halfnelson

I totally agree. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

No one is perfect. People make mistakes. There is always room for error. There is always room for growth and learning. Your post adds to my point about refs having to put up with so much. Maybe, I should have left out my view about consistency, then everyone would be satisfied. But I did not and will not. I respect that you are standing by your calls, but at the same time recognizing that there is room for error.Learning cannot be fully experienced without trial and error.

Read my post again. It appears to me that you have totally ignored a portion of my post. Stop being so defensive about me expressing my views. No one expects the refs to be perfect(speaking for myself). In any job, there is always room for improvement. My duff collects no dust because it is always working. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

/thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" /> First of all, let me start off by stating the obvious, refs have a hard job. They have to deal with so many attitudes, issues, etc. from coaches, wrestlers , parents, etc. Sometimes, the pay does not make up for the crap that refs have to put up with. They are expected to be perfect in calling matches. Refs are human and make mistakes. They may or may not see things during a match. They have bad days on the job like everyone else. But what happens when consistency becomes an issue during a match. For example, anyone that was @ Beech last night knows what I am talking about. "Fleeing the mat," stalling, wrong scores, etc. were some of the issues. In a few matches each team had the same scenario but one team was hit with penalty points and the others were not. The ref lacked consistency. If you are hitting wrestlers for "fleeing the mat", stalling, etc. be consistent across the board. Maybe this ref had a bad day. I am not trying to bash the refs, merely expressing my views. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

East Literature Results at the Fultondale Inv in Birmingham, AL 1 Hewitt-Trussville 2 Huntsville 3 East Literature Followed by 21 other teams Individual results: 1st Place Corey Jones @135 Shawn Garrett @145 2nd Place Chris Ferguson @189 3rd Place Randall Ridley @103 4th Place Luis Aguilar @112 Jason Hinkle @152 Nicholas Garrett @215 5th/6th Place Cameron Edafe @130 Lamar Moore @285

Just because wrestling shoes for example were stolen, does not mean you have to single a team out. I tell anyone to keep up with their belongings wherever they go. It does not matter if it is in Brentwood, Franklin , North Nashville, East Nashville, etc. Some people steal and it does not matter where they come from(economically, socially, ethnically, etc). Instead of warning people about one of these teams, you should warn everyone to keep up with their valuables wherever they go. Just being real. /rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

I agree with you and rigger. There are some schools here with good wrestling programs that are beginning to make some noise. But you will never know about them in the tennessean unless you are MBA, FRA,and Father Ryan(just to name a few).

Hate that you are offended. But I am not the only one who feels this way. I know all about the rules. I did not say HL are whiners, just the coaches. For the record, you are not the only passionate coach out there and even the most passionate coach knows when to sit down and let their kids wrestle. No disrespect. See you at the tournament. Good luck!

What about coaches whining? There are certain coaches that whine and complain when their wrestlers are winning. Coaches, you know who you are (HLHS)Coaches who are guilty of this need to learn from it and shut up ! No disrespect, just tired of most of a match being spent at the table.

I would like to congratulate all of the state qualifiers. Tonight, I saw some great matches. One match in particular grabbed my attention. The 140 match was a great match. Dowell and Garrett wrestled a good match. Region 7 is getting stronger and stronger year after year. Once again, Congrats Dowell and Garrett for the best match.

Only thing tainted is your attitude. A win is a win. He was hurt. I was there. Tell that to the parent who had to take him to the doctor. The doctor bill was not tainted. Stop being a sore loser. You are full of it. I'm going for Dowell. He is a great kid with a better attitude than Booker.

Keep Garrett's name out of your discussion. A win is a win. Don't hate because Booker lost. Be a good sport for goodness sake. For your information, I heard that the Garrett kid may not be wrestling.What it is, is what it is, no if,and, between or but.

The shoe does not fit here. There are more than two or three players on Stratford's team. They have not earned that label. And the actions of blacks, always stand out too. Be real here. I see unruly behavior in other places too, but I don't see the newspaper or radio talking about these places. Instead of being thugs, why can't they be a team of athletes with discipline issues . I am through talking about this issue. No one is being real here.

I'm pretty sure the coaches you named had players that were undisciplined at one time or another. It is about how do you handle these types of players. Sorry to burst your bubble, whenever you have a black player being unruly, they are labelled; like it or not. And in most cases they look at where the person comes from(school they attend,neighborhood, etc..). If you say this does not happen then you are living in another world. By the way, do you see the white teams with undisciplined, dirty, and thuggish players being called that in the paper or on the radio? I haven't. But, I have read a lot of articles about teams such as Stratford. I'm not saying the game is about race. It should not be. But look at the stereotypes attached with the word thugs.

Don't hate me because I speak the truth. You guys hate someone who kicks knowledge. Only thing classic is your behavior. I will not call you names, because you are showing who you are. I am totally above that.

You all stink big time. You all are ignorant. You all are just as much thugs as the players you are calling thugs. God is not in you.

