Dear Columbia wrestling team,
You are way beast.
Sincerely, Lauren Seaman.
Before I buckled down to write this column, I’d never pay much mind to wrestling. When I say “wrestling,” I’m talking about the real kind: the intense Greco-Roman and freestyle stuff.
Let’s face it, not many follow the sport. When was the last time you sat down to watch some good wrasslin’ (wrestling) on your TV? It’s probably been a while. Maybe you’ve never seen any at all.
It’s no secret that no one really cares about freestyle wrestling. Most people can name at least one professional basketball player, football player, or baseball player. Others can name swimmers, golfers, or tennis players. Who out there knows any professional freestyle wrestlers?
Even if you wanted to watch or follow the sport, there are hardly ways out there to become a fan. You can’t just flip on the TV and catch a wrestling match. They just don’t exist. Good luck if you’re waiting for the Olympics to roll around to watch some wrestling. Maybe if you try really hard, you’ll catch a match at some bizarre hour of the morning sandwiched between hours and hours of gymnastics. Otherwise, even though wrestling is one of the largest, most historic athletic sports, its domain is primarily in sweaty, dank high school and college gyms.
My interest in the sport has never quite gone beyond a small appreciation for the cute little unitards and my immature take on the wrestling vernacular used in sports articles—if you haven’t experienced this childish joy, go read some wrestling recaps for funzies. You won’t be sorry.
Very recently, though, something happened to make me question my apathy. I was reading a wrestling story in the very fine sports section of the Spectator. It was the story about how sophomore Steve Santos pretty much dominated the No. 11 ranked Rutgers wrestler in the final minutes of the match. With only one minute remaining in his match, Santos straight-up Animorphed into some sort of beast. First, he scored a take-down and tied the score 5-5. Santos then decided that the tie wasn’t good enough. With five seconds to go, he denied his opponent any degree of mercy. Santos picked this kid up and slammed his back into the ground, winning the match 6-5. Word up.
After reading this article, I began thinking about collegiate wrestling and reached a couple of conclusions. Let’s take a look at the logic...
1: Unitards aside, wrestling is probably the most intense sport out there. Wrestlers are real athletes.
2: Our wrasslin’ team here at Columbia is not too shabby.
3: Therefore, Columbia wrestling is something worth following.
What a perfect time to start this fan club! As you’re reading this, there’s actually some action going down in the world of Light Blue wrestling. While most of us are stuck here in Morningside Heights, helplessly waiting for final exams to do their worst, Columbia’s wrestling team just went off to Las Vegas. In the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational, a prestigious tournament that attracted 36 schools from around the country, two Lions dominated. Senior Eren Civan and junior co-captain Kevin Lester survived through the second day of the tournament to place seventh overall. Not bad, boys.
There are so many different flavors of wrestling. You have your basic collegiate wrestling, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, and soap-operatic pro wrestling. Then you have your sumo wrestling, bear wrestling, mud wrestling, etc. Essentially, there’s a type of wrestling for the whole family.
In my family, it’s the WWE. Don’t hate. If I tried to defend myself and the WWE, I would lose horribly. I got nothin’. After all, we know that real wrestling is rooted in a rich tradition of athletic heroism dating back to the Greek Olympics. Pro wrestling, on the other hand, started as a sideshow act in traveling circuses (true story, friends).
The best defense I have for the WWE and its televised programming, then, is that there’s just something captivating and wonderful about watching the drama of big dudes in tights rolling around on the floor. Done and dusted.
At this point in my life, though, I feel myself maturing. I’m at the point where I can leave the world of World Wrestling Entertainment and explore some of the other sides of this sport so rich in history, awkward positions, and tight uniforms.
I think I’ll start with Columbia wrestling. When we get back from winter break, the Lions will have already taken on Army and Binghamton. At the end of January, they’ll be getting down to business with their final non-conference opponents in their string of six home matches beginning with Millersville, Rider and Franklin and Marshall. For the first time, I’ll be there.
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