ViVa LaS VeGaS

I just got home from the US Championships on Monday. I am excited that I have four friends that did well in this event. Over the next few days I will be updating you on what is going on and what I liked and did not like. As with ANY USA Wrestling event there are some things that need improvement.
FILA has made some changes to the rule but the US Officials need, no MUST, start to look at the Leg Clinch differently. This crap with a point being awarded whenever the defensive guys butt hits the mat has to stop. We would not award a takedown then any other time in the match. The point of all of this is to increase action and scoring so let the guys actually wrestle and let them attempt to counter the shot. From what I have seen that is the way it is working in the international community and that is how our refs should be doing it.
I have no idea how Sam Hazelwinkle did not get seeded. Anyone? He was 3rd last year, was an NCAA runner up this year and from all I can see is that the idiotic politics that caused the sport to get ripped apart back in the late 70s are rising again. We have matches getting tanked at International events for gambling money and we have USA Wrestling splitting into factions. I don't know the entire story but if the rumors are true someone at USA Wrestling better get their heads out of the sand and get everyone on the same page. The point of the event is to put the best guy at the top of the podium not clubs and organizations and training centers battling each other. I was happy that when Sam won the event he got ellected outstanding wrestler. He is a class act and is one of the things that is right with wrestling.
Now, On to life here at Central. I really worry that higher education is going back to being overly elitist. Great facilities and all of that make for great brochures. But, I think we are playing a dangerous game of keeping up with the Jones'es and then ask middle class America to give up half their family income per year for it.
The answers are not easy for me. I believe very much in the student loan program as an investment in you and your future. But, I don't like that the loans come with an interest rate. There are many things we as a country are wasting money on that we should probably evaluate and reduce. The cost of managing our goverment is huge. If we took some of that money we are spending on bombs in Iraq and invested it in science we could probably achieve some much better things.

Other thoughts. I really realized how important the Iowa Conference is to wrestling this weekend. Mike Duroe was coaching athletes, Jim Miller was there reporting on the event and coaching Blake Gillis, and I was there cheering but also doing what I can to stay involved in wrestling at the top level. There were 5 Iowa Conference Coaches that I saw. Behind the Big 10 and Big 12... Came the Iowa Conference. Next time someone tells you "they are only D3" ask them how many of their conference coaches worked at this event?



Rowlands after beatimg Conrad