As Penn State Builds Wrestling Champs, Region Awaits Final Wintry Blast

First of all, the weather:

 I’ve been yapping about the coldest, and probably snowiest, Mar. 25-April
15 around these parts in a long, long time—perhaps since 1982. In fact, 
at the wrestling victory party Saturday night, I was doubly gleeful because I
 get a kick out of the weather doing wild things. It goes with the 
territory of having a wrestling mentality.  

Before we close the books on winter, another six to 12 inches of snow may fall, be it in multiple, or one storm. And there are liable to be a couple of days where temps 
don’t get above freezing. Remember the last Monday of February and the thunderstorm that hit that morning? Well Carolina winter folklore says within 10 days of a thunderstorm, it snows down there in mid-winter. I tweeted that day that if we look up here in central Pennsylvania in late winter, the same idea can apply, and bingo, within 10 days, a snowstorm.  

Monday another morning thunderstorm hit. So look for more snow within 
10 days. (I am sure the local forecasters will see this.)

The map to the right shows what happened back in March 25 to April 14 of 1982. As for the temps, 
the deep purple on the represents temps 10 to 15 degrees below
 normal. We are about to have a two- to three- week period that will be more
 like late February and early March than marching into April, and opposite 
of what happened last year.

The point is, there is one more period of nasty cold on the way. Get ready.

Now, on to more important issues.

I am not going to compete with the superb local commentary on the triumph of Penn State wrestling this  year. But perhaps there are some angles I can touch on that others may not. I can talk about all the guys, but in this case, I’ll mention just a couple.

Quentin Wright

For the 185-pound NCAA champ and Bald ‘Iggle’ Brawler, the  ‘comeback’ started with the Wisconsin match. Although Quentin got caught and pinned, he was back to wrestling in his ‘cat pounce’ style.  He caught the Wisconsin wrestler flat-footed on a wonderful mid-second period take-down and just got sloppy on top. In talking to him after the match, it was obvious he was on his way to wrestling like Quentin again. Of course, that didn’t mean he had to win the Big Tens or Nationals, it meant that he was overcoming what was in his way, and had  the joy of the journey coming back. And you all see the results.

Frankie Molinaro

I would have done exactly what he did against Kyle Dake, Cornell’s 149-pounder, in the finals, choosing down. Frankie is not going to take a backseat to anyone as far as competing on his own beliefs. And though I did not talk to him about it, I think he took down because he thought he could get out, and if he couldn’t, he didn’t deserve to win, in the world according to Frankie.  

It was a matter of honor. Although Dake proved to be everything he is capable of being, Frankie did the right thing, in my opinion. It will drive him to win it all next year.  I was impressed that he did that in spite of the moans from the Penn State faithful.

The ‘Bubba’ Factor

In reference to Monday’s article in the Centre Daily Times on wrestling, specifically in reference to former Penn State great Bubba Jenkins, some things should be said.

I think there is some misinterpretation here on Bubba. Fact is, the coaching staff was hired to do a job, and that job meant new rules were put into place. Penn State wrestling has never been for ‘everyone.’ People have transferred out of here before; people have transferred in. Cael or no coach wants to ‘get rid’ of a team captain who was a runner-up in the nationals.

But since I have been here, under Bill Koll in the ‘70s, each coach establishes his rules and then, you ‘get rid of yourself.’  And you have that option.  Cael wasn’t hired for any one person to win a national title, but for the team title, and when one
 says Bubba left against his own wishes, well it’s because 
he was not happy with the way  things  were going here for him. That’s
 life. You have to get up and adjust; he did, and more power to him. So
 what is his complaint? To quote Don Henley, ‘You keep carrying that anger, it will eat you up inside.’

There has been no anti-Bubba vendetta around here.  Bubba’s picture is 
still up in the wrestling room, in spite of him leaving, because his
 accomplishments in a PSU uniform merit it. I even saw Bubba’s brother lifting in the Penn State wrestling weight room, well after Bubba left here. No one was mad at him. I would 
have much rather preferred that David Taylor won it, but not because it was
 Bubba, or to prove a point, but because he was a Penn State wrestler and his
 opponent at the time was not. 

As it is, seems like Bubba did what was best for Bubba, which is
 great! So why be mad at the coach of your former team? It’s not like Cael did anything to stop you (read: wouldn’t allow the transfer).  This is America, you are a free man and have acquitted yourself as the 157-pound national champ in 2011.

As far as the ‘rivalry’ with Cael, well let’s look at this objectively: four-times undefeated NCAA champion with 159-0 college record, gold medalist and now national champ-coach versus a talented young man who is a two-time placer, one time as a national champ?  

The biggest factor as far as the ‘rivalry?” One of them isn’t involved: he’s building champions, on and off the mat, as a coach,  so he doesn’t have the time for the rivalry.  To my knowledge, I have not heard Cael or any of the coaches speak one negative word about Bubba. And Bubba will have to 
focus his considerable talents on his Mixed Martial Arts career, because as anyone in
 that will tell you, you don’t have time for rivalries with anything
 but your opponents. 

Bubba should be very successful in the martial arts as he has the tools for 
greatness there, and in many other aspects of his life. We all wish him 
well.

A Word on Reffing

They have to enforce stalling. And if you need a time-out to take off this or that, then it’s a point against you for every knee-pad, or whatever you are taking off.  I remember Dave Hart, now a Nittany Lion Wrestling Club coach, pushing an opponent in the nationals who had five fingers taped on each hand, and who called time out to take off each piece of tape.

He recovered and held on to win against Dave (and at nationals, where Dave took 3rd).  As for the injury-time problem? Every 30 seconds is a point against you, until two minutes, then you default. Penn State had two defaults, but if the guys could continue, then there should be some kind of penalty against our guys. (Most of the time it will be the other team.) I know it sounds harsh, but this is a harsh sport, and sometimes it’s last man standing. So if you get hurt, as long as the move was not illegal, then there has to be some kind of gradated penalty system.

And the ‘screaming’ to counter a move has to be penalized if the match is stopped. Frankie had locked up a split scissors and his opponent screamed and they stopped it. You know what it takes to lock up a split scissors on a great opponent?  Our guy locks it up and then he is thwarted, the other guy rewarded.  That should be two points—at least.

Why the Sport Can Still Thrive

If a 15-year-old basketball-loving golfing nut (my son, Garrett, who missed his games this weekend because of a busted-up thumb, so I took him to the nationals) can say, ‘Dad, this was the most exciting sports event I have ever been to,’ then in spite of the adversity aligned against college wrestling in the large sense, the sport can thrive.

After all, turning adversity into advantage is one of the chief  ‘lessons’ of the sport.