As some of the cousins, in-laws, etc. from the Minnesota side of the family have asked – am I ever home?

Yes, I’m home quite a bit, it’s just the weekends that have me on the road. This year, being an Olympic year, it will probably get worse. My boss told me earlier to prepare for the busiest year of my life. Somewhat prophetic if you ask me. I’ve already crossed Premier Executive status on United. I’ve been to New York City four times in the past calendar year, which is two more times than I’d been in my entire life combined. I bug Abby to death with the constant Foursquare updates on my phone. But now we even get United miles for me checking in.

This weekend, I have no travel. Whew. But here’s what I’ve got in store:
Dec. 15-18: Arlington, Texas
Dec. 23-27: Minnesota for Christmas
Dec. 27-31: Chicago, Ill. (Evanston, actually)
Jan. 6-9: Springfield, Ill.
January 10-16: Hampton, Va. (Work trip, but it takes me back home)
January 20-21: Event in Colorado Springs
January 28: Event in Colorado Springs
February 2-4: Event in Colorado Springs
February 5: Another unrelated event in Colorado Springs (TV)
– Nothing Confirmed for these two weekends as yet –
February 23-26: Yet another event in Colorado Springs
February 29-March5: Des Moines & Waterloo, Iowa. (NAIA Nationals)
March 8-12: La Crosse, Wis. (Division III Nationals)
March 13-18: St. Louis, Mo. (Division I Nationals)
March 22-26: Orlando, Fla. (Olympic Qualifier)
March 29-April 1: Cedar Falls, Iowa (Last Chance Olympic Qualifier)
WEEK OF NO TRAVEL
April 19-22: Iowa City, Iowa (Olympic Trials)

Whew … so there you have it. I’m a bit of a road warrior.

And to make up for lost time, here’s a blog I wrote about the Rodeo for my work’s blog site:

“It’s bulls and blood, it’s dust and mud. It’s the roar of a Sunday crowd. It’s the white in his knuckles, the gold in the buckle, he’ll win the next go ‘round. It’s boots and chaps, it’s cowboy hats, it’s spurs and lattigo. It’s the ropes and the reigns and the joy and the pain and they call the thing rodeo.” – Rodeo, By Garth Brooks.

While Las Vegas may be a city that never sleeps, it’s also a venerable sports mecca. The first weekend in December has long been the host of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.

Wrestling isn’t alone in Vegas. Amidst the neon lights, card tables and dashed dreams of many a gambler, there’s an oddly disproportionate number of boots and chaps and cowboy hats, even in this part of the country.

Before the action got started in the Las Vegas Convention Center, nearly 18,000 rodeo fans packed the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for the opening night of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

For those of you who didn’t grow up around ranchers, farmland or livestock of any kind, let me give you the neophyte version of what a rodeo is: A BLAST!

Didn’t expect that, did you? While I like to make light of my southern roots and my relatives twangy dialect, where I come from, rodeo isn’t a thing. We (myself not included) prefer things like NASCAR and … NASACAR. Out west, the dialects may be similar but the passion for the original extreme sport, rodeo, is mindblowing.

USA Wrestling hosted the Olympic Trials at the Thomas & Mack back in 2008. Boy, would we have loved to see the same type of crowd then as we did on day one (of ten) of the National Finals Rodeo.

It started out with pyrotechnics and renowned rodeo announcer Boyd Polhamus getting the crowd geared up. Polhamus also has a strong connection to wrestling. He was featured in a 2010 issue of USA Wrestler Magazine.

Polhamus is to rodeo what Ed Aliverti was to wrestling. The absolute master of ceremony. He and his sidekick announcer joke the riders and joke each other, providing an endless commentary to the events taking place on an arena floor covered with dirt.

As Craig Sesker and I watched on, we saw bareback bronco bucking, steer wrestling, barrel racing, calf roping and of course, everyone’s favorite, the bull riding.

As Craig scanned the start sheet, he noticed a few names with wrestling backgrounds, including a wrestler he did a feature on while he was working in Omaha, Steven Dent.

On this night, Dent would come away with over $10,000 by riding Nutrena’s Wise Guy (the horse’s name) to a third-place finish in Bareback Riding.

Cliches aside, this really WAS my first rodeo. It’s like going to the Super Bowl to watch your first football game or going to the Kentucky Derby to watch your first horse race – wait, I actually did that Derby thing a few years back.

But this rodeo was captivating. I looked around the arena, surveying opening night of a 10-day festival of belt buckles and 10-gallon hats. I looked up at the jumbotron above the dirt arena floor, only to see Wyoming head wrestling coach Mark Branch on screen enjoying the action.

A few sections over, USA Wrestling Executive Director Rich Bender and his wife were watching the action.

The rodeo production at this stage was nothing short of exceptional. Every rider, every chute, everything had music, a sponsor and excitement tied to it. Opening parades, pyrotechnics, hard rock music … and even some hip hop (yes, at a rodeo). This was a production the likes I’ve never seen with my own eyes, and it belonged to rodeo.

