tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18913630610302963592024-02-01T20:22:07.281-08:00Wrestling for GableAdventures in Iowa Wrestling, 1987-91Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-59190977808427915691991-07-27T19:06:00.000-07:002010-01-13T18:11:26.423-08:00Wrestling for Gable: The Overview<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SkNWzyFfwW4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SkNWzyFfwW4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I wrestled at Iowa from the fall of 1987 to the spring of 1991. My goal was to place at US senior freestyle nationals or die trying. Preferably the former.<br /><br />I kept a journal during those 4 years, and this website is a collection of those journal entries.<br /><br />I competed for The Hawkeye Wrestling Club, the freestyle offshoot of Iowa's NCAA team; at that time there were no NCAA rules requiring separation of freestyle and collegiate practices, so everyone trained together.<br /><br />My daily workout partners were a Who's Who of the best lightweights in the country: Barry Davis, Brad Penrith, Tom and Terry Brands, Steve "Rat" Martin, Chad Zaputil, Jack Griffin.<br /><br />Dan Gable was the head coach, leader of practices, and chief inspiration.<br /><br />Wrestling at Iowa taught me to set higher standards for myself, push through barriers, learn from setbacks, and never give up.<br /><br />I was fortunate to achieve my goals. I beat an Olympian, a Jr. World Champ, and several All-Americans. I also lost an awful lot of matches because I was out-slicked, out-smarted, or--the most humiliating of all--out-hustled. I was a lot more humble when I left than when I arrived.<br /><br />Click on a chapter on the right to get started.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-65457647364942374371991-06-28T12:55:00.000-07:002014-03-11T10:19:51.870-07:00June 1991: End of the Road<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga89YsH8IcldQrDLrn8kpFG9V9kniHW0Snf5BOFaUragA0k5fNcIYqlmEeJ6lXiJiMlCshnD_g0K5JA0Os7CkzN7d1sILASw4YzyFaJY7dC569uyEm3s0zz7jOqSw2EtE9EUES7ltPp44/s1600-h/1991+World+Team+Trials+Qualifiers.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga89YsH8IcldQrDLrn8kpFG9V9kniHW0Snf5BOFaUragA0k5fNcIYqlmEeJ6lXiJiMlCshnD_g0K5JA0Os7CkzN7d1sILASw4YzyFaJY7dC569uyEm3s0zz7jOqSw2EtE9EUES7ltPp44/s400/1991+World+Team+Trials+Qualifiers.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329227275136258738" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 354px;" /></a><br />
<br />
6/1/91<br />
Jen and I just got home from Colorado. We spent a week there for my sister April's wedding. It was fun. World Team Trials were at the same time, and I debated for several days about which was most important, and in the end decided that family should win out this time.<br />
<br />
My brother Brad told a story at the reception about April getting bucked off her horse at one of her first horse shows, when she was probably 10 years old. She got back on and finished the show, and he said he was very proud of her. Who knows if it's even a true story or, if it was, whether he was actually there. But he makes a good toast, and that's the important thing.<br />
<br />
I'm coaching two camps with Barry this week, one in Des Moines and one in Wisconsin. The Iowa camps start at the end of the month.<br />
<br />
6/15/91<br />
I'm in Illinois at Jen's parent's house. We decided to spend a couple of days here before wrestling camps start.<br />
<br />
Last week I went to Ben Peterson's camp in Wisconsin with Barry. It was way up in the woods, on a nice little lake. We stayed five days, and--in addition to wrestling, obviously--we went swimming, canoeing, and fishing. We even saw a bear and the Northern Lights.<br />
<br />
The only slightly weird thing was that it was a Christian camp. I curse like a sailor and like to quote Bertrand Russell and Nietzsche a lot. So I felt a bit like Judas infiltrating the disciples. I did mention to Ben one night that I thought it was great that he was offering these kids a good role model, regardless of whether they became devout Christians. He said, no, he wanted them all to become devout Christians. Okay. So my attempt at finding common ground was unsuccessful, and I slinked away into the night to read my science books.<br />
<br />
6/20/91<br />
The Iowa camps started this week, and they're going okay. We've got a lot of kids. I'm an Assistant Coach, so I have to run with the kids every morning at 6:45am. At this point I'm used to it. And I'm getting paid for it, whereas they're shelling out $400 for the privilege. <br />
<br />
6/28/91<br />
I got accepted to Yale business school.<br />
<br />
It feels great to say it. The guy from the admissions office called early this afternoon to tell me. I'm supposed to get stuff in the mail on Monday or Tuesday. It caught me off-guard, to be honest, because I had already resigned myself to staying one more year at Iowa and finishing my MBA here. But when I hung up the phone I was kind of shaking, and I felt like running outside and yelling, "I got accepted to Yale!"<br />
<br />
So...Jenny and I are going to New Haven.<br />
<br />
I will miss wrestling. I'm know I'm in the twilight of my career already, but I'll miss it. I wrestled with Zaputil last week at camps and beat him twice in a row, 9-3 and 9-2. In front of the camp kids.<br />
<br />
But it's time to move on, and I know that.<br />
<br />
When I was at my lowest point, a few years ago, when I was struggling to find TV production jobs and trying to decide what to do about my wrestling career, I remember writing a letter to my grandparents. I said I guess I'll never be an All-American wrestler or graduate from an Ivy League college, but life goes on.<br />
<br />
When Gable introduced the camp coaching staff to the kids last week, he said, "This is Todd Tarpley. He's a 2-time All-American." I thought, wow, I am.<br />
<br />
There are so many better wrestlers than me here, and so many opportunities to be humbled if not outright humiliated on a daily basis, that I've never allowed myself to take a breath and be proud of what I've accomplished.<br />
<br />
So...I'm smiling as I write this, and I hope my grandfather is smiling down on me too.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1eZyyc1jyPGpqsDMZdQ7vv8wjS_KnkNG7Fcb9vQovF3OFSUs5saFOm1mUlCKKGjFfUv1Xi4TXh6HMFayBZlgv4usPyjGgYXb5f4LEkAti2Mo3CoCzNZlKMWU1PLDlhDOPesHQNvkwHQg/s1600-h/1991+Tarpley+article.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1eZyyc1jyPGpqsDMZdQ7vv8wjS_KnkNG7Fcb9vQovF3OFSUs5saFOm1mUlCKKGjFfUv1Xi4TXh6HMFayBZlgv4usPyjGgYXb5f4LEkAti2Mo3CoCzNZlKMWU1PLDlhDOPesHQNvkwHQg/s400/1991+Tarpley+article.JPG" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329227182316516322" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 300px;" /></a>Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-69947138120084323511991-05-31T17:44:00.000-07:002010-02-04T22:11:15.837-08:00May 1991: 2-time All-American<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6pKg0T9N-uCSaRi7dKNRL2tY7XijhunWQQYSJy3miJV75S2WoIK-EfVOkeUpV30vjv514wgBoBD13W4XH16AfybQ6lOhCynvRt_KdIqRBbXcZbqh_T8R3ADmTRL1wq8kWrEa8Jejq1o/s1600-h/1991+Nationals+Results.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6pKg0T9N-uCSaRi7dKNRL2tY7XijhunWQQYSJy3miJV75S2WoIK-EfVOkeUpV30vjv514wgBoBD13W4XH16AfybQ6lOhCynvRt_KdIqRBbXcZbqh_T8R3ADmTRL1wq8kWrEa8Jejq1o/s400/1991+Nationals+Results.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329226564655166786" /></a><br /><br />5/11/91<br />I'm in Vegas for Nationals. To cut to the chase, I placed 8th again.<br /><br />I'm relieved, disappointed, exhausted. I don't really know what to feel. I placed. That was the goal. I should give myself a break. I just thought I would do better.<br /><br />There were only four seeds at 114.5 (Jones, Giese, Harper, Griffin). I was hoping they'd seed to 6, and that I'd be 5 or 6. Instead, I was drawn in randomly, and I had Giese in the second round.<br /><br />I lost twice--to Giese (who took 2nd), and Harper (who took 4th). I wrestled so-so in both matches.<br /><br />Because of the pairings, I was fourth in my pool without getting to the round robin, where I would've had a chance to wrestle Mirabella, whom I'd beaten previously, for third in the pool. He placed 6th, losing to Griffin for 5th.<br /><br />I didn't even get to wrestle the 7th place match because I was technically eliminated when I lost the second time, and I was defaulted to 8th. Burke Tyree, whom I'd also beaten previously, took 7th. So I placed lower than two guys I'd previously beaten, and didn't even get to wrestle them.<br /><br />That's why I hate this stupid Olympic pairings system. I had a clear shot at placing 6th or 7th. And of course I'm mad at myself for not beating Harper or Giese. That's all I had to do, rather than moping about the stupid pairings, and I would've been in the top 4. So no excuses.<br /><br />And, you know, even if I'd placed 6th or 7th...I mean, is that really much better than 8th? It seems kind of silly to even be complaining about something like that. But I hate the feeling of it coming down to luck, and I hate feeling like I could've done better, even a little bit better. This was what I've been working for for the past four years of my life.<br /><br />The weight cutting was tough, as I expected. The multiple weigh-ins were the hardest part, because I could never fully replenish my fluids knowing that I had to weigh in again. I was only able to replenish about 5 pounds of fluid, so I was wrestling at about 119-120.<br /><br />In any event, it's over. I placed.<br /><br />5/13/91<br />It's Monday morning. I'm sitting on a bench across the street from the downtown Iowa City mall. I've got no more classes, no more wrestling practices, no place to be, and nothing to do.<br /><br />I will say this: people kept asking me today how I did, and being able to simply say "Eighth" was so much less of a burden than having to explain the whole thing. The result was quite arbitrary, in the end, but I ended on the good side of arbitrary.<br /><br />5/14/91<br />I'm up to 133.5 tonight. That was before 3 chocolate donuts and 2 glasses of chocolate milk.<br /><br />I checked my grades at the business building while I was downtown today. I got a B in Statistics. Don't ask me how. The professor must have taken pity on me. I got an A- in Admin Sci, and a B+ in Accounting--also a pleasant surprise, since I felt like I bombed the final. I won't know about Marketing for another few days,but I'm hoping for an A, which would put me at a 3.5.<br /><br />The World Team Trials are May 28. I'm going to my sister April's wedding in Durango, so I can't go. I'd like to go, though. I'm qualified for the mini-tournament, and I'd like to wrestle some of those guys again. I watched the tapes of my matches, and I saw a lot of mistakes. I didn't take control of the matches, I didn't wrestle with power and force and aggressiveness. Bad mistakes. Stupid s---. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikghLvY_JGsboHowrsbdxYhKXMw3abVoV-psTqttXJxaQxCP9kgCYrH0tt20bD2m3QjvT_BFjKVQbE6FHotZroN3B1w2DCjSEOlFyPtE7YLnEdCNglXCoDEn-fPxLRN8bSJORLNA09F5c/s1600-h/1991+HWC+Wrap-Up.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 345px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikghLvY_JGsboHowrsbdxYhKXMw3abVoV-psTqttXJxaQxCP9kgCYrH0tt20bD2m3QjvT_BFjKVQbE6FHotZroN3B1w2DCjSEOlFyPtE7YLnEdCNglXCoDEn-fPxLRN8bSJORLNA09F5c/s400/1991+HWC+Wrap-Up.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329227031117014594" /></a>Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-59935038537005492521991-04-30T17:43:00.000-07:002010-02-04T21:32:23.556-08:00Apr 1991: Final prep for Nationals4/6/91<br />No word from Yale business school. But I know that letter has got to be somewhere between New Haven and Iowa City. Everyone on the eastern side of the Mississippi who applied to Yale already knows their fate. There are probably a few Ohioans and Virginians and Georgians hitting the bars tonight in celebration, and probably several more hanging their heads in disgust at being forced to get their MBAs from the University of South Carolina.<br /><br />My workouts this week: trying to stay below 130 and emphasize physical conditioning. I wrestled hard this week with Barry, Bruhl, Pablo, and Ehlen. My conditioning is strong but I'm not taking advantage of it as much as I should. I'm scoring well on turns, but I'm tying up and telegraphing my shots too much.<br /><br />I did morning runs three days this week with Terry Brands and Barry, and also did a 4-mile city park run with Barry at a 5:50 mile pace. My calves are still a bit sore.<br /><br />4/8/91<br />I got wait-listed by Yale.<br /><br />I'm relieved that I didn't get flat-out rejected. I was waiting for the postman, and when he showed up I didn't see a big envelope, and I thought, "Well, crap, I'm out." And when I sat down and started reading I saw "We have reviewed" and "sorry" and that whole first line, and...I was kind of crushed.