Why is wrestling popular in the midwest?

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peteypie

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2007
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Yes, you can get it drained. I've gotten it at least 5 times but you can't tell because I drain it. Some guys just consider it a "mark of pride" type thing so choose not to.

I don't know how you feel, but for me getting it drained was one of the worst pains I've ever felt. But just like you, can't tell I've ever had it.
 

cyhiphopp

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Jan 9, 2009
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Several reasons:

I think a big part of it's popularity is due to there being very little cost to participate. No pads or balls...

All you need is one other person to wrestle with so I think it takes hold in small towns that do not have loads of kids to field an 8 team football league.
Small schools sometimes dont have enough kids who ar ebig enough to truly compete in football. But if they have a few guys for each weight class and a mat to practice on, they can have a wrestling team.
There are a LOT of small towns in Iowa and the Midwest. Even in Pennsylvania, outside of the Pitt and Philly, there are a lot of rural areas in that state.

You can wrestle at almost any size. It is a great sport for kids who are considered "too small" for other sports. There are some might tough 112 lb kids out there and they all have a chance to participate against kids of their own size.

I never thought about it, but being an indoor sport inthe winter is deffinitely a plus. In the south and other warm weather areas they play football and baseball year round. We can't do that in Iowa and most of the midwest.

It is the ultimate individual sport. Your team and coach can be important for preparing you, but once you are out on the mat it is just you and your opponent. Let the toughest person win.

As far as the state tournament, it is grat because it doesn't matter what school you go to or how good your team is. You can be a champion all by yourself. In football or baseball, no one guy can win the championship by himself. In wrestling you can and that is awesome. Your only limits are how hard you want to work yourself.

I personally have a special love for the sport of wrestling. It very much made me the person I am today, and I wasn't even very good at it. I was well on my way to being an obese teen with self confidence issues and a poor outlook on life. I took a chance and joined the wrestling team, lost 45 lbs my first season and reinvented myself. The toughness and comraderie I learned just from surviing grueling wrestling practices gave me so much more than I imagined. I was never great at it. My team was horrible. But I owe a lot to the sport.

For those that don't get it, I understand. Unless you have put in the hard work and gone through it, it just looks like a couple dudes rolling around. I initially had my qualms about putting on a singlet and grapling out there. My advice is to keep an open mind. It is really the ultimate contact sport. One where you can really show how tough and strong you are.
 

Judoka

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Jun 16, 2010
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Timbuktu
I don't know how you feel, but for me getting it drained was one of the worst pains I've ever felt. But just like you, can't tell I've ever had it.

Really? All they do is stick a syringe in your ear and suck out the fluid.. I've never even been asked if I wanted anesthetic, just a swab with an alcohol pad and they stick it in. Not the most comfotable experience in the world, but pretty low on the list of painful happenings.
 

clones11

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Apr 2, 2006
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you get cauliflower ear because you don't wear your headgear and take a shot to the ear. If you wore your headgear every time you wrestled your chances of getting it are slim to none. But as one poster said the key is draining it right away before the fluid hardens into scar tissue.
 

isukendall

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2006
2,446
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Fort Collins, CO
Several reasons:

I think a big part of it's popularity is due to there being very little cost to participate. No pads or balls...

All you need is one other person to wrestle with so I think it takes hold in small towns that do not have loads of kids to field an 8 team football league.
Small schools sometimes dont have enough kids who ar ebig enough to truly compete in football. But if they have a few guys for each weight class and a mat to practice on, they can have a wrestling team.
There are a LOT of small towns in Iowa and the Midwest. Even in Pennsylvania, outside of the Pitt and Philly, there are a lot of rural areas in that state.

You can wrestle at almost any size. It is a great sport for kids who are considered "too small" for other sports. There are some might tough 112 lb kids out there and they all have a chance to participate against kids of their own size.

I never thought about it, but being an indoor sport inthe winter is deffinitely a plus. In the south and other warm weather areas they play football and baseball year round. We can't do that in Iowa and most of the midwest.

It is the ultimate individual sport. Your team and coach can be important for preparing you, but once you are out on the mat it is just you and your opponent. Let the toughest person win.

As far as the state tournament, it is grat because it doesn't matter what school you go to or how good your team is. You can be a champion all by yourself. In football or baseball, no one guy can win the championship by himself. In wrestling you can and that is awesome. Your only limits are how hard you want to work yourself.

I personally have a special love for the sport of wrestling. It very much made me the person I am today, and I wasn't even very good at it. I was well on my way to being an obese teen with self confidence issues and a poor outlook on life. I took a chance and joined the wrestling team, lost 45 lbs my first season and reinvented myself. The toughness and comraderie I learned just from surviing grueling wrestling practices gave me so much more than I imagined. I was never great at it. My team was horrible. But I owe a lot to the sport.

