Home sweet home

Ahhh, it’s good to be back home.
Here’s a little tip for you if you are traveling to Columbus. DO NOT stay at the Motel 6 at the corner of Morse and Sinclair Roads just off of I-71. OK it’s decent enough for $50 a night but if you have a room in back of the motel like I did with trains whizzing past your door at 60 MPH just 100 feet away it’s enough to drive you crazy. And you won’t get much sleep either.
I’m back from the state wrestling tournament and there was plenty to write about. For today though I just want to share the story I wrote on what a bad day Thursday was for the Elmwood wrestling team.
I have to tell you the Elmwood coaches, head coach Dave Lee and assistant Robert Seibert are terrific coaches and more importantly great people. I felt terrible for them and what they went through Thursday. I felt bad asking the tough questions but I knew I had to because it made for a great story and would kind of tell the people back home what they had to deal with.
Also today the brightest sports minds in the NW District (believe it if you want to) put their heads together in the basement of The Courier to pick the all-district boys and girls basketball teams. If you drive by The Courier today and see a plume of white smoke billowing from the chimney, we’ve elected a Pope or they are done with their selections.
Tomorrow it’s on to the tournament trail in NW Ohio and a look at district boys and regional girls basketball…

Anyway here’s my story from Thursday.,,
COLUMBUS -- It may not be a state wrestling tournament to remember for veteran Elmwood coach Dave Lee.
It is certainly one he will never forget.
Just sitting down with Lee in the interview room at Value City Arena, one could see the toll the day's misfortunes had on the area's most successful wrestling coach.
It all started Thursday morning with Elmwood's 152-pound state qualifier Mitchell Lee being disqualified for competition by Dr. Jess DeMaria, the tournament's dermatologist.
DeMaria diagnosed some spots on Mitchell Lee's skin as herpes.
It's difficult enough for a coach to tell a wrestler, who has put in four months of hard work on the mat, that he won't be able to compete because of a skin disease. It's doubly difficult when that wrestler is your own son.
"Mitchell was crushed. He cried, I cried "¦ we both cried," said Dave Lee in a soft voice, his gaze turning towards the floor.
"I wouldn't be surprised if my wife went home after this. I'm sure she cried, too. But she told me, 'You had better stick up for him!'" he added.
Sticking up for his son was exactly what Dave Lee did.
He called the doctors that signed Mitchell's skin evaluation form required for the tournament. The form is usually all that is needed to allow wrestlers with most common skin diseases to compete.
But even with the signed form, the tournament doctors wouldn't budge. And by rule, the decision by the doctors at the tournament site trumps any skin evaluation forms.
"Mitch is kind of a quiet kid and all he really said is that he was bummed about the whole deal. Me? I think I was the maddest I've ever been," admitted Dave Lee. "I even kicked a trash can. And then I went over and picked it back up."
In addition to the skin issue, Elmwood's school van was involved in a fender-bender at U.S. 23 and Campus View, one of Columbus' busiest intersections. And, Elmwood's two other state qualifiers, Cody Alexander (125) and Toby Tahy (285), were pinned in 38 seconds and 1:14, respectively, in their opening round matches.
"I know two things the older I get. There is a God and I'm not him," Dave Lee said. "As much as has happened to us today, I hope things get better. They have to get better."
Things did get better for the Royals as Tahy moved to within a win of placing in the tournament by beating Pataskala Licking Heights' Shawn Osborn 5-1 in the consolation.
The win by the big 6-foot-4 blond Elmwood heavyweight was the best way to finish the day for the Royals.