I am going to step out on a limb and make a prediction early in the year that the boys from Lincoln Logs will not repeat this year in wrestling! The pressure is going to be too much on their team and there are some up and comers that will be the surprise of the land! Slick Rick Benson in Columbus has a team that can surprise some people and with their district, they will land several guys at the meet in thier funny robes! That is just one team! The other is Millard South! The football team faltered down the stretch, but look out for DD and the Patriots! Jeff "my kup runnith over" Kupfer has one last shot to regain his title!
So as we do in toothless land Marty, grab some of grannies elixer and relax, cause your days are numbered!

Oh my friend, I agree that Class A will be a battle, but when the smoke has cleared and all the guns have been put away, the only team standing will be Lincoln East.

We took a few of them to Orlando with us, and boy oh boy, do they know how to compete. Etherton is a scraper and is in every match. Rutledge is technically awesome and has a heart of gold. McCurdy, will be a force he just keeps coming. Those are just the three that I know will be on the podium on Saturday. I know they have a ton of kids returning that placed last year.

Yep, I go with Lincoln East! Just for giggles, let's remember this little conversation and when the end comes the man that is right gets to say, "I told you so!"

Hey Bob, I got a Benjiman on that prediction! In fact, I think Lincoln East could have 10 or more state placers and win by 40 or 50! EASILY! And Marty, the crusher, McCurdy, will be laughing all the way to the bank! He is laughing right now at your foolish prognostication!

...what he is probably doing is pacing back and forth in front of his computer, screaming something to the effect that it is WAY TOO EARLY in the year to be calling his team a state champion.

Last year when LE beat Millard North in a dual, I mentioned to him that he'd probably bump up to #1 in the next NWI/Huskermat rankings after they knocked off then #1 MN and they were #2. Judging by his reaction, you'd have thought I told him his house was on fire. The only time he really cares about being #1, and this is true with about 99.9 percent of the coaches out there with contending teams, is on the third Saturday in February. Then, and only then, will they be happy with being #1.

But isn't it fun to toss it around the table right now?

It is all preordained! lol

Or Drained?

NWI Guy is right I am a worrier and what is worse I believe worry is a sin. My friend the Grapplinman is also right I do believe in predestination (as he points out with his little dagger of a key board). I do believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. I do not believe that one thing happens that he does not intend to happen. Contrary to some fatalists or even misinformed Calvinists God does not only Predestine the ends but also the means. He does not only predestine how teams will do at state he predestines how they will do it. Generally it seems to me that he predestines that the teams who do well at state do it by the means of hard work. Also, believe me that I have had teams that I thought worked extremely hard that did not do well at state. This I also believe was in God's overall plan. God promises to "work all things out for the good of those that love him." I take "all things" to mean all things. I know there are people on this forum who don't believe we should use the bible to support our ideas, I would just suggest that they skip to the next post, because the Bible is my defense for my position. The problem with me and the reason I worry so much and am such a contradiction to my own theology is that I fail to trust God to do what he promises to do. I also think I fail to trust that what God wants for me is what is really best for me. I tend to think I know better than God what is best for me. I think it will be best for me and my wrestlers if we win state, but that is not necessarily true, it may very well be best for us to struggle through a difficult year. God has accomplished every bit as much in my life when we didn't win one match as he did when we won state. God knows what is best for me and my wrestlers, I need to trust him for that, I need to stop worrying and just work at doing my best to be my best. I need to have faith in God's future Grace based on the past Grace he has shown me. God's grace may result in us winning the state title, by means of hard work, or it might mean something completely different but whatever it is it will be for my good. I need to trust in this future Grace. One part of my Theology that I must not leave out is that I believe all men are sinners totally helpless to save themselves. I do not believe this is true only in salvation but in all areas of our lives. Left to my own strength I will falter and fail every time. Left to my own strength I am the worst and WEAKEST (something wrestlers and wrestling coaches don't like to admit to) of sinners. So I will pray for strength in the weakness of my worry. I will pray that God will enable me to trust in his future Grace. I would guess that I will continue to worry and God won't completely change me, but I will be working on trusting God.

