I pray it's an anomaly. I fear something much different. I am not against change, but I wont walk calmly blindfolded to the gallows either.
The summer of 1992 I watched John Smith win Olympic gold in Barcelona live on regular television in primetime. I even saw Kenny Monday, Kevin Jackson, and Bruce Baumgartner's matches in their entirety. There was a new event in those games. The USA put a team together known as the "Dream Team" to participate.
That winter I found myself in the Kansas 321a state wrestling championship match. The
parade of champions I'd long dreamed of being in started at 6:15. As a 145 pounder, I'd be hitting the mat around 8:00 to a packed, raucous crowd.
I wanted a wooden, Kansas-shaped, State bracket, and to see my Stockton wrestler friends receive the team trophy, mid-mat, while "We Are The Champions" played over the PA system.
Fast-forward twenty years...
I got to watch a re-run of Jordan Burroughs on some odd satellite channel after work, because it aired live mid-morning. It was the only full match I saw. Sure saw plenty of the new "Dream Team" though. Now wrestling is on the Olympic chopping block.
Even without the weather situation, a lot has been slowly taken away from our sport's state spectacle. The wooden brackets are gone. The originally scheduled finals start time was 4:30, and the mats are headed to storage (stereo unplugged) before the 285 pound champion gets done hugging his coach.
Twenty years ago was also the first year we started placing six at state. While I'm still undecided on whether or not that was a good decision, I accept it, while observing it's taken away from the ferocity of the consolation semis. That used to be my favorite round to watch. This past Olympics we handed out two Bronze medals in many cases. Would wrestling for it had taken up too much time? Did we need to get the venue cleared for another sport to have the spotlight?
In regards to the three-mat finals, admittedly under the duress of the situation it wasn't a complete disaster. I do feel honoring a wrestler who goes 2-3 in the tournament the same as one who goes 3-1 is a farce, and essentially that's what this format does. A sixth place finisher gets the same pomp & circumstance as a state champion, minus the paper bracket.
I am not a participation ribbon guy. I believe it sends the wrong message & ultimately depletes wrestling. However, with declining numbers and the changes I've seen over recent years, a sad yet foreseeable vision flashes in my head. One of western Kansas state wrestling being a USAWKS sanctioned, eight man bracketed, one day event, in a high school gym. Ribbons for all.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, nor a "shock" jock. I'm a wrestling fan with my own observations/opinions who is concerned about our sport, as I'm sure all of you are as well. As wrestling coaches often say... "Head on a swivel."
If it can happen at the IOC level, it can certainly happen at the KSHSAA level. Let's suck up the bleacher butt, and start showcasing our sport as an event desirable. One of primetime relevance. Now, before it's too late. If we don't see it that way, why would anyone else?