<br /><br />But I'm still alive, dammit. <br /><br />4/13/91<br />Another hard week of practices, hampered by slight knee injury. Still coming in at 130 or 131, which is 3 pounds too high, but I weighed out today at 125, which was not bad. <br /><br />I did morning workouts every day--jumpropes/sauna or arena runs with Barry.<br /><br />I went live with Martin, Barry, and Griffin this week. I'm having trouble getting shots off against Martin. I need to be more physical. I caught Griffin a couple of times on hip-intos to his back, but overall I'm relying too much on defense. <br /><br />4/19/91<br />Good, solid week. This is the hardest stretch of workouts, 2-a-days, and I'm staying on schedule, but my weight is still too high.<br /><br />Sauna/ropes or arena runs every morning with Barry. I'm kind of enjoying the runs, which sounds psychotic, I know, but I just get into a zone, and I love working out with him. <br /><br />Hard wrestling in the afternoons. Had a good day against Martin early in the week. Scored good multi-points. I MUST score when I'm on top. That is the key with all of these guys who are better than me on their feet--Martin, Zaputil, Griffin.<br /><br />I had lunch with Gable on Tuesday (salad and diet soda), talked about strategy for nationals. I'm where I need to be.<br /><br />My legs feel drained from all the running this week and I'm trying to cut my fluid intake a bit, too, so I'm starting to feel it. I took a 2-hour nap earlier this afternoon--extremely tired. Had a decent workout this afternoon with Hogan.<br /><br />4/26/91<br />Entering final stretch of very hard weeks. Continuing 2-a-days. May need to continue 2-a-days through Nationals simply to get my weight down. <br /><br />I wrestled fair against Martin on Monday but mostly defensive, sluggish. I didn't feel like wrestling. Very tired, including muscle soreness afterwards. Top & bottom with Melchiore, then sauna.<br /><br />Tuesday morning I did arena runs with the Steiners, all at 57-58 seconds--that is the fastest I have ever consistently run. It's about a quarter mile around the perimiter, so that is fast. Afternoon live vs Barry. Somewhat sluggish, got very tired and frustrated. In on some high-crotches and doubles, couldn't finish most. <br /><br />Wed morning arena runs with Steiners again. Good workout, held up well. Afternoon live vs Griffin. Scored some but got beat on his defensive moves.<br /><br />Thu morning I drilled crotch-lifts with Lewis, then we did sauna/ropes. Afternoon I went live vs McGinness. Won fairly easily but he gave me a good go. Got tired quickly; very winded and energy drained. Out at 123.6 (excellent).<br /><br />Fri morning I did arena runs with Barry, Matt Nerem, David Ray, and Pantaleo. Afternoon I went live vs Melchiore.<br /><br />4/28/91<br />I've been very sore in the mornings--muscle sore, dehydrated sore. This is in addition to my chronic bad breath, also caused by dehydration. The good news is that it hasn't been so terrible so far. I don't like to cut weight, but it will all be over in a couple of weeks, and I feel okay right now. Of course, the bad news is that I weigh 128.5 right now, having just drunk a Diet Coke. I'm 14 pounds overweight. I should be 126.5 or thereabouts.<br /><br />Finals are a week from today. I'm not completely prepared, and I don't care. I will talk to my professors to see if I can delay any of them until after Nationals. I'm just not focused on classes right now. Or anything else except wrestling.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-34733638731352819161991-03-31T23:12:00.000-08:002011-08-05T19:58:58.031-07:00Mar 1991: Thoughts on Terry Brands' loss3/31/91<br />I've been thinking about Terry Brands' loss to Kelber at NCAAs two weeks ago, and just wanted to write about it. That match was such a heartbreaker for me, because I knew how much he wanted it. I'm not saying Kelber didn't want it just as bad, but there's something about the Brands that makes me pull for them. I think it's their passion.<br /><br />It's like <a href="http://www.donmarquis.com/readingroom/archybooks/moth.html">that poem that Gable read to the team last year about the moth and the flame</a>. The moth wants to get close to the flame because he is instinctively drawn to it. He knows he will be burned up but he doesn't care. He has passion. He ends up being burned by the flame, but...what is the moral? Better to live fast and die young? Better to burn out than to fade away? Better to live with passion?<br /><br />Gable told us that all of us will have to face tragedy sometime in our lives. And the stronger we make ourselves now--the more adversity we face and the more character we build--the better prepared we'll be to handle anything.<br /><br />I mean, jeeze, ultimately we're all going to die. We're going to be around on this planet for another, what, sixty, seventy years at best? And ten or twenty of those are going to be crapping in a bedpan, so...realistically, we've got maybe forty or fifty years left. And then what? Well, if you're like me then you believe that we all just become dust and get eaten by maggots and worms. End of story.<br /><br />What's the point here? I don't know. Maybe it's this: <br /><br />If, in the end, all is meaningless anyway, getting burned up in the flame isn't the worst that can happen--it's the best. Maybe a few good years of passion are just as good as forty or fifty of sitting on your ass eating oat bran and trying to prolong the inevitable.<br /><br />I don't think wrestling is about being a good sport. I don't think it's about hugging your opponent when you win or lose, or acknowledging the crowd, or any of that s---. All that stuff is fine, but wrestling is about competition. It's about testing yourself, going all out, no holds barred, balls to the wall, sink or swim, all or nothing. You step on the mat and put yourself on the line, and that's who you are, that's what your life is about. It's about winning.<br /><br />Everything with most people is ultimately a compromise, and maybe in the real world there's a place for that. But I don't care what anybody says, I admire Terry Brands for his passion.<br /><br />What would the world be like if everyone had the intensity of Terry Brands? Jesus, I'd hate to imagine it. It wouldn't be very sane or safe, but it would be a hell of a lot more passionate. Things would mean something.<br /><br />I guess that's the whole thing. I want things to have meaning. I admire people whose actions have meaning. But so many people's actions are meaningless either because they're done by rote, or because they're done without conviction.<br /><br />Gable says don't wrestle to stay even. Don't wrestle to win. Wrestle to dominate. I love that. You know, sometimes, in the third period, when you're up by one or two and you've got 45 seconds left, you're pretty content to ride it out for the win. Gable would say go for more points. Terry Brands would say go for more points. So I guess, in that sense, wrestling really isn't about winning. It's about dominating. And if you happen to lose while trying to dominate...well, maybe that's better than just winning.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-78127787814920044321991-03-30T17:43:00.000-08:002011-05-20T13:36:40.912-07:00Mar 1991: NCAA champs; Alger sings3/10/91<br />Solid week of training.<br /><br />Dominated Pablo but gave up some stupid stuff--a 3-point headlock toss, a 2-point roll from my front headlock. Good and tight on my front headlocks.<br /><br />Did not do so well against Griffin. Giving away too much, especially on the feet, but also on mat. Must make good shots, defend better, finish.<br /><br />Also wrestled with Barry (scored a few points), Hendricks, McCain, and Ehlen, all of whom I handled, but I've been a little slow starting.<br /><br />Today I wrestled three matches with Zaputil, and he beat me two out of three. I must keep him away from head/tie situation--he is much too strong there.<br /><br />3/11/91<br />I have my picture in "Sports Illustrated" this week. Some story about wrestlers getting herpes; I'm shown mopping the Iowa mats.<br /><br />3/13/91<br />Went live vs Ehlen today. 23-9, 10-3. Very tired. He felt big and fairly strong. I basically wore him down and kept plugging.<br /><br />NCAAs are this weekend. They're here in Iowa City. An NCAA team title doesn't mean that much to me personally, since I'm not directly involved, but I'm still excited about it. It would be nice to be a part of it. I've been here for 4 years without being part of a national championship team. It kind of revives those old feelings that I had when I first came here--that this place is the center of the universe, and the entire galaxy revolves around the 3-acre plot of land upon which Carver-Hawkeye Arena sits.<br /><br />3/17/91<br />We won the NCAAs at last.<br /><br />There were huge crowds for every session, and Carver Hawkeye was sold out for the finals--15,000.<br /><br />Only Tom Brands and Mark Reiland won in the finals. Zaputil got killed by Prescott from Penn State, Terry got out-wrestled 10-5 by Kelber from Nebraska, and Steiner and Ryan both lost by 1 point.<br /><br />At 118, Akin from Iowa State (who beat me 3-2 at Northern Open, and whom I placed ahead of at UNI Open) took 8th. Tyree from UNI, who was 7th at freestyle Nationals last year and whom I beat at UNI Open, went 2-2. Higa from Cal-State Bakersfield, whom I beat at freestyle Nationals in '89, was seeded 10th but didn't place.<br /><br />The mood afterwards was much more somber than celebratory. Jenny and I sat next to Hunter Rawlings (University of Iowa president) for the finals. She talked to him about John Irving and what a good storyteller he is. Hunter said he's had John over for dinner when he was in town and he's a nice guy.<br /><br />After the finals we went to a small team gathering at the Canterbury Inn, where the team stayed during the tournament. I rode over with Barry, Gable, Tom Brands, Reiland, Chelesvig, Fiser, and Alger in a team station wagon.<br /><br />On the way we saw some guy walking along the side of the road with a crutch. Barry said, "Hey, that's Pack Rat, that crazy guy." Barry yelled at him to do some push-ups and the guy tossed down his crutch and started doing push-ups at the side of the road.<br /><br />Gable was in the front passenger seat and was telling Barry, "No, no, shhhh, don't say nothing to him, shhh, he might come over here!"<br /><br />Meanwhile, Barry had rolled down his window and was hanging halfway out of it yelling, "Come on, Pack Rat, hit some push-ups! Come on, buddy!" Then when the light turned green and we passed him he caught a glimpse of Gable's face in the passenger seat and just kind of stared at him in awe--probably trying to figure out if it was really Gable.<br /><br />After the Canterbury we all went out to the Westfield Inn for the Hawk Party, which was open to fans. It was packed. Gable had lost most of his voice, but he got up onstage with the team members and had each one of them speak. The crowd was really good to them, especially to Terry Brands.<br /><br />Gable was in a great mood. It must be a great feeling of satisfaction and relief to win the NCAAs after 4 dry years.<br /><br />Then Royce Alger came up on stage and dominated the event by recalling his own two national titles and singing "Teenager in Love" and "You Picked Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille" in his slightly off-key psuedo-country twang. What an a--hole.<br /><br />That was followed by Mrs. Steiner singing a song she wrote about wrestlers, sung to the tune of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman." ("I am strong. I am invincible. I am wrestler.")<br /><br />By that point it had become so hokey that I decided to stop being a snob and just roll with it. The Gable girls and a few Mat Aides, along with Terry Steiner's girlfriend (dressed as Tina Turner) danced to "Simply the Best" and "La Bamba," then the crowd began dancing and that was about the whole show. The final song of the night was, of course, the Iowa Fight Song.<br /><br />There are things I really like about this place, I must be honest. The NCAAs psyched me up for wrestling. I was thinking about what would happen if I got accepted to Harvard or Yale for grad school in the fall. Things have been so good for me here in Iowa that I would have mixed emotions about leaving. Next season is going to be a very good one. We have the potential to break all the records, since the entire starting lineup is back.<br /><br />And I wouldn't mind having another year to get myself together and push for the Olympic Trials. I'm not sure I'm ready for my wrestling career to be over in seven weeks. I know I'm not ready for it.<br /><br />And on the other hand, good timing means knowing when to move on as well as when to stay. If the time to move on is '91 I have to be ready. If it's '92 I have to be prepared for that too. It's just that placing 8th at Nationals seemed so cool a couple of years ago, and now it doesn't seem so cool at all. I want to keep progressing, and I like being a part of what's happening here (even the hokey Hawk parties).<br /><br />3/22/91<br />Decent training week with a variety of partners.