I can honestly say that I will be encouraging my guys not to make winning the state championship one of their major goals for the year. I will encourage them to make working hard enough to be a state championship team as one of their major goals. You might think this is only a small difference but I think it is a huge difference.

I must admit that I constantly wrestle (pun intended) with the issue of meshing my desire to seek God with all my heart and wrestling (and competition in general for that matter). I do believe God Wants me to be a wrestling coach and is using me in that area, if I didn’t I hope that I would have the strength to quit coaching. For those of you who think these types of topics have no place on a “wrestling” forum, I disagree. Wrestling so invades my life, I need to be able to dialogue with other Christian coaches how they mesh their desire to seek God with coaching wrestling. Also if you are not interested in this type of thing skip to the next topic.

As far as this year state meet I agree with Hilly Billy Bob that it could be a dog fight. I believe Papillion has a chance at 5 finalists, that has to put them in the hunt. I think Millard South will be super tough especially by the end of the season. Denson will have some young kids but he has at least two or three potential finalists and other placers (don’t sweat grapplinman I know we are the favorites). Doug’s kids always are hot at state meet time, they could contend. Bellevue East has a really strong team with several potential placers. If Braun’s young kids are good enough to compete for medals along with his returners he will be right up in there. Millard West has a really tough lineup with many potential placers. Also Hill Billy Bob you are right Columbus will be tough I know they will have three studs right in a row who will make each other really tough (i.e. Shearer, Arlt and Dresch). Hey I know there are teams I am missing but I am just thinking in my seat without looking at any data, I don’t have the computer mind of Grapplinman to remember everybody. There maybe a team here I didn’t even mention that could win state. I do believe we are the favorites but we have some kids who will have to cut some significant weight to make our lineup strong. We also have several kids who will be wrestling under their optimal weight and we still may not have one or two of our best kids in our lineup. I am not making excuses I am just saying there are tons of things that have to happen for any team to pull off the championship. Even if we have our strongest lineup we might still lose and we might win. It will be a great challenge just to do our best.

Your contradictory man Marty McCurdy

I have to say that while we do believe in god the almighty, we take our Nascar pretty serious. That is why we run races on Sundays! Give me a 12 pack, lawn chair, bag of pork skins, and a TV that gets cable and we are all set. Now we do like our Wrassling as well. We get togehter every week to see all the high rope acts!

The type of wrasslin you are refereing to though has many turns during the course of the season. That is why I have stepped out to claim that LE will not repeat. Cause unlike you, I donot believe that god controls what happens here in hell. If he did, then we would not have children that suffer from illness, and people dieing from senselss acts of violence. Greed, control and manipulation would not exist.So if you look at this place we call Earth, from the perspective that it is really Hell and we are paying for our past sins and the only way we leave is to repent and pass on from here. Then we have the chance to go to the almighty holy ground!
Daytona Beach!(or heaven I mean)

Okay, Marty, you should run for President.

-- First off, Billy Bob just blew his credibility by bringing ignorant redneck entertainment such as pro rassling into this forum. I was with him on the NASCAR take, but pro rassling and other illegitmate spinoffs of man's greatest sport have no place in this forum, IMO.

-- Second...to Marty. WHOA! Epic blast on God and your beliefs. It even made me take a step back and look at myself and how little confidence I have in God's guidance, although I know He is always there for me. In all honesty, the number of individuals - including God - that I place my ultimate trust in is very limited...much more limited than it should be.

And the discussion of getting your wrestlers to buy into the process for working toward a state title instead of the title itself is very Tom Osborne-esque. I remember Osborne's "More Than Winning" book and how he recalled being more consumed by the process of preparing the team for competition being more important than the final result on the scoreboard. I think that's something we should all think about...that it's not the destination that is as important as the road we take to try and reach that destination.

Lot of food for thought in Marty's post. Anybody who goes hungry after reading that one is just not "eating" right.

Or eating way to much, as in my case.

Know exactly what you're talking about, John. I was hoping to be down to 145-150 for the start of the season. Last time I stepped on the scale, I was still hanging around 163-165. Forget the potatoes...pass the Dexatrim. LOL