Articles: Articles

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 8/19/2022

Fri, 19 Aug 2022 11:59:16 +0000

2022 U20 World Champion Ben Kueter (photo courtesy of Kadir Caliskan/UWW)

Plenty of questions to get to this week and most are wrestling related! Your old friend Jags took a little heat for dealing in off-topic drivel lately. That's alright. I don't mind a little heat. I can't control the questions I'm asked, and I try to answer every question. So once in a while, you get some nonsense here. We're all just having some fun. Let's not get too serious. The sport is serious enough as it is. The good news is that we at Intermat provide a vast range of content to suit your needs. Earl kills time between Nationals games and Harry Potter conventions to bring you all kinds of fresh content. Do you have an affinity for the fighting careers of former wrestlers? What about deep dives and stat breakdowns? Richard Mann has you covered there. Interested in news from your favorite college conference? We have an entire team for that? Turkmenistan cadet rankings? Ok, nobody does that but Seth Petarra can give you everything else. Are you starting to get into fantasy wrestling and Fantasy Fight League? DiMarco can handle that when he decides to show up. Not to mention a bevy of freelancers to give you all kinds of interesting stories. But enough about them, let's try an all-wrestling version of this thing for once.

Did you wrestle in college? Toby Keef

Nope, went straight to the pros.

Is there really unfinished business between Downey and Nickal? Richard Mann

Lol, no. The wrestling mat business between the two is completely wrapped up by two dominant wins. Now, can there be new business in the octagon? Sure, why not? Fighting is a whole different ball game and anything can happen. Will it happen? Who knows. As of now, PD3 is just starting out in Bellator and Bo is headlining some Dana White fight for your supper show. Don't get me wrong, I, and probably every other wrestling fan would love to see it. Maybe one day.

Is the Indian National Team truly on the rise or just a blip from the lack of Russians?
Jersey Hokie

They have a guy named Jaglan. If I were Russia I'd just take up another sport at this point. Or get a Jagger variant of their own to counter the rise of India.

Follow up: how much do the Yankees suck? Pelikan Head

(Nodding in agreement)

Ben Kueter. Can he really do both? Has anybody recently been able to compete at a high level in football and wrestling in college? Phil S

Well, he can physically, sure. But can he sustain success doing it for multiple years? Will he even get the chance? Let's say he gets drafted into the NFL after three years of college. Most stud wrestlers are only beginning the second half of their college career after year three. Football players are already going pro. I'm afraid that if he has legit success on the gridiron then the chances are slim that we see him on the mat in Iowa City. Also, Josh Hokit scored nine touchdowns as a senior for Fresno State before going 24-4 on the mat before the 2020 season got shut down. Now he's starting his MMA career. Josh Hokit can probably kick my ass.

Where is Mike C. and why is it in the basement of an Arby's in Limon, Colorado? Jason Bryant

Mike C? The frequent mailbag inquisitor from the halcyon days of my esteemed predecessor Tim Foley? Nobody really knows what happened to Mike. Some say he never existed. Others say he stopped reading when the mailbag went behind a paywall and never returned.

Personally, I think he's a bozo.

I see you. Mike C.

(pulls down shade)

Would you rather see Cenzo, Pat Lugo, Mark Hall, etc, get their fourth year or be subjected to these 17th-year seniors? Jkos11

As in do I wish the entire Covid situation never happened? Yes. I would very much prefer we not have a virus that killed millions, shut the world down for over a year, and forever changed the way we live. The only way the world can make this up to me now is to give me Matt Kolodzik's senior year back. The rawest of deals in a season of raw deals. F 2020.

U20 world team member you're most excited to see wrestle in college this season? Rhino184

I have to go with Maryland's Jaxon Smith because he'll be in the lineup. Fresh off a world fifth, the big man should make some noise in a very competitive 197 class this year.

Phew, an entire wrestling mailbag. I didn't think I had it in me. If you don't hear from me next week, tell the cops to look for a guy named Mike C.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 8/12/2022

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 10:53:13 +0000

2019 Hodge Trophy winner Bo Nickal (photos courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

I told Lady Jagger that I was going into the other room to write the mailbag and instead I'm just sitting here listening to Guns and Roses. Dudes rock. But women rock, too. We in the mailroom (it's just me and Pepe Silvia) support all the women in wrestling from the athletes to the coaches, and the media to the moms. My mom was the sports dad in my family for us when we were growing up. I don't even think I ever agreed to wrestle when I was seven years old. I remember my brother being on the team and then some time seemed to pass and I was doing it, too. When we realized my younger brother had some real talent, she was the one who drove him all over the Eastern Seaboard for various tournaments and camps. Pushing him to cut from 58 to 56 pounds because, why not? You crazy, ma. Thanks for igniting my love for wrestling at a young age. Alright, enough about the old battle axe. Let's get to some questions, It's been too long.

Should Bo Nickal have received a contract or did Dana White make the right choice? Billie Sims

The wrestling world was all a buzz this past week with the sort of soft opening of a Bo Nickal UFC debut on Dana White's Contender Series. I bounced this question around my MMA friends as I'm no expert in the field. The consensus is that Bo is making a mistake by even being on the show at this point, at least from a monetary aspect. I'm told he has much more earning power at the moment going to other promotions and the chance to hone his skills against better competition. Now, the allure of going straight to the UFC and working his way to a title match instead of just trying to earn money might be more important to Bo at the moment. Quite frankly, I find that refreshing. Along with telling everyone else to grab whatever hundred grand they have laying around and bet on him, he's also betting on himself.

Clearly, we're all familiar with his talent. I believe his talent transcends all styles and he'll find great success in the octagon. Did Dana make the right choice? Well, yeah. He's trying to build this contender series and now he has the hottest prospect in the game headlining his next one. Right now he's more valuable to the brand by bringing eyeballs to that show than he is being the second fight at UFC 1066 at whatever weird time Richard Mann watches these things.

Do you approve of this bat flip? I'm thinking it's a little excessive but if a Met did it, would you be all in? Jkos22

For the record, this is about a clip from the Korean Baseball Organization where a guy flips the bat about as far as he hit the ball. I love bat flips! As long as it's meaningful in the game. Walk off? Flip it, baby! Revenge for getting buzzed? Flip it and glance while you walk to first base. Just don't go flipping bats on a solo shot down 7-2 in the eighth.

With Top Gun smashing the box office this summer, is this the season of the mustache in college wrestling? Jersey Hokie

I sure hope not. As a man who grew up in the non-ironic mustache era, I just don't get it. You poor guys beat your faces up enough over the season. Why would you make yourself look worse? If I had to pick one guy I want to see it on, It's Hoagie Hidlay. The big man is now in the second half of his college career. Time for a gimmick tweak.

Who will be the next wrestler to come down with the dreaded red skin syndrome? Richard Mann

Sir, this is a mailroom.

Now onto a flurry of questions from the King of Italians and Twitter Spaces, Seth Petarra. Do you see Michael Beard making a deep run and placing high for Lehigh?

I do. I think he's a potential finalist.

What about Pitt's loaded full-blooded Italian team? Top ten potential at NCAAS?

I need to see them in action first before I make that call. Don't get Ed Gallo's hopes up just yet. I did hear they're changing their name to the Petarra Panthers for a few duals this year to pay tribute.

Do you have any plans for my birthday on Monday?

At this point, I feel like I'm driving with Thurman Merman from Bad Santa with these questions.

Rumor has it that a second run of Philly Wrestling shirts and a possible particular senior athlete is coming soon. Are you the same shirt size as last year or have you been hitting the gym? Kevin McGuigan

I'm proud to announce that I have stepped up to a medium-size shirt. I'm a big boy now! I think a Tyler Berger shirt might look just fine on me. What a loaded collection of talent at the PRTC right now.

I finally had to retire my favorite work pants but I made them into jorts. (much to my kids' horror) What is the proper length? Keep in mind this is the west coast and not Jersey. LMRMock

Apparently, we've hit the fashion portion of the mailbag. First off, there's no wrong length for a pair of denim jean shorts. As we all know, I like â€˜em high. But if they're for actual function then I recommend right above the knee. There's nothing worse than kneeling up and down while your knee gets chafed by some denim that's been around since the gold rush.

Who are your favorite and least favorite burner accounts? Oldest & Greatest

If I leave one legacy on Twitter when I'm gone, it's that I'm the undisputed king of being followed by all random burner/parody/accounts. Some are strictly to snoop around, some truly try to run with the gimmick, and some are there just to tell you to go have intercourse with yourself. Either way, they all seem to follow Jagger712. They hit all the recommended follows then they hit up me and Rhino. I don't really know why. We must be the Kings of Trash. Hey, it got me this far. I love all my burner friends except Criteria over OT.

Have a good weekend, all! Let's go Mets!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 7/29/2022

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 13:04:21 +0000

The 2022 NCAA Champions; 5 from Penn State (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Welcome to another edition of the summer mailbag! It's Friday morning and I'm dabbling in some U17 Worlds while writing this. The problem I've always had with some of these events is having to watch in the middle of the night. I just can't do it. But I do love some early morning competition. There's nothing quite like the sounds of whistles and squeaking shoes on the mat to jolt you awake. It's almost Pavlovian at this point since we all grew up going to some tournaments and camps that start at the crack of dawn. Sometimes I even cut a little weight when I wake up and then hit the scales before having a bagel and a juice box just to get that old-time feeling back. Alright, I'm rambling. Let's get to the mailbag as very important matters like Penn State champs and painting toenails are on the docket this morning.

What school would you most like to see add wrestling and why that team? Wiems19

Notre Dame of course. Toss in a Clemson and now you have an ACC with eight teams. Both schools already have wrestling history and enough money to fund programs that can find immediate success. The ACC already has a TV deal with ESPN (and the ACC Network). With these additions, the conference can become the clear number two in the country. Next thing you know, the Worldwide Leader is regularly airing duals on one of their actual networks. Next thing you know, Friday Night Duals with Shawn Kenney and Rock Harrison is the hottest thing on ESPN2. That's how you grow the sport.

If Gable does not come back, how likely is it that Penn State ends up with five champions? What are we going to do with Clay Sauertieg if this happens? Richard Mann

I give it about a fifteen percent chance. The Fightin' Caels seem to make the extraordinary look easy these days, as they've already accomplished this feat twice in the last few years, but it's still a tall task. Even after all we've seen I can't just lock in RBY as â€œnext topic.â€ Fix is just too good and you never know when he finally puts it together in the finals. I am starting to think Starocci is â€œnext topic,â€ but his two finals wins were both in overtime and Mekhi Lewis isn't going anywhere. After a year of adjusting to 174 under his belt, anything is possible for the New Jersey Hokie. Think 2017 Sadulaev compared to 2018 and beyond Sadualev. Once he adjusted, it was all over for the rest of the world.

Aaron Brooks might be the biggest lock of the bunch. I'll never pick against him. But he's not invincible and still has two monsters at his weight in Hoagie Hidlay and Parker Keckeisen. The road will not be easy. Max Dean also had to scratch and claw his way to the top of the podium last season and will have his share of landmines to deal with if he wants to get there again. He's no lock.

Now we get to G.D. Kerkvliet. Is he good enough to win it all? Absolutely. A lock? Far from it. This is why I'm not keen on Gable Steveson coming back. It takes away all the fun of the weight. We know he can beat Mason Parris. We also know he has problems with Cassioppi of Iowa. On top of that, Parris tends to beat Cassioppi on the reg. I haven't even mentioned Cohlton Schultz yet and he made the finals last year. So can they do five champs again? Sure they can. It will be tough but one thing we do know is that when Cael's guys get to the finals, they usually perform quite well. As far as our dear friend Clay is concerned, he has to spend the rest of the year rooting for the Cowboys and Phillies. We can let him have this one.

I often let my daughters paint my toenails (girl dad life). Sometimes they let me pick the colors. What color should I choose? Luke Wise

I'm not sure asking a color-blind person this question is the best idea. Your best bet is probably something to match your eye color. Or maybe something light to bring out the summer vibes. A light blue or green might be your best bet. Maybe paint a couple of flowers on there. It's open-toe season and if we have to stare at your nasty feet for three months at least give us some art.

I repeat my question from last week, plus if a picture is worth a thousand words, please give me your interpretation of this. Seth Petarra

First off, I don't remember your question from last week and I don't think you do, either. For those without access to Twitter, this man sent me a picture of Danny DeVito wearing a derby, holding some kind of stringed instrument along and a lemon, while holding a limoncello in the other hand. It's quite the scene. All it makes me think about is when the Always Sunny in Philadelphia star made a drunken appearance on The View, because he was up all night knocking back limoncellos with George Clooney. How many people can say that â€œYo T, remember when I showed up hammered on that talk show, because I got wasted with George Clooney the night before?â€ Saying I passed out on Willie's couch because I had too many Bud Heavies at the local Easton watering hole just doesn't have the same charm to it.

Alright all you Jagoffs and Jaggettes, this guy needs to put the keyboard away and get to his day job. Enjoy Cadet/U17/U16 or whatever they are calling Worlds this weekend. There's nothing better than watching the future stars of the sport make their mark. I shall cheer for them. This Iranian on right now looks about 27 years old.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 7/22/2022

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 12:36:36 +0000

Austin DeSanto before the 2022 NCAA Semifinals (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Here we are, at the All-Star break and do you know what that means? Good, neither do I.

It doesn't mean anything, other than that it's going to stay scorching hot for at least a few more weeks. I hope all of you Fargo'ers enjoyed your week in North Dakota.

Before we get started, I just want to throw out a big thank you to all the coaches who have worked your butts off coaching all these girls and boys throughout the week. Your dedication and selflessness to the sport is unparalleled. To be running around the FargoDome all day getting these kids prepared for their matches while nursing a constant hangover from all the nighttime beers is truly an inspiration to guys like me. It's you coaches who keep the sport going while passing down decades of knowledge to the next generation so they can pay it forward when it's their time to stumble into a hot arena to sit in the corner with a fresh cup of coffee. The sport is in good hands with the men and women who lead these teams and I couldn't be more proud of you all.

Even the Flo crew deserves praise for working their tails off all week to bring you all the matches at home for the folks who couldn't make it there. It's a gigantic tournament and I know the Flo crew has worked tirelessly to bring you the best product that they could. For all the criticism I give, I'm not sure there's another wrestling company out there that can provide this kind of coverage for such a large endeavor. Kudos to you. Okay, on to the important stuff.

Would you rather fight:

1. One Earl-sized Willie
2. 100 Willie-sized Earls

@FloLegalKaren

I don't know how you guys do things in Austin, but we at Intermat HQ do not discriminate by size. Nor do we fight each other. That being said, I'll take one Earl-sized Willie. Have you seen the last episode of Games of Thrones season six? Those little kids absolutely swarm on Maester Pycelle at the end. I don't need that kind of madness going on with me.

Will the fallout with Ferrari force John Smith out? @LMRMock

I certainly hope not. I'm in no position to really speak on this situation from a legal standpoint, nor am I privy to what went on behind closed doors over there, but I hope the GOAT can walk away on his own terms and not be stained by this sickening situation that we've heard so much about.

Do you know any legitimate dialogue between Northern Iowa and Iowa for a dual? Can they meet at all this year? I'm a dumb-dumb; are there National Duals? @MTorriero

I know nothing of any such dialogue or what the problem is with scheduling a dual between these teams. I do know that there are National Duals again and they will be taking place in New Orleans.

What's the best world-class chain to wear? How do you feel about Austin DeSanto after his international debut in Poland? Seth Petarra

Can't ever go wrong with the classic rope chain. It worked at my seventh-grade dance in 1991 and it works now. Just a timeless piece of New Jersey jewelry. I am absolutely thrilled with the return of ADS to the mat. His high-motor style that relies heavily on takedown is tailor-made for freestyle and I'm glad he's decided to give it a shot. Always a lightning rod for controversy, Austin became not-so-liked outside of Iowa City in these last few years. Now we all get to cheer for him on the international scene where we can appreciate how talented he really is.

The best Jersey-style subs are in Iowa. Any thoughts? @colinsonofmike

That's a bold statement. As Lance from Pulp Fiction said, I'll give our subs the Pepsi challenge against that Iowa sh*t any day of the week. Anyone can throw a bunch of meat and cheese together, but it's the bread that makes the sandwich. We here on the east coast specialize in bread. I'm not sure that midwest water has the proper pollution to make a perfect loaf. It takes centuries of proper dumping into the river to perfect it and I'm not sure you folks out there are careless enough to pull it off. One day I'll make my way out there and see what all the talk is about.

Any new bold predictions to make that will come true? Pelikan Head

I predict that before the 2023 season ends you will reveal your true identity

Which active NCAA wrestler has the best physique? Old School Wrestling Clips

Is Boo Dryden back? There's nothing I appreciate more than a seven-foot 133-pounder. As a bean pole myself, I can appreciate the effort it takes to maintain that kind of physique.

Finally, my guy @jkos11 would like to know how I feel about time zones.

Yes, we need time zones. Get earth to stand still for a minute and maybe we can talk about eliminating them. Until then, keep getting up in the middle of the night to watch freestyle tournaments from the Eastern Bloc.

Enjoy the weekend, everyone! Stay cool, stay hydrated, and don't worry, there's plenty of wrestling on the horizon to whet your whistle.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 7/8/2022

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 12:32:03 +0000

Yianni Diakomihalis at Final X NYC (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Hello there, friends! I hope you all had a happy and safe Fourth of July. I've seen, heard about, or been in enough accidents on the fourth that I just stay at home now and avoid catastrophe. Well, it's early July and nothing's going on, so I'm just going to rattle off some things I'd like to see in the near future.

I want to see the return of RTC events. What the crap? You think because regular events are back you can just bail on new ventures? You can't. Who wouldn't be excited for some killer matches at a random event this weekend? Let's bring it back.

I want to see Iowa wrestle Northern Iowa. Will Iowa win? More than likely. But who cares. Fans like seeing Iowa schools get feisty with each other. Come on Tom Brands, there's an Adam Fellers 27" brim in it for you if you take the match.

I really need to see Yianni tear it up at Worlds. We all know the US hasn't medaled at 65kg since the flip phone and I predict that streak ends this year.

I wouldn't mind seeing Bishop McCort freed this year. We get it PA. You made your point. But now you're in danger of losing some of your state's best talent for their whole careers.

Alright, I have to answer questions about Matt Finesilver's facial hair so let's get to it.

Which transfer are you most interested in following this season and why is it Handsome Matt FInesilver? @Rhino184

How's about no! He spurned Rutgers and robbed us of a Rhino/Jagger Night at Jersey Mike's Arena. I'll never get over this betrayal. I am interested in seeing what Stevo Poulin is up to at Northern Colorado. Some potential post-hype breakout there if you ask me.

Follow up: Will he have to go with more facial hair to move up a weight? @coach_wendell

And ruin his homage to Rhino's ridiculous profile pic? Sounds like Vice talk to me.

Thoughts on the Phillies 11-0 victory over that team from DC? Did you also have a dream about The Movement like Earl Smith? Kevin McGuigan

Brother, I got The Movement in my Twitter bio. It's always on my mind. Thoughts on the Phillies? Can't say that I have any. Atlanta is where my attention is.

Is all this madness with the conferences gonna be bad for wrestling? New Hampshire Wrestling Fan

I don't watch any other college sports, so I don't pay much attention to them. I don't think we will lose programs over it, but you can never trust these schools. I'm in favor of throwing away conferences and going to a regional-type qualifier anyway. Or maybe just one giant NCAA tournament where everyone goes and it takes three weeks to complete. Bring the round of 128 to college wrestling!

Is Avril Lavigne still alive? @WorstYoungest

Gotta ask a guy in West Virginia about that. Maybe the Mothman abducted her.

Potatoes or pasta? Is Cornell not getting enough appreciation for the depth of the freestyle roster they have? Seth Petarra International Correspondent

To avoid excommunication from the group I'll say pasta, but I do love a good baked potato with butter and bacon bits.

I think they get enough appreciation. Just the other day, I overheard some dude in a deli say, "Yo T, I don't know what a Finger Lake is, but Cornell just churns out studs in freestyle." Then he ordered a veal parmesan for breakfast becauseâ€¦.. New Jersey.

As a dog person, what is your opinion on late, loud, obnoxious, fireworks? My dog hates them, so now I do, too. Jkos11

I hate them, but there's nothing you can do about it. Let's just keep it to one holiday a year. You don't need fireworks for Memorial Day or Labor Day. Give 'em an inch, and they blow up a mile.

Is there a non-Power Five wrestling team you always keep your eye on? Wiems19

I love the Ivy schools. They have loads of talent and are easy to watch since they have a lot of Saturday afternoon matches on ESPN Plus. Any random dual could have a rematch of a New Jersey state final.

How fast can you run? Oldest & Greatest

I drive a car. Gave up running when people couldn't make me do laps anymore.

And for how long without stopping. Joe Kania

I can drive all night, baby.

Would you rather fight Henry Cejudo or @worstyoungest and @oldestgreatest at the same time? Batting gloves are optional. No rules or weapons. @Gut_Bench69

And hurt my two favorite Jagoffs? Bring on Triple C and I'll wear batting gloves for some reason.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 6/24/2022

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 11:44:07 +0000

Yianni Diakomihalis and Zain Retherford at Final X Rutgers in 2019 (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Tonight, the crew at Stalemates presents their third edition of Street League. Once again, proving to be a force in the industry, Zach and the gang continue to evolve in an industry that can be a tough nut to crack. The previous shows have brought a ton of energy, great fans, and most importantly, great matches. My good buddy and Mikey England superfan, Ed Gallo of The Fight Site, went ballistic when The Maniac won in overtime against Gerald Harris before chugging a beer in his shoe. When you're eliciting that kind of reaction from fans with folkstyle matches with absolutely no stakes or affiliation, you know you're doing something right. I can only anticipate more cards in the future with more crazy matches. Here's a few dream matches I'd like to see go down in Stalemates Arena.

Zain-Yianni

The two best upper-lightweights of the past half-decade have met plenty of times in freestyle but never in a folk match. Six title-winning seasons and counting. One loss combined in those six seasons. I realize this is shooting for the stars but a man can dream.

Kyle Dake-Kamal Bey

Fight expert and resident Maryland Terps fan Richard Mann is dying to see this take place in Greco and I happen to agree with him. Put some extra padding around the mat and let's see who the best thrower in America really is. Speaking of Richard, he will be previewing the entire Street League 3 card with picks, if you care to make some friendly wagers. By the way, whatever happened to Wrestling Bookie?

Vincenzo Joseph-Alex Marinelli

The Bull owes us a match here and who better than everyone's favorite wrestler, the great Cenzo, to step up to the plate. After four battles between these two, we were robbed of one more potential battle with the loss of the 2020 tournament. Imagine what these two might do where they can just let it fly with no consequences.

Tom Brands-Terry Brands

Why the hell not? Tell me this can't happen. There's no doubt in my mind that these two can still go for the duration of one match. It's the Holy Grail of dream matches! It belongs in Iowa for Iowa fans. Slip into those denim and gold chain Street league singlets and let's do this already.

Ok, by now you're probably finishing up your morning bathroom business so let's get to the questions.

With all the upsets at FInal X, are we sending our best team? @pbr54321

Well, Mr. 54321, (also my luggage combination in reverse) I get what you're saying. And mostly this pertains to Seth Gross and Daton Fix. Look, the best-of-three format is there to prevent flukes and make sure the right person wins. Gross won the matches. He earned the spot. In my eyes, he's the best guy this year. Seth doesn't have that certain sex appeal that others do, because he doesn't always dominate and will drop the random matches. But what he does do is consistently improve his game and find success. So while he doesn't portray that dominant and elite persona that others do, he's reaching his freestyle prime and I wouldn't put it past him to come back with a medal. The man is crazy out there and the world is about to find out.

I was just looking at the Intermat rankings that just dropped, Max Murin still has eligibility? Can you explain that to me? It feels like he graduated in the 1980's. @jkos11

Believe it or not, he's on the proper grade trajectory if you add in the free year. He redshirted in 2018, then wrestled the next four years. Consider this the bonus year and you have a proper 21st-century college career. The problem is that you're combining him with Vince Turk and thinking of them as one guy. With Turk's freshman year in 2016, it can seem like it's been a while.

If there was a legit college wrestling video game, and you could play as any character in history, who would you pick and why? Also, why did you not pick Kellen Russell? @RichardAMann

If someone makes a legit good game, I'll pick up Kellen, drive to you, get beers, huff Bogey's, lose our ladies, and live our dream of being King Sandoval pinning our way to an NCAA title.

Was Courtney Love responsible for Kurt Cobain's death? Baby Grajales

Two fun facts: I roped a single to right field for my first hit in high school baseball the day Kurt left us and spent the night writing this mailbag while listening to Lithium Deep Cuts on SXM. That's really all I can offer to the investigation.

Can Rutgers finish third in the Big Ten this year? @Mopeman

That's asking a lot. But that's no reason to mope, man. Take a look at the roster and there's something you won't find much of and that's seniors. This team is young and talented while building up the depth that has been a problem in recent years. I like where this team is going. Also, still undefeated with Jagger in the arena so time to get to some more duals.

Where does Iowa end and Hell begin? ILLINI Wrestling Blog

Well, that would clearly be Kansas City. Go Raiders!

What's the best seafood to leave in your car and how do you feel about the influx of Italian-American transfers competing internationally? @SethPetar

First off, all seafood is best left in the ocean. Gross. The Italians? I love it! New Jersey probably leads the league in Italian-American wrestlers and there's only so many world team spots. Keep an eye out for Jersey stud Alex Nini competing for Italy at Cadet Worlds. Now here's a question for you, Mr. Petarra. When are you going to lace 'em up for the old country? Move to Venice, your stank fish car will fit right in but you may not find any roads.

Before we go I'd like to make an amendment to last week's question on entrance music. I'll totally rock the entirety of Uptown Funk on my way down the aisle. See ya next week!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 6/17/2022

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 11:21:24 +0000

0222 Junior World Team member Alex Facundo (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

I admit I was wrong. I had my doubts about the turnout for FInal X New York. I didn't think timing and location would persuade many fans to travel to the center of Metropolis for something they could watch at home. Then I realized that it was the biggest city in the world. It was on a gorgeous summer day. We did spend a year locked inside our houses not knowing if the world would ever be the same. Not everyone works a nine-to-five day job like me. I doubted my fellow East Coast brothers and sisters. And I messed up. I should've been there with you. I don't have any excuses for it. Sure, I had a busy week last week. Could I have made plans to get there if I really wanted to? Of course, I could. But I didn't and I'll always regret that.

