Exciting News!

It might soon be possible to add a forum to my Blog. It would be much like FKN or FKu in that anyone could start a topic, but it would retain the Blog look and feel which I really like.

I am not sure exactly how it works yet, but I am investigating the possibilities and I will keep you informed.

Stay Tuned!

The results are in for two of our most popular polls ever on the Spiders Lair.

On the first poll, who did the best coaching job this year?

The overwhelming victor was in fact Victor, Balmeceda that is; he garnered 51% of the votes with a total of 87 voters casting their ballots. Osorio earned second place with 21% of the vote, Kenny Johnson was 3rd with 11%, Jim Husk was 4th with 10% of the vote, and finally the guy who never gets enough credit with only 2% of the vote, Saul Tejada.

Who was the Best Wrestler in Dade County this Year?

This race was quite a bit closer, a total of 100 voters cast their ballots, and 45% of them felt that Earl hall was the wrestler of the Year. Running a close second Rodrigo Baez with 40% of the vote, then Shakendrick Sanders with 10%, Michael Chinchilla with 3 %, and finally James (Rat) Williams with 2%.

We would like to thank all who took part and voted their conscious. It shows that there is much interest in the Spiders Lair, as well as Intelligence and sentiment. We appreciate your participation.

Columbus Welcomes Another Transfer

Word has it that Matt Noffo is transferring to Christopher Colombus Senior High.

Implications of this move...

Who will lose their spot?

Will he improve?

Who or what will be to blame this time if he does not improve?

Is Colombus becoming a haven for malcontents and underachievers?

4th Annual McCoy Memorial Dade County Dual Meet Championships

4th Annual

McCoy Memorial Dade County Dual Meet Championships

We only had 9 teams show up today, but there were several great matches. We started with 3 pools of 3. Due to some teams needing to get in their District Dual Matches, the pools were not even, but every team got 4 quality matches today.

Pool 1



Allapattah 2 - 0

Jorge Mas Canosa 1 - 1

Southwood 0 - 2

Canosa 51 Southwood 8

Allapattah 59 Southwood 4

Allapattah 41 Canosa 16



Pool 2



Palmetto 2 - 0

Cutler Ridge 1 - 1

Ammons 0 - 2

Cutler Ridge 45 Ammons 24

Palmetto 36 Ammons 34

Palmetto 40 Cutler Ridge 30



Pool 3



Richmond Heights 2 - 0

South Miami 1 - 1

The Gator All Stars 0 - 2

South Miami 40 Gators 24

Richmond 54 South Miami 18

Richmond 42 Gators 27



Consolation Pool



Ammons 2 - 0

The Gator All Stars 1 - 1

Southwood 0 - 2

Ammons 42 Southwood 24

Gators 41 Southwood 24

Ammons 42 Gators 24



Runner Up Pool



Jorge Mas Canosa 2 - 0

Cutler Ridge 1 - 1

South Miami 0 - 2

Cutler Ridge 48 South Miami 15

Canosa 60 South Miami 0

Canosa 54 Cutler Ridge 18



Championship Pool

Allapattah 2 - 0

Richmond Heights 1 - 1

Palmetto 0 - 2

Allapattah 39 Richmond 30

Richmond 39 Palmetto 30

Allapattah 35 Palmetto 30

I want to thank the Coral Reef Wrestling team for allowing us to use their gym for the 4th year. Their wrestlers did a great job working the tables. I want to thank Vic Balmeceda, Jay Flinchum, and Ralph Rico for reffing the matches today. I want to thank Albert Pardo for getting me in contact with his friend who rush ordered the trophies for me, and delivered some outstanding team trophies and medals. I really want to thank the Palmetto parent that helped with the injured wrestler before the paramedics arrived.

Video ScrutinyBy:The Ref

If you are a wrestling official and you don’t enjoy being scrutinized, you are going to have a hard time doing your job in the future. In this age of the internet scrutiny will be brought on you like never before, and that is something that today’s officials will need to learn to deal with.

