The International Olympic Committee may have kicked wrestling out of the Olympics, but the ancient sport lives on in the lives of the many amateur athletes still taking part in competitions.

One wrestler at the University of Minnesota may have seen his days as a competitive wrestler come to an end, however " all because he recorded an inspirational rap song.

Joel Bauman is a 21-year-old redshirt sophomore wrestling for the University of Minnesota. At least, he was. The NCAA just ruled Bauman ineligible to compete for the rest of the season.

The reason? A song called "Ones in the Sky," an inspirational rap song that Bauman recorded and uploaded to YouTube. The song is also available for download on iTunes, for the customary 99 cents.

The NCAA isn't exactly thrilled about this. The organization says Bauman is running afoul of its rules, which stipulate that amateur athletes cannot use their name, image or status to sell a commercial product.

From the sound of things, Bauman could make this whole problem go away and continue taking part in NCAA competitions if he simply changed the song's credit to list him under a pseudonym. He wants none of that, however.

Three-time NCAA all-American wrestler, Hudson Taylor and Athlete Ally are taking aim at, homophobia and sexism in sports and, working, to bring real, sportsmanship.

Any sport is about respect. Respecting yourself, your opponent and your team. And respect includes equality.

Since having his own "ah-ha "moment in 2010, Taylor has tried to bridge the gaps between athletes and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities across the country, he said

"My senior year, I wore a human rights campaign sticker on my headgear because I thought it would look cool, "said Taylor, who is now a wrestling coach at Columbia University. "I had no intention of turning it into anything... but in response, I got thousands of emails from closeted kids across country, and that was my 'ah-ha' moment."

For the past two years, Taylor has dedicated his life to being an LGBT ally, focusing his attention on athletics.

Taylor's journey into activism includes talking with his religious family about being an LGBT ally and fearing his teammates would think he was gay.

"If I can remove or flush out some of the obstacles and explain how I overcame them, then maybe they'll also take a stand, "he said.

This year's NDSU wrestling team's members will look to build off the wins they were able to get last year. Last year, the Bison's returning wrestlers went for a combined 309-186 while being 49-54 in duals. Last year's members that are returning this season had a total 66 pins and will attempt to come out of this season with an even better total.

There are eighteen returning wrestlers from last year's team, some of which include Anthony Caputo (157 pounds, 18-11 overall, 0-0 duals, 5 pins), Tanner Carlisle (149 pounds, 9-5 overall, 0-0 duals, 1 pin), Mark Erickson (141 pounds, 22-18 overall, 6-9 duals, 2 pins), Paul Johnson (141 pounds, 0-2 overall, 0-0 duals, 0 pins), Kurtis Julson (174 pounds, 15-6 overall, 2-1 duals, 3 pins), Kallen Kleinschmidt (197 pounds, 10-4 overall, 0-0 duals, 3 pins), Evan Knutson (285 pounds, 21-18 overall, 4-11 duals, 6 pins), Steven Monk (165 pounds, 36-9 overall, 13-2 duals, 13 pins), Kody Sorenson (184 pounds 17-9 overall, 0-0 duals, 4 pins), Trent Sprenkle (125 pounds, 33-12 overall, 11-4 duals, 9 pins), Mac Stoll (184 pounds, 24-14 overall, 8-6 duals, 1 pin), and Hayden Zillmer (149 pounds, 21-5 overall, 0-0 duals, 3 pins).

STILLWATER"Fielding a lineup led by four All-Americans plus two other veteran starters, the Oklahoma State wrestling team is in its customary position to figure prominently into the Big 12 and national championship races.

"We're going into a collegiate season with the top seven or eight programs from last year," OSU head coach, John Smith, said. "Most everybody is back on every team, and it makes it really competitive. We helped ourselves out a little bit by getting, Tyler Caldwell, and I believe that we'll fill some spots where we were weak last year."

Despite the departure of All-American, Cayle Byers, Big 12 champion, Jamal Parks, and NCAA qualifier, Albert White, from last year's team, the Cowboys enter the 2012-13 season with six wrestlers ranked in the top 15 of their respective weight classes in the preseasonAmateur Wrestling News, weight class rankings.

Junior 174-pounder, Chris Perry, is ranked No. 1 nationally with 165-pounder Caldwell and 285-pounder, Alan Gelogaev, both ranked No. 2 in their respective weight classes., Jordan Oliver, enters the season ranked No. 4 at 149 pounds but will factor into the NCAA title discussion no matter where he wrestles. Rounding out the list of Cowboys appearing in the preseason, AWN, rankings are 197-pounder, Blake Rosholt, (seventh), 125-pounder, Jon Morrison, (15th) and 141-pounder, Josh Kindig, (15th).

The National Wrestling Hall of Fame Dan Gable Museum announced Wednesday that Iowa governor Terry Branstad will declare Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 Dan Gable Day across the entire state. A special presentation will be made at the NWHFDGM in Waterloo, where Gable was a three-time state champion at Waterloo West.

"Dan Gable embodies commitment, perseverance, and dedication"values that are the foundation of the great state of Iowa and its people," said Branstad in a news release. "I am honored be part of this historic event."

