Dan Erekson shows everyone in the nation how good Tom Brands system is. He went from a liability who probably wouldnt qualify to a contender and in my book is the most exciting wrestlers at HWY. I saw Dan Erekson get worked earlier in the year but at the NCAA tournament he looked like an athlete with a seriously dangerous and smooth inside snatch single. In the All American round Dan Erekson was down by two to Fedone of Edinboro with 12 seconds left. He came back with a takedown and won in overtime. That single act scored about an extra dozen points for Iowa....clutch. Iowa had 3 medical forfeights on the backside of the bracket giving them a total of six bonus points (medical forfeights count as pins). Iowa won by 4.5 points. I just read a book about the "Rumble in the Jungle" between Ali and Foreman. I felt like Caldwell was Ali and Metcalf was Foreman. It will go down as a historic upset that most people didnt think they would see. I cant wait for them to square off next year. Kent State finished with 2 All Americans and left 2 or 3 guys in the round of 12. They finished 18th and are a new force on the college wrestling scene. Congrats to Jim Andrassy and his crew. Boise State flexed their muscles from the west by finishing 12th. Steve Garland from Virginia got its first All American. Congrats to their coaching staff and getting over that hump. Ryan Williams from ODU made it to the finals. The highest he ever placed at the state tournament in PA was 7th. Ohio State placed second (3 finalists) but the difference between last year and this year is this year they arent happy with it. They went from 6th in the Big Ten to 2nd in the nation....was anyone else stunned? They continue to move in the right direction. They will be knocking on the Team Champions door next year. Steve Luke won in the finals against a guy he wrestled with growing up with. Michigan finally punching their NCAA champion after a string of seconds in the last couple of years. Everyone thought Central Michigan was not going to place in the top 20 this year. They followed up last years performance where they took 7th and graduated a handful of influencial seniors. They placed 14th with a pretty young team. The heavy weight match was like a scramble fest. I dont know if we have ever seen such an exciting big boy show down. Mark Ellis barely topped Konrad Dudziak of Duke. Good battle. Binghamton got its first All American. Popalizio and the rest of the coaches are doing great things in upstate NY. Speaking of upstate NY. Cornell had a really difficult tournament and still finished in the top 5. Rob Koll is an awesome coach and has built something special there. He is one of the smartest coaches if not the smartest coach in the nation. John Hangey, Riders assistant coach showed the nation he can produce results. Umbehaurer had one of the most exciting matches in the tournament in the quarters vs Keddy from Iowa. Umbehaurer or Jersey Fresh, finished third in the nation. Wyoming and Mark Branch did in one year what takes programs 6, 7 or 8 years, they got an all american with Joe LeBlanc (5th). I have know doubt that Mark Branch is building something special there. American University Mark Cody punched in two All Americans. They continue put themselves in good positions. The new Qualifying system probably contributed somewhat to all the upsets that we saw this year. It deserves some reservation by its critics til we see what happens next year. The West has to adjust its scheduling and find a way, it puts them at a lil disadvantage but they need to find a way for it to work for them. Watch out for Bucknell. This team is coming back. They had an AA this year but I dont think it was a fluke. Maryland took 10th. Im sure Kerry McCoy is riding the Santoro wave a little bit, but expect him to take it up a notch next year. They performed well and we get one more year of the magic from Hudson Taylor....sweet! We will miss Mike Poeta from Illinois as an extremely exciting wrestler who always put it on the line. Maybe we will see him on the international level. Jarrod King from Edinboro was ranked 19th, and won the NCAA tournament. Nuf Said. He wins the Branch Award as the wrestler with the lowest seed coming in that performs out of his mind. Mark Manning got on the stand with Nebraska (4th). They are going to have a wicked team coming back lead by Burroughs and Brester. 3rd time is a charm for Varner (Iowa State) at 197 as he avenged his loss to Brester in the finals of the Big 12s. Varner is an NCAA champ! Martino http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/6514-summary-for-2009-ncaas Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:14:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/6441-gable-trained I know what a title, everyone has heard this, but what does it really mean. So for todays blog I will delve into why I think that Iowa under Gable was so succesful. This has been one of my favorite questions to ask old timers for a while, as an aspiring coach I like to look at who did it best figure how they did it and then try to do it again. I have gotten a great myriad of answers for this question, ranging from the normal to the extra crazy and believe me everyone has their own opinion on the subject. Some people are in awe and some people are just down right envious. So from the compilation of answers and knowledge I have gained from asking this question I form my own theory for you the flo nation. When I was graduating from college I made an attempt to write a book about the mental aspect of wrestling. In order to do this I figured I should have more than my own ideas so I malied a questionaire to every Div. 1 NCAA champion in the last 50 years. Thankfully I got over 100 back, providing great insight into why they were champions. Turns out I suck as a writer, my partner and I never published the book, because I thought it sucked, but I did gain a lot of useful knowledge. The questionaire was simple, 9 questions trying to determine what set them apart from the rest of their field, WHY were they champions. At the division one level it is few and far between you find a wrestler so skilled that he can seperate himself from the field on skill alone. One of the questions was "Why were you a champion and some of your equally skilled peers failed to be champions?" Without fail this question was answered with some form of "because I believed." The funny thing is I would read one answer and it would say I believed because of this reason and then I would turn around and read another and it would say I believe because of the exact opposite as the previous guy, which led me to think how is this even possible? So after reading 100 or so of these I figure out that what they believe in isn't important but the fact that they believed is important. So stay with me now, if you are a coach what is the most important thing to do, in my opinion it is get your wrestlers to believe. But believe in WHAT? Now here is where Dan Gable either succeeded with a stroke of genius or sheer luck. If a wrestler believes in his speed and his opponent is quicker, then what? If a wrestler believes in his strength and his opponent is stronger then what? If a wrestler believes in his double and it gets shut down, then what? In all these cases his reason for believing is taken away, most likely he shuts down and loses the match. What did Gable do? He got his wrestlers to believe in their conditioning. Why is this important? It is important because a wrestler who believes will wrestle hard until their reason for believing is taken away. A wrestler who