In addition to your healthy family and wonderful friends, be thankful that you're not cutting weight this Thanksgiving.
Be thankful that despite the digital distractions of the modern world there are still a stock of young men willing to eschew short-term pleasure for long-term gains; young men willing to be warriors for the sake of the battle and the never-ending climb to self-improvement.
Happy belated Turkey Day.
To your questions ...
Q: I have noticed your posting on BJJ (a hobby I have found my way into post-wrestling) and I see many parallels between the two disciplines and see how they could be mutually beneficial to each other. I am pretty surprised how much interest there is in the BJJ community to train takedowns with elite wrestlers. I would like to get your opinion on how a higher level BJJer might go about training in a college room. Is that even a possibility?
-- Dave in Norfolk
Foley: Marcelo Garcia recently stated that he saw little use for judo in jiu-jitsu, since the techniques were best used only with a gi and often outdone by simple wrestling. Marcelo Garcia is a smart man, and arguably the greatest grappler in the world, and almost certainly the best grappling instructor.
I'm in Rio this week for the Brazil Cup and in between photo sessions and stories I've been able to squeeze in training at Nova Unaio and Nova Geracao, the latter of which I've chosen as my school for these two weeks. At Unaio I train nogi and you'd be surprised how few grapplers want to roll with a wrestler. Because the control and balance of a wrestler causes them fits in 90 percent of position, their counter becomes avoidance.
I agree that there are jiu-jitsu fighters who want to learn takedowns from wrestlers, but the majority would rather dismiss the lot of us a lower form of grappler. In their opinion the control and simplicity of wrestling -- the balance we show -- is an affront to the beauty of the roll. Like a kid explaining why he doesn't like broccoli, their reasoning often teeters on the edge of the ridiculous. For those that do embrace the skills of wrestling there are massive gains: Marcelo and Cyborg as examples.
Everything in wrestling is legal in jiu-jitsu, while the opposite can't be true. That means we are a bringing a skill to their sport that is otherwise lacking -- to not replicate that, or train for it is a mistake.
As for BJJ'ers in college wrestling rooms we've scene a few over the past few years with the most prominent being Ricky Lundell and his time in the Iowa State wrestling room. There are, of course, a bunch who've transitioned from the mats to good careers in BJJ including Jerry Rinaldi (Cornell), AJ Agazarm (Ohio State), Jeremy Jackson (Eastern Michigan) and about 100 more.
Q: What is going on with Joey McKenna? He's not listed on Stanford's roster and I saw him at Who's Number One last month. He wrestled 60 kilos for Junior Worlds, then 65 kilos at Bill Farrell and will be traveling with the senior team to wrestler 61 kilos in Brazil. Did he defer his enrollment to Stanford? Because his Twitter says "Future Student-Athlete at Stanford '19." Is he doing a post-grad year at Blair, or just training at the LVAC with his mentor Buxton?
-- Dan L.
Foley: Personal Twitter accounts are a fairly valid form of confirmation in reporting, especially with teenagers. Assuming he's not been hacked you have to conclude that he's heading to Stanford in 2015 to wrestle. If you don't assume that to be intention then you'd think he's being manipulative and is indeed changing plans but doesn't want anyone to know.
If there is doubt, then I'm sure it's internal but with some comments here or there to stoke the gossip fire.
He'll wrestle tomorrow and I'll be sure to update the United World Wrestling Twitter and my personal account as I can.
Cael Sanderson returned to competition in 2011 after a seven-year layoff and made the U.S. World Team, defeating Jake Herbert in the finals of the Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)This is a ridiculous amount of talent (in terms of NCAA careers, 11 championships [10 undefeated seasons], 3 runners-up, 2 third-placers). Wrestling today (in 2014), who wins? My placement guessing: Cael, Ben, Ed, Jake. Or maybe Ben, Cael, Jake, Ed. Or Ed, Cael, Ben, Jake?
-- Ron M.
Foley: This is a creative bracket, and one that might just put a ton of butts in an auditorium. You'd need some real chedda' to get it started, but I think you would see a return!
However, what you just did right there was point out one of the main issues wrestling faces in the promotion of professional leagues: sustainable, marketable name ID packaged into the same single event.
The FPL and GWC are focused on current talent, and while that is productive for the athletes, when it comes to marketing super matches it's tough to push Ramos and Hazewinkel like you would guys who've had more time to create name appeal and success. Wrestling burns out athletes and that means you can't get them to show up for tournaments in their thirties as almost no wrestler is still training and those who do are in the role of coach.