<br /><br />Mon: Live vs Jeff McGinness, an Iowa high school stud. 20-5, 15-0, 12-0. I was not hitting good shots, letting him in on my legs too much and wasting too much time passively tied up. I was good on turns. Afterwards he went into the locker room and was all pissed off. I like his intensity, but it annoyed me that he thought he was going to beat me...that just makes me want to beat the crap out of him even more next time. <br /><br />Tue: I ran with the club guys (Barry, Griffin, Royce) plus McGinness upstairs in the arena in the morning. 8-lap run (1st), 5 x 1-laps (1st all except once, behind Barry), 5 stair sprints. Good workout, very winded. Afternoon weights and drilled with Barry.<br /><br />Wed: Live with Barry. Did okay until he turned it on.<br /><br />Thu: Morning arena runs. Afternoon live vs. a 145-pounder I didn't know. Missed a front headlock on 2nd go, let him get in on legs a couple of times.<br /><br />Fri: Sauna/jumprope with Barry in morning, down to 127.7. Afternoon, rolled around with Barry and sauna. Down to 125.2.<br /><br />I'm wrestling at Tri-State Freestyle Championships in Ft. Madison tomorrow. I considered going down to 114.5 but it was just to big a drop right now.<br /><br />3/24/91<br />I'm at Great Midwestern Ice Cream Company with Jenny. I'm doing Stats homework while she does some stuff for work.<br /><br />Yesterday I won the Tri-State Freestyle Championships. I'm a 3-time champ. I beat Hogan 5-4. Not a great match, but I led the whole time. I need to score more on top. It was good to beat him since he beat me at the Midwestern Championships in January.<br /><br />Then I beat Brett Christiansen from Buena Vista 18-4. I was a little worried about him because he's a Division III All-American and Hogan only beat him 12-11. But I overpowered him and out-slicked him. Much better than my match against Hogan.<br /><br />I'm gaining confidence. If I can get my weight down to low 120s after practice (I was 127.5 today) and wrestle well at Nationals I will have a very good shot at placing. If I get a good pairing that separates me from the top couple of guys I will be in even better shape.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-49548089369574609121991-02-28T17:43:00.000-08:002010-02-04T19:24:19.782-08:00Feb 1991: Best I've ever wrestled2/1/91<br />God, I'm tired.<br /><br />I've been cutting weight all f---ing week, and today, the day before weigh-ins, I come in at 129.7. I just weighed out at 123.7 after a long workout. I'm exhausted.<br /><br />I was in at 129.9 on Monday morning, and this is Friday afternoon. I thought I was cutting back on my food and water, but I guess I wasn't really. Not enough, anyway. I've been replenishing quite a bit--two Diet Cokes today. That doesn't seem like a whole lot. I could go for a Diet Coke right now.<br /><br />I have to make 118.5 tomorrow at 2pm. 21.5 hours to go, 5.2 pounds. I could float probably 2, but I've still got a good 4-pound workout to go. I'll probably try to do a 3-pounder tomorrow morning, drink a Diet Coke, then do a 2-pounder at about 1pm.<br /><br />2/5/91<br />I got back from Michigan late Sunday night--about 2am. I placed 3rd at the Michigan Open at 114.5. It was my highest finish there ever. (I was 5th at 125.5 in '89 and '90.)<br /><br />It was also probably the best I've ever wrestled.<br /><br />I beat Jeff Mirabella from Northwestern, 13-1, then a beat a pretty tough guy from Canada named Woodcroft, 20-5. They both hit good moves--they were tough. I just countered well, hit my own shots well, and just ran over both of them, which is what I need to do in all of my matches: start hard and finish hard. I haven't been pushing hard enough in a lot of my matches this year, and it makes a difference.<br /><br />Making weight was tough. I made 118.5 on Saturday, and yesterday (Monday) I was back up to 134. My face looks bloated today.<br /><br />Jenny went with me to Michigan. Rich Catalano rode with us, so we had to take Tom Ryan's car. Catalano didn't know how to drive a stick, so Jenny and I had to drive the whole 8 hours up and 8 back. Which is probably just as well, considering the faith I'd put in Catalano's driving abilities.<br /><br />I needed a good tournament. I need a couple more good warm-up tournaments, then I need a good showing at Nationals. The guy who beat me on Sunday was the Canadian national champ--he beat Doug Harper in the finals, 6-3, and he beat me 8-2. Harper will be a key at Nationals.<br /><br />2/6/91<br />I'm in the stands at the arena. Today was a classic practice. We're getting ready for Okie State and Arizona State this weekend here at the arena, so everything is kind of geared toward that. It wasn't all that tough a practice--I went with Pablo and killed him--but there was a lot of energy in the room, especially from Tom Brands, Tom Ryan, etc.<br /><br />During Gable's pre-practice talk he started telling a couple of stories. One was about how he was invited to go pheasant hunting with the governor of Iowa. Gable shot the first two pheasants, at which time he was reprimanded by the governor's aide ("some highway patrol guy") to let the governor shoot the pheasants. Gable said he was so intimidated that he didn't lift his gun the rest of the day. The gvernor took about 30 shots and never did get a pheasant.<br /><br />That story apparently reminded him of another in which Lennie Zalesky followed a deer into a clump of trees but then couldn't find him. He finally saw the deer up on his hind legs hiding behind a tree! And every time Lennie would try to get to him the deer would just keep circling around the tree on his hind feet with his front feet on the trunk.<br /><br />Finally he talked a little about Okie State. He said Pat Smith's (Okie State 158-pounder) family got a court injunction to keep him academically eligible for the spring. Gable said the University of Iowa president will be sitting in the front row on Saturday. Next to him will be John Irving. Next to him will be Rico Chiaparelli (big laugh). And the next four seats have been reserved by Royce Alger and his Lisbonites to paint their faces and dress up. Kind of a descending pecking order.<br /><br />2/10/91<br />We killed Okie State (35-2) and Arizona State (40-5). Great, solid wrestling. <br /><br />2/13/91<br />My entire wrestling career could be over in twelve weeks. That's what the last four years of my life have been about. What I like so much about wrestling is that success is based completely on performance. No ass kissing, no nepotism, no luck. You win or you lose. <br /><br />I wish life were like that.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-17670400247139094971991-01-31T17:42:00.000-08:002010-02-04T19:20:52.513-08:00Jan 1991: Olympic Training Camp1/6/91<br />I'm in Colorado Springs, at the Olympic Training Center. I found out two days ago that I was allowed to fill Randy Lewis's vacancy at the training camp here while he has knee surgery. I'm rooming with Jack Griffin. We flew in from Cedar Rapids this afternoon and got here a couple of hours ago.<br /><br />I wasn't real excited about coming out, to tell the truth, most because of the short notice. Jenny wasn't real excited about it either.<br /><br />Jenny and I bought a tree for Christmas, and she decorated it. Actually, Jenny decorated the whole condo. Steve Kennevan came over for dinner and said we looked so homey and married.<br /><br />A few days after Christmas I wrestled in the Midwest Championships. I took fifth, after being seeded second. I lost to Hogan, 7-4, in the semifinals. He lost to Akin in the finals.<br /><br />I've just been wrestling poorly latey. I honestly don't understand it. Maybe one of these days I will, but right now I don't. I'm not used to progressing slower than my peers. I'm not used to losing ground. I need to get a lot out of this camp and start getting my weight down for Nationals. I need to place at Nationals again this year to prove that last year wasn't a fluke.<br /><br />I'm applying to Harvard and Yale business schools for next fall. Jenny and I already talked about it, and she seemed amenable to it. I think she thinks I won't get in anyway.<br /><br />1/7/91<br />I'm still at the training camp. We just finished our first practice of the day. Every morning we have a technique/drilling session, and every afternoon a hard wrestling session.<br /><br />On Saturday I went hard with Zeke Jones, the #1 man at 114.5. He beat me 22-2, then said he wanted to wrestle somebody else. (Two summers ago I was going close with him.)<br /><br />After that I went with Doug Harper, the #3 guy. I beat him by a few points, mostly from crotch-lifts. He caught me on two front-headlocks and two single-legs switching off to doubles. He has a lot of power.<br /><br />Yesterday I went live with Jack Griffin and got killed on quick takedown/nearfall flurries.<br /><br />I'm getting kind of frustrated. This morning I just didn't feel like wrestling. Two-a-days put me in a bad mood. I can't stop myself from counting down the final practices. That's a terrible attitude. And yet...Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...<br /><br />Last night Barry, David Ray, Jack Griffin and I played cards for 3 hours.<br /><br />I've called Jenny every night since I've been here. I'm looking forward to getting back home and being with her. But I'm not looking forward to spring semester and spring wrestling season. I'm just brain fried. Body fried. I'm tired of losing.<br /><br />1/8/91<br />I'm still at camp. Tomorrow is my last day here, then we fly to the Virginia Duals for the NCAA team, then back to Iowa on Sunday. I've been away from home a long time.<br /><br />I wrestled well today, considering the fact that I have a bad rib. My weight is still hovering around 128. This afternoon I drilled hard with Cory Baze, then went live with Rob Eiter, and Ed Woodburn. I did well against all of them. (It wasn't my idea to wrestle the 105-pounders.)<br /><br />1/12/91<br />I'm in Hampton, Virginia for the Virgina Duals (NCAA teams--I'm not wrestling). It's been a nice break from Iowa, but I'm ready to be home.<br /><br />We took 3rd. We lost on criteria, 19-19 to Penn State in the semis. Amazingly, they went on to beat Okie State, 21-18, in the finals.<br /><br />1/16/91<br />I'm exhausted. I got pounded by Zaputil today. I did good against Bruhl yesterday, but today I only got one takedown. I'm not sure if he's stronger than me or just tougher, but I can't keep up with him anymore. He just tosses me around. It's kind of frustrating to beat somebody for three years (or at least go even), then all of a sudden just not be able to beat him.<br /><br />The USA Wrestling team is traveling to Tblisi in the Soviet Union. Royce went today without a visa. What an idiot.<br /><br />1/28/91<br />I have a freestyle tourney in Michigan this weekend for which I have to weigh 119. I've been up around 130 lately, so I've got some weight to drop.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-77788289263282304921990-12-31T17:42:00.000-08:002010-02-04T19:25:32.395-08:00Dec 1990: Gable: "You can't wrestle to stay even"12/5/90<br />I placed 3rd at the UNI Open last week. That's the highest I've placed there. I won my first two matches easily, but only by decision. In the quarters I beat Kapusta from North Dakota State 8-3. I lost in the semifinals to Griffin, 5-4, then beat Burke Tyree in the consolation finals, 9-4. Akin was 5th.<br /> <br />I wrestled okay against Griffin; he scored 2 TDs and an escape; I scored 1 TD and 2 escapes.<br /><br />12/6/90<br />I'm at the arena.<br /><br />Zaputil kicked my ass in practice yesterday (I beat him in the first go, 12-11, then he beat me in the second go, 17-4). He's gotten better and better on his feet, and is harder to score on. I have to force scrambles to get scoring opportunities, and then it's a crap shoot, as evidenced by our scores. If I get behind it's hard to catch up, because I have to try riskier moves to get back into the match, and that's where he has improved--he allows fewer mistakes.<br /><br />I'm just feeling guilty about my crappy season, and trying to convince myself that it doesn't matter. But it does matter.<br /><br />I don't want to go out with a whimper. That's what I'm afraid of.<br /><br />I still get a thrill out of re-hashing my move to Iowa, mostly because on paper it didn't make a whole lot of sense, and yet, bingo, I did it, it's done.<br /><br />I want to feel good about placing at Nationals. That was my goal. Alger or Lewis would say that's stupid. But it was my goal. They do some things that I think are stupid.<br /><br />But now that I've done it, I feel like either it was a fluke, or I didn't set the bar high enough. I feel like I should be embarrassed to have set my goal so low, and doubly embarrassed to be losing matches now. I want to go out on a high note, and my high note wasn't even very high.<br /><br />12/10/90<br />I'm at the arena. I had a bad wrestling day today. Well, I beat Ehlen pretty solidly, although a lot of my points came from near-falls, and even some of my takedowns were defensive scrambles.<br /><br />But then I wrestled Martin and got beat bad. I decided to just keep taking shots, since that (offensiveness) seems to be a big problem for me lately. But it just wasn't working for me.