by Jim Brown

I had too much time on my hands last week and spent way too much time surfing the ‘net for wrestling-related stories and posts. It just got “curiouser and curiouser” as Alice said.

First, from the Iowa Preps wrestling message board: This post was titled, “Wrestling Scholarship Available in Macon, GA.”

“Dear Wrestler,

My name is Kevin Andres, and I coach the wrestling program at Mercer University. I would like to introduce you to our program and let you know about an exciting opportunity for you to continue your wrestling careers in college. Mercer’s team just finished 9th in the Nation @ the National Dual Championships and tied for 23rd at the traditional National Championship Tournament.

My program is part of the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, which includes over 130 colleges of all sizes. The NCWA is entering its twelfth season and has grown in size and competition every year.

I would be happy to answer any questions you might have, so feel free to call (478-301-2404) or email (kandres@mercerwrestling.com).

Thank you,

As a number of athletic departments prepare to cut some men’s teams to trim budgets, NCAA president Myles Brand has put out a call for schools to leave Title IX out of it. He has pre-emptively asked schools with shrinking athletic programs to blame the economic downturn for their problems—and not the federal law that bans sex discrimination at schools and requires institutions to maintain a commitment to women’s sports, USA Today reports.

“My expectation is that over the next year or two we are going to see more” cuts of men’s teams, Brand said this week in a telephone interview, “and so I am trying, frankly, to pre-empt the argument against Title IX, an unfair argument, I believe, and dissuade universities from going public with this approach.”

Brand mentioned James Madison and Rutgers , schools that cut teams in 2006-07, and Delaware , where cuts have been discussed, as examples.

“I think they need to be honest about it. Any cuts at this point in sports are certainly going to be tied to financial pressures,” said Brand, who urged schools not to drop any teams, men’s or women’s.

Cutbacks in College Sports
Risk U.S. Olympic Future
By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS

BEIJING — The U.S. won more medals here than it has in any nonboycotted Olympics, but even with that haul, its days of dominance may be numbered.

That is in part because U.S. colleges, the primary breeding ground for the country’s Olympians, have eliminated hundreds of teams in Olympic sports in recent years.

“We used to have a lot of kids going for the Olympic dream,” says Scott Barclay, coach of the men’s gymnastics team at Arizona State University. “Without the carrot of a college scholarship, a lot of kids give up, or their parents won’t support them as much,” he says. Mr. Barclay took out a personal loan several years ago to build a private gym as a way to keep his team alive as a club sport after ASU cut the varsity program.

Rutgers University in New Jersey last year eliminated six teams in Olympic sports, including fencing and rowing, programs that over the years generated more than a score of Olympians. In 2006, James Madison University in Virginia eliminated 10 teams at once in a handful of Olympic sports, including swimming, gymnastics and wrestling.

Title IX Tied Our Hands At the Olympics
Phyllis Schlafly

The Olympics demonstrated again what competition, hard work and determination can produce, as numerous world records were shattered. American swimmer Michael Phelps and gymnast Nastia Liukin gave us much to cheer.

But U.S. athletes won in spite of Title IX regulations, which impose gender quotas on sports for institutions that receive any federal money. Title IX has crippled our national competitiveness.

Title IX regulations have forced educational institutions to eliminate men’s teams until the number of men and women on sports teams is the same ratio as the number of men and women enrolled in academic classes. In the numerous colleges that are now 60 percent female in academic enrollment, Title IX requires that men’s teams be eliminated until only 40 percent of the athletes are men.

Title IX quotas have caused the elimination of all but 19 men’s college gymnastics teams. This deprives boys of the scholarship incentive to take up gymnastics as a sport in high school and takes away the competition needed to improve their skills in college.