Did anyone read Robert Nelson's article in the Omaha World Herald? What did you think? His Dad was my assistant here in Falls City, but I thought that article was kind of an insult to wrestling. He is not a Truman Capote, nor is he gay because he is a writer.

I realize that what the UNL wrestlers did is pathetic and not at all good for wrestling, but I just wanted to see what you thought of the editorial?

I forgot to tell everyone that it is an editorial in the Midlands section!

Coach, I read the article. I went in with a bias based on what you said. At first I agreed with you, I didnt' like it. He said he was falling for those crap arguments, wrestling is for grabbing guys etc.

But later he points out that that image is not right. That what these guys did will make other kids more apt to fall victim to those jokes.

I don't think he was putting wrestling down. I don't think. I think he was trying to say that the UNL wrestlers actions hurt the sport on the high school scene in Nebraska, because kids will not want to deal with these jokes.

Shannon

quote:

Originally posted by GockeS:
Coach, I read the article. I went in with a bias based on what you said. At first I agreed with you, I didnt' like it. He said he was falling for those crap arguments, wrestling is for grabbing guys etc.

But later he points out that that image is not right. That what these guys did will make other kids more apt to fall victim to those jokes.

I don't think he was putting wrestling down. I don't think. I think he was trying to say that the UNL wrestlers actions hurt the sport on the high school scene in Nebraska, because kids will not want to deal with these jokes.

Shannon

Coach, thanks for the input. I am going to post the article below so that some who hadn't read it can judge for themselves. Robert (then Bob) was in my son's class in high school, and his dad was my assistant for 15 years.

Here is the editorial by Robert Nelson:

WRESTLING JUST DIDN'T SEEM COOL ANYMORE

" I started wrestling when I was 5. I thought it was the cool, manly thing to do. My dad wrestled at the University of Nebraska and coached in Falls City. He seemed manly and tough. I figured I'd follow in his footsteps. As the years passed, I began to hear jokes whispered from the edge of earshot. Jokes about the ultratight uniforms. Jokes about the sweating and sweaty men hugging one another and grabbing certain parts and bulges and awkward positions involving dominant and a submissive partner.

I didn't wrestle in high school. Mainly, it was just too much work for limited glory. But, by that time, too, the sport just didn't seem that cool anymore.

I think it was the fact that tournament organizers across southeast Nebraska and northern Kansas couldn't get enough of the songs of the '70s glam rock band Queen, "We Will, We Will Rock You" throbbed through warm-up after warm-up. "We Are the Champions" over and over.

Yes, it all sounded manly and heroic. But, somebody wasn't watching the birth of MTV. There, you saw Freddie Mercury prancing around with spectacular flamboyance in tight costumes that looked way too much like wrestling uniforms. All this between news bits about his famously omnivorous sex life.

Sure, I was a homophobic adolescent, caught up in the petty posturings of a homophobic culture. I was wrong. I apologize.

But the fact is. The vast majority of wrestlers are heterosexual males who are quite proud of their heterosexuality, as well as their prowess at conquering another male in one-on-one physical conflict, which, I might add, is very often how males in the wild go about "getting the girl".

Yet, every so often, some smart-mouthed basketball player brings up the tights and bulges or sweaty-man-rubbing sort of issues again and thereby makes it somewhat tough to go about the manly pursuit of being a tough-guy wrestler.

Here, then, is the crux of why those two UNL wrestlers getting paid to pose nude for a gay porn site is so, so, absolutely wrong.

On Tuesday, UNL wrestling coach Mark Manning released Paul Donahoe and Kenny Jordan from the team after it was discovered the two posed nude in photos and videos for Internet Web sites.

Although the Web sites' owners say most models are heterosexual, the sites' customers typically are gay men.

In a statement announcing the permanent dismissal, Manning apologized "for any embarrassment that may have been caused for our athletic department, the university and our fans."

