WRESTLING TOURNAMENT

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

"Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" Job XXXVIII:2

There is an unfortunate tendency in the CRIMSON's sports reporting either to confuse the facts or to present the wrong facts. Mr. Graham's article of March 21, 1964, contains prime examples of each of these faults.

Mr. Graham's suggestion of an Ivy wrestling tournament provides interesting food for thought. However, his argument seems to be only that Ivy teams do not do well at the Easterns. Mr. Graham falls to see that the reason for entry in tournament is to allow Ivy teams a more varied spectrum of competition--albelt, in some cases, tougher competition.

The finite life in this competition for Ivy teams as compared with the "Monster League" is certainly no reason for the Ivy teams to withdraw from the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Tournament, and withdrawal is what Mr. Graham's suggestion would necessitate. If such an Ivy tournament were implemented, it would serve only to rehash the matches which had already taken place during the dual competition season.

Certainly some Ivy wrestlers do meet each other in the Easterns but they also meet Pitt, Lehigh and Penn State wrestlers and either win, or gain from the experience. I would decry the day that the Ivy teams more contracted their "club in the corner" merely because the competition in the outside world was tough.

There is much to be gained by everyone on the team from competition in the Easterns (even if it is of short duration). "Closing our club" as Mr. Graham suggests would result in too great a stagnation in the quality of Ivy wrestling. If there were not this absolute aesthetic quality about wrestling I would see no reason in trying to improve oneself through competition with other schools--we could all stagnate in an intramural program.

There is no sense in doing something at all unless you are going to do it well. To wrestle well, one needs to compete against good wrestlers; and as Mr. Graham point out all the good wrestlers are not necessarily on Ivy teams.

Mr. Graham's casual review of the results of the Easterns fails to cover entirely the performance of Tack Chace, who pinned twice in the unlimited class--first against Columbia and then against Temple in the consolations. Time and distance prevented Mr. Graham from attending the Easterns but he seems to have obtained enough information to indicate that Joel Raichlin of Syracuse ". . . helpfully sprained his ankle and had to default."

It was late in the second period when Raichlin, behind 5-1, tried to escape. Unfortunately, when he was subjected to a normal takedown maneuver, he tore a quadriceps ligament in his knee. I wish that it were only a sprained ankle. I am sure Joel Raichlin, who will be on crutches for six weeks, wishes similarly.   Benjamin Rix Brooks '65

MR. GRAHAM replies: I don't believe Mr. Brooks' points are valid, most simply because an Ivy tournament would not necessitate withdrawing from the Easterns. Harvard teams competed in two tournaments--the New England AAU and the Easterns a week later--for most of the last decade, and they could do so again. My own suggestion was that the top two winners in each class at the Ivy meet should go on to the Easterns.

Much of an Ivy tournament would consist of rematches, true, but this does not mean they would be dull. Most of this year's Eastern finalists, after all, had wrestled each other earlier in the season. And the results were often different, as one would hope they might be if Harvard's wrestlers had a chance at another meeting with, say, Cornell.

I don't think the average Harvard wrestler gains much more than discouragement from a one-match tour of the Easterns, any more than the football team would gain toward an "absolute aesthetic quality" from playing Ohlo State every year. I certainly agree that outstanding wresters such as Tack Chace and, of course, Mr. Brooks himself deserve a chance in the Easterns. I apologize for implying that Mr. Brooks' bout with the unfortunate Raichlin would have ended in anything but certain victory.