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[ikeremix]

Sorry to hurt your feelings Martin. I know how fragile wrestlers and wrestling parents are. Wrestlers are “so tough”, “it teaches life lessons”, “it’s the toughest sport”….. in all honesty STFU. You guys B and cry at the drop of a hat. You’re triggered so easily. Sack up

I’m not a wrestler but love Lehigh wrestling (as an LU and D11 alum) but until recently didn’t realize how fragile the fan base is.

Newsflash this is a D1 sport….kids will be critiqued and judged. Such is…..life. Booo hoooo. you should be thrilled that I care (and give $$) as a non wrestler. Bet the wrestlers themselves aren’t whining yet we have the parents and old fan base who get offended.

Piss off.

No feelings hurt, just amused at how much douchebaggery and lack of self-awareness some people exhibit. Love how you don't contribute around here or anything, just pop out of the woodwork to randomly talk shit at a wrestler's parent, lol. You can sack up and piss off etc etc yourself, weirdo.

Sorry for being a weirdo. Pretty sure I treated this wrestling parent the same as most would a college football or basketball parent who got offended by criticism on a forum. Why so soft?

I’ve read this forum for years and outside of a few parody posts no one goes further than posting a wrestler may have “HEW” or “disappointed”. Why so soft?

I have no doubt the wrestlers themselves are tough and can take it. The parents and fan base, woah.

[Mountain Hawk]

First time posting after many years reading this forum.

Always happy to have more posters on the board. Here's the thing though......this is a voluntary endeavor. It's also an exercise in free speech. While this is a fan based board, fans also have the right to be critical of the coaches, the direction of the program, the university, or pretty much anything else.

Personally I don't take personal digs at wrestlers. I invoke the Jack Nicholson speech "I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post" speech from A Few Good Men for those who do. That said, we have had a few over the years who believe this board should never be critical of anything regarding the program to the point of absolute delusion and then attempt to police individual postings as such. There was even an ill-fated attempt at a non-anonymous board some years back which ended slightly more successfully than the Hindenburg's landing at Lakehurst. It seems some anonymous d-bags on this site didn't want any other anonymous d-bags to know who they were. Honestly, that's all good.

There are lines which probably shouldn't be crossed - but those lines are rarely crossed here. If it gets crossed for you too often as a parent perhaps you should refrain from hitting the link. (again.....voluntary). As a parent you have little need to be here for information purposes as your information is likely better than anyone's here who does not have a kid in the room. As much good knowledge gets passed through these boards there is an equal or larger amount of sheer speculation, conjecture, and sheer stupidity mixed in to make the information here imperfectly accurate at best. This very mix is what makes the board entertaining for some. The wrestlers I've known over the years care very little about what gets posted here - in fact most of them find it entertaining on an almost carnival-like level as well.

So take it fwiw. Don't like it? Don't come.

[Oracle]

This parent is just trying to protect their child. But makes assumptions that are self serving and untrue. This forum does not exist to support the program. It may be an unintended consequence but it exists for ‘discussion, observation, sharing, and opinion.’

IMO, it’s fair and even handed. Some are cheerleaders, some are critical, some are insightful, some are obvious. Virtually all are respectful.

If wrestlers and parents didn’t want scrutiny, they should have chosen Davidson. I hear you can get a good education there.

Other than that both Spladle and Mountain Hawk recapped it accurately. No need to be coddling in response to this or any parent. BTW, good luck to your son.

[jdalu75]

One thing that Wrestlingparent should be aware of: this forum is not run by Lehigh University in any way. It's the Lehigh Valley Sports Message Board, whatever that means. Its purpose is not to promote Lehigh sports, it's to make money for whoever runs it. Notice all the ads? The ads I see are different from what you'll see -- mine are mostly targeted for someone living in central Virginia.

There are no moderators -- posters can post whatever they want, using whatever language they want, insulting whoever they want. Arguments and foodfights make for more posts, and more money for the owner. Denny Diehl, who passed away recently after spending nearly 60 years promoting wrestling in general and Lehigh in particular, took it upon himself to defend wrestlers and coaches against what he considered to be below-the-belt attacks and was himself attacked by some of the same posters on this thread. When Denny when silent for periods he was baited into responding by posts that went after him. Now that Denny is gone everyone misses him, but you'll still see veiled complaints about his standing up for civility, including in this thread. There's a reason the coaches tell their athletes to stay off the internet; you can't win an argument against someone who will always go lower.