doesn't believe just wont wrestle hard at all (if you can't see them I will point them out to you). Important note believing isn't black and white, but more of a spectrum, the stronger you believe the harder you will wrestle (for examples see Herbert or Metcalf). So why is it important to believe in conditioning, because it cant be proven wrong until seven minutes is over and even then it is still hard to prove. So since Gable's wrestlers believed for all seven minutes they wrestled hard for all seven minutes, thus giving them the best chance at winning. When the fact of the matter is that in reality it is very debatable who is in better shape and who works harder. As we all know sometimes your beliefs aren't reality. Hope you learned something. Baskren http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/6441-gable-trained Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:40:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/6426-california-the-34rd-toughest-hs-state So taking a look at the high school qualifiers from California this year I noticed California was 6th place with 19 qualifiers. You might think not bad, but you have to look at it from a different angle. California's population has 34 million people in it! If you analyze how they rank qualifier per population you will see they are 34th with one qualifier per 1.9 million people. NOTE: California also has a rich history of wrestling unlike some states like Texas or Florida which are both still developing. They are just below Florida (33rd) which does not have one division 1 program in the whole state, (California has 4), and has 1/2 of California's population. Furthermore we all know that Florida's population is full of old people so this fact hurts Florida's rank. (Old people arent a very strong demographic for participants at the NCAA tournament.) Idaho (7 qualifiers) had the highest rank with a qualifier for every 209,405 people, Iowa (13) came in second with a qualifier for every 229,391 people and PA (49) came in 3rd with 253,890. I dont expect California to get 174 Qualifers for the NCAA tournament, (Thats what they would have to get to beat Idaho's ratio), but 19 is unacceptable for a state with such great wrestling. So the next question is why does this happen in a state that has arguably one of the hardest state tournaments in the nation? The Answer: Because the size of the California state tournament makes it extremely difficult for college coaches to recruit with one state tournament. Kids get swallowed up and buried with one state tournament. NJ can get away with it because it is less than 1/4 of California's population. I know a lot of high school athletes that arent superstars coming out of high school but have All American potential, just ask Mo Lawal. Mo Lawal started wrestling in Texas his freshman or sophomore year. If he wrested in California he probably would not even made it to California State. But because he was a Texas state champ he got offers to wrestle in college. He became a multiple DII National Champ, D1 All American (3rd) and a World Team member. If you ask any Division 1 college coach the California humongus state tournament sounds nice but it hurts wrestling in the state long run. When athletes wrestle in college they often go home and coach at their high schools.  I know some wrestlers with great potential never get that chance in California probably because they never made it out of one of their 3 or 4 straight Qualifing tournaments. Those wrestlers are less likely to go back to their hometown and bring the new techniques that are happening on the college level to the young kids in the sport. California is one of the toughest and deep wrestling states in the nation but right now I think its own mammoth size is unhealthy for the long term growth of California wrestling. It is time to break the state tournament up into at least 2 maybe 3 or 4 classes. Martino http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/6426-california-the-34rd-toughest-hs-state Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:18:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6408-a-few-thoughts In life sometimes you have to live with your glass half empty to be able to take yourself out of your comfort zone in order to learn about others. Life is a journey in which we are all different in our own ways. Different does not mean good or bad. It just means different. People of all nations and walks of life just want respect. If you have followed this blog continue to be intellectually curious about others so you get to understand yourself and the world more. Iran is a traditional society wrestling to reconcile itself with the present. Iran is an exciting daring laboratory where experiments with two highly volatile chemicals, Islam and Democracy are being conducted: in the press, on the wrestling mat in the Bazaar, in private homes and in the streets. Much of the drama is playing out in public as Iranians begin to lose their fear and assert themselves. Much of the drama also plays out in the shadows behind the veils and shutters that open to an outsider only slowly. Iran is a nation that wants to experience the free world. Tehran is the youngest city in the world where the average age is 35 and the biggest city with 12 million + people. This is an equation for change. Hopefully change will come and still keep culture & tradition intact. Governments do not always reflect the sentiment of the people. The Iranians are beautiful people and very gracious host. The USA team was like an exotic flower in the middle of the desert. As Novo would say I wish all the world’s problems could be solved on the wrestling mat!!!! Live Love take risk and experience life to the fullest. Put it all on the line win or loose. You will gain in the match of life. Congratulations to Tamillow & Tervel for taking home the bronze medal. USA also took home the Bronze in the team race with Iran gold and Russia silver. It feels good to be back in the free world. Champions are Made, Train Hard!!!! Regards, Noel Thompson   Noel http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6408-a-few-thoughts Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:16:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6403-day-4-the-battle-begins-tatki-cup-tehran-iran We approach the arena we walk through the corridors. Security guards approache us as they prepare to battle the crowd. A camera flash goes of then another and another. The media has found us they are intrigued by Americans in Tehran. Our wrestlers today took the back entrance with the coaches. Novo, Dave & I are in a paparazzi fiesta… These people live sleep and breathe wrestling. The US team is like an interesting society that very rarely ventures into this part of the world. I look up above. Hanging is a banner with the Supreme leader Iman Komeni. There is a slogan attached to the picture that say's "peace and happiness for sport". There are two elevated wrestling mats. Persian rugs cover the floor of the arena. If there were style points in wrestling I give Iran a 10 for the setup. I warm up with Mike Tamillow ,as the associated press looks on and takes pictures. He feels tough but he is up against the eventual champion first round. The Junior World Silver medalist. We are wait in the corridor before the match as the Persian war drums begin to beat. It sounds like a Native American war cry before the battle as if to give strength to their people. The persian horns begins to blow, then the war drums begin to beat in sync with the chanting crowd.  