I admit I was jealous seeing all the pictures of people I've come to know over the years having a great time and meeting up. The truth is I might have been scared to go. Growing up I never felt like I never fit in with the rest of my wrestling peers. I could hold my own on the mat and had my moments, but I didn't go to clubs, didn't really make friends with guys from other schools, and was mostly shy at tournaments. Before this, none of my real-life friends were wrestling fans at all. My buddies Jeff and Gianfranco, along with my cousin Freddie, do not want to go to Region 1 finals with me. They are not interested in who's coming out on top at 125 and 133 for Rutgers. So going to random events and just sitting there never seemed to be an ideal thing to do. Perhaps a little bit of imposter syndrome has something to do with it. I'm not an expert on the sport. I'm not a professional writer. Not even close to a professional comedian. I'm not even sure how I got here. Perhaps the sum of Jagger is greater than his parts. All I know is you've all graciously welcomed me into your community and I keep trying to convince myself that I'm not a part of it. I need to do better. And I will, but first, let's get to some questions.

How good do you think Illinois will be with one of the most loaded coaching staffs? Seth Petarra

Interesting question. It's funny that in most sports it's not always the best competitors who make the best coaches. That's not so much in wrestling, as some of the most elite on the mat have become the most elite in the corner. But it's not always the case. There's more to it than just teaching moves. It's the relationship with the athlete. It's being able to communicate and understand what makes each individual tick.

That being said, bringing back arguably your school's greatest wrestler ever in Isaiah Martinez is another feather in the cap for head coach Mike Poeta. Aside from his wealth of knowledge, he's a symbol of what can be accomplished by going to school in Champaign. And what about Ed Ruth! The Penn State legend has returned to his roots on the mat and has just started getting his feet wet in the coaching game. Personally, I expect big things out of the Poeta-Hunter-Ruth-Martinez foursome.

Been traveling but I assume you got some on the new rules? @LMRMock

The redshirt rules? They certainly have their pros and cons. I think we're all happy about redshirts being able to wrestle a few duals without consequences. Now what I'm seeing is that the rule only actually applies to freshmen and that actually makes sense. Not that duals really matter much, but we can't have Iowa putting a redshirt on Spencer Lee, but rolling him out there for two or three of the biggest duals of the year. It just doesn't seem fair to me. But it does let a coach get a chance to see if a true frosh is ready without risking losing a year from him. Last year, we could've got a glimpse at an Alex Facundo or a Paddy Gallagher during the dual
season to see where they're at. Especially since the second semester is mostly dormant on the open tournament front. Which leads me to the next big news to come out of this. True freshmen can't wrestle opens unattached in the first semester! That's one of the most enjoyable things about the first two months! Just completely asinine if you ask me.

What is an NIL summit? Richard Mann

Probably something that wasn't as cool as the Apalachin Summit of 1957. You can google it, it's worth a google.

Hypothetically, if you were to wrestle on a card, what would your walk-out music be? Earl "JR" Smith

I think about this almost daily and would need about 25 matches to satisfy my urge of having intro music. So many options. Lately, I've been digging Cult of Personality by Living Colour. If You Want Blood (You Got It) by AC/DC has long been a jam I'm dying to walk out to. I could pay homage to my real name Ian and come out to Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull. I could also pay homage to my fake name and dance my way out to Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones. So many options. One thing I can guarantee is the intro will be longer than the match. I can tell you one song it won't be. Friggin' Baby Shark. This isn't Romper Room out here.

You ever woken up in an alley? Pelikan Head

Hmm, can't say that I have. I will say that I've slept (passed out) in some strange places. Ended my 21st birthday asleep in the crew cab of my Ford Ranger. I once ended a night in Montana out cold in the back of a Ford Explorer. Maybe it's a Ford thing. My most notorious zonk was having too many adult sodas while watching the 2000 World Series before a Stone Temple Pilots concert. As soon as the lights went down I knew I was done and proceeded to make my way into a phone booth at the rotunda below the arena and made that my bed for the next two hours while Weiland and the boys tore it up above me. Jagger used to party and when he went down he went down hard. Alright, this mailbag was way too personal, see ya next week.

Happy Father's Day to all you crazy dads out there and especially to new dad Austin Sommer! Drexel's Class of 2040 just got their first commit. Hammer!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 6/3/2022

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 12:05:24 +0000

A Columbia/Stanford dual from the 2019-20 season (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

June is here and starting today world team spots will be earned. I'd wish the best of luck to the thirty wrestlers competing, but only fifteen of you can win, so I'm wasting fifteen lucks on the rest of you. Instead, I'll wish one good luck per weight and you can wrestle a best two-out-of-three to see who gets it. Can't wait to see where my best wishes go! For now, you asked some very urgent and important questions so let's get to it!

Why doesn't Jagger answer any of my questions? Is he afraid I'll sue him?
@FloLegalKaren

I've been advised to plead the fifth on this one.

WTH is USA Wrestling thinking by trying to single thread Final X on one mat? Do the math. These events will be insufferably long. @Eagle_Fan

If every match goes to three, plus the two third-place matches, that's 47 matches! Spread out over two sessions! Ten more than 37! Look, what are you going to do? This is what happens when you reduce it from three locations to two. Now we know most weights likely won't go to three, but it still seems like an overload. But, if we can watch a random tournament from Tajikistan all weekend that starts at four in the morning, we can afford to watch our best men and women do their thing. Yes, it will be long. Yes, we will complain. But all the athletes deserve the spotlight and all that comes with it. For some, it will be a bitter end to a dream. The least we can do is sit our lazy asses down and watch the damn thing all the way through.

Have you convinced the Intermat boss, @MatScoutWillie, to get a pair of cut-offs yet? @luke_w_wise

He actually just said he will rock a pair if Jamison Taillon tosses a perfect game for the Yanks right here. Oh, there goes that out the window. Speaking of the Big Cheese...

When you're in the office at Intermat, who do you prank the most? Willie Saylor

We at The "Mat are all about having a good time. Put salt in the sugar shaker. Change all the computers to write in comic-sans. Change the bathroom bulbs to black light. You know, stuff like that. But the greatest trick that this devil ever pulled was using a DNA test to convince Seth Petarra that he was actually one hundred percent Irish. I let him flip only four cars over before I told him it was just a goof. What a day.

Which team should do another big outdoor dual? @PelikanHead

None if you ask me. I hate the whole idea of it. The lighting sucks whether it's day or night. The mat gets slippery. The fans are too far away and the noise drowns out in the open sky. That being said, I'd have to pick a team who's somewhere reasonably warm. North Carolina is a good candidate. Maybe a dual against Duke would have a little juice to it. Rock Harrison can throw out the first pitch.

What do you think about the influx of college eligible guys making deep runs at Senior National events? @SethPetar

I think it's a product of the advancements in school-affiliated RTC"s and clubs. With the rebirth of American freestyle wrestling in the last decade-plus, the growth has expanded into better environments, better coaching, and more advanced athletes at an early age. The constant debate is that wrestling folk hurts our freestyle training for the younger wrestlers and I disagree. I think it's good to have a change of pace here and there. These kids are bound to wrestle year-round now. I don't think it's a bad thing to train multiple styles. The results are now starting to show that you can compete with the best fresh off a grueling college season.

Will we see a repeat of the '86 Mets in our lifetime? @EricAsselin74

Stay alive until October and find out Bubba.

If you could travel to any big International tournaments, not Worlds/Olympics, what ya picking? @wiems19

Probably the Yarygin, so I can smoke butts inside and experience hypothermia outside.

Do you have good stories of wrestling in hot weather? If not, just skip this question. @oldestgreatest

Skipping this question.

Enjoy the show today, folks. Don't forget Bo Nickal fights tonight! Same time as the second session! Great scheduling!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 5/27/2022

Fri, 27 May 2022 12:03:32 +0000

Chance Marsteller before match three in the 2022 World Team Trials Challenge Tournament finals (Photo/Mark Lundy; www.LutteLens.com)

By now I'm sure most of you have seen the very moving Chance Marsteller interview after qualifying for Final X. For even the toughest wrestlers it can be difficult to be so open about your private life like that. It just goes to show that you never know what's going on with someone behind closed doors. They're wrestlers. They're disciplined. They train harder than anyone. They're also human. We all have demons. We all have something trying to hold us down. Keep fighting and never give in. Sure you'll stumble along the way but you can always get back up. Life is just a series of falling and rising. Whether you're Chance Marsteller trying to reach the apex of his sport, while dealing with demons, or just an Average Joe trying to get through the day, you're both heroes in my book because you both keep fighting to get better. Anyway, I have to answer questions on if I can beat up some random Twitter guy.

Would u beat @oldestgreatest in a fight? @PelikanHead

You mean the 2022 MUSAW (whatever that is) state champ? Well, I'm older, I'm greater, and grew up in a state that isn't wimpy Michigan, so I'd likely wipe the floor with him. Someone should book us in a boxing match after wrestling practice.

What are your picks for Final X? Who is your pick for a big upset? @PhilSmanynumbers

Final X! Last of the X's! All the X's will move to Texas after this! It's kind of tough to go against chalk for these weights but one guy who stands out to me is Jason Nolf. It's been a relatively quiet few post-college years for the LEGENDARY Nittany Lion as he's as to sit behind absolute stalwarts at 70kg and 74kg but the 26-year-old is just entering his freestyle prime. Nolf seems low-key on a David Taylor-Esque trajectory as he's tried to find the right weight to settle into. Now a fully developed 74 guy, the three-time NCAA champ is on the cusp of breaking through and making a world team. Can he beat the great Kyle Dake twice in one day? It's the tallest
of orders to ask but don't be surprised if he steals the first one to make it interesting.

Two-part question, now that baseball is in full "swing", which baseball players could make the most successful transition into wrestling today and why is it not Jacob Tyler REALMUTO (USA)? @UWW_Creative

Because he quit wrestling in like sixth grade to play, and I hope you're sitting down, basketball! Can you believe that? A member of the famous Smith family playing basketball. I don't know what to do with myself anymore. Where's my guy Ban Basketball in the comments? We have to do something about this. I say we relegate the Phillies to the minors and call up the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

With Dom Bradley's wrestling style will he ever retire? Baby Grajales

As long as he keeps making national teams and having fun I see no reason to stop.

O/U on the amount of wrestling Twitter celebrities I see at NHSCA duals this weekend 3.5 @jkos11

The weirdest thing about saying hello to someone you know from Twitter is introducing yourself. "Hey Earl, I'm Goat Follower, nice to meet you." It gets even weirder.

"Hey, aren't you Mickadelphia? I'm Mike Torriero's burner." What a strange world.

Knee jerk reaction to Wisconsin RTC cutting the women's side of it? @Wiems19 and @LMRMock

I'm thinking some of these clubs bit off more than they can chew and have a funding problem. I'm the last person who knows what exactly goes on at these clubs, but the idea of it just seems unsustainable. Not every club can have a world champ. It's just not feasible. But the person writing the checks doesn't really care about that.

Results are what matter. How long before those checks dry up? The burden of making a living and competing has been responsible for halting many careers too soon because of real-life and the RTC model has been able to remedy that a little bit. I just don't know if it's a lasting model.

Well, I hope everyone has a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend. My thoughts will be with the families and victims of the events in Uvalde, Texas. Better people with better words can sum up our thoughts with more eloquence than I can so I won't even try. I pray the madness stops. Until next week, Jagger out.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 5/13/2022

Fri, 13 May 2022 11:59:12 +0000

Isaiah Martinez at Final X in 2019 (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Happy Friday to all my Jagoffs and Jaggettes! Looks like the weather finally broke and we're quickly approaching the Middle X portion of the World Team qualifying process. What more can one ask for but for sunny days and elite wrestling? Not much to discuss here as everything seems to be running smoothly so let's get right into the questions before I lose your interest and you go to the park or something.

Thoughts on Final X New York being on a Wednesday afternoon? @Rhino184

It's not exactly the best time to have it, but I guess that's the price you pay when you book a room in the World's Most Famous Arena. The good news is that the second session takes place in the evening, so if you're busy during the day you can catch the final matches when you get home. It's doubling as the Beat the Streets event, so I suppose it brings a little more star power and competition to the show instead of just a US beatdown on some other country. We saw enough of that last week.

What will be the biggest offseason surprise of college wrestling? @PelikanHead

A former 197 lb national champ will take his talents elsewhere and not necessarily to another wrestling mat. Where there's smoke there's fire. And I'm an expert on smoke.

Last Chance Qualifier is in Atlantic City NJ, which I know about from Monopoly and the Springsteen song. Which of those two gives a more accurate portrayal of the city? @OldestGreatest

Man, Atlantic City is such a good song. It might be Bruce's most covered song, too.

Which is more fitting to the real place? Well, they both leave you broke or depressed, but I'll go with the song, as I've yet to see top hats and monocles walking around the casino. AC only got legal gambling in 1977 and they didn't exactly promote it as a family-friendly place back then. So when Bruce sang it on his bed in 1982, he really captured the darkness and desperation of a town and people struggling their way through as a seedy alternative to the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. Now I can just gamble on my phone. Imagine Bruce trying to write a song about struggling to get by because of online gambling. The internet has ruined everything.

If you could convince one Flo Wrestling employee to join #WrestlingShirtADayinMay, which one would it be and why? @DutrowJim

We don't need them for this. If the folks in Austin don't want to be part of the community, then it's their loss. The wrestling world does not start and stop with Flo.

Besides, if you block everyone, does anyone really see it anyway?

Which teams do you think made mental changes in the quickest of seconds this past season? @SethPetar

I'd have to say Army. Have singlet, will travel. If you go and take on a dual with Iowa on short notice you better be able to make mental changes. Luckily, the lads at West Point are America's best and brightest who are fueled by Wegmans sandwiches that Scott Green makes weekly trips to New Jersey to purchase.

If you could transfer to one state, which one would it be? What would your NIL package include? @AustinSommer

North Carolina seems like a good fit for the Jagger lifestyle. First off, you've got tons of wrestling programs. Second, you've got tons of tobacco. Thirdly, the Hidlay brothers. And I want some kind of NASCAR sponsorship. Which reminds me, how long before singlets are just plastered with logos and moves have sponsors?

Imagine the interviews afterward. "Well Rock, my Zaxby's Chicken single leg was really working today, but I've got to get to my Home Depot cement mixer a little more often. I've really been working on my top game in the room and I think it showed in my Wolverine double boots out there today, but I really need to work on my Gander Mountain catch and release or they're going to pull their sponsorship."

Which wrestling team do you think is most influential on the success of the New York Mets thus far? @Wiems19

Now you're just trying to troll my editor. I try to wait until Memorial Day to get excited for the Mets. Usually, it ends up being a memorial for the season, but that might not be the case this year.

Enjoy the Last Chance for Love Open this weekend! I am certainly interested to see if IMar can get back to his old self and run the gauntlet all the way through to Final X. It wasn't that long ago when he was a serious threat to knocking off Jordan Burroughs. Can he recapture that magic? We'll find out soon enough. Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty, and meet me this weekend in Atlantic City.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 5/6/2022

Fri, 06 May 2022 11:58:05 +0000

David McFadden (left) and Vincenzo Joseph in the 2022 US Open finals (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Lost in the commotion of the US Open was the news of a new pro league on the horizon. A true professional league has always kind of been the Holy Grail of the wrestling world. Meet the new league. Same as the old league. The American Wrestling League is back and under new management. History shows that it won't work, but Uncle Jagger is here to tell you why it can work.

I think the biggest problem was that wrestlers retired at an earlier age thus leaving a shallow pool to choose from. That's not exactly true anymore with men and women consistently competing into their thirties. Let's face it, the endgame for competing past college is to make a world/Olympic team. The percentage of wrestlers that make that world team is microscopic. Now, a different circuit gives the wrestlers another venue to pursue while still doing what they love. You didn't make a world team? Sorry to hear that. You had a good season in the AWL while enjoying the camaraderie of a team again and got paid for it? Sounds pretty cool. The next reason is that it's 2022.

This isn't the age of once a week newsletters and trading videotapes. We're used to watching everything at home now and freestyle wrestling appeals to fans all over the world. My paisan Seth Petarra watches Kyrgyzstan Cadets just as a hobby. I'm sure there's a Kyrgyzstan Seth out there who's willing to watch the AWL. Zach and Tyler from Stalemates run a successful league with good marketing and a desire to give the fans what they want. The talent is available. The streaming options are available. Hopefully, the money is available. Will the fans show up? We shall see. Speaking of fans, you guys sent a few questions and I answered.

Who were you most impressed with at the US Open? @PelikanHead

Dan Verr in the Greco-Roman Masters division D at 58 kilograms. The guy is so good that nobody even entered the tournament at his weight. National champ without even breaking a sweat. Stud. Vincenzo Joseph and David McFadden were pretty good, too. I wouldn't mind seeing them mix it up a few more times.

What's the average setup time for your TV's? @Michwrestlinref

Mostly depends on the situation and how I pre-plan it, but I can get you four screens up and running in five minutes or less. I admit I flew too close to the sun last time and started feeling the radiation and it got weird. I may tone down the screens in the future. I may also quit smoking and stop being a curmudgeon, but there's no guarantee on any of these things.

No questions. Just appreciation for his repping of #PhillyWrestling to kick off #WrestlingShirtADayinMay. @WrestlingPhilly

You know I love my Philly wrestling! I hope you're all enjoying the brainchild of Jim Dutrow and judging by the tweets you definitely are! It's fun to see all the cool shirts folks have collected over the years and I've seen a few that I want for myself. Even Hoboken Mike on Survivor brought a Wesleyan Wrestling sweatshirt to the island knowing the show would be for the month of May. I say we take it a step further and go singlet a day in January and really get this cooking.

If you could dox the identity of any anonymous wrestling Twitter account, who would it be? @theGOATfollower

Karen at Flo is certainly someone whose identity people have speculated about. The thing with anonymous accounts is it's likely just someone you don't know. This isn't the Marvel Cinematic Universe where everyone is connected in some way. It's just random fans making random accounts to talk about the sport or have some fun while maintaining privacy. Isn't that right, Andy?

How do you handle your Twitter fame? Does it affect your day-to-day lifestyle? @gutbench69

Shockingly not a problem in everyday life. Put me in Iowa and you'll see the press on the runway like I'm "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Which NCAA wrestler would be best off signing an NIL with Marlboro? @jkos11

Well, we already missed the boat with Chad "Marlboro" Red, so I think that ship has sailed. Probably not a good idea anyway.

Do you....never mind don't want to upset you. @MaceikoW

As a matter of fact, I do.

That's it for this week, my friends! First X is in the books and things are looking spicy for Middle X, before all the returning champs inevitably win at Final X. And so it goes...

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 4/22/2022

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 12:01:47 +0000

2021 NCAA All-American Michael Beard (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Welcome to another edition of the Jagger Bag. Hope you all had a good holiday weekend but now it's time to get back to some wrestling. We kick things off with the National Freestyle Duals this weekend followed by the big guns at the US Open next week. The last month has felt like an age and I'm excited to see mat action again. From Cadets to Seniors the country seems to be more loaded than ever and we should all just enjoy the amount of talent we get to see. Many questions will be answered in the next few weeks. And since that's also what I do, let's get to some.

Who's a darkhorse college guy who can make Final X? Lee C.

I'm very interested in seeing where Carson Kharchla stands with the big boys at 74kg. There may be a new crop of challengers for two-time World Champ Kyle Dake and Carson may very be the guy left standing when the smoke clears. If he's even competing. You never quite know until it's tournament time.

Editor's note: Here are the current entries for the US Open in Senior Men's Freestyle. As of now, Kharchla has not entered, but he still has time.

Where does Michael Beard end up now that he is in the portal? @Obrats

Michael Beard may be the guy with the most potential to enter the portal this year. It's insane that he has three years left since his first match was against a sophomore Greg Bulsak in 2019. With an AA already on his resume, and four years of college experience with three to go, I don't think we will ever see this kind of situation play out again. Throw in the alleged bags of cash and Beard is in an excellent situation to maximize his worth. I'd like to see him uphold his original commitment and return to Northwestern, but it's really anyone's guess where he ends up. My guess is Michigan. Find me a more perfect storyline than a guy losing his spot only to transfer
to a rival, that just happens to be the home state of the guy who beat him, just to challenge him on the big stage.

Who is your celebrity crush?

Who is your celebrity look alike? @AustinSommer

Meemaw from Young Sheldon. Annie Potts all day baby! Also, people used to say I look like Tom Green but I don't see it.

Is Vito a darkhorse? FinishedNumber

Vitali Arujau is a threat to win any tournament he enters on American soil. One of these days he will breakthrough.

What are your thoughts on Rutgers (the mecca of Italian wrestling)? @SethPetar

Messina
Olivieri
Raimo
Cetta
Fongaro
DeSantis
Soldano
Casale
Esposito
Colucci

And those are just the guys who are Italian on their dads' side. I know some of the other guys have to have some Italian moms, too. It's Jersey, everyone's a little Italian.

Can anyone tell me what happened to OSU's Echemendia this year? @buckeyenomo

Much like your handle, he's a buckeye no mo. Currently in the transfer portal, I'd be mildly shocked if he gets picked up by another school. I'm also not so sure his current "sponsorship" falls under NIL guidelines.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 4/15/2022

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 12:32:25 +0000

Duke 174 lber Matt Finesilver (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Spring is in the air and Freestyle/Greco season is upon us. Leave the headgear and ankle bands at home, we don't need 'em. It's always fun to see what changes every year.

Who got better? Who got worse? Who grew a beard? Who's making a comeback? Can anyone explain what exactly Titan Mercury is? Why am I watching Bridgerton while writing this? Oops, wrong chat.

Anyway, it seems like forever since we've had a proper World Team qualifying process and I'm excited for it. Where else can you get national champs
hitting in early rounds at tournaments? The best of the best. Seth Petarra won't get much sleep in the next few months. Speaking of the Italian Devil...

Do you think there should be an Intermat Masterchef? If you answered yes, why do you think I would win? Who are your All-Italian American first-teamers after NCAA's?
@SethPetar

A little-known fact about the CEO of Italians is that he loves to cook. If you think his articles are in-depth, you should see his recipe for pork shoulder. Give me the Brain, the CEO, and DiMarco in a cooking competition and I'll judge the crap out of it. You pick an All-Italian team and come meet my All-Jagger team for a dual meet.

But seriously folks, our guy Seth churns out the best Freestyle content on the interwebs and nobody has a deeper knowledge of international wrestlers ready to break out. The guy follows Kyrgyzstan cadets.

Which Intermat employee would be the easiest/hardest to strike out? @IndianaMat

I thought about this one for awhile. The toughest might be Willie. I can picture him just being a nuisance at the plate. Small strike zone, probably crouching over the plate spitting juice between pitches. I'd probably just bean him in the ass to great applause. Then I'll just strike out everyone else while huffing Bogey's in the dugout.

If Handsome Matt Finesilver is on the move, what places does Jags think he should consider? @Rhino184

It's going to be quite strange to see a Finesilver not wearing Duke blue, but this is the world we live in with an infinite amount of Finesilver's and eligibility. How about Northern Colorado? Taking that last year and coming home seems to be a trend and Matt can put a little notch in his belt by being the only brother to represent his home state.

Which programs do you see winning #WrestlingShirtADayinMay this year? @DutrowJim

Nobody does a better job of marketing than Allyson Schwab. Get on the Panther Train before they run out of stock.

Do I still have to ask questions in off-season? @PelikanHead

Of course, you still have to ask questions. There's no offseason here at Intermat. I rely on you for half my content and can't have you showing up in November all out of shape asking dumb questions like if Penn State can repeat. You don't see Rhino taking a break. The Michigan Ref is asking questions in the room right now. Iron questions sharpen iron questions.

Is PKHead's question's use of 'offseason' actually a troll of Yianni and/or freestyle? @JpPearson71

I think every Pelikan Head tweet has a hint of troll to it. The man is a Picasso with 280 characters and you should all be following him.

Jags, you're the manager of Mailbag right? Will you pull yourself out of the mailbag after 7 questions? Or would you advocate to finish out the final two? @MichWrestlinRef

Told you the ref was asking questions in the room right now. Seeing as this is the seventh question I guess we'll find out. For the record, I've maybe missed five
questions so far in my time writing this column. I know what it's like to be left on read.

If Intermat did a documentary on Jagger, what would the documentary be named? @AustinSommer

Smoke Rise: The Jagger Chronicles

Well, that was only eight questions, so no perfect game, but the good news is I get another chance next week. Happy Passover today and Happy Easter this Sunday. CadburyCreme Eggs are my jam.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 4/8/2022

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 11:48:48 +0000

2022 NCAA All-American Real Woods (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

For better or for worse, The NIL era is fully upon us, and not even three weeks into the college offseason, it's all anyone can talk about. Heck, I think all my questions are about it. It's almost as if the entire process of transferring changed when Nick Suriano jumped to an interconference school sans any penalties. Then the transfer portal became prominent. Next, everyone in 2021 received a free year.

Now we've got this strange NIL situation that seems to be drenched in vagueness and nobody knows what's right and what's wrong. I don't know if Real Woods received a large sum of money or not and I really don't care. Real Woods set a goal to get a Stanford degree and was close to accomplishing that when he thought he may have lost his wrestling team for good. After that didn't happen, he was able to stay and graduate while still being able to compete. Now fully on his way to a diploma with two years of eligibility left, Real decided to take his talents elsewhere. Now it's rumored his talents were bought by the school he chose. What school is that? Iowa! Yeah, that Iowa! The most famous college wrestling team ever. The school every wrestler ever probably dreamed of wrestling for at some point. Did he maybe get some money to wrestle there? Very possible. Good for him. Get a Stanford degree, then get paid to wrestle two years at Iowa. You're living right. The NIL has opened a world of possibilities as far as recruitment. Get used to it. Real Woods is far from the last time we see this.

To the mailbag.

