travis

[enginterzi]

you know what?soon our sport will become a fake competetion sport because of people like yourself. it will be like WWF,famous but fake.all will be planned before the matches,every move every second of the matches will be planned before the event.then our sport will have fake heroes like WWF has.in fact you already are the greatest fake hero of our sport.with so little titles and works,but with so many make up things.

its like being a true hero in a war,and being an actor and acting like a hero.till now you deserved everything you won,but i feel like you have the potential to sell the true hero in you for materialistic benefits.i hope that soon you will realise that you are doing a wrong job by humiliating amateur spirit of true heros,and their gold medals.i made good money in armwrestling,but i never started armwrestling for money,and i dont continue for money either.because i reached my dreams by winning those medals that you humiliate.i hope soon you will win million dollars in lottery and quit poisoning amateur spirit of athletes.

[Ryan Espey]

Well said Engin.

I would not trade money for my gold medals... its not that they have a lot of monetary value... it is what they represent to me. Nor would I pay Travis $20 for his because I did not earn it and I would rather have the $20. I do think Travis should hold on to it... it might have some value to his child one day even if it means nothing to him... probably a lot more value than stories of winning a couple thousand dollars.

What is important to some however is not so important to others. For example... one of the things that means more to me than almost any medal or trophy is the small cased medal Mark Zalepa gave to me after pulling with Anatoly (WAF Poland 2001 - Right Arm) in the A-side final for 5 min, losing on fouls, and then somehow finishing out of the medals (figure that one out... draw sheet error). It was an item that was given to Mark and all the other helpers and he thought I deserved something for pulling so hard.

[Florin Butusina]

engin is corect !!! he has 13 gold medals and we all must respect him for that !!! so, i am on your side engin;)

[Bill Cox]

Engin you are right to be proud of all your medals and how hard you worked to win them.

[Tony Carpenter]

Where's Travis?

[Travis Bagent]

Fake HERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought we were tighter than that..... lol
Egin, stop being such a sourpuss....
I simply am not interested in World Titles the cost such a huge PRICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It's easy to participate when someone else is picking up the cost like your country does for you......
As far as poisioning spirits, I can't seem to figure out how I could have done that, but hey maybe I did somehow!!!!!!!!

You should accept some supermatches in the near future, I'm starting to think your scared of the 165-176 competition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I to , hope to win a million

Engin, you need to lighten up, before you get mad and leave the board again........
You remind of the kid who when he doesn't win the kickball game try to take his ball home!!!!!!!!

[Dan Fortuna]

LOL ;D

[Steve Black]

One person's trash is another person's treasure


To each his own.

[Jeff King]

I have a thought on this. After you've gotten to the top of your sport (world level, national champ, etc.) then where do you go from there? What do you do to stay interested and challenged?

Look at how many Olympians have gone into a pro level of their sport. (boxing and yes wrestling or mixed martial arts, strongest man) What about NFL, NBA, NHL, baseball, PGA/LPGA golf even to name a few.

You do need to love your sport otherwise you won't do your best or for the right reason. But the $$$ is always nice too to carry some of the travel expenses, entry fees, training when you are not fortunate enough to have sponsors and a lot of it comes out of your own wallet to go. Might not be what some people want to read but there is a practical side to competing while balancing your life outside armwrestling and until we all get paid to pull like other pro sports do we still need to balance paying the bills with our sport and sometimes when the cost is more than the reward we need to prioritize.
-JEFF

[Elaine Blik]

This morning when I first read Engins' post... my first thought was "OUCH" ! Before letting my fingers "run at the mouth", I had to think about what he said all day...

Travis, I do like you and always have, since we met years ago. I know we don't always agree on things we talk about, but I think we've always just agreed to disagree if it came to that. Now, having said that... I will agree with Engin and what he said regarding the medals won at World Championships. When you said you didn't care about your medals, it made me very sad. Maybe you forgot where you "came from" in the sport. Where you are going in the sport is up to you and it's your choice. However, the 3 gold medals I have won from World Championships in the 14 years I have been competing, mean a great deal to me and I remember every match and the feeling after I finally won my first world title! I don't think there is anything that can really compare with it. I'm sure there are MANY other armwrestlers out there who feel the same way as I do and perhaps felt bad about what you said and the way that you appeared to be demeaning our Gold medals. I'm not meaning to put you down for what you said, but just that I feel badly that you said it. I believe at this point, there are two directions the promotion of armwrestling is taking. What you are enjoying with PAL and the supermatches is great! I do not have a problem with it. You bring a lot of "color" to the sport and I know we've discussed that subject. You have a very charismatic personality in which some love you and some may dislike you. I'm sure you don't care either way, and it really doesn't matter... because you are in the promotion of the sport. You are just on a different level than the majority of those of us competing in this sport... and that's okay! The level of excitement that your last supermatch brought was unbelievable... it does bring a lot of notice to the sport.

On the other side of that promotion are the one's who still care very much about winning that first gold medal from the world championship or who are still savoring the feeling of winning that first gold. There are those who are still trying to achieve HALF the elite status that you have achieved... You may want to be a little more sensitive to that issue.... that's all I'm saying... I think I've probably said enough.

ps... when you win your million, please don't forget about me, okay??

[Alper Cosar]

Travis,
If you say you dont care about your medal, I suggest you to watch your match with Erekle,the other Russian and Voevadev at the world Champ. in Canada!
You will see your face and the way you behave which are the proofs that you do care to win that medal that day!!!
How you gonna explain that? I was there with you to share the moment and cherish your victory with you that day! I have seen how excited you were and how much it meant to you!
Aren't you the one who puts a wall poster in front of your club saying WORLD CHAMPHION - Travis Bagent!
Now why all this controversy all of a sudden?
I think you just do this to make ENGIN and others pissed of....
I still think you care about the money but I also believe that if you think about your Father you will realize that it was not money for him! ( I did not meet your dad but I have watched the clip on ARMTV)
Anyway I will see you in VAGAS ! ;D
ALPER
PS: I agree that Engin should accept the challenge with supermatches in 154-176 not that he has anything to prove but would be nice to watch!

[Andrew Fournier]

I should just stay out of this. No one cares what an amateur thinks. And no one should, because there are fewer of them everyday in this sport.