I respectfully disagree with the statement that takedowns win matches. Sometimes, yes - but not always.

I've known a number of wrestlers over the years who were average or above average on their feet, but still won a lot of matches.

I watched Bryan Miller all year long - albeit in the college ranks - this season. He was taken down a number of times, but his prowess from the top nearly always allowed him to overcome the loss of an early takedown. Riding time played a role in this.

On one particular occassion - vs. Kevin Artis of Neosho (both were 2x NJCAA All-Americans) - he was taken down several times in the match but quickly scored escapes. When he finally got his choice in the third period, he took top and rode Artis the whole period. Scored near falls and picked up a point for riding time. He won the match, despite giving up the takedowns because of his ability to ride and score from the top position.

Hoxie, as a team, is solid on their feet, but not invincible from the neutral position by any means. But their cross face series and cradle series have been pretty imposing for a lot of talented feet wrestlers and would have aided the accumulation of riding time this season.

On and on and on and ...................

Riding time could be an impartail measure to decide the outcome between two evenly matched opponents prior to entering overtime.

I also respectfully disagree with the statement that riding time would encourage stalling.

Riding time can be accumulated without stalling (although the fans of the wrestler on bottom would never admit to it!). And if a wrestler is stalling from the top position, it would be the official's job to negate the effect of riding time through use of stalling warnings/calls.

Quite to the contrary, I feel the current overtime scenario is the biggest cause of stalling in wrestling today - especially in the upper weights.

The wrestler with the first points scored in a match now-a-days often seems content to stall his way through the third period and the first period of sudden victory knowing full and well that he will have his choice in the tie-breaker.

Riding time could be used to defense against this. Because if he does not move from the bottom position or if he was ridden for sufficient time prior to that point, riding time could decide the outcome of the match before it gets to overtime.

I'm probably in the minority on this, but I feel riding time would be good for the sport.