Who is Jagger giving an NIL deal to, to bring them to RU? Or any other school in Jersey, for that matter. @luke_w_wise

I don't want to be accused of tampering or step on the toes of any of the fine Scarlet Knights wrestlers already rostered, but there's a two-year-old in Southeastern PA named Anthony DiMarco, Jr who shows some real promise. His old man likes to write fantasy wrestling articles, but the son is the real deal. I hear he's leaving daycare mid-semester to get into the nursery school room quicker to prepare for a possible three years of kindergarten. Top five on my Baby Big Board.

My Cousin Vinny, Goodfellas, or The Godfather? What is your take on cheese? @SethPetar

Cheese stinks. Mafia movies don't. One of these is a lawyer movie starring a mafia movie legend. Fun fact: mob movie comedy classic My Blue Heaven was written
by Nora Ephron as a companion piece to Goodfellas, which was written by her husband, Nicholas Pileggi. Hey, what a day for a mow!

How much money would need to be â€œin the bagâ€ to get Jagger to enter the transfer portal? @Jkos11

And leave Intermat? Easton would fall.

Have you ever been Jermed? @wiems19

Ewww. I hope not. Oh, you mean Mat Jerms. The hottest podcast on the internet. Alright, Jeremy, I'll bite on your shameless plug. But only because I named it. Seriously though, go check your local listings for my good pal Jeremy and his foray into the world of podcasting. A huge supporter of women's wrestling, the Jerm already has a great list of guests lined up.

What is the percentage of Post Grads who enter the portal with years of eligibility left and will that change how you think due to the use of NIL and RTC ? @MindsetCoachBW

This is where things will get tricky. If you were a lowerclassman during the free year, you are likely to graduate with at least one year of eligibility left and maybe even two. Now you have the right to be a full free agent who has fulfilled all of his duties to your original school. It's the best of both worlds. Three worlds when you throw in the money factor. And since barely anyone redshirted during the free year, you can bet your behind the coaches will think twice about sitting them for a year in the future, knowing anyone can bolt at any time. Anyone who was a true freshman last year and redshirted this year is really in the driver's seat. You have four years of eligibility left and two years of school down. The student-athletes have never had a better chance to maximize their talents for all their worth.

Do you really follow college wrestling? @MaceikoW

About as much as people follow you. This guy has tweeted 180 times with one person listening. Just call him on the phone. Have a good weekend all! Baseball is back!

The 2021-22 All-Jagger Team

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 13:07:32 +0000

3x NCAA All-American and All-Jagger 133 lber Austin DeSanto (right) (Photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Hey there Jagoffs and Jaggettes! Long time no see! A while back, I promised you the All-Jagger team and I intend on keeping that promise. Sadly, I wasn't able to catch much of the last day of the tournament due to some personal matters, and everything before that was a blur, so after some time off, I went and looked back to see which guys fit the criteria.

What's that criteria, you ask? I have no idea. It's mostly guys I enjoy watching and did something extraordinary to pop the crowd. In time, the members of the team will define what makes a Jagger Guy. Before we get started, I would like to thank all of you who reached out to me when I lost my little buddy. Your kindness and empathy to a guy who, in reality, you don't know or have never even met, has renewed my faith in people and the good deeds they do. You shared your stories, poems, and words of encouragement that helped see me through. Now without further ado, the 2022 All-Jagger team.

125-Patrick McKee

Maybe Pat's just not a Thursday guy. Perhaps he just likes to maximize his mat time. Either way, there's something to be said about going 12-1 on the backside in two years. Jagger Guy.

133-Austin DeSanto

Say what you want about the guy. From his Vision Quest moment in the 2017 PA state final to his blistering start in college when he was getting three-minute tech falls, ADS has been appointment viewing. In an era where it seems that guys are in college for an eternity, his five years seemed to go by in a flash and I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye just yet.

141-Sebastian Rivera

Before he was a bonus machine at Jersey Mike's Arena, the man they call Seabass was a little minnow at Christian Brothers Academy who was too small to properly compete. No big deal. Rivera only finished college as a four-time AA at three different weights while beating three former or future national champs, including two wins over the great Spencer Lee. Throw in a Northwestern degree then becoming the face of Rutgers wrestling and I'd say he's left quite a significant imprint in the game. All-Jagger Captain.

149-Austin Gomez

What more can be said? Concussions sent Austin to an early retirement before we had a chance to see how good he could really be. Two years on the shelf and one transfer later and he's a Big Ten champion with two wins over a returning national finalist. I don't even know what his eligibility is anymore, but I hope we have at least two more years left of "Mr. Scared Money, Don't Make Money."

157-Hunter Willits

Knock out the returning champ on day one? Good enough for my team.

165-Shane Griffith

Simply my favorite wrestler. The guy looks like he'd rather be anywhere else but on a wrestling mat sometimes. Maybe he prefers the beach. Maybe he'd rather be on the golf course. Either way, all he does is make national finals and save wrestling programs in the process.

174-Hayden Hidlay

Simply my other favorite wrestler. My biggest regret about missing the end of the tournament was not being able to see Hayden's final matches and final goodbye. A great career for a great guy who did it the right way with a toothless smile. The impact Hayden will have in coaching will be immeasurable. All-Jagger Captain.

184-Charles Small

Yes, Charles may have been a victim of the numbers game when selection time came around. Luckily, I'm the only committee here. Something needs to be said about taking the long road and Charles did that by starting out at D2 Notre Dame College. Throw in a JUCO title at something called Northwest Kansas Technical College and the Bradenton Bull got himself a spot in the 2021 National Tournament, while being a leader in the revitalization of the Hofstra program under coach Dennis Papadatos. Fighting through that kind of adversity is the kind of thing that makes you All-Jagger.

197-Greg Bulsak

It wasn't exactly front-page news when Greg transferred to Rutgers, but real ones knew that Coach Scott Goodale was getting a good, tough wrestler with one year left to get on the podium. When the smoke cleared, the Bullrider did exactly that with a punishing top game through a wild 197 weight class to earn AA honors and put his name in the Scarlet Knights record book.

HWT-Lucas Davison

Score on the Olympic Champ and possibly greatest heavyweight to ever do it in March? Yeah, that gets you on the team. 'Nuff said.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 3/11/2022

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 12:24:47 +0000

Wyoming All-American Stephen Buchanan (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Well, here we are, stuck dead-center in the middle of the two-week break between conference tournaments and the National Tournament and it leaves plenty of time for debate amongst fans. Just remember that while you're batin' to keep it to get it friendly and light. Or don't, I couldn't care less. Threaten to punch a dude's lights out in Detroit because he likes Isaac Trumble's path and you're a Stephen Buchanan fan. Much will be said in this next week by many, including myself, but it's all just noise until that first whistle. I started this endeavor right before the season and truly wasn't sure if I'd last through November and I just want to thank you all for keeping me on my toes and interested by not giving up on me and consistently asking great questions. Speaking of questions...let's get to some!

With Chad Red receiving an at-large bid, will we see him become a 5x AA? @chunkofWEAVE

The most impressive thing about Chad's three tournaments is that he did it by never making it past the round of 16. The Backside Slayer has gone a whopping 12-5 in consolation brackets, including a victory via pin over a two-time champ in 2018. No stranger to doing things the hard way, the Husker senior may have to take that familiar road again if he can't get past a hungry, but ailing, Sebastian Rivera in round two. Either way, I have no doubt that the man they call C.J. will make his presence felt again next weekend.

Matt in Upper Saddle River g'head Matt

First-time, long-time, should catholic schools be banned from NJ states? I'll hang up and listenâ€¦ @mattg197

I get asked this a lot, and thanks for the call, Matt, and the answer is no. Ok? This idea that private schools shouldn't compete at individual states is asinine. Ok?
New Jersey already separates the privates from publics in team states, so no problem there. Regardless of school, the individual tournament is still a collection of the best wrestlers in the state and if most champs come from private schools, then that's the way it is. The private school kids still come from Jersey and sometimes a few other states, but they don't come from Krypton. Beat 'em on the mat; the tournament gives you that opportunity.

What are your thoughts on stall calls from the neutral position? Are they more controversial now? Not returning to the center is never called stalling. When someone
goes out of bounds, you never know if the call will be continuing action or stalling. It makes the ref's job harder. @WisconsinWrest1

Push. Out. Point. That should straighten things out.

How does one know the difference between a Real Bracket and a Forged Bracket? @MichWrestlinRef

The forged brackets are seeded correctly.

Out of the guys that did not get an at large bid, who are some of the biggest snubs? @yaboybready

Alex Madrigal and Charles Small, to name a few. It's an unforgiving sport and the slightest misstep or injury can bite you in a big way. Sucks to see and we wish everyone could get a spot.

Can you help get folks to sign my petition to put the WWE 24/7 Title on Gable Steveson before the NCAA tournament? Bob Oboberson

Sure, Bob. That's quite a name you got there. Sign Bob's petition here, which will surely be the first online petition to actually work.

Who does Kaleb Young have compromising photos of on the seeding committee?

Bea Arthur

Enjoy the quiet weekend, all you Jagoffs and Jaggettes! One week from now, we'll be watching the greatest round in all of sports. NCAA quarterfinals, baby! Yours truly has taken the day off work and you should do the same.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 2/25/2022

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 11:29:27 +0000

Michigan State's #5 ranked 197 lber Cam Caffey (photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

As we head to the postseason, I'll be scouting wrestlers for the first annual (and probably last annual) All-Jagger Team. What's the criteria? Beats the heck out of me. You'll create the criteria with what you do on the mat. Storm through a conference tournament and shock everyone? That certainly helps. Fight your way through the backside after an early defeat to grab a medal? It's one of my favorite things about any tournament. Follow me on Twitter? You're practically on the board of directors.

Anyway, All-Jagger team, it's a thing. Show me what you got. Now to the All-Jagoff mailbag since the Jaggettes wisely do not ask for my advice very often.

Why do you think wrestlers just wrestle fewer matches nowadays? When do you think pitch counting started becoming a thing? @theGOATfollower

I believe I discussed this in a very early edition of the mailbag. This is a unique season with the extra year. Toss in the short season last year and it seems the days of a Zain Retherford or an Anthony Collica competing thirty to forty times a season are a distant memory. Sadly, like most sports, this will soon become the norm. Running backs don't carry the ball 35 times a game anymore. Pitchers rarely go past the sixth inning these days. We've been at this modern sports thing for a good long time now. Every sport evolves and that evolution usually coincides with keeping athletes healthier. If skipping a few opens and a few duals that don't matter to stay healthy for March, then that's the direction we are headed.

Can you try and predict the top 8 at 197? @WorstYoungest

You know I can. With the news of AJ Ferrari missing the rest of the season, it opened up the widest weight class we've seen in years with a ton of talented dudes primed to take the mantle of light heavyweight king. I could tell you right now Isaac Trumble has a chance to win it and you would agree with me. He's ranked at fifteen! The whole thing will be bat-dropping crazy, to say the least, so here's my random top-eight, which will surely be nowhere near how it ends up.

8. Greg Bulsak-Rutgers gets a transfer turned AA to cap off an excellent final season

7. Louie DePrez-Quietly having another fine season, the Bearcat gets Billy Baldwin giddy by improving on his eighth-place finish at 184

6. Jacob Cardenas-Honestly, he could win the whole thing, but I'll temper expectations in his first year at the big dance

5. Isaac Trumble-There's that man again

4. Stephen Buchanan-Cowboy Up

3. Eric Shultz-Reverses a loss to Buchanan to take bronze

2. Max Dean-Finds himself in a familiar spot, albeit at a different weight, but comes up just short for a rare PSU finals loss

1. Cameron Caffey-Brings it home in the state of Michigan for the loudest moment of the night

HM. Yonger Bastida-Comes up just short in the blood round

Should AJ Ferrari cash in the Money in the Bank and secure his 2nd title? @Rhino184

Seconds after Cam's hand is raised, the techno music hits. That's AJ Ferrari's music! He's gonna cash in the briefcase right now! Caffey is stunned! AJ rips off his tank top and tosses it into the crowd. "Let's do this," he says with a big flex. "Shake hands," the ref says. And there's the whistle. Match over. Caffey (MSU) injury default Ferrari (OSU) 0:01.

The crowd does collective John C. Reilly GIF face.

What's the worst stall call you've ever seen? @Oldestgreatest

From, youngest and worst to oldest and greatest, with the question that's on everyone's minds. Jason Bryant says it's Hendricks versus Abdurakhmanov. You can google it. It's worth a google. Or maybe you can't.

Slides, camouflage cargo shorts, an authentic team 1/4 zip, with a visorâ€¦acceptable apparel for Detroit, or is this conference level attire? @MarkHidlay

The patriarch of the Hidlay family is ready for an exciting few weeks as his two sons make a run for natties and he wants to look good. Naturally, he asks the innovator of style, who laid it all on the line to bring Daisy Dukes for men and bandanas back in style, for the rest of you cool cats. I say it's a fine fit for the conference tournament as you should get some nice Spring weather in Charlottesville. For the National Tournament in Detroit, you may want to dress a little warmer with a nice red sweater and a white-collared dress shirt underneath. Parents get plenty of screen time from ESPN, so don't be afraid to look your best. Honorary Jersey Guy Scott Green says, "slides are acceptable with any outfit, so don't waste time looking for shoes."

Top 3 mob movies? Shane Thomas

I won't say these are the top three, but they are three favorites of mine.

1. Goodfellas-Ok this one really is the best mob movie of all time. No need to even explain any further.

2. Donnie Brasco-Seriously, I love this movie. Pacino shows true brilliance while displaying classic New York toughness that cloaks a broken man who never achieved the success and respect he wanted from the life of a wiseguy. Fuggetaboutit.

3. Eastern Promises-Switching things up to the Russian side of mafia life for this one. I'm not even sure what's going on in this one. Something about a baby. What I do know is there's a whole lot of Viggo Mortensen being cool. I mean a WHOLE lot.

Why does everything hurt and when can I expect Ok State to get #35? @leecothran

Man, 2022 got Cowboy fans more blue than a Penn State singlet. The truth is, this team is not far off from being back near the top. The goal is to build around Daton's senior year in likely 2025 after yet another Olympic redshirt. Toss in both Ferrari brothers, both Mastro brothers, Carter Young, sprinkle in a Voinovich, a dash of Plott, and some good recruits the next few years, and it's starting to look pretty good. Admit it, visions of 2025 have you feeling a little less pain right now.

What teams will lose team points at NCAA? @PelikanHead

All the Ivy teams. You ever play croquet with them? Bunch of hotheads.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 2/18/2022

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 12:02:53 +0000

2x NCAA champion Ben Askren (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Let's get down to business this week!

What are your thoughts on single champ states vs multiple champs per state in high school? @Obrats

Being from a single champ state, I'm clearly not for it. But I do see the benefit of it, even though I have no idea if it's even a reason for it. I imagine having twice as many. Or sometimes six times as many state champs, as a single state, raises awareness to all areas of some very large states, therefore keeping the participation levels up. Maybe I just made that up. I don't know. I suppose two classes isn't the worst thing, but anything beyond that is a bunch of malarky.

With the tremendous success of the Jagger Bag, might we get a Jagger Podcast in the offseason, or perhaps next season? Give the fans what they want. @Obrats

A double dose of Dan here, who also doubles as the guy who sneaks me into Rutgers matches. The main reason is simply that I don't like the sound of my voice. In the right setting, I'm no stranger to the gift of gab. But something about being on some kind of recorded show flips off a switch instead of on. Don't get me wrong, I like doing them and have no problem saying yes if asked, but I can't see ever having my own show. (Immediately trademarks the name Jaggin' Off)

Should high school and college folkstyle have identical rules? @coachbiskits

I bounced this around my mates Richard and Clay and they both think they should be the same. Personally, I like the idea of having to adapt to new settings as you move up. Plus, the logistics of doing stuff like riding time may be too much to handle at your average high school tournaments.

Would Shane Sparks dominate Ben Askren in anything else besides wrestling takes? @BVillaD2wrestle

Proper television grooming? Come on Ben, you host a show with some of the most dapper men to grace a screen. Let's get some product in that wild mane.

Who wins the NC State vs. VT match? Should they also start at 197 pounds? @Rhino184

It's the first Sunday without football and we've been blessed with the unsanctioned makeup of the doomed Hokie-Wolfpack dual that we all wanted. It doesn't bother me that it isn't for the ACC title. In fact, I prefer that it's just a grudge match between two great teams and fanbases who are not fond of each other. Even better than that, it's on a Sunday night with no competition as opposed to a packed Friday night.

It only seems fitting that you start at 197 and close with the Brothers of Destruction vs the Hokie duo of Lewis and Bolen. Think about it. 12-12 after eight matches. HH-Mekhi. Nobody knows what will happen there at all and possibly the most intriguing match of the season to date. Then you have Hoagie-Hunter. You assume it has to favor Trent here. But he's only 1-3 against Bolen with an overtime victory. Now it is their most recent matchup, so has he figured Bolen out, or was it a case of being due? Maybe it's a little of both, as the combined score of all four of their matches is 8-6. That's insane.

Bottom line is it could very well come down to this match. I'll be watching. Rock Harrison will be freaking out. Jersey Hokie may get banned from Twitter. Thank you to both teams for putting their differences aside and getting it done. This next month is the best time for high school and college wrestling. Soak it all in before the long offseason.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 2/11/2022

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 11:52:29 +0000

3x NCAA All-American Hayden Hidlay of NC State (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Plenty of questions poured into the mailbox this week, so why not do a super-sized bag for the big weekend. Before we get to that, shame on the NJSIAA for taking the girls state tournament out of Atlantic City. I realize there's nothing you can do about it now, but let's not make this mistake again; then we can forget this whole blunder even happened. Enough about them, let's get to you. It's the readers that make this little corner on internet work and I thank you all for that.

Which matchup are you most excited to see over the next month and a half? Both Wrestling & Wrestling Twitter matchups. @KyleDNixon

Without a doubt, it's Patrick Glory and Nick Suriano. Two of the top-five New Jersey wrestlers of the past decade seem to be on a collision course for the right to be crowned champion in March. A two-year overlap in high school, at separate weights, kept them from ever meeting and through an unlikely series of events, we may finally get it in 2022 of all years. Nick looks as good as ever and Pat seems to never level off and just keeps improving. The stingy defense and calculated shots of Suriano vs the high-octane offense and wild scrambling of Glory. Give me the damn match already.

For Wrestling Twitter? Perhaps I'm hypocritical in saying this, but it's getting a little too hostile out there and we need to settle down and show some love. Especially this close to Valentine's Day.

You wanna join a cult? @BulldogTCOB

I kind of feel like I joined about four already in the last few years, but if you got something better, then I'm all ears. Are we doing religion? Little-known movies? 80's metal? Whatever it is, I'm easy to brainwash.

Should Hayden Hidlay tear a shirt off prior to every dual and then do a flex show after every win? @Rhino184

Yes and yes. I first nicknamed HH the human muscle because he looks like one fully formed muscle in perfect proportion. Now he goes up two classes keeping the same form, only bigger! His brother ate a hoagie on the mat once, so the prop gags run in the family. Perhaps we see something in the grudge match against Virginia Tech coming up, though I'm not sure HH is up for messing around before facing Mekhi Lewis. Speaking of the Raleigh Wolf....

What is the official Jagger Bag Super Bowl prediction? @Hidlaymania

The Big Game! I almost forgot it was this Sunday after all the commotion of the week. My heart is with the Bengals, as I've always liked them and love seeing a franchise get their first ring. That being said, I think the Rams have too much firepower on offense and a defense that can rattle the young superstar, Joe Burrow, into making some mistakes.

Give me Los Angeles 27-20 with Cincy possessing the ball at the end for maximum drama.

Are you taking heads in the coin toss? @BvillaD2Wrestle

I'm a tails man and yes, I'll be betting on the coin toss as I do every year.

What teams are gonna finish 3-5 at NCAAs (in order)? @PelikanHead

NC State
Michigan
Oklahoma State with Ferrari; Cornell if no Ferrari

What matches or rematches are you most looking forward to at the B1G tourney and what is your favorite deli in Jersey??? Bagel @MrPatMineo

Sebastian Rivera vs the field at 141. We all know the story. All the big guns evaded him one way or another and he bonused the hell out of everyone else. Will he beat these guys? I don't know. Can he beat these guys absolutely? All I know is, he looks full-sized for the weight now and wrestling the best he's ever wrestled. Final season with no free-year safety net, plus the fire that's burning inside Seabass, make him one of the most intriguing guys to watch next month.

My favorite deli, hands down, is Ted's North in Paramus. Best fries you'll ever have. Real ones know.

What fits should I pull this weekend? @gallardo_rachel

You're asking a guy whose current fit went out of style in 1989. Denim forever.

The girls on my team are consistently among the hardest-working kids in the room. Why do high school athletic associations continue to treat them as an underclass? @endorob

Because things take time. We know the sport is growing on the girl's side. I predict that by the end of the decade, it will explode on a global level, judging by the foundation of talent being built right now. Keep working.

There's a sectional semifinal between two of the top ten teams in your home stateâ€¦why, or how, are there forfeits? @wrestlingbypir8

Your guess is as good as mine, matey. When these teams load up on the best talent in the state, I sort of expect to see a full lineup, but I'm not privy to the inner workings so I'm sure there's a valid reason for it.

If I'm ballin on a budget, what're the go-to cigs? @muddy_noah

Is Basic still a thing? Merit maybe?

Who is the @umichwrestling athletic trainer and why is his hair the greatest thing I've ever seen? @Kirbolajuwon

I don't know, but you've piqued my interest and I will keep my eyes peeled for this mane.

Well, that's it for this super-sized bag. Enjoy the game formerly known as the NFL-AFL Championship Game.

I may hit the Jersey Mike's Arena for some Rutgers-Maryland action, you know, just for an appetizer.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 2/4/2022

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 12:54:03 +0000

(photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Hey there Jagoffs and Jagettes. Not only am I back from a one-week hiatus, but I just got back from watching Rider and Rutgers battle for a Big Mac or something and you really can't beat the live experience of watching a dual. The speed of the action just hits differently as the crowd reacts with every move like a symphony in unison with the athletes. When I'm home, I miss half the action because I'm scrolling on my phone to see what everyone's saying. Here, I could've forgotten it in my car and barely would've noticed.

Believe it or not, this season is quickly winding down, so if you haven't gotten to any matches yet this year, then I suggest you get off your butt then back on your butt inside a gym to support your local team. Huge thanks to my good buddies Brian Miller and Dan Seifring for accepting me into the crew and I hope we enjoy many more duals in the future.

To your questions! (There's like three, maybe I'm losing my sex appeal)

Are you impressed by the viewership numbers of Penn State and Iowa? @PelikanHead

Impressed? No. Encouraged? A little bit. I'm not really one to care that much about ratings, but it is an important element to expanding the reach of wrestling. I'm encouraged that the numbers are growing. I became a full-time fan in 2017 out of the blue and I can't be the only one since. The tricky thing about wrestling is it's not a sport for the casual fan. You either watch it or you don't. The beauty is that once you're in, you're hooked because you find your favorites and follow their whole career. By then, the next crop of young stars pops up and you want to see what they do.

What am I gonna do? Stop watching after this year and not see what Nick Feldman
does in college? Of course not. So how do we bring in new fans? You say get big matches on ESPN so it can reach new viewers. Ok, getting good ratings definitely helps that.

Yes, a huge promotional push from the Worldwide Leader would go a long way in the sport's popularity, but unfortunately, it will take a lot more than a peak of 300,000 to make it happen. They know people want to watch wrestling. That's why it's on the app. Why put a niche sport on the main channel when they can just get subscriptions from the niche fanbase? As we all know, the younger generation has pulled the plug on cable and you'd be surprised how many miss big duals on boomer cable anyway. (Shout out @DropTweetin, love you buddy)

We have numerous options to stream from now and that's a good thing. Nary a dual is not streamed anymore. In fact, you can find them all here

What were we talking about? Ratings? I think it's great for BTN since they have many of the marquee teams. Don't worry so much about what ESPN does as long as they keep
up the streaming.

1. If VTech beats NC State in the non-conference dual, and NC State wins the conference, should we consider it legitimate?

2. Do you think Northern Iowa is ranked appropriately after their conquest over the entire state of Oklahoma? @MTorriero

I'm just glad for the sake of the sport that these two great teams came to an agreement to have the dual. I don't really care who hangs what banner where.

How about that Panther Train rumbling through Oklahoma so hard they left aftershocks on the way out! Doug Schwab and the gang left such a mark that the ground literally moved when they were done. I don't know if they're ranked appropriately and I don't care. I do care that a team living in the shadow of not one but two storied programs is starting to make its own mark in the state. It goes to show what you can accomplish with a charismatic, young, (Doug and I are the same ageâ€¦ shut up we're young) head coach who can get his guys to buy-in. The foundation being laid by the entire Schwab family is a joy to watch develop and I don't see the train slowing down any time soon.

Who has the best faded T and jorts look in wrestling? @Jkos11

Kaleb Romero. If aliens landed and said show me Man, you show them Kaleb Romero. That is a man.

That's it for this week, friends. Some great duals on tap for the weekend, plus high school teams are starting to get into team postseasons. Get out there and check some out if you can.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 1/21/2022

Fri, 21 Jan 2022 12:36:42 +0000

Pat Popolizio (left) and Tony Robie (Photos/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

The VT-NC State news is going on in real-time as I'm writing this, so it seemed relevant for discussion. Look, I like both these teams and absolutely love the rivalry, but y'all gotta let cooler heads prevail and figure this out. I get where both sides are coming from and there's valid reasons for the decisions by both teams, so it's a tough spot for everyone.

Why should Pat Pop reschedule when he can adhere to conference regulations, take the win and likely the conference title? That's his job. Why should Tony Robie travel in bad weather with half a team to Raleigh when he can take the loss while staying home? And don't give me this next man up nonsense; a dual against a depleted Hokie squad is not what anyone wants to see. So cancel it for now. But you have to reschedule this meet at some point.

In these trying/divisive/unprecedented times, it would be nice to see two enemies work together for the greater good of the sport. If CT and Wes could work together to win The Challenge: Rivals II, I'm sure these guys can pick a date to make this up. In last year's worst season ever, it was about the only bright spot in the short dual season. It made Rock Harrison a star! In my opinion, the later in the year, the better to build the drama, so it might be a blessing in disguise. Let's figure it out, guys. We don't want last year's best moment to be this year's worst moment.

