Sesker's Slant: Midlands, Jones-Cormier, Foxcatcher and more

Indiana’s Taylor Walsh was one of the few wrestlers to open it up in the Midlands finals. Mark Lundy photo.


It was an event that was televised live on the Big Ten Network.


But the finals of the Midlands Championships last week came up short in my eyes to what it could have been.


The first match between Virginia Tech’s Joey Dance and Iowa’s Thomas Gilman kicked things off at 125 pounds. There was very little action in a bout that lasted nearly 11 minutes after going into overtime.


Dance finally scored a takedown to earn the win


There was more of the same for much of the night.


The main exception was a headlock and pin by Indiana’s Taylor Walsh in the 165 finals. 


Illinois freshman Isaiah Martinez is an exciting and aggressive young wrestler who put some points on the board at 157.


And there was an exciting finish at the end of the heavyweight bout when Iowa’s Bobby Telford took down Northwestern’s Mike McMullan in the final seconds. But there was very little action in the nearly seven minutes before that.


Boring, slow-paced, low-scoring matches where wrestlers don’t shoot and don’t take risks make for bad television.


If a non-wrestling observer clicked onto the Big Ten Network for the finals, chances are it wasn’t long before they switched to another channel.


College wrestling needs to do something to create more action, activity and entertainment. Make the winner score at least five points, call stalling more, get rid of riding time and put in a pushout rule to prevent guys from continually hanging out near the edge of the mat.


Something needs to be done to make this sport more compelling and entertaining.


There are some great collegiate wrestlers with excellent skill sets. But too many of them wrestle cautiously and defensively where they look like they are afraid to make a mistake.


College wrestling certainly misses the wide-open, attacking styles of Ed Ruth, David Taylor and Tony Ramos this season.


Let the fur fly, as Iowa coach Tom Brands says, and the sport of college wrestling will be significantly better.

Looking back at Jones vs. Cormier


The Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier fight lived up to its billing in my eyes.


Jones came out strong in the first round of their UFC light heavyweight title bout before Cormier rebounded with a superb second round. Jones took control from there, with his superior size and huge arsenal being the difference in what was a close fight.


Cormier obviously is well-known as a wrestler for being a two-time Olympian and World bronze medalist, but Jones is a very accomplished wrestler as well.


People may not be aware that Jones was a junior-college national champion in wrestling who was recruited by a number of top NCAA Division I schools before choosing the mixed martial arts route. That was evident when he took Cormier down during the fight.


Cormier has really matured as an athlete and a person, and that was evident in his post-match press conference. He showed he is a true professional and a class act all the way.


Cormier did an amazing job articulating his feelings about the fight despite the difficult circumstances after dropping a unanimous decision to Jones.


Cormier represented himself very well against one of the best MMA fighters of all-time, and I’m guessing we haven’t seen the last of D.C. in a big fight in the UFC Octagon.

Foxcatcher continues to earn rave reviews


I still haven’t had an opportunity to see the Foxcatcher movie, but the film continues to earn critical acclaim and rave reviews.


I was happy to see commercials for it being shown on TV when I was back in Iowa over the holidays.


I’m looking forward to seeing the movie.


Many of us involved in the sport obviously have a personal connection to the story. 


I never met Dave Schultz, but I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about him. I’m proud to see USA Wrestling honor him every year with the Dave Schultz Memorial International tournament at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

The boys are back in town


A U.S. National Team freestyle camp is being held this week in Colorado Springs.


Olympic gold medalists Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner, two-time World bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev, four-time NCAA champion Kyle Dake and Junior World silver medalist Aaron Pico are among the freestyle stars at the Olympic Training Center this week.


Many of our top wrestlers will head to the Ivan Yarygin International in Russia to compete in a few weeks. It’s one of the toughest tournaments in the world.


It’s that time of year when the international tours kick into high gear. This is a big year with the World Championships being held in Las Vegas in September.


If you haven’t already, plan to be in Vegas for what promises to be a very exciting event.


Happy New Year everyone! Hope to see a few of you at the Dave Schultz tourney in a couple of weeks, and a bunch more at the World Cup and World Championships.


Feel free to provide any feedback to me at csesker@usawrestling.org