SuperZ

Probably no clear way to say that you are right and wrong at the same time but people who know me know that I am always willing to try. So.... We are very interested in keeping the duals at CHS, I stated that very clearly and meant it. CHS has done very well in wrestling since 1999 and are very proud of our recent accomplishments but we are not the only school in Clarksville, there are 6 public high schools up here in this county we want all of them to be as successful and competitive as the Chattanooga area, look at areas in the east and west (every where but Chattanooga) and you don't see the same level of success and I wonder why. So is it the college program that makes wrestling a real sport? Is it the proximity to Georgia wrestling? I just think that a higher level of competitiveness across the state with the Chat area would make it more fun for everybody. How much fun is it to drive to Clarksville and whip everybody grab the trophy and go home? As far as the crowds go, whether its the weather or the lack of seats at semi final time, the numbers attending the duals was down. Kids play basketball in Chattanooga and Greenville and Memphis and other places so if we move it to Nashville for those parents there to eliminate the conflict of basketball and wrestling it still only fixes it for a relative few. The Nashville stations seem to be able to find Clarksville when some one is killed or a tornado hits etc, so them not covering good news or promoting the duals seems a lame excuse to move the duals to Nashville too. As far as a few years ago Clarksville was close to the center of the state and now with population growth maybe we need to move it some where else argument does not fly. Clarksville has had one of if not the highest rate of growth in the state so if anything using that argument it should stay. The reality is Clarksville is in the geographic center east to west but not north to south. I am fairly sure that the same type of statement can be made for Chattanooga sort of. I think that TSSAA looks at access to an area and drive time as part of its criteria but it must not be the main criteria or Chattanooga would not have the individual tournament and we would not have the dual tournament. As far as more seating we can do it , on the same piece of property we have access to 3 gymnasiums and could put two mats in each and then fans could stay as long as they like in any gym and watch as many teams as they want. The logistics are a little more difficult as far as ticket sales, hospitality rooms, concessions etc but could be done. With that we could handle the current situation and the future growth for a while . I said it before and I will say it again, we love hosting the duals and hope to continue for many years. We never know if we are going to be in the duals or not. The team works hard to be there but that is no guarantee we will. There is no such thing as a neutral site. The fans attending make it biased toward one team or another. Bradley brings as many fans as we do to the CHS gym so do MBA, Baylor etc. Bottom line is this we are proud to have hosted the duals these last few years and would love to keep doing it. Only TSSAA knows for sure where it will go. I don't think hosting the individual tourney or the dual tourney makes your programs grow there are other factors, success is one of them but what are the others? That is what I am asking as well as campaigning to keep the duals

We certainly understand that at times it is crowded at CHS and at McKenzie it is like watching from the moon but with plenty of seating. The closeness of the CHS gym during the peak period, during D2 semi and D1 semi rounds, is not comfortable but does add to the excitement. Before and after that crowding is not an issue. Clean bathrooms can be a problem, but its the way we, the people who use the rest rooms, treat them that is the issue and you all have seen what I am talking about not the number of seats in them. We also understand that adding the Regions # 2 teams and a small school class have not increased the fan load. That is not related to the weather or the gym size. What is says is that the Chattanooga region supports its programs for some reason, success has a lot to do with that. I don't think taking the duals back to Chattanooga is the answer for improving support in other areas. It actually adds to the downward spiral of wrestling in the other areas. Maybe all the wrestling gurus in Chattanooga can share what they do to generate such athletic success that leads to such fan support. Those of us at CHS are willing to drive to Chattanooga for the individual tourney and we would drive to Nashville or Murphreesboro for the duals. But until you generate more fans for the stands that may not be economically feasible. At CHS the building is rent free, TSSAA pays for the police and the custodial staff the rest of the cost items would be the same anywhere else, ie. rooms and officials. Would Lipscomb or MTSU or any other venue do the same? The school system in Clarksville supports us and TSSAA and we appreciate it in these tight budget times. The individual tourney has been shifted because of basketball priorities will the same thing happen to duals? Taking the kids out of more days of school is not very good for wrestling either. Lets get over the Chattanooga is the best so lets do everything here mentality and grow successful programs in the other areas because having competition is more fun than beating everyone 76-0 (not Soddies fault) or some of the other lopsided scores that occur because other areas aren't there yet. We will drive if we have to to make the sport better. Make no mistake though, we love hosting the duals and will do it every year that TSSAA and CMCSS lets us and we will continue to look for ways to make it more comfortable in the space that we have Whats the secret guys?

Perhaps you will come back and when you do ask a Purple Shirt where SuperZ is , I would like to seal the apology with a handshake. Your perspective on how to make it better would be interesting to hear in person. That is assuming we get to have the event again, and we would love to have it.