What's your favorite night to watch duals?

Midweek (Tues/Wed/Thurs)

Friday

Saturday

Sunday @fantasyD1wrestl

Absolutely, Friday night. As a classic 9-5 job type guy, who works out in the cold, the idea of getting home with a warm cup of coffee to watch a slew of killer duals certainly appeals to me. Tonight is supposed to be the best of them all, but as of press time, rumors are swirling that a certain ACC showdown is not happening (note: Virginia Tech at NC State has been ruled a forfeit in favor of the Wolfpack). Even so, it's still a loaded evening keeping you busy for about five hours with your eyes glued to the screen. Yours truly even scheduled a booster shot just to get out early
and not miss anything.

Are there any coaches you'd consider on the hot seat this season? @a_kenny86

To say I was privy to the inner workings of each school's athletic department would be a lie. There's also not a lot of turnover in head coaching positions each year, as it seems through patience or lack of caring that coaches tend to get ample time to build their program. Wrestling is such a unique sport that the odds of just taking
over a random program and winning a team title are not in your favor and I think most schools understand this. I certainly won't call out any coaches and say their job is in jeopardy, but PSU hasn't won a title since 2019 and the fans are starting to get antsy. When you win eight of ten in the first decade of your program's existence, you set the bar quite high for yourself. (Relax, it's a joke. I realize they've been around awhile now)

Who is the oldest man in college wrestling not rostered to Iowa? @Jkos11

It's been a while since I checked the birthdays of all DI wrestlers, but if we can get Mason Manville to his senior year with another Olympic redshirt slipped in, then he might set a record. Graduated in 2016! Still a sophomore!

Will you be tuning in to ESPN + on Sunday at 1pm to watch UPenn vs. Columbia in The Palestra?

and

Will you be tuning in to Flo on Sunday at 6pm to watch Drexel vs. Bucknell in The DAC? @WrestlingPhilly

This is a perfect situation since I've been trying to get a good look at both these rising teams this year and haven't had much of a chance. Drexel-Bucknell? It might be tough to compete with the football game, but I'll keep an eye on it. Jersey guys all around in both duals if you're into that sort of thing.

With an understanding that you're allowed to smoke indoors and even in the corner overseas, how is your training for Veteran Worlds coming along? @MTorriero

Mike, you've jumped the shark.

If Baxter were a US wrestler, who would he be? @PelikanHead

For the uninformed. Baxter is my 17-year-old dog currently going through some medical issues. As a wrestler, he'd have to be small and unassuming but tougher than anyone in the room and have Jersey ties. My guess? Gene Mills, without a doubt. Sorry for the small bag today; it's been a hectic week, but looking forward to a top-tier wrestling weekend and chatting with all of you. Jagger out!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 1/14/2022

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 12:44:57 +0000

Four-time All-American Jaydin Eierman (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Well, here we are over three months in on the mailbag and I have to be honest, I didn't know if I could make it past three weeks. I feel like we're settling into a groove here and apparently, there are awards that will further feed my ego, so my drive to better is sky-high. So strap in because it's time to earn some hardware and annoy the real writers out there. Seth Duckworth! I'm coming for you! But seriously, congrats Seth on winning NWMA Journalist of the Year. I'm honored to use your parking spot when you're at one of your other fifteen jobs. To your questions, and there were plenty of them.

What does Jags make of Jaydin Eierman's start to the year? Bonus rate is sub 50% for the first time since 2017. Concerned? @Rhino184

So Jaydin Eierman, who's still undefeated, won a few matches by an outcome that was apparently not up to snuff with wrestling fans. Well, let me ask you this. Who says his opponents haven't just got better? The Riddler has been in school so long now he's nearly done a full four-year cycle at two schools. I assume he's hit his peak at folk and really isn't going to improve anymore at this point. Meanwhile, his competition is still getting better and you know he's getting every guy's best match, so
no cakewalks here. His main concern now is March and that elusive title. Might there be some bumps in the road along the way? Sure, it's a tough season and his first full season since 2019. Maybe he's trying some new methods of preparation. Perhaps he's not showing his full hand on the mat. Either way, I still expect him in the semifinals on Friday night, likely against an opponent he's familiar with, and it's on him to get the job done. Jaydin's a pro's pro; he knows this. I'm not that concerned.

With the continued success of #JaggerNight at the Jersey Mike's Arena, do you see a partnership budding between yourself and @RUWrestling? Clearly, it was a hit with fans. I had several celebrities ask me when the next one would be.@UWW_Creative

Jagger Night at Rutgers was huge! On Twitter, that is. With the masks and the lack of indoor smoking, I was able to move about the arena unnoticed. But my boys showed up to kick some butt and we all had a good time watching it. I hope to make it back soon to watch with my dudes Brian and Dan and maybe then they'll get to crack some skulls when the paparazzi mob me at the turnstiles.

Long-time listener, first-time question tweeter. How long till @keithgavin84 is verified on Twitter? And will it be before or after he turns the Pitt program into a perennial top-ten program?@babygravy3rdtry

No real coach concerns themself with getting verified. (But I do, make it happen, Willie!) He or she knows the best way to that blue check is with success. Two finalists last year and another guy with a win over Micic leads me to believe he's doing something right over there. What they need is that one big recruit to put them over the top and open the floodgates to that top Western PA talent. If he makes that happen, I'm thinking top-ten every year.

What does it feel like to be the hottest man on wrestling Twitter? @Gut_Bench69

So hot I went up in flames a while back. I appreciate the compliment and I guess I was alright for my age level, but now I'm hideous.

Not as much a question but â€¦. Discuss @MTorriero and his Twitter explosion. @Jkos11

Sheesh..has anyone burst onto the scene quite like Mike has? Ever wanted a running count of follows? Mike's got you. Ever wanted to be publicly shamed for not liking tweets? Mike's got you. I don't know what Mike's endgame is here, but I'm strapped in and ready to see how it gets there. That's all I can really say.

Who the hell is Mike Torriero? @JonnyG7613

You're dead, man. You're so dead.

Which Portillo are you taking & who wins @GVWrestling or @loperwrestling? @bvillaD2wrestle

Family drama in the Great Plains! In the rarest of circumstances, twin brothers Justin and Joshua Portillo will be locking horns this Saturday as NAIA juggernaut Grand View travels to D2 powerhouse Nebraska-Kearney for an interpromotion dual meet. Not since Bret and Owen Hart squared off at WrestleMania X have we anticipated blood being spilled by men who share the same blood. Ok, maybe we want to see the Pauls bash each other, but that's beside the point. I have no idea how many sibling matches we've had in college. I'm not sure Jason Bryant even knows. This one should be fun as neither seems interested in holding anything back.

I spoke to the brothers to see how their nerves were heading in and they do not seem to be rattled in the least. Slightly older brother Justin had this to say: â€œLast time we got into a fight, he called for our mom. This seven long minutes of pain, he will have nowhere to hide.â€ Interesting. Not to be outdone on the mat or by trash talk, Joshua chimed in with this: â€œThe second twin is always the better one and that's a known statistical fact.â€ He's right. I googled it. With any luck, this will end up with proud papa Regino Portillo dragging them off the mat by the ears like the old days.

Need your go-to order at the bagel shop. I'll hang up and listen. @damonfick

Always a dozen, without a doubt. You never know what might happen. All-everything bagels, of course, but I'll mix in some plain in case I'm hosting communists that day.

He's got a foking mailbag Man (facepalming emoji) @Tork76

It's more like extended Twitter replies, but my code still works at HQ.

Well, that's about it for this week. I wanted to keep going, but you'll stop caring eventually, so I don't want to wear you out. An action-packed weekend with round one of the NFL playoffs and tons of great duals that appear to be full-steam ahead as of press time. Mix in a frozen Northeast and most of you don't have any excuse to do anything else, so fire up those screens. Take it sleazy, everyone.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 1/7/2022

Fri, 07 Jan 2022 12:32:18 +0000

Drake Ayala (left) at the Southern Scuffle (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Quite the start to 2022, eh? Injury troubles in Iowa. Flo-Kartgate in Austin. Some want death to America. Some just want death just to Willie. Some old faces in new places and as of press time some old faces back in old places. Just as the full dual meet season is here, Covid, Omicron, Rubicon, and CJ Cron are playing hell with the schedule. Look folks, I don't know what to tell you. Prepare for the worst. Until then, watch every match you can. We know what it's like to lose it and I don't think I can go through that again. To the wrestlers and coaches, I wish you the best of luck and good health and would just like to ask for you to take care of yourselves, do your part, and maybe not contact the outside world for the next two months. We can get through this with some minor bumps in the road and some sacrifices, but we can get to March.

Alright, this kind of talk depresses me. To my bag!

Rank InterMat staff from least cool to coolest. @Pelikanhead

Well, at the top of the list is Earl Smith. You ever do a video call with him? The guy moves so little you think the screen froze. He's like Paulie from Goodfellas. Just a rock of a man exuding respect with the tiniest of expressions. The conference correspondents are pretty cool if you're into that whole 70's newsroom thing.

Seriously, you should see Robbie Wendell with his fedora and little notepad. He somehow pulls it off. And Duckworth, I creep around his office sometimes just to hear that Oklahoma drawl order lunch. All the way at the bottom is me, Seth Petarra, and Richard Mann. We don't even get invited to Poor Richard's for drinks. Speaking of my uncool friend...

What other Senior-level wrestlers do we want to pull a Provisor? @RichardAMann

I think @StacyBehr hit the nail on the head with Kamal Bey. Maybe we'll see it after a 2024 Olympic run.

How excited are you for the 2025 D1 NCAA Championships being held in Philly? @WrestlingPhilly

Possible Spencer Lee-Daton Fix final at 133? God willing, I'll be in the arena to see it.

Would you pull Drake Ayala's redshirt and if so, when? @Rhino184

This might be the most talked-about story for the next few weeks, so let's dive deep into it. Spencer is clearly out for the foreseeable future. Yes, the entire team that won it last year returned for a second trophy, but they are no longer that team. Not without their ace. Now Nelson Brands is on the shelf and he was already replacing Kemerer, who we have no idea about.

It's difficult for any coach to admit defeat, least of all the Brands brothers. But sometimes, you have to look at the big picture. Penn State just filled two spots with AA contenders in Hildebrandt and Berge to go along with the rest of their loaded lineup. Michigan has fans buzzing with the thought of five possible finalists. I think it all hinges on Kemerer's status. Without him and Spencer, repeating seems unlikely at best. On the other hand, you still have a dynamic squad if you get Kem-Dawg back, throw in a complete wild card like Ayala, and get a few big performances from your other veterans; a repeat is definitely on the table.

Bottom line, I think we will be waiting on this one for a few more weeks until things are more settled. Not to mention the possibility of a canceled season and I don't see the NCAA giving out free years again. Patience is best in Iowa City right now.

Well that's a wrap on the first mailbag of the new year. I hope you all entered 2022 happy and healthy, you probably blew your resolutions already, but that's ok because there's always next year, as Washington Football Team fans say.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 12/31/2021

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 13:21:29 +0000

2021 MatMen Open champion Greg Bulsak (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

I think I'll forego the classic opening this week as it's the last day of the year and there's really nothing left to be said. On that note, let me say a bunch more things.

What first-semester result surprised you most? Are you going to NCAAs? Do u consider yourself a Rutgers homer? Which school has the worst fans? sup? @PelikanHead Stalemates Award Winner

I'm old and weathered, so nothing surprises me, but I would like to see Sam Latona get back on his feet. If I go to NCAAs, who will watch my eight screens at home? A homer? I won't cheer for any wrestler against a Rutgers guy, but I wouldn't consider myself a homer, where I'm just shouting out stalling at every dual for no reason. I love every fan of every team. Hey.

Who's someone that's completely off everyone's radar, but you think will contend for an NCAA title in March?

Conversely, who's an NCAA champ that you think definitely will not repeat?? @sleepyvinny

Random out of nowhere champs are a rarity, but they do happen. Obviously, this might be the most difficult year ever to pull one with ten champs returning, but I'll say Greg Bulsak of Rutgers (not a homer) has a real chance at making some noise. He's vastly experienced after five years, he's in great shape, and started the year on in absolute heater capped off by a title at Midlands 2: Electric Boogaloo. I say why not! Who definitely won't repeat? Easily David Carr or Austin O'Connor. In fact, I'll guarantee one doesn't.

Top 5 favorite bands of all time? @ItsJustARide94

My music taste is mostly the rock and roll, but it spans about five decades, so it's tough to narrow it down to five. I'll pick two straight classics, a hair band, and two grunge/alternative from my angst years.

In no particular order:

Alice in Chains-Grittiest and grungiest band of the era and can turn around and hit you with a gorgeous piece of music like Jar of Flies. Nobody in rock did dual vocals better than Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell.

Def Leppard-just a catalog of hits and they never get old.

The Allman Brothers-I'm not like an Allman Brothers nut, but they're the soundtrack to the American road trip.

Stone Temple Pilots-A band that changed stylistically so much in a decade (sometimes from one song to the next) and it all still holds up today.

Led Zeppelin-Behemoths. Rock Gods like this do not exist anymore.

Jagger, in this tumultuous time of the wrestling world, what's a good New Year's resolution you'd recommend for us all? I'll take my answer off the air. @NotTomNotTerry

I covered this on my new podcast called Resolution Podcast.

Do you still love Suriano? @PierceStowman

I'll have to see him on the mat first before I know if the spark is still there.

If wrestling tournaments ever had little concerts like the Super Bowl halftime show, which bands or artists do you think would be good choices for NCAAs? @oldestgreatest

Gabriel Townsell, of course! In fact, book it for this year. The fans of Stanford had to endure the pain of potentially losing their program last year and didn't get to see their colors fly. I say we celebrate the team that fought to stay alive by having one of their finest student-athletes get the honor.

How does it feel to have Willem Dafoe compared to you? @JonnyG7613

He's the one who should feel honored.

Hey, Happy New Year, everyone! I never thought a year ago I'd be closing 2021 with a mailbag column, but here we are. With any luck, I'll be closing 2022 the same way, by acting like an idiot. Enjoy tonight, everyone, be safe and be well. You're more important to those around you than you can ever know; never forget that.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 12/17/2021

Fri, 17 Dec 2021 11:43:32 +0000

Iowa State head coach Kevin Dresser (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

â€œTis the season for giving,â€ and thus, I wanted to hand out some gifts to those who need them most. I bounced the idea around the office to come up with the perfect gifts for the season.

John Smith-a new sweater vest. Between that and those warmups, they really aren't big on change in Stillwater. You have a guy who wears a watch on each wrist now; let's see some style spread around.

Kevin Dresser-bracket sheets. It's nearly Open Season in Ames and if coach Dresser wants to run all his tourneys right down to the Last Chance, he's gonna need some paper.

Austin DeSanto-open mic. Come on, it's his last year. I need my ADS mic'd up for the rest of the year.

Corby-some sleep. The guy has been to or seen every dual and every round of every tournament. It's insane. Also does his duties as Stalemates Street League commissioner just as a hobby. Take a nap, Corbs; we get it, you like wrestling.

FloSports-duct tape.

Rock Harrison-for every dual to come down to the last match. Rock works best when the stakes are high and ACC Friday Night Duals are right around the corner.

Cael Sanderson-trademark for his name. With so many of them in high school now, imagine how many Caels are out there who didn't become wrestlers.

The readers-for me to finish this nonsense and get on with the show.

Which two teams win the Collegiate duals? @DutrowJim

I don't think a soul on Earth is picking against Iowa and Penn State, but that doesn't take away from the intriguing matches that we will or might get. Penn State and Cornell is a marquee match any time of the year. Mizzou, NC State, VT, and ASU have some of the most balanced teams in America and, like everyone else, have been stuck primarily in conference duals only since last year. Finally, we can see how they measure up against the big boys.

Does ASU get a chance to do what they did to PSU two years ago? Does Spencer show up? Does Doug Schwab dog the Brands bros into a match like Tommy Gunn in Rocky V? Let's hope we get some full lineups that are duck-free and maybe start a Christmas tradition of excellent duals where teams are begging to get in to prove themselves against the best.

Why is the Midwest Classic such a great tournament? @bvillaD2wrestle

Well, it's the school names, of course. Where else are you going to find names like Gannon and Lander? You've also got Mary, Newman, some guy named William Jewell, they're all gonna be there. All D's matter and the Midwest Classic is the largest tournament in Division II. Follow Bryce as he updates you on his Twitter with all the happenings from his private villa.

Why don't you play on FFL and is it because you are scared of @PelikanHead @thefantasyfight

I'll admit I thought about it, but I barely manage my two fantasy teams as it is. Plus, fantasy football, this mailbag gig, cosplaying as Sandor Clegane, it's just been a hectic time. Come next month, I may join and knock PH down to 95th place.

Should they bump Ferrari to hwt in Stillwater? @JerseyHokie29

This was obviously thrown around by the fans after the post-Bedlam bedlam that took place and, though it's great for drama, it's about as dumb as it gets. John Smith is the American GOAT; he's not bumping up his National Champion stud to wrestle some dude at heavyweight because they had a tussle in the handshake line. It's just risky. What if there's more heat? What if AJ gets suspended because he throws hands? I'm afraid we're going to have to settle for a Ferrari nine-act celebration complete with three wardrobe changes and fireworks in OK's faces when he wins. Don't be surprised if he rides out on a horse.

Which upcoming dual has the best chance of having post-match shenanigans? @bananacoffeeman

Rutgers-Rider and VT-NC State both have extracurricular activity potential, but barring the recent incidents, these things aren't common and I doubt we'll get any more of them. At this point, all my fights need to include Adam Fellers' 17-inch brim or it doesn't even count.

Did folks fight after duals back in your day? @PelikanHead

We didn't have duals in my day; we had duels.

How would Abdulrashid Sadulaev do if he entered the Midlands? @RichardAMann

The headgear might frustrate him a bit, but I think he makes the podium.

How often do you wear your Philly Wrestling t-shirt? @WrestlingPhilly

Wore it to my first visit to the burn doctor!

Have a good weekend, everyone! Stay safe out there; it looks like things are picking up again in the Covid world and we owe it to each other to do our part so we can get back to normal sometime before some of these seventh-year seniors graduate.

Jagger's Saturday Mailbag - 12/11/2021

Sat, 11 Dec 2021 14:04:29 +0000

New members of the WWE NIL team, AJ Ferrari (left) and Gable Steveson (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

By the time you read this, the Walsh Ironman is already underway and all I have to say is welcome back high school wrestling! It's been too long since we had a proper HS season and I can't wait to get back into it and see who's next in this golden era we found ourselves in. The Beast is right around the corner, followed by Powerade and the Doc Buchanan, where they give cowboy hats to the winners.

I want to find terrible feeds of dual meets. I want to peruse local box scores. I want to see rivalries renewed among private schools, which I'm sure definitely don't recruit. Just kidding, of course they do, and who cares.

It's not like they're sending them to Vietnam; it's just wrestling,
get over it. Who's the next big star? How long before you see a familiar last name and ask if they're related to so and so? Another year for growth in girls high school wrestling to look forward to. Also, does anyone know the weights? Eh, I'll figure it out, but 144 sounds weird and I'll never get used to it. Anyway, you have Christmas shopping to do so let's get to it.

Who is your sleepiest sleeper pick that you think will make a deep run in March? @PhilSlotsofnumbersafternisname

Ryan Anderson of Binghamton. Heck, he's not even doing that well this year yet; that's how super sleepy he is. I know 2019 seems like ancient history, but Ryan was one of the top high school wrestlers in the country who's now found his way to D1. I trust that the talent is still there and with some experience, he should still be able to compete at a high level. Finally at his proper weight, don't be surprised if he makes some noise in March. Billy Baldwin might need his ascot to clean himself up if it happens.

Bonus points for being another Jersey kid who went to PA to dominate high school.

Is very cold in Dagestan. How do I rock awesome cut-off jeans on cold weather? @russia_jd

I'll admit I've come around on this stupid parody account. I'm not going to bother answering your question, but I will admit you make me laugh with some of your replies.

Keep it up.

When Preparing to spend time with a weekend Wrestling event, What are your Go to Snacks, Meals, Or Crockpot items? @MichWrestlinRef

Are those all the questions you guys have for me this week? You fools need to step it up or I'll be bagging groceries. Sure, that one guy below in the comments who tells me, â€œI suck,â€ will be happy about it, but we can't have Jagger pushing carts at the Stop and Shop in downtown Carlstadt.

Sorry about the one-day delay, but admit it, it goes pretty good with your Saturday morning coffee.

Almost forgot, I like a good meat and cheese tray with my weekend wrestling.

What stipulation gets put on the future WWE match between Mr. Fast Twitch and Gable? @Rhino184

How about that for a classic WWE swerve! Just as Gable restarts his college career after signing with WWE, they turn right around and ink the next hottest free agent on the market and the guy who's been hounding him with smack talk for a year now in AJ Ferrari! Does this deal mean AJ gets in the squared circle after his college days are over? There's no way to know.

He hinted at it in an emoji-filled post, so it's very possible. Wrestlemania main event. AJ vs. Gable. 665-pound title belt in the middle of the ring. The guy who deadlifts it and touches all four corners uninterrupted is crowned champion. Is Gable still a Paul Heyman guy at this point? Has Paul turned on him for the Next Next Big Thing in Mr. Fast Twitch? Does Bobby Steveson get involved? Do the Creed Brothers use their insane mental strength to steal the title themselves?

I know pro wrestling and real wrestling have had a contentious relationship in the past, but this feud between two college wrestling lightning rods has a very legit chance at playing out on Monday Night Raw in the future. (minus the ginormous belt) WWE wouldn't be where they are if they didn't know what they were doing and they've longed for the acceptance of real wrestling fans and with this NIL situation, they have a chance to capitalize on not only the best young athletes in America but to have their name all over the college game where they've long been shunned. Buckle up; this is only the beginning.

Between Scuffle and Midlands, which tournament are you looking forward to most and which is the better tourney this year? @DutrowJim

You really can't go wrong with either, but I am partial to the Scuffle this year because I'm just very interested in this Cornell team and want to see them butt heads with the cream of the ACC and Oklahoma State. Midlands also rocking a strong field, though with some hot Big Ten on Big Ten action that will inevitably lead to forfeits that ruin
the field, but does have two strong Ivy schools in Princeton and Penn looking to test their mettle.

All I know is it's four days of wrestling over a five-day period on the heels of the Collegiate Duals in what's sure to be a monster late-December. Buy some extra TV's on whatever dumb name they have for post-Christmas sales and get to work setting up your own watch party.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 12/3/2021

Fri, 03 Dec 2021 12:02:38 +0000

2021 NCAA champion Aaron Brooks (photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

It's been quite a first month in the college landscape and with two and a half more to go, I don't expect things to slow down any time soon. I caught my first duals of the year with the Garden State Grapple and it felt like being home again with all the shouting, squeaking, chants of two, and stocky dudes of all kinds walking around chests out. It was like music to the cauliflower'ed ear. (working on mine, get to that later) What really caught my attention was the mat next to Rutgers, where girls roughly aged five to ten were absolutely throwing down. Right there. On the Prudential Center arena floor. Right next to Rutgers and Hofstra. How cool is that? These girls are hungry to compete, trained, and can absolutely scrap out there and it's high time girls wrestling is sanctioned everywhere in the country. I'm looking at you PA, you're supposed to be the leader in the sport and we've seen you know how to punish the kids, so how about we reward some others.

We've also seen a lot of talk about the "ducking" situation and all I really have to say about that is get over it for now. It's early. We're all starved for the best action but be patient. You've got teams who haven't competed in two years, guys who only competed for the bare minimum to qualify for March, guys with no knees, and rosters more loaded up than usual. The extra year changed everything about the system and the coaches are still trying to figure out what they're working with. By March, we will have gotten all the top action our little heart's desire. I promise you. Let's do some questions, which I'm quite sure are not about wrestling.

In the spirit of Vegas week, what's your game of choice at the casino? @FantasyD1Wrestl

My esteemed cubiclemate FCW was on a plane yesterday, so his question is valid this time. Jersey fans will tell you the only thing better than a big wrestling tourney is having it near a casino. I'm not a huge gambler, but when I do, I prefer to hit the Blackjack table. If you're not afraid of dropping three or four hundred bucks or trying to grind out sixty bucks in winnings, then this is the game to play. I can sit down with a drink in a calm situation for a good few hours, just enjoying the action without any real consequences like a Craps table wiping me clean in ten minutes.

Here's some advice, if, in the first five hands, some dude is complaining loudly about every card he gets, then get up and walk away. Bad mojo like that never brings any luck to a table. Other than that, learn to add small numbers quickly, don't double down against a face card, and enjoy some CKLV in between.

I have noticed a lot of Twitter posts about what makes one mentally weakâ€¦what makes someone mentally tough???? @DutrowJim

You'll have to ask Jacob Kasper, aka Julius Creed. He hasn't got that far yet in his lessons and, for now, I'm merely keeping tabs on the things that make us weak-minded.

What do you think of these top kids leaving high school early to finish up online and train at RTCs after they commit? Or better yet, is expecting blue chip-type kids to start as true freshman becoming more common and if so, is that good for the sport? @LanaRowley

I chalk it up mostly to the uncertainty of the last year and what's ahead. You can see how a top kid can feel like moving on after a lifeless short season with no fans, while they're already thinking about the next level. Online classes, albeit necessary, undoubtedly took away the allure of being in school and enjoying your success.

Now you've got a kid in position to begin the next process and already used to online learning. I do think it will get back to normal when full seasons are back in swing and don't think it will become the norm.

Certainly, true freshmen starting was becoming a thing, but that might change now with the extra year backlogging plenty of teams.

Are you still alive and if so, how bad does the other guy look? @JoeKania3

How did you defeat the fireball? @RichardAMann

The Incident. First off, it wasn't cigarette-related, so we can keep that gimmick going until I quit or it kills me. Long story short, a flaming pot of oil flew past my head and out the door, grazing the left side of my head, which was luckily protected by a hoodie and Covid hair. You react in the moment and don't think about it until after and I've certainly thought of the numerous ways I could be dead or burned badly. Maybe it's a miracle or angels looking out for me that made a flaming pot of oil fly down the stairs and out the door missing nearly everything in its way, but that was crazy.