IRAN!!! IRAN!!! IRAN!!! I look at Tamillow and say be ready to wrestle when you step out there. The first session did not go so well. We leave the arena. The fun has dissipated for a moment. Since wrestling is a thankless sport. You do it because you love it and nothing else. The only thing fun about wrestling is getting your hand raised!!!The best thing you get out of wrestling is the journey the process of accomplishing goals. That lays the ground work for success. Wrestling is a way of life!!! Zeke and Slay prepare Tamillow for the come back.  We are leaving the lobby Tamillow is focused. He comes back and takes 3rd beating a tough Iranian opponent. In life as in wrestling you only can put yourself in the best situation to win and let the chips fall as they may.  Hard work does not always translate into a win, but it does increase your odds of winning. Zadick did not make weight competing up at 66kg is a tough task in the heart of Persia. We celebrate Tamillow’s Bronze Medal he represented the NYAC well. The Iranian coaches and a large Persian contingent also celebrate with us. They want us to succeed we are a welcome adversary in wrestling. We go to a Tearoom where we took over 300 pictures with fans locals etc…Maybe we are in a bubble in this city because of the comrade wrestlers have with each other globally. We go back to the hotel. There is a wedding reception going on. I’m excited to see what they do for these occasions I ask the guard why aren’t there any women in the room if this is a wedding reception. He says the women also have a room, which separate from the men. I think to myself , I would be heart broken not to be in my wedding reception with my bride. The guard says this is “law for public places” in Farsi. I look at him and say I understand and respect your culture. Maybe what makes us different makes us more curious about each other. But it also made me love the free world a little more and appreciate those little things. I have uploaded more video snippets of the tournament from my Flipcam Mino Enjoy Coming Soon: The Test of Wills, The Final Day of the Tatki Cup.   Noel http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6403-day-4-the-battle-begins-tatki-cup-tehran-iran Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:20:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6389-day-3-the-heart-of-tehran We arrive at the Bazar (mall). Security tells us to make sure to watch our valuables...We are briefed to walk in packs and stop very five minutes to regroup. Its like entering a recon mission making sure we are all buddied up... As we proceed it must of been 300,000 people at the bazar women wearing the traditional grab very conservative.... We are dodging push carts and people as it becomes a clustered mosh pit... You think traveling through a college bar is tough in group... Food and clothes carpets everyone selling something from their shops as we make our way through the human jungle of the bazar... We stick out like soar thumbs in this place if anything happens in minutes we could be surrounded by thousands of people... The plan works so far. I ask our heat (security) Hussain how many times he has been to the bazar he tells me only three times... That did not boost our confidence very much... In wrestling we live in a culture that breeds no fear so we continue on and becoming more exploratory... We head down various corridors that sell different items. We see a mosque we decide to stop and check it out... As we begin to look deeper in the mosque the locals realize we are there, a man approaches. He begins to speak to our security in Farsi he was not pleased. You feel the situation was at a breaking point. Our first un welcomed encounter... After I left I thought about the situation. Would we want someone coming into our church and filming discreetly? My answer would be no if were not granted permission... We regrouped and pressed on. You realize quickly we are not in the free world as that situation could have changed quickly. You begin to realize this fraternity we are all apart of "wrestling" is what is giving us this kind of access to the part of Tehran. We thank our gracious host because they let us take a glimpse of there culture. After the Bazar we head to a great restaurant where we receive a warm welcome, Barboud.I walk through the door they say Obama and they see Mike Novo and call him Rooney from the Manchester United football team. Food was great. We head back to the Olympic Hotel. We have a team meeting to be briefed on the tomorrows competition. We begin to prepare. Coming soon: Tatki Cup Noel http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6389-day-3-the-heart-of-tehran Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:16:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6379-day-2-inside-the-house-of-wrestling You pull into the guarded gates as they open. The guard at the door says "Salem" We jump out out of our ten seat van like mercenaries dropped into a new world.We have just arrived at the wrestling facillity called the "The House of Wrestling".I proceed through the glass doors as I greet all the old Persian warriors with Salem (hello) as we proceed to the corridor of their practice facillty which can hold 1500 people.There are four full sized mats Fila mats....The banner on the wall says welcome to the "Islamic Republic of Iran"...If look to the left at the highest peek you see the pictures of the supreme leaders...You realize that we are in strong tradition an identity that has stood through time the only Theocracy in the world.We begin to work out and drill they watch the techniques of the great americans... With pictures in their heads of the legends that they competed against...Dan Gable,John Smith, Bruce...The main corridor features pictures of Zeke and Bruce on podiums of the World and Olympic championships showing their pride in beating the USA.We are welcome adversary here because of our tradition.There are pictures of the best Iranian wrestlers going back a hundred years world title after world title and olympic champions.They want us here to compete, learn and build better relations with the USA.After practice we proceed with our normal wrestling ritual to keep our sweat going the steam room.In the back corridor there lies a hot tub which is about 125 degreess you could not stay in there more than 30 seconds.We meet with the wrestling powers of both sides after practice as the rest of the team heads back to the Hotel...Our team leaders and coaches and their coaches Federation heads and delagtes...You feel the energy. This meeting will make or break some of the things we wanted to accomplish as it was a friendly chess match on a global scale when it comes to the discussion...The head of the federation begins to speek...In Farsi he says " Americans are tough when you beat us its because we are tired and when we get tired you are stronger"This form of flattery is common in the Iranian culture...Its called "taroof". This flatery and false modesty is used to make the other person feel good and to preserve a degree of social harmony...Clever tactic as Persians have ruled the world for hundreds of years.They just beat the 1 # team in the world Russia.Taroof was used against the Russians as there was a false sense of security going into the match against the Russian team filled with hubris being ranked #1...The meeting goes very well... CNN was at the meeting and filmed our practice and attened our meeting..The coaches and delagtes were gracious host and that not only was interested in Iran getting better but the USA as well...Which was a