For a point of contrast the jiu-jitsu organization Metamoris just hosted a match between two guys in their 40s who'd last fought each other more than 15 years ago. As you might expect it was a bonanza of media attention.
The equivalent would be Sergei Beloglazov and John Smith hitting the mats at NCAAs for a rematch of their first promotional bout.
Wrestling needs to see a bracket like yours. There needs to be a big money event of HUGE names willing reignite the competitive passions of those studly guys in their late twenties and early thirties.
Only idea I'd bring in it to expand a touch and allow for two pools of five wrestlers with a constant flow of action on one mat. Top placewinners in each pool wrestle for championship.
Oh, the answer is Cael, Jake, Ed and Ben.
Q: How do you see the 74-kilo freestyle weight class in the states shaking out this year?
-- Scott M.
Foley: Burroughs, Taylor, Dake and Howe.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
The only thing I can catch with my bare hands is a cold. This guy catches a deer.
Link: Technique over strength: Tim Spriggs taps the Hulk
Q: Should Kyle Snyder consider pulling a Deron Winn and drop from 97 kilos to 86 kilos? I know Kyle has won back-to-back junior world medals at the higher weight, that he wrestled 220 in high school and now 197 for Ohio State. But his height will be a real issue. I have no idea how he expects to hang with taller wrestlers like Jake Varner long term. Weight cutting is becoming anathema in wrestling nowadays, but I would think a guy with Olympic dreams like Snyder would be realistic about dropping to fit in better with his body type.
-- Dan L.
Foley: That's one hell of a cut for a barrel-chested boy like Kyle Snyder. Think he'd make that deep of a cut when he's pretty close to being the man at 97 kilos? Meh.
Lots of short people win championships, and you can't discount Snyder's success at home and abroad. Any BODY can wrestle and Snyder seems to be pulling down some decent hardware. Given a few more flips of the calendar and I think he'll have success. Also, there is precedent since Reza "Lion of Joybar" Yazdani has a very similar body type, if not a *touch pudgier.
Q: What do you think about the international judo governing body's new rules prohibiting ranked judo players from entering BJJ tournaments, the new rules that prohibit grabbing the pants and other maneuvers that were invented in judo, to limit wrestlers and BJJ players from beating ranked judo players. Finally, I believe the judo federation can learn a lot from wrestling and what happened regarding being thrown out of the Olympics and having to make major changes in order to get back in.
-- Vin
Foley: I was shocked. Like, floored, that they would insist their athletes not compete in other sports. First, it's just a component sport so why not let them try that skill in other aspects. Second, does this limit Mongolians from competing in traditional tournaments? Who is he trying to stop? What is the motivation?
I don't know the answers, but I have heard that Marcus Vizer is a bright man so there must be some logic behind the announcement that extends past the letter he submitted to the public.
Judo does a great job with their presentation and fan interaction, but this was a bit of a PR disaster.
Q: What is it with international officials and cautions for keeping your head up when neutral? I know this has been called a long time, but it just seems stupid. Someone working a tie-up and trying to use good head position to open up an attack is not stalling. It's OK to call stalling, but using your head is not automatically stalling. I was wondering your insight as the same thing is never mentioned in folkstyle?
-- Tom B.
Foley: I think you see that call much more in Greco-Roman. When you do see it in freestyle it's on the edge of the mat when a wrestler is trying to prevent hitting the edge, but not wanting to work for an attack.
Folkstyle doesn't call it because shot attempts can't be countered with exposure dumps. The folkstyle point structure comes from establishing control rather than points from techniques. That's also something to remember whenever thinking about the difference between NCAA and freestyle rules.
COMMENT OF THE WEEK
By Paul R.
Last week I was extremely excited to read the news that Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, announced the addition of wrestling as a varsity sport for the 2015-2016 school year. This is great news for the future of wrestling in Florida. However, no major wrestling media outlets have provided coverage. Although it was a huge weekend for college wrestling competitions, this news is as important as any one dual meet.
This will be the first varsity wrestling program in a state that once had 19 varsity programs. Florida NCWA programs have flourished, led by the University of Central Florida with three NCWA national championships and countless All-Americans. According to the NFHS, last year Florida ranked seventh in terms of number of high school wrestling programs and 11th in terms of high school participants. Two Florida wrestlers represented Team USA in the 2012 Olympics. Not to mention that the Sunshine State hosts the NWCA Annual Meeting and multiple Florida programs received NWCA Best of Brand honors.
Florida is a wrestling-rich state and institutions should be celebrated for their efforts to grow wrestling. Especially in the South, which has been underrepresented and overlooked for years. Please help spread the word. Thanks!
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