I'd like to thank everyone who reached out to check on me. It means more to me than you know that you care and I will not forget it. Thanks to my brother for sacrificing himself in the moment and possibly saving my life.
Keep your head up, bro. You'll be back to your normal self soon enough. Most importantly to my fiance, you have been by my side from the ER to right now, helping in any way you could and I just don't know what I would do without you. I love you and promise not to mess up what used to be a pretty solid face anymore.

Does signing Mad Max help erase the pain of when Matt Harvey put himself back in the game in the 9th inning of game 5? @Coach___Wheels

I just got burned again. Have a good weekend all, time to get my Cliff Keen on.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 11/19/2021

Fri, 19 Nov 2021 11:53:55 +0000

Iowa head coach Tom Brands (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

I spent all week debating whether to discuss the DeSanto issue or not. Well, guess what? I still don't want to talk about and I don't think you want to read about it either, so we're not going to do that. Week three is here and things are heating up. First off, just a huge congratulations to Clarissa Chun on being named head coach at Iowa. We are living in historic times all-around pertaining to the wrestling world. This ranks right up there. She joins Tom Brands, Jim Zalesky, and Dan freakin Gable as the only four people on the planet who can call themselves an Iowa head coach. The movement for D1 Women's college wrestling is in full swing and we all wish Clarissa the best of luck in pioneering the revolution. To the questions!

When preparing for Video setups for ANY wrestling tournaments,
Do you have any tips or guidance on set up? @MichWrestlinRef

Probably the most important question one can ask these days. With matches seemingly everywhere, it's nearly impossible to catch everything at once. Seeing as "Watch Parties" are all the rage these days, you might have one of your own! First thing you obviously need is screens. Someone gets a new TV and asks if you want the old one you must always take it. Next, I'd invest in some Roku devices. They're cheap, easy to use, and carry all the apps. For multi-screen advanced users, the Apple TV 4 model or older has the quad-screen capability (An absolute must-have in March). After that, dial-up any computer, computer, tablet, or phone and now you got a good six to eight screens running like a well-oiled machine. Now all you gotta do is have a seat, crank the wifi to 11, and watch bits and pieces of eight matches at once.

If the top college wrestling programs were 80s hair bands, who would be who? @Pelikanhead

Long-time reader Pelikan Head wants me to stay up all night pondering ridiculous comparisons. Well, "Oblige him," as Lt. Aldo Raine once said. Everyone will want to know who Guns and Roses are, of course. Here's the problem with that; they're not a hair band. They don't sound like a hair band, don't look like a hair band, and had success in the 90's. So clearly, they're Clemson because they're not a wrestling team and also had success in the 90's.

Oklahoma State definitely has to be the Bullet Boys. The best Hair Band nobody talks about and my personal favorite is Cinderella. The best team nobody talks about? That would be UPenn. Bonus points for the band/team Philly connection. As for the number one Iowa Hawkeyes? Well, that would be Motley Crue, of course. Mainly because both went through an entire decade without a lineup change and it's still 1987 in the State of Iowa. Truly Heaven.

What team has had the best opening this season, Rutgers, Columbia, Missouri, VT, or NC St? Ted Carreras

Missouri will put a hurtin' on ya and that's with Brock Mauller seemingly sitting this one out. Rutgers looks solid while getting kids plenty of work through duals and opens. Remember, they barely wrestled last year as a whole and are fully making up for it early on this year. I'm most excited to see VT and NC St at the Collegiate Dual Duals next month. You have to love what you're seeing from Columbia right now as they add some more fire to the Ivy schools.

Let's fast forward to Friday night January 28th and you are preparing for the big Penn State vs. Iowa match. What's the food situation look like for you? Cooking in, ordering takeout/delivery? Maybe taking the significant other out for an early dinner? Snacks during the match?@obrats

I will 100% be having pizza. Maybe I'll drink a little red wine for the match to get me tuned up. The significant other will be in the other room watching The Great Pottery Throwdown because she does not, in fact, like tough wrestling. Have you seen this show? It's hypnotizing.

With Marinelli hopefully healthy, Evan Wick back, Keegan O'Toole still improving, and Shane Griffith looking better than ever, is Jake Wentzel a title contender?@OldestGreatest

As long as Jake can get through round one, I have the utmost confidence in him.

If you were stranded on a deserted island and the only two cigarette brands available were Newport 100s and Parliaments, which would you smoke and why? @JoeKania3

Newports fit my menthol style and I can utilize the little cupped filters of the Parliaments as a survival tool of some kind. On that note, I think we'll wrap it up.

Huge weekend coming up starting tonight with some loaded duals continuing all through the weekend. Check out the viewer guide for time and channel, then check out Richard Mann's MMA guide to see if your former favorite or most hated wrestler has a chance to get punched in the face this weekend. Until next week, take it sleazy.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 11/12/2021

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

2021 Cadet World Champion Bo Bassett at the Super 32 (photo courtesy of Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

By now, we've all heard the news out of Pennsylvania and the punishment handed down to Bishop McCort's athletic department. There've been enough tweets, news stories, arguments, mission statements and plain old mudslinging in the last week or so to last a lifetime. I've always prided myself on seeing both sides of an argument and this matter has been no different. My knee-jerk reaction was to say, good, it's ridiculous what's going on over there. But I'm just an outsider who's not privy to the daily ins and outs of the PA scene, nor am I checking the message boards for every post by disgruntled parents and coaches.

While I do believe something is going on there, where talented wrestlers want to join forces and form super-teams, I also believe the punishments handed out are completely out of line and the most damage it inflicts is to most innocent of victims and that's the children. Erik Gibson is by all accounts a fine young man who's headed to Cornell next Fall. What you've done is basically put him in double jeopardy by once again taking away his chance to compete for a PA state title for the second year in a row for the same crime and that crime was merely leaving a place where he did not feel comfortable. For good measure, you decided to bury every other athlete there, including numerous future stars who've yet to even arrive. Families have uprooted their lives for the betterment of their children both in sport and education to be in the place they want to be and you can only see this in black and white, that it's for athletic advantage and it might somehow ruin whatever luster is left in the world of high school sports.

The physical building is not going anywhere. Bill Bassett can coach for twenty more years if he so pleases. The kids only have so many chances for these moments and you want to take
that away because they crossed some imaginary lines with their bookbags and headgears. They train every day and all year to reach the goals they've seen their heroes reach when they were just little kids and dreamt about standing on that podium one day themselves and they don't deserve to have that taken away by some stuffy adults sitting in a conference room somewhere.

I was nearly killed by a car at 13 and the only thing I cared about then and now is that I missed football and wrestling that year. I took some years off, as a kid, but knew I would wrestle again in high school, so I wanted to come back in eighth grade, but that Mercury Cougar changed all those plans. Did it affect my development as a high school wrestler? You bet it did, and it will do the same to them, but not only on the mat, but as human beings. They shouldn't have to worry that the choices they think are best for them, can ultimately harm them, while being bitter at the establishment.

Do I like the grade manipulation? It's a bit tiresome, but also common and it's not like they are beating up 12-year-olds out there as all of their competition has been age-level anyway. You want to say they can't compete in the team-based postseason? Fine, I can live with that. Suspend the coach for a year? Eh, the person on top usually has to bear responsibility anyway. But don't take these kids' dreams away. They worked too hard to be penalized for things most likely out of their control and now you're taking away the one thing they can
control, which is what they do on the mat. To the powers that be in PA wrestling, I implore you to rethink what you're doing here and figure out a way to right this.

The holiday season is upon us and you're being a real Grinch about things by stealing Christmas and I don't think you want that on your resume when you're about to enter the
Pearly Gates. Anyway, on to way more important topics!

How many pairs of cuts off do you own? @WhatDidImiss

When you create the perfect pair of Daisy Dukes on your first try, you need not evolve, my friend.

Who is 1 wrestler nobody is talking about that is going to surprise us this weekend? @luke_w_wise

The guy I've been waiting to see for over two years now is Cornell's Jacob Cardenas. The former Bergen Catholic star has been away from the scene for a while now, but not-so-long-ago, was the primary challenger to AJ Ferrari's spot as the best 195 pounder in the country before joining forces for half a season in 2019. Cornell is allegedly competing at the Bearcat Open this weekend and it's been rumored that he and Darmstadt are neck-and-neck in the room, so with any luck, we can see that match and the rest of the gang from Ithaca. Come on, guys! It's been so long! Put Yianni on the scale, as we've speculated long enough!

Should you have to compete in so many matches on the year in order to compete for the national qualifier? @Swayzhappens

That's a no from me, dog. In my opinion, if you don't wrestle all year, but you're on a roster, you should be allowed to compete in the postseason. Everyone says duals don't matter anyway, so why should they matter here? If a kid can mosey into a conference tournament with no matches under his belt and qualify, then more power to him. Plus, we don't know the extent of these injuries. What if the earliest you can go after major surgery is early March? Now you have to risk that to get qualifying matches in? Get bent.

I know u finished HS in an era before wrestling was invented, but if u were graduating now, what school would be most appealing for u to compete at? @PelikanHead

Personally, if I'm beating myself up all winter indoors, I'm going to need some decent weather outdoors. Add in a mix of my East Coast bias and I'm probably looking at NC State or something of that ilk. It really all depends on the best buffalo wing sponsorship I can get and it is the Tobacco capital of the country, so that's cool.

Mork or Mindy? @JohnnyG7613

I'm a Joanie Loves Chachi guy.

That's all, folks! Yours truly has to work all day Saturday, so please no spoilers. I want to be able to see my Caturday Saturday tweets without updates from the Bison Open.

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 11/5/2021

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 11:37:17 +0000

NC State head coach Pat Popoliziio (right) in the 2021 NCAA finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Judging by the leaves on the ground, the gray skies, it appears wrestling season is upon us. The last time we started in November, the Washington Nationals were still pouring champagne over each other and we can all agree that feels like a lifetime ago. With a double dose of Olympics and Worlds right into the high school preseason, we've been blessed with plenty of action to feed the virus, but there's nothing like a full college season and this one may go down as one of the most memorable ever. Who makes good on their bonus year and snags a title? Can Cael and company take back the top spot with their four returning champs? What's up with that loaded Cornell team? Does Suriano come back for one more shot at Spencer Lee? Will Big Ten student announcers stop calling them players? How's Pat Pop's plaid suit game coming along? Will I google the names of old coaches who have Opens named after them? Is Wrestling Bookie coming out of hibernation? Are there any Finesilvers left? Fear not, we will find out the answers to all these questions and more over the next four and a half months; yours truly has been dumpster diving looking for every tv I can find. You're damn right I want to watch every match of the Shorty Hitchcock Open! But enough with my questions, you had a few of your own and the Jersey Mike's Jaggerbag is here to answer them.

The top 3 recruits in the country (and another top-20) are headed to Columbus. The Buckeyes are back, right? @_VestDJ_

Certainly, the haul of Mendez, Bouzakis, and Feldman will go a long way in getting the Buckeyes out of the bottom of the super programs, but I'm still skeptical on whether it's enough to reach the top. Now, you've got a ton of years of Kharchla left and Sasso will still be around awhile. With the recruits locked up, it would behoove them to now redshirt Gallagher and set up a possible Murderer's Row between 133-165 and a beast HWT as an anchor reminiscent of what Cael had just a few years ago with the Zain to Bo and everyone in between crew.

But there's your problem. Cael. Brooks, Starocci, and Kerkvliet are bona fide as can be and have more years left than Pete Davidson has girlfriends. I won't even get into all the new blood coming in.

In other words, I don't think it's quite enough yet.

Will you be wearing your #PhillyWrestling tee at the UPenn vs. Princeton match on Feb. 12th in Princeton? @WrestlingPhilly

I feel a Delbarton shirt might be more apropos.

What dual did you circle first as must-watch when schedules started getting released this year? what duals will you be attending? @PelikanHead

I try not to look at schedules so every week can be like a mini-Christmas, but with any luck, you may find me at a few Rutgers duals this year yelling stalling at all
the wrong times and generally being obnoxious like all my fellow Statesmen.

For laughs: Who is your favorite wrestler personality to follow on Twitter & why?

For serial: What team is currently outside the Top 10 and finishes inside the Top 5? @SleepyVinny

Sleepy Vinny wants a sleeper and I'm gonna give him one in Iowa State. With a Carr repeat and a couple of breakout performances, who knows where they can end up when the smoke clears.

As far as Twitter personalities? I like when BC Laprade gets me pumped for the weekend.

When you go to a wedding, are you a "Gift Off the Registry" guy or a "Money in the Envelope" guy? @FantasyD1Wrestl

Hey dum dik, we share a cubicle at Intermat HQ; you could've just asked me this at lunch. But if you must, always money. I'm your drinking buddy, not your interior decorator.

How much of an impact does RTC have when it comes to recruiting? @MindsetcoachBW

You'd have to think at this point, it weighs heavily into a kid's decision. Not only are you getting your five years of college, but a near-guaranteed extra five years or so of security and top-notch training with the best wrestlers of the last ten years for your post-college career. Done right, it could end up being the biggest factor in the recruiting game.

Your fav Tom Petty album. @BulldogTCOB

With The Heartbreakers, it's Damn the Torpedoes, sans Heartbreakers has to be Full Moon Fever. "me and Del were singin' little runaway."

Will @oldestgreatest place at the Muskegon Community College Ben McMullen Open? @MichWrestlinRef

I predict he cuts a bloody swath through every open he can find until he gets his chance for revenge and the Stalemates Street League welterweight strap from Jake Nieman.

Will Iowa Penn State be worth the admission price? Also, over/under on how many starters Iowa will sit. @PierceStowman

If you're referring to the Collegiate Duals, it won't be happening there, but the meet still brings plenty of intriguing matches to whet your whistle.
As far as when it does happen, if you have the opportunity to go and pass on it, I'll tell Jacob Warner you said Queen is overrated and let you handle it.

Who is the most likely wrestler to go to prison? @BloodroundRTC

That's a clown question, bro. Enjoy the weekend all! The Timekeepers gave us an extra hour, so use it wisely!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 10/29/2021

Fri, 29 Oct 2021 11:03:30 +0000

Nick Suriano at Penn State in 2016-17 (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Let's get right to it!

I would like to hear a @Jagger712 synopsis of Vision Quest for someone who's never seen it. @TheMr_Amazing

Vision Quest is the story of a starving artist from New Jersey who travels to San Francisco without a map, thus ending up in Spokane, Washington, during the balmiest winter in ages and gets mixed up in the local high school wrestling scene. Her path crosses with local star and denim enthusiast Brian Shute in a hallway, who's being challenged by some lanky goofball who thinks he's Danny Hodge because he placed eighth at States in his first year and now wants to come at the King. Hilarity ensues.

Are you a fan of the matches before the actual meet they did last year? When women's wrestling becomes more mainstream, do you think they will do women's wrestling the same night as men's or a separate night? Phil S.

I love the extra matches and I do think they will continue moving forward. Perhaps the most unique quirk between wrestling and other sports is the inability to get proper work for your backups. Alabama can unload their bench in the second half with every 45-3 blowout. That doesn't work here. These kids need work, most opens of the non-Dresser variety dry up during the second half of the season, and that can make for a long winter for kids just banging heads in practice every day. I think women's duals should be Thursday and Saturday, making a four-day block of action that doesn't interfere with each other and gives both the spotlight they deserve.

What program would you want a shirt from to wear for #WrestlingShirtADayinMay? @DutrowJim

Easy. Oklahoma State with the wrestling cowboy logo. Bonus points if you can get it to do the Ferrari flex.

Best Music to get the sweat off? @MichWrestlinRef

Being a bit of an old hat, I've always been privy to some Metallica or Pantera types if I'm in an angry mood. Now, if you want to turn that frown upside down while shedding some pounds, try a little disco on the Spotify and see where that takes you. If you can't get hyped to some KC and the Sunshine Band, that's a you problem, not a me problem.

Do people in real life know about your Twitter exploits? @OldestGreatest

They think I'm @Rhino184.

What's your story? When, why, how did you get involved in wrestling @bananacoffeeman

Good question, since it does seem I appeared out of thin air. I grew up wrestling, so I've always been around it, but only ever followed the local Jersey scene into adulthood. I really got back into it during the Suriano HS run and on a boring day in December 2016, I decided to check out how he was doing in college, yada, yada, yadaâ€¦

I somehow ended up here. I'm a pure fan; I never claimed to be an expert. I enjoy watching wrestling, talking about wrestling, joking about wrestling, and am grateful that I've been accepted into this world.

Fav Bon Jovi concert we attended. @BulldogTCOB

New Jersey tour 1989 at The Meadowlands, of course! We were in the â€œLay Your Hands on Meâ€ video!

Do you think @UHSPEutectics is in the dark about the previous job experience (and subsequent resignations) of their current head coach, who was given opportunities at 2 Top 5 programs and lasted maybe a combined 6 months? Both were omitted from his bio NJCAA and DII programs. @Swayzhappens

Fake it until you make it!

What's your biggest fear? @Pelikanhead

Screenshots.

I'm super excited for the Stanford-Oklahoma State Dual, just 17 days away. Since it is at 2PM on a Friday, what is the perfect snack to cook for an afternoon dual?
Luke Wise

PB and J, three slices, toast the bread. That should hold you over until suppertime.

First match this season involving two D1 teams is Buffalo vs. Wisconsin, would love to hear your breakdown of how the match will play out. #FirstTimeLongTime @Obrats

You couldn't give two poops about my opinion on this and you know it. I say the Bulls Mafia turns into the Bills Mafia and puts the Sconnies through a table for a 22-17 victory.

Well, that's it for me! Thanks for sending in your questions and I wish I could get to them all, but like Matt Damon in the green room at Jimmy Kimmel, we just ran out of time. You can ask again, or I'll just try to get back to them. Until then, have a great weekend and watch Street League 2! Dysen Gould skipping high school and going straight to the pros!

Jagger's Friday Mailbag - 10/22/2021

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 14:11:26 +0000

Drexel's national qualifier Mickey O'Malley (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Mailbags. Ever since the birth of the newspaper, someone thought it was a good idea to have readers send in their questions about marriage advice, nosy neighbors, and favorite pot roast recipes. I can't help you with those things. But fear not, there's still plenty of useless knowledge in the old noggin to drop on anyone willing to listen. First off, I'd like to thank Willie and Earl for giving me the opportunity to take over this long-time staple of InterMat and I hope I can entertain you to the fullest of my capabilities along the way. I feel they are building something special here, while trying to bring you the best wrestling coverage in the country and I'm honored to be included in the growth.

But enough about them, this is my time. If you're familiar with me on Twitter, then you probably know what I'm all about and if you're not familiar with me, well, get on Twitter, you fools! You're missing all the fun.

To your questions!

Fave Twitter rivalries? @gallardo_rachel

A potentially epic feud is heating up between Jersey Hokie and the Hidlay brothers that might explode before March, if we're lucky. I'm also partial to Coach Green vs ranch dressing truthers, Coach Dom vs. Soprano's hate, and Pelican Head vs basically everyone. Speaking of whichâ€¦

Who is a Jersey guy that is under the radar this season that we should keep an eye on? Who is tweeting/writing about wrestling lately that has you laughing? @pelicanhead

With the shortened and late NJ season, it was hard to get a read on the new blood in town. One guy I've kept my eye on for a few years is CBA sophomore Alex Nini. He tore through youth states year after year and placed eighth as a freshman last year. Now, at the always tough 120 lb weight class, look for him to make noise at the Super 32 this season, as he tunes up for what should be a breakout high school season.

Wrestling is a very serious sport filled with men and women who train extremely hard to reach their goals and I do not appreciate you making light of it for your own amusement, good sir. Oldest and Greatest is pretty funny though, you should listen to his podcast.

Favorite NJ wrestler who competes for a Philly program? @WrestlingPhilly

What's your favorite thing about New Jersey wrestling? @irunwithdogs

Best crowd you've been a part of? @oldestandgreatest

Look folks, we're gonna get some Jersey questions here since the rest of the country is obsessed with us. Penn showed those Ivy League smarts and loaded up on Jersey guys like they were disco fries at the local diner, but my heart belongs to Drexel's Mickey O'Malley.

The best crowd I've been to recently (crowds are sparse these days) was a St. Joe's-Bergen Catholic dual right before the world shut down in 2020 and the environment there is what my favorite thing about NJ wrestling is. You take a small state with big talent and you get a bunch of kids banging heads since the second they're out of diapers leading to some salty grandmother booing some kid because she remembers when he slammed her little Kaden ten years earlier. I could go on and on, but lets transition out of the Garden State for now before I get fired for being a homer.

Who is most likely to pull a 2017 Thomas Gilman and gas someone from bottom? @jkos11

Pick your favorite Buckeye who's impossible to turn.

I think Nick Lee takes out Yianni to repeat as NCAA champ this year. Thoughts? @wrestlingjunki6

We still don't know if Yianni stays at 141 to reclaim his crown or looks for new land to conquer at 149, but more importantly, I'm very intrigued to see how he responds after two years of high-level freestyle. Let's be real here. The guy is one late loss away from chasing Cael and my money is still on him to bang out two more chips, until something tells me otherwise. Nick is the one man I feel can knock him off as we've seen him jump levels like he found the warp zone in Super Mario Bros, not to mention having the master game planner in his corner; always looking bored as heck, yet always plotting how to get his next victory.

Was Mike C. actually Foley burner? @codyOcho5

We all know Foley is UWW Creative

How much money would you say you've spent on dining out on grilled cheese sandwiches over the years? @BulldogTCOB

My grilled cheese is always on the house. Marlboros, not so much!

Willie's Friday Mailbag: August 27th, 2021

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 11:56:22 +0000

Penn State's Bryce Jordan Arena (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

It's a rather slow time of year. In between Cadet Worlds, Tokyo, and Junior Worlds, there is a lull right now before we all ramp up for World Team Trials.

Most of the questions that I've received asked about Trials predictions. We'll get to that. Next week, you'll be inundated with analysis for the Trials on InterMat, MatScouts, and probably every other wrestling media outlet.

So I'll hold off till then. In the meantime, there were two major news spikes to perk up our ears during an otherwise period in wrestling.

The first was Tulsa's new President, Brad Carson, responding to a report that Tulsa was considering adding wrestling, perhaps for both women and men. Carson attended The University of Virginia and has a Senior Associate Athletic Director, Brian Scislo, that coached wrestling at Ohio University. After our Big 12 Correspondent, Seth Duckworth, broke the news, wrestling aficionados flooded Carson's inboxes and timelines with positive messages on the value and virtues of wrestling.

Carson responded thusly:

I just want to say that I've heard from so many in the wrestling community over the last two days that, well, it is pretty amazing. You guys (and many women) are an impressive impressive group of advocates for what is indeed an incredible sport!
â€” Brad Carson (@bradrcarson) August 21, 2021

I don't know if Tulsa will start wrestling programs. But what I do know is that I'm proud of the wrestling community. That's the way to advocate and that's the way to communicate.

A few days later, report came out via StateCollege.com discussing Penn State's need to satisfy proportionality requirements; PSU has 15 women's sports and 16 men's teams.

Some wrestling fans showed support, but probably not to the level they did for Tulsa. The prospect of women's wrestling at Penn State makes a lot of sense. It's a wrestling-crazed state, has a huge, national brand, and is in a location that makes traveling to competitions easy and cost-effective (Lock Haven, which already began a women's program, is 20 minutes up the road).

But Penn State could also be the snowball that begins an avalanche of movement by major universities bringing women's programs to life.

Several major schools - from Oklahoma State to most of the Ivies - have basically indicated that it was only a matter of time. Someone - some blue blood wrestling power or some academic monolith - is going to be the first major school to launch the sport. Why not PSU?

We have to strike now. We have to use the momentum (and social media buzz) that our Olympians just provided for us. Women wrestlers can be college stars. And their performance in Tokyo exceeded almost all other women's sports by every metric: success, social media visibility, and television coverage. Tamyra Mensah was featured at SummerSlam, people!

Write to Athletic Director Sandy Barbour. Athletic_Director@athletics.psu.edu

Tweet at her: @SandyB_PSUAD

Let your voices be heard.

This Week's questions:

Why do international wrestling venues refuse to get normal mats instead of tarps? It looks 2nd class; like a high school dual in the 60's. - @redblackwrestlr

Yes. Yes, it does look 2nd class. And I hate it.

You'll often hear that some wrestlers like the feel of those tarps better. But, let's be real - the actual issue is that they are much cheaper both in terms of materials and shipping (to far-flung places such as Ufa, Russia).

UWW has done an outstanding job at elevating the level of presentation at World events. You can see it on the stream, and it's even more impressive in person. It's obvious that a lot of work goes into it and that it is a point of emphasis. So I don't think the tarp-mat decision is one that isn't deliberated on.

Remember that UWW mats underwent wholesale changes over the past six or seven years. There's not a ton of regular UWW-specific mats floating around across the world.

I can't believe I'm doing this right now, but, let's go back a few years. This is since the new orange/blue scheme was implemented:

2021, Tokyo - Tarps
2019, Nur Sultan - Tarps
2018, Budapest - Tarps
2017, Paris - Mats
2016, Rio - Tarps
2015, Las Vegas - Mats

Perhaps it's a decision of the host nation. Perhaps it's as simple as availability. If I were to guess, I'd imagine that you'll continue to see tarps sometimes, but that as more and more UWW Orange/Blue mats are produced, their usage will go up.

Now that I tackled that hard-hitting, controversial questionâ€¦

"Will the Big Ten Pac 12 ACC alliance thing have any major impact on wrestling or just a couple duals between the conferences here and there?" @oldestgreatest

It's more difficult to get Dems & Republicans to agree on something on Capitol Hill than it is to get college coaches on the same page.

There were some significant talks about an ACC - Big Ten challenge type thing in wrestling this year among coaches. But hell will freeze over before anything official, requiring all Big Ten programs to participate, would be passed.

There's only one thing mandatory - conference championships. And that ain't changing anytime soon.

If college wrestling were to add an 11th weight where should it be? @jagger712

I hate this question. 1) Because I think college has it nailed perfectly and 2) because it's going to make me reconsider a previous take.

