Sport of wrestling should put its fans first

The Open Mat.com

By: Jeff Bonato – Original here

They are the few and the proud who actually attend matches without having a kid on the team or on the pep squad that is cheering for the team. 

And if you talk to those people, they’ll tell you that they are glad to pay their money to watch Grant High junior Lee Munster wrestle.

The kid — who went undefeated this year at 171 pounds — is that good.

They say he’s worth the price of admission by himself … which brings us to a rather interesting development.

In this year’s IHSA Class 3A team wrestling tournament, Grant competed twice — once against New Trier at Libertyville High and once against Minoooka in downstate Bloomington.

In neither case, did Munster get to take the sweats off and show the fans in attendance what he could do.

In both matches, the opposing team forfeited to Munster even though there was a wrestler at that weight class available to compete.

Minooka High, especially, rubbed it in the faces of the fans when the team forfeited the match to Munster while wrestling Grant, then magically had a wrestler compete in that weight class in the rest of its matches.

This is a huge disservice to the fans who paid their money to see the best compete. And also just a lousy idea. Certainly, it’s not a strategic move, as Munster earned six points for Grant’s team for a forfeit win and would have gotten the same six points for Grant’s team by pinning his opponent.

It’s the fans, people. They want to see Lee Munster wrestle. They want to see Lee Munster showcase his skills, even if only for 60 seconds before pinning an overmatched foe.

To forfeit seems to cheat everyone.

And for those who say it’s not fair to send a kid out there to be routed by Munster, there is this to consider: It’s not fair that Wauconda High’s boys basketball team has to play two completely non-winnable games each year against a North Chicago team that can score as many points on it as it desires.

But the Wauconda basketball players don’t forfeit.