Posted on 02/18/2011 10:36:48 AM PST by BenLurkin
I still remember the last JV tournament of my freshman year.
My teammate Deborah Kavalar was down a few points in the third period. I don't recall the exact move, but I remember her flipping her opponent, the excitement and the pin.
More than that, I remember the reaction.
The ultra-masculine 145-pounder threw his headgear across the gym and stormed out the door as Deborah stood there awaiting a handshake.
It was embarrassing. Not because the guy lost to a girl -- Deborah had crumpled plenty of overconfident XY chromosomes over her three years on the mat. But because I was the same gender as the guy who couldn't handle a loss to a girl.
I don't bring this up as a slight to Joel Northrup, the Iowa high school wrestler who defaulted in his state wrestling match rather than wrestle a girl. Beliefs, religion -- whatever. I get it.
Aside from that, boys mostly view wrestling girls as a lose-lose situation. If you win, well, obviously you should have. She's a girl. If you lose, well, then you just lost to a girl.
My take: get over it.
Three ladies rolled around with the 2001 Nicolet Knights in Fox Point, Wis. I was a tiny tike at the time, only reaching 100 pounds by the end of the year. Our wrestling squad featured six 103-pounders. Of those six, two were girls.
I'd like to say it was never weird wrapping my arms around equally miniature members of the opposite sex during practice. I can't. It was a bit, oh, "interesting" at times. Still, it was no more awkward grabbing and jostling a girl at times than it was a guy.
But the guys weren't alone in their awkwardness; the ladies had to deal with the gender difference, too. They changed in different locker rooms, they weighed in after everybody else and they had to pretend they didn't notice the disdain on their male opponent's face who was entering a lose-lose situation.
Despite all this, I never once felt our ladies wanted to be treated differently or winners by forfeit. They did all the same drills and workouts and, most of the time, lost just as pitifully as I did.
Part of Cassy Herkelman likely was excited about receiving her first win in the state tournament. It was not the first time she's had her hand raised without a fight. I can also guarantee that she left with mixed emotions. Three years from now, when she is likely placing in the state tournament on her own accord, I bet she'll have wished she could have taken her freshman lumps.
Everybody else does.
Crotch grab and hoist the same girl and see if she doesn’t cry claiming sexual harassment.
I’m still waiting to find out if the butt drag is a legitimate wrestling move.
A Russian and Ole the Norwegian wrestler were set to square off for the Olympic Gold Medal. Before the final match, the Norwegian wrestling coach came to Ole and said, “Now, don’t forget all the research we’ve done on this Russian.. He’s never lost a match because of this ‘pretzel’ hold he has”. Whatever you do, do not let him get you in that hold! If he does, you’re finished’. Ole nodded in acknowledgment.
As the match started, Ole and the Russian circled each other several times, looking for an opening. All of a sudden, the Russian lunged forward, grabbing Ole and wrapping him up in the dreaded pretzel hold. A sigh of disappointment arose from the crowd and the coach buried his face in his hands, for he knew all was lost.. He couldn’t watch the inevitable happen.
Suddenly, there was a scream, then a cheer from the crowd and the coach raised his eyes just in time to watch the Russian go flying up in the air. His back hit the mat with a thud and Ole collapsed on top of him making the pin and winning the match.. The crowd went crazy. The coach was astounded.
When he finally got his wrestler alone, he asked, “How did you ever get out of that hold? No one has ever done it before!”
Ole answered, “Vell, I vas ready to give up ven he got me in dat hold, but at da last moment, I opened my eyes and saw dis pair of testicles right in front of my face...I had nuttin’ to lose so wid my last ounce of strength I stretched out my neck and bit dose babies just as hard as I could.”
So the trainer exclaimed, “That’s what finished him off!”
“Vel not really. You’d be amazed how strong you get ven you bite your own nuts!”
The guy is obviously a very committed Christian.
The girl is obviously a very talented wrestler.