No official in any sport or at any level is perfect, but there are very good officials, average officials, and even some bad officials. The problem is that even the great officials miss calls; and at a tournament like the FHSAA finals, even great officials might miss several calls in the three day long event and after officiating dozens upon dozens of matches.

Judgment is a bitch of a thing, it involves what you believe to be the case; Control for example is a judgment call, and where one official may feel there is control, another might not be so quick to award points in the same situation. The important thing is that the official show consistency in the way he is willing to judge control, or lack there of.

There are times however that an official miss-applies a rule, and for that there is no excuse. It is the officials job to know the rules and apply them correctly, and I am less sympathetic to officials that miss-apply rules than I am to one who may have shown poor judgment because judgment implies and understanding, while rules imply overall knowledge.

There is a good selection of matches on Flowrestling that lend themselves to scrutiny of officials. Unlike other officials, I think this is a good thing, I think officials should see themselves on tape and be able to recognize their mistakes, why they may have erred, and how to avoid making that same mistake in the future. I believe it is a knife that cuts both ways; many times a coach will scream at an official and be upset with a call and video of the match may in fact vindicate the official. However, it can also serve to highlight that an official may have missed a call, and that is what we are here to talk about.

I am an official and I welcome the scrutiny, and if you are an official so should you. This forum is the perfect place for it so let’s talk about it.

So tells us about some of the calls that you may have seen at Lakeland that you thought “He really blew that call”, and also tell us about calls that you saw an official make that you thought to yourself, “What a great call” and lets discuss it.

The Ref

2008 Spiders LairAll Dade County Team

2008 Spiders Lair All Dade County Team

103 – Earl Hall (Homestead) 39 – 0
District, Regional, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

112 – Eric Chandler (Braddock) 22 – 1
District, Regional, and G.M.A.C. Champion, State Runner-up

119 – Gabe Chandler (Braddock) 40 – 5
District, Regional, and G.M.A.C. Champion, 4th at State

125 – James (Rat )Williams (South Dade) 54 – 2
District, Regional, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

130 – Michael Nates (Hialeah) 22 – 1
District, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

135 – Rodrigo (Tico) Baez (South Dade) 55 – 0
District, Regional, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

140 – Rey Parrado (Barbara Goleman) 36 – 2
District, Regional, and State Champion

145 – Shakendrick (The Freak) Sanders (South Dade) 47 – 1
District, Regional, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

152 – Luis Montalvo (South Dade) 51 – 4
District, Regional, and G.M.A.C. Champion, 3rd at State

160 – George Garcia (American) 38 – 4
District and Regional Champion, 3rd at State

171 – Tommy Perez (American) 41 – 1
District, Regional, and G.M.A.C. Champion, State Runner-up

189 – Javoris (Manimal Beast) Plain (South Ridge) 44 – 0
District, Regional, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

215 – Willie (King Kong ) Wiggins (South Dade) 42 – 7
District, Regional, and G.M.A.C. Champion, 4th at State

HWT – Michael (The Rodent) Chinchilla (Sunset) 45 – 1
District, Regional, G.M.A.C. and State Champion

Spiders Lair All Dade county 2nd Team

103 – Mauricio Villanueva (South Dade) 43 – 7

112 – Quintavian McPherson (South Dade) 41 – 9

119 – Josh Williams (South Dade) 39 – 12

125 – Jake Rio (Colombus) 51 – 5

130 – Wilson Matellus (South Dade) 54 – 3

135 – Uxsunn Ramirez (South West) 29 – 4

140 – Carlos Montero (Goral Gables) 25 – 2

145 – Nicholas Clarke (American) 39 – 6

152 – Nathaniel Alvarez (Miami High) 38 – 11

160 – Dyvon Passmore (South Ridge) 42 – 5

171 – David Castro (South Miami) 26 – 10

189 – Michael Abadine (Colombus) 32 – 6

215 – David castillo (American) 35 – 3

HWT – Henry Chirino (American) 37 – 8

Wrestler Of the Year

Earl Hall

Coach of the Year

Victor Balmeceda

I've Got Mail

I go to check my mail this morning and it’s a morning like no other, more than 15 messages with everything from questions, to incidents, to betrayals, to opinions. Please be patient, I will get to all of it, but I will need a little time.


