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…