You know, I spent a lot of space in that last post thinking of people who are either close to me or close to a few of us.  As I was flying into Dallas, it occurred to me I might have missed something.

One of the teams scheduled to compete in the World Cup is Japan.  I do not have information about where the Japanese team has been training for the last several days.  But, I think it is safe to say that, even if the team and its training were not directly affected by the recent tragedy in Japan, their are families within that team that were.

Here I am, caught up in the drama of all three NCAA Championships, anticipating what the competition will be like in Russia and enthralled in my good fortune to be part of such a cool event.  All the while, people are hurting, more than, I've ever known and, doubtless, some are wrestlers and their families.

So, I offer my respect to those whose lives have been, and are being, torn by the series of natural disasters on the islands of Japan.  I hope my personal friends there are doing as well as possible.  I hope the Japanese Freestyle Team will somehow be able to compete in the World Cup, but I certainly understand if they don't.  I count my blessings to be safe and comfortable, whether at home or on the road.

Closer to home, I want to pay my respect to a different kind of tragedy.  While it does not actually involve life and limb, the gutless, classless, cowardly assault on the UNO program, by "Terrorists" from within, leaves us all wondering.  The true irony is that, in a time when people all around the planet are suffering from all types of tragedy, some man-made, men with small minds and smaller fortitude cannot see the desperate need for the honor that the wrestling lifestyle begets in men and women.

CIAO