Why does it have to be like this? Are they acting like thugs because they are predominantly black? Be honest. What do you have to say about the players on predominantly white teams acting undisciplined? Are they acting like thugs ? I think not. Stratford has gotten the label of being thugs because of two reasons: 1) their team consists of predominantly black players and 2) a handful of players have been penalized for unsportsmanlike behavior. A few rotten apples should not spoil the bunch. I have seen unsportsmanship from a lot of teams this season. I don't call them thugs. I got a label for you , Guess what it is. Bring it ! God don't like ugly.

Finally, someone who recognizes the truth. Yeah, the coach is honest. I'll give him that. I think he is still learning. Stratford should pull for themselves. I believe on any given day, a good team can lose to the underdog. Never say never. Don't say it's over until the fat lady sings.

Yeah? Well, what happened at this game? Was he there? Because from what I saw, some of the wildcats were unmanageable (as well as some spartans). Hate to burst your bubble, but a good coach would not tolerate behaviors displayed at this game. I am talking about both teams, by the way not just Tullahoma.

Whatever! Well, I guess Cameron may want to change his disposition or he will eventually come to see me or my co-workers in Corrections and the Board of Probation and Parole. You sound like someone who promotes very bad behavior. This is what is wrong with the world. Bad attitudes should not be dismissed with "that's just the way he is." Get real!

You are missing one important factor, the coaches. The coaches have a hand in winning or losing a game. If the coaches don't make necessary adjustments, they will lose. The Spartan coaches are not to big on rotating players in. They stick with the players they have the most confidence in; their stars/favorites. The Spartans lost to Tullahoma. This game could have gone the other way, if the coahces relied on players other than their favorites. There are other players on the team that are pretty good. The coaches' favorites were missing tackles, getting penalties for unsportsmanlike behavior and the list goes on and on. But the coaches made no adjustments whatsoever. Tullahoma coaches exposed the spartans weakness and won by doing so. The Spartans had a chance, but........

yeah, Stratford did blow the game with several penalties called. But, their team was not the only ones who should have got the penalties. There were a lot of unsportsmanlike behavior on both teams, but it seems referees were overlooking some of the facemasks, late hits, cursing, etc. Number 28 (wildcats) should have been ejected from the game, not taken out for a quarter or two. But, I will say the Spartans were out coached by the wildcats coaching team. If the Spartans made adjustments the game would have been different. On the other hand, the players (spartans)probably knew making the drive to tullahoma, that there would be a lot of homecooking going on. Looking at how the refs were chatting on several occassions with the wildcat players and ignoring certain behaviors , the loss became apparent. It's sad that any game has to be this way. I feel both teams have very poor sportsmanship. This reflects leadership.

I meant what I said. I did not say they could not cheer. They should be quiet with their negative remarks that they dwell on during the whole match. It is just a match, get over it. If a coach makes a bad decision during the match, do you announce your displeasure with him/her? Because, I have seen a lot of matches where the coach has a hand in the wrestler losing the match. If you have enjoyed this sport for 30 years, then you know what happens during the matches with bad calls, etc... Why dwell on them? Kudos to you watching matches where 10 out of 10 refs are former wrestlers. I was giving a typical stat of the number of refs that are former wrestlers. Sarcasm, love it!

I was at the freshman tournament yesterday. There were a lot of close matches. One match in particular was in the finals. The 140 match was a good match. I say it was a close match because both guys appeared to be equally matched. The match could have went either way. But the kid from East Lit. allowed himself to lose his cool. He could never seem to focus after that. When he tried to regroup it was too late. The damage was done. His attitude lost him the match, point blank. I remember watching this kid earlier, he was nothing like he was in the finals. His attitude was in check. This kid has the potential to be a great wrestler, if he would lose the attitude or make it work in his favor ( a more productive and less destructive way). He has a lot to learn. Anyone know about this kid ?

You need to read my post again. I did not say the spectators could not or should not cheer. Nor did I say they do not know what is going on on the mat. The refs are on the mat, therefore they have a better view. What we (the spectators) see from the seats may be different to the ref on the mat. For example, when we see that a wrestler is on his back and we assume he is pinned, the ref may see it differently. We can't see in some instances that the wrestlers shoulders are not on the mat, the ref has a better view of what is going on, so he can call it either way. Furthermore, I think others who feel like I do would much rather watching a match where there are no coaches jumping up every minute because a call did not go his way. The match I attended a few weeks ago was not a match between the wrestlers or their team, it was a match between the coaches and who could get the most calls called in their favor. Every minute the coaches were calling the ref to the table. The head ref was even called to the table. Turns out every call the ref called was right on the money. Wrestling has never had the support or fan base as sports like football, basketball, etc. The reason being is because some do not take the sport seriously. They don't see it as a sport. But, I do. I see the benefits of wrestling as it relates to the youths. I have seen a troubled kid's life turned around by his participation in wrestling. If you are one of the fans wrestling is losing because of what I have expressed then "Good!" Maybe me and other spectators can finally enjoy a match for a change. There is nothing wrong with cheering. There is nothing wrong with disagreeing with a ref's call. I think there is something wrong with scrutinizing people (refs in particular) to the point that they quit. I would go on, but I would be wasting my time. By the way, I am more than a spectator.