Hopefully those in the real wrestling community will allow me a quick foray into the world of make believe.
I was able to attend he WWE's Royal Rumble Jan. 25 at Joe Louis Arena, and there might be no spectacle that brings the same type of entertainment as professional "wrestling."
It's not just how huge the mountains of humanity they call "superstars" are in real life, it's more the way in which these Yetis interact with the crowds. The way the WWE faithful are part of the show with their signs and chants is something you have to see to believe. Their addition to the festivities is just as much a fixture as folding chairs and exposed turnbuckles in a no disqualification match.
A couple of my personal highlights were the way John Cena and Rob Van Dam of Battle Creek galvanized the crowd.
With simultaneous chants for and against the WWE Champion, Cena is a one-man European soccer match. And when RVD came down the ramp to join the Rumble, the local boy's ovation was as great, if not greater, than any superstar this side of the Undertaker.
So while moonsaults from atop ladders through tables may not require quite the same technical expertise as a cradle into a pin, can there really be that much wrong with anything that can bring as much excitement and joy to a city like Detroit as did the WWE.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Just can't stay away
Few things have made me feel as old as when I walked into De La Salle's gym and saw 2008 Warren Woods Tower grad Kyle Lowry working as a coach with the Pilots.
Then I walked into St. Clair Shores Lakeview Jan. 21 and coach Steve Nicholl told me he had two new assistants, Mike Hissong and Jake Fisher.
It took me a minute to remember why the name Jake Fisher was familiar, but soon enough I realized Jake Fisher was Jacob Fisher, the Huskies' 2005-06 Division 2 145-pound state runner-up that I had covered.
Aside from high school athletes that I covered that are now coaches making me feel every one of my 29 years, they show one of the main reasons I enjoy covering wrestling — commitment.
Unlike any other sport, wrestling brings people together who must be of a like, and sometimes skewed, mind.
These folks enjoy literally taking beatings and call it practice. As the Warren Mott team Web site boasts, "Does your sport have blood time?"
Aside from all the perceived oddities that those outside the wrestling world see, those in it see something bigger than themselves and greater then the tough times that come with losing and the rigors of things like cutting weight.
As Warren Woods Tower coach Greg Mayer said of grapplers like Lowry, "Those guys eat, breath and sleep wrestling, and it's why Fisher admitted that even if he wasn't a paid assistant on the Huskies' staff, he would have been in the practice room anyway.
Guys like Lowry and Fisher returned to the sport so soon after their graduation because it means so much to them, and even though it makes me feel old, I'm glad they're doing it and helping to introduce a new generation to a sport they just can't stay away from.
Then I walked into St. Clair Shores Lakeview Jan. 21 and coach Steve Nicholl told me he had two new assistants, Mike Hissong and Jake Fisher.
It took me a minute to remember why the name Jake Fisher was familiar, but soon enough I realized Jake Fisher was Jacob Fisher, the Huskies' 2005-06 Division 2 145-pound state runner-up that I had covered.
Aside from high school athletes that I covered that are now coaches making me feel every one of my 29 years, they show one of the main reasons I enjoy covering wrestling — commitment.
Unlike any other sport, wrestling brings people together who must be of a like, and sometimes skewed, mind.
These folks enjoy literally taking beatings and call it practice. As the Warren Mott team Web site boasts, "Does your sport have blood time?"
Aside from all the perceived oddities that those outside the wrestling world see, those in it see something bigger than themselves and greater then the tough times that come with losing and the rigors of things like cutting weight.
As Warren Woods Tower coach Greg Mayer said of grapplers like Lowry, "Those guys eat, breath and sleep wrestling, and it's why Fisher admitted that even if he wasn't a paid assistant on the Huskies' staff, he would have been in the practice room anyway.
Guys like Lowry and Fisher returned to the sport so soon after their graduation because it means so much to them, and even though it makes me feel old, I'm glad they're doing it and helping to introduce a new generation to a sport they just can't stay away from.
Monday, January 12, 2009
New kids on the mat
Local wrestling teams would be well served to take notice of a brewing storm on Common Road in Warren.
The Warren De La Salle wrestling team, in its fourth season of existence after coach Dennis Parks started the team in 2005-06, has all the makings of what could be a major player in Macomb County.
Much like Pilots football coach Paul Verska changed the face of metro Detroit prep football when he turned the De La Salle gridiron program around, Parks seems poised to make a splash in the wrestling world.
He only has one grappler, junior 130-pounder Adam Masakowski, on his roster that had mat experience before stepping into the Pilots' wrestling room, but his team has already taken home the 2008-09 Warren City Championships and placed second in two other tournaments this year.
Because Parks pulled his team out of the county meet Dec. 20 because of a conflict with De La Salle's final exams schedule, no one will know how the Pilots measure up to the top teams in Macomb County until the Michigan High School Athletic Association team and individual district tournaments Feb. 18 and Feb. 21, respectively, but if the way wrestlers like senior 215-pounder Padriac Berlin attacks opponents is any indication, the Pilots could pull off a number of perceived upsets in districts and possibly regional tournaments.
Parks has enlisted the help of recent Warren Woods Tower grad Kyle Lowry as an assistant coach, a move that could be very shrewd.
As the Pilots fight to prove themselves in a crowded wrestling county, they could be very comparable to the Tower teams on which Lowry, his twin brother, Kenny, and current Old Dominion grappler and two-time state runner-up Brennan Brumley starred.
After all, just as coach Greg Mayer and former coach Pat Threet built the Titans from also-rans to regional champs, Parks has already built the Pilots from never-weres to city champions.
The Warren De La Salle wrestling team, in its fourth season of existence after coach Dennis Parks started the team in 2005-06, has all the makings of what could be a major player in Macomb County.
Much like Pilots football coach Paul Verska changed the face of metro Detroit prep football when he turned the De La Salle gridiron program around, Parks seems poised to make a splash in the wrestling world.
He only has one grappler, junior 130-pounder Adam Masakowski, on his roster that had mat experience before stepping into the Pilots' wrestling room, but his team has already taken home the 2008-09 Warren City Championships and placed second in two other tournaments this year.
Because Parks pulled his team out of the county meet Dec. 20 because of a conflict with De La Salle's final exams schedule, no one will know how the Pilots measure up to the top teams in Macomb County until the Michigan High School Athletic Association team and individual district tournaments Feb. 18 and Feb. 21, respectively, but if the way wrestlers like senior 215-pounder Padriac Berlin attacks opponents is any indication, the Pilots could pull off a number of perceived upsets in districts and possibly regional tournaments.
Parks has enlisted the help of recent Warren Woods Tower grad Kyle Lowry as an assistant coach, a move that could be very shrewd.
As the Pilots fight to prove themselves in a crowded wrestling county, they could be very comparable to the Tower teams on which Lowry, his twin brother, Kenny, and current Old Dominion grappler and two-time state runner-up Brennan Brumley starred.
After all, just as coach Greg Mayer and former coach Pat Threet built the Titans from also-rans to regional champs, Parks has already built the Pilots from never-weres to city champions.
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