I look foward to the wrestling competition. That's wrestling, not rasslin'. Rasslin' is what you did as a kid on the playground. There was Saturday rasslin' on TV before it became the flashy World Rasslin' Federation. My Grandmother Galbraith, in her eighties, liked to watch the rasslin' on TV, especially the women rasslers. Rasslin' is the world of "Hulk" Hogan, who in real life is a decent guy.
Wrestling, as in Greco-Roman wrestling, is what they do in high school, college, and the Olympics. Originally, the winner was the guy who strangled the other guy to death. The rules gradually got more civilized. Nowadays, the rules are designed to prevent permanent injury.
I once took a wrestling class in college, taught by a P.E. coach who assumed we would someday coach high school wrestlers. He taught us the "coaching points." He also put us through a great conditioning drill, like standing on your head with your heels against the wall, rocking the head sideways or back and forth to strengthen the neck muscles. When the class ended I entered an intramural wrestling tournament. I lost in the first round to the guy who won our weight class. He didn't pin me. He got two points for a take-down, I got one for an escape, and that was the final score.
When you watch wrestlers, you may think they aren't doing much. Don't be fooled. They are locked in position with every muscle testing to see if it can gain some "purchase," trying for the take-down. A three-minute round is a very long three minutes for the guys on the mat.
The wrestlers start up on Sunday. One good thing will be that the wrestling commentators are not like the anal-retentive gymnastics commentators. Nobody will lose points for failing to "stick." But a wrestler will lose points if the other guy sticks him into the mat.
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