Blog A Day?

Hello there! I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write a blog a day at least for a month as Wrestling Shirt a Day in May kicks off. I missed that, but why wait for a new month? The other issue is I really don’t have much of a chance of pulling this off. I am out of town a couple times and in a wedding in the next 30 days. However, I would like to try and see how this goes none the less.

What will I be blogging? The Wrestling world I guess. Busy days, slow days and everything in between. We are heading into an Olympic year so maybe this is something people will enjoy, or it may just be glorified show notes for the weekly podcast.

I’m writing this before the Pan Am finals of Men’s Freestyle. Mark Hall lost to Torreblanca (Cuba) 14-4 in the semis preventing USA MFS from cleanly sweeping the tournament. It’s nice to see Cuba gearing up again. They have not been the presence they usually are mostly blaming COVID. However, a lot of totalitarian countries seemingly used that excuse to not spend money the last few years.

The biggest win for Cuba already happened this week. Helen Maroulis was defeated 7-5 by Angela Martinez. There is a sequence of an amazing counter ankle pick. Martinez would lose to the eventual champion, Valverde (Ecuador), ending Helen’s tournament.

Going back to men’s freestyle, it’s tempting to look past any Pan-Am MFS accomplishments. There is no doubt it is tougher to win European or Asian continental awards, but winning Pan-Am’s is not so simple. Plenty of wrestlers with dual citizenship have tried and failed. Anthony Valencia (Arizona State), wrestling for Mexico, lost to Venezuela. Austin Gomez (Wisconsin), also wrestling for Mexico, lost to Columbia. The Columbian went on to beat Jordan Mitchell (Life), wrestling for Jamaica. These guys didn’t forget how to wrestle a bunch of latin American guys who teaches you how to dance…..needing you, wanting you……taking you. Makes you feel dangerous but also safe.

I will get into a lot of college wrestling stuff as well, but I have to go. I’m really excited for Kish at Oklahoma and Obe Blanc taking over at North Dakota State!