State Duals Debriefing

[BayouBear]

Here's a few thoughts and observations.

 

I attended the State Duals long before my 2 sons were involved but I had forgotten what it was like to just be a fan and not a parent. It was good, dang good.

 

The current format is OK with me. Sixteen DI AAA and eight DI A-AA is just right. I'm really sorry the DII tournament had to be moved but I understand. As always, Clarksville did an outstanding job. They are wonderful hosts. However, as much as I hate to say it, it may be time to look for another venue. The tournaments (DI and DII) should be together. It's better for the fans and lord knows we need fans. While wrestling the consolations in the auxiliary gym is not a bad thing, it would be better if all the teams could wrestle on the main floor. We need a facility with space enough for 8 or 10 mats. MTSU comes to mind. The drawback is losing the Clarksville support group. They would be hard to replace.

 

Someone asked me why Region 10 and Region 6 receive the automatic spots. I was able to explain the math but unable to justify why 10 and 6 were the selected regions. I knew the original justification but those reasons don't quite work today. It may be time to re-examine the qualification format. Here are the DI AAA results for the last 10 years.

 

REGION -- WINS - LOSES - WIN PCT - TEAMS

Region 3 ----- 33 ----- 5 ----- 0.868 ----- 11

Region 4 ----- 37 ----- 11 ---- 0.771 ----- 12

Region 9 ----- 27 ----- 17 ---- 0.614 ----- 13

Region 6 ----- 28 ----- 35 ---- 0.444 ----- 20

Region 1 ----- 20 ----- 27 ---- 0.426 ----- 13

Region 8 ----- 4 ------ 6 ------ 0.400 ----- 3

Region 5 ----- 5 ------ 10 ----- 0.333 ----- 5

Region 10 --- 12 ----- 28 ----- 0.300 ----- 13

Region 7 ----- 3 ------ 8 ------ 0.273 ----- 4

Region 2 ----- 3 ------ 21 ----- 0.125 ----- 11

 

 

All teams should have a valid shot. All regions should be represented but Region 3 and 4 left teams at home who were better than some teams there. I'm not saying the auto spots should come from Region 3 and 4 because next year it may be Region 1 and 9 who deserve the spots. It's too bad there's not enough time for some sort of Last Chance tournament for the final 2 spots. Brentwood, Walker Valley, Soddy and Franklin come to mind.

 

I'm incredibly proud of the Bradley Bears. For those that don't keep up, BC graduated 5 kids, who between them had 5 State Championships, 6X State Runnerups, 1X - 3rd place, 2X - 4th Place, 1X - 5th Place and 1X - 6th Place. It hard to replace 5 wrestlers who won a total of 16 medals. On top of that, the Bears were wrestling without their best wrestler, David Mang, who was ineligible. There's no great secret to the BC success. It's coaching...plain and simple. Thank you Steve, Chad, Ben, Hank and Dimples.

 

I really like what I saw from Blackman, Overton, Antioch and Independence. Blackman is very young. They will be back and they will be better. Coach Gabriel and McTorry look like they have Overton on the way back. It's good to see. Antioch exemplifies the good things about bringing 16 teams to the Duals. Independence did a great job representing Region 6. They looked a little wide-eyed in the match against Bradley but fought well. It's a grueling stretch after a Semi-Final loss. It looked like Indy finally ran out of gas in the 3rd-4th place match against Cleveland. Congrats to your team Coach Grindstaff.

 

A shout-out to the officials. You boys did a fine job. I saw a few eye-rolling calls but not many. Great job on the Finals. As much as I hoped our big Soph HWT had Sliger pinned....He wasn't. Good call Mike.

 

Before this weekend, I was not a fan of Women's Wrestling in high school. However, I may have experienced a slight change in attitude. I still do not like women wrestling men and never will but did enjoy watching some of the better girls. If women's wrestling wants to grow, it needs fans. The novelty will quickly wear off for the old diehards like me so here's a little advice.... PRACTICE. There much more to wrestling than a head throw. I saw a few girls who are wrestlers.....Not just girls who were wrestling. Overall it was a great start. I promise to not say "That's Stupid!" when I see it on the schedule next year. Coach Renner, Coach Henry and Coach Price. Good Job!!! Ladies, each of you have my respect. Wrestling is hard.

 

In case you haven't noticed, wrestling people are good people. Sure, there are a few knuckleheads, but not many once you get to know them. My special thanks to the Ooltewah folks. I've met lots of fans and parents over the years but you guys are the best. Thanks to Bearcat and the Green Irish faithful. You make it fun. Harry should have been there. I missed the Baylor crew also. Much like the Bradley fans, they know their wrestling.

 

Now it's on to the State Traditional. I'm hopeful the Bears will place 10 with 5 in the finals. It should be fun. Don't forget...BC graduates their 160, 171 and 215 plus a bunch of Juniors. If anyone would like any info on how to be a Bradley Bear, feel free to contact me. We offer free tuition and books, great facilities and the best Coaching Staff in the state. Meals, lodging and transportation are not provided.

 

 

Here's a little Overheard At The State Duals Quiz. Try and matching the name with the person who said it.

 

What They Said............

