I recently received an email with a link to the recent sport’s column “Wrestling is being cut, but do you (or I) really care?” (ODE 2/19/08) written by your senior sports reporter, Mr. Jeffery Dransfeldt. Firstly I would like to point out how poorly this column was put together. There were claims made with no evidence to support them and although this was obviously an opinion column, his bias was disgusting and his arguments against wrestling were 100 percent self centered.
I skimmed through the comments on the column and found I wasn’t the only person
The Original Column
who seemed offended and embarrassed by the piece of writing. I am a college athlete myself, currently playing football at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande. I am not a college wrestler and not associated with the University, however I felt obligated to write to someone who should hold him accountable for what he publishes. Mr. Dransfeldt’s rant is not just a slam against wrestling but to every non-mainstream sport in the NCAA, and more importantly an unjustified slam against those who participate in these sports. Mr. Dransfeldt’s column is an embarrassment to himself, his editors, the ODE, and the University of Oregon itself.
I would suggest that he should at the very least attend a wrestling meet, interview a wrestler, and do some basic research about the sport. Last weekend I attended the OSAA High School State Wrestling Tournament to watch my little brother. During the finals they announced the total attendance for the 3-day meet at somewhere above 30,000 people. The point is, people do care and whether they are from within the “wrestling community” should not matter one bit.
Michael J. Godfrey
Eastern Oregon University Student