That being said, an 11th weight is a good (best) problem solver for a tied dual.

As the nature of wrestling currently is and considering the talent of those who participate, if you're forcing me to add an 11th weight, I'd want to spend it on another weight within the current first five. Something like this: 124-130-137-142-150.

But here's where I am reconsideringâ€¦

I've always said adding a 215/220 is totally idiotic. And it is. There's absolutely no need for it other than a few outlying tweeners. If you weigh 215, you can cut down or bulk up. You're fine. Just like every other freakin' weight class. If you disagree, go cry me a river.

Plus, adding 215/220 would just dilute the already uninspiring depth at 197 and 285. You'd be making two ho-hum weight classes three really eye-rolling weight classes. This is not about the size of the average male. It's about the size of the average talent and adjusting for the general population would do nothing but make the sport worse.
Now - that being saidâ€¦

I think we're seeing a lot more athletes stick with wrestling and becoming stars rather than play DIII football. Should that trend continue, I'd be more than open to revisiting the discussion down the road. 125-133-141-149-158-168-178-190-215-285

Do you think head coaches need to look outside their program to hire at least 1 assistant? I use OK state as an example. Everyone on staff wrestled for John. Not saying they aren't good coaches, just maybe an outside perspective couldn't hurt. - @jferg24

No. You crazy? First, let's use your example. Oklahoma State has at least four guys on their staff that are DI head coach material. Espo's been tutored by John W. for two decades now. Chris Perry should single-handedly made AJ Ferrari's title become a reality. And Tyler Caldwell is the best young recruiter in the entire country.

But let's venture outside of OK State. Iowa, Penn State, Ohio Stateâ€¦
All have had very few coaching changes.

Outside perspective is very, very helpful. And some programs should look to bring new voices in. But don't force it.

Ok, fine, I'll do one WTT questionâ€¦

Who is most likely to shock us all at WTT's? - @matsquatch3

Ryan Deakin. The guy always plays with our emotions.

He's had a full summer of both getting healthy and getting fresh looks at RTC's all around the country.

Willie's Olympic-Themed Mailbag: July 30th, 2021

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 11:26:00 +0000

The 2020 US Women's Freestyle Olympic Team (Photo courtesy of Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

We're on the eve of the (delayed) Olympics and man, it feels good to have wrestling back. The Cadet World Championships were the first â€œWorldsâ€ of any kind in wrestling since the Senior competition in Nur-Sultan.

But I have a warning. Just like I have a warning before every Senior Worlds or Olympicsâ€¦

Hope for the best, but brace yourself for some measure of disappointment.

We spend almost all of our wrestling-watching on our own Americans. We've seen David Taylor be a prodigy since youth. We've watched Kyle Dake win 4 NCAA titles and Tamyra Mensah-Stock go from up-and-coming talent to World Champ.

In that way, our familiarity, and allegiances, and bias all converge to the greatest of expectations. But, I promise you, someone's gonna break your heart.

Wrestling is a world sport. The United States is good. Not dominant, but good. And this is the oddest of circumstances. With so many delays and cancellations, there's really much less data than ever. We don't know how good Nurislam Sanayev is wrestling right now. We don't know where Haji Aliev, or Artur Aleksanyan or Risako Kawai are in their training.

It all leads to so much uncertainty.

No one wants the USA to crush the competition more than I do. But I'm also experienced enough and realistic enough to know that some in the field will overperform and some will underperform. There will be matches decided late, or on one sequence, or on one video review. And some of those athletes affected will be representing the stars and stripes.

Root like hell. But understand this is the toughest tournament in the world, under the craziest conditions, with little data, and random draws. Expect the unexpected.

Side Note: UWW Media - led by my predecessor of this column, TR Foley - has done a tremendous job with coverage, previews, and resources. The most comprehensive 2020Olympic Guide I've ever seen.

Watch Live: Another great and easy resource is NBC's schedule and live links Bookmark it:

Every one of your questions involved the Olympics, so let me just give you my thoughts on what I'm looking forward to the mostâ€¦

David Taylor, USA, 86kg MFS

I think it's a two-horse race with him and Yazdani (IRI). And frankly, I'm worried about it. Generally speaking, I think the American fan base is â€˜over' that â€˜rivalry.' David beat him in both bouts they wrestled. But they were both fights. And they were both long ago. David had a long layoff. Does he still have the horsepower and stamina to go along with his 1st class skills?

Perhaps he does. Heck, perhaps it's Yazdani that should worry if he still â€˜got it.' But I'm nervous. I'm more nervous for that match-up than any other. Bring it home, Magic Man!

Mijain Lopez, CUB, 130kg GR

Quite simply one of the most prolific and dominant wrestlers the world has ever seen. He's lost just 4 times since 2004. 2004!

He's reached 11 World/OLY finals and won 8 of them. And yet it was Riza Kayaalp (TUR), who is the top seed in this field, who dealt Mijain 2 of his 3 finals losses. Mijain has beaten Kayaalp three times as well, including the last two Olympics.

By far the most established rivalry of these Games, the next, and perhaps the last chapter will be written next week. I'm not sure who to root for. I kinda lean with Mijain 1) because I love to root for the tiny, under-funded nation and 2) because this might be the last time he laces him up.

Tamyra Mensah-Stock, USA, 68kg WFS

You know how much I like to be right, right? So much so that I almost get on my own nerves.

But it was years ago - long before Tamyra was winning tournaments left and right - when I first saw her compete and thought, â€˜she's going to be the next great one.'

Well, here we are. Mensah-Stock is the reigning World Champion and the only woman in US history to win Yarygin - twice. She's the #1 seed and roundly accepted as the favorite.

But as good as she is, I still worry. In 2016 she won the Olympic Trials but failed to qualify the weight for Rio. And she's lost four times in the last three years and all four of those women are in the bracket.

There are times (like at the Olympic Trials this year) where, in my opinion, she gets nervous, not allowing her to open up. Like David Taylor, I could be worrying about nothing. Maybe it's a defense mechanism whereby I'm trying to curb my excitement. Let's go, Tamyra!

Jacarra Winchester, USA, 53kg, WFS

The World Champion at 55kg in 2019, I'm so curious to see how Jacarra does down a weight. She's lost in both appearances at 53 so far - in the finals of the Pan Am qualifier to Cuba, and at DeGlane in January. Those results explain why she's not getting as much chatter as a title contender. But I really think she is. And she's one of my favorite athletes to watch with a great combo of athleticism and grit. She will be pivotal inâ€¦

The Women's Team Race

Alright, alright. I know. I led the column with â€˜chill out, you overzealous American fans.' And yet here I am positioning a Women's Team title to be won in the home country of the most one of the most dominant programs in any sport.

Look, there are just six weights. We have favorites in two of them: Adeline and Tamyra. We have a reigning World Champ in Jacarra and 2018 Silver Sarah Hildebrandt. Kayla Miracle is young but very internationally experienced. And oh, yeah, Helen beat the GOAT. I'm not saying they are gonna win the team title. I'm saying there's a chance. And it's one of the things I'm dialed in on the most.

How Good is Gable, and Then What?

We all know that Gable is good. We all know that he has more big-time offers - perhaps bigger and more apparent than any wrestler ever - waiting for him after wrestling.

What we don't know is how he truly stacks up with the International field. The eyeball test says he's going to be very, very competitive. But you can't be the man, until you beat the man. And Geno Petriashivili (GEO) and Taha Akgul (TUR) are definitely â€˜the man.' It's been six years since anyone other than those two have won Worlds or Olympics.

And then after we see how Gable measures up - then what? Does he win gold and say â€˜I've accomplished everythingâ€? Does he take bronze and say he has one more cycle in him? Does it matter how he does? Maybe there's just too much money on the table.

Questions linger on both his ability and his future and it's captivating. Must watch.

65kg - The Entire Bracket

There's a chance this bracket is a complete trainwreck. And, with no American in the field, I'm totally here for it. 65kg is annually one of the most hotly contested, high octane, and unpredictable weights.

In 2016, and in his last meaningful competition, Togrul Asgarov (AZE), the 2012 Olympic Champ, proved he still had it by reaching the Rio finals. Can Haji Aliev, also of Azerbaijan, capture that old man spirit in Tokyo? Does Bajrang (IND) finally get his title? Or will it be Otoguro (JPN), the 2018 World Champ who beat Bajrang in the finals there and in this year's Asian Championship?

And we didn't even get to the favorite yet. Rashidov (RUS) has made SR World finals for three years running. He lost to Otoguro in the â€˜18 finals and beat Daulet Niyazbekov (KAZ) in the finals in â€˜19 after Niyazbekov beat Bajrang.

It all makes for a wonderful field and my favorite to watch in MFS.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: July 2nd, 2021

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 15:16:39 +0000

Roman Bravo-Young at the 2021 NCAA finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

On the first day that the NCAA allowed student-athletes to make money for their services and image, the Big Ten released a list of their top individual social media stars. Three of them were wrestlers.

Based on Instagram followers, Iowa's Spencer Lee was 7th with 111k followers and RBY (126k) of Penn State was #3. Gopher Gable Steveson, with 245k, has the most Instagram followers of any athlete in any sport from the Big Ten.

There are several things to take away from that - the first being that it's abundantly clear how powerful our sport is in the Big Ten. Another thing is that RBY, who became a star after Spencer Lee, and has less accolades than him, has surpassed him in followers, and, you could say, â€˜brand.'

Winning and losing matters most, but it's not the entire equation. RBY put in A LOT of time in his social media game. His prominence has grown with his openness, his volume, and lifestyle content that often has little to do with wrestling. In that way, he's surpassed current and former wrestlers that have accomplished more on the mat than he has.

And everyone will recognize that. If you're a wrestler, you're taking notes. And if you're one of those anti-social media, get-off-my-lawn types, duck for cover. More of it is coming.

Another thing we do know is that the universities will embrace it. There are already courses available to athletes next fall that educate you on NIL decisions. And several schools have announced programs to help facilitate their optimization.

From the media side, old vets like myself and Earl and Jason Bryant of the National Wrestling Media Association have often sung the praises of universities' Sports Information Directors that go above and beyond in wrestling. It's not just the information and accessibility that we've appreciated, but their undeniable passion helps build stars. And now, that quality will take on an even more critical and difference-making role for individuals.

Better, more creative SID's will be appreciated by wrestlers as they act as de facto brand-builders. Coaches would be wise to put a portfolio of their SID's work in front of their recruits. (And let's hope the SID's get paid a little more by the schools going forward.)

What lies ahead will be interesting to follow, no doubt. The advent of NIL cash flow is upon us - and regardless of how much research one did on the topic or how prescient you fancy yourself - no one can guess all the pros nor all potential pitfalls that will accompany it.

Will it be a distraction? Will sometime, somewhere, a wrestler engage in a faux pas that leads to a suspension? Will it lead to more, or less, wrestling programs? I don't think anyone can speak with certainty on those matters, but it sure is a fun ride to watch.

To your questionsâ€¦

What do you see as possible unintended consequences of the NIL? @DutrowJim

I think there are a few likely scenarios. The obvious one being that a wrestler gets involved with something outside the parameters of what's legal under the NIL framework. So wrestlers. GET. SCHOOL. APPROVAL.

What I hope doesn't happen is that in an effort to keep their athletes eligible in football and basketball, schools don't wind up employing 25 compliance officers that further hamstrings their balance sheets and leads to the cutting of even more Olympic programs.

Another thing is that there are gonna be some really good wrestlers that try to have social media cache to build their brand and end up coming off as ultra cringeworthy. You can say that's already started. But it'll get worse.

Here's one for ya, too - a wrestler wins over fans, wins a title as a sophomore, cashes in, becomes a douche, takes 6th the following year. Fans totally turn on him and chastise him for caring more about his social accounts than his riding ability. This will happen.

You know why wrestlers are often the most intensely focused, goal-oriented individuals? They're hungry. Can you stay hungry when you're comfy?

You know why MMA fighters tail off after a hot start to their careers? They ain't hungry no more.

Another one - bad contracts. There are already really, really, really awful contracts in the wrestling world. People that are signed with certain companies (even big in our sport) have very paltry compensation. I can see current college athletes taking a deal for little more than the serotonin that comes along with the press release.

Don't sign a contract for gear. Make sure you're getting your real value. And make it legal.

What do you think of Barstool Athletics? RBY signed on. @Capt_AlexPerez

I have no idea. And I'm pretty sure RBY has no idea. Dave Portnoy himself said that the project was thrown together at the 11th hour with no real plan.

What I do know is that Barstool is a creative force that typically makes good decisions. At a minimum, I think it leads to increased popularity for the athletes that join and more opportunities. At its ceiling, I think it could be a very influential movement.

Which athletes will be sponsored by The Brain? @chunkofWEAVE

Haha. I don't know exactly, but some will for sure. I got some ideas. Additionally, and somewhat unexpectedly, several current college wrestlers asked me if I was interested in being their agent, and it's something I'm considering. Not sure if it will go that far, but I certainly want to connect them to the right people, so they have more opportunities. Feel free to DM or email me if you're interested.

What school do you view as a dark horse that can really benefit from NIL? @TheGOATFollower

The Ivies and here's why.

Penns and Princetons have uber-rich alumni. Until now, what has been their method of support? Donating to RTC's? Financing a new room?

There have been limitations to what they could do. The NIL deal opens another door. Forget Gatorade and Nike and Coca-Cola. I think we'll see a Penn alum at a major investment firm sponsor Michael Coliaocco. I think Mike Novogratz slaps a Galaxy Capital logo on Patrick Glory at Trials.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: June 18th, 2021

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 12:16:46 +0000

Jason Tsirtsis in the 2014 NCAA Finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Joe Caprino, my buddy from IndianaMat.com, wrote me this the other day:

Only 3 of the 13 four-time state champs in Pennsylvania have ever won an NCAA title. How come the best high school state for wrestling has such a low percentage of 4xers winning at least ONE title?

Indiana has 2 of 9 (Jason Tsirtsis and Angel Escobedo). 8 of the 25 Ohio champs won an NCAA title. I almost wonder if this is very much the same across the board.

Figure it out, Brain man!

He followed it up with these stats:

To add to Joe's totals, California has had 4 four-timers: Darrell Vasquez, Justin Mejia, Seth Nevills, and Jesse Vasquez, who is just starting his college career. None won NCAA top honors.

The low percentage is often explained away by message board posters who like to sound smart by quipping that 'they were overrated' and 'I knew he wouldn't pan out.'

It's a lame excuse and not entirely accurate. Of course, to be sure, not every state title is equal to the next. California has 25,000 wrestlers and one champ per weight, while some states have six classifications. Ohio and New York expanded classes relatively recently.

But let's not rewrite history by saying the four-timers 'weren't that good' in high school. Their success or lack thereof cannot be explained away so simply.

Let's say there's a point scale wherein a '10' is a Gable Steveson/Kyle Snyder high school senior. Not all state champions are 10's. And news flash, not all wrestlers that win a state title as a senior were a better version of themselves when they won the title as a Sophomore or Junior. It happens. Gavin Teasdale looked much better as a Junior.

All you have to do is look at rankings. Every year there is a four-timer that gets crowned that isn't ranked #1. Heck, there was a four-time finalist this year in Iowa that wasn't ranked at all.

It's a big country.

But this discussion comes at a very good time. Recruiting season is back in full swing. And here's a message/reminder to all the coaches, parents, and athletes: how many state titles you have is much less important than 1) that you're wrestling your best as a senior and 2) that you're prepared in all aspects of your life to make the transition to college.

It's unprovable, but I'd venture to say that of all the legit, top-billed recruits that didn't succeed in college to the level of our expectations, many of them were derailed not because they weren't good enough, but because life threw them curveballs. The transition to college, in a sport that is the most mentally and physically taxing, is far too often understated. New home, new friends, new coaches, balancing a checkbook, picking your own classes and figuring it all out on your own.

Jason Tsirtsis publicly dealt with a death in the family in the second half of his career. Chance Marsteller was admittedly not at his peak early in his career, with weight cutting and lifestyle choices being the culprit. I'm positive that if you heard the stories, the Ben Whitford's and Fox Baldwin's and other Top 10 recruits in the country, you'd hear similar stories.

In summation, take away two things 1) the goal is not freshman year; it's life and 2) prepare for and be there for your athlete as they make the transition to college.

To your questions -

Who will be the next Head Coach at Bellarmine? - @DutrowJim

Hey Jim! Thanks for running #WrestlingShirtADayinMay. Great stuff.

It's tough to say. Our SoCon rep, Rachel Gallardo, says that the entire staff is being replaced.

One name that consistently comes up, though, is Army's Ned Shuck, which would be a great hire if they could pry him away. A name that might surprise you is also applying: former UFC star Gray Maynard.

What school is most likely to subscribe to that Bouzakis/Mendez package deal? - @VakAttack

Ohio State. Iowa also makes sense, but they have a ton of money tied up down low and will also be in on Jesuroga. Penn State is on both their lists but has a similar situation. I don't know what the likelihood of it actually materializing, but the families do discuss it.

Why is there not more being done to get freestyle back to ten weights at the Olympics? - @iawrestlingfan

Because we fight for scraps. Because the Olympics lost their way.

You hear me whine about it all the time. They'd rather have BMX and whatever other nonsense than the sports that got them here. And to make matters worse, they refuse to up the athlete quota.

The worst thing, for me anyway, is that having six Olympic weights doesn't mess up just one year of wrestling, but three in every cycle. Follow me here:

Year 1 - few participants among the elite because they just put everything into the Olympic year. Plus retirements.

Year 2 - The best non-Olympic World Championships of the 4-year cycle and it's not close.

Year 3 - The non-Olympic weights at Worlds are a wasteland as all athletes congregate to 1) qualify the weight for the Olympics and 2) gain a seed.

Year 4 - Olympic year. 40% less weight class and a paltry 16-man bracket.

The only chance for FS (men's and women's) to get back to 10 Olympic weights is under a situation where Greco is no longer in the Olympics. (This is in the works and is the worst kept secret in the sport. One federation (in Europe, if I recall correctly) even sent out a memo.

Even still, should Greco get dropped, I wouldn't hold my breath on getting 10 weights back. Adding four weights x 16 for men, plus the same for women = 128 athlete spots they can use to start Olympic Call of Duty or some nonsense.

What is your favorite vegetable, if applicable? - @stegallB14

Peas, dog. Love 'em. Also, parsnips don't get enough love.

Why haven't they announced World Team Trials will be in Lincoln yet? - @wiems19

It sounded like that was a done deal at one point, but it still isn't set. Apparently, there's also a home football game for the Huskers that weekend.

But it's another reminder of how frustrating everything has been since Covid hit. No one knows where anything will be, or where.

Heck, UWW didn't even have their schedule and location for Cadet Worlds posted until the other day and the tournament starts in four weeks. It's disappointing for me, as a journalist. I can't imagine the frustration for the athletes and parents.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: June 11th, 2021

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 19:47:47 +0000

In last week's column, a coach asked: "Wrestling in pa is not growing. Lots of small towns are combining. What is one way we can help stop that decline?"

You can read my full response here, but part of the answer was that small town kids congregating to mega-power teams was a big factor.

Just a few days later, our Seth Duckworth reported that Kael Voinovich, my #6 overall Freshmen, would move to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Upon learning the news, the Athletic Director of Mustang, Oklahoma - a rival wrestling power, responded on Twitter with his disdain. It was since deleted but the gist included questioning the legality of NCAA and Oklahoma's high school athletic rules.

It's laughable that school administrators are critical of families that want to be close to their children and watch them in college, while also giving their younger children opportunities. What do you expect them to do when their kid goes to college? Move the other direction? https://t.co/lQ9ThldFqY
ï¿½" Seth Duckworth (@Seth_Duckworth) June 5, 2021

Kael is the younger brother of standout Victor Voinovich of Ohio who will wrestle for Oklahoma State next year. And to be clear there's been a pattern lasting two decades whereby the sibling of an OSU commit also moves into the state while in high school: The Rosholts, Chandler Rogers, Jordan Dieringer, and The Ferraris.

Call it what you want: 'tricky' or 'unique', 'creative' or 'unfair,' the attraction is the desire to be around family, a top notch high school program coached by former Wyoming Assistant Ethan Kyle, and of course the legacy of the 34-time team champ Oklahoma State Cowboys.

It's a system, it's above board, and it's the product of a century of success.

The bottom line is: you can not like it all you want, but to stop it you have to legislate it. Knock yourself out. There's no way any sane adults are going to ban a kid from participating for the rest of his career for transferring as an underclassmen. So you're really advocating for a one year suspension. As far as NCAA violations, that's a crock. As if the NCAA has any jurisdiction to tell a family where they can live. But hey, you do you, chief.

You may not like it - heck, I'm not sure if I 'like' it - but there's nothing you can do about it but put your head down and work harder. This is wrestling.

To your questions

What happened to Cox in Poland? - @NMCBootsy

That's a great question, and succinct. I'm glad to answer it because there's been nothing sort of vitriol on social media and message boards. The answer is simply: J'den lost a 2-1 match.

Stop freaking out.

J'den has been untouchable at 92kg winning the last two world titles in dominant fashion. He moved up to 97 for the Olympic Trials and dropped his first match back down at 92 against a guy that's frankly not in his galaxy. You do the math.

To be sure, it was a bad look for J'den who had to eat some humble pie after proclaiming he was going to go scorched earth from now on. But that doesn't mean the outlandish criticism is warranted nor that anything is 'wrong' with J'den.

He lost a match. Shit happens.

If you want to be (sensibly) critical, listen to what I've been saying for a couple years now - our guys often go out there to simply win and not separate from the competition. Jordan Oliver was better at the Last Chance Qualifier, but took too little risk. J'den was better in Poland but took too little risk. There's no earthly reason JO and J'den go scoreless in a first period.

But some of you are going way too far. Shut up. Be better.

This is an email I received from the father of one of my top freshmen in the country -

Willie,

I wanted to say thanks for traveling around and posting video of the Cadet World Team Camp. While my son is not on the team, Coach Pack let him come up. I have not seen my son practice in awhile and it was fun to see video of him working out.

Have you ever thought about doing consulting to families with no wrestling background? Many of us have children who are good wrestlers, but do not know enough about the college coaches and the recruiting process. You know more about the personalities of these coaches than most others and are not affiliated with any program. There are some of us who would hire you to give advice on what programs to direct our kids to and what programs our kids may not be a good fit.

I know you are super busy and there may not be enough money in it to be worthwhile, but paying for time and advice is something I think many of us would be willing to do. Thanks again, I enjoy watching/reading your work. - Father of Ranked High Schooler

I hear this all the time. I heard it 10 years ago. And I heard it a ton after I left Flo. College coaches tell me this all the time.

But I love what I do now and I'm making a decent living. I wouldn't want to focus on one aspect and I surely wouldn't want to play matchmaker as a means to an end; if my heart wasn't into it.

I talk to parents and college coaches every day. They reach out, I try to help and offer guidance. It's one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do in that it creates lasting friendships and there's no money involved to spoil it.

Hit me up. It's my honor to help. But also I'd advise you to beware of 'services'. I haven't dug a whole lot into them - especially for wrestling - so I don't know enough about them. Perhaps it's irrational, but I don't know if I trust their objectives or insight.

On Mainstream Coverage of Olympic Sports

Last week Ro Ro Ro Your Boat was upset that they missed the majority of the actual competition from the US Championships in Gymnastics. And rightfully so.

In 2016, after Helen's win in Rio, I was incensed that the NBC 1) didn't show it on primetime, 2) instead doing a story on swimmers publicly urinating at a convenience store and 3) not even cleaning up their own mess by showing a clip of it on cable.

I was my typical best/worst self on Twitter blasting NBC, and the NBC's Olympic programming chief even fired back saying 'well, it was live online'.

The reality is that 1) NBC has the rights and 2) they serve up what is (unfortunately) the appetite of the masses - which is not sports itself but the human interest side of things even if that is often times a lame regurgitation of something we've all heard before, or worse, some freak show episode more befitting of a tabloid cover.

The Olympic format leaves a lot to be desired. NBC's coverage leaves a lot to be desired. And the consumption preferences of most people aren't the same as the die hard fans'.

Pasta Of The Week - Carbonara - For Chris Chionuma

Willie's Friday Mailbag: June 4th, 2021

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 12:24:51 +0000

Fresno State All-American Josh Hokit at the 2019 NCAA Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

The saving of the Stanford wrestling program was such a big win for the state of California and, if we're talking 'optics,' for the sport in general. Cutting wrestling at a prestigious school with a history of otherwise embracing Olympic sports would have been a bad look. Once again, top wrestlers with big brains from Cali, and nationally, have a high-end option. With the hiring of Rob Koll and rumors of a staff that would include Damion Hahn and Vincenzo Joseph, Stanford wrestling is not only keeping on, but set up for future success.

While that is a big sigh of relief for Cali and national wrestling fans alike, I'm not so sure that saving Fresno State isn't more important to the state of California.

In California, wrestling ranks sixth in participation with nearly 23,000 - that's double the next closest state, Texas (who doesn't even have a single DI program (don't get me started on that).

I hate to get political, but that's who the onus is on.

Not having enough programs to service your state/region/community is nothing short of irresponsibility and failure by civic leaders, elected officials (it is a state school) and a clearly clueless athletic department at Fresno State who cut the program, reinstated it, only to cut it again after a couple seasons.

With the most - by far - participants in wrestling than any other state or community, how can you not make it work? How can you not use it to your leverage? How can Buies Creek, North Carolina (Campbell) be home to a 2021 conference title with seven other programs in the state and just 34% of high school participants, and yet, Fresno State can't even manage to keep their team afloat?

Saving Stanford was great, but Fresno State is far less prohibitive academically and hasn't provided the opportunities that FSU (and other state schools in California) could and should.

Just nine of Stanford's 33-man roster went to high school in California. 67% of Fresno's roster were native Californians, while every member of Bakersfield's 26-man roster is.

AND IT'S FRESNO!

Name the country's best high school wrestling grounds - Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Long Island, New Jersey, Lehigh Valley, Minneapolis, Oklahoma, Iowa and....you guessed it, Fresno.

Say it with me, to recap: you have the most wrestlers. You have some of the best wrestlers. It is YOUR job to provide opportunities to your citizens. DO. YOUR. JOB.

Figure it out.

