The NCAA wrestling seasons is certain to be rife with controversy about scoring, anger over new rules, heckling of referees incapable of stopping the #snoreride and a couple rants about ancillary topics. Still, this is the NCAA wrestling season and the eclipsing any negative takes or critiques is the resurgence of the American wrestling community's favorite time of year.
Let us (briefly) be filled with high expectations for our programs, favorite wrestlers and the outcome of the season. Let us chat online about likely winners and losers -- possibly opine about this being the greatest sport (nay, COUNTRY) in the world. Let us chill out, drink a beer and let ourselves be taken with the excitement of action and that familiar tinge of nostalgia.
The self-important musings of the fans aside, a special congratulations should be extended to all the first-year wrestlers stepping onto the collegiate mat right now for the first time.
Good luck, men.
To your questions …
Nahshon Garrett is a three-time All-American at 125 pounds (Photo/Rob Preston)-- Mike C.
Foley: My hope is that we see him come off of his knees and wrestle an aggressive style in big matches. He's a national champion-caliber wrestler and with his speed in attacking positions he should give 133-pound wrestlers fits. He really just needs to focus on his offense and not wrestling like a cat pawing their owner for treats.
Q: Who do you like coming out of the U.S. Olympic trials at 86 kilos next year? Will we qualify this weight?
-- @bufhall
Foley: There are a plethora of unknowns at 86 kilos. While we ponder the impact (and endurance) of David Taylor and Kyle Dake, there is still a substantial challenge looming from a bunch of established 86-kilo wrestlers: Keith Gavin, Clayton Foster, Ed Ruth, Jon Reader and returning World Team member Jake Herbert.
There is a lot of excitement about the new faces, but for those guys to get a look at the Olympics will require them besting a slew of talent.
My pick, for now, is David Taylor. I think that he's always relied on being coy and technique-based rather than strength. While I think Dake is much stronger than Taylor, I don't know if that will be true up a weight, and I don't know if that strength will help him blow past those mentioned above.
I have five percent confidence in my pick, but for some reason that's the name that keeps popping up.
Q: Will United World Wrestling's new bidding process keep Worlds in more First World locations? Is that a good thing?
-- @Bloodround
Foley: Not necessarily.
The new bidding process is only meant to streamline the relationships between National Federations, United World Wrestling and the cities that want to host. Most often the NF's would reach out to cities on their own and attempt to coordinate. The new method incorporates the city from the get-go. Those cities will not all be first world, but it should make for a better event since the cities will assist with all the larger issues ranging from internet to hotels to transportation and even such things as airport arrivals.
The new model is untested, but from what I understand the initial interest has been positive. My hope is that wrestling finds homes across the world for their events, which will help grow and promote the sport for years to come.
Q: When can we expect a uniform announcement from UWW? The January changes indicated a new uniform for this calendar year.
-- @gaertnbw
Foley: They are in the works. Wouldn't expect too much drama, but you can certainly look forward to a change for the better.
Q: In freestyle, when a competitor is put on the shot clock, why is the non-shot clock competitor not awarded one point after the shot clock expires if the non-shot clock competitor scores during the 30 seconds? It seems like it would incentivize the non-shot competitor to continue to be aggressive during the shot clock if the non-shot clock competitor was still awarded one point even if he or she scores during the shot clock. Without awarding that point, the non-shot competitor is of course less likely to take risks during the shot clock. If the non-shot competitor were to receive that 1 point in addition to any other additional points scored during the shot clock, he or she would take more risks and create more excitement.
-- Craig T.
Foley: That would eliminate the efforts by the wrestler who has been warned. Why take any risks if you're only going to give up a point anyway? Also, the wrestler who was previously aggressive will play active defensive (more than currently). The incentive here isn't to award points, but to incentivize action and leave the point scoring in the hands of the wrestlers, and out of the direct determination of the referees.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Link: Excellent piece by Anthony Bourdain on the grip jiu-jitsu has on his life. I agree.
Burroughs looking sharp
Q: Do you think the Flo guys will license the Kolat documentary to get it some viewership outside of us wrestling die-hards? Imagine it as an ESPN 30 for 30 or on the film festival circuit. I recognize my bias but believe it has the makings of a story that people independent of the wrestling community will find inspirational. That, and a cattle prod!
-- Jordan L.
Foley: First of all the cattle prod thing is amazing. Horrible, but amazing. We had a cattle prod in an apartment once after college. More fights started because of alcohol and the cattle prod … it was a bad idea.
The Kolat piece was beautiful, but there isn't a news hook that's viable for the general audience and the level of assumption of the viewer is high. Like with writing this mailbag (which should ABSOLUTELY be on Grantland or Deadspin!) the documentary assumes that the viewer knows of Cary Kolat. Even though they remind you of his accomplishments the big reveal is what happens behind-the-scenes at international tournaments and within college programs.
Q: I have always wondered if international wrestling could develop an annual international circuit of tourneys with "grand slams" similar to tennis' world circuit of tourneys. Maybe have "grand slams" in Russia, Mongolia or Japan, United States, Cuba and other wrestling hotbeds or even rotate countries with a "grand slam" on each continent. Points would be accumulated from each tourney and then the top overall competitors at each weight would receive prize money based on how many points they accumulate throughout the year. The points could also be used to seed Worlds and the Olympics so you would award wrestlers for competing during the year while also creating additional interest in the sport.
-- Craig T.
Foley: That's the goal. The Golden Grand Prix was the first iteration of that system and is being competed over Thanksgiving in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The points systems, as stated in previous mailbags, will be something that the federation looks hard at implementing in future years!
Q: If I am reading the following correctly regarding athlete change in nationality, "In cases where a wrestler practices more than one wrestling style, the host federation shall indicate to United World Wrestling under which style the change of nationality must be recorded," does that mean a male wrestler could theoretically compete in Greco for country A and freestyle for country B in the same tournament?
-- Dan L.
Foley: No! You can only be wrestling under one passport! This is to say if the incoming wrestlers can't come in as Greco-Roman and freestyle, but then automatically both become freestyle wrestlers. Imagine a country like Italy recruiting athletes in both styles, but with only a freestyle program. It was a way to restrict countries from gaming the system of one athlete per year, per style.
Tanner Hall, an Idaho native, gets his hand raised after winning a Junior National freestyle title in Fargo in 2010 (Photo/John Sachs, Tech-Fall.com)-- Mike C.
Foley: I've been fortunate to coach a few LDS wrestlers and have of course seen Matt Brown compete. I don't think that Hall will have lost too much in his two years overseas, but I do think it would be ambitious to put him in the NCAA finals after two full years off the mat!
I think he's an All-American, and if he makes it the NCAA finals it'll be hats off to him, but also to that coaching staff.
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