I wish things were better but they're not; this is the forum that exists for our discussion. This is the modern world, where anonymous weasels can hide in the rushes and snipe at whoever they want. It's not a good advertisement for Lehigh or its wrestling program, but the weasels get their points in so that's all that matters.

[martinsilvestri]

No need to be coddling in response to this or any parent.

Whatever Oracle. Maybe i'm a little too sensitive toward the families that have more skin in the game than any of us, so sue me. Like most of us i'm just here to bullshit about wrestling (usually incorrectly) and get away from my screaming wife for a minute or two. If you all weren't 90 years old this could be done on Discord where the discussions are a little less public, but here we are.

[Richb-3]

I think the people who created this site are not making the money. It is the hosting site making the bucks.

I think IT was created as the general Lehigh SIte, mostly football. Then added about 9 other Lehigh subsites. Then Lafyette asked to join, and brought with them the legacy of an older board the Laf administration. Then Moravian and Muhlenberg. I suspect their is little fan support for Cedar Crest and Desales. Then The four minor league pro teams/ Then LV HS sports.

But interest in the other 8 or 9 boards has died, or gone elsewhere.

[FloridaGuy]

>>>>>>> Thank you WrestlingParent for shining a bright light on this forum.

My understanding is the coaches advise the wrestlers to completely ignore this forum——-which, imo, is absolutely the correct approach. Probably best if parents also avoid this forum unless they have an extremely thick skin and high level of tolerance.

A previous, similar forum, actually had moderators and a sense of decorum——— discussions often entailed Lehigh supporters/posters replying to noisy, negative psu or cu posters.

Now the negativity is internal and, true to form, those negative posters can not tolerate anyone who has the temerity to disagrees with them.

Pogo was right: we have met the enemy and they is us.

[Mountain Hawk]

>>>>>>> Thank you WrestlingParent for shining a bright light on this forum.

My understanding is the coaches advise the wrestlers to completely ignore this forum——-which, imo, is absolutely the correct approach. Probably best if parents also avoid this forum unless they have an extremely thick skin and high level of tolerance.

A previous, similar forum, actually had moderators and a sense of decorum——— discussions often entailed Lehigh supporters/posters replying to noisy, negative psu or cu posters.

Now the negativity is internal and, true to form, those negative posters can not tolerate anyone who has the temerity to disagrees with them.

Pogo was right: we have met the enemy and they is us.

Speak for yourself

[DF2002]

One thing that Wrestlingparent should be aware of: this forum is not run by Lehigh University in any way. It's the Lehigh Valley Sports Message Board, whatever that means. Its purpose is not to promote Lehigh sports, it's to make money for whoever runs it. Notice all the ads? The ads I see are different from what you'll see -- mine are mostly targeted for someone living in central Virginia.

There are no moderators -- posters can post whatever they want, using whatever language they want, insulting whoever they want. Arguments and foodfights make for more posts, and more money for the owner. Denny Diehl, who passed away recently after spending nearly 60 years promoting wrestling in general and Lehigh in particular, took it upon himself to defend wrestlers and coaches against what he considered to be below-the-belt attacks and was himself attacked by some of the same posters on this thread. When Denny when silent for periods he was baited into responding by posts that went after him. Now that Denny is gone everyone misses him, but you'll still see veiled complaints about his standing up for civility, including in this thread. There's a reason the coaches tell their athletes to stay off the internet; you can't win an argument against someone who will always go lower.

I wish things were better but they're not; this is the forum that exists for our discussion. This is the modern world, where anonymous weasels can hide in the rushes and snipe at whoever they want. It's not a good advertisement for Lehigh or its wrestling program, but the weasels get their points in so that's all that matters.

Anonymous weasels?

ever consider the fact that some people just don’t want to be doxxed by lurkers here?

People have called me and others on the carpet to “say it publicly to their face.” I’ve always accepted that offer - to do it in person no less and yet those people have never made good on their promise.

Not looking for a confrontation and maybe there are some weasels but for some people, it’s about limiting which potential nut jobs know who you are. While I’m not worried about the active posters here, I have no sense of who else reads this forum and may not be wrapped too tightly.

Stranger things happen every day.

[whiz wit]

If the coaches advise their charges to avoid this forum, you can bet a good number are consulting it.