Yesterday a press release was put out outlining a plan to strengthen wrestling within the PAC-12. Perhaps the best line item in it discussed a change in course - that they would look to add affiliate members. It's great for the conference and all of west coast wrestling - opening the doors for existing programs to cut down on costs, bolster the competitiveness of the conference, and make it more viable for schools considering adding the sport. And there's no school that it benefits more immediately than Fresno State.

There's a final point I want to make, too. I'm not big on identity politics. From my view, the more we point out our differences, the more we divide. However, I have to say thisâ€¦

We oftentimes celebrate this group or that group in sports and business and all walks of life. We've lauded (and rightfully so) the exploits of African American wrestlers. And we laud the women pioneers of our sport.

What we don't often point out is that the fabric of our history is filled with contributions of Hispanic-American wrestlers that have reached the pinnacle of the sport. And the Central Valley is filled with talented, hard-working, intelligent high school wrestlers who want to add to that legacy.

They deserve a shot. I plead to the decision-makers at Fresno State to do what's right for your constituents.

Hit 'em up. @FresnoState_AD , @JosephICastro ,

To your questions...

Biggest transfer move that has happened? - @MindsetCoachBW

All-time? Probably Steve Mocco from Iowa to OK State. As a Soph. he was undefeated NCAA Champ and then took an Olympic before going to Stillwater and winning the Hodge in 2005. Cary Kolat was 2nd as a Freshman and 3rd as a Soph. for Penn State before winning two titles for Lock Haven.

Recently Joey McKenna and Sebastian Rivera were notable. Seth Gross from Iowa to SDSU and Wisconsin was big; however, Gross was largely unproven when he left Iowa. Suriano (Penn St. to Rutgers) basically left PSU looking for a lead-off guy for a few years.

I think the two most impactful, though, can be looked at through the lens of the team race.

Jaydin Eierman (5th, 4th, 3rd for Missouri) was probably the biggest. Eierman's move was a huge part of the Hawkeyes '21 team title and could be the same next year.

Penn State was also on the receiving end of talent when, in 2011, Andrew Long helped them edge Cornell. Long was an NCAA Runner-Up for Iowa St. the year before. PSU beat Cornell by 14.

Does each HS athlete only get 5 official visits total or 5 per year and when can they start going on those visits? - @dmax189

High school wrestlers get five official visits total, not per year. And they can start taking them on August 1st before their junior season. "Official" visits mean that the school pays your flight/hotel/meals etc. Keep in mind that you can (and many kids do) take unofficial visits that they pay out of pocket for.

Additionally, I got another related question last week but didn't answer it yet. "How many visits does an athlete in the portal get?"

The answer is that it resets. You get five more official visits that can start on October 15th of your Freshman year.

What's the most one recruiting class has ever changed the direction of a program? - @oldestgreatest

Tough question. I would say Arizona State's 2015 class. I had them ranked #1, but heck, there's a #1 every year. I picked them because Zahid and Anthony were superstars. They dominated the homepages of wrestling sites and even their peers looked up to them.

If you recall, Zeke Jones had just gotten the job at ASU after leaving USA Wrestling. ASU had threatened/intimated that they were going to cut the program. Zeke landing the #1 and #2 guys on my Big Board after one year signaled that there was both belief in the staff and that ASU was ready to win. They also got Lance Benick, who was arguably the #1 197lb prospect, Tanner Hall, and Josh Maruca and Josh Shields out of PA.

I think there is a difference between 'best ever class' and 'most impactful.' And I'd say the ASU Class of '15 changed their direction more than any single class did for any other program in recent memory.

Likewise, yet to a different degree, I believe that Anthony Ashnault deciding to stay home and go to Rutgers in 2013 was one of the most significant moments in recruiting. To cap it off, he won a national title for the Scarlet Knights. But simply the act alone of believing he could win there was the source of pride and optimism in NJ.

Wrestling in pa is not growing. Lots of small towns are combining. What is one way we can help stop that decline? @MindsetCoachBW

You know how a lot of people bitch and moan when a kid that transfers in PA is ruled ineligible for a year? Yeah. That's why I don't bitch and moan about it.

I said this years ago when Cody Weircioch went from Charleroi to Canon-McMillon, who was a powerhouse at the time. When a small-town kid turns into a star and bolts, it's deflating and frustrating. I don't necessarily blame the kid - he's doing what's best for him. But why would you, as a community, devote your time to developing youth if they're just gonna bounce to a powerhouse?

It's gutting. And it hurts the sport (even in participation numbers, theoretically).

However, I think there are some reasons to be optimistic about the restoration of small-town programs and it has a lot to do with the pandemic.

The first point is that a lot more people are now allowed to work from home. They can make good money, enjoy rural life, and don't have to be in the big city.

The second point is the proliferation of clubs. You can be the lone stud on your high school team and still get good training with good partners because there are more and more quality clubs.

To be clear, I don't know that either are solutions that will prevent mass transfers or conglomerations. But they could. And it certainly can't get any worse. Frankly, I'm for tighter restrictions and even more measures - like private/catholic schools assigned to a separate division or kicked out altogether. If they want different, more advantageous rules, let 'em go to National Preps. Because the result is not unlike Wal-Mart making a mom-and-pop shop shut down.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: May 21st, 2021

Fri, 21 May 2021 14:35:26 +0000

Shane Griffith and the Stanford staff (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Stanford was saved. What a relief. And a surprise. Throughout the campaign to reinstate the program, I watched with a massive appreciation for their efforts but also with very little optimism.

There's one reason programs get dropped: poor budget management by today's athletic departments, who themselves have bloated rosters. And to reverse the decision to drop would mean admitting yet another massive mistake for an administration already mired in controversy.

Kind of a miracle. But my message this week is to not depend on the whims of increasingly cruel and incompetent athletic departments. Just 165 miles from Stanford, there's another war to win to save Fresno State. And again, I'm pessimistic.

The time to endow your wrestling program was 15 years ago. If you haven't started, do so now. The only way to insulate our 78 DI wrestling programs is to remove all administrative second-guessing and fund it ourselves.

There's been a proliferation of public, online fundraising campaigns for DI wrestling programs, and thanks to you, the fans, they've been a massive success. Wrestling programs often outpace any other sports in program donations at many schools. The contributions can go to many things - mats, facilities, travel budget, etc. But coaches would be wise to put much of that into an endowment fund or to seek out more prominent donors to get one started.

It's unfortunate that our coaches and programs must take on that burden. But if there is any group built to shoulder it, it's us. We'll do it ourselves.

To your questions...

FANTASTIC news from Stanford this week! Whom do you think they will look at for the head coaching position? - @TopicNext

When there is a coaching vacancy, we often come up with lists of viable candidates. However, I've never endorsed a particular guy. I've never wanted to offend any of the contenders and suggest they aren't the right pick.

I'll start now, though. Ray Blake should be the pick and I think going in any different direction would only add insult to what has been a mess.

Alumni? Longest tenured coach on staff? Fought through the chopping block?

Blake checks all those boxes. He's also highly respected in many circles, including but not limited to his native Chicago, which also happens to be hallowed recruiting grounds.

He's both the qualified and the sentimental choice. Could you imagine Stanford putting the program on the chopping block, seeing their former Head Coach Jason Borrelli leave for American, reinstating the program, and then choosing someone who wasn't around for the fight? And oh-by-the-way, the staff produced an NCAA champ.

This is a lay-up.

Why don't you answer your phone? - @NookieBrown22

Everyone yells at me for not answering my phone! Probably for good reason.

I hate talking on the phone. It's always on silent. Maybe it's a character flaw or something, but I'm the polar opposite of most people today who are glued to their phones.

It's not that I'm any 'better.' I'm glued to a computer screen. Send an email. Immediate response, I promise.

Will a team other than Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma State win a title in the next 20 years, and if yes, who? - @RichardAMann

Frankly, I don't think so. It would probably take a perfect storm and it would have to come in a year when team scoring was historically low - like a team title with sub 100pts.

Since 2000, 16 of the 21 team champs scored over 115pts. Ohio State, with 102 to Iowa's 84, was the last to win it with less.

Since 2010, the only schools (other than those you listed) to reach runner-up status were Minnesota in '12 and '14 and Cornell in '11 and '10.

In recent years your 'Big 4' have been recruiting lights out. It would probably take an odd, down year for one of them and the pinnacle performance from a Michigan, Minnesota, NC State, Cornell, or ASU.

Thoughts on 3 sport athletes as it impacts their recruiting. - @christanadeau2

Personally, I love multi-sport athletes as wrestling recruits. You're right, though; it's tricky.
The advantages of a multi-sport athlete are many: 1) they haven't maxed out their abilities, 2) they aren't 'overcoached,' 3) they haven't spent years in the same grueling positions that often exacerbate joint damage.

This is all to say they offer 'upside.' The tricky part is - when you're a part-time wrestler, it's much tougher to have a good performance at the majors - Super 32, Fargo, Trials. You have to do just enough to catch the attention of coaches and scouts, who then must also recognize your situation.

Top 5 or so tournaments kids should go to if they want to wrestle in college and raise their value to recruiters. Is it different based on the grade they are in? - @dmax189

Keep in mind that almost all top recruiters get their guys - and top recruits commit - before their senior year. So we're talking about entering tournaments through the summer after their junior season.

Super 32, Fargo, USA PreSeason and Folk Nationals, and NHSCA's. In-season is obviously restrictive based on geography and other factors, but both recruiting evaluators and college coaches are much better than, say, ten years ago, at finding all the video and results from smaller in-season tournaments. You don't have to be from Blair Academy to get noticed.

That being said, if you're a DI level recruit (or aspire to be), make sure your high school coach gets your team into a Doc B (California) or Keith Young Invitational (Iowa). A Minnesota Christmas Tournament or Knockout (Florida).

For a more thorough list and recommendations based on your location, feel free to email me at Willie@MatScouts.com

When do you recommend a kid commit to a college if he is not set from childhood on going to anyone specific. - @dmax189

Only when he/she is 100% sure. There's really very little rush. If you've proven your value, you're not going to be short on options and you probably aren't going to lose scholarship value.

There are instances where college coaches say, 'this offer expires on X date.' And that's not a mean thing to do. They need to plan and budget. But with the portal comes a release of funds, so schools will have more options than in the past.

Is it ok to record the conversations you have with recruiters? I hear some say one thing to get you then change when you arrive sometimes. @dmax189

Don't do that. Ever. -signed, every college coach in America

The parent of a high profile (Cadet World Team Member), recently intimated something similar - about confirming offers. In particular, the parent was wondering if there should be a formal scholarship offer before using one of your official visits.

There are some horror stories out there, and these are good questions to ask, but it's paranoia. You handle things on your end - winning, working, continuing to improve and being a good person - and all will be well.

Furthermore, I'd be a little skeptical of a coach extending an offer without significant conversations and/or meeting first. A good coach wants to know what type of person and character he's bringing into his family.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: May 14th, 2021 - Liking What You Like

Fri, 14 May 2021 13:01:04 +0000

Austin DeSanto at the 2021 NCAA Championships (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Last week, Seattle Wide Receiver DK Metcalf ran in USA Track & Field's Golden Games 100 meter race and, despite coming in dead last, the American sports audience was all abuzz.

He ran a 10.36, with the winner clocking in at 10.11. The NBC broadcast of the preliminary race clearly focused on DK, opening and closing the segment with him. Ato Boldon, a four-time Olympic medalist, was on the call and commented that 'you couldn't tell he didn't belong in this field' and that he was impressed.

Indeed it was a good showing for a non-pro sprinter and someone that (6'4'', 235) large.

Later in the week, I came across an article from an old colleague, Jojo Gretschel, in which she expresses mixed feelings about the ordeal, saying that she respected Metcalf's effort and courage but lamenting the fact that the video generated 1.7 million views, which blew out any other from the event.

This affair reminds me of another debate that's been broiling online recently in the fight game. Boxing purists have scoffed at the sideshow events - many involving Jake Paul, some involving e-sports celebs with no fighting background whatsoever - pulling in big viewership. Why, they say, would people tune in to carnival acts featuring people with very little skill?

Jake Paul is a lot of things, but he was also correct to retort, 'I made more money for the Ben Askren fight than most UFC fighters made in their career.'

What's the point of this, Willie? What's the import to wrestling?

The point is this: people like what they like. You've heard me over the years repeatedly say that I just don't get college wrestling being wildly more popular than the international styles, despite the latter being a demonstration of exponentially more skill.

And I've heard the wrestling community roll their eyes at all the pub Austin DeSanto received before he ever became an All-American.

People like what they like. And they like what they know. They know NFL stars. They like 'what's-he-gonna-do-next' Austin DeSanto probably more than multiple-time World Medalist Kyle Snyder.

It's time for us hard heads to accept it.

Sometimes I want to shout to the wrestling gods because no one is paying attention to a second-round match at the U.S. Open between two NCAA Champions. But that also doesn't mean we have to poo-poo when people tune in in droves to watch an insignificant exhibition between Burroughs and Askren.

To your questions:

Of the gents who made the Junior team, who do you anticipate making the US Team (top 3 spots) soonest, in order? - NHS67

Love the question. I assume you're talking MFS, but I just want to note that Braxton Amos did make the US SR National Team in GR. So let's start there. I think Amos and Ferrari (who didn't compete at JR's but was eligible) will be among the first to enter the Top-3-in-SR's conversation. I know that's a bold statement as Kyle Snyder and J'den Cox aren't going anywhere, but I don't think it's a stretch to believe they start approaching the level of guys like Kollin Moore and Mike Macch (yes, they both lost to those guys at the Trials). And remember, Ferrari made (and won) 92kg JR Nationals last November, beating Rocky Elam in the finals. There's been talk of Ferrari moving up, but 92 might be an excellent place for him. I'd add Rocky in that mix as well. In addition to being 2nd to Ferrari at JR Nationals, he won the spot on the JR World Team last month and took 5th at Senior Nationals at 86kg last October, where he teched Max Dean, CJ Brucki, and Brett Pfarr. He's damn good, and super-advanced in FS.

Here are the others to choose from: Richie Figueroa (57), Jesse Mendez (61), Beau Bartlett (65), Bryce Andonian (70), Keegan O'Toole (74), Colton Hawks (86), and Wyatt Hendrickson (125).

Figs (three world teams), Mendez (two world teams), and O'Toole are probably the most advanced in FS of that group. And though it sounds sorta crazy, I think Figs probably has the quickest path to Top 3. 57kg might very well clear out after this Olympics. I'm doubtful Mendez can hold 61kg for longer than, say, a year. And O'Toole is at a crazy deep weight.

There are two things for sure, though. 1) It will be fun to follow; we've had about the same cast of characters at the SR level for quite some time and eventually, there will be a changing of the guard. 2) It's probably gonna be a while before any of them are Top 3 at SR's in FS. It's different levels and the RTC model is keeping guys in the game much longer.

This Week's Throwback

Tony Jameson Going for His 4th State Title

Jameson didn't have a great college career, but he was one of Ohio's best ever. In his senior year, going for his fourth title, he had this crazy opening round match. He could have been pinned about half a dozen times. Highly entertaining bout.

Could you ever see it being feasible for wrestling to be a two-semester/two-season sport, with folkstyle in the fall and freestyle in the spring similar to how track has an indoor/outdoor season? And would you be in support of that idea? - @VirtualNCAAs

Support the idea? I pretty much introduced it. I've been ranting about it for years. And though I used to think that it would never happen (and I still think it's a longshot), there are signs that the powers-that-be are open to it.

My premise is simple. The wrestling season is totally chaotic and frankly nonsensical. We have open tournaments in the first semester then spend the entire second semester with one-day weigh-in duals. Then culminate with multiple-day weigh-in conference tournaments before an NCAA Championship with the only 3-day weigh-in of the year.

Having a split season 1) gives more structure to the season 2) would allow for more (potentially) participation of backups and redshirts and 3) would present better preparation for the NCAA tournament.

Open the year with nothing but duals and have a dual meet National Championship in December. In the second semester, run opens, CKLV, Scuffle, and Midlands. Then conferences and NCAA's.

Sounds simple enough, right? And makes you wonder why this hasn't just been 'the way' since wrestling's inception.

The only thing preventing it is getting all the stakeholders - the coaches and the tournament directors - on the same page.

Do you believe the presence and/or advantages of RTC $ tilts the competitive advantage too much?- @BFarnham

No. The existence of RTC's is a convenient excuse. Are you suggesting that Penn State, Iowa, Michigan, etc., wouldn't be performing the way they are if there were no RTC's?

Missouri has no RTC and has been nails. OK State's RTC (and the money funding it) has gone away almost entirely and yet they are a podium contender every year. Nebraska's RTC isn't the biggest by any stretch and yet they spend most of the decade with two guys on the World Team.

Read the opening to the column this week. Kids like what they like. On the biggest day of the year in wrestling with the most viewership, everyone sees three or four Nittany Lions ball out. During big duals in the middle of the season, they see massive crowds at Carver.

RTC's or not, they are going to attract a lot of attention.

People need to stop blaming RTC's and just work harder and get better. The RTC's are an incredible development for US wrestling and its athletes. And, not coincidentally, since the advent of them, America is as good and as deep as we've ever been.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: May 7th, 2021 - An Ode to Coming up Just Short

Fri, 07 May 2021 11:23:55 +0000

Jordan Oliver at the Olympic Trials (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

An Ode to Coming up Just Short

It must have been 1995 or 1996. I was in a Blockbuster Video (you youngins don't remember those; it was a store where you could rent movies) with my girlfriend when I bumped into Barry, an alumni of my high school that I had looked up to as a star baseball player.

We chatted for a moment - he asked me about wrestling, of course, before a starry-eyed little kid emerged from behind his leg and looked at me. "This is the next great wrestler," Barry told me.

That was my first meeting with Jordan Oliver, Barry's nephew, who must have been about seven years old at the time. But in my town - one that's produced Olympians and a long list of NCAA Champ and AA's, that was old enough for a second grader to be shy around me - an average high school wrestler.

He was already hooked on the sport, and indeed, JO became our next great one.
He soaked up everything. He truly loved the sport and had an insatiable appetite to learn technique. He won Fargo and committed to John Smith at Oklahoma State. In short, he was prepared for success.

Over the course of his career - 4 NCAA placings, 3 finals, 2 titles, and on to the Senior circuit with finals appearances and titles at the Open and Trials - through a '1-year' suspension that really cost him two years, JO was always a contender and always in the mix.

And yet, there were always questions. Was he focused enough? Did he cut the wrong way? Why is he wrestling this style?

It was part of a question not just for JO but the microcosm of a larger, national frustration - that of not having world success at 65/66kgs in decades.
Which makes this year's results so much harder to stomach. Jordan Oliver was, without a doubt, as disciplined and focused as ever. And yet, in Sofia, Bulgaria, he came up one point short of a lifelong dream.

I'm sure Jordan has lived the wrestling life. Loved it and hated it. Gave everything he had to it. Philosophized and re-philosophized. And now, what?

I talked with Jordan after the loss. He's hurting. And though there's no way for me to fully understand his pain, I told him that he made us all proud and that a whole nation was cheering for him.
To be blunt, it's really tearing me up.

And then it dawned on me that my emotions were exacerbated by the relationship. It cuts a little deeper when you've known someone for years. And so I can't help but think about how difficult it was for others legends that came up just short before him. Brent Metcalf - who ruled the weight for several years, but never made an Olympic team or medaled at Worlds.

And then the trickle-down. To every wrestler that ever laced 'em up, gave everything they had, and came up just short. Wrestling is more than a sport. It's a lifestyle and a dream. To the victors go the spoils. But let's not revere any less the commitments our top guys have made when they come up just short.

To your questions...

Can you please go over all the coaching changes? - @jdmoneytrain

The current DI positions open are Assistant spots at Lehigh, Penn, Army, and - posted yesterday - Appalachian State and Indiana. There are Volunteer Asst. slots available at South Dakota State and Little Rock. And a Strength and Conditioning vacancy at Clarion. There's also an outstanding vacancy for an S&C job at Iowa, but, the way I understand it, the Covid situation put the university under a hiring freeze.

Other coaching changes:

Tervel left Ohio State for the Nebraska RTC position. Just yesterday, Bo Jordan and Logan Stieber were named Assistants at tOSU.

Of course, at Illinois, Jim Heffernan retired and Mike Poeta got the Head Coaching job. Poeta hasn't announced his staff, but one thing for sure is that he's interested in Jordan Oliver.
At Rutgers, Anthony Ashnault was hired as an Assistant with John Leonardis moving to the Scarlet Knight WC.

Jason Borrelli replaced Teague Moore at American University.

As far as rumors, there's been chatter that Tom Borrelli is thinking of hanging it up at Central Michigan.

And Gabe Dean looms as a high-profile free agent.

Here is InterMat's Job Page

Shot Clock. Too subjective. How do we change this? - @EricAsselin74

I respect your wrestling, IQ, Eric. But I respectfully disagree.

Name me a match that was decided on a shot clock point in which you think the loser was incredibly active.

The shot clock is a needed intrusion. During the three-period era, wrestling was oh-so-lame. Even now, with cumulative scoring, there is a serious lack of offense and risk. You don't wanna try to score? Fine. You get what you get. If you lose on a shot clock point (even if it was questionable), you frankly didn't do enough.

The fact of the matter is that you have to insulate yourselves from bad calls and minutiae, which is what the shot clock situation is.

Listen to This Podcast - J'den on The Trials Situation

What are JOs chances of getting in via covid, injury, missed weight, etc. - @XGrain_Mark

Slim and none. Frank Molinaro didn't qualify at Last Chance in 2016 but got in because someone popped for PED's. That's really not likely. And I'm not sure about the contingency plans for Tokyo regarding someone who tests for Covid, but with everything being so tight and regimented, I would guess they would just not replace that athlete.

Crazier things have happened, I guess. But don't count on it.

What are the anticipated Covid regulations for athletes in Tokyo? - Plasmodium

I hit up our old pal, TR Foley, for help with this.

Recently, Pfizer and BioNTech announced a major donation of vaccines to the IOC, which has been working with all national governing bodies. The plan is to vaccinate all athletes/coaches before they get to Tokyo.

The full release is here

Willie's Friday Mailbag: April 23rd, 2021

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 14:43:52 +0000

Mike Poeta was named the head coach at the University of Illinois on Wednesday (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

Mike Poeta was announced as the new Head Coach of Illinois on Wednesday. A star prep wrestler from the Chicago area, he was a monster for the Illini when he won two Big Ten titles and reached two NCAA finals.

Perhaps most importantly, Poeta was a redshirt freshman in 2005, the year in which Illinois won the Big Ten when they put five in the finals. Iowa was 4th that year. Penn State 7th. Ohio State? Dead last at 11th. Maryland, Nebraska, and Rutgers weren't even in the conference yet.

Two things to take away from that: 1) Poeta witnessed firsthand what it took to be a top-level team and 2) the landscape of college wrestling has changed a lot in 16 years.

Rather quietly, Jim Heffernan had a fantastic career. In his 29 years on staff, they were Top 10 at NCAA's thirteen times. He coached 73 All Americans and had at least one AA every season for the last 28 years.

Poeta keeping that kind of pace should be attainable. But job #1 will be recruiting. Illinois, and Chicago in particular, is one of the nation's hotbeds of high school talent. And yet, not many of those prospects make their way to Champaign. Since 2016, when Poeta began as an Assistant at Illinois, the state has produced 22 Top 50 recruits. Illinois landed just 2 of them.

Top 50 Recruits From Illinois Since 2016: Isaiah White, Eric Schultz, Nathan Traxler, Rudy Yates, Travis Piotrowski, Jacob Warner, Austin Gomez, Austin O'Connor, Jason Renteria, Patrick Brucki, Kordell Norfleet, Anthony Cassioppi, Real Woods, Will Lewan, Markus Hartman, Kendall Coleman, Peter Christensen, Abe Assad, Luke Luffman, Dean Hamiti, Joel Vandevere, and Hayden Copass.

Those That Went To Illinois: Piotrowski and Luffman

How well will Poeta do as Head Coach? I really don't know. Some of the finest college coaches I spoke to say the man can coach. And in my limited experience with him, he came across as an awesome guy. I have to think if he can raise the retention rate of home-state blue-chippers even a little bit, he'll be in a great position to succeed.

What I do know, however, is that it was one of the more bizarre job searches I've ever heard of.

The position wasn't actually opened up. No one could actually 'apply.' The administration had a shortlist of four candidates: Poeta, Doug Schwab, Mark Branch, and Tony Ramos. Each of them had a 30 to 60-minute Zoom call, and that was that.

Branch never heard back. Ramos never heard back. Schwab was offered the job and turned it down. The next day they announced that Poeta got the job.

To your questions...

What are the most common reasons a top recruit doesn't pan out? - @oldestgreatest

Drinking and drugs and it's not close. Sure there is a percentage of clean living top prospects that just don't get it at the next level. But the majority of blue-chippers that don't meet next-level expectations are hittin' the bottle and partying on campus.

Will the NCAA ever police the $$ involved with the RTC's? - @FarnhamBrian

No. Nor should they. This topic could use a full article, or at least a solid rant by me on a show. But the short answer is: money for our senior athletes is good. The blue bloods having more RTC money is what makes them blue bloods. Jumping levels in this sport (or anything in life) requires hard work, whether that's in recruiting, training, coaching, or, yes, fundraising.

Quit whining and get to work.

You're limited to three toppings on a burger. Go - @wormbofello

Fried onions, Bacon, BBQ sauce.

Here's another one - when your burger is just about done cooking, hit it with an obscene amount of Italian season and let it seer in on both sides. Then mayo. Then ketchup. (No cheese needed). Thank me later.

A Rewind - From the mailbag last week.

What are your top 5 teams for next week's NJCAA Championship?! - @CCCWrestling

Clackamas
Pratt
NE Oklahoma
Western Wyoming
Iowa Central

Reality
Clackamas
Western Wyoming
Iowa Central
Pratt
NE Oklahoma

How Many States will Adopt the new Weight class options that were given? And Does it provide any Benefit to High school athletes with this "Suggestion"? - @OfficialMachuta

The NFHS (National Federation of High Schools) released 3 sets of new weight class options for next season.