 

1) - We wrestled 'em both. I'd like to wrestle Baylor again but we've seen enough of Bradley to last a while.

2) - Mr. Boone, will you please take a seat in the stands?

3) - Yea, I threw the bottle. Will you please get out of the way?

4) - It probably wasn't a good idea to lock up with him.

5) - Do you think I have time to braid my hair before we wrestle?

6) - Should I wear the gold, green and purple beads or just the green?

 

Who Said It.............

 

A) - Soddy wrestler

- Ooltewah heavyweight - Cody Sliger

C) - Undisclosed Ooltewah source

D) - Seymour momma

E) - Ronnie Carter

F) - Notre Dame mom

 

 

Bearcat - Can you organize a State Tournament Thursday night meeting following the first day of wrestling? Nothing against Merv's but something a little more upscale is in order. I'm sure it will be well attended. We'll need a good size room (just to hold the people looking for a piece of your a$$). See what you can come up with. It would be nice to put names with faces.

 

 

Thanks to all of you who make this fun.

 

BayouBear

[jakesdad]

1c

2e

3d

4b

5a

6f

[2blLeg]

A shout-out to the officials. You boys did a fine job. I saw a few eye-rolling calls but not many. Great job on the Finals.

 

 

Based on that statement, I can tell where you were. (or were not)

[rasslinlite]

Thanks I thought I was the only one who would like to see it at MTSU. You could start a little early on Friday and still have all the action in one gym.

[humphreyssm]

Here's a few thoughts and observations.

 

I attended the State Duals long before my 2 sons were involved but I had forgotten what it was like to just be a fan and not a parent. It was good, dang good.

 

The current format is OK with me. Sixteen DI AAA and eight DI A-AA is just right. I'm really sorry the DII tournament had to be moved but I understand. As always, Clarksville did an outstanding job. They are wonderful hosts. However, as much as I hate to say it, it may be time to look for another venue. The tournaments (DI and DII) should be together. It's better for the fans and lord knows we need fans. While wrestling the consolations in the auxiliary gym is not a bad thing, it would be better if all the teams could wrestle on the main floor. We need a facility with space enough for 8 or 10 mats. MTSU comes to mind. The drawback is losing the Clarksville support group. They would be hard to replace.

 

Someone asked me why Region 10 and Region 6 receive the automatic spots. I was able to explain the math but unable to justify why 10 and 6 were the selected regions. I knew the original justification but those reasons don't quite work today. It may be time to re-examine the qualification format. Here are the DI AAA results for the last 10 years.

 

REGION -- WINS - LOSES - WIN PCT - TEAMS

Region 3 ----- 33 ----- 5 ----- 0.868 ----- 11

Region 4 ----- 37 ----- 11 ---- 0.771 ----- 12

Region 9 ----- 27 ----- 17 ---- 0.614 ----- 13

Region 6 ----- 28 ----- 35 ---- 0.444 ----- 20

Region 1 ----- 20 ----- 27 ---- 0.426 ----- 13

Region 8 ----- 4 ------ 6 ------ 0.400 ----- 3

Region 5 ----- 5 ------ 10 ----- 0.333 ----- 5

Region 10 --- 12 ----- 28 ----- 0.300 ----- 13

Region 7 ----- 3 ------ 8 ------ 0.273 ----- 4

Region 2 ----- 3 ------ 21 ----- 0.125 ----- 11

All teams should have a valid shot. All regions should be represented but Region 3 and 4 left teams at home who were better than some teams there. I'm not saying the auto spots should come from Region 3 and 4 because next year it may be Region 1 and 9 who deserve the spots. It's too bad there's not enough time for some sort of Last Chance tournament for the final 2 spots. Brentwood, Walker Valley, Soddy and Franklin come to mind.

 

I'm incredibly proud of the Bradley Bears. For those that don't keep up, BC graduated 5 kids, who between them had 5 State Championships, 6X State Runnerups, 1X - 3rd place, 2X - 4th Place, 1X - 5th Place and 1X - 6th Place. It hard to replace 5 wrestlers who won a total of 16 medals. On top of that, the Bears were wrestling without their best wrestler, David Mang, who was ineligible. There's no great secret to the BC success. It's coaching...plain and simple. Thank you Steve, Chad, Ben, Hank and Dimples.

 

I really like what I saw from Blackman, Overton, Antioch and Independence. Blackman is very young. They will be back and they will be better. Coach Gabriel and McTorry look like they have Overton on the way back. It's good to see. Antioch exemplifies the good things about bringing 16 teams to the Duals. Independence did a great job representing Region 6. They looked a little wide-eyed in the match against Bradley but fought well. It's a grueling stretch after a Semi-Final loss. It looked like Indy finally ran out of gas in the 3rd-4th place match against Cleveland. Congrats to your team Coach Grindstaff.

 

A shout-out to the officials. You boys did a fine job. I saw a few eye-rolling calls but not many. Great job on the Finals. As much as I hoped our big Soph HWT had Sliger pinned....He wasn't. Good call Mike.

