"If you're here for the glory, you're in the wrong room. That's upstairs in the gym." Words once uttered a wrestling coach. Those words have resonated from a Kansas high school basement and now echo atop Mt. Olympus.
Cave paintings from Mongolia, dated 7000 BC, depict the art of "Grappling". Those men won food scraps, or a bride. The losers left with the pride of trying.
Not much has changed in almost 10,000 years. Yes, there were Plato and Socrates , George Washington and Abraham Lincoln... All wrestlers who found other means of appreciation.
There's been MLB, NFL, WWF, and NASCAR. Much money has been made a man. But a real man has not made much money. In fact, one who grew within the wrestling intellect of sacrifice, self-discipline, and courage has had but one ultimate goal to reach for, Olympic gold.
Today, even that has been taken away. But true victory does not come from recognition, it comes from the satisfaction of a soul fulfilled with the knowledge that cowardice does not exist within his heart.
And for that, I'll wrestle you any day.
