OK...so I didn't do so great. But....who predicted that? Holy smoke! Anyway, I'm back to take the punishment. I'll try to be brief, because there are a couple more things I'll want to say before I go. Got the winning team correct, along with six of the 10 individual winners. Best pick: Cory Clark over Seth Gross in the 133 pound final. Worst pick in my preview: Iowa team to finish second. Went too high on Gilman, Kemerer and Meyer. Brooks too, I guess. I thought the brackets set up pretty well for the Hawkeyes. Cruz, Palacio, Crutchmer and Dudley disagreed. Worst pick of all time...this one was not in my preview: At the opening whistle of the Nickal-Dean match, I turned to my wife and said "One thing we know for sure...this isn't going to be any 4-3 match."
Sadly, I won't be able to hear replay of Ironhead's call of Joseph-Martinez (I understand it was a classic!) due to an unfortunate incident Thursday when I shoved an ice pick in my own ear to avoid hearing one more mouthfart out of Quint Kessenich. Oh, sure...I realized immediately how stupid it was. I couldn't believe I did it. The pain was unbearable...blood everywhere. In fact, it was so bad that I had to get my wife to shove the thing in my other ear, since I could still hear him a little bit. Ah...on balance, a fair trade, I guess.
On to those couple more things:
Yes, Penn State would have won the tournament without Jimmy Gulibon's points. Penn State also would have won without Matt McCutcheon's points. Or Nick's, Zain's, Jason's, Cenzo's, Mark's or Bo's. Didn't need Suriano's. Anything from 133. Hall could have redshirted. You or I could have stepped in for Nevills. Same result. The margin of victory was greater than any one wrestler's point contribution. We didn't need any single one of them to win the championship. But we needed every single one of them to win the championship. Along with Morelli. Rasheed. Carpenter. Law. Yanovich. Coaches. Everyone in that practice room. You get the idea. Back to Gulibon. I thought he had a great tournament. Finished 3-2...earned some bonus points...lost only to #4 and #2 seeds...beat two seeded wrestlers, knocking one...a Buckeye...out of the tournament. I like the guy. I hope he's proud of his career and the contributions he's made to this string of team success. I hope he had a great time this weekend. And I wish him the best of luck in the future. You're a good man, Jimmy Gulibon.
One more wrestler I'd like to mention, and then I'll go. I live in the South...don't get to see a lot of live wrestling. Hence, January 1 and 2 are my two favorite days of the year...the Southern Scuffle! It was different this year...no Penn State team, but I drove up the second day just to see Mark Hall wrestle...the cement mixer on Preisch made it worth the trip. It's a great tournament...great venue...and you can't help but cross paths with the coaches, wrestlers and their families. I've had some nice conversations with guys like Bryan Pearsall, Jan Johnson, Kenny Yanovich...met the Taylors, Quentin's mom, the Englishes...and my favorites...Bill and Emilie Vollrath. Can't remember how it started, but Bill and I struck up a conversation at a Scuffle a few years back. I saw him wrestle when I was in school, and it turns out we had a mutual friend on the team. We had lunch together...sort of...one day, when I was seated at the table next to them at a nearly empty Applebee's. We had already met at the tournament...and they had already ordered. Thus, they were captive. Like it or not, they're now on my holiday newsletter list. (I've done standup comedy in my life, and sarcasm reigns in the newsletter. Typically, it's not a good thing if your name gets mentioned.) I also had the opportunity to meet Jimmy Vollrath. Saw him beat Dieringer in person. Jimmy Vollrath was the kind of guy who helped build this team. Solid guy. Good guy. Hard worker. Great wrestler. Probably would have been a full-time starter and All-American at just about any other school. He was in on the ground floor of all this, and while he never won an individual NCAA championship, there are guys who did who owe a piece of theirs to him. I was late getting the newsletter out this year...they got mailed out the Saturday before Christmas. I had included an uncharacteristically sincere wish for the Vollrath family. About two hours later, when I got back to the house, my wife asked if I'd heard about Jimmy Vollrath.