I apologize for what happened to you, we should have politely asked you to move around to the entrance area as I personally witnessed several different times. We should have also given you explicit directions to the entry area we were referring to. I think that by the time Saturday afternoon got there some got tired of asking the same people to go back to the correct seating or entrance/exit areas. But whoever the "Nazi Chick" was should have made the request more politely. As for "Laughing at the fans" I believe you are taking that slightly out of context. We have been and will continue to have a sense of humor about the same few people who try to find different ways to get to areas that the TSSAA as well as the Coaches don't want them. As well as more than a few who want to stroll the halls of the school outside the areas open to strolling thus expanding the cleanup area and cost to operate. Your boycott of buying there also deprived you of some very good food , but if you went out to eat then you visited one of the many businesses that supported CHS and we appreciate you doing that.

thumb This venue has been a good way to learn what we needed to be concerned with when we were planning the State Duals at CHS. Time and time again it comes back to the space. I promise you that we are very aware of the space or lack thereof. We did try some things this time, as in announcing that all wrestlers should take their bags with them as they moved to the floor and that helped. Prior to reducing the number of mats down to 2 from 4 I made a special point to be across the gym on the opposite rail from the bleachers and look at the seating . What I found was that directly in front of the mat 1, CHS vs BCHS it was tight and in front of mat 2, for some reason I can't quite remember who was wrestling there, there was about 30% of that half of the bleacher space available. I believe that was a Div II match . That appeared to be the worst crowding of the whole event. It relates to the numbers that travel with Bradley and Clarksville being at home. Once the mats dropped to two there was about 70% of the total seats being used. So, it is nice to have this as a fund raiser for CHS as well as TSSAA, I believe it is a profitable venue for them and it is my understanding that not all events like this are. If we moved the event to APSU it would cost to get the gym, CHS would lose the concessions and as such make it unprofitable for us as well as TSSAA and it quite frankly would lose some of the excitement when you throw what seems like a big crowd in a small building into an extremely large building . Who would know who was yelling and what they were yelling. Being close together right on top of the mats adds EXCITEMENT. We , the CHS Wrestling Club, work very hard long before the first wrestler shows up and love having this event and want to keep having it as long as TSSAA will let us. There are other fund raisers that we have that make more money but the prestige of this event is what makes it special to us. As far as an advantage for our team it is not working very well as we have finished 4th twice and 3rd and 2nd and only won it once since it has been in our house. This does not even include the extra load it throws on Coaches Jordan, Cobb and Manning getting all they have to do done to have this party in our house. I know they would love to load up and go some where else then wrestle, go to the hospitality room and eat then wrestle some more and then go to the hotel. I would bet when Bradley got home about 2 hours after they left the gym Coaches Jordan, Cobb and Manning were just finishing putting the wrestling building back together and making sure the last spilled spit cups and cheese dip containers had been cleaned up. Not to mention returning borrowed clocks back to Coach Lauderdale from Seymour who graciously lets us borrow them and mats back to various high schools etc. I promise this is not a complaint on my part, I LOVE IT. It is challenging keeping the parents out of the areas that we have been asked to keep them out of, IE the edge of the mat camera in hand yelling instructions over the shoulder of the coaches, hanging off the stair rail to get that perfect shot or view. We laugh about it and enjoy it and work our butts off and love doing it. How about that for going on and on. I rest my case.

I hear of a new layout that is coming at CHS that will help the D1 D2 concerns plus speed things up. Hope it really happens. Lets all go and see.

I think that it has been apparent to all that follow these posts that I am a fan of the Clarksville program. So I feel comfortable saying that there is no place as an unbiased gym, if you hold it near any school that has a team in the mix their fans are going to be there in greater numbers. If you hold the State Duals in Knoxville or Chattanooga or Memphis the Clarksville Fans are going to be there and making lots of noise in support of their team. What I have noticed during this year on these posts is all that are truly evaluating how the event comes off are all saying the same thing , Clarksville does a good job hosting this event. As far as rotating this event then lets rotate the individual program too if the issue is driving to Clarksville. Because we drive to that tourney also. If the issue is the financial gain that comes with the program then that gain comes with a lot of sacrifice on the part of the CHS Booster Club, but the Club loves doing the tourney for the exposure to great wrestling as well as for the aforementioned "Financial Reward" . As far as I know, the program makes money for TSSAA also, I understand that not all of these events make money for them either. CHS loves hosting this event and will ask to host it every year and hope that it happens year after year regardless of having a team in it or not. We do appreciate the comments on the event and our fans.

