On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Kevin Jackson, the Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion freestyle wrestler, who is completing his second season as head wrestling coach for the legendary Iowa State Cyclones (http://www.cyclones.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10700&SPID=4248&SPSID=46632).

With their two national champions from last season having graduated and some other problems facing the team, the 2010-11 regular season has been somewhat of a disappointment for Iowa State. Nonetheless, as the postseason tournaments are about to start, they are ranked in team polls as high as number 11, and known as a team that historically peaks this time of year.

We thus spoke with Coach Jackson about the prospects for Iowa State at the 2011 Big 12 Wrestling Championships and the 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships.

The 2011 Big 12 Wrestling Championships take place Saturday, March 5, at Hilton Coliseum of the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. This event will be streamed live on Big12Sports.com, with the finals also being streamed on the FSN web site. For more information, go to http://www.big12sports.com.

The 2011 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will take place from Thursday, March 17, through Saturday, March 19, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ESPN in the U.S. will televise the finals live, and the ESPN networks and web sites will provide coverage of all six sessions of this tournament. For more information, go to http://www.ncaa.com/championships/wrestling/d1.

Iowa State has the number one ranked wrestler at 174 pounds, senior Jon Reader, who is undefeated this season. We discussed his chances for winning a national title in his final college season, as well as some of the other Iowa State wrestlers Coach Jackson expects to be in contention for Big 12 and national titles. We also discussed the situation involving 14-year-old female high school wrestler Cassy Herkelman, who had a male opponent in Iowa's recent high school state tournament forfeit to her rather than wrestling a girl.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-03-02T13_41_41-08_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?eb7abm2qnaqyai7. 

If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter (http://iancarpenter.com).

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com).

American Top Team (http://americantopteam.com). Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com.

The American Sambo Association (http://www.ussambo.com), which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com (http://www.ussambo.com).

BJJMart.com (http://bjjmart.com), your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.

Thanks, Eddie Goldman

http://eddiegoldman.com

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman presents interviews and commentary from the spectacular 2011 NCAA Div. I Wrestling Championships, held March 17-19 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

We have comments from the Outstanding Wrestler of this tournament, Anthony Robles, the 125-pound champion from Arizona State, who finished this season undefeated. Born without a right leg, his rise to the top in college wrestling is one of the most moving and important sports stories in the world. He said he now will focus on motivational speaking. We also have comments from Bubba Jenkins, the 157-pound champion, also from Arizona State, who won his finals match with a stunning pin of previously-unbeaten David Taylor, the freshman phenom from Penn State. Bubba Jenkins said that he now plans to fight professionally in mixed martial arts.  We have comments from two of the wrestlers who also finished this season undefeated, 165-pound champion Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska and 174-pound champion Jon Reader of Iowa State. Both of these wrestlers plan to continue wrestling and will try to make the U.S. Olympic Team in freestyle wrestling. And we have comments from two coaches who were themselves Olympic gold medalists in freestyle wrestling, Kevin Jackson of Iowa State and Cael Sanderson of Penn State, which won the team title.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-03-22T15_27_49-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?53xyt51ymmx8t95. 

If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter (http://iancarpenter.com).

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com).

American Top Team (http://americantopteam.com). Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com.

The American Sambo Association (http://www.ussambo.com), which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com (http://www.ussambo.com).

Thanks, Eddie Goldman

http://eddiegoldman.com

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with wrestling legends Bobby Douglas (http://www.bobbydouglasbook.com) and Bruce Baumgartner (http://www.brucebaumgartner.com).

We spoke with each of them right before the U.S.-Russia dual freestyle wrestling meet in New York on May 5, 2011, in the Times Square area.

Among his numerous accomplishments, Bobby Douglas was the first African-American to make a U.S. Olympic wrestling team, and the first African-American U.S. Olympic wrestling coach. He also coached Arizona State to an NCAA Div. I title in 1988, and at Iowa State coached Cael Sanderson to his record-setting four undefeated seasons and four national titles. He also helped coach the U.S. team at this May 5 meet.

We spoke with Coach Douglas about his newly-released biography, "Bobby Douglas: Life and Legacy of an American Wrestling Legend", written by Craig Sesker, and its importance for wrestling. We discussed the many benefits of wrestling, some of the problems facing college wrestling, the importance of the Beat the Streets program for wrestling, the problems facing U.S. wrestling internationally including keeping wrestlers in the Olympic program, the need to tweak high school and college rules to make them closer to international rules, why American wrestlers are improperly prepared to wrestle at the Olympic level, and more.

Bruce Baumgartner is a four-time Olympic medalist in freestyle wrestling, having won two gold medals along with one silver and one bronze, all at heavyweight. He is currently the Director of Athletics at Edinboro University and on the board of USA Wrestling.

We discussed with him the problem of American wrestlers not staying with the Olympic program long enough, the need to adapt to international rules while maintaining the tradition of American folkstyle, the difficulties facing college wrestling, and more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred at http://nhbnews.podomatic.com/entry/2011-05-10T21_27_10-07_00.

You can also download No Holds Barred at http://www.mediafire.com/?x84fc9ca70doq3x. 

If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes at http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=150801513&s=143441.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter (http://iancarpenter.com).

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

M-1 Global (http://www.m-1global.com). Founded in 1998, M-1 Global has staged over 100 mixed martial arts events worldwide including the M-1 Selection tournaments and M-1 Challenge events, in Eastern and Western Europe, North America, and Asia. While discovering and developing the world's next generation of superstar fighters, M-1 Global's greatest asset is the number one heavyweight in mixed martial arts history, Fedor Emelianenko. Make sure to catch their shows from around the world, including on Showtime in the U.S., and visit their web site, M-1Global.com (http://www.m-1global.com), and the M-1 Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/M-1-Global/145250878842244) for news, videos, and live streaming events.

Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com). Your #1 source for exciting auction shopping and outstanding deals on just about anything! Top rated, most trusted auction site online. Where do you shop? Beezid.com - Penny Auctions (http://www.beezid.com).

American Top Team (http://americantopteam.com). Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com.

The American Sambo Association (http://www.ussambo.com), which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com (http://www.ussambo.com).

Thanks, Eddie Goldman

http://eddiegoldman.com