magnanamous gesture. The cross pollination is good for both sides.We head to the bazar "mall" Its an out door/indoor collection of shops where there are hundreds of thousands of people... Some of us went the day before but to day we are going to the main bazar..Which is in the heart of Tehran...I'm given a friendly warning from a wise Persian not to bring my USA Warm-up on this trip...It only take one person to make this adventure for the sake of sport turn into...We drive though Tehran as if we are in some kind of movie... Ten million people live in Tehran so you can imagine the traffic and driving ...I live in NYC the taxi drivers do not compare to people who drive in the heart of Persia... There are stop lights.. But they don't mean much...We drive into on coming traffic run red lights as if trying to evade.You want a thrill drive or be driven in Tehran. The Most traffic accidents and conjestion in the world. i feel the adrenaline when rush through me as I exit the van.Thankfully its against the law to drink alcohol.On our journey to Bazar we see a building called the freedom tower it changes color at night. the Freedom tower was named in honor of the Shaha of iran pre 1979...When the US landed Appollo 13 on the moon. President Nixon gave the Shah particles from the moon as gift.To be continued...Coming soonInside the heart of TehranI have have uploaded a bunch of videos from my trip on Flo..Enjoy Noel http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6379-day-2-inside-the-house-of-wrestling Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:17:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/6377-ncaa-at-large-bids-are-out Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 125 Prescott Garner Navy EIWA 125 Anthony Mustari Northern Colorado West Regional 125 Brian Owen Boise State Pac-10 125 Nikko Triggas Ohio State Big Ten 125 Mike Watts Michigan Big Ten Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 133 Matt Bonson Virginia ACC 133 Tyler Dillashaw Cal State Fullerton Pac-10 133 Kyle Hutter Old Dominion CAA 133 Thomas Kimbrell Cal State Bakersfield Pac-10 133 Brandon Low UC Davis Pac-10 Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 141 Justin Accordino Hofstra CAA 141 Cory Fish Boise State Pac-10 141 Frank Molinaro Penn State Big Ten 141 Richard Rappo Pennsylvania EIWA 141 William Simpson Army EIWA Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 149 Torsten Gillespie Edinboro EWL 149 Daniel Meagher Cornell EIWA 149 Michael Roberts Boston U. CAA 149 Robert Sanders Nebraska Big 12 149 Peter Yates Virginia Tech ACC Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 157 Hadley Harrison Clarion EWL 157 Jason Johnstone Ohio State Big Ten 157 Thomas Scotton North Carolina ACC 157 Chad Terry Oklahoma Big 12 Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 165 Nick Amuchastegui Stanford Pac-10 165 Keegan Davis Oregon State Pac-10 165 Rex Kendle Michigan State Big Ten 165 Ryan Patrovich Hofstra CAA 165 Matt Pletcher Rutgers EIWA 165 Rick Schmelyun Bloomsburg EWL Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 174 Ryan Burk Iowa State Big 12 174 Justin Herbert Franklin & Marshall EIWA 174 Ian Hinton Michigan State Big Ten 174 Jeff James Oklahoma Big 12 174 Byron Sigmon North Carolina-Greensboro Southern 174 Anthony Trongone Virginia Tech ACC Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 184 John Barone Duke ACC 184 Kenneth Caldwell Navy EIWA 184 Dorian Henderson Missouri Big 12 184 A.J. Kissel Purdue Big Ten 184 Riley Orozco Cal State Bakersfield Pac-10 184 David Thompson Bucknell EIWA Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 197 Logan Brown Purdue Big Ten 197 Eric Chine Kent State MAC 197 Luke Feist Stanford Pac-10 197 John Hall Boston U. CAA 197 James Hamel Buffalo MAC 197 Charles Silber American EIWA Weight Name Institution Qualifying Tournament 285 Zach Hammond Cornell EIWA 285 Clayton Jack Oregon State Pac-10 285 Trey McLean Pennsylvania EIWA 285 Corey Morrison Ohio State Big Ten Discman http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Discman/6377-ncaa-at-large-bids-are-out Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:11:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Matt.valenti/6371-what-have-we-done-to-college-wrestling Conference tournaments are over and it's time for the At-Large bids to be determined. Hours before the final wrestlers are announced, the flaws in the system are starting to show. Listed below are some of the problems regarding our current NCAA Qualifer system: 1. The "Fluff" Factor How do we account for soft schedules -- wrestling tournaments and teams that are essentially "sure wins?" Winning percentage is 2/3 of the RPI calculation, so it weighs heavily in earning a good RPI. Winning percentage is also 1/3 of the overall criteria in determining a Gold, Silver or Bronze standard qualifying spot. So without a doubt, winning percentage is the most important factor in determining automatic qualifiers. Why should I set-up a tough schedule for my team when I can find a way to make sure that they all get 30 wins and therefore a qualifying spot? I can have a record of 33-7, have a great winning percentage, beat nobody of note, and still earn a qualifying spot. If you ask me, that isn't conducive to producing the best wrestlers at the NCAA tournament. 2. The Henning Affect Here comes the problems with "At Large" bids. Part of the justification behind the change in qualifying systems was to ensure a top-ranked wrestler a berth at the NCAA tournament, even if he has a bad qualifying tournament -- a la Henning last year. Essentially, it protects wrestlers who are Gold or Silver standard, but don't finish in the automatic qualifiers of their conference tournament. So a #1 seed that goes 0-2 -- well he still gets to go to the NCAA tournament with an "At Large" bid. What the system does now is reward a wrestler who has a good season up to the conference tournament. It doesn't matter if he falls apart at his conference tournament and wrestles terribly. He's still going to the tournament because he did well during the year. If I went 0-2 at the EIWA tournament my senior year, I would be the first to tell you that I wouldn't deserve to be at the NCAA tournament. We want wrestlers that EARN the right to wrestle at the Big Show by performing in a conference tournament, not wrestlers that are GIVEN a second chance. If you get pinned in the third period because you got tired and careless, do you deserve to win just because you looked good in the first and second periods?! It's a bit of a simplified example, but it's right in line with the current thinking. Do we really want to reward an 0-2 wrestler? If you can't perform when it matters, you don't deserve to wrestle with the big boys. 3. The Buyout This is the one where wrestlers throw matches on purpose for the betterment of the conference. Now this hasn't happen to my knowledge as of yet, but to be honest I'm considering making a pitch to the EIWA coaches for this to happen, just to prove a point. Automatic qualifiers are determined prior to the conference tournament. We know beforehand that if a Gold Standard wrestlers doesn't place, he's still going as an At Large bid. Are you going to tell me that if Brent Metcalf had the flu the weekend of Big 10's, decided to weigh-in and then not wrestle, that he wouldn't get a wildcard slot? (Remember this is hypothetical...I know that he would never do that, and that his coaches would never let a guy do that. Plus Brent would probably mentally break most strains of flu anyway). So next year I'm going to have my