DISCLAIMER: I realize it is a little last to publish this journal. However, everybody who tried to watch the All Star Classic knows that the last two and a half matches were cut out of the live webcast. I’ve been waiting to put this up in case I could somehow see the rebroadcast and redo the journal. However, because of some technical difficulties of my own I can’t view the archived matches, so I’m going to have to send it in as is. Here we are, live from Lafayette College. I’m sitting in front of my computer waiting to watch this year’s All Star Classic. In a genius idea, it is being held at the University of Oregon, which I think really sticks it to the powers that be and tries to send a message. Good decision. Tonight should be entertaining, the fact that it is an exhibition should mean some guys really open up and try some things, at least that’s what I’m hoping for. I’m keeping a running journal, which will be a minute by minute account of observations and comments while watching the web cast. It’s a formula used quite successfully by ESPN’s Bill Simmons, who I hope won’t sue me for plagiarism. Anyway, let’s get to the journal. 9:59 I signed up a half an hour ago, hopefully that helps with the web cast. I know people have had problems with these in the past, but I’m thinking that signing up early will alleviate any headaches. I watched some of the first two exhibitions, but my feed cut out after that. I think that happened to everybody, as it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to show 20 minutes of dead air. 10:01 I still don’t have any video. However, the LIVESPORTSVIDEO written across the screen is in a relatively cool font, so I guess that’s a small victory. Also, Thematforums.com has completely shut down due to traffic. Who says nobody cares about wrestling? 10:06 I’m starting to get antsy. I’ve tried logging out and back in but still I get nothing but a blank screen. Here’s hoping they’re running late. Events like this never start on time anyway. Plus the text updates at Intermat haven’t started either, so I think I’m okay. Jason Bryant is usually very much on top of things. His pre-classic blog is very well written for those of you who want to go back and take a look. I’ve read it four times already while waiting. 10:11 Still working under the assumption that it hasn’t started yet. Instead of a blank screen though, they could give me some pre-match commentary, maybe set the stage a little bit. It’d be a little more entertaining than a blank screen. Wrestling manages to shoot itself in the foot more often than not. 10:15 The worst part about this is waiting here in front of my computer like an idiot, knowing that I’ve already paid five bucks, so now I’m completely at the mercy of this website. 10:18 I’m reading Intermat’s text updates from Hofstra-Penn State from Saturday. I love these because of the extra little tidbits that always get added in. For example, apparently Bubba Jenkins’ mom apparently is a vocal presence at her sons matches. It’s the little things that make their coverage great. 10:21 And it’s official, I’m missing Jayson Ness of Minnesota against Paul Donahue of Nebraska. It’s disappointing because now that Troy Nickerson from Cornell is out, people have been anointing Ness the champion left and right, which I’m sure doesn’t sit well with your defending national champion Paul Donahue. I’d like to see him send a message. I didn’t think it was possible, but he seems to be getting less respect than Joe Dubuque did defending a title. 10:27 We have our first video of the night. Donahue has already defeated Ness, which I’m sure the Minnesota people are not happy about. Maybe they’ll actually have to work for their team title this March. Video comes in during 133 which is Hofstra’s Lou Ruggirello versus Minnesota’s Mack Reiter, no score in the middle of the first. 10:28 This is the first I’ve seen Ruggirello wrestle. His legs look like my forearm. There’s not much to the kid. Reiter, on the other hand, is a big boy for 33. By the way, although I do have video, there is no sound or commentary, no clock, and no scoreboard. Kind of a budget operation. 10:29 Ruggirello takes Reiter down with :16 seconds left in the first. A wise man once said matches are won on the edge of the mat and at the end of periods. 10:31 I think that the Ruggirello-Ben Ashmore debates from their senior year have cooled down a little. It’s always funny how things like that turn out. Out of high school, Ashmore was the clear selection for best in the country at 119. Now Oklahoma State fans are clamoring for Tyler Shinn to come back down to 125 so he can take Ashmore’s spot in the lineup. Meanwhile, Ruggirello is in the All Star Classic. 