While in past years it's been easy to get invested in the NCAA season, the international scene has been closed off to most fans. Results, photos, videos and recaps were nearly impossible to find. Today, that's changes. With the United World Wrestling site updated with event results and daily recaps with photos, highlights and full matches it has never been easier to get involved.
Much like college sports are outstripped by professional, the level of wrestler at the World Championship is simply stunning. We are used to our brand of wrestling, but seeing some of the world's most talented freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers compete can be heart-stopping.
As an added bonus, supporting this year's World Championships directly benefits USA Wrestling and puts them in a better place to fund athletes for 2016 and beyond.
Go to http://www.vegasworlds2015.com and look for tickets and hotels. It's Vegas, you'll have a great time no matter what happens on the mats.
To your questions …
Q: Outside of Jordan Burroughs, which U.S. wrestler is the most marketable?
-- Mike C.
Foley: Tony Ramos has quickly become a social media darling and given the rise of the Hispanic population in America there could be some growth potential (as it was show to work with Henry Cejudo).
Brent Metcalf is incredibly engaging as well. Over the past few seasons the increase in his media presence and the revelation that he's a complex, intelligent and thoughtful guy has really helped his popularity. Also, he's really, really good at wrestling and is a threat to medal at this year's World Championships. I predict silver.
Aaron Pico has already proven to be a popular figure, though it remains to be seen if he can get past Metcalf and own the spot for an Olympic cycle.
Helen Maroulis (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)The dark horse is Helen Maroulis, who generates a ton of social media traffic, earned a medal at the World Championships and has good odds of placing at the Olympic Games. She's beautiful and camera-ready, which make her marketable. With the growth of women's wrestling an HM-branded line of wrestling gear could catch on with youth and collegiate wrestlers.
Q: Do you believe the call in the first Brent Metcalf-Jordan Oliver match was correct that allowed BM to score after shot clock expired?
-- @Eagle_Fan
Foley: Yes. If the wrestler attacks before the end of the 30-second clock they can continue until there is a completion of action. What you saw is exceedingly rare, but you have to incentivize the wrestler on the clock to attack. If 30 seconds is a must-end then they will shut it down at 15 seconds, or worse still they'll engage in a shoving match.
I know it's not as clean as basketball, but remember that they too have continuation from the hand. If it's clear then it can travel towards the basket. Though knowing when the attack is over can seem subjective, I've yet to see an egregious offense by international referees.
Q: Kyle Snyder says he's returning to college wrestling in 2016-17, but I'm a little skeptical, especially if he wins a World title or World medal. I understand wanting to get a college degree (he can do that online or later), but it seems like it would be a waste of time for him to wrestle folkstyle if he's already the best U.S. freestyle wrestler in the world. Thoughts?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I think you shouldn't be too skeptical. Snyder is getting a free education and will probably learn more competing every weekend over the course of 2016-2019 than he would traveling the international circuit. Snyder is crazy young and it's important that he have the life experiences necessary to turn him into a full adult male. (Yes, Pico isn't in school, but that fits his personality.)
Being around teammates and Coach Ryan has paid immense benefit to Snyder and having three years to grab 150 matches in preparation for the 2020 Games is a rock-solid plan.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
LOOK AT THIS MONSTER
One of the best matches you'll ever watch
Q: Please rank the following 2016 Olympic Trials potential upsets, from most likely to least likely:
Aaron Pico over Brent Metcalf
Cael Sanderson over Jake Herbert
Spencer Lee over Tony Ramos
Alex Dieringer over Jordan Burroughs
Mike McMullan over Tervel Diagnev
J'den Cox over Kyle Snyder
-- Ronald M.
Foley: While NONE of these strike me as likely, I will play your game, sir. Not that there is much of a chance Alex Dieringer wrestles Jordan Burroughs, making that the least likely by default. Also, I don't think Coach Cael is strapping on his shoes in front of a crowd ever again.
1. J'den Cox over Kyle Snyder
2. Mike McMullan over Tervel Diagnev
3. Cael Sanderson over Jake Herbert
4. Aaron Pico over Brent Metcalf
5. Spencer Lee over Tony Ramos
6. Alex Dieringer over Jordan Burroughs
Q: Euro crowd was awesome! Thoughts on merging all combat sports for yearly WC to build up atmosphere like that vs. current format?
-- @Rob_SwagginU
Foley: The Euro crowd was intense. The Azerbaijani's HATE the Armenians, which led to a bevy of melodramas, not the least of which was a gaggle of teenagers double birding athletes as they walked off the mats. That scene, along with another three dozen similar, made the sportsmanship of their cheers less attractive.
Still, the Azeris know their wrestlers and with so much winning by the locals and their cousins in Turkey the event was always packed with fans who were knowledgeable, engaged and cheering with passion.
Good idea! Unfortunately it's already been done and it was called the World Combat Games. Successful to a level, but they are probably no more as Marcus Vizer, the president of the Sport Accord -- who ran the Combat Games -- took on the IOC in a very public way two months ago and lost his entire constituency of International Federations. Part of him losing his position was Lima, Peru, pulling out of their commitment to host the 2017 World Combat Games.
Who knows, though. They could be revived by the new president, so long as he stays in line with the IOC.
Q: Why didn't Kendric Maple challenge at end of the Daniel Dennis bout? Did he and coaches not know tiebreaker criteria rules?
-- @Eagle_Fan
Foley: Must not have known the rules. However, I also don't know if the scoreboard in the USA reflects who is winning on criteria. At the international level the program used by the scorekeepers is automatically programmed to reflect who is winning with an underline. That goes wrong every once in a while (I have seen it once this season) but even still the coaches are told to know for themselves.
One thing that has to be recognized is that most guys wrestling at the U.S. Open and World Team Trials don't have a mastery of the rules since many don't compete more than once or twice a year. Yes, the rules have been tweaked, but overall the rules today are the same they've been for two years. Also, all rule changes are announced on the site. More could always be done to promote the rules and any questions or changes, but for the most part the criteria rules are easy to know and quick to calculate.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now