 

Before this weekend, I was not a fan of Women's Wrestling in high school. However, I may have experienced a slight change in attitude. I still do not like women wrestling men and never will but did enjoy watching some of the better girls. If women's wrestling wants to grow, it needs fans. The novelty will quickly wear off for the old diehards like me so here's a little advice.... PRACTICE. There much more to wrestling than a head throw. I saw a few girls who are wrestlers.....Not just girls who were wrestling. Overall it was a great start. I promise to not say "That's Stupid!" when I see it on the schedule next year. Coach Renner, Coach Henry and Coach Price. Good Job!!! Ladies, each of you have my respect. Wrestling is hard.

 

In case you haven't noticed, wrestling people are good people. Sure, there are a few knuckleheads, but not many once you get to know them. My special thanks to the Ooltewah folks. I've met lots of fans and parents over the years but you guys are the best. Thanks to Bearcat and the Green Irish faithful. You make it fun. Harry should have been there. I missed the Baylor crew also. Much like the Bradley fans, they know their wrestling.

 

Now it's on to the State Traditional. I'm hopeful the Bears will place 10 with 5 in the finals. It should be fun. Don't forget...BC graduates their 160, 171 and 215 plus a bunch of Juniors. If anyone would like any info on how to be a Bradley Bear, feel free to contact me. We offer free tuition and books, great facilities and the best Coaching Staff in the state. Meals, lodging and transportation are not provided.

Here's a little Overheard At The State Duals Quiz. Try and matching the name with the person who said it.

 

What They Said............

 

1) - We wrestled 'em both. I'd like to wrestle Baylor again but we've seen enough of Bradley to last a while.

2) - Mr. Boone, will you please take a seat in the stands?

3) - Yea, I threw the bottle. Will you please get out of the way?

4) - It probably wasn't a good idea to lock up with him.

5) - Do you think I have time to braid my hair before we wrestle?

6) - Should I wear the gold, green and purple beads or just the green?

 

Who Said It.............

 

A) - Soddy wrestler

/cool.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="B)" border="0" alt="cool.gif" /> - Ooltewah heavyweight - Cody Sliger

C) - Undisclosed Ooltewah source

D) - Seymour momma

E) - Ronnie Carter

F) - Notre Dame mom

Bearcat - Can you organize a State Tournament Thursday night meeting following the first day of wrestling? Nothing against Merv's but something a little more upscale is in order. I'm sure it will be well attended. We'll need a good size room (just to hold the people looking for a piece of your a$$). See what you can come up with. It would be nice to put names with faces.

Thanks to all of you who make this fun.

 

BayouBear

 

i wasn't even at the state duals...but i can almost bet the check that "c" was the seymour momma as i'm a seymour momma myself;)

[LovinIt]

1 c

2 e

3 d (but I thought it was a man) time for glasses

4 b

5 a

6 f

[BayouBear]

Based on that statement, I can tell where you were. (or were not)

 

 

Don't know what that means but let's be "real" for a second.

 

At the DI tournament there were 560 matches. Lets's say there were 60 forfeits leaving 500 matches to wrestle. Let's assume there were an average of 12 referee calls in each match....that's 6000 calls. Even if the 10 best refs in the history of wrestling were calling, they would not get 6000 right or better said...they would not make 6000 calls everyone would agree with.

 

As I told someone Saturday night...The refs are a lot better when your team is not wrestling.

[Cretinfromthesticks]

Are you sure #6 wasn't BCB?

[NationFan]

It would have been great to have all the matches in one area. I was hoping to get to see more of the female wrestlers, but I was only able to see a few matches in the Science Hill/Soddy match. I hope to see more girls teams in the future.

 

But overall I agree the tournament was well run, as it was in 2005 when we were there. The Clarksville group are all very hospitable. I saw some great wrestling and enjoyed watching some great wrestliing.

 

Looking forward to some more great wrestling these next two weekends!

[2blLeg]

Don't know what that means but let's be "real" for a second.

 

At the DI tournament there were 560 matches. Lets's say there were 60 forfeits leaving 500 matches to wrestle. Let's assume there were an average of 12 referee calls in each match....that's 6000 calls. Even if the 10 best refs in the history of wrestling were calling, they would not get 6000 right or better said...they would not make 6000 calls everyone would agree with.

 

As I told someone Saturday night...The refs are a lot better when your team is not wrestling.

 

 

Oh, I'm being real alright.

 

Didn't say which tournament it was that I was referring to.

 

Totally agree, that refs can't be expected to get 100% of the calls correct.

 

And this doesn't have to do anything with my team. Saw it is several instances.

[StarRaider]

Current mat inventory in Rutherford County:

 

Sheriff's Sharpshooters: 2

Siegel

Blackman

Riverdale

Oakland

Smyrna

Lavergne

 

That's 8 mats. Also have "little red" over at Blackman. Would love to see the duals at MTSU although our fan support is no where near as strong as Chattanooga.

[Prdad]

Although I was not there (currently in Iraq) but have attended in the past several times (when I am not in Iraq/Afghanistan). I would agree that the venue needs to be moved to somewhere that can facilitate the tournament and its fans. I would like to see the duals stay in Clarksville maybe APSU would be a good choice. I would like to thank everyone for staying on the boards and keeping me up to date on the tournament.