<br /><br />Gable has been cold to me lately. Maybe it's my imagination, caused by self-pity, but it really bothers me. It's as if he thinks I'm trying to wrestle poorly, like I'm doing it to make him look bad.<br /><br />I need to get my ass back into gear. Maybe I haven't been putting enough time and intensity into it. I'd really like to place at freestyle Nationals these final two years, just to know that I did it, and that I did it more than once, and that it wasn't a fluke.<br /><br />Gable said the other day, "You can't wrestle to stay even, and you can't even wrestle just to win. You have to wrestle to dominate." <br /><br />I don't care what anybody says, I like that philosophy. I wish I embodied it better than I do.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-10481953566569958271990-11-30T17:42:00.000-08:002010-02-04T18:58:02.458-08:00Nov 1990: Randy Lewis is insane11/5/90<br />Great practice today against Martin. Beat him 12-5 and 7-4. Working in tight, not letting him have space to shoot his singles and doubles. Lateral drop, several turns.<br /><br />My weight is down. I'm feeling good, I'm wrestling well.<br /><br />11/10/90<br />I didn't place at Sunkist. I went 1-2. It was tougher this year, but I also didn't wrestle particularly well.<br /><br />I lost in the first round to Shawn Nelson from Penn State, 6-4. I was up 4-0 after a couple of crotch-lifts, then I decided to be more offensive, which was probably a mistake in retrospect. He countered two of my shots, both for 2 points, then scored another 2 takedowns.<br /><br />He later beat Giese 8-4, so I'll give him credit--he had a good tournament and he will be in the mix at 114.5 if he goes down for nationals. (Sunkist was a 4.5 pound allowance.)<br /><br />I won my second match by tech fall, the lost my third round match to Valentin Jordanov, the world champ from Bulgaria, 17-2. I scored 2 takedowns, but he was simply too good on turns. He had a style that was very difficult to counter--he would almost turn me sraight up onto my head instead of typical gut wrenches. I didn't know how to counter that, but now I'll need to get some tips from Barry.<br /><br />A disappointing way to start the season (1-2), after starting last year 9-1.<br /><br />11/11/90<br />Randy Lewis is insane.<br /><br />He traded plane tickets to Phoenix with Griffin so that Lewis could go on a later flight. He claims he had already cleared it with America West and made the reservation for Griffin. But when we got to the Cedar Rapids airport Griffin couldn't get on the plane, because the ticket was non-transferable. So he had to buy a new one-way ticket to Phoenix. It was a pain in the ass for him because he was cutting weight and that's the kind of crap you don't want to deal with.<br /><br />Our flight from Phoenix back to Iowa was Sunday morning at 10:30am. Lewis stayed out all night, arriving at the hotel at 8:30am, as the rest of us were getting up, and immediately went to bed. The rest of the team (6 of us) crammed into 1 rental car (Lewis had the other one), and got to the airport at 9:40.<br /><br />Lewis not only missed his flight, he left his rental car sitting at the departures curb at the airport. I suppose he was thinking if he just left it there he might make his flight and someone would take care of it for him. I don't know if he had to buy a new ticket or not. I don't care.<br /><br />11/20/90<br />Decent training past two weeks. Generally out-scoring Hogan, dominating Pablo, and going about even with Zaputil. He's still out-scoring me on TDs, and I'm still out-scoring him on back points.<br /><br />Today I wrestled two live matches with Griffin: lost the first 1-17, and won the second 6-0. I got behind 2-0 in first match, chose up in 2nd period hoping to turn him and got reversed and turned. 3rd period was up and got reversed again from riding too high--more desperation moves, got turned again. 2nd match I got TD and a 2-point tilt, chose down in 2nd period, then got another 2-point tilt in the 3rd and rode him out.<br /><br />Key to both Griffin and Zaputil is scoring first TD. <br /><br />Weight cutting and drilling the rest of the week, Northern Open this weekend.<br /><br />11/23/90<br />It's the day after Thankgiving. I've got a lot to be thankful for. I think my best wrestling matches potentially are ahead of me. I don't have a great shot at making the Olympic team, but I do believe that Zeke Jones is beatable, as are all the guys at 114.5.<br /><br />Jen and I are driving up to Madison, Wisconsin this evening for the Northern Open. I weighed in today (122). It wasn't quite as rough as 119 last week at Sunkist, and not nearly as painful as 114.5 at Nationals, but I can't say it was an enjoyable experience either.<br /><br />I've wrestled at the Northern Open three times and I have yet to place. Last year I lost 7-3 to Mark Schwab and 4-3 to Steve Martin. It was the only tourney I didn't place at last year. Already this year I failed to place at Sunkist, at which I took 3rd last year.<br /><br />11/26/90<br />F---.<br /><br />I've had a bad couple of days. Saturday I went 2-2 at the Northern Open. I won my first two matches by major and tech, then lost in the quarterfinals to Eric Akin from Iowa State, 3-2. I just stood around too much, didn't push the action.<br /><br />Then in the consolations I lost 1-0 to some guy from Eastern Illinois whom I beat 18-7 in the first round. Again, just standing around like it was a warm-up match, no urgency. I was already looking ahead to the medal rounds, just assuming some points would magically appear on the board for me, and suddenly he was out for 1 point in the 3rd period, I couldn't score a TD, the match was over, and I was out of the tournament.<br /><br />Zaputil beat Akin in the finals, 11-4. Bruhl took 5th. This brings my season record to 3-4, my worst start since my first season here.<br /><br />I had a chance to win that stupid tourney, and I pissed it away. Now Gable won't talk to me and Lee Roy Smith (World Team coach) says everybody on the Hakweye Club can attend the Colorado training camp in January except me. I feel like s---.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-18120680723601497821990-10-31T17:41:00.000-08:002010-02-04T18:51:14.038-08:00Oct 1990: Gearing up for Sunkist<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUSAT6QCYmqwi9F2_7qSZV9JSjRVMNNmlFrYUuG6ABsuMZPXb4Hvx-g5hjftFTwLQg-Pk5Me1G5gsPBP-HvliEdLVl7OTZxQGwXoZTn_7S4sThHc2lyC5e-lD6Hx17Yo-lbVQPBMEaL4/s1600-h/1990-91+HWC+Preview.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhUSAT6QCYmqwi9F2_7qSZV9JSjRVMNNmlFrYUuG6ABsuMZPXb4Hvx-g5hjftFTwLQg-Pk5Me1G5gsPBP-HvliEdLVl7OTZxQGwXoZTn_7S4sThHc2lyC5e-lD6Hx17Yo-lbVQPBMEaL4/s400/1990-91+HWC+Preview.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328636910639665570" /></a><br /><br />10/12/90<br />Pretty good week of live wrestling with Griffin, Zaputil, and Martin. I went not quite 50-50 with Griffin; I am stronger but he is slicker, and I need to pressure him more.<br /><br />I went about even with Zaputil; he has improved on the feet, and generally beats me on takedowns. I have the advantage on the mat, so the key is to get at least one takedown, then score on turns.<br /><br />I still have trouble with Martin; sometimes I go even with him, but other times he just seems to win the scrambles.<br /><br />10/17/90<br />I'm sitting outside the arena. It's getting cooler, too cool to drive my MGA in the mornings. The colors are changing. But it's kind of nice at the moment: blue sky, sun just beginning to make shadows.<br /><br />My classes are going generally well, although I did crappy on a test today. After this semester I'll already have 27 of my 62 necessary credits to get an MBA. I could possibly get my MBA by June of '92.<br /><br />I'm starting my push to get down to 119 for Sunkist. Three weeks away.<br /><br />10/26/90<br />Another pretty good training week. I went live this week with Bruhl, Pablo Ubasa, and Hogan and did well against all; nice to have so much variety in the room.<br /><br />I did better than 50% against Bruhl, but I need more shots, more movement, more pressure, more force. I pretty much dominated Pablo Ubasa, but I need to maintain intensity and movement, don't relax. I beat Hogan solidly, but I got caught on several of his singles and got snapped and turned on my single-leg shot on final go.<br /><br />I'm weighing out in the mid-high 120s, which is good--staying within 8-9 pounds of Sunkist weight and feeling okay.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-65062188341780587341990-09-30T17:41:00.000-07:002010-02-04T18:36:24.556-08:00Sep 1990: Married9/15/90<br />Jenny and I got married today. The ceremony was at the Stanley Hotel, in Estes Park, Colorado. It was short and sweet--married by a judge. Just our families are here, which is how we wanted it.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRtmcm0lEpV13a68k9OfesxOaYkRVqyrZlKNNy4vvwlaBmK9SPMOPJA8u7SHlv_lhcCkzLu6uXfxYuQac4cnETjuU84ltwNUBNlzw7FsdAsukpHbgRTIBWjtXdicQ5AXzSM4SMAspP2o/s1600-h/1990-91+Pre-Season+Gable+Memo.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRtmcm0lEpV13a68k9OfesxOaYkRVqyrZlKNNy4vvwlaBmK9SPMOPJA8u7SHlv_lhcCkzLu6uXfxYuQac4cnETjuU84ltwNUBNlzw7FsdAsukpHbgRTIBWjtXdicQ5AXzSM4SMAspP2o/s400/1990-91+Pre-Season+Gable+Memo.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328637193100114322" /></a><br /><br />9/17/90<br />Gable's pre-season memo to the team this year is all about bringing the NCAA championship back to Iowa. We haven't won the team championship since '86. Okie State has won it twice in a row, and they'll be ranked #1. We have to take back the momentum.<br /><br />Gable talked about the importance of intensity, dominating your opponent, instilling fear in your opponent.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYNgI-9bUjMR-XUDWmQCtX4zYEvAAYRqKGuMM3dna22g_6TJGK4BO4-m1K_OUwUzcCL3KO3GLG_KDwHeAhyphenhyphenaad8nPYBpkis1ookDRx8egGHC1XP6xtG6vNm_1AFxa_a2mzaOW7hlO11A/s1600-h/1990-91+Pre-Season+Gable+Memo+2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzYNgI-9bUjMR-XUDWmQCtX4zYEvAAYRqKGuMM3dna22g_6TJGK4BO4-m1K_OUwUzcCL3KO3GLG_KDwHeAhyphenhyphenaad8nPYBpkis1ookDRx8egGHC1XP6xtG6vNm_1AFxa_a2mzaOW7hlO11A/s400/1990-91+Pre-Season+Gable+Memo+2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328637347812446354" /></a><br /><br />We've got 6 returning All-Americans, including 2 champs (Tom and Terry). The NCAA meet will be in Iowa City.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4zbLr6gFCRPRvf2VMlV9bw7EkVau5kN7bQjOXPCVZ6ZnMYAHW-Beqf3TKhegKJYj3N-nOUSxHSMw_q199Ty5rxPJAkaNYF9fHOOhAxK-RTboixNCU0dsTkcUdTuSslqo5Mv4ZBvSMAAQ/s1600-h/1990-91+Wrestlers.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4zbLr6gFCRPRvf2VMlV9bw7EkVau5kN7bQjOXPCVZ6ZnMYAHW-Beqf3TKhegKJYj3N-nOUSxHSMw_q199Ty5rxPJAkaNYF9fHOOhAxK-RTboixNCU0dsTkcUdTuSslqo5Mv4ZBvSMAAQ/s400/1990-91+Wrestlers.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328638129754091122" /></a><br /><br />There are several new freshmen in the room. Kevin Hogan and Eric Ehlen are both new 118 pounders, both from Iowa, and both have good skills: Hogan is a 2x state champ; Ehlen is a 3x. Hogan is the tougher of the two right now, but I'm impressed with Ehlen's basic skills--he always stays in good position. He just needs to develop more toughness. Hogan is a little lankier and more open in his stance, but he's also a little funkier, like Penrith, and better in scrambles.<br /><br />As always, we have a schedule to adhere to but it is largely unstructured, unsupervised until the offical team practices begin in late October.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8JYas7-H_VKYiQhyphenhyphenTcXo_9UFcdD-dbPLg1bg_YAPhdjzoMMWYlmaBPmAr9fFUCZQmDx7lVKD9zuskcCY2BSYbxxZkvla358O-RgFa1nesBD2uxwrR3eNn6MtKjOlWDlOnLtREZx-DT-c/s1600-h/1990-91+Coaches+and+HWC.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8JYas7-H_VKYiQhyphenhyphenTcXo_9UFcdD-dbPLg1bg_YAPhdjzoMMWYlmaBPmAr9fFUCZQmDx7lVKD9zuskcCY2BSYbxxZkvla358O-RgFa1nesBD2uxwrR3eNn6MtKjOlWDlOnLtREZx-DT-c/s400/1990-91+Coaches+and+HWC.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328638653638282306" /></a>Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-86294040450081089271990-08-30T17:40:00.000-07:002010-02-04T18:34:49.517-08:00Aug 1990: Masters degree8/1/90<br />I'm in bed at our new condo. It's okay--kind of an expensive thrill. We closed the deal and moved in today. I'm frightened by how much stuff we own. Okay, how much stuff Jenny owns.<br /><br />I might go wrestle at the Olympic Training Camp again for a week if I can. Then fall semester starts, then the wedding, then wrestling season.<br /><br />8/5/90<br />I graduated on Friday. I now have a Masters degree in History from the University of Iowa.<br /><br />Cool.<br /><br />I was thinking, you know, this is not like winning the Nobel Prize, but it's an accomplishment. Getting a degree from Harvard or Yale must be a great rush, like placing at Nationals or something. Just to know that you're up there with the lead pack, running with the top dogs. I don't care what anybody says, I'd put four years of work into a Harvard or Yale degree for the 30-minute thrill of getting the diploma.