Somewhere on the Sky satellite dial there is a channel which shows old wrestling bouts from the long-lost days of World of Sport. A place where Mick McManus and Jackie Pallo are forever crushing an opponent in a half-nelson while grannies scream from the ring-side. Poignant stuff, really, but at least those two troupers made it onto national TV. The youths in Mark Kreidler's book on amateur wrestling probably never will:
It is a sport, Mark Kreidler writes in this extraordinary look at several months in the singular culture of Iowa wrestling, where teenagers "pound their bodies until they scream, and sweat out boxes worth of salt; they push their muscles somewhere beyond whatever they may have imagined as the snapping point." He adds, "And they do all of this, or at least most of it, absent the expectation that anyone in particular will applaud or even really notice."... The wrestlers in "Four Days to Glory" will not achieve fame outside their state, or fortune, at least not from looking to pin opponents. But they are as captivating — if not nearly as outrageous and absurd — as if they were seeking toeholds and takedowns inside a steel cage at Madison Square Garden instead of gymnasiums in eastern Iowa.
Most schools in the U.S. have a team even though nobody cares about it (sweat, vomit, hours and nobody but your parents in the stands). There is no singular culture in Iowa wrestling, most states have schools with teams and wrestling is a minor sport that works for poor/mean/rich kids who want to earn something along the way. The author seems like hack and you can expose anything if someone will publish it.
"There are no big paydays being dangled to four-time champions"
College is a payday and if that isn't enough you can work on stand-up and find a Brazilian to teach you submissions. All-Americans can fight for a living if they want to.
Posted by: mikek | Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 07:14 AM