The problem with Mr. Knox is the same problem is most of society today. No one accepts blame. They want to blame their upbringing, their social status and any other crap they can. Mr. Knox has a long history of such explosions. As long as he explodes and shows the classless style shown again at state, then people have the right to hold him accountable.

Where is RichardDSalyer to tell us about how Knox is a good kid and everyone makes mistakes? He acts just like Rhodes does, they both have problems.

During the 1988 Olympic trials John Smith lost a close match. He left the mat in a rush, kicked over some chairs, and threw a fit. The nature of this sport is to summon up all of your strength and agression to combat another one on one for six minutes. Is everyone naive enough to think every great competitor can shut that off immediately following the match? I hope not, some can and some can't. If it doesn't impact the outcome of the match the penalty of being DQed does not fit the crime. Maybe some of you have never found the fire inside that it takes to make a winner. There are those who are the total package, winners, gracious losers, good sports etc. but those who aren't shouldn't be treated so poorly. I agree with Shoffner. Some of you older guys have mellowed too much. Respect the fiery competitors!

I will agree to that if it only happens once maybe even twice but these guys have REPEATEDLY embarrassed themselves, their coaches, and their schools. I don't care how good they are.

Stick it Cokely! A whole bunch of us on here had all that fire you talk about and most of us didnt act like a little jerk after every loss. I coached for 25 years and had a lot better kids then him lose tough matches that we didnt let act like maniacs. They DQ'd a kid because he was a half a pound overweight seems like they could DQ one for making a mockery of a tourney. I ain't mellowed that much kid.

Shoffner, at Schlagle and Wyandotte we had kids who had to fight for their lives every single day. Some of them wanted to do that and some nearly did but everyone of them were stopped short of that. Don't give me background and whining about environment. That is an insult to every kid who ever pulled himself up by his bootstraps and became a success. That is an insult to the sport.

I wouldn't expect a kid to be happy about losing but I think too much crap goes on. I have been disappointed with some of our wrestlers complaining about the reffing. Believe it or not refs are human and make mistakes. If we wrestled to the precision that we expect for refs we would be State Champions. The lesson to learn from getting "cheated" is to work harder the next time against the wrestler you lost to. There have been many threads about stalling or wrestling the edge. Stand in the middle circle and make the guy wrestle you. Unfortunately, losing 1 point for unsportmanlike conduct isnt going to get the job done as it rarely costs the team the match. Officials are understandably reluctant to throw kids out. Many coaches I watch don't put up with the conduct which is the best way to get rid of it. However many coaches I watch "enable" the bad sportsmanship by arguing with refs. I agree a coach should protect his kid but sometimes it goes overboard.

Why hasn't anybody talked about Nothern's little hissy fit when he lost in the Finals.

This excuse crap is going way out of hand here. I am so dissapointed in the state for continuing to put up with the behavior of those specific kids. The guy that said that Tanner kept him for getting DQ's well thats not Tanners job. Refs are put there to do their job and so is the state. I have seen them make kids ineligible for the year for some technicality that doesn't amount to anything and yet at the state tourney with all the history that goes with it they let that happen and do nothing. Cokely if I have to explain the difference between grown men at the Olympic Trials and a kid at the state tourney then ... well that is too much for me to handle you know. Some things you have to figure out for yourself partner.

But if he's ejected he loses all the team points he's earned in the tournament!

Northern cried, he hugged his coach and he cried. That is emotion, he didnt shove his coach and tell the crowd to _____ him. I watched both of those things right in front of me and there was no similarity.

So maybe if he is ejected and he loses his team points then the next time he gets close to doing that some responsible adult puts the hammer down on this 119 pound high school student! Thats what adults do!

I agree with the "old guys" as they are referred to. I will not post another reply on this subject as it is not worth arguing over BUT that incident was unexcusable and should have been dealt with by disqualification-period-end of story. I was ashamedand embarrassed to see it and even more ashamed to have to respond to spectators/school supporters who were in attendance for the kids who asked later if he got booted "NO he did not". It's a huge black eye for the sport of High School Wrestling, his coach and the KSHSAA. It is obvious the coach has little control of the situation becuase if he did (regardless of how good the wrestler is) after he confronted him as he did he should have been shown the door.

look at it from knoxs shoes you not only got beat but he is only a kid and to have people boo him was totally classless thats why he acted the way he did people in the stands need to go up and support the kids not tear there self esteem down even more than it all ready is the crowd is lucky thats all they got. They could have gotten worse

Don't tell me about being in his shoes. If it wasn't that it would have been something else. I have listened to people make excuses for kids acting a fool for so long it makes me sick. There are worse things than being booed. Heck all of us have been booed. I am sorry but I have seen too darn many bad things up here happen to too many kids to blame other things for kids behavior and adults allowing it. That is exactly the same rationale people up here use at funerals when we bury some hothead who cannot control his temper and it doesnt make one bit more sense. They didnt stop making bad deals when he got his.

thats crap no kid deserves to be booed and not not all of us have been booed if tanner would have loss would they have booed him not only no but he@@ no so why do it to a hot head anyway its is classless but he needs to handle himself better just because they act like a@@ does not mean he needs to

no disrespect to tanner he is a stud

and a real class act on and off the mat

Its really strange how people make excuses that this youg (16 or 17) kid should not have been exposed to the crowd's booing, and the inhuman pressure that the crowd put on him. Have you ever heard how the Hard knox crowd sit down by the EIGHT AND UNDER crowd at kids state and do their total intimidation thing to little kids? I have, and I say that ESPECIALLY this young man should be very used to crowd intimidation because he and the Knox camp have escalated it to the point that it is.

This is Nick Nothern and I want to apoligize for my actions after I lost in the finals match, I was very disappointed and when I lost I didn't know how to take out my emotion. I apoligize again.