<br /><br />8/6/90<br />I wrestled hard today for the first time in probably two weeks. I went with Kennevan. He hadn't wrestled in awhile either, so we looked like two old men. My knee felt okay, but it's just not the same. I've done something to it, and it's just not like it used to be. Hell, it's been over 3 months, and I can't even run on it. <br /><br />Man, this summer was really crazy. Next summer I'd like to work several camps, maybe with Barry. For now I need to start gearing up for the Sunkist tourney. I'd like to win that this year.<br /><br />8/29/90<br />Fall session has begun. I'm taking four classes, but two are electives, including Fiction Writing. I like the MBA program. The orientation was kind of fun. It's--well, you know, it's not Harvard, but...it'll do in a pinch.<br /><br />The MGA's not ready yet. We tried to put the new engine in and the clutch pressure plate doesn't fit. Maybe by the weekend. Hopefully I'll still get in a few drives with the top down before I have to put it into storage for the winter.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-42098270708423534421990-07-30T17:40:00.000-07:002011-08-05T20:58:02.530-07:00July 1990: Jack Griffin is here7/1/90<br />Jack Griffin is training with the Hawkeye Wrestling Club this year. He was this year's NCAA champ at 118 for Northwestern, just graduated and moved here. He'll be competing at 114.5, like me. That's good. More competition in the room. With Penrith gone now, having Griffin here will help me a lot.<br /><br />I don't view him as competition even though we're both at the same weight. I think it's because he's already better than me--so there's only upside for me. He will make me better.<br /><br />7/20/09<br />I blew the engine in the MGA yesterday driving back from Jen's parents' house in Illinois. I got it towed back to Iowa City. I put it on a credit card. I don't know how much it will cost to get a new engine.<br /><br />Let me bitch a little more: my kneee is still f---ed up and my wrestling is falling way behind.<br /><br />7/5/90<br />I got the second lowest grade in the class on my Managerial Finance midterm--a 59. I'm bombing Macroeconomics. I don't understand Aggregate Demand curves, Aggregate Supply curves, IS curves, or LM curves. I'm taking about 50% of this crap in and the other 50% is zipping past me.<br /><br />I'm just getting stressed. I'm stretching myself too thin this summer.<br /><br />7/7/90<br />Bruhl just took second at Espoir nationals (age 20 and under) at 125.5. Good to see him doing well. Bove from Penn State, whom I beat in the first round at nationals three months ago, won it at 114.5.<br /><br />7/9/90<br />Hoegh (trainer) got me a knee brace that's pretty solid, so I've started wrestling live. I drilled hard with Barry and Jack Griffin last week.<br /><br />I went live with Pablo Ubasa once last week and once today. We went about even last week--well, I was probably 75%, but there were long stretches of no points. Today I beat him good--he got a couple of takedowns, but I scored mega-backpoints.<br /><br />Taking the break from wrestling didn't really re-energize me. I feel like all my attention immediately got sucked up by other things. I didn't miss wrestling like I did when I took short breaks in years past.<br /><br />If nothing else great happens to me in wrestling from here on out, I won't be crushed. I know I can do better than 8th. I think I can be top 3. I'll be ready for a change, though. For example, I'd really like to have one last shot at getting a college degree from an Ivy League school.<br /><br />Why? Just to do it. I just think it would be cool. My GMAT score was in the 94th percentile. Maybe I could get into business school at Harvard or Yale or Cornell. You never know.<br /><br />I just...I don't want to be a wrestling coach. My future is not in wrestling. I need to think about what's next. It sounds weird to say that, having been so focused on it for the past three years.<br /><br />7/17/90<br />My Uncle Norman died yesterday. He had a heart attack while he was jogging. He was in his early 50s.<br /><br />This whole death thing reall bugs me. Your life can be so happy, and at any moment you or someone you love can just be snuffed out. It almost takes the fun out of being happy. It's like you can never feel completely happy. It's all just a temporary illusion that sooner or later will come to an end.<br /><br />Maybe we should just be gloomy and depressed all the time. But, you know, that doesn't seem to solve anything either. Everybody dies. Everybody who's here now won't be around in a hundred years.<br /><br />I'm just not ready to die. I have too many bills.<br /><br />I'm too happy. I'm having too much fun. Does that jinx it? Should I stop having so much fun? Try to have more fun? Stop loving people? Love people more?<br /><br />My knee is sore from trying to run on it yesterday, and we have a red flag practice at the field house today at 4.<br /><br />7/18/90<br />I wrestled with Griffin today in the red flag practice. He out-scored me, but it was a good workout. I wrestled with the brace. It's not limiting my movement, but I am still favoring the knee a little. I tend not to put full weight on it to push off, if I have a choice. I need to feel more confident about it.<br /><br />Griffin is slick. He doesn't have a concrete ass like Martin, but he's slicker, quicker. Martin could score by getting in on a single and just staying with it. Griffin hits a slideby and he's behind you.<br /><br />7/21/90<br />I'm getting married in a few weeks. A few weeks...jeeze. Am I feeling pressured? No, not really. Nothing at all like freestyle nationals this year--I really felt the pressure there. I knew it was a major event in my life, and I had to just not think about the magnitude of it, just stay focused.<br /><br />Maybe that's what I'm doing now.<br /><br />We should find out about the condo in the next few days. I will be extremely happy when all of this is finally worked out. The condo, the car situation, summer session, the wedding, healing my knee. I took on too much this summer.<br /><br />7/27/90<br />I'm at a Little Caesars Pizza in Dubuque. I just gave a wrestling clinic at Wahlert High School here--I made $100. I enjoyed it. I was happy to be asked.<br /><br />I'm not going to wrestle at Iowa Games this year. My graduation (History MA) is the day before, and Jenny's parents will be here, and we'll be in our new condo (we got the loan). I would like to have it as a tune-up for Sunkist, especially since I haven't been able to wrestle as much this summer. But it is not going to happen.<br /><br />7/30/90<br />Jenny and I are arguing about whether we should go to church when we get married. She says we should go because it's the accepted thing to do, her mom would be offended if we didn't, it instills morals in children, and it makes us closer as a family.<br /><br />I don't care about being accepted into society. As for her mom, let's lie to her and tell her we go. As for morals, who made the First Congregational Church the moral authority? Are we incapable of instilling moral values into our kids? And as for making us closer as a family, let's go ride the rollercoasters at Great America instead.<br /><br />Thanks for listening patiently. We'll keep this conversation just between us, okay?<br /><br />I'm wrestling with Barry in five minutes.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-2967150398376749711990-06-30T17:27:00.000-07:002010-02-04T13:52:14.204-08:00June 1990: Dissed by Gable<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SPNqFB2sIq4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SPNqFB2sIq4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />6/15/90<br />I made a couple of instructional wrestling videos with Barry. We're going to advertise them in Amateur Wrestling News and sell them via mail. They turned out pretty good, but you can tell when you watch them that my knee is still tender, as I'm favoring it.<br /><br />6/21/90<br />Gable's been dissing me lately; not sure if intentionally or not.<br /><br />At the wrestling banquet a few weeks ago Gable publicly acknowledged all of the freestyle Nationals placewinners--except me.<br /><br />When I reminded him afterwards that I'd placed 8th at Nationals, he said he'd just forgotten because I was out of the tournament by the time he got there on the second day.<br /><br />Yesterday, when I gave him my season record and comment sheet, he said, "You didn't have that good of a record, did you?" (I thought 32-8 was pretty good for a guy who was 19-12 last year and 15-20 the year before that.)<br /><br />So is it a psychological move on his part to make me less complacent? Does he think I'm getting too big a head? Or does he have other things on his mind and it has nothing to do with me?<br /><br />I've got a camp session to teach in 15 minutes so I've gotta run.<br /><br />6/23/90<br />I bought a 1960 MGA convertible today. It's very cool. Two seater, red with tan interior. New tan canvas top. No door handles and no roll-up windows. You open the doors by reaching inside and pulling up on a lever; you can't lock the. You manually hook the windows in with the top when the weather is bad. The engine is small but has a cool little rumble. It smells like an old car. Now I have to sell my 280ZX, because I can't afford both.<br /><br />Summer session is in full swing. I was admitted to the MBA program so I'm done with the History MA--just have to do a written exam and oral defense in a couple of weeks and I'll graduate in August. I'm taking three business classes this summer, and I'm falling behind. I haven't even picked up the Macroeconomics book yet.<br /><br />Jenny is living with me and Hruska and his little brother Chris while we're waiting to hear from the bank about getting a loan on a condo in Coralville. I'll be happy to have a place of our own.<br /><br />My knee is still tender. I'm drilling and teaching summer camps, but not going hard yet. Hopefully just one more week.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-61488203422265942761990-05-31T16:37:00.000-07:002010-02-04T13:49:42.553-08:00May 1990: One more season?5/1/90<br />I'm going to take a 4-week break from wrestling to let my knee fully heal, or at least as much as it can. Hoegh (the trainer) says the ligament may be completely torn, in which case I can either get surgery, which takes 6 months to heal, or just put a knee brace on it and hope for the best.<br /><br />So I'm opting for the latter. I'm probably only going to wrestle one more season anyway. I can't afford to sit out six months.<br /><br />5/3/90<br />Steve Martin won the award at this year's wrestling banquet for highest GPA on the team: a 2.83! The best student on the wrestling team couldn't sustain a B average? How pathetic is that?<br /><br />I shouldn't laugh until I get my spring grades back. I'm feeling slightly anti-intellectual anyway after attending a grad history meeting the other night.<br /><br />Everyone was prattling on about Kuhnian paradigm shifts, and whether the Puritan ethos was quantifiable. I had to interrupt once to ask what "Whiggish" meant. (It has something to do with interpreting the history of science through the lens of celebratory optimism, like Carl Sagan.)<br /><br />Ouch. Carl Sagan is my hero.<br /><br />This may sound Whiggish, but I don't care about Kuhnian paradigms. To me that sounds like a birth control device. I just want to know who Copernicus was, who Galileo was, who Newton and Darwin and Einstein were, and if it takes more than ten minutes, stop.<br /><br />5/15/90<br />Jenny got transferred from Dubuque to Iowa City, starting in two weeks. That's good news. We're looking at condos in Coralville.<br /><br />5/30/90<br />Just got back from a week in Colorado with Jenny. We checked out the hotel in Estes Park where we're going to have our wedding in September. Then we drove down to Durango and spent a few days with my mom and dad and Grandmother Tarpley. We went river rafting, we went to Mesa Verde, and we took my family's cocker spaniel Daisy for car rides.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-79113362306504798511990-04-30T17:56:00.000-07:002010-02-04T13:47:51.178-08:00Apr 1990: Freestyle All-American<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_NrMiY1DQwdvcNfxbhNa_oIpw4DmaMZhMUpsvJ606meGQEn_jTmOSQcZo6aEWbpd2ipnd5jO8a9BZERqyS5sLwbGiVI-a5yP8xexMpUwnFuKNE3AUAjJ1iIXIrkq3qn2x4_LSdToOCV4/s1600-h/1990+Nationals+recap.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 321px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_NrMiY1DQwdvcNfxbhNa_oIpw4DmaMZhMUpsvJ606meGQEn_jTmOSQcZo6aEWbpd2ipnd5jO8a9BZERqyS5sLwbGiVI-a5yP8xexMpUwnFuKNE3AUAjJ1iIXIrkq3qn2x4_LSdToOCV4/s400/1990+Nationals+recap.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321005446604529602" /></a><br />4/2/90<br />I won the Tri-State Open freestyle tournament in Ft. Madison last weekend. I wrestled at 125.5. It was scratch weight, and I wasn't quite ready to make 114.5 again yet. I tech-falled all 3 of my opponents. I think they were all from Division III schools--Augustana, I don't remember the other two.