I think this year more than any other there was lots of drama in Lakeland, and I think it will make for a good story.


In Fact, you may begin to look forward to a new fairy tale entitled “The Land of Dadelous”. It will be ready in a day or two, and somewhere in that time I will find a moment to answer all of your messages, and also get my work done.

Till Then…

Voilà! says the NWCA

Don’t believe everything you are told, not even by the so called experts.


The following articles comes from a good source who claims that the NWCA has a little egg on their face in regards to their perfectly sacred number of 1.5%.


Enjoy!


3500 Calorie Formula:


3500 Calories to Lose A Pound: Is This Formula All Wrong?


By Tom Venuto, CSCS NSCA-CPThttp://chetday.burnthefat.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=HBOART
Most fitness conscious people have heard that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so if you create a deficit of 3500 calories in a week, you lose a pound of weight. If you create a deficit of 7000 calories in a week, you lose two pounds, and so on. Right? Well, not so fast…
Dr. Kevin Hall, an investigator at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda has done some interesting research about the mechanisms regulating human body weight. He recently published a new paper in the International Journal of Obesity that throws a wrench in works of the “3500 calories to lose a pound” idea.


Some of the equations in his paper made my head hurt, but despite the complex math he used to come to his conclusions, his article clearly prompts the question, "3500 calories to lose a pound of WHAT?" His paper also contained a lot of simple and practical tips you can use to properly balance your caloric intake with output, fine tune your calorie deficit and help you retain more muscle when you diet.


Below, I’ve distilled some of the information into a simple bullet-point summary that any non-scientist can understand. Then I wrap up with my interpretation of how you can apply this data in your own fat loss program:


Calculating the calories required to lose a pound and fine-tuning your caloric deficit


* 3500 calories to lose a pound has always been the rule of thumb. However, this 3500 calories figure goes back to research which assumed that all the weight lost would be adipose tissue (which would be ideal, of course).



* But as we all know (unfortunately), lean body mass is lost along with body fat, which would indicate that the 3500 calorie figure could be an oversimplification.

*The amount of lean body mass lost is based on initial body fat level and size of the calorie deficit*

*Lean people tend to lose more lean body mass and retain more fat.

*Fat people tend to lose more body fat and retain more lean tissue (revealing why obese people can tolerate aggressive low calorie diets better than already lean people)*

*Very aggressive low calorie diets tend to erode lean body mass to a greater degree than more conservative diets.* whether the weight loss is lean or fat gives you the real answer of what is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss

*The metabolizable energy in fat is different than the metabolizable energy in muscle tissue. A pound of muscle is not 3500 calories. A pound of muscle yields about 600 calories.

*If you lose lean body mass, then you lose more weight than if you lose fat.

*If you create a 3500 calorie deficit in one week and you lose 100% body fat, you will lose one pound.

*But if you createa 3500 calorie weekly deficit and as a result of that deficit, lose 100% muscle, you would lose almost 6 pounds of body weight! (of course, if you manage to lose 100% muscle, you will be forced to wear the Dieter’s Dunce cap)

*If you have a high initial body fat percentage, then you are going to lose more fat relative to lean, so you may need a larger deficit to lose the same amount of weight as compared to a lean person

*Creating a calorie deficit once at the beginning of a diet and maintaining that same caloric intake for the duration of the diet and after major weight loss fails to account for how your body decreases energy expenditure with reduced body weight

*Weight loss typically slows down over time for a prescribed constant diet (the “plateau”). This is either due to the decreased metabolism mentioned above, or a relaxing of the diet compliance, or both (most people just can’t hack aggressive calorie reductions for long)

Progressive resistance training and or high protein diets can modify the proportion of weight lost from body fat versus lean tissue (which is why weight training and sufficient protein while on calorie restricted diets are absolute musts!)