automatic qualifiers throw a match to place just outside of our assigned allotment, so that we get one extra qualifier for the EIWA. Now, this is an unrealistic scenario, but it's to prove a point and sort-of piggybacks on the Henning Affect. Why not throw a match if the kid isn't feeling 100%? All my kid has to do is forfeit -- it doesn't affect his record or seed and he still goes to the NCAA tournament. How are we going to stop this? The new qualifying system can't do it. 4. Injuries -- Before the Conference Tournament So the automatic qualifiers are allocated. The Big 12 gets 5 qualifiers at 125 lbs -- if you make weight at the conference tournament you go to the NCAA tournament. Missouri's 125lber gets hurt in practice 3 days before the tournament starts, and the only wrestler they have left to put in the Big 12 tournament is their backup wrestler who has a 1-23 record on the year. Does he really still get to go to the NCAA tournament? He doesn't have to win a match to punch a ticket to St. Louis. All he has to do is show up and make weight. Or do we go back and re-allocate qualifiers at 125lbs? As far as I can tell, this didn't happen this year. But it is only a matter of time before we see it in action. 5. Injuries -- During the Conference Tournament No. 1 seed Joe Smith-Gable-Sanderson is wrestling his first match at the MAC tournament and breaks his leg. He can't wrestle and has to forfeit out of the tournament. All of a sudden this Gold Standard wrestler doesn't place at the tournament. Despite going 0-2 and being injured, he's going to earn an At Large bid to the NCAA tournament. He's obviously not going to wrestle in the tournament, but he still gets a bid? Where is the remedy for this? 6 . Conference Results That Don't Exist... The Big 10 is the wrestling powerhouse. What happens when the Big 10 (11) has 9 AQs (Automatic Qualifiers) at one weight? All of a sudden there's a need to wrestle out to 9th place? This is a bit more prevalent in bigger conferences like the Big 10 or EIWA that has more than 8 teams. How do you wrestle to a 9th place spot? What happens if only 7 of the wrestlers that earned AQ status place in the top 9? Do we really need to wrestle to a 9th, 10th, and 11th place? Is that even possible? Again, this is hypothetical, but with the strength of the Big 10, far from impossible. 7. True Wildcards If we are going to look at true At Large bids, why not redo the RPI, winning percentage, and coaches' poll after the conference tournaments? Some wrestlers have great tournaments and may move up the in the ranking. Some may bump their winning percentage enough to earn a bid. RPI will most likely improve for those who perform at their respective tournament. As it stands, your conference tournament essentially counts for nothing unless you make the AQ numbers. This could help clarify some of the At Large situations, but at the very least it allows the ENTIRE season to matter. Correct me if I'm wrong...but shouldn't the Big 10 Tournament count for something?! If we're not going to look at conference results when we're looking at wildcards, we shouldn't look at it when we do NCAA seeding either. Because according to the new system, it doesn't really matter that much anyway. 8.  The Ivy League Now this is a little more specific but I think it's also worth mentioning.  The NCAA permits wrestling teams to compete on 16 separate dates, not including the conference and NCAA tournaments.  A "date" is defined as competition on a specific day, such as a tournament or a dual (or multiple-duals on a day).  The Ivy League only allows 13 dates for the Ivy teams.  With winning percentage being such an important part of the system, we here are getting short changed.  On 3 dates, a team could have as many as 15 matches (3 tournaments) or as few as 3 matches (3 duals).  Either way the Ivy's are short-changed with the system.  I won't come out and claim that it would have a drastic affect, but I think it's fair to say the Ivy League teams have established themselves as legitimate NCAA tournament competitors.  Why should we suffer under the new qualifier system, because of our league's rules?  9. The At Large Selection Committee This process is supposed to be entirely objective when deciding on the last however many qualifying spots. How can this be objective when there are college coaches on the selection committee?! Lobbying for your wrestlers is frowned upon and is supposed to be eliminated. Yet when there are coaches on the committee, what wrestlers do you think they know best? Do they know who is injured and can't compete at the NCAA tournament? Who have they seen wrestle? Their own conference wrestlers. Objective opinions are difficult to come by in this regard. I would rather see a committee of coaches from each conference than a random mix of coaches, ADs and who-knows-what else mixed in. It's an unfair and biased panel if only because the coaches know the wrestlers better than the rest of the panel. Now before everyone gets all up in arms about this and that, remember that some of these situations are hypothetical. I'm not saying that our old system wasn't flawed. It had it's problems for sure. But as it stands right now, we are changing the sport of wrestling, and not in a positive way. In case anyone didn't notice, the new system didn't really help the smaller conferences. In fact it hurt everyone except for the ACC and the MAC Championships. We are already fighting enough battles with wrestling on the West Coast just to keep wrestling alive...now all of sudden we strip the PAC 10 of 18 qualifiers. EIGHTEEN! I'm not really sure how that helps the sport of wrestling. I guess if we just let teams continue to die away because they have trouble competing, it leaves more spots for less teams right?? (Note: Sarcasm). I don't have a solution but I do believe that we need to meet somewhere in the middle between the new and old systems. The historical data of the past took too long to change. The current mess encourages weak schedules and is kind to losing when winning matters most. Neither is right. We'll see what today's At Large committee brings to the table...but my guess is that it won't be pretty. Matt.valenti http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Matt.valenti/6371-what-have-we-done-to-college-wrestling Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:14:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6343-day-1-the-flight-to-persia From NYC I took a 6 hour flight to Frankfurt. From Fankfurt we caught a connecting flight to Tehran after a 7 hour layover... Lufhansa air is the most efficient way into Tehran I'm told. For security reasons, Lufthansa changes the gate of the flight to Tehran. There was no explanation. My boarding pass listed one gate, the overhead monitor list no gate at all. The actual gate is somewhere else... We are breifed 1 hour before take off where our gate is going to be . As we board the plane everyone notices our team USA warmups. We were greated with the unversal language a smile... I had the privelage to sit next a Persian man I will call Mr M. Mr M was very pleased that we were coming to Tehran... He was very welcoming he spoke english. Half way through our conversation he said "we like Obama" and he began to call me Obama for the rest of the flight as a term of endearment towards the US. The Iranians are just as much curious and intrigued with the USA as we are with them... I could feel the curious eyes looking in appreciation the we took this adventure for the sake of sport... I knew on this flight that It maybe a week before I