I just discovered a new blog called The view from section GG, which is written by a wrestling fan out of Iowa named Jim Brown. He has an interesting piece about football players wrestling. In the article, he quotes Stephen Neal (4x NCAA All-American, 2x NCAA Champion, World Freestyle Champion) as saying, “Wrestling develops skills that translate to football: leverage, balance, explosion and hand fighting.”
Jim states that Neal got 4 Super Bowl rings playing for the Patriots, Wikipedia says he has 2, the Patriots’ website says he has 3. I don’t know enough about football to prove or disprove any claims, but one thing’s for sure, he’s a hell of an athlete.
My experience is that many football coaches tend to discourage their athletes from wrestling. This doesn’t make sense to me. Stephen Neal didn’t even play football in college! After he didn’t make the Olympic team in 2000, he decided to tryout for the NFL. History abounds with stories like that.
People in Massachusetts clamor over Fred Smerlas—a Waltham, MA wrestler—who went on to play nose tackle for the Bills, 49ers, and Patriots. To me it seems like football coaches should be pushing their players out on the mat, not pulling them off like they often do. In my hometown of Wellesley, MA, there was always a big feud between football and wrestling coaches. Things are so rough within the athletic department, and the wrestlers are usually the ones who suffer.
I’ve seen wrestling coaches dismissed because of rival factions within the department, and frankly, I’m still bitter about it.