So, based on this info, should you throw out the old calorie formulas?


Well, not necessarily. You can still use the standard calorie formulas to figure out how much you should eat, and you can use a 500-1000 calorie per day deficit (below maintenance) as a generic guideline to figure where to set your calories to lose one or two pounds per week respectively (at least that works “on paper” anyway).


Even better however, you could use this info to fine tune your caloric deficit using a percentage method and also base your deficit on your starting body fat level, to get a much more personalized and effective approach:


15-20% below maintenance calories = conservative deficit

20-25% below maintenance calories = moderate deficit

31-40% below maintenance calories = very aggressive deficit (risky)

50%+ below maintenance calories = semi starvation/starvation (potentially dangerous and unhealthy)


(Note: According to exercise physiologists Katch & Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2000-2100 calories per day and the average male about 2700-2900 calories per day)



If you have very high body fat to begin with, the typical rule of thumb on calorie deficits may underestimate the deficit required to lose a pound. It may also be too conservative, and you can probably use a more aggressive deficit safely without as much worry about muscle loss or metabolic slowdown.


If you are extremely lean, like a bodybuilder trying to get ready for competition, you would want to be very cautious about using aggressive calorie deficits. You’d be better off keeping the deficit conservative and starting your diet/cutting phase earlier to allow for a slow, but safe rate of fat loss, with maximum retention of muscle tissue.


The bottom line is that it’s not quite so simple as 3,500 calories being the deficit to lose a pound. Like lots of other things in nutrition that vary from person to person, the ideal amount of calories to cut “depends”…


Note: The Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program not only has an entire chapter dedicated to helping you calculate your exact calorie needs, it was designed very specifically to keep a fairly conservative approach to caloric deficits and to maximize the amount of lean tissue you retain and minimize the amount of metabolic adaptation that occurs when you’re dieting. The approach may be more conservative, and the fat loss may be slower, but it has a better long term track record… You can either lose weight fast, sacrifice muscle and gain the fat back like 95% of people do, or lose fat slow and keep it off forever like the 5% of the people who know the secrets. The choice is yours. For more information, visit Burn the Fat.


References:
Forbes GB. Body fat content influences the body composition response to nutrition and exercise. Ann NY Acad Sci. 904: 359-365. 2000
Hall, KD., What is the required energy deficit per unit of weight loss? Int J Obesity. 2007 Epub ahead of print.
McArdle WD. Exercise physiology: Energy, Nutrition, and Human performance. 4td ed. Williams & Wilkins. 1996.
Wishnofsky M. Caloric equivalents of gained or lost weight. Am J Clin Nutr. 6: 542-546.
About The AuthorTom Venuto is a bodybuilder, gym owner, freelance writer, success coach and author of "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle" (BFFM): Fat Burning Secrets of the World's Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has written over 150 articles and has been featured in IRONMAN magazine, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Muscle-Zine, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. Tom's inspiring and informative articles on bodybuilding, weight loss and motivation are featured regularly on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Burn The Fat e-book, click here.

U Make This Site Relevant

We would just like to thank our readers for participating and for using this site. Yesterday we set a new benchmark in terms of Visitors to the website with 176 of you joining us for some insight, some information, and even a few laughs.

We appreciate your taking the time to stop in and check us out, and we appreciate it even more when you leave a comment.

Ultimately we would love it if you got an alias and used it to participate, but if you decide not to, that is OK too.

Anyway… THANKS!!!

Spidey

State Championships Poll

We are going to have a poll for each weight class, but for it to be accurate you must only vote for who you feel will be the state champion and the state runner up, though you will have 6 choices. Please only vote for two wrestlers.

Hey LAKELAND are you ready for Dade County

Ready or not, here we come.


Ahhh... What a beautiful site, Lake Beulah


Next week right around this time, Dade County would have already invaded Lakeland and started their dominating assault on its 3 day quest to return to Dade County with more Gold medals than all other counties combined in the 3A division.


