I know, I know, this is a wrestling town. I’m watching the Mayweather-Hatton fight the other night, and our host Joe took it as an opportunity to bug me all night about wrestling coverage. That’s what I get for going to an SC guys house. My roommate says he’s a former CIF champion who happens to be another Joe, though I can’t find his title anywhere in the record books. I’ll let him go on this, he’s too proud of that mythical title. But I know he’s still into it, he spent a free weekend at the Northview tournament. Who does that? Listen, I’m no stranger to wrestling, not after watching one of the greatest wrestling teams of all time in the San Gabriel Valley. The 1983 Ray Rodi coached Edgewood Trojans won the 2-A title and could have wrestled with anyone. We had Scott Schumm, the 132-pound state title winner whose letterman jacket was so decorated you just wanted to touch it. Those were the days when wrestling was King. Our wrestling matches were bigger than basketball, and that’s the truth. The stands were packed and the fans were loud. It was like those old-time wrestling movies. If you saw “Vision Quest” you know what I mean. Anyways, Steve Ramirez will keep a wrestling thread going once a week, and I’ll chime in too. I told him I think we need a weekly top ten at each wrestling weight and he said that will take some time to put together, but you can help keep us up to speed, that is if you show the same passion on these threads that you have for your sport.
Well, here goes, this is Steve’ preseason top five
Can’t touch this: South Hills’ Thomas Williams, the defending 112-pound state champion.
1. Northview
2. South Hills
3. Bishop Amat
4. Rosemead
5. San Dimas
