Wrestlers in Iowa Must Remove Ashes

KWWL TV ^ | 2-21-07 | KWWL

[Hawk1976]

When I realized you didn't get to wear a cape and have cool theme music when entering the "ring", I gave up.

Kidding aside, while I don't doubt wrestlers work like dogs to get to the point where they are competitive at their sport, so do football players. While a football player may find themselves in a sport where "holding" is allowed, a wrestler may find himself in trouble where "grappling" is a ten yard penalty. Tackling not withstanding of course.

The only wrestler in my high school that also played football said that football and wrestling have the need to keep balance in common. I took three years of Tae Kwon Do before starting to play football, that was difficult as well. They also had balance in common.

[NewLand]

Wrestlers in Iowa Must Remove Ashes

W.W.G.D.

What Would Gable Do?

[Grizzled Bear]

Did the Catholics riot?

Sorry, I forgot. Only Muslims can do that.

[Grizzled Bear]

Staph is the worst of course
______________________________________________________

I had Staph in my knee joint as a small child (about 5 years old). The worst part was my parents couldn't be near me because I was in isolation. God blessed me with a really great nurse who went out of her way to spend time with me.

[Boiler Plate]

I wrestled through College and then coached for the next twenty years. It is a tough sport physically and mentally, but there are three sports I admire.

One swimming, who in their right mind gets up at 4:00 AM to jump into cold water in the middle of winter.

Two pole vaulting, here grab these pole then run as fast as you can stuck the pole into that hole and then hang on for dear life.

Three Australian Rules Football, the Field is the size of four US football fields and the fact that they call Australian Rules Football is a complete misnomer because essentially there are no rules and it is the only sport I know of where the box score includes "Major Injuries".

[NewLand]

They also had balance in common.

The unique thing about wrestling is that during the match, you are the QB, RB, LB, DB...all at the same time. During practice, you are restricted by weight and time. These are unique to wrestling, and unless you have experienced it, it's hard to compare it to anything.

I played football, FYI. I vote for wrestling as the most consistently demanding and difficult to achieve greatness.

[Mr. Blonde]

One of my buddies went to the marines right after high school. After he got back from basic training he said it was easy compared to wrestling season.

A popular phrase I hear a lot is "everything is easy after wrestling." My personal favorite is Bradon Slay (Olympic Gold Medalist) said he likes to keep things in perspective when doing things he doesn't like. He always says to himself, "well, I could be cutting weight." It really does make pretty much any task seem better.

[The FIGHTIN Illini]

Cutting Weight -- ouch that brings back bad memories, plastic sweat suits with legs and arms duct taped, steam room, hot water whirlpools (in plastic suits), running mat laps and wall drills, do some wrestling, then run some more and back into the steam room. The worst part of it all was trying to compete for fans (other than your parents and grandparents) with the damn basketball team!

[Mr. Blonde]

I never in my life broke so hard or so quick as when I tried to ride a stationary bike in a plastic suit in a steam room. I immediately regretted that decision.

[The FIGHTIN Illini]

Our steam room was about 3' wide by 8' long by 8' high with an exposed old time steam radiator over one wall. Benches stacked to get you as close to the ceiling as possible to get 'maximum' effect. Throwing cold water on the open radiator. Don't get much better than that!

[JimRed]

A priest could attend the tournament and "ash" the Catholic participants after they showered off.

[MistrX]

Can we really blame the HSAA?

What if some nut mixed cayenne pepper with his ashes, and then introduced said ashes to opponents eyes?

[Michael.SF.]

I don't live near enough to him to watch any of his matches, I wish I did.

Obviously I do not know your situation, but I do hope you can go see a few of his matches. Win or lose, when he walks off the mat and knows you are there, he will remember that.

[SaxxonWoods]

This is simple. If you are Catholic, and you want to keep your ashes on, don't wrestle this week. There are a lot of things one may give up in order to practice religion, this is temporary, and minor.

[Michael.SF.]

The big difference between playing football and wrestling is the time frames involved, combined with the intensity of exertion required. Football is 5-30 seconds of quick high level exertion, followed by 45 seconds, or more, of recuperative moments. Added to that, one only plays offense or defense so relatively long periods of recuperation during the game are available to the player.

Wrestling though is three minutes (and more) of 100% full speed effort requiring strength, quickness and agility.

Having both played football and wrestled, there is no doubt that wrestling requires more from the participant. But you are right, both require hard intense practices to succeed.

[Michael.SF.]

LOL.

No arguments. But you over looked one:

Water Polo.

My son also played water polo, as well, three years varsity. He was not a quick swimmer so was not on the swim team, but he had long arms (not good for a wrestler), and had a quick trigger. I thought he was nuts to do so, but he loved it and it is a great game.

[MarkBsnr]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I'm 6'5" with long arms and legs - definitely not wrestling material (except that I played hockey - ever get into a 3 minute wrestling match standing on two razor blades on ice wearing all that getup - I was always grateful to have at least a 2 minute penalty just so I had time to get my wind back).

But water polo is extremely tough. And elbows and knees are just as hard under the water - and harder for the ref to see.

[Boiler Plate]

Actually the guys with long arms and legs were the most dangerous wrestlers. They were deceptively strong and had the ability to reach in and across, not too mention riding legs.

Water Polo is tough, agreed. I almost drowned as child playing water polo (the only time in my life I even came close to drowning). Got pulled out of the water by my finger.

I don't know of many places where Water Polo is a HS sport though.

[Michael.SF.]

I don't know of many places where Water Polo is a HS sport though.

Pretty common here in California, even in the Northern part. Most suburban schools have programs, though many inner city schools do not.

[ntnychik]

LOL, we left the high-school wrestling "supersectionals" at a nearby college fieldhouse late Saturday night. It was snowy and about 10 degrees outside. On the way, we passed the natatorium, to see one lone swimmer, continuing to do his laps. Now, THAT made me shiver.