FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[BDB]

Just talked to SamWill47sju.

He's swinging in tomorrow to give me my annual SJU related X-Mas present. 

Year 1 - Coach G. autographed copy of "The Sweet Season."
Year 2 - Coach G. bobblehead doll.

He says this year's gift will be the best one so far.

I am all a-flutter. 

[Johnnie Red]

Duffman, I did not make it to the match last week. Sounds like it was a great one. Have to get my Guillotine writing skills in action once again and start covering high school/collegiate wrestling matches. I do get to hand out medals and trophies at this year's state high school tourney. Always an honor to do that.

[Whoa Nelly]

I attended the match - good wrestling for the most part - a few one-sided or sloppy contests.  I agree that Conrad's match was somewhat of a yawn - especially since he was wrestling a freshman...but I don't want to be the one to tell him his performance was boring 

Schlatter is an animal - I could at least run away from Conrad 

[tmerton]

Wow, I didn't know rastlin' was such a popular sport in MN.  I thought us Okies were the experts.  Oh, wait - it's an indoor sport done in the winter ... that makes it easier to understand. 

So of the winter sports - hockey, rastlin' and basketball - what's the order of interest?  Should I have included ice fishing, deer hunting and bowling? 

[sumander]

Wow, I didn't know rastlin' was such a popular sport in MN.  I thought us Okies were the experts.  Oh, wait - it's an indoor sport done in the winter ... that makes it easier to understand. 

So of the winter sports - hockey, rastlin' and basketball - what's the order of interest?  Should I have included ice fishing, deer hunting and bowling? 

When discussing the U of M, I believe your order would be:

Hockey, rastlin', anything else then ..... Basketball! This coming from a round ball guy!

[retagent]

BDB - I hesitated to give props to BDB jr because if he does well, he might get to like playing goalie, and there's really no excuse for that. Having hard rubber flung at you from all angles is not something I would wish on anyone.

Bennie - Trying to get in touch with my feminine side leads me to the conclusion that you might like to do more than google the opera guy. Or is that what they're calling it now?

[realistic]

Wow, I didn't know rastlin' was such a popular sport in MN.  I thought us Okies were the experts.  Oh, wait - it's an indoor sport done in the winter ... that makes it easier to understand. 

So of the winter sports - hockey, rastlin' and basketball - what's the order of interest?  Should I have included ice fishing, deer hunting and bowling? 

When discussing the U of M, I believe your order would be:

Hockey, rastlin', anything else then ..... Basketball! This coming from a round ball guy!

I'd say thats pretty fair throughout the state at both the college and HS level.  Obviously there is some variation.  SCSU has a good basketball tradition with both men and women and a horrible wrestling team.  I don't think I ever saw more than 20 (non-family) fans at their meets.

At the HS level, basketball is probably more popular than wrestling...but the talent is definalty Hockey, Wrestling, then hoops.

[DuffMan]

I'd rank wrestling third, for sure.  The Gophers are so darn good, though, so that helps to draw people in.  Wrestling, in my high school at least, was about as popular as syphilis.  I think other than family and good friends, no one ever came to watch us.  Of course, our team sucked and that didn't help.

[WAHOO3]

Try coming from the SJU of High Shool Wrestling, Apple Valley. Our varsity basketball team used to try to do 1 wrestling workout a year and it was the most painful thing I have ever done. I don't know about other places, but our wrestlers were in the best shape in terms of strength and endurance of any athletes I have ever seen. 

[57Johnnie]

I'd rank wrestling third, for sure.  The Gophers are so darn good, though, so that helps to draw people in.  Wrestling, in my high school at least, was about as popular as syphilis.  I think other than family and good friends, no one ever came to watch us.  Of course, our team sucked and that didn't help.

When I was in grad school at Iowa State, wrestling was a much bigger draw than football. Of course, the Cyclones only had 30 guys go out for football (The Dirty Thirty) so that isn't saying much.

[Whoa Nelly]

I'd rank wrestling third, for sure.  The Gophers are so darn good, though, so that helps to draw people in.  Wrestling, in my high school at least, was about as popular as syphilis.  I think other than family and good friends, no one ever came to watch us.  Of course, our team sucked and that didn't help.

That would be pretty popular in some high schools 

[Johnnie Red]

WAHOO3, I did get to see Owatonna beat AV two years ago in the state semifinals. One of the best matches ever, in my humble opinion.
Back in the early `80's, we had an adult wrestling team in Norwood Young America that I coached. Jim Jackson, the AV coach, was on the team.

Back when I was in high school our team was in District 12 and Region 3. District 12 went from Norwood Young America all the way west to Danube and Sacred Heart. Olivia was in the district and they were so tough. Then in the region we went all the way to the South Dakota border and the competition included Canby. I never made it out of the district. Great sport both at the high school and collegiate level in Minnesota.

First match I ever wrestled was in seventh grade against Bill Schmidt of Renville. He went on to win a state championship when he was a senior and then went to Augsburg, where he was an All-American. Great guy.

[DuffMan]

Try coming from the SJU of High Shool Wrestling, Apple Valley.  

I would have loved it.  I used to wrestle on a team with a guy that transferred to AV just for the wrestling program.  He won 2 individual titles there and went to Iowa for two years, then ended up at, of all places, Augsburg, where he won 2 DIII titles.

I've got to admit, I felt like I was in pretty good shape at the end of football season.  The first day of wrestling practice was always an eye-opener, though!!!

[57Johnnie]

When I was at St. John's, a lot of the wrestlers came from Litchfield. Are they still noted for having good HS wrestling? 

[piperinsider]

Litch finished second at the Section 5AA meet last year. Among top 2 or 3 this year. They had a 3-time state champion that graduated last year - Beau Penk.

JR-
After our tour of the Schell's Brewery two weekends ago, it was decided that Bockfest is going to be done this February.