I enjoyed this past Saturday night as much as anyone else. When Cenzo stuck Martinez, I jumped as high (not real high any more, to be honest) as I have since Quentin pinned Gambrall. And I thought about Bill and Emilie. I know they're proud of their son, and he was a big part of what happened in St. Louis. I hope they jumped too. May he always be remembered.
Congratulations to all.
SR/BHF
Sadly, I won't be able to hear replay of Ironhead's call of Joseph-Martinez (I understand it was a classic!) due to an unfortunate incident Thursday when I shoved an ice pick in my own ear to avoid hearing one more mouthfart out of Quint Kessenich. Oh, sure...I realized immediately how stupid it was. I couldn't believe I did it. The pain was unbearable...blood everywhere. In fact, it was so bad that I had to get my wife to shove the thing in my other ear, since I could still hear him a little bit. Ah...on balance, a fair trade, I guess.
On to those couple more things:
Yes, Penn State would have won the tournament without Jimmy Gulibon's points. Penn State also would have won without Matt McCutcheon's points. Or Nick's, Zain's, Jason's, Cenzo's, Mark's or Bo's. Didn't need Suriano's. Anything from 133. Hall could have redshirted. You or I could have stepped in for Nevills. Same result. The margin of victory was greater than any one wrestler's point contribution. We didn't need any single one of them to win the championship. But we needed every single one of them to win the championship. Along with Morelli. Rasheed. Carpenter. Law. Yanovich. Coaches. Everyone in that practice room. You get the idea. Back to Gulibon. I thought he had a great tournament. Finished 3-2...earned some bonus points...lost only to #4 and #2 seeds...beat two seeded wrestlers, knocking one...a Buckeye...out of the tournament. I like the guy. I hope he's proud of his career and the contributions he's made to this string of team success. I hope he had a great time this weekend. And I wish him the best of luck in the future. You're a good man, Jimmy Gulibon.
One more wrestler I'd like to mention, and then I'll go. I live in the South...don't get to see a lot of live wrestling. Hence, January 1 and 2 are my two favorite days of the year...the Southern Scuffle! It was different this year...no Penn State team, but I drove up the second day just to see Mark Hall wrestle...the cement mixer on Preisch made it worth the trip. It's a great tournament...great venue...and you can't help but cross paths with the coaches, wrestlers and their families. I've had some nice conversations with guys like Bryan Pearsall, Jan Johnson, Kenny Yanovich...met the Taylors, Quentin's mom, the Englishes...and my favorites...Bill and Emilie Vollrath. Can't remember how it started, but Bill and I struck up a conversation at a Scuffle a few years back. I saw him wrestle when I was in school, and it turns out we had a mutual friend on the team. We had lunch together...sort of...one day, when I was seated at the table next to them at a nearly empty Applebee's. We had already met at the tournament...and they had already ordered. Thus, they were captive. Like it or not, they're now on my holiday newsletter list. (I've done standup comedy in my life, and sarcasm reigns in the newsletter. Typically, it's not a good thing if your name gets mentioned.) I also had the opportunity to meet Jimmy Vollrath. Saw him beat Dieringer in person. Jimmy Vollrath was the kind of guy who helped build this team. Solid guy. Good guy. Hard worker. Great wrestler. Probably would have been a full-time starter and All-American at just about any other school. He was in on the ground floor of all this, and while he never won an individual NCAA championship, there are guys who did who owe a piece of theirs to him. I was late getting the newsletter out this year...they got mailed out the Saturday before Christmas. I had included an uncharacteristically sincere wish for the Vollrath family. About two hours later, when I got back to the house, my wife asked if I'd heard about Jimmy Vollrath.
I enjoyed this past Saturday night as much as anyone else. When Cenzo stuck Martinez, I jumped as high (not real high any more, to be honest) as I have since Quentin pinned Gambrall. And I thought about Bill and Emilie. I know they're proud of their son, and he was a big part of what happened in St. Louis. I hope they jumped too. May he always be remembered.
Congratulations to all.
SR/BHF
