Usually.
I'm still on the road, and not being back in Chicago means I grease my nightly slumbers downing libations in the company of family and friends. Last night I'd escaped to "The Pub" in Naples, Fla., to have drinks with my lass and her high school friend. The male servers at "The Pub" wear kilts. I ordered an Old Fashioned and nestled into high school stories as I checked Twitter for updates from the Southern Scuffle.
My night was on the way to becoming a mega mixture of discussions about Justin Timberlake's relationship status and the "sweet, but oaky flavor of Knob Creek," when the Twitter machine popped up with another surprise. This one became the biggest name of the 2014 wrestling season.
Gabe Dean.
My Old Fashioned spit across the floor, I knew that my mailbag -- written down and including an 800-word diatribe on the NCAA team title, was dead. It was deader than a zombie apocalypse. It was a troglodyte embedded inside an Egyptian mummy, and buried at the bottom of the Dead Sea -- nails locking down my fate.
There is no sense to the 2013-14 college wrestling season. None. There is no certainty, no truth, no given. Anybody can lose this season. If Jacob re-matched the Angel, Brian Muir would set the line at even money.
The question is "Why?" Why did Jesse Delgado, Tony Ramos, Logan Stieber, Kendric Maple, and Ed Ruth all lose? And if those who beat them are more talented, how come the ascendants haven't fortified their position at No. 1 and instead given over to massive parity and top-level turnover?
There is no definitive answer, and coincidence could be mistaken as causality, but the only massive difference between last season and this season is a change in rules which made takedowns less definitive and increased the size of the mat. That doesn't explain Ruth, but it does explain Maple, and maybe Stieber. Do quick takedowns (awful, terrible, no good, crap rule) and a larger mat make a big difference in the outcome of an NCAA wrestling match?
I don't know.
Parity is increasing, but why is just too tough to know. The explosion of upsets seem too numerous, and the variety of top-ranked wrestlers so great, that no one item can explain the change. The wrestling universe is upside down.
Chances are that half of those who've been upset will find their way to the top of the podium in March For now let's sit back, tip back another drink and check the results one last time before we push "send" on our conclusions.
Thank you 2013, but 2014 is going to be even better
— Gabe Dean (@DabeGean) January 1, 2014
Q: Cory Clark vs. Thomas Gilman. Who do you think is going to end up with the starting spot at 125 for the Hawkeyes? I only saw the Midlands final, so I don't know why Clark defaulted out after his loss in the semis. Still, Gilman seems to be the guy this year. He started against both Edinboro and Penn State. His only drawback seems to be that he has not beaten Cory Clark. As a related question, do you think Iowa would be a stronger team if they had Gilman at 125, Clark at 133, and Tony Ramos at 141?
-- Mark K.
Foley: I don't think that they'd be much stronger bumping wrestlers throughout the lineup. Ramos seems to be in a lull, but put him at the NCAA tournament and he'll pep back up. These things happen.
Right now the starter has to be Thomas Gilman. He makes weight without a challenge and beat the No.1 wrestler in the country. Both those items are more important to the Hawkeyes than if he can beat a guy he's been scrapping with every day for two years. Brands and most Hawkeye fans can appreciate that you don't take the hot hand out of the lineup, and Gilman, not Clark, is hot right now.
It's now dual meet season so Gilman would have to suffer an injury, or make a major flub for Clark to get another chance at the starting role.
Northern Iowa's Joe Colon is currently ranked No. 2 at 133 (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)-- Sean M.
Foley: Since when is the Big Ten schedule not tough?! Yikes.
Ramos will recover, though I'm not certain he'll be favored against Colon at NCAAs. That kid is a monster and shows no sign of slowing down. With Doug Schwab riding him up and down the mats all day, there is also a zero percent chance that Colon eases up on his Ramos-like intensity.
Q: We're missing something in our discussion about abandoning the singlet: jersey sales. Football, hockey, basketball and baseball fans buy jerseys. What if the new wrestling outfits -- whatever they are -- could be worn by the fan? It'd bring in revenue and promote the sport. You think it could work?
-- Gabe B.
Foley: Yes! Sales is the number two reason (behind participation) to demand a change away from the shiny, stretchy, lycra-loving look of singlets!
Look at rugby and soccer fans. They can wear the jersey of their team and not look like a junior high student. The NBA is moving to a shirt precisely because they think there is a larger market, than what they currently have with tank tops. (The term for hipsters who wear old NBA jerseys is "hoopsters." Lovely, right?!)
The All-Blacks are able to sell millions of dollars' worth of merchandise every year because rugby jerseys actually look cool. Not so for wrestling.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Besik Kudukhov (1986-2013)
Jake Varner Highlights
Q: Any idea why Jordan Burroughs parted ways with Cage Fighter?
-- Mike B.
Foley: Nothing concrete, though I've been told by a few birdies that he wasn't happy with the direction of the brand. He's a wrestler and wants to stick with a wrestling-focused company.
I have ended my relationship with CF Athletic/Cage Fighter and no longer represent that company/brand. More details later in a blog. Thanks!
— Jordan Burroughs (@alliseeisgold) November 28, 2013Q: Speaking as an advertising professional, I would like to submit an idea for the NCAA wrestling tournament to help make it more palatable for casual and new viewers. Taking the MMA model (a phrase that turns some purist's stomachs), I would recommend we use the reordering of the finals matches from last year as a springboard to an even better system; order ALL bouts from top-to-bottom in order of importance, so we have a clear main event, co-main event, and so on, letting the momentum of the night build accordingly. It made no sense last year to have the first match of the finals be Chris Perry vs. Matt Brown, the match with the most team race implications. After the last session of Day 2, bring together all coaches with a wrestler in the finals, and poll them to find an aggregate list of matches that puts our best foot forward. Do you have an opinion on this thought?
-- JG
Foley: I think you're brilliant. Yours is a simple, easy plan to understand. It takes no money to institute and would result in more viewers and a better product.
The arbitrary ordering of the finals was proven pointless last season when Dake and Taylor were moved into the headlines. Ordering a competition by weight is a false metric by which to gauge fairness. By reordering you can allow the drama to build and you can cater to your core audience. I guess there might be some hurt feelings among the first wrestlers to compete, but those are the breaks.
Given the manner in which last year's move was made, I don't see why the competition committee couldn't review the proposal
Draft one up and send it over on email.
Q: What is the difference between Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, NJCAA wrestling programs? Are wrestlers that are not in Division I just as good as the wrestlers in Division I? Why do the Ivy League schools not offer athletic scholarships?
-- Gregg Y.
Foley: Some wrestlers at non-Division I schools can be as good, or better, than their Division I counterparts, but on average the Division I guys are better. At one time the best from NCAA Division II were able to compete at the Division I tournament, and guy would win the title, but it was less frequent than the Division I guys doing the same.
The difference in the three NCAA divisions is here.
The Ivy League does not give athletic scholarships because it has a tradition of putting academics first. That tradition has stuck and become a rule. However, the growth of their athletic departments, including wrestling, is based on an influx of money and competitive focus on improving their performance on the field.
InterMat senior writer T.R. Foley answers reader questions about NCAA wrestling, international wrestling, recruiting, or anything loosely related to wrestling. Questions can be sent to Foley's email account or Twitter.
Do you want to read a past mailbag? Access archives.
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