If you happened to turn your television on to Georgia Public Broadcasting last weekend, you might have caught three exciting hours worth of GHSA Traditional Wrestling championships Saturday night. For the first time ever the GHSA wrestling championships hit the GPB airwaves, and it was quite a success.
Over the years, GPB has partnered with the GHSA to air football championships as well as basketball championship games, but this was its first stab at wrestling. In addition to the three hours of live coverage on television, the event received broadcast via the internet on gpb.org/sports, and if you missed the championships, you can watch the replay on gpb.org/sports or follow the link on gaprepnews.com. You may be seeing more wrestling in the years to come on GPB as Georgia Public Broadcasting and the GHSA have agreed to extend their partnership for another five years. For more information, check out a fantastic article about the extension on www.scoreatl.com or follow the link on gaprepnews.com.
High school wrestling was in the national news last week, not for the GHSA championships airing on GPB but for an Iowa sophomore defaulting because he did not want to face a girl in the first round. The 16-year-old boy was the fifth-ranked wrestler in the state in his weight class, but he chose to default rather than face her because “as a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner.” That was Joel Northrup’s point of view on why he shouldn’t face a female, but for some reason ESPN.com’s Rick Reilly decided to take him to task for not wrestling, saying that religion should have nothing to do with wrestling this girl.
Reilly pointed out in an article for ESPN.com, “Body slams and takedowns and gouges in the eye and elbows in the ribs are exactly how to respect Cassy Herkelman. This is what she lives for. She can elevate herself, thanks.” Northrup and his father and coach decided to default the match and were not hiding behind religion. It was their decision and they went with it. It is a tough spot for both Northrup as well as the girl. Perhaps Iowa can do a better job next time of separating girls into their own sport/class/competition. It would likely be awkward for ANY boy to face a girl at that age and the IHSA (if there is one) should have thought about that in its state’s most popular sport. Wrestling is to Iowa what football is to Georgia. You’d think that Iowa would have planned this out and perhaps if Girls Wrestling was offered, more girls would enter into the tournaments.
There is a fine line between doing what it takes to gather a news story and becoming a part of the news story, and The Golf Channel’s Jim Gray apparently likes indulging in the latter. Last week Gray was sent home by TGC after he got into a shouting match with Dustin Johnson’s caddie following Gray’s discussion with Johnson during the four-time PGA Tour winner’s round at Riviera. Gray was following up on why Johnson was late but did so during the round, something that Johnson’s caddie Bobby Brown had a problem with. It was Brown’s prerogative to tell Gray in the scoring area that the freelance reporter should not have been conducting the line of questioning during Johnson’s round. The Golf Channel quickly pulled Gray from the event, the second time in less than seven months that TGC has sent Gray home from an event. At the PGA Championship Gray got into it with Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin over some information that Gray felt was on the record vs. not on the record about Tiger Woods’ inclusion on the US Roster. And how can we not forget Gray’s attack on Pete Rose before Game Two of the 1999 World Series here in Atlanta when Rose was being honored on the All Century Team. Pete Rose was a guy that had created a black cloud over his legacy as one of the greatest hitters of all time, but after Gray took daggers to him during the interview you actually felt bad for Rose. Chad Curtis refused to speak with Gray following a game-winning home run in Game Three of the Series following the Rose incident.
The real story though is that Gray once again couldn’t help but put himself in the story. He put himself in the story with the LeBron James’ Decision. He did it last week and he did it in Atlanta with Rose. Reporters should gather the news, not make it. On a local level, a certain radio personality has run into this before, especially when it comes to a former Braves reliever. 790 The Zone’s Steak Shapiro has been in the news before with run-ins with John Rocker at charity events and on the air during interviews. While the two might not like each other, the media “professional” should be the one that steps back and goes about his business the proper way and keeps his name out of the headlines. The Golf Channel was right on in benching Gray and it is surprising that he was given a second chance after last August. It will be interesting to see if Gray is given a shot at strike three.
Finally, earlier this week, rumors abounded over Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray after he was spotted on crutches around Athens. As it turns out Murray simply had a sprained ankle, sustained in a soccer game. One college football website went with a “team source” that said Murray had broken his ankle in two places but it was later confirmed in the AJC that is was merely a sprain. In this day of “we have to beat their twitter feed with our own blog,” false information gets tossed around far too much. You have to go with trusted sources, but sometimes, isn’t it better to get the correct story late opposed to the wrong story first?
Can You Believe He Said That
Should the Falcons pursue Bob Sanders? And my answer — and I stress this is just my answer — is no.
That was the AJC’s Mark Bradley and I’m not certain if I am coming down with something, but I AGREE. Bradley argued against the Falcons pursuing the former Colt standout because of his injury history and I could not agree more. Sanders isn’t what you need at this point in his career or at this point in William Moore’s career. Sanders would be a back-up in Atlanta and the Falcons already have two quality safeties. Let the Redskins overpay Sanders to watch him get injured…again. The Falcons don’t need him.
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