Almost everyone knows Gable's resume, including two-time NCAA champion and three-time national finalist at Iowa State and the 1972 Olympic gold medalist, at Munich, Germany. His Olympic title was highlighted by the fact he didn't allow a single point in competition.

Gable coached the University of Iowa from 1977-1997, guiding the Hawkeyes to 15 NCAA team titles and 21 Big Ten championships. Gable was honored in April with, a bronze statue outside of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Below is a news release from NWHFDGM:

Dan Gable Day to be declared by governor

CHARLES CITY " The Floyd County Community Foundation is hosting an evening of powerful stories about Iowans on Oct. 18.

These stories will be presented by inspirational speaker Mike Chapman at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 502 Clark St.

This event is free and open to the public. The evening will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., followed by Chapman's presentation at 6 p.m.

Chapman, a native of Waterloo, is the publisher of the Iowa History Journal.

He had a 35-year newspaper career from which he retired in 2002, and in 2009 he retired from an 11-year career serving as the executive director of the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum.

Chapman has written 23 books, 14 of them on wrestling, and his articles have appeared in dozens of national and regional magazines.

As a reporter, he has attended 43 NCAA wrestling tournaments, two Olympics and two World Championships. He has won numerous awards for journalism and writing and has been named National Wrestling Writer of the Year five times by four different amateur wrestling organizations.

American University will host the 47th annual All-Star Classic on November 3, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. The classic will be held in Bender Arena on the campus of American University in Washington D.C.

"It is the greatest wrestling that's going to happen in college this November," said American University head coach Teague Moore in an interview with Takedown Radio.

The event will feature 20 of the nation's top division one wrestlers, participants will be selected here in the upcoming weeks and each wrestler will be announced as they commit.

"Fans can expect to see high paced, action packed wrestling matches that many times have been the precursor to the year-end NCAA finals bouts," said Moore.

The All-Star Classic will be the largest wrestling event in history to be held in Washington D.C. National Wrestling Coaches Association Executive Director Mike Moyer hopes that the magnitude of the event in combination with Washington D.C. having one of the strongest wrestling spectator bases in America will cause the event to have great success.

"Sports fans and the wrestling public will have to recognize the current rise of this region's success," said Moore. "This event will change the perspective of wrestling for the DC area."

By Brian Lopez-Benchimol

Of all the bases of martial arts to build upon a budding, MMA, career, wrestling has been one of the truer and more dominant.

Over the years, we have seen a steady increase in the amount of accomplished wrestlers entering the sport today, with some reaching great heights in becoming world champions in their respective organizations.

The NCAA wrestler represents the upper echelon of competitive athletes who have garnered praise from their conferences, often times having been scouted by larger universities due to their obvious prowess.

So, among the world's best MMA fighters today, who came from an NCAA background?

Ben Askren

Current Bellator welterweight champion Ben Askren, who recently defeated former UFC and Strikeforce veteran Jay Hieron in the first defense of his title, comes from a long and very prestigious background as an athlete.

Wrestling for the University of Missouri, Askren earned two state titles as a high school wrestler prior to his entry into the big leagues. As a collegiate wrestler, Askren became a runner-up at 174 pounds at the NCAA Division I championships in both 2004 and 2005. He later claimed the title in 2006 and 2007"making him one of the more accomplished athletes to have ever been as successfully competitive.

SMYRNA, Del. "

Serving as a referee can often be like the Rodney Dangerfield of jobs -- no respect. But Ross Thomas of Smyrna recently received the ultimate recognition for his work as a referee when he was inducted into the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

Thomas attended the induction ceremony June 25 in Orlando, Florida.

"I was really honored," he said. "There are a lot of big-time guys in the Hall of Fame -- wrestlers, coaches. It's a pretty neat honor. The head official for the AAU is the one who nominated me, Dave Bennetts of Butte, Montana. He worked with me at a lot of AAU tournaments."

Thomas' "day job" is teaching accounting and business education at Polytech near Woodside, where he just finished his 17th year.

His career as a wrestling official, though, spans 30 years, dating back to when he was in college. Thomas was recognized by the Amateur Athletic Union for working about 15 of those years at AAU events such as the Disney Duals and three AAU national tournaments in Detroit, Tulsa, and Des Moines. He was supervisor of officials at the Disney Duals this year and in 2009.

Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Virginia redshirt freshman Jon Fausey (Dalmatia, Pa.) was named to Amateur Wrestling News' All-Rookie Team, as announced recently by the publication. Fausey was named to the fourth team at 184 pounds.

Fausey went 29-10 at 184 during the 2010-11 season. He went 19-5 in dual matches and racked up four falls, two technical falls and eight major decisions. In contrast, all 10 of his losses came by decision (seven points or fewer).

An automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championships, Fausey took third place at the ACC Championships. He went 2-2 at NCAAs, picking up wins over Chattanooga's Jason McCroskey and Arizona State's Jake Meredith. His two NCAA losses each came to national seeds.

Fausey also was named to the VaSID All-State First Team this year and earned a spot on the 2011 All-ACC Academic Wrestling Team. He picked up the Virginia wrestling team's Freshman of the Year Award as well.