I am predicting as many as 11 champs from Dade this year, and as few as 8 but not less, stay tuned, I will have more for you after the region tournament.

LET'S GET IT ON!

I was going to come in the afternoon, but the more I thought of it, the harder it was to resist.

There are some great first round matches and some killers quarters that I don't want to miss; so the hell with it, I'm calling in sick.

I could never forgive myself if I missed the Nates Morales match...

I'll See you there, but will you see me?

SPIDEYDAMUS

103

From the Depths of the south he will rise, Bronco by name but merely a Pony, he will face A Patriot with plans of his own, who thinks he has the size to make the difference.


The Cuda smells Blood and seeks to avenge the loss twice delayed but must first depose the explorer.


The Buccaneer seeks the wind he will need to sail past them all, and a rematch with the Cuda will decide the battle.


The Explorer is lost in the storm and is the victim of a crowded sea, while the Bronco and the Cuda face off in round three; persistence and determination favor the Bronco once again as the region wreath hangs from his neck.

112

Lightning strikes above the fray in anticipation of a semi encounter


The Falcon from a long line seeks to achieve beyond his Brothers but a Buc will oppose him in quarter round.


The Bulldog sits on haunches waiting for a test that will come early as the Black Panther is fierce but falls bravely once again.


The Buccaneer finds his way in extended time and quells the lightning before falling to the hound in the final contest.

119

The Bulldog Brother from the Challenger Kennel will seek to double the family pleasure, and will thwart the Spartan to reach the peak


The Buccaneer disposes of a young Knight early on his way to a show down with the Dog


The Bronco seeks to best the Explorer who will be content to count as the lesser of four.


The Dog shows he is not easily thrown and repels the Buc’s advances to claim another crown.

125

A Patriot will find ease in the first pair he faces, but the true test and lesson will come.


The Rat Pirate will make his way through the northern pass but he must remain focused for the early test from the Explorer that seeks to turn Pirate slayer and capture the treasure away from the Brigand.


An upstart Bulldog still licking explorer blood from his muzzle will oppose any claim on the booty and advance to the final show.


In the End the Rat Pirate is too skilled and the rest must fight amongst themselves for the scraps.

130

The T-Bred has not missed a step despite the defection of the Horse whisperer and faces the Spartan early who has moved up to oppose his charge.


The Explore wins two but can’t reign in the Horse’s advance which leaves him and the Spartan holding their heads.


A Spartan defector from a lesser realm joins the Pirate Master and seeks to prove his worth in a tougher venue; there an eagle will spread his wings and brazen talons to oppose him.


The former Spartan turned Pirate falls to the Horse in epic battle, and the Eagle falls victim to this too fruitful class and does not move to the Land of Lakes where only four may attend.

135

The Eagle will fly in from the North and take his perch before the final battle, there he must defeat a Panther with blood lust for birds.


In the South stands a Pirate unopposed the proud commander of a vacated class.


The Eagle bravely stands his ground, but too much swash and too much buckle from the Pirate are his undoing.


Tico the Pirates reign continues as this swash buckler from Hispañola moves on the wet land to defend his claim on the ultimate treasure.

140

The Gator comes with clutching jaws and hopes of feasting on his opposition, but a fierce fish looks to wound and repel the Reptile.


The Cavalier finds an opening and sets in motion his assault, as the Buccaneer from the dominant hoard will hope his sword arm holds before the onslaught.


Cavalier and Trojan face of in Semi round, but the Trojan falls in the strangle of Montero the RED


The Gators strength and agility keeps him in the battle, but he ultimately succums to the Cavaliers Rapier.

145

The Explorer brings a bitter scowl and grandiose demeanor, but a broken sail will limit his action.


The American loyalist will stake his claim in early battle, and subjugate the obtrusive Explorer.


On the Bottom Kendrick the Freak rules this class with the might and agility of his thrust and parry, and there he’ll slay a Bull Dog in his path to the top.


In the End the Pirate Freak is too much for the Patriot and he moves on to conquer higher ground, while a Bronco that lost his Buc benefits from a fortuitous early loss to just make it back to the Dance.