As Polhamus introduced each rider, some of the biggest ovations came when the women took the stage and went barrel racing. The top three ranked riders in the land were the last three to hit the dirt. First through third were decided by two hundreths of a second with Brittany Pozzi and Lindsay Sears tying with 14.03.

You have to remember, there’s 10 rounds. Ten days of action. Ten days to get in the money, which made every session worth attending. In two hours, I went from rodeo rookie to well, someone who truly enjoyed every second of the biggest sporting event Vegas would see that weekend, only it was the third most important to those of us there to watch wrestling.

While the rodeo did provide steer wrestling, the Cliff Keen Invitational and U.S. Freestyle Olympic Trials qualifier was our news – but no matter how great the wrestling was at the Convention Center, Vegas hosting the NFR was the highlight of the weekend.

If money was no object, every wrestling event would have the pomp and circumstance the rodeo does. Many duals and tournaments have it, but maybe someone should take the folks from the NCAA over to the NFR to get some ideas on how to spice up the sport even more.

Let’s just outright admit you’re looking for athletes. This is extremely common (getting athletes to fill roster spots, rather than recruiting those who WANT to compete) … although I’ve never seen a school so blatant about trying to get more people to come out.

You don’t see this type of ad for men’s sports, which typically cut a ton of walk-ons for gender quotas.

They have a link on their home page: http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/100731789.html

This is bush league … my e-mail below.

So during the last major championship of the PGA season, KKTV finds it appropriate to not only go away for a meaningless PRESEASON NFL game and forces people to watch online for the playoff?

I’m new to Colorado Springs, but this is absolutely a slap in the face to people who have watched your station all weekend, only to be turned away from the final part of the golf tournament.

I will not be watching KKTV in the future, because this is HORRIBLE station management. I could care less about the contract with the Broncos, because in the entire realm of sports, this event is more important than some preseason game.

You say you can watch online, but not everyone has the high speed access to watch the PGA.com feed. Fortunately, I do, but your station and the station management should be held accountable for screwing the pooch on this one.

Will you guys do the same thing when the U.S. Women’s Open, in Colorado Springs next year, airs? Will you guys cover that like you’re big golf fans and just ignore the fact your station went away from one of the biggest sporting events of the year?

I don’t even like golf, but I watch the championships.

I know this isn’t your call (to the person I directly e-mailed), but your station is a disgrace for doing this to the viewers of the PGA Championships.

More here: http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/06/22/sports/0062210_quinni_volleyball062210.txt

FOR THE RECORD: I disagree with Quinnipiac dropping these sports, retaliating in cutting more sports and the alleged “cooking of the books.” Title IX’s gender quota forces schools to institute roster caps on men’s sports to make sure too many men don’t get to play, because women’s rosters aren’t as full. Quinnipiac should be dealt with accordingly if they’re truly shifting things around — but also, there is no accurate way to gauge interest in athletics between men and women, because some groups feel ASKING men and women what they want isn’t the best way to know what they want to do … onward.

Now, there’s one statement in there that makes me raise an eyebrow, not to mention how a perceived advocate of women’s sports is trashing one of the activities that many young girls and women compete in. Ask a cheerleader — is cheerleading a sport. Now as a “women’s” sports quota monger — is cheerleading a sport.

The “women’s” group doesn’t see the case of their skirt-clad competitors. It doesn’t help the angry WSF agenda to admit that girls like cheerleading.

Said Lopiano: “The more sports there are the better it is for women,” she said. “The NCAA does not classify competitive cheerleading as an emerging sport. It’s clear the NCAA does not support it. It doesn’t fulfill the criteria set forth by the Office of Civil Rights. I do not believe any school can count it as a sport. It hasn’t evolved enough. In the future it could, but not as it exists today. It’s not a sport. It’s not even close.”

So under those criteria, how many “sports” aren’t actually sports? Women’s wrestling, an Olympic sport for the past two cycles, apparently isn’t a sport because the NCAA doesn’t support it, right? I wonder how many other Olympic sports that could be available for women aren’t sports because the NCAA doesn’t classify it as “emerging.”

Sorry girls, the “Women’s” Sports Foundation doesn’t represent your best interest in athletics, only their own.

And I’d expect Ms. Lopiano isn’t a fan of Debbie Yow, an innovative AD who isn’t skirting Title IX when she added competitive cheer, she was a trailblazer for women and girls around the nation who love their sport.

I was a wrestler, my sister a cheerleader. That’s what she wanted to do. That was her sport. That was her choice. No social construct, but a short, athletic girl wanted to be on the competitive/competition cheer squad.

I dare Ms. Lopiano to go to a cheerleading competition and tell those GIRLS and MOTHERS that cheerleading isn’t a sport.

I finished up a long list of trips since March.

