The following is a letter to the editor in today's Washington Post. While disrespecting the sport is uncommon in much of PA and other wrestling hotbeds, no coverage in a major paper like the Post is probably a reality across most of the rest of the US.
----------------
The 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships were among the most dramatic in recent memory, a tournament loaded with heartbreaks and heroics. There were Cinderella ascensions to the finals, dominant performances by returning medalists, overtime wins and first-period pins. It was everything enticing and inspiring that any sports fan should love.
Yet not a drop of ink was devoted to coverage of the finals in The Post's Sports section; online, just a few hundred words of bone-dry Associated Press recap. The world's oldest contact sport might as well trade in its singlets and headgear for Rodney Dangerfield's coat and tie.
I can't blame The Post. A pursuit of such staggering physical and mental challenge is a calling for its competitors, with a small, zealous fan base that consists overwhelmingly of those who've logged a bit of mat time themselves.
Still, maybe the paper can spare a couple of column inches for this cauliflower-eared sect next year? True, some have trouble hearing, but we still like to read.
----------------
The 2015 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships were among the most dramatic in recent memory, a tournament loaded with heartbreaks and heroics. There were Cinderella ascensions to the finals, dominant performances by returning medalists, overtime wins and first-period pins. It was everything enticing and inspiring that any sports fan should love.
Yet not a drop of ink was devoted to coverage of the finals in The Post's Sports section; online, just a few hundred words of bone-dry Associated Press recap. The world's oldest contact sport might as well trade in its singlets and headgear for Rodney Dangerfield's coat and tie.
I can't blame The Post. A pursuit of such staggering physical and mental challenge is a calling for its competitors, with a small, zealous fan base that consists overwhelmingly of those who've logged a bit of mat time themselves.
Still, maybe the paper can spare a couple of column inches for this cauliflower-eared sect next year? True, some have trouble hearing, but we still like to read.
