Richard,

I agree with you and your concern for consistency, and the top and bottom positions always seems the spot where it lacks the most.

When in the neutral position, I have always thought that one can pretty well tell by the behavior of the wrestler whether he/she is stalling or not. Officiating consistency, when on the feet, seemed pretty good whether I agreed with them or not. Some of the officials I agreed with almost all the time and others I agreed with almost none of the time. Either way there was consistency.

On bottom and top there never has been a concensus as to who is responsible for action. You ask one official and he will say the top man, another will say the bottom, and the next will say both are equally responsible. I once had a wrestler get stalled out on bottom when he was wrapped up so tight he could do little but blink his eyes.

I would admit that I enjoy the human element of stalling decisions being made by a referee and not by a rule book. I have always thought that if stalling became too specifically legislated that some of the fun of the sport would be taken out of it. Almost all of us who have done the sport can say we have been harpooned by an official at one time or another, and we get to spend the rest of our lives complaining about it.

Gary Ulmer