I was able to get a fake press pass
for the WIAA State Wrestling Tournament
my son Sergio’s freshmen year
by getting a friend who ran a community newsletter
to let me serve as Sports editor
for the weekend

I had never been on the floor
of the Kohl Center
two hours before the meet
I had a chance to walk on the floor
as I was entering the stadium
through the hallway
I could feel the immenseness of the building
and started to get nervous
even though I had not wrestled in twenty years

and it became clear
how the pressure of just being there
could put you in a place
where the tournament
would go by so fast you
didn’t know what hit you

once the meet started
I could not sit
in the coaches corner
I grabbed a vacant seat
as close to the mat
as I could
and waited for the first match

Sergio started out great
he had a firemens take down
and I thought with the back points
he was up by the score of 5 – 0
and at the end of the first period
I saw the other wrestler
stop and looked up at the scoreboard
and when he saw the score was only 2-0,
he smiled
and I got worried

and rightly so
even though Sergio was still being the aggressor
he ended up getting caught
in a headlock
his opponents favorite move

and as we waited in the locker room
afterwards with his coaches
Sergio asked us to leave
give him some space
and it at all happened so fast

I can barely remembered it now…