152

A Starr will rise from the Trojan Land, but a Hound will harass his plan to advance.


A white Buc with a five o Clock shadow will ruin a Sting in anticipatory fashion.


The Hound stakes his claim in the upper half and finds a bearded Pirate with a penchant for denying access in the battle for the gold.


The Buccaneer with skills on high ground will ride and turn his opposition to dust and climb the podium to raise his gold standard.

160

The Spartan will hold his ground and pass more than just a few victims along the way among them a Patriot.


The Cuda must stop the Eagle, and the Brigand will need to avoid being stung to reach the semi round.


In the next to last battle, the Cuda seeks to stop the Brigand and advance to a round that has eluded him in the region, but too much is the Pirate for the battered fish.

The Spartan narrowly overtakes the Buc in the final moments and reaches the pinnacle that has eluded his mates

171

A Patriot warrior with bandaged knee seeks to continue his dominant assault, but will face and early test from an Explorer.


The Cobra hopes a quick sting can incapacitate and still his opposition but the great white Pirate with rebel blood has plans to thwart the serpent.


The Spartan anticipates revenge on the snake and an easy journey leads to that encounter but he is stung a felled in the process.


The Patriot is prepared with anti Venom, but it is an unnecessary precaution as he easily severs the Snakes head.

189

Yet another Pirate with lust for gold makes his way in top half.


The Explorer waits to prove his worth but first he must cure his demons with a Viper.


The Cobra must face the onslaught of the Savage Spartan beast.


Like 300 warriors, the Spartan slays the Pirate and forwards his assault on the Land of Lakes.

215

The Patriot with ease will make his way in this half of the bracket.


The Biggest Pirate will walk the line with Confidence, deposing early of a Cobra with venom lack.


An Equine and the Voyager will make battle on lower end with their eyes wide for Glory.


The Horse is not Bested until they final call when he Wiggs out and falls to Kong.

HWT

A Patriot Combatant advances is order, but a Brahma Bull stands in his way.


The Rodent Knight will walk to the semi half with nary a say from his opposition


The Spartan on Lower end will fall Victim to the Clydesdale charger.


The Rodent Knight out last’s the Clydesdale, and plays Matador to the Bull in monolithic contest

MoonKnight's Insight

1. South Dade - Not only does this team posses those unique qualies of arrogance and attitude that are needed to be the best but they also have one of the best ever strategic minds at the helm, Coach KW (Coach Balmaceda is not that bad either LOL). If any coach can make their team peak at the right time and have them all believing that it is them against the world it is Coach Balmaceda. His kids have a way of stepping up in big matches and tournaments that I have not seen since the old Husk/Southridge days. No team or idividual can come close to matching the South Dade boys athletic ability as well their seasoned mentality when it comes to big matches and big moments. Best team ever? Maybe, let's not forget the New England Patriots. The Dirty South has to finish with the team state title for this to truly be a great team or season.


2. American - I know in the past his teams have fallen flat at regionals but seeing what is happening at Hialeah with two great former area wrestlers now coaching there makes me wonder if Osorio was the problem. In one year his new team placed 3 at GMAC and had 6 in the finals. Corrrect me if I am wrong but I don't remember any of his Hialeah teams performing that well at GMAC. There is something different about his new team as well as the demeanor of the dynamic duo of Osorio and Baez. I will be the first to say, "I believe", so I will step out and say that they will shock everyone by taking second at the regional tournament. They seem to be well stacked with talent at everyweight and they wrestled like grizzled seasoned veterans at the GMAC tournament. Taking that into consideration as well as their dominating performance at their district tournament forces me to pick them second at the regional tournament.


