slingshot

Well, no. Not close. But don't limit your inaccurate comparison to the EARLY 2000's. That would only involve 4-5 years. I hear that Bradley didn't lose a single dual meet, or ANY event to Cleveland for EIGHTEEN STRAIGHT years. Done.

So now, in your arrogance, you're going to insist with confidence that many Cleveland backups would have surely taken the State medals away from others across the State that actually earned them and obviously also beaten the Bradley starters the night it was tied 25-25 going into the LAST match of the State Finals ? Wow. I've already wasted too much time on this. I knew better in the first place. I'm done.

Which move-ins are you referring to? Cordell?

Ok.... Now use that same rationale for the State Dual Finals, which came down to ONE match.. Do you think those little ol' move ins were important THAT night?

Never used the word cheating, but it's almost funny that Cleveland attributes all of their success to "outworking everyone".. True, there is a strong work ethic, but that also applies to the Coach at a small rural school with very little funding, little tradition, little support who practices in the cafeteria with one Assistant who may have never wrestled. Yes, Cleveland has done well, and deserve credit, but the lack of acknowledgement of their clear advantages in staff , support, move-ins and facilities is interesting.

This is the second time this idea has been floated in this thread. The insinuation that outside Wrestlers "Find their way to Cleveland or Bradley". If you look back in recent history, Cleveland has benefited from many Wrestlers who did not attend Elementary/Middle school in Cleveland. By and Large, Bradley H.S. Wrestlers are Bradley Co. Kids, Period! Win or lose, they don't plug anticipated holes in their line-up with talented middle schoolers who happen to "move in". I don't care what they do, but it's not accurate to cast Bradley in that same light.

Yeah,... I'm also from this neck of the woods, but I don't see the point in being arrogant and condescending toward the wrestling community in Middle Tennessee. I'm pretty sure they didn't do all of the voting.

Well stated, Oceansize42. While Cleveland is dominant right now, their complaint/theory doesn't hold water. They're no more dominant than Bradley has been through their 26 State Championships, and a Bradley Wrestler toted the O.W. home 7-8 years. Of course, on the Cleveland theory side, Matt Keller won the O.W. his Freshman year, then never again although he was clearly the most dominant wrestler by far. Not even when he won his 4th State Title in '02.

Absolutely.. It credits a kid without added dishonesty to embellish it. Well done.

No one is going to disagree that Bentley wrestled a good, tough match. But, why the need to misrepresent the BCHS wrestlers age as 18 or 19, when neither is true? Why the need to embellish? Bentley's performance was impressive on its own. No need to just make stuff up.

In fact, Bradley has had at LEAST one State CHAMPION every year since 1993. (7 years before this year's Seniors were BORN!)

cbg,..Just for the record, Travis Creagan graduated from Columbia, Justin Spain graduated from Princeton, and Michael Creagan graduated from Duke...All State Champions, all from Bradley,.a Public School.

No thanks,... I'll just go ahead and put the blame where it clearly belongs.. Squarely on the TSSAA.

Nice post, Cobra. The only disagreement I have is that "maybe the top guys are tougher today than 10 years ago". About 10 years ago, we had guys like K. Ward, M.Keller, J.Yost,R. Blackmon,J. Leen, M.McCarty, Q. Gibson, K. James, P. Simpson, etc, etc, etc... To say that the top-tier guys today are tougher than these guys..?

Wrong... The TSSAA is more concerned with getting equal representation from each part of the state rather than securing the "best the state has to offer". It's kind of like the teams that get to attend the State duals while other (better) teams have to stay home. Equal representation regardless of quality. While there is really no "fix" for the State duals problem, the referree problem is do-able.