For those that don't get it, I understand. Unless you have put in the hard work and gone through it, it just looks like a couple dudes rolling around. I initially had my qualms about putting on a singlet and grapling out there. My advice is to keep an open mind. It is really the ultimate contact sport. One where you can really show how tough and strong you are.

Great post.
 
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isukendall

Well-Known Member
Nov 30, 2006
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Fort Collins, CO
Really? All they do is stick a syringe in your ear and suck out the fluid.. I've never even been asked if I wanted anesthetic, just a swab with an alcohol pad and they stick it in. Not the most comfotable experience in the world, but pretty low on the list of painful happenings.

I remember when I had it really bad, I would take a syringe myself and drain it morning and night when I brushed my teeth. I still have some in there, but you can only feel it (can't see it).
 

cyhiphopp

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Jan 9, 2009
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maybe he has girls:smile:

See that I can understand.


I have two sons. They are almost 4 and almsot 2 respectively so its a ways off. However, my 2 year old, if he stays on the same growth chart will be good size to play football while my 4 year old will probably top out at 5'9 maybe and 150 lbs if he's lucky. For my eldest, wrestling might be a good contact sport for him to play if he's too small for football.
 

ISU4ME

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Aug 26, 2007
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you get cauliflower ear because you don't wear your headgear and take a shot to the ear. If you wore your headgear every time you wrestled your chances of getting it are slim to none. But as one poster said the key is draining it right away before the fluid hardens into scar tissue.

Exactly. Have you aver seen a water polo player with cauliflower ear?

m_water_polo_team05.jpg
 

Mr Janny

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Exactly. Have you aver seen a water polo player with cauliflower ear?

m_water_polo_team05.jpg

I am constantly surprised at the number of projects Zach Galifianakis manages to fit into his schedule. That guy is a workaholic.
 
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jahfg

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Apr 19, 2006
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Ames
I've played basketball my entire life and obviosuly prefer it to wrestling, but I've grown to absolutely love the sport of wrestling. The intensity of the competition alone is one reason to watch. After you learn the intricacies of the sport, you really start to respect and admire the skills of the elite level wrestlers. It is a sport with a unique skill set that often rewards those with the greatest mental toughness and discipline.
 

Clonelifer

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Nov 13, 2009
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Wrestling is the greatest sport ever made!!! I wrestled,my younger brother wrestled and now he has got his 5 year old boy wrestling!!! He loves it, he took his first tourney 2 weeks ago in Nevada. His dad and me we so excited that day. He pinned 2 guys and beat the other 20-9. When you see these younger kids going out for it, makes you hope for a good future for the sport!! There is no one who can help you in this sport but yourself. It a good sport to build charcter and teaches you to rely onyourself not a whole team! I cant wait till my nephew gets older and hoping he is wrestling at the well when he is in high school!
 

peteypie

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2007
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Really? All they do is stick a syringe in your ear and suck out the fluid.. I've never even been asked if I wanted anesthetic, just a swab with an alcohol pad and they stick it in. Not the most comfotable experience in the world, but pretty low on the list of painful happenings.


Well, it wasn't the syringe that hurt, it was the pushing all of the blood and **** to the sringe from other parts of the ear. You get it because the cartilage is broke. Yes, squeezing blood and **** with a needle in your broken ear is comfortable. Maybe they did it differently with mine, but the squeezing was the worst pain
 

peteypie

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2007
6,504
2,538
113
you get cauliflower ear because you don't wear your headgear and take a shot to the ear. If you wore your headgear every time you wrestled your chances of getting it are slim to none. But as one poster said the key is draining it right away before the fluid hardens into scar tissue.


I wore a headgear everyday in practice and still got it....not fool proof
 

enisthemenace

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2009
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Runnells, IA
First of all, organized wrestling originated in Greece.

Collegiate, a.k.a. "folkstyle" wrestling like U.S. high schools and colleges do, is different than international versions of Greco-Roman and Freestyle, but have a lot of similarities.

Personally, I think the reason(s) wrestling has remained more popular in the Midwest is because it is a cheap sport that requires little (or no) equipment to practice in its basic form, and it's a blue-collar sport. A lot of tough farm kids end up wrestling, logical because they probably fought with older brothers.

How very Adam Smithian of you, and most likely the reason the sport really took up roots in the midwest. Have to agree with others though, wrestling is pretty popular in a lot of regions now. PA, OH, NY, NJ, UT, CA.

You probably won't see many wrestlers from the MTZ, with the exception of UT (Mormans...same principal as Smith's Midwest) because, well, they have mountains to ski/snowboard. Probably not the southeast either...year round football. Far northwest? Nah...to many "other extracurricular" activity not sport related.
 

buf87

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Dec 15, 2010
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Iowa
I don't know how you feel, but for me getting it drained was one of the worst pains I've ever felt. But just like you, can't tell I've ever had it.
We had a doctor who followed wrestling and at state I went to his hotel room and had it drain after wrestling at state that day .