Problem is: I don't think that's who gets hurt by this story, which apparently is a hot topic on sports radio and Web sites across the country.

I'm more worried about the teasing faced by all those high school wrestlers, from Falls City to Chadron, who, because of these two uninhibited gentlemen, will spend much of the winter months suffering gay-porn related jokes at the hands of their sissy buddies who play basketball.

"Hey, stud, what weight are you trying to get down to for your photo shoot?" "Congrats! I hear you're ranked in the top 10 in the Class C-1 heavyweight Internet porn rankings."

And, imagine if a nonwrestler gets hold of a gym's PA system and a boombox. You can just hear one of these songs blaring during wrestling practice: the Village People's "YMCA"; "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood; or "What Is Love", that head-bobbing song from the TV ad and the "Saturday Night Live" sketch.

Compromising yourself for money, especially in the age of the Internet, has a way of coming back to haunt you, sometimes in ways you can't even imagine.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1129 <robert.nelson@owh.com>

Well, I wasn't going to post but, hey, I'm bored. I agree with GockeS. I don't think he meant anything negative. In fact I think he might even be defending the sport and our athletes. Fortunately I'm not too worried about my kids being harassed, because currently, I have the best athletes in our school on the mat, and also the toughest, so our bb players would be too afraid to say much about it. In fact one of them actually tried to bring the subject up the other day, and he was obviously terrified, so all he did was asked my opinion of what they did, and never said one negative comment, of course, the other 7 guys in my room were all wrestlers so he was intimidated!

I think this incident can be a negative thing for schools that are at the moment struggling with getting kids out for wrestling because this is just another reason why students won't go out for wrestling. I don't think its a problem where wrestling is established and there are strong numbers inside of the program. I think if a kid is that "on the fence" about wrestling and this makes his decision for him or her, do you really want that kid out in the first place? Its not like that type of kid will be there when it counts anyway....

I grew up in a rural farm community and was expected to play BB when I got to HS, since I had an older brother who was a BB stud. I didn't care one way or the other what sport I went out for cause it was a reason to get out of the house and out of more chores! My sister chided me to go out for wrestling to mess with my brother and since I got along well with the wrestling coach, who was also one of my football coaches unlike the BB coach, I decided to give it a go with no prior experience as a freshman. Once I started practicing, there was no doubt that wrestling was for me. My brother would tease and make homophobic remarks that never raised any ire with me since I knew he couldn't understand. I wrestled JV for the first two years behind a state champ, who also was a runner up twice and loved the challenge of trying to unseat him from varsity. IMHO, I think that you are either a wrestler or you aren't. Most of my teammates from my HS years were farm kids or did ag work during the year and knew how to put in a days work, the rest of my studentmates maily lived in town and played BB. That's why I don't see the actions of this article disuading anyone 'on the fence'. Schools struggling to get enrollment on the wrestling roster can partly be attributed to the number of kids that don't know how to work or are too lazy to work for a goal, besides there being so many more activities also available(COMPUTER GAMES!). Outside of being embarrassing to the state, university and wrestling community, I have a hard time believing that this incident will persuade many who truly are a wrestler from going out.

Ditto Big D, wrestling rules! Hopefully other kids will learn from these men's poor actions. No amount of money is worth risking your integrity, honor, and future. When wrestling is in your blood, you don't care what other ignorant people say about you, or your sport. Besides you could beat the you know what out of them and they know it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Debo's Mom,

After reading the article I took it as he was defending the sport.. Yes you will always have the bad jokes that our kids have to deal with and yes this could make for some new ones that they have not yet heard! But hey wrestlers are tougher and more dedicated then most of the basketball teams. They practice longer and harder and it is in there blood. I know that at our house the boys eat, sleep, and work wrestling all year round. I agree with Debo's mom, they don't care about what people say about them. I just hope we can all take such a bad thing that has happend in our state and teach our kids something good out of it. Make it a good lesson on just how easy it is to toss your dreams in the gutter and watch them go down stream!