can have a glass of wine. So I had a glass or two... I noticed the other Iranians also doing the same the women on the flight did not wear head garbs on the way over either... With 45 minutes left in our flight... Mr M asks me to take off my headphones he wanted me to hear what was about to be said over the loud speaker.. the captain comes over the loud speaker once we arrived in Iranian air space... The metamophisis begins before the plane lands... Passengers are given a warning to leave behind minature bottles of Jack D, Beer etc.. before leaving the plane... The second announcement is "By the decree of the government of Iran all female passangers are required to have there heads covered". The German stewards also announces "for your own interst we ask you to put on a scarf before leaving the aircraft.".. We must remember this is a religous custom even thought diffrent from ours its importnat to respect the customs as I eneter Persia... Mr M looks at me with a friendly smile and says this is what we must do because its law... He said it almost like a kid telling his friend he has be home before dark even though he wanted to continue to play outside. We arrive in the airport the scene was very welcoming all over the papers in Tehran they new the US team was coming. The Iraninas beat the #1 ranked team in the world the Russians in the world cup a day earlier. When we arrive we go though security where we get finger printed and our security escorted to our bus.... The whole time eveyone is very happy we are there but we are also breifed that we are not allowed to wear shorts in public.. We can not extend a hand hug etc... to any female... Its 2am so we are all jet lagged as we drive to the Olympic complex on the Qom highway... We are two weeks away from the Iranian New year Nowruz so the country is exited about the wrestling bringing in the new year... The air is crisp and clear mountains to the North desert to the south... We made it now its show time... Coming soon Inside "The House of Wrestling" The facillatity were the Iranian national team trains and we have our first workout..... Noel http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Noel/6343-day-1-the-flight-to-persia Mon, 09 Mar 2009 10:09:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/6299-noel-and-novogratz-going-to-iran Noel Thompson and Mike Novogratz will be our ears and eyes out in IRAN. Noel Thompson was captain of Hofstra during Tom Ryans tenure and is now a big whig at NYAC. Mike Novogratz was captain of Princeton way back in the day and now is one of the main guys behind Beat the Streets. Both guys were really solid wrestlers making it to the round of 12 at NCAAs and both have gone on to be successful outside of wrestling. They are going to show us what the streets and people look like. They are going to tell us what the people think of us and of course they are going to follow the wrestlers. Stay on Flo to experience Iran. Iranians LOVE wrestling! We LOVE wrestling. GROUP HUG!!!!! Well not quite. We still want to beat them in wrestling, and vice versa. In the next couple of weeks Flowrestling is going to get an insight into the depths of Wrestling in Iran. Wrestling is something that transcends humans even if they are living in another part of the world. The feeling of being on the Mat is like no other, the rush and feeling of consequence with fakes, takedowns, turns....sweat, lactic acid, and fatigue. Thatll cut through all barriers. Martino http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/6299-noel-and-novogratz-going-to-iran Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:22:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/JennChapman/6174-cutting-weight Can't quite remember how this idea came up but since nothing is going on this week it seems like a pretty good week to try it out. Shooting a documentary on the CMU wrestling program has been an eye opening experience about the sport of wrestling for me. One of the most interesting components has been seeing the guys "cut" weight. Often times I'll come into the practice room to get some footage and the place feels like a sauna, the guys looked like they just got out of the pool. The sport demands both mental and physical toughness but the idea of maintaining a weight or at least knowing where you are at earlier in the week takes the sport to a different level. For one week I thought I would challenge myself to "make weight" and see if I had what it takes to cut down and then be able to do something for 7 minutes. So this week I will try to make 112 lbs since that is a high school weight class. My natural weight usually falls somewhere between 117-119. Monday morning I started at 119! So I have 7lbs to take off, and the guys will be helping me do it the right way. On Saturday morning, I'll weigh in, have an hour to get ready, and then I have to run on the track for 7 mins, seeing how much I can get in. Today was day 3 of getting ready as I try to take the weight off by cutting back on calories, eating healthier, and getting in some good hard sweating workouts. I woke up this morning and was 119.2. I swam for an hour but was still high 118. Assistant coach Brandon Sinnott, helped me get through my morning wrestling workout. Side note: Tonight I did another 30mins in the wrestling room and weighed out at 115.0!! JennChapman http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/JennChapman/6174-cutting-weight Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:18:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Rollie/5887-hot-and-cold You know that feeling when you’re in the shower and the water is too hot so you turn the knob a little bit, but then it’s too cold? You struggle back and forth with increasingly less torque, but you can never get exactly the right temperature. That’s how I feel all the time. To me, the season is a never ending process of adjusting and tinkering. I meet minor setbacks on a daily basis and try to overcome them. I make many mistakes and have many flaws, and I try to correct them. Most of all, I try to never stagnate in the recesses of complacency. A wrestling season is a dynamic organism – it changes and grows – and if you’re not growing, you’re dying. If you have a bad match and you fail to learn from it, it becomes a string of bad matches. If you slip into routine and go through the motions every day, the season moves on without you. Sometimes you must work harder, other times you need recovery. You will never feel 100%, but it is a constant struggle to find the ideal middle ground. It is almost always elusive and unattainable, and this frustrates some people. I do not mean that you will always be scalding hot or ice cold, but that it is a constant flux. You bounce back and forth, seeking harmony, and in the process you get closer. You must come to terms with this – there will be hard times, bad days, and flat matches – all you can do is keep pushing and try to steer the course. And if you work hard enough, some day you may be able to find the perfect goddamn temperature in the shower. More here. Rollie http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Rollie/5887-hot-and-cold Tue, 03 Feb 2009 08:09:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/5882-thank-you This is a shout out and a thank you to all of those wrestlers who put it on the line. To me the worst paradox is when I hear a wrestler or coach who complain about how no one wants to watch wrestling, then go out a wrestle a 3-2 boring match that puts even the biggest wrestling fans to sleep. So here is a big thanks to all the