NCAA Division III
NCAA Division II
NCAA Division I
USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals
- Easter -
USA Wrestling University & FILA Cadet Nationals
- Abby came to visit, went house hunting -
USA Wrestling ASICS U.S. Open

That’s six tournaments in eight weekends … all the while trying to assist in planning a wedding. Notice I didn’t say “plan” the wedding, but Abby has been great at organizing and planning, making my hectic travel schedule the last two months a bit easier to deal with.

The next few weeks don’t get any slower.

I go to Virginia for a day and a half this weekend for what amounts to seeing friends who can’t come to the wedding. Bachelor Party isn’t really in the works, but I’m sure I’ll be having fun back home for a bit.

Then I ship out to Minnesota to get married (May 8 … 10 days away, Yikes!), then to Aruba, then to Philly, then to Lancaster, then back to Colorado Springs.

No, I’m not talking too much about wrestling right now, but just saw this page sitting idly and figured, update time. Blah.

Wedding coming soon. Oh boy.

1. I’m engaged and getting married on May 8 in New Brighton, Minn.
2. I’ve been to Florida, Virginia, Minnesota and New Mexico since moving to Colorado.
3. Abby and I are doing a wedding blog, to which, I’m not sure if I’m just going to hand over the address for said blog. I’ll decide at later time. If you are interested, drop me a note.
4. I still hate snow, but I don’t miss the Minnesota winters. I think the temperature has dropped below zero here in Colorado three times since I moved. All three were in the first week.
5. I’ve joined 24-hour Fitness. No, this isn’t a New Year’s Resolution or anything, I’ve just got a tux to fit into in a few months. Plus, I’ve always wanted to get back near 220, a number I haven’t seen since about two weeks after I graduated from high school.
6. I’ve broadcast the Kit Carson Cup, World Cup Wrestle Offs, Colorado Springs H.S. Metro Championships, the Virginia Duals and the Dave Schultz Memorial in the past month.
7. I’ve also realized a lot of my blogger friends don’t blog much anymore. Is that a product of being too busy and growing up?

And I figured I’d update my map. I’ve taken off Utah, because I only spent a few hours there in the airport. Every other state, I have donated to the local chamber of commerce. For example, I was in Washington for a short time a few years ago … I bought Starbucks. I’m counting it.
My first day in Colorado, I had to drive 2 1/2 hours to Raton, N.M. to deposit my paycheck, because that was the nearest Bank of America. Ugh.

Jason Bryant USA Wrestling
12/26/2009

The wrestling community lost a good friend today. Adam Frey, the Cornell wrestler who fought cancer time after time with just as much tenacity as he did when he wrestled foes to the mat, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 26.

Frey was a Junior Nationals freestyle champion and top-ranked recruit when he signed with Cornell University. He was an NCAA qualifier for Cornell as a freshman. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer during his sophomore season.

It’s with a heavy heart and glossy eyes that we have to report Adam’s passing. Throughout the wrestling world in the last two years, Adam’s fight has been an inspiration to everyone. He fought through chemotherapy to coach wrestlers for Team Pennsylvania in Fargo. He got excitable coaching at his own benefit match. He wore a cowboy hat around to cover his bald head, but still thought it was stylish. He fought long enough to see his brother graduate from Blair Academy and wrestle Division I at Princeton. He fought long enough to enjoy the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships in St. Louis. He fought long enough to make more friends along the way, more than he could possibly imagine.

He started his own radio show, created his own cancer research foundation, he survived a car accident that should have cut him down years ago.

We lost Adam Frey today, and it hurts. It hurts those close the family the hardest. It hurts the family, who so desperately wanted Adam to beat this, and desperately wanted him to suffer no more. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary that can adequately define what it meant to talk to Adam as he documented his fight. Interview after interview, podcast and webcast, feature story and column, Adam raised awareness through his own fight.

I guess we will all struggle to identify as to why this was Adam’s time. I’m struggling with it, many of you reading this are struggling with it, friends, fans, family and teammates are all struggling with it.

He beat cancer time after time after time. If this were a boxing match, the ref would have stopped the fight long ago, and we would have hoisted Adam Frey on our shoulders as the kid who beat cancer with bludgeoning force.

But this wasn’t a boxing match and life, as precious as we all know it is, came down and leveled us with a punishing sucker punch. We lost Adam today and those of us that knew him, or didn’t even have to know him, will shed a tear and say a prayer today.

Adam Frey, we will miss you buddy. You fought the good fight and went down swinging the entire way. You’ll be missed by everyone.

From all of us at USA Wrestling and around the wrestling community around the country and the world … you touched so many lives, your memory and foundation will touch many more.

From the Adam Frey Foundation Facebook Group
Subject: ADAM FREY is at peace

I am sorry to inform everyone that Adam passed this afternoon, I was told he was not in pain when he left us. I want to thank everyone for supporting him in his battle and if you would like to leave a message of support for the Frey family please do on his blog. Thank you everyone I know it meant everything to Adam.
Josh Liebman (www.adamfrey.us)

November 8
Duals
Rutgers 43, Sacred Heart 0
Lehigh 31, Rider 3

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