I don’t see any reason the two can’t co-exist. He made his decision; she’s made hers. Both took courage, conviction, and sacrifice. I can find ground to respect them both.
“I’m still waiting to find out if the butt drag is a legitimate wrestling move.”
There is an opportunity to invent a new move, the v@g-drag.
My take:
Men should not fight women. Boys should not be trained to fight girls.
Crotch grab and hoist the same girl and see if she doesn’t cry claiming sexual harassment.
<><><><><<>
Moronic. Or you could just wrestle the girl without all of the flippin melodrama.
The kid did what he thought was right, but we cannot seem to leave it at that. Hell, the father of the girl even offered words of respect for the kid’s decision.
So is grappling with boys. I consider wrestling to be unseemly, period.
If the girl has talent, she might be able to beat a few 8,9, and 10th grade boys in her weight class. Even a below average 11th & 12th grade male wrestler will easily dispatch her. Most boys improve over the course of high school; she’s already peaked in 9th grade, and will never be able to beat the older boys.
Ok, then let boys play on the girls BB team I say.
I made it to state one year, as a senior in H.S. I guarantee you I would NOT have risk my years of hard work and a state championship to let some girl have the win. I would have punished her - in the hopes of her never, ever, ever wanting to wrestle again.
If they want to wrestle, let the girls start their own league.
Checkout this KENS-TV video tribute and you'll get a taste of what we missed since he spent the bulk of his amazing career in San Antonio and not his hometown Houston.
Genuinely funny, with a Texas wit that was biting and honest, friends and colleagues say Cook was a larger-than-life figure who commanded attention. What I have always admired about the pre-politically correct sports writers is they didn't sugarcoat the truth as they saw it, they just gave it you. Cook was one of the best and most honest.
And, of course, he was very funny.
The story of the "Iron Claw" with Fritz Von Erich is a classic. I couldn't find the video, but I did see a clip of Cook telling the story (at the four-minute mark), and it's hilarious. The short version is when he was interviewing the wrestler live on the air, Von Erich decided to grab Cook across the forehead to demonstrate the great wrestling hold he invented. He squeezed so hard that Cook was about to pass out.
In self-defense, Cook grabbed Von Erich with his own claw. He grabbed a little lower than the forehead, however, ... if you know what I mean. For the record, the below-the-waist claw is apparently more painful than the forehead claw.
You gotta remember Ben, some men/boys still value their masculinity. Just because the “women’s lib” movement feminized much of the country, doesn’t mean that every male bought the bait.
In my experience as a former college wrestler, it would be extremely rare (i.e. so rare that the story makes the newspaper) for any female to beat a post-pubertal male in wrestling, unless of course, he wasn’t much of a male.
“Ok, then let boys play on the girls BB team I say.”
That’s more like it. Generally, I don’t think men and women need to be in organized sports with eachother after a certain age. The sexes should be complimentary, not competitive. But as far as non- or minimal-contact sports are concerned, it’s not a big deal.
I know some people would say that the answer here is to let girls wrestle girls. I’m not comfortable with that either. The thought of some “girl” putting a move on my daughter is just as bad as a guy doing it, if not even more nauseating. If I had a daughter who wanted to fight, I guess I’d lean toward martial arts, for self-defense.
My take is that Eric Mandel has some sand in his vagina.
seems like the effetes of the left are in ridicule mode.
Well, good on you for hinting that, hey, up to the point that she is no longer competitive, let her compete.
The undercurrent in this thread cracks me up, though. Apparently the only spot high school boys DON’T want to put their hands of similarly aged girls is the wrestling mat. Any and everywhere else, they dream about it.
This and the fact that families are smaller, often only 1 child. I find it amusing when the Colonel-Daddy (an un-reconstructed male chauvenist in his day) gets blessed with a girl and he suddenly becomes a champion of total sexual equality so that his girl can go to a military academy & enjoy the same life he did.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.