wrestlers who make it exciting for me to watch. Thanks to Jake Herbert for having that intense stare in his eye before the match it got me so pumped up I head butted my Grandma. Thanks to Bubba Jenkins for making me excited to see a cement mixer all the time. Thank you to Darrion Caldwell and Ryan Lang for scoring 16 points in 2 minutes of the NCAA Quarterfinals. Thank you Brent Metcalf for never giving your opponents a second break. Thank you Reece Humphrey for throwing people on their heads. Thank you Jayson Ness for having the Audacity to pin good college wrestlers with a half nelson. Thank you Mike Poeta for your lightning quick Doubles. There are more of you who make me excited to watch wrestling, so here is a thanks to those guys who get me pumped up to watch some wrestling. Baskren http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/5882-thank-you Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:24:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/5851-the-real-worst-call-in-wrestling If you have ever flown Jet Blue they do a pretty good job, and have a sick terminal at JFK, (an airport that usually is a nightmare.) Furthermore they have satellite TV free for every passenger. Pretty cool, except that plane trips are my most effecient way to get work done without any phone calls interrupting me.So Im ready to get to work on a real productive flight when I see someone flip through their tv out of the corner of my eye and I see two wrestlers. It was lightning quick and I dont think a normal person could have even registered them, but Im keen to seeing anything wrestling.Problem is we are on the runway and I cant get my head phones!!!! I turn my tv to the channel and Im watching Escobedo get upset at home vs Pataky and I cant control myself. Man that was exciting!! I start announcing the next match (in my head) as if Im doing the announcing..."And Penn State gets another takedown!....they go out of bounds" Im getting pumped. Im really edgy now and want my headphones but Im caught, cant get up until we are in the air! Damn!!! Finally we are in the air, we arent suppose to get up YET but I get up and scramble for my head phones before the stuartess sees me, (she does see me but couldnt care less) ...Got em, go back into my seat and hurry to put my headphones in the jack. When I plug them in I hear Tim Johnson and Ken Chertow commentating and the first thing I hear is "why the wrestler with his head in the mat is not in a good position" DUH, any youth wrestler knows that. They went on announcing this dual like it was the first time I was watching wrestling. They went on dumbing down wrestling for the next 3 matches. Furthermore they are talking about everything but the details of the match. They talk about this or that and are talking about the mat in generalities and dont hesitate to talk about random stuff like how Ken Chertow got taught something from Doug Blubaugh?!! What? we got a sweet match going on. I can understand a little color commentating, but 95% is NOT about the things actually happening on the mat. They were there trying to show everybody how much they know. No play by play.I then go and do an experiment and walk to the back of the plane and slowly move towards the front. I look at every TV along the way and see if anybody else is watching this dual...no..no...no...about 100 tvs till I get to my seat without seeing another passenger watching the dual. Whats the point? The only person watching wrestling was a wrestling fan- ME. So I was being succombed to listening to two people diluting the dual and BSing with eachother for 30 minutes before I even start to channel surf.Please Ken Chertow and Tim Johnson I dont want to hear how wrestling numbers are growing on the youth level in the middle of a freaking big ten match. I dont want to see TV graphics on how many points a takedown is. Are you kidding me?! You think someone is going to sit down and really want to learn how wrestling works by just happening to click over to it on TV? Do you know how short people's attention span is these days? You must live in 1952. Im the only person watching out of a 100 people on this plane and as I write this you cant even keep me interested! Stop trying to convince mainstream how cool our sport is because guess what? They are watching Family Guy! If you dont like wrestling too bad!! This is the most exciting sport in the world. . Im probably the biggest wreslting fan of all time and you are turning me off! If you cant keep your core audience interested than you have nothing. STOP diluting our sport, you are only boring the real fans and turning us off. Ken and Tim, if you cant change then Big Ten please hire someone new, Martino http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Martino/5851-the-real-worst-call-in-wrestling Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:09:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/5791-the-worst-call-in-wrestling So what is the wrost call in wrestling? It is the potentially dangerous call made by an official, it is so overused that it makes me sick. Every tough wrestler knows he doesn't have to go over to his back because if it looks like it hurts bad enough the ref will stop it. Now I am all for protecting kids, but when you get to the college level you should have already have learned to protect yourself. I vote to outlaw the potentially dangerous call from college wrestling. It is used in the right context less than 1% of the time, the other 99% the wrestlers puts himself there to A) get the PD call B)could just roll over to his back to avoid the PD call, but instead the ref steps in to save the day. What is the most exciting aspect of wrestling? It is by far without a doubt the pin, everyone knows that. I can gaurantee you there will be more pins if the PD call is outlawed, because dudes will start rolling over instead of getting their shoulders ripped off. Dont you think it is time we stopped protecting grown men from each other? If one wrestler wants to enforce his will upon another, then let him. Who is with me? Baskren http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/5791-the-worst-call-in-wrestling Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:10:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Ahrovat/5781-going-home Well I haven't had much time to write or much to write about sincecoming to Krasnoyarsk so sorry about that. My hip still hurts prettybad and the team Doctor as suggested I get a MRI when I get home justto make sure there isn't a hairline fracture, bone chip, or if themuscle has torn away from the bone. The doctor thinks I may be out upto 6 weeks. When I first got here it was bruised and swollen so asthe swelling went down I thought it was getting better, but it wasactually getting more tender because the swelling was over the boneand now with no swelling the bone was sore. I was a littledisappointed I couldn't wrestle because I knew going into thetournament that who ever won I had beaten. It turned out the guy Ibeat in France last year in the finals 5-2 6-0 ended up winning andone of the bronze medalist I have beaten twice. I could have used theprize money but oh well. I can't dwell on the fact that I didn'tcompete because this was out of my hands. I can't pick and choose whenI am healthy and hurt. All I can do is learn from my training and takewith me the experience. The last time I was hurt and out for more thena week I took my wrestling to a new level. In 2005 I hurt my SC jointand couldn't walk without it hurting. I was off the mat for about 2months and I was able to watch