10:32 Mack is really slow off the whistle. I think his new scouting report on Ruggirello is “do not go on the mat under any circumstances” which neutralized Mack’s best weapon, his cradle. By the way, Ruggirello just got out from under in 4 seconds. He rode Mack for the entire two minutes, so much for seeing great mat wrestling both ways. 10:34 Neither guy is doing much to change levels, just pushing on each other in tie ups. I made fun of Ruggirello earlier for being skinny, but he’s incredibly long. Weird body type, he’s going to be very tough to beat. 10:35 There are 35 seconds left and Mack is going to need a miracle. And there it is! No, Mack tries for what would be a beautiful inside trip to make this interesting, but Ruggirello counters it for 2, final is 6-0. I’m glad Mack didn’t score at the end, he was pretty much dominated the whole match, no way he should have pulled that out, no matter how dangerous he is. 10:36 Up next we have Nathan Morgan from Oklahoma State and Charles Griffin from Hofstra. Who would have thought that Hofstra would have back to back guys in the All Star event? That’s a really a testament to Tom Ryan. Griffin is probably the most underrated star in the country, and has been since high school. 10:38 My video is gone again. The picture froze; I have no idea what’s happening. I’m going to try and log back in. This is a nightmare 10:42 And we’re back! The score is 4-3 Morgan, your guess is as good as mine as to how it happened. Thanks guys at Livesportsvideo. 10:43 Griffin is a lot bigger than I remember; he must be killing himself to get down to 141. Meanwhile, Morgan looks like he’s 13. He also looks like way to nice of a kid to be a wrestler. 10:44 Great shot by Griffin at the end of the second that Morgan fights off to keep a lead going into the third. This really looks like a college match. Tons of counter wrestling, and two guys that look big enough to be college athletes. Not a knock on Ruggirello and Reiter, but watching the littler guys in college still reminds me of really good high school wrestlers. 141 and up you can usually really see a size difference. 10:47 The guys in the background look miserable. Maybe they’re just getting in the zone, but I figured this would be a fun event to take part it. I can’t really tell who it is, but I think one of them is Wisconsin’s Craig Henning. 10:48 End of the period, Morgan still leading by one. Sixteen seconds left and Morgan is coming around and is going to reverse Griffin to win. Oh my, Griffin takes Morgan to his back instead, then rolls him back and tilts him for another 3. Six points in the last 15 seconds to win by Griffin, great finish. Matches are won on the edge and at the end of periods. The only question is, why go for the home run there Morgan? He had the reversal, but it looked like he was hunting for back points too. Not necessary. 10:50 This is one of the matches I’ve really been waiting for, Minnesota’s Dustin Schlatter and Michigan’s Josh Churella. I want to see if the new and improved Dustin Schlatter is for real. I hope he opens it up and puts on a show like the Schlatter of old. 10:51 Churella lets up out of his stance for just a second, and Schlatter manages to shoot and take him down. Talk about taking advantage of mistakes. When he wants to be, Dustin Schlatter is scary good. He cuts Churella loose and they’re back to their feet. It’s almost pointless to shoot on Schlatter. It looks like Churella is getting good looks, but he can’t so much as touch Schlatter’s leg. Wow. 10:52 I’m not sure why Schlatter is cutting Churella to start the period. At least work on top a little, you know Churella will ride for a while next period and he should at least try to make it tougher to earn riding time. Every second counts. Now we’re getting the Schlatter of old, just happy to sit on a lead. Ask Gregor Gillespie how that works out for him. I admired his defense last period, but now he’s just shutting down. 10:54 Michigan has awesome singlets. Very classy. Churella looks sharp. 10:55 Third period and Churella is working his cross-body ride. I love the one foot in rule in college, it extends the mat a ton. It would improve high school wrestling a lot. So many potential takedowns are killed off by going out. I think it helps to cure the growing stalling problem too if it’s tough to skirt out of bounds. And Churella is brutal on top. He seems to be the forgotten man in this weight class, despite the fact he’s a returning finalist. He’ll be in the thick of things at the end. 10:56 Churella just misses riding time, Schlatter is out after 55 seconds. That would have made things interesting. At least Schlatter would have needed to wrestle. 10:57 Schlatter is done for the night; he’ll hang on for the next minute and walk away with a 3-2 win. It’s amazing how much things change. Schlatter-Esposito I is one of my favorite matches of all time because it pits two of the slickest kids I’ve ever seen against each other. Schlatter is a totally different wrestler now. Part of it is that he’s too good defensively for his own good. Maybe he didn’t learn his lesson last year at NCAA’s, because he’s going to find out the hard way again that he needs to score to win. 10:59 The other match I’m dying to see, Mike Poeta versus Craig Henning. Poeta walks around like he has a screw loose, which usually means he’s going to win. He’s awesome on his feet, and I can’t wait to see him unleash his double. 11:00 Wait for it… 11:01 Wait for it… 11:02 BOOM! Blast double by Poeta, takes Henning down hard. Henning tries to funk out a little bit and puts himself in a pretty compromised position. Ref slaps the mat, Poeta sticks Henning in a little over two minutes. He is really explosive. Obviously that is not indicative of how all their matches will go, Craig Henning is a very good wrestler, but Poeta looked fired up. I love watching this kid wrestle. I hope Dustin Schlatter was watching. 