3. Braddock - My man Tejada. Never in the conversation as one of the best coaches to grace our sport but he is definitetly one of the best. Every year you see them get pummeled by other teams in their duo meets and then without warning BOOM they show up and shock everyone by scoring massive points in wrestle backs and qualifying nobody's to the big dance. Yes, they have the wonder twins and they are impressive as hell. You can no longer say that Gabriel Chandler is the bad twin. They are both dominating their weight classes and now have their supporting cast at the right weights and working on all cylinders. Montoto, Villalobos, Fitz, Medina, and the whole rest of them will once again shock Dade county. While they are kicking ass and taking names people will still talk about Balmaceda, Osorio, Husk, Johnson, and others while Tejada quietly goes about his business and creating champions. Why hasn't this man ever won coach of the year honors?

4. Columbus - The Godfather has seen his best days and kids pass him by. He has done a great job with the kids at the Explorer factory but there still missing that grit and attitude that only comes from a well seasoned street kid. He now coaches silver spoon kids who for the most part will jump into their Lexus after the regional tournament and head to the Keys to forget yet another regretful season. Gulisien seems to be the only true tough kid he has and he is at a stacked weight class. I bet the poor kid wishes he had gone to 125. There is a very good chance that Gulisien stays home this year. Rio is a great wrestler but has never shown signs of peaking at the right time. Furthermore he looks like a kid who just can't wait for the season to be over so he can enjoy a huge meal at one of those expensive restaurants in the south. Husk's heavies are formidable but the poor guys look dead tired and at times lost out there in big matches. Makes you wonder if all those tournaments with 1A schools really backfired on them as the Spider or KW mentioned before. The fact that they have so many kids will give them the points they need to hold off a team that peaked at GMAC.


5. Southridge - I am not privy to the inside workings of the Johnson machine but man talk about a Jekel and Hyde identity problem. First they lose to the then bumbling Bulldogs of Braddock then they come right back and destroy the Americans in an impressive fashion. They follow that performance up with a second or third place finish at some obscure tournament where Columbus boasted their newly minted first place trophy. Then they quickly turn around and place second at one of the toughest tournaments in the state, the GMAC. Reading the newspaper results and then watching them live takes me back to old Vince Lombardi when he said, "What the hell is going on here". Now they show up to districts missing so many kids that I can only exclaim "what the hell is going on here". I am not sure where their at or what the story or truth might be, needless to say that it will hurt them at the regional tournament. Lastly, they move Morales up to 130 just to be humiliated and out classed by Metellus in their district final meeting. Now Morales has to go thru Nates of Hialeah, Gulisien of Columbus, and or Ramirez of South West just to make it to the big dance. All this and people are openly questioning Morales and his heart and passion for the sport as well as winning. The Spartans only have Passmore and Plain in the finals and that is if Passmore can once again dance around a very angry and disgruntled Garcia from American.

Recording Weigh-in information

It is in fact correct that the officials are supposed to write down the actual weight themselves, they are also supposed to write it in pen, and furthermore they are supposed to scratch out all the names of those wrestlers that did not weigh in.

This was the procedure implemented by the GMAC wrestling officials association in 2008.

Any coach that has an alfa master report or a weigh in sheet that does not fit this description should be treated as suspect.

That is not to say that they are cheating, but that they could be.

If in fact such is the case, and a challenges is issued over the weigh in form, the official who presided over the weigh in would have to corroborate that they did not follow the proper procedure, that the signature and handwriting on the sheet is or is not his, and that he remembers the situation and the wrestler in question.

It can get very complicated, and someone will have to pay the price if the procedures were not followed as prescribed.

DISTRICTS!The Road to a State Title Starts Here

District 13 is in the books and American clobbers all others with 11 finalist and 7 champions. I eehhhuummmm... Osorio is doing a great job at American if I do say so myself, especially considering that American has never smelled a district title that I can remember, and Osorio pulls one out on his first try.

Dist. 15 is today, I'll be there for the finals unless they go straight through and finish before I can get there.

Dist. 16 is tomorrow, you know I will be in the seats early for that one. Can't wait!

No reports from dist. 14, but I think it's today and I think Miami High pretty much has that one on lock.

Keep your eyes open, you just might catch a glimpse of your friendly neighborhood Spiderman, though you may not even know it.