<br /><br />That was my final tournament before freestyle Nationals. It felt good to win. I've won 2 tournaments in a row. I'm 30-8 on the season.<br /><br />4/8/90<br />I'm in a bad mood. I'd be in a better mood if I'd weighed out at 123 tonight and had beaten Zaputil handily, and a few other things. I weighed out at 129.3, Zaputil beat me handily, Jenny and I are arguing, I'm sick of my roommate Mike, I'm sick of living in this pit of an apartment, I'm sick of this stupid f---ing town, I'm sick of graduate history classes, I'm sick of the wrestlers, I'm sick of wrestling.<br /><br />Jenny wants a normal life. I want an extraordinary life. I don't even know what that means. I don't know what I want.<br /><br />I know what I don't want:<br /><br />I don't want to live in suburban Cleveland and have a mustache and sell stereos at Best Buy. I don't want my house cluttered with garage sale bric-a-brac, with ceramic figurines and antique dolls and those stupid arts-and-crafts cloth rabbits with the ears that don't stand up.<br /><br />I don't want refrigerator magnets shaped like fruit, and I don't want a kitchen memo board that says "Bless This Mess," or a hot plate that says "May the Road Rise to Meet You" (whatever the f--- that means). I don't ever want to get so comfortable or complacent that I have to sigh and say, "This is it--the best I can do now is keep the lawn mowed."<br /><br />I don't want a normal life.<br /><br />Why couldn't I score a f---ing takedown on Zaputil?<br /><br />4/16/90<br />It's Monday. I have to weigh 114.5 by Wednesday evening. I weighed out tonight at 123.5.<br /><br />Tomorrow morning I will jump rope in the sauna with Barry to get down to 121.5, then replace a half pound of water. In the afternoon I will mop the mats, and bike/run in plastics to get down to 120.<br /><br />Tomorrow evening I will fly to Vegas, then go for a 3-mile run, to get down to 119.5, replace a half pound of water and be 120 at bedtime.<br /><br />Wednesday I will get up weighing about 119, run another 3 miles in plastics to get to 116.5, suck on an ice cube, take a nap and try not to think about anything. Then at 4 I will do one more run in the plastics and do whatever is necessary to make weight at 114.5.<br /><br />Then I will wrestle. <br /> <br />4/20/90<br />I'm in Vegas for Nationals. I placed 8th at 114.5.<br /><br />If you wonder why I'm not more excited about it, it's because I could've done better. I got hurt in the second round. I only made it to the final four in my pool by luck of the draw.<br /><br />I beat Bove from Penn State/NYAC in the first round, something like 9-4. It was fairly close on the feet, but I beat him on turns, led from start to finish and didn't gas. I was concerned that the cut might affect my conditioning.<br /><br />In the second round I wrestled a guy named Thamvonessa from the Marine Corps. I blew out my knee about a minute into the match. I was winning 1-0 at the time, and I knew I had to win in order to place, so I decided to continue. He got two throws in a row to my back, because I was having trouble defending with one knee, and I was down 6-1. I was able to kind of crawl in and grab a leg and get a takedown, and once I was on top I was able to turn him multiple times. I ended up winning 11-7 with a combination of one-legged, awkward, reaching shots, good turns on top, and a little bit of stalling the last 45 seconds.<br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vh6U_vjXpn0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vh6U_vjXpn0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I injury defaulted to Pete Gonzales of Foxcatcher in the third round, which left me 5th in my pool, then cut 8 pounds to make the next weigh-in without being able to run, for the slim possibility that I might somehow be able to get a break. I got a break. Jim Fussell from Syracyse didn't make weight, which left me fourth in my pool with only 1 loss. So I injury defaulted to Folkins from Minnesota/Gopher WC this morning, and again to Burke Tyree from UNI/Foxcatcher in the 7th place match to take 8th place.<br /><br />I would've wrestled with one leg again if I had to. I don't think I could've beaten any of those guys with one leg though. Gonzales was cutting a lot of weight, and he was pissed at me for injury defaulting without giving him a heads up, because he was counting on breaking a sweat during the match and losing some weight. I don't think he realized that I did it on purpose, because I was hoping he wouldn't make weight.<br /><br />Without the injury I think I would've had a good shot against him, and Folkins, and Tyree, and probably Range too. I could've placed as high as 4th at this tournament. <br /><br />So: anti-climactic to say the least. A bad break, a couple of good breaks, and...it's not the way I wanted to do it, but I did it. <br /><br />Final standings at 114.5:<br /><br />1st: Zeke Jones (Sunkist)<br />2nd: Ed Giese (Wildcat WC)<br />3rd: Doug Harper (Michigan WC)<br />4th: Eric Folkins (Gopher WC)<br />5th: David Range (NYAC)<br />6th: Pete Gonzales (Foxcatcher)<br />7th: Burke Tyree (Foxcatcher)<br />8th: Todd Tarpley (Hawkeye Club)<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFjoi5urOyWsnvv0GW4PwMa156v_oSJ3Uw56dSHBAZaf2F6Ir9MYtD37mahWBhM5oZSJ13taFGHGH1D1pX-y_MZpf5KM5aH8ExJbHBU0AZlMBbCKqoxEWWkjAqH_5xuT2WsAZjfFaq44/s1600-h/1990+Nationals+Results.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyFjoi5urOyWsnvv0GW4PwMa156v_oSJ3Uw56dSHBAZaf2F6Ir9MYtD37mahWBhM5oZSJ13taFGHGH1D1pX-y_MZpf5KM5aH8ExJbHBU0AZlMBbCKqoxEWWkjAqH_5xuT2WsAZjfFaq44/s400/1990+Nationals+Results.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325913512574493186" /></a>Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-89514883703025752081990-03-31T21:23:00.000-08:002010-02-04T13:43:40.325-08:00Mar 1990: Making 114.5<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Krrq2N7GzfIOTI7MExpXUkj5gim9D7vTsNaJ6xQb3gWznfrbcRE9wrOh6kNcywY-n2Oz_JPT519d4YVDmecrOsOt-4BEwuQ8OYxNfmYyIZUll8Dt2YUFUXF4xyJlg7gvn_jWVS-12vY/s1600-h/1991+Mar-Apr+Training+Sched.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 311px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2Krrq2N7GzfIOTI7MExpXUkj5gim9D7vTsNaJ6xQb3gWznfrbcRE9wrOh6kNcywY-n2Oz_JPT519d4YVDmecrOsOt-4BEwuQ8OYxNfmYyIZUll8Dt2YUFUXF4xyJlg7gvn_jWVS-12vY/s400/1991+Mar-Apr+Training+Sched.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329226769238100098" /></a><br /><br />3/5/90<br />Gable made an 8-week training calendar for me from now through freestyle Nationals to help me stay on pace, get my weight down, and peak physically at the right time. Next two weeks will be training with the NCAA team, longer workouts, working on controlling my caloric intake. My weight needs to be stabilized by early April so that being near 114.5 feels "almost normal," according to Gable. (I don't think that being 114.5 will ever feel normal.) Weeks 4-6 should be the most intense, then tapering off in weeks 7-8 leading up to Nationals.<br /><br />3/22/90<br />I'm in College Park, Maryland, for the NCAA championships. It's enjoyable so far, but a lot of these wrestlers get on my nerves very quickly, chief among them Royce and Lewis and Melchiore.<br /><br />Steve Martin is out of the tournament. He went 0-2. Horrible showing, and we needed his points to win. He was seeded 8th after being ranked in the top 5 most of the season (and placing 7th last year). Just kind of faded. For all the bad things I say about him, this is not how I wanted to see him go out.<br /><br />Everyone else is still in the championship bracket (final 8). It's still real close but probably a 3-team race (ASU, OSU, Iowa). Tomorrow's quarterfinal round will be very important.<br /><br />I wrestled hard with Barry today and didn't wrestle well. Or yesterday, for that matter. I'm still just sort of on the periphery. I don't know if I can place at 114.5 this year. I don't know if my offense is good enough, or my defense, for that matter. I've got about four weeks left to prepare. I blew it with my diet last week. I've been doing better this week, but I'm way behind. I've got to make a 17-18-pound cut next week for another freestyle tournament in Michigan. I really do need to get down there and wrestle at scratch.<br /><br />3/25/90<br />Iowa took third at NCAAs, behind Okie State and ASU. Three finalists, 6 All-Americans, over 100 points, which is usually enough to win it, but Okie State and ASU were tough. Credit to them.<br /><br />118: Martin (did not place)<br />126: Terry Brands (1st)<br />134: Tom Brands (1st)<br />142: Troy Steiner (5th)<br />150: Doug Streicher (6th)<br />167: Bart Chelesvig (3rd)<br />190: Brooks Simpson (2nd)<br />Hwt: John Oostendorp (did not place)<br /><br />Great to see Terry and Tom win it--Iowa's first champs in a couple years, and they're just sophomores. Everyone wrestled to seed or higher except Rat Martin and Oostendorp. Had they wrestled to seed we would've won it by a point or two.<br /><br />3/29/90<br />I've been doing 2-3 practices a day this week to get down to 114.5 for Michigan. Weigh-in is tomorrow. I've been doing sauna/jump rope sessions every morning with Barry, then live wrestling in the afternoons, and sometimes another sauna session in the evening. I'm probably 126 now, need to go out at 121. Then tonight I need to do another sauna session and get down to 120. Tomorrow I need to get down to 117.5 mopping mats in plastics and sitting in sauna. I can cut another 1.5 running upstairs around the arena in plastics, then another pound in the sauna. And the last half pound will be by the grace of God.<br /><br />3/31/90<br />Wel, I f---ing did it.<br /><br />I made 114.5.<br /><br />I cut 14 pounds in 3 days--5.5 the final day when I didn't have a f---ing ounce of water left in my entire body and couldn't will myself to sweat for a million bucks.<br /><br />The last 24 hours were basically shuffling ahead one foot at a time trying to remain upright without keeling over. I hadn't been below 118 since my junior year in high school, 11 years ago.<br /><br />But I made it.<br /><br />When I got to Michigan for the tournament this morning, there was nobody at 114.5. <br /><br />So I wrestled at 125.5. And I won. I beat a 2-time NCAA Div III All-American named Scott Marvin in the finals by a few points. He was pissed off at the end of the match when he shook my hand. And I was thinking, "F--- you if you thought you were going to beat me."<br /><br />Since I technically won both weight classes, I got two medals to give to my two little nieces.<br /><br />I'm feeling good about freestyle Nationals again. Now I know it's physically possible to make 114.5 and still wrestle fairly well.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-79939810160393494801990-02-28T20:22:00.000-08:002011-08-05T19:58:01.820-07:00Feb 1990: My grandfather's legacy2/6/90<br />I had a crappy weekend. I took 5th at Michigan Open freestyle and 2nd at Grand Valley State Open. I lost 3 matches. I just felt very small up at 127/129.5, especially since it's about 7 pounds above what I've been competing at for the first few months of the season. It makes a big difference. I'm not as strong physically at that weight as I used to be.<br /><br />I'm 24-8 for the season. I need to wrestle at least one tourney at 114.5 prior to freestyle Nationals, to get down to the weight. I'm pissed at myself for not getting down for this weekend, especially since there were a few pounds allowance. No excuse for that.<br /><br />I'm too big for 114.5 and too small for 125.5, but I've chosen this horse, and it's too late to change it mid-stream. I've got to do what I need to do to get down there. I haven't been below 119 yet, and I've just got to do it. I could be competitive at 125 if I were bulked up and walking around at 140, but I'm walking around at 133. I can be competitive at 114.5. All my losses at the lower weight were to top guys (Purler, Schwab, Martin), and two of those were 1-point matches.<br /><br />I've got to place at freestyle Nationals this year, and 114.5 is my best shot. I've just got to get down.<br /><br />2/11/90<br />The collegiate team tied Arizona State 19-19 on Friday night, then lost to Okie Stae tonight 19-18. It's going to be a 3-horse race at NCAAs.<br /><br />2/18/90<br />Jenny and I are in Tulsa for the weekend. My grandfather Needham is having heart surgery in a couple days, so we wanted to come see him. My parents are here too.<br /><br />Last night after everyone else went to bed, I went into the living room and talked to Grandad while I stretched on the floor. We taked about sports and his heart problems and his upcoming surgery. He said his doctor had performed four similar operations in the past year, and all were successful.<br /><br />I asked him if he was scared, and he said he knew it was a serious operation, but that he thought it was important for him not to be tense about it, that he thought it was important to have the will to live.<br /><br />This morning we went to church at Boston Avenue Methodist Church, where I went to church when I was a little kid. I go to church so seldom that I tend to get teary eyed every time I do go, because it reminds me of my childhood with my grandparents. Jenny sat between me and my dad. He likes her a lot.