In spite of all the controversy about Father Ryan at the Clarksville match, Ryan continues to have a very good program that is full of very solid wrestlers,and so does CHS,KHS and other teams in the Middle TN area. All of these coaches search for the toughest tournaments to get there teams in. There are many opportunities all over TN to wrestle other strong teams not just the Ryan Inv. or Slamfest or whatever else there might be. I don't believe anybody is running from anybody, maybe just preparing for the Duals in different places. To second guess any of the coaches at these high level programs is just that , second guessing. Those guys all are doing a great job year in and year out and their consistent top 10 finishes shows just that. [Edited by SuperZ on 1-19-03 2:31P]

You make my point for me Moby. Because people like you will fall in on every point that is written within minutes of it being posted. I personally don't care if he apologizes to Artie Manning or not, but for the good of the sport in this area we need to figure out how to be civil to each other. I know that Artie is capable of fending for himself, but I like to think that when something is wrong that it is ok to stand up for them. Masters was wrong about more than going public with this issue. [Edited by SuperZ on 1-3-03 6:40P]

I realize that Masters is entitled to his opinion. But if I knew someone as well as Masters knows Artie then I would have the courage to tell him to his face that he was wrong about the weight issue. I also would not take this as an opportunity to publicly slam a person who had an opinion about the weight issue (as Artie did, and isn't he entitled to an opinion too? Which he may or may not have expressed anyway? Is it possible some one put words in Artie Mannings mouth that did not come from there?)My point is this, Masters is a grown man and should have handled his opinion in private with Manning. Instead, he chose to use name calling and ridicule to voice his opinion, that as it turns out is not the official opinion of TSSAA. I also agree that you are entitled to your opinion about Masters, I personally think that he has done a lot to publicize wrestling in Montgomery County but he should do somethings in private as a lot of people listen to what he says. Whether it is right or wrong. I can't wait to see how this story continues to unfold, because I don't think this one is going to die quietly on the vine until Masters PUBICALLY apologizes to Artie Manning. I personally hope that he does for the sake of the sport and his continued growth .

Coach Lowe ,John Gannon and Rossview Booster Club are to be congratulated on the handling of the tournament held at their facilities recently. It was wonderful the way the matches progressed and even if you were not happy with the way your individual teams placed you had to be happy about the way things moved and got you back on the road. To make things better in the future I think avoiding controversy is important, but difficult, clearly stating what the TSSAA rules are as regards weight allowances and rumored weigh-in variances would make all feel better. Even though it was given to you by Kenwood it now has the Rossview stamp on it and your reputation is at stake when things don't go well.Your reputation is safe this year, handling all aspects of this tourney next year yourselves will keep people from being able to spoil it for you in person or via Internet Gossip methods by speaking of what they imagined happened as if it occurred in a factual manner.

Coach Lowe is right the 2 lb thing should be put to rest. What should not be put to rest until there is an apology is the way that "COACH" Masters decided to berate Artie Manning. The word "COACH" is a title that can be bestowed upon one who works with young athletes and sets a good example for those young athletes to go by regardless of being paid or not. It is also a term that can be applied to a person who is paid to be around young athletes whether or not that "COACH" is capable of leading these athletes in all phases of athletics including good sportsmanship. Which of these titles is KKW?

Watched the Pennington / Brugal the Animal match. Pennington won 5-4 in a very exciting match, upset stomach and all. Both are good wrestlers and all of us have a tendency to categorize Brugal as an animal. I talked to both wrestlers after the match and congratulated them both on a well wrestled match. The winner responded graciously and the non-winner responded in the same fashion. So I will not call him the loser. Just a great competitor who has built an aura of being an Animal around himself by his love of the gym and the heavy bars. Good luck Heavies.

There once was a fable about an emperor who was tricked by his tailor in to parading through the streets in the nude. The tailor said that only the "cool" could see the clothes and when asked if he saw how they looked the emperor said that the clothes looked cool. He then proceeded to parade through the streets and was the recipient of many compliments until finally a small child called out loudly that the emperor has on no clothes , whereupon the emperor became embarrassed and fled. Maybe the coach at Overton is the new version of the emperors tailor and only the "uncool" can't see the coolness of the robes. If they like them I suppose it is ok, but if that is the trick that it takes to get good wrestlers out then this trick will be short lived.

One solution to the Title IX problem I have been hearing is that the funding should be proportional to the number of athletes in each gender that want to participate in the organized sports at each school. For instance if a school was 55% female and only 15% wanted to participate and the male population was 45% and 30% wanted to participate then the funding would be 66 2/3% male and 33 1/3% female. This may be a better way or not. What do you think?

Whether it is CHS or KHS or NWHS or anyone in Region 7 , just get out and go to the matches, home and away, and support your team in the stands and at the gate. That is the best way to keep Region 7 Wrestling going strong if you don't have a singlet.