11:04 It’s intermission now. I just checked the text updates at Intermat and they aren’t working either. Maybe the connection in the gym is bad, which takes some of the heat off of livesportsvideo. I’ll try to be a little less critical. 11:13 We’re just about to get started again, Roger Kish is warming up alone on the mat sporting his Minnesota Wrestling crew neck sweatshirt. I don’t think they make hoods in Minnesota. Last year I was at the Southern Scuffle, and that seemed to be the clothing article of choice for the entire team. 11:14 First match after intermission is Eric Tannenbaum from Michigan against Patrick Pitsch from Arizona State. Right away this is an entertaining match. Tannenbaum is taking awesome shots, but just can’t seem to get something together. I can’t stress enough how aesthetically pleasing this match is. They got the memo that this is an exhibition and are going all out. Both guys are getting really good scoring opportunities, and both guys are counter wrestling really well. There is way too much action for no score. 11:18 Pitsch is taking shots from waaaay out. He covers tons of ground every time. This is the first I’ve seen him wrestle, he looks very good. 11:19 Tannenbaum muscles his way for a takedown. It’s amazing that his has been such a slick match, but the first takedown is Tannenbaum just bulling his way through Pitsch. 11:21 Tannenbaum is really improved on the mat. I have no idea how he was at 149 two years ago, he is giant for 165. He punishes Pitsch from top and bulls his way to a 4-0 win. Both of these guys could really give Mark Perry of Iowa problems this year. The question is, can they out swagger him? Perry wins because he’s very good and very confident, especially as a defending champ. Tannenbaum and Pitsch are going to have to match that confidence. 11:23 Before I even mention the competitors at 174, Navy has two piece singlets complete with sleeves. Are you kidding me? Of all places I would think that Navy would stick to tradition. They look awful. Matt Stolpinski is the Naval Academy’s competitor. He’s wrestling Keith Gavin from Pittsburgh. 11:24 The service academies should produce incredible wrestlers. I kind of worry about national security when I see them get beat. However, Gavin looks really really good. I take back what I said about him in my column this week; he deserves to be at least one of the favorites. His run last year was no fluke. 11:25 The big guys mat wrestling has been much better than the little guys. Gavin and Tannenbaum both are really active on top. That’s a pleasant surprise, usually the bigger guys just slug it out on their feet. 11:28 Stolpinski tucks in his shirt. I can’t stress enough how horrible those uniforms look. Somebody should be dishonorably discharged for that. 11:30 Gavin has dominated this match so far, yet it’s only 4-3. Wrestling is weird that way. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stolpinski hit something late and pull this out. 11:31 Stolpinski gets a low single called off for potentially dangerous. That looked like his shot to turn this match around. Sure enough, Gavin is in deep and scores to make it 7-3, put this one in the books. 11:32 Stolpinski changes levels nicely, but can’t finish his shot and Gavin counters for the match to end 9-4. Gavin is from not far from where I live, yet I had never heard of him in high school. He came out of nowhere last year and gave Ben Askren his best match of the year in finals. He looked like the real deal tonight. 11:33 This is the most anticipated match up of the night. Roger Kish of Minnesota wrestles Jake Varner of Iowa State in the only match up of #1 and #2 ranked wrestlers in the country. Kish clearly has revenge on his mind after losing last year to Varner in NCAA semifinals. 11:34 Jake Varner is LONG. Big lanky kid with boats for feet. Kish simply can’t get in on shots. For such an explosive kid, Kish seems to have no answer for Varner’s length. Every time I’ve seen Kish wrestle he’s a scoring machine, so this is odd. I wonder if Jake Herbert is sitting in front of his computer somewhere and laughing. A title at 184 this year should come with an asterisk. Not saying these both aren’t great wrestlers, but Jake Herbert toys with both of him. He’s in a different stratosphere. 11:36 Incredible ankle pick by Varner, wonder how many times a day Cael does that to him in practice. It looks like the boy is learning. However, an absolute WOW moment from Roger Kish to get out of it. The counters tonight have been unbelievable. That’s what really separates top level college wrestlers. All these flurries have led to no points in the first. 11:38 Kish starts on bottom and simply cannot get away from Varner. Varner looks to have really separated himself, Kish has no answer for his size. 11:39 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 11:40 My screen is completely frozen. Roger Kish is waiting for the restart, Varner is coming back to the center of the mat, and my video feed is dead. This is a debacle. 11:50 I’ve given up hope of seeing the last three matches. Apparently there were fireworks after Kish-Varner, I’m sorry I missed that. I’m not a happy camper. This is ridiculous. Once again, wrestling manages to shoot itself in the foot. What was otherwise a pretty good evening has been ruined quite nicely. I’m going.