and learn, but most importantly I wasable to lift get strong and run. I think this injury will have thesame results. I haven't had time off in years so my body is tellingme to slow down. I will use this time to focus on winning my first USOpen title and making another team.ResultsAs a team we didn't wrestle to the level we would have liked. We hadone champion I'm Steve Mocco and he wrestled the best I have seen him.Being able to have guys like him around is going to help the teammature faster then we expect and the results will come we have to bepatient, willing to put the time in, and open. I think the guys wehave on the team will be willing to do so and it will show in the nearfuture. We are headed to the banquet so I have to leave. Ahrovat http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Ahrovat/5781-going-home Sun, 25 Jan 2009 18:11:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Ahrovat/5733-krasnoyarsk-russia So it's been a few days since I last wrote but it's been pretty busy over here. On the 17th I left Vladimavkaz and flew to Moscow to meet up with the US team. At midnight we left Moscow on an overnight flight to Krasnoyarsk. This is a very hard flight because it is about 5 hours long and there is a 4 hour time change. So rich now I am 12 time zones away from my home in Michigan. The first day we were here we had a light drill. I went with Mocco but he wasn't allowed to go hard because of my hip. The next day I meet with the doctor and he shot some pain medicine into my hip. I tried drilling and sparring with Keith Gavin but my hip was still to sore. I guess the numbing affects of the shot didn't get deep enough into my side. So Zeke and I came up with a plan to take today off and then try and see if I can wrestle tomorrow. I am not very optimistic just because I know my body and right now it just doesn't feel right. Tomorrow morning at 7 I have an interview at a local news station. This will be the 3rd tv interview I will have done since getting here. Two days before I left Vladikavkaz the club had some kind of media day promoting their wrestlers at the up coming tournament. Once it was know that I was training there the newspapers and tv crews wanted to know why I wanted to train there. Well I have a big day tomorrow starting at 7am and it is my birthday. Ahrovat http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Ahrovat/5733-krasnoyarsk-russia Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:08:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/5720-weight-cutting I really liked the feedback I got last week on the Talent blog, so I will write another blog about the thoughts I have. This week will write about my thoughts on why weight cutting became so popular in the sport of wrestling. First here are two thoughts that you must accept as truths or my argument won't make any sense. 1. A wrestler has to wrestle the correct weight class for himself to reach his fullest potential. 2. The toughest (mentally) guy wins the match when most everything else is equal. So here we go, try to follow along. A long time ago in America the male society used to be much more macho. I came to this conclusion after reading "Duel in the Sun," which is a book about the 1982 Boston Marathon. It stated that in that year there were over 100 Americans who finished the marathon in faster than 2:30 and in 2007 there were less than 15. Running a marathon really isn't that tough, but running a marathon in under 2:30 hours might be one of the most grueling and difficult tasks known to man. It takes a real man to run a marathon under 2:30 hours and with the "everyone is a winner" point our society has come to, just finishing a marathon is enough of an accomplishment. So besides that argument, I think we can all agree that the American society isn't macho as it once may have been. How many times have you heard wrestlers brag about how much weight they have cut as kind of a "macho" badge of honor. Well back in the day I am sure this phenomenon was even more prevalent. So since weight cutting takes a lot of mental toughness, then the toughest guys will obviously be able to cut the most weight. Since we also take the #2 premise above as a truth, then the toughest guy cuts the most weight and he also wins the most matches. So since these two things seem to go together people take their correlation as causation, when we all know that correlation does not prove causation. But most people don't look that in depth so a whole generation takes this to be a simple accepted truth. And that folks is how weight cutting became so highly looked upon in the sport of wrestling. Warning: of course this is just my opinion, I hope you enjoy. Baskren http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Baskren/5720-weight-cutting Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:05:00 -0500 http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Ahrovat/5680-going-live-against-the-russians Well after our day off we got back to training at 8am for our morning run and drill. In the afternoon we did some cross training and lifting exercises. In the evening I had been asked to wrestle Georgi Ketoev. I wrestled Ketoev in the Chicago Cup in 2007. I didn't do so well with him but I know I can beat him. Practicing with him though was not good for my moral. He out weighs me by a good 20 pounds right now, but I held my own. The important part is that I was able to wrestle the most dominent wrestler of the 2007 worlds. The next day I wrestled the wrestler who was 5th at the olympics at 96kg for Ukraine. I wrestled him last year at the World Cup in Vladikavkaz and lost a close match in the 3rd period off my own shot. I wrestled well during the situations but he was a little big when we went the match. I did score a couple if 3 point double legs though. I felt good about wrestling these two guys seeing they are both bigger then I am. I was real excited for the evenings practice cause I was going against a wrestler who is my size. I felt really good in the situations and scored lots of points. We wrestled in the first group for the matches and I hit a hard 3 point double leg right away and then tilted him for another 2 points. I was in on two more shots but didn't finish. With about 15 seconds left in the period I grabed a 2on1 was was going to control it until the time ran out. I'm not real comfortable here but was just testing if I could do it. This was a mistake cause the guy arm draged me and in doing so his hip bone hit mine and I gave up a takedown and was in a little but of pain. I just brushed it off and got ready for the second period. Within the first 10 seconds I blasted him a double straight to his back. I felt the need to make up for my mistake at the end of the first. When he hit his back I rolled off of him in a lot of pain. I have no idea what happened but I am guessing the muscle above my hip bone is bruised. Today it hurt a lot and I am in a lit of pain when I move around. I am sure it will heal by the time it comes to wrestle in Krasnoyarsk. Tomorrow I will take another day off and the next day I will try to wrestle in a tournament simulation. When I got hurt the Ossetian team doctor sprayed me with the well known cold spray. This was the first time I had this sprayed on me and let me tell you it's cold, and something in it keeps the area cold for a long time. Overall, I am pleased with the way I am wrestling and I am learning a lot. Ahrovat http://www.flowrestling.org/blogs/blogger/Ahrovat/5680-going-live-against-the-russians Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:18:00 -0500