<br /><br />2/20/90<br />Grandad Needham died today. Mom just called and told me. He made it through the surgery, but when they tried to take him off the machine and re-start his heart they couldn't. End of story.<br /><br />2/21/90<br />I've been thinking about Grandad Needham all day today. The trip to Tulsa seems like a mirage, like something that took place months ago, instead of hours ago. I replay the whole scenario over and over in my head--what we did, what we said. What could anyone have done to make him live longer? What could I have said or done to make it more meaningful, or--whatever? To make it last longer? To keep him in the present instead of becoming a memory? I guess I wish I could've stayed there for the operation, watched him go to sleep, watch them cut him open and replace the valve, watch his heart fail and the monitors go flat. Just to make it real somehow, to keep it in the present tense.<br /><br />I just want to freeze-frame the time we spent with him. I want it to be now, to be part of the present again like it was a few hours ago, instead of fading and fading and fading until it's just a third-person account, a distant memory.<br /><br />Jenny slept over last night, and I kept waking up. About 2:30 in the morning I had a dream that she had died, and I woke up and looked at her, and I was still kind of asleep and I thought she was really dead, that she had somehow broken her neck during the night and was dead.<br /><br /><br />2/24/90<br />It's important to live your life the right way, to know that sooner or later others will follow you, and the people who have raised you and shaped your life will eventually leave their shoes for you to fill. You will shape the lives of those who come after you, just as your life was shaped by those who came before you.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-84320572143358978501990-01-31T19:17:00.000-08:002010-02-04T13:31:28.942-08:00Jan 1990: Gable kicks two off team1/2/90<br />We're having two-a-day practices this week. I'm sore. This morning we ran the arena steps (up and down, all the way around), plus seven sprint laps and two buddy carries up the steps.<br /><br />I took 3rd at the Midwest Open last weekend. I lost to Mark Schwab in the semi-finals, 6-5, on a takedown at the buzzer. Very disappointing, as I had the damn match won. I had it won. But I beat Keith Ketchum from Oklahoma 5-2, 13th ranked Cale Sponsler from Iowa State 3-1, and Sean Watt from Iowa State 4-2. I need to work on a few things, and I will, but I'm a little burned out this week.<br /><br />I'm 17-5 for the season.<br /><br />I went live with Zaputil yesterday and went about even. He out-scored me on takedowns 4-1, but I out-scored him on near-falls 3-0.<br /><br />Jenny came down and spent New Years Eve with me. Things are going well for us.<br /><br />1/10/90<br />I'm home in bed. Nothing's going on. The NCAA team left for the Virginia Duals after practice today. I sprained my ankle today against Martin. It was the first time I'd wrestled him in awhile. I was doing okay, not great, and he was starting to come on. I did manage to whip him over and pin him once, which was fun.<br /><br />The team's records and NCAA rankings:<br /><br />118: Steve Martin (Sr, #5, 16-4-1); Zaputil (RSFr, 13-2); Tarpley (HWC, 17-5)<br />126: Terry Brands (So, #4, 18-3); Brad Bruhl (RSFr)<br />134: Tom Brands (So, #1, 21-1); Kent Streicher (Fr)<br />142: Troy Steiner (RSFr, #7, 18-1); Pierson (Jr, 7-1)<br />150: Doug Streicher (Jr, #7, 17-3); Terry Steiner (RSFr, 11-6)<br />158: Mark Reiland (So, #7, 15-5-1); Tom Ryan (So); Hruska (Sr)<br />167: Bart Chelesvig (So, #13, 16-4); Rich Catalano (Fr)<br />177: Pat Kelly (Fr, 11-9)<br />190: Brooks Simpson (Sr, #4, 19-2)<br />HWT: John Oostendorp (RSFr, #10, 21-1)<br /><br />1/13/90<br />Four Japanese wrestlers are here visiting and training for the week, so I'm the designated host and chauffer.<br /><br />The NCAA team beat Iowa State last week but lost to Oklahoma State today. We've got several guys in the middle and upper weights ranked in the top 15 but not the top 5, and we didn't match up well against Okie State.<br /><br />We have a shot at winning NCAAs this year, and it would be nice to get back on top after losing three years in a row. But it's still a pretty young team--seven of the starters are freshmen or sophomores. A lot will depend on how much they can step up over the next two months.<br /><br />1/26/90<br />I had a decent week but am still adjusting to wrestling in the room at under 130. Today I went live with Martin and scored about 75% in the first round, but couldn't keep up the pace. I scored with 2 firemans (1 to his back) but couldn't score with it again. Close on a lot of scrambles, but he always seemed to win them. I tired very quickly.<br /><br />1/28/90<br />I had a bad day today. I weighed in at 134.7, which was way too much, then wrestled only so-so against Bruhl and Kennevan. I decided I can't make 119 this weekend for two open tournaments in Michigan (one collegiate, one freestyle). So I'll have to go 127 on Saturday and 129.5 on Sunday. Getting out-muscled didn't help my confidence.<br /><br />Gable cleaned out Rick Novak's and Don Finch's lockers yesterday because Mourlam caught them drinking at Slammers (or Swingers or Batters or Hitters or whatever that bar is called). So many recruits from '86-'87 haven't panned out: Novak and Finch and Sherertz and Carpenter and Glenn and Hruska and Henneghan and Bubba Strauss. <br /><br />I hope Gable keeps Novak and Finch out, but I doubt if he will. They're not really hurting anybody, I guess, but they embody a partying mindset and they haven't performed well on the mat, and that's a bad combination. I think Gable is sending a message.<br /><br />You can't make everyone fit the same mold--Lewis and Alger are cases in point--but you can try to stack the deck a bit.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-64267263224989258341989-12-31T19:57:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:47:11.335-08:00Dec 1989: Loss to Martin12/1/89<br />I didn't place at the Northern Open last weekend at 118 (121 with weight allowance). I went 3-2. I won my first two matches, then lost in the quarter-finals to Mark Schwab from Northern Iowa, 7-3. He controlled the ties with an underhook and shot from there. It was hard to defend, and he was very strong for a 118-pounder, as strong as Purler. I won a match in consolations, then lost to Rat Martin, 4-3. I was up 2-1 in the 3rd period but he got an escape to tie, and a takedown to go up 4-2. I got an escape but but couldn't take him down.<br /><br />So I lost to 2 All-Americans. Nothing to be proud of, clearly, but I didn't wrestle badly. I'm 12-3 on the season. Still a good start.<br /><br />I hurt my shoulder a bit, and it's still hurting. I'm not going to wrestle at the UNI Open this weekend as a result.<br /><br />I need to get a couple of papers finished anyway. I got an A- on my Scientific Revolution midterm, but I don't know where I stand in that class, which is all grad students. I feel really stupid in the discussion groups. I'm like a "Jeopardy" contestant: I can fake my way through the first round on just about any topic, but when I actually have to converse for more than 5 minutes it becomes clear that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. <br /><br />12/5/89<br />Yesterday I weighed 136.2 before practice. I hadn't wrestled in over a week. I went about 80% against Zaputil and Kennevan. Not sure if it was because I had a few extra pounds on me, or if taking a mental break benefited me. I weighed out at 129.9, so I did lose a lot during practice. I've only got a couple of weeks to get ready for the NYAC Holiday Open, so not sure if I can get down to 119, especially with the travel.<br /><br />12/10/89<br />The top guys at 114.5 right now are probably:<br />1. Zeke Jones<br />2. Ed Woodburn<br />3. Ed Giese <br />4. Jack Griffin<br />5. Tony Purler<br />6-10. Dan Vidlak/Adam Derengowski/Burke Tyree/Keith Ketchum/Doug Harper<br /><br />I haven't beaten any of them yet, but I think I have a decent shot at several.<br /><br />12/19/89<br />Jenny and I have decided to get married in Colorado. I prefer that to her hometown, where a wedding reception at the bowling alley is considered ritzy. ("The bowling alley IS nice," says her mom.)<br /><br />I leave tomorrow for NY. I'll be at 130 for the tournament. I have no idea who will be there.<br /><br />12/22/89<br />I'm in NY. I took 2nd at the NYAC tournament earlier today. I got pinned by a guy from Penn State in the finals. I was winning 2-1 and lost on a defensive fall. It was a fluke. Well, I should've not let him trap my arm when he sat back. It was a little laziness on my part. I shook his hand after the match, but I was so pissed off that I went into a service hall and screamed obscenities and kicked the big plastic garbage can into the cement wall. Let them kick me out of their f---ing hoity toity athletic club. I want to wrestle that m------ f----- again. I will tear every f---ing limb from his f---ing body.<br /><br />12/27/89<br />Being in New York again was a little bit weird at first, but after a few hours I got used to it and it felt like just another day in my life, like I'd fallen asleep on the subway and dreamed about being in Iowa for two years, then woke up and continued on with my life in New York.<br /><br />I think part of the reason I was so upset about losing that match was because I wanted to come back and do well here, to prove that I've gotten better.<br /><br />I got back to Iowa a couple of days before Christmas, then drove to Illinois and spent Christmas with Jenny and her family. We got our engagement photos taken at JC Penney. It was very mid-America. It was nice coming home to Jennifer.<br /><br />I'm wrestling at the Midwest Championships at Drake this weekend instead of Midlands. The weight is 123 and it's a bit of a cut 3 days after Christmas. I came in at 134 this morning and weighed out tonight at 127.5. Then I drank a Diet Coke and ate a pear. I'm hoping to go in at 126.5 tomorrow morning, or maybe realistically 127. Weigh-ins are tomorrow afternoon.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-45997739670661068311989-11-30T19:44:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:44:01.008-08:00Nov 1989: Beating Vanni11/11/89<br />I took third at the Sunkist Open at 114.5. I'm in Phoenix right now.<br /><br />I weighed in Thursday at 119. The weight cutting was a real bitch, especially the last sweat on Thursday afternoon. I looked like a prison camp refugee, especially with my short haircut (figured it might shave another ounce or two).<br /><br />Friday was the first session. I won 19-3 and 7-0 in the afternoon session, then 8-4 in the evening session. Barry Davis wrestled 125.5 and won four (he barely won his second round, 11-10). C.T. Campbell was at 136.5 and went 1-2, so he went out. Chris Campbell won 3 or 4 at 198.<br /><br />Friday night weigh-ins weren't quite as bad as Thursday, but they weren't fun. I dropped probably 5-6 pounds.<br /><br />This morning I was in the round-robin in my pool. I won the first match 17-1, then lost to Tony Purler, 15-2 or 17-2 (I didn't check to see if he got the last turn). I just wrestled defensively, thinking I could cut the corner and crotch-lift and stuff. But he was too good from his feet--nice, low singles, elevating quickly, and he won every scramble. I scored a couple of points when I started shooting, but it was too little too late. All the other guys felt very small, but Purler felt big. I'll wrestle him differently next time.<br /><br />I beat Tim Vanni for 3rd place, 11-4. He was the Olympian at 105.5 last year, so he's obviously good, but he felt really small. I beat him on crotch-lifts and gut-wrenches.<br /><br />Barry is in the finals against Brad Gustafson tonight, and I think Chris Campbell is also in the finals.<br /><br />11/17/89<br />I asked Jenny to marry me. I didn't plan out very well what I was going to say, partially because I was cutting weight and not feeling particularly creative, and partially because I didn't want to think too much about it. More action, less talk.<br /><br />I gave her the ring box and she said, "What is it?"<br /><br />I said, "Open it and see."<br /><br />So she opened it, and there was the ring. I said, "...it's a ring." Pretty suave, huh?<br /><br />Then I said, "Will you marry me?" and she said "Yes."<br /><br />11/20/89<br />My roommate Hruska is ineligible for wrestling this semester. He kept dropping his hard classes every semester, so now he doesn't have enough credits to participate in varsity athletics. He wasn't in the starting line-up anyway--Tom Ryan and Mark Reiland both beat him. But still.<br /><br />I came home from spending the weekend with Jenny, and the apartment was a pigsty. There were bottles and trash all over the living room. The toilet paper roll in the bathroom was empty, and the new one--half-gone already--was on top of the toilet. There was a bowl full of dried-out, uneaten macaroni sitting on the kitchen table, along with a half-eaten bag of Doritos. All this since I left on Friday.