Step it up
When I first started wrestling in the 7th grade, I would have never thought I would ever be where I am today. Its kind of weird……Back then the names…Earl Jones…Cody Garcia…Ross Taplin…and Jake Kriegbaum….Were the biggest baddest wrestlers in the world. As you can see time has changed….So I am asking Kansas wrestling to do the same…. It is time for wrestlers to be held ACCOUNTABLE for there actions…The worse sportsmanship in the whole world….I witnessed this year at Kansas High School State (5A-6A) and Freestyle-Geco state….And I witnessed several that were bad at both….the only time I saw a wrestler be accountable for his action was Brent Fischer….and I guarantee…He didn’t want to be…he wanted to be wrestling...Now I can understand (a little bit) about the actions at HS state. This is a competitive combat sport and sometimes emotions can get the better of you. It has happened to me. At High School State before I beat their 103 pounder, the Goddard faithful was on me pretty hard, well after I beat him, as I got my hand raised I promptly found those kids, standing behind the table, sitting in dismay. So I decided to try and cheer them up, and blew them a kiss….. ALL IN GOOD FUN….there is a difference between that, and giving a 2 TIME STATE CHAMPION a tampon on a medal stand. That was TERRIBLE SPORTMANSHIP. But be held ACCOUNTABLE for YOUR ACTIONS..
Now I thought, when I left yesterday, that I would never see anything, even close to as bad as that, ESPECIALLY with young children running around. But I was wrong, I do love to see the sportsmanship shown by friends when wrestling…(SLYTER VS CALLAHAN) I liked that….But c’mon If you seriously flip someone off….on the mat…you need to be held accountable… FOR YOUR ACTIONS......ITS A FACT..our sportsmanship is really starting to go DOWN HILL…and I GUARNTEE…It hurts those Kansas supporters like Randy Hinderliter, Charles Knox, and Bob Gonzalez.. It really hurts old timers like that to see this type of stuff happen. Some of the BEST sportsman wrestlers I’ve ever seen…Probably go along the lines of guys like Dennis Wood, Jordan Edison, Aaron Ely, Larry Perez, Kevin Callahan, Tanner Johnson, Aaron Patton, Collin Hase, Nathan Furches , Atticus and Romero Cotton. I know that there are a lot more that I left off but those just stand out in my mind. I know for the most part the good out weigh the bad but it only takes a few to diminish what the majority accomplishes.
When I go up to South Dakota… I don’t want to be belittled because of our crappy sportsmanship, and bad work ethic…I want people to say, “Kansas…that’s were Ross Taplin, and Cody Garcia is from” or “That’s Atticus Disney and Romero Cotton stomping ground” So I say to Kansas wrestlers and parents and coaches 1 thing……. BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR ACTIONS………STEP IT UP!!!
Brandon Goodwin
I know that I will probably get slammed some what for this but I just had to speak my mind!