I went to the big brawl to settle it all at Albert Lea High School this past Saturday night and all I can say is, Wow!

The Albert Lea High school wrestling team took on Owatonna in a great match up of high school wrestling teams. Albert Lea won the brawl to settle it all and also the Big Nine championship, but to take it all in was amazing.

I had been to other matches before, but this was special. Some things I have to note as I took in the wrestling festivities:

1. The fans were amazing! I have never seen the Albert Lea High School gym so packed with so many people. Way to go fans.

2. The music was cool as the wrestlers, I am guessing, get to choose there own music. It was Eminem and other hard rock bands that I did not know, but it was perfect for a wrestling match, let alone a brawl to settle it all. Cool!

3. The wrestlers gave it all. Everyone that went out onto the mat gave 100 percent and it was fun to see the coaches as well as the wrestlers jumping up and down after each pin.

4. There definitely was a bad guy — as any good rivalry needs — and that would be the stern-eyed coach of Owatonna. The crowd would yell every time that guy would stand up and approach the mat. It was humorous to watch.

So, if you have never had a chance to see Albert Lea wrestling, I highly recommend going to a match as it was very fan friendly.

Thanks to all the coaches and wrestlers of Albert Lea and Owatonna for a great show.

Can the United States government take a cut?

It seems that we have most of the citizens of our nation watching our pocketbooks, taking job cuts and lending a hand to try to get through this tough economy, but I have yet to see any congressman, senator or legislative person offering to cut down his or her staff.

I have dealt with lots of different political people over the years and they all have handlers. You need to talk to one of their “people” before you can talk to them or this person from their office will call at a certain time, or another person in charge of that day’s agenda might call you if need be.

The higher up the ladder you go, the more handlers each person has. Can we cut some government spending on handlers? Does each person really need from four to 20 “handlers?”

Now I realize that each of them has a title or a job description, but really couldn’t we cut out a bunch and save some money? Since we are talking about cutting a bit of fat, how about government expense accounts? Could some of our nation’s leaders actually lead while eating a turkey sandwich that was made at home?

I have a suggestion.

Let’s cut two handlers and a $100 a month from each congressman or senator in Washington and see what that would save. I bet it would help a whole bunch and think of the buy in that would give them with all of us constituents who are already taking cuts.

It’s Karen’s fault

I wrote about Facebook a couple of weeks ago and since then I created a fun group called “It’s Karen’s fault!” This group is just for fun and is created to have someone to blame. It actually states on the group that you really cannot blame your yourself in today’s society because, well, it’s not your fault.

The people who join this group can now blame Karen.

If you do something that you do not like, blame Karen.

Karen is here to get you out of trouble. That is her only goal.

We all have a friend who is a Karen, and do you know what? She is the perfect person to blame things on.

Come on — it’s Karen’s fault! Be guilt-free!

I thought it would be fun to create a group, and because Karen is a fictional character, it would cause no harm to anyone. The response we have had is great. The group has so far has had 118 people join, and some of the comments are too funny.

People are blaming Karen for our economy, for stuff they did in grade school, and even for the weather.

It is all in fun and it takes some of the edge off of tough economic times. I believe in laughter, and so with that I invite you to join “It’s Karen’s fault.” If you are on Facebook and you go to groups, just look for or type its Karen’s fault and join.

Remember, it is all about fun, so enjoy.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Bonnie and Tayler. I love you. XXOO.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Wednesday.