<br /><br />This is a chilling argument in favor of limiting reproductive rights.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-63929656634660942791989-10-31T18:25:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:39:47.406-08:00Oct 1989: Temper tantrum10/1/89<br />I've had a rough couple of weeks in wrestling, and I'm trying not to worry too much about it, but I can't help it. It's important to me to place at Nationals, because I want to know that I can finish what I start.<br /><br />10/6/89<br />I'm feeling a bit disullusioned. About wrestling, about life.<br /><br />I've tried to live my life by ideals--that things mean something, that you do certain things not because they are practical and easy, but because they are not.<br /><br />But then, I don't know, you start to wonder if idealism really matters. Maybe life is just a bunch of strangers on a little blue rock out there at the edge of the galaxy, just swirling along for the ride, and it doesn't matter what we do or what we aspire to. Nothing matters.<br /><br />And if that's the case, well, that's not the end of the world or anything. You're not gonna go swallow a bottle of sleeping pills and drive your car off a cliff. (Which would be kind of redundant anyway, since you just swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills.)<br /><br />Maybe that's an argument for being more idealistic, not less. If everything is meaningless, it's up to me to decide what is meaningful.<br /><br />10/9/89<br />Saturday we had a practice in front of the fans before the Iowa football game. I wrestled with Zaputil and did really well. He had beaten me the last couple of times we wrestled. I was a little worried that my slump was going to continue indefinitely.<br /><br />My weight is okay. I was 132.5/129.4 on Saturday, but I ate quite a bit over the weekend. I was 135 this morning. I'm probably about the same now.<br /><br />10/16/89<br />I weighed in at 129 before practice and 126 afterwards. That's the lowest I've been after a practice this year.<br /><br />I almost bought Jenny a diamong ring on Friday. It was $399 at Younkers, marked down from $900. But I looked at it through the scope and it had a f---up. What do you call it? A lesion, a collusion, a delusion, a collision. Whatever the f--- you call it, it was flawed. I would rather give Jenny a tiny, flawless diamond than a big diamond with flaws, even if you can't see them with the naked eye. Yes, it's my idealism.<br /><br />10/20/89<br />I got beat by Zaputil yesterday in practice. We were 6-6, then he got about 10 points in a row. I got pissed off and threw a temper tantrum. I don't know why I get pissed off more than I used to. Gable talked to me about it today, but you know, I get the impression that he likes it as much as he dislikes it.<br /><br />Call it anything you want, but I'm not apologizing for it, because you don't know what it's like unless you've been there. I've put everything into coming here and succeeding. The more I've invested in it, the more important it has become to me, and now it's become a bit consuming. Being made a fool of by Zaputil in a matter of minutes made me go a little bonkers.<br /><br />I don't like to be frustrated, but I like the kick in the ass it gives me. It wipes the smirk off my face and gets me back to business.<br /><br />I forget sometimes what it's like to be driven. I get too complacent, I relax, I focus on other things, other people, then, boom, I get cracked over the head.<br /><br />I don't think life always has to be a constant, all-or-nothing, maniacal kamikaze dive. But sometimes it is. You can't be half-passionate about it and expect to win.<br /><br />I just wanted to score one takedown against the f---er to avenge myself--just one solid takedown to his back. But instead I got nailed to my back. I got my head driven into the mat and got spun behind. I got arm dragged. I got double legged. I got very, tired and very frustrated and all I wanted to do was to avenge myself with one f---ing takedown. Maybe if I were mentally tougher I would've handled it better. I really want to beat the s--- out of Zaputil. Zaputil and Martin. I want to beat the f---ing s--- out of both of them.<br /><br />10/24/89<br />I've been on the phone with Jenny for the past hour and a half. She got really upset with me tonight about the possibility of being transferred to Omaha. I told her I wasn't willing to give up wrestling to move to Omaha, and she said I don't love her enough.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-32218218144834783041989-09-30T17:09:00.000-07:002010-02-04T11:21:59.031-08:00Sep 1989: I'm going down to 114.5<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6I11TcTkXyUlKnn3OIBTYdVw_SbINsJzOX9-9hrNNCGsU2o5qeNyMkZ1WC2y2wTmLPlwA1YvqkkbpuZydK9uwrx9MESHTks9gzxIkvR7HMg35jYcJRw7pVjmxUV0fyFA6QHL_OiFfwA/s1600-h/1989+Weight+and+Body+Fat.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 395px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS6I11TcTkXyUlKnn3OIBTYdVw_SbINsJzOX9-9hrNNCGsU2o5qeNyMkZ1WC2y2wTmLPlwA1YvqkkbpuZydK9uwrx9MESHTks9gzxIkvR7HMg35jYcJRw7pVjmxUV0fyFA6QHL_OiFfwA/s400/1989+Weight+and+Body+Fat.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321000359652532002" /></a><br /><br />9/9/89<br />I'm in Dubuque today. I came up last night to be with Jenny. I can't wrestle because I f---ed up my shoulder in practice yesterday against Terry Brands.<br /><br />I'm planning on going 114.5 for the Sunkist Open next month. It's a 4.5-pound allowance, so I only have to make 119. I say "only" 119 like it's no big deal, but it's going to be a big cut for me. The lowest I've been here is 125.5, so it's an additional 6.5 pounds.<br /><br />If I go down for the full season, it looks like this:<br /><br />Sunkist: 114.5 + 4.5 = 119<br />Drake Open: 118 + 3 = 121<br />Northern Open: 118 + 3 = 121<br />UNI Open: 118 + 3 = 121<br />Midlands: 118 + 3 = 121<br />Florida Open: 114.5 + 4.5 = 119<br />Michigan Open: 114.5 + 4 = 118.5<br />Tri-State Open (Ft. Madison): 114.5 + 1 = 115.5<br />Freestyle Nationals = 114.5 <br /><br />9/12/89<br />I'm completely broke. I talked to the bank yesterday and got my car payments reduced from $144 to $78. It will extend the loan by 7 months, but that's okay. I didn't have any income for the week and a half that I was at the training camp, and now I'm screwed.<br /><br />9/14/89<br />Everyone on the team got their body-fat percentages measured today. Mine was the lowest on the team: 6.67%.<br /><br />There were only 10 of us under 8%. They were Terry and Tom Brands (126 & 134), Troy and Terry Steiner (142 & 150), Tom Ryan (a transfer from Syracuse who will be at 158), Ryan Sugai (134), Chris Gapin (134), Keith Trammel (167), and Paul Zina (134). I was the only one under 7%.<br /><br />I weighed in at 135. My "ideal" weight, according to the official formula, is 132.6. Gable and I have already determined that I'm going down to 114.5 this year--so that's 18 pounds of water and probably some muscle too.<br /><br />9/18/89<br />It scares me to make a commitment to someone else.<br /><br />The people that I've met so far in my life, for the most part, I'll probably never see again. And I don't care. It's like they were movie images participating in my life.<br /><br />I'm good at commitments. It's just that so far they have always been to myself.<br /><br />9/25/89<br />I wrestled really crappy against Zaputil today. I'm just not wrestling like I should be. Maybe my concentration isn't there.<br /><br />I've got to get this All-American thing under my belt. I want to marry Jenny and move to New York and have a career and raise a family, and all of this wrestling stuff will be behind me. I'm killing myself. I'm postponing my life. I'm making Jenny put her life on hold for me. I'm getting my ass kicked by 19-year-olds.<br /><br />I want to beat Martin bad. I want to beat Zaputil bad. I want to consistently go even with Davis. I want to beat Terry Brands. God, I don't want Zaputil to get ahead of me. Or Bruhl. Last time we wrestled he beat me.<br /><br />I've got to practice more, drill more. What the f--- did he do to me today? He hasn't been wrestling as much as I have.<br /><br />I need power AND control. Not just power. Not just control. Not just offense. Not just defense. I can't give stuff away.<br /><br />All right, f--- it, get off this subject, I'll worry about it later.<br /><br />F---!!!Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1891363061030296359.post-21872624948271211591989-08-30T16:38:00.000-07:002013-11-24T15:44:26.379-08:00Aug 1989: World Team training camp8/5/89<br />
I won the Iowa Games freestyle tournament today. I was a pound over (126.5) at weigh-ins, so I went up to 136.5 and won it anyway.<br />
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I scored three tech falls in a row, then beat a guy named Andy Showalter in the finals, 7-2. After my semi-final match I went up to look at the brackets to see who my finals opponent would be, and a couple of coaches were also looking at the brackets. One of them said, "Showalter will win. Ever heard of Tarpley?" And the other guy said, "Nope."<br />
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8/7/89<br />
I'm in Colorado Springs for the World Team training camp. I'll be here for a week and a half. I'm here as Barry's workout partner, although I'll have the chance to wrestle with several of the top guys at 114.5 as well as 125.5. I'm in my dormitory room now; I'm rooming with some weird, frizzy-headed kid from Oklahoma State named Ray Brinzer.<br />
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We have an early morning technique session tomorrow, and I'm exhausted. It's not a particularly rigorous camp, it's just that I'm behind on my sleep, and I have to be back on the mat in eight hours.<br />
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8/8/89<br />
I wrestled well against Ed Woodburn and Zeke Jones today. They're both top-3-ranked 114.5 pounders. I went over 50% against Woodburn, and I was up 7-1 against Jones before he got a couple of flurries--I think we ended up about even. I beat him in a "sudden-death overtime" situation with a crotch-lift. Then I beat one of those Colorado twins from UNI handily--can't remember their names. Lots of turns, probably 10-2.<br />
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I think I'd be a factor this year at 114.5. I can beat the top guys if things go right, and when things go wrong I can still hang with them. It's a question of making the weight. I didn't even make 125.5 at the Iowa Games.<br />
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Tony Purler from Okie State is going to be tough at 118 this year in collegiate. I went about even with him yesterday, but I can beat him if I just go a little more aggressively.<br />
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Today I'm feeling good about Jenny. Today I've decided I'll marry her. She's such a great catch, and I'm not just saying that because she might be reading this journal. Marrying her would be a very good move.<br />
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8/18/89<br />
I'm back in Iowa City. I've got to go mop the mats in 15 minutes and wrestle with Steve Kennevan. Yesterday I wrestled Barry and got really tired.<br />
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Colorado Springs was good for my wrestling. I did well against Zeke, Woodburn, and Ed Giese--all top guys at 114.5--and not too badly against Chertow.<br />
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8/25/89<br />
I'm taking three classes this semester: History of Science, The Reformation, and Financial Accounting. I'll use it as an elective for my History MA and also to satisfy my foundation requirements for an MBA, which I'm thinking about doing next.<br />
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Okay, I've got to go wrestle now.<br />
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8/30/89<br />
I'm at the Student Union having lunch. A small lunch, since I have to wrestle Terry Brands at 2:30.<br />
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I did really crappy against Rat Martin yesterday, and Monday I did really crappy against Barry. Maybe I'm going through a slump. Sometimes, like after the Iowa Games or the first day of the Colorado Springs camp, I feel like I'm right there--top 10, even top 5. Then other times, like yesterday, I feel like I'm exactly where I was two years ago and haven't progressed an inch.<br />
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8/31/89<br />
Melchiore is going down to 125.5 for freestyle, and Barry is going to compete again as well. They, plus Penrith, will almost certainly be ranked 1-2-3 at 125.5, with maybe Chertow in there somewhere as well. Penrith is 8-10 points above and beyond Calabrese, who is still ahead of me. So maybe it's a good idea to think seriously about going down to 114.5.Todd Tarpleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13323440981733309597noreply@blogger.com0