Don't we all have memories of male high school classmates who went out of their way to lose too much weight in wrestling? Looks like we have girls wrestling now too. Maybe they have the same temptation in dealing with weight. The Star Tribune had a pretty major piece recently on how some enlightenment is coming to this matter. Didn't the article really state the obvious?
Certain kids have historically gone to such great lengths to lose weight. And weren't you convinced just as an observer that there might be negative long-term health consequences from this? I would guess your concerns went unstated. We lived with the reality of the various sports, saw how boys absolutely clobbered each other on the football field.
Enlightenment about football began seeping into our culture a long time ago. A true shift in attitude takes a long time to make inroads. Sad thing about football is that most of us consume big-time football which is such light intoxicating entertainment. So focused is our attention, so high our thrills as with the upcoming Super Bowl, we conflate to the younger ages and think the activity is just fine.
And I found long ago that if I broached serious concern about football for kids, the immediate response would be a smile because I was bringing up such a "light" subject. Ah, football. "How will the Vikings do next year?"
"Keep kids from playing football? You can't be serious. Don't you want to support our student athletes?"
Ah, "student athletes." I have written about the activities all my life, has rather been a trademark of mine. But, I never put myself in a position of torturing myself to lose weight down to skin-and-bones for wrestling. And I never played football. I simply stayed on the sidelines and at the typewriter keyboard. Typewriter! That dates me.
The Star Tribune article on wrestling came across as wishful thinking, well-intentioned but. . .
We all want to talk up optimal health and optimal diet. In an ideal world, such priorities really would lead to optimal success in competition. So people can read the article, look at the nice big pictures and reason "this all seems to make sense." I might suggest it's pie in the sky.
For the boys in wrestling who really want to win, I think the legacy instincts will remain. I remember covering our Morris team in the '80s, when we had a top wrestler who was made to stay at a higher weight for the post-season. The coach pulled these strings. The coach had to organize a whole lineup that would compete ideally. In this instance, a star wrestler who had manhandled many of his opponents - I had witnessed this - was put at a weight that did not maximize his potential for post-season.
I might whisper: "Well, at least he didn't have to starve himself. He could enjoy eating like the rest of us." But the boys have such a strong passion for winning. Oh, and the parents too? Ahem. So I remember that fellow, initials L.M., going gamely out on the mat for the district finals - we were in the old "District 21" - and unfortunately meeting a buzz saw foe. He didn't just lose, he was dominated. So out of character for this young man, to be humbled.
There I was a mere observer, a mere newspaper person. I never had to worry about sports humility. I wrote about it as if it was all a big Homeric poem. And I could go home and eat. And I didn't have to worry about head injuries that could catch up to me years later. Like now when I'm 69 years old. I think I'm quite OK. And I still do write about area high school sports when I get the opportunity.
Incidentally my opportunities are becoming more limited. I have lost access to much of the basic info that I used to find online from various media sources. The sources are either drying up or going behind rigid "paywalls." The MACA boys basketball team played last night, Monday. When will the Morris newspaper be submitting a report to us about that game?
That's the big problem with the Morris newspaper now. You probably should not even look at their website because it would make you upset. I really don't know why the paper does this: annoy us with a sea of links about UMM sports to the almost complete exclusion of the prep stuff. And if prep stuff is there, it is either 1) old, or 2) presented as a "teaser" where there is a sentence giving the score, and then there's a plug for buying the next print edition which could be several days off.
Should we really have to pay for basic information? If I were a parent now, I guess I'd just shrug and figure "well, if I have the schedule that's enough - I'll just go to some games and enjoy them." Which might be fine and dandy. But in "the old days" the public demanded more. We published twice a week and put out so many more pages of product. There was no "website."
Today with the "liberation" brought by websites, we don't need the newspaper any more. But we need certain people to "step it up" and make sure some content gets posted somewhere. Brett Miller was doing that when he was with the radio station. Then he left. Are fans really content just knowing the "scores?" That, and the schedule?
And the go-to place for schedule info is the "Minnesota Scores" site. Lately I see you have to click through one or two ad attempts they might throw at you. The radio station site has been known to do that too. But "Minnesota Scores" has both the schedule and the scores of all the games played to date, very reliably.
What about basic game reviews and stats? Really, these may not even be essential in the eyes of parents and fans. We'll see down the road.
I was puzzled why the band fundraiser would be held on a night when the band had an actual commitment. I also didn't think the fundraiser was promoted well enough. I found out through word of mouth. Many parents and other band supporters showed up at Pizza Ranch. I availed myself of the buffet format! Could not have done that if I was a high school wrestler!
(Or, if I was still taking Metformin. Perhaps I'll share more on that in the future.)
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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