To be honest, I don't know what power they even have. But one thing is for sure - the ability to enforce weight classes is certainly not among them. Michigan, Idaho, Montana, and a handful of other states use different weights than the Federation uses. PA and NY last year just made up their own. I don't know what the point of coming up with three new options really does, when they have been proven impotent on the matter previously.

Shrug. I quite like wrestling people in the state making wrestling decisions for their state. It's a non-issue for me.

What's your thoughts on New England wrestling? Is it not recruited as heavy as it should be? - @jrc0311

New England keeps getting better. There are numerous kids in my Junior High rankings or on my radar from that region. You're going to see some straight-up hammers for Blair from NH and CT and RI in the future.

I don't know that it has been 'under-recruited' to this point, but they are coming.

Like almost everything in high school wrestling these days - the credit (or deficiency) in any geographic location goes to the clubs.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: April 16th, 2021

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 11:42:33 +0000

(Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com)

It's a very difficult time to be a high school coach.

This week a story ran in the New Jersey Herald outlining a lawsuit filed against Blair Academy. One of their former wrestlers claims he was a victim of bullying and hazing and that Brian Antonelli, who was Head Coach at the time, turned a blind eye to it.

Last month, Antonelli stepped down as Head Coach but maintains his position at the school as Assistant Athletic Director.

How much of it is true? Who knows. Bullying is a serious matter and 'rites of passage' and hazing is an antiquated excuse that's rightfully no longer accepted.

What is clear, though, is that coaches at the top high school wrestling programs have been increasingly under fire.

Last summer, at emerging PA program Forest Hills, Head Coach Jake Strayer was accused of not handling a racial situation within the program. He remains as Head Coach, but Junior High Head Coach Bill Bassett was relieved of his duties. It led to the fracturing of a homegrown program.

A few months before that, amid turmoil and allegations of misconduct, Izzy Martinez, who had Montini Catholic situated among the Top 10 nationally ranked high school teams annually, resigned.

In 2018, Dave Bell of Bergen Catholic, a staple in the Top 10 team rankings, was accused by a wrestler of making inappropriate comments and advances.

Notice a trend?

While we must be vigilant - we have to ensure that the environment our youth are in is a safe and fostering place - we know, too, that there are often ulterior motives. If a kid doesn't crack the starting line-up, if a kid didn't have the performance he (or the parent) expected him to, if a program gets a promising transferâ€¦ These can, and do, lead to charges of misconduct.

It's always difficult to ascertain the veracity of the claims, one way or another. The guilty coaches, of course, should be gone. But to be sure, there are also filers of frivolous suits because a high school athletic situation didn't quite play out the way they had hoped.
I spoke to another high school coach yesterday, one who routinely has his team among the nation's best. He told me, 'We spend a lot of time fearing someone will run to the papers about this or that. We always have to make sure things are buttoned up and not misconstrued.'

To Your Questionsâ€¦

How long do you think it will take for Coach Borrelli to bring in elite talent, and put American on the map? - @jsk1631

Remember when Madison Square Garden went nuts for David Terao?

It only takes one run to let high schoolers know they can win at a given program.

I've always viewed American as a good gig. No one is expecting them to win team titles. The threshold is to put some guys in contention and get someone on the podium once in a while and build from there.

I think Borrelli accomplishes that rather quickly.

What are your top 5 teams for next week's NJCAA Championship?! - @CCCWrestling

It's been difficult to get a feel for the national pecking order this year with NJCAA being so regional. Clack is a lock for the title. Pratt is great through the lightweights but almost needs to be perfect. And I like Iowa Central to overperform.

Clackamas
Pratt
NE Oklahoma
Western Wyoming
Iowa Central

If you can make one wrestling rule change to what would it be? - @PSUWRfan

Although I say 'that's the dumbest thing in sports' about three things everyday, the slip headlock is truly stupid. Get rid of it.

Also, get rid of riding time. It not only makes the sport boring as hell, it somehow manages to get the refs to leave them off the hook for what is nothing more than stalling.

Give me takedowns worth three points and a pushout rule in folk, too.

How many D1 coaches did not reach All-American status? @CubHorner

I walk to the mound. I look out at the bullpen, motion to my right wrist. I'm calling in The Almanac. Jason Bryant's got this.

With 79 active Division I wrestling programs, two are currently without head coaches. Illinois' Jim Heffernan retired last week and Jason Borrelli left to take the vacant post at American University. We're going to consider #KeepStanfordWrestling as an active team for the purposes of the research. There's also more than one answer to the question, depending on the intended answer.

Of the 77 remaining schools, 28 are led by wrestlers who weren't Division I All-Americans. Of those, 23 are led by wrestlers who were not All-Americans at any collegiate level, which leaves 49 as Division I All-Americans. Presbyterian's Mark Cody holds the distinction of being the only Division I coach who was an All-American in two divisions - placing twice at SUNY-Delhi in the NJCAA and fifth in Division I at Missouri in 1985.

The non-Division I All-Americans: Nebraska's Mark Manning was a three-time Division II All-American and a two-time champion at Nebraska-Omaha. He reached the Division I bloodround in 1985. Davidson's Andy Lausier was a Division III All-American at Lycoming, while Bellarmine's Spencer Adams and Northern Illinois' Ryan Ludwig were both NAIA All-Americans. Adams placed three times at Campbellsville from 2009-2012, while Ludwig was a three-time All-American from 1997-1999 at Findlay, which was an NAIA school at the time, but is currently Division II.

George Mason's Frank Beasley finished seventh at Lincoln College in the NJCAA before continuing his college career at Bloomsburg.

What's the latest on the Illinois coaching hire. - No one. I just have an update.

The search committee had a shortlist of four candidates, all of whom did Zoom interviews:

Doug Schwab, Mark Branch, Mike Poeta, and Tony Ramos.

They are moving extremely fast. It sounds as if the decision will come soon, perhaps (early) next week.

Who are three 2022 true freshmen who can AA next year? - @jagger712

Gimme Paddy Gallagher. He's gonna start at 157 and though it will be relatively deep and perhaps contain two NCAA Champs (Carr / O'Connor), I think he can get on the podium.

In my Crystal Ball rankings, I had Shayne Van Ness AA'ing at 149. But there is talk that Nick Lee goes 149 and any suggestion that SVN goes 157 is foolish. I see Bartlett or SVN at 141 if Lee goes up.

The only other guy I could see AAing out the gate from 2021 is Dean Hamiti (157), who's going to Wisconsin.

I don't think any of the other heavy hitters in the class start. Maybe Alex Facundo, but that's a big if.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: April 9th, 2021

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 11:45:02 +0000

Michael Kemerer after the 2021 NCAA Semifinals (Photo/Illinois Sports Information)

In a spoof of a classic Tommy Boy scene, Michael Kemerer announced on Wednesday that he would be returning to the Hawkeye lineup next year. What it means for Iowa and the rest of the wrestling landscape is that the Hawkeyes will have all ten starters back from a team that won the national title even though they probably left some points on the table.

But the undercurrent - on message boards and social media - was one of snide commentary. "That's gonna make him how old!?"

The topic had started long before, actually. Every year after the NCAA Championships end, rabid fans discuss the prospects for their teams the following year, thus starting a bickering parade. And this year, it largely centered around how long some of these 'kids' were gonna stay in college.

It all, of course, has been exacerbated by COVID and the 'free year.' And because Iowa's lineup is filled with upperclassmen (and because, well, they're Iowa), they took the brunt of the heat.

Eight of ten Iowa starters will be in a season of at least one 'bonus' year.

125 - Sr. Spencer Lee (5th)
133 - Sr. Austin DeSanto (5th)
141 - Sr. Jaydin Eierman (7th)
149 - Jr. Max Murin (5th)
157 - Sr. Kaleb Young (6th)
165 - Sr. Alex Marinelli (6th)
174 - Sr. Michael Kemerer (7th)
184 - Jr. Nelson Brands (4th) or So. Abe Assad (3)
197 - Jr. Jacob Warner (5th)
285 - So. Anthony Cassioppi (4th)

Hawkeye fans, of course, counter that Penn State fans should shut up because it's only a matter of time before the Nittany Lion lineup looks like a Hall of Fame reunion pic. "Michael Beard has been out of high school for four years and is still gonna be a freshman!" they retort.

And everybody comments on Stevan Micic, who will be, should he return, eight years removed from high school graduation.

Look, I was against the free year. I thought there were too many loose strings that would actually make college coaches' lives even more difficult. But that argument isn't the same as complaining about the ages. The free year was given - that's the rule - and everyone is playing under the same circumstances.

The NCAA could have put in a stipulation that athletes affected by COVID can compete but only appear in four NCAA Championships. That would have changed things for, say, Jaydin Eierman, and AJ Ferrari, and Carter Starocci. But they didn't, and this is what we have.

So you old, righteous geezers need to accept it and stop shouting at the clouds, 'When are you gonna be done with college and move on with your life? Don't you want to start a career? A family?'

Uh. Pal. Just because you're miserable doesn't mean we all have to be. This is a personal choice and the wrestlers opting to stay in school are saying - no, screaming - 'this is fun'.

It's odd that, in a sport like wrestling where axioms are ubiquitous, the community would fail to have the perspective to enjoy life and live it to the fullest.

College is more halcyon than it is hellish. You do understand that, right?

While you're punching a clock, Michael Kemerer is gonna be at the diner with his buds. When you're wasting your company's time deciding what to get for lunch, ol' Kemdawg is gonna be throwing a frisbee in the quad. About the time you get home from soccer practice, Kemerer's gonna hit up a house party. He'll then wake up, about the time you go to Home Depot, and get ready to go to Kinnick for a football game.

When it's all said and done, Kemerer will have another degree and can go on to do all the glorious things that you do on a day-to-day basis.

But right now, he's gonna compete for a National Title with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

To your questionsâ€¦

Break down the candidates for the Illinois job - everybody

I will always try to answer questions that I can and not put out hypotheticals. But this one has been asked by so many. My only answer is that it's too soon to tell. There hasn't been a shortlist discussed and there really isn't a surprise or 'wow' candidate that wouldn't be mentioned with any other school opening - Donny Pritzlaff, Bryan Snyder, Zach Esposito, etc.

To be honest, Coach Heff's retirement caught me off guard a bit. Why now? Sure, he's long in the tooth; he's been with the program for 29 years. But the Illini have a pretty strong team returning and frankly, if he was going to step down, I would have thought it would have been a few short years ago when Mark Perry was there.

Anyway - what is probably more fitting to discuss is how good of a job it is. At Illinois and in the Big Ten, you're on solid footing. And the state not only loves their wrestling (they are 3rd nationally in high school participation) but also produces some of the best prospects in the country.

We'll hear more in the coming days. But for now, I'll say that I think Jeremy Hunter and Mike Poeta should either be considered for the Head position or retained. Think of the great lightweights that Illinois has had under Hunter.

Another guy would be Tony Ramos, who has Illinois ties, is a terrific and relentless recruiter, and has a big-ish brand.

A Throwback Name

Khetag Pliev, Lakota East, Ohio

Pliev was a 3x state champ and won SR Nationals. He moved to Canada and represented them at worlds a few times, including the 2012 Olympics. I have no idea why someone his age would want to be fighting on lowly MMA cards, but his finger fell off in the middle of a fight last week. HIS FINGER FELL OFF. They couldn't find it. The Public Address announcer in the arena literally asked spectators to help look for it. It was eventually found lodged in his glove.

Can 174 2022 rival or even surpass the 2008 149 bracket or are we not ready for this conversation yet? - @TheGoatFollower

The 2008 149 NCAA bracket is the gold standard in terms of depth and what the guys in the field had done or would do. Six of the eight placers would win titles, the other two would make a final. Jordan Burroughs was 3rd. You get the point.

In March, 174 was won by Freshman Carter Starocci over veterans Michael Kemerer and Mikey Labriola. Kemerer is already a four-time All-American and Labriola is on that pace, as well.

It sounds like that trio could be joined by Shane Griffith, Mekhi Lewis and Hayden Hidlay - two titlists and a finalist. Perhaps Evan Wick as well. While it's approaching all-time status, you still have to give a clear edge to 2008 149.

149 NCAA Placings - 2008 vs. 174 NCAA Projections - 2022

Don't forget to cancel your Peacock subscription. The wrestling community will love you for reminding them. - @schuyler23

Yes. Cancel your Peacock. Now love me, wrestling community.

If the Olympic Trials were actually held in 2020, how different would our Men's Freestyle team look? - @codyocho5

Great question. I'm of the opinion that our team is our team. For instance, I'm not going to rewrite history and say that if the trials were re-wrestled that Yianni, who most people picked, would have won instead of J.O. There isn't a factor you can point to there that suggests timing had anything to do with it.

You could make a case that freaky stuff wouldn't have emerged - Spencer, Suriano, or J'den. But your picks would probably remain the same. In other words, if you thought Spencer was going to win in 2021, you probably would have picked Spencer in 2020.

Taking strictly the 2021 field (that means no Spencer, Nick, or J'den), there is only one weight I see that might have gone differently one year ago: 125kg.

At Final X 2019, Gable was nipping on the heels of Gwiz. The action on the mat was close and the scores were as close as mathematically possible: 4-4 and 3-3.

In 2020 Gable might have won, but I promise you it wouldn't have the shellacking that we saw last weekend. Gable has improved dramatically over the previous year. It's incredible, really.

Willie's Friday Mailbag: April 2nd, 2021

Fri, 02 Apr 2021 11:47:06 +0000

Iowa Hawkeyes All-American Jaydin Eierman (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)

Welcome to the new Intermat. I officially took the reins yesterday - a hectic time to be undergoing a big transition - on the heels of NCAA's and just ahead of the much anticipated Olympic Trials. I'm hoping it's smooth sailing, but there's undoubtedly much I'm not looking forward to - expense reports, analytics, site maintenance, payrollâ€¦

But there's much to be excited about, too. It's been a tumultuous spell filled with uncertainty, lawsuits, highs, lows, lockdowns, and politics - none of which could ever have been predicted (by me, anyway).

And now, it seems, I'll be able to do what I've always wanted to, which is have a large platform to write and direct a wrestling voice in a way in which I believe is best to represent the sport I love and to, in some manner, elevate it.

Years ago - in what seems like a previous life - as a college sophomore or junior - I wrote to Bob Preusse of Amateur Wrestling News. I knew nothing of wrestling media or journalism and though I was going to school for a Fine Arts degree in writing, I wasn't a journalist. All I knew was that I loved wrestling and loved writing.

Bob was the only person I knew in wrestling media on a national level. He put together the first Ironman and the first Reno TOC, both of which I'd wrestled in.

When I asked Bob, 'Hey, I was thinking about getting into writing about wrestling. You know of any opportunities,' he replied, "You don't want to do that. There's no money in it."

He was wrong about the former; right about the latter. I wouldn't find that out until later, though - after a few years of spending half my time doing school work and the other half reading and posting on wrestling message boards.

After getting my degree, I bothered people enough until I got a start at The Open Mat and picked up some freelance assignments for W.I.N Magazine.

While the sustainability of any business comes down to dollars and sense, it's the purpose that gives it meaning and fosters passion. So, in addition to producing content that wrestling consumers love and deserve, part of what you can expect at the new Intermat is an objective to both bring the wrestling community together and to offer them opportunities. My expectations are to foster new writers, give a platform to existing talents to broaden their reach, build message boards to create interaction, and run contests where all can take part. As much as anything, I want it to be a hangout; I want people to feel included and to have their voices heard.

I was once in your shoes. At heart, I'm a wrestling message board poster just like you. I'm just really, really smart.

Oh. And yes. I will be writing the Mailbag from now on. It's one of the things I'm looking forward to the most, and actually quite a surprise even to me. I hadn't expected TR Foley to move on. When the release was put out that I was acquiring Intermat, many people assumed that TR and I would have a conflict. Sure we've had spats on Twitter. But hell, name a person in wrestling I haven't had it out with. It's part of my charm.

Many thought I might not like the politics that his columns are often steeped in. And while it's true that I don't always have the same perspective as him, and often thought he peppered a tad too much of it in, I also don't believe in censorship. The solution to having different opinions should not be a muzzle.

No. It was none of that.

TR is a friend. And I consider him to be among the finest wrestling writers to put pen to paper. He's a much better writer than I am. Maybe than I'll ever be. I would have been happy for him to stay on, and I will be happy if he ever rings me up and has an idea for another column.

TR wrote his column for nine years for Intermat, and for that, I will always be grateful. Like me, you never knew quite what he was gonna say next. That's a good thing; it kept us all coming back.

The opportunity to fill Foley's shoes in the Mailbag is not only one (like the reputation and legacy of Intermat itself) that I feel responsible for, but also one I relish. It will allow me the opportunity to exercise my writing ability. I've been in wrestling media for over a decade, but previews, and recaps, and ranking notes aren't exactly the genre in which you hone a craft in prose.

Anyway, enough of the mushy stuff. Thanks to those of you who are reading - to those that have been following my work or to those that have just discovered it because you're a loyal follower of Intermat and/or TR. I hope it's the start of an enduring chapter at Intermat, and I hope you like what you see from us in the near future. (And by 'us' I mean myself and Earl Smith, who will be captaining this ship. I'm honored and excited to have him as the Site Editor for the new Intermat. We're gonna make sweet, sweet musical content).

Now to your questions...

You tweeted that you didn't have a problem with Spencer and Gable sharing the Hodge. Why? - Mike C.

I understand that it wasn't a 'true tie.' W.I.N. Magazine themselves said 'virtual tie.' So apparently, the masses are upset that Spencer or Gable led the vote by a margin that W.I.N. deemed insignificant or unconvincing and made the decision to split the honors between the two. SO WHAT!?

What's the harm in splitting it? Yes, yes...wrestling is the ultimate egalitarian milieu. We all expect a 'winner' and a 'loser.' But what's the harm? What's the harm?

Spencer and Gable had phenomenal seasons. By the math, Spencer (who I voted for) held the edge. But is it so outlandish to think Gable was equally deserving? He faced better competition and wrestled a whopping 30% more bouts. Both are significant and, I believe, served as the impetus for such a close race.

There was, too, an omen of sorts that foretold this. Gable won Intermat's Wrestler of the Year. Spencer won MatScouts' Wrestler of the Year, but Gable took the honors in the Big Ten Conference. The most knowledgeable and discerning eyes in the sport were split and I'm glad both of them were recognized. I'm not sure why I'm in the minority on this; you'd rather see just one guy win it when 1) they both had excellent seasons 2) the vote was THAT close. (They tied in 1st place votes). You'd rather haggle about decimals?

One of them had 49.8%; the other had 49.7% and the staff at W.I.N. said, 'let's give it to both.' And y'all went bonkers. I don't get it. You know who isn't crying about it? Gable and Spencer.

When would be the best time for holding our Olympic Trials if college weren't a factor? What can be done to make the NCAA and USAW calendars line up better? - @oldestgreatest

USAWrestling walks a tightrope. They want to have the qualification process start after NCAA's so that college wrestlers can attend. But they do it so dang soon after. And I don't know if the juice is worth the squeeze. By that, I mean the percentage of college wrestlers making senior teams is very low. Heck, a great deal of them are still UWW Juniors.

That being said, the timeline and order could accommodate the college guys (and every age level) in a more sensible manner.

The US Open is in April nearly every year. Move it back to May or June. Move Final X to July (making adjustments in OLY years which always make a mess).

It's a really simple solution. USAW makes its money on events. And they have to squeeze them in a rather tight (March-July) window. But the juxtaposition of them has always confused me - including, but not limited to, having rapidly growing 15-year-olds (Cadets) make World Teams several months before they have to make weight for the World Championships.

Yes, the order and cadence of USAW events have always puzzled me and that problem will only get exacerbated should NCAA wrestling go to a 1-semester sport (which likely leads to a later end date).

What I don't understand (and never have), is why USAW feels the need to start their qualifying process so soon after NCAA's. There's really not a rush, which would further benefit the college guys, and the college coaches hate it.

Iowa will have a much lower impact at the trials than I can ever remember. What's the situation? - Message Boards Everywhere

I don't think they are 'out' on freestyle; I think it's a confluence of circumstances. Spencer Lee would certainly be there without the recent injury. The only one that has me scratching my head is Eierman, who I feel like is both a real threat to make the team and also a guy I've generally thought would prefer free to folk.

But it was a long two years - one filled with Covid and injuries and pressure to get the team title back to Iowa City. As stated above, the turnaround was crazy. Eierman would have had to wrestle NCAA's-Last Chance-Trials in consecutive weeks.

I monitor wrestling message boards all day long and the fact that Iowa has just one or two athletes at the trials this year has been much discussed. However, there are two things the message boards didn't bring up:

1. The Hawkeye Wrestling Club underwent an overhaul last summer. I think it was part of a long-term plan. A "Trust-The-Process" type plan in which the stable won't be quite as full for a year or two, but then they reload. Essentially, their graduates will have to go from scholarship athlete to funded pros - that's Spencer Lee, The Bull, Eierman, perhaps Kemerer and DeSanto. That's a great deal of top-flight World Team threats. It's also a lot of dough.

2. The New Room. I don't know if the reduction in HWC members had a ton to do with the new facility, but I do know it's taking a lot of bandwidth and attention. In conjunction with item. I would imagine it played a factor. Spend less on athletes for a year and use that money to put in the facility fund. Then fundraise for the new era of HWC athletes.

That's my theory, anyway. I believe it makes sense, and I also believe that - should that be the case - it was probably a very heady move by TNT.

Your 2021 Olympians! (or who I think wins this weekend)

I have to admit, the cancellations over the past year have made me very International-styles-rusty. I think, if you're honest with yourself, it's made us (fans) all rusty. We simply haven't seen these guys and gals compete as much as we normally do. So my picks will be rather boring, but you can bet your butts there's gonna be some major curveballs.

WFS
50kg - Sarah Hildebrandt over Whitney Conder
53kg - Jacarra Winchester over Katherine Shai
57kg - Helen Maroulis over Jenna Burkert
62kg - Kayla Miracle over Maya Nelson
68kg - Tamyra Stock-Mensah over Kennedy Blades
76kg - Adeline Gray over Victoria Francis

MFS
57kg - Daton Fix over Thomas Gilman
65kg - Yianni over Zain Retherford
74kg - Jordan Burroughs over Kyle Dake
86kg - David Taylor over Zahid Valencia
97kg - Kyle Snyder over J'den Cox
125kg - Gable Steveson over Nick Gwiazdowski

GR
60kg - Ildar Hafizov over Max Nowry
67kg - Jamel Johnson over Alejandro Sancho
77kg - Ben Provisor over Pat Smith
87kg - Joe Rau over Alan Vera
97kg - G'Angelo Hancock over Luke Sheridan
130kg - Adam Coon over Cohlton Schultz

Who's going to Fort Worth!? Say hi. Let's have a beer.

Foley's 'Final' Friday Mailbag: March 26, 2021

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 11:51:51 +0000

I wrote the first Foley's Friday Mailbag nine years ago on April 13, 2012. I had graduated from journalism school in 2009 and had spent a majority of the next two years traveling to traditional wrestling events and writing for outlets like ESPN and FIGHT! Magazine. The money was terrible, and I wasn't writing often enough to feel like I was staying sharp.

The mailbag was a suggestion from a journalism professor who thought if I could find an outlet willing to host me each week I could work on the writing and grow an audience. The money still was not great, but the idea that I would have a platform to work on ideas was compelling. I needed forward momentum and the mailbag was at least a chance to create something for myself.

Almost a decade later I have submitted more than 400 mailbags and written more than 600,000-plus words. Some sharp, others dull, but all committed to creating a conversation.

But, as tends to happen, things need to change and so today will be my last column.

The wrestling community is unique. We greet each other with underhooks, make fun of each other's weight gain, and show off our cauliflower ears as badges of honor. All communities have their quirks, but at their core they are a collection of stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, and the experiences, controversies, and key moments we choose to commemorate. In starting the mailbag I'd hoped to sharpen my skills, but quickly realized that I was given the opportunity to be the first editor on the story of our community.

The weekly platform is the perfect length to both live inside a moment but be given enough time to consider its impact. A tweet about a wrestling match can feel as disposable as a book about the top champions of the sport can feel distant. But a weekly review of meaningful topics is well-positioned to strike a balance between the passion of immediacy and the benefit of hindsight. I hope the mailbag juggled those charges well.

I also benefited from having a platform where I could write clearly about topics that bothered me and the community. After wrestling was unceremoniously booted from the Olympic program, I fired off a few thousand words on why the IOC had made an error in judgement. We all felt that same anger, but I had the platform, and felt it was my responsibility to share with anyone who could read the article. That article got me recognized by someone trying to improve the wrestling's visibility internationally and it was read and shared widely on the internet. To this day it is by far my most-read article or column.

And there were a lot of columns, which taught me a lot of discipline as a writer. To gather questions, answer them, and to formulate an opening is always challenging. What was more difficult was doing the mailbag while holding down a full-time job that had me traveling 150-plus days a year. I have sent mailbags from an airport lounge in Tehran, from the back of a taxi in Tunis, and on vacations with family and friends. I have never not taken my computer with me on a trip. Not once.

Still, for me writing and submitting the mailbag was like making weight -- you just do it. In nine years I never forgot to write a mailbag, but a few times the attachments would not send, or I'd accidently place them in my drafts folder. On those occasions, my editor Andrew Hipps and I would get early morning emails from readers asking if I was OK. That made me smile and I think it's something I'll miss.

Less smile-inducing was the comments section. While I avoided reading too many of the notes, plenty of friends would screenshot the best insults from members of the community. The vitriol and conspiracy-minded outlook about the broader world remains my biggest criticism of our community. When I called out a famous club coach for being a Sandy Hook denier, I thought it would be something like a breaking news story and was stunned to find out his conspiracy posts were widely accepted. I was disappointed then, but I have seen now that our community has grown colder and more combative, with a sharp bend towards autocratic leadership, crass language, and a general tone of anger.

Despite the blowback and the pleading of a few readers, I didn't avoid the political side of sport, in part because they weren't separable. The decision of a state legislature to not sanction women's wrestling is one that deserves comment. A prominent wrestling team posing with a presidential candidate known for saying dangerous things about Muslims, women, and immigrants is not something we should ignore -- this is a community. Speaking out against those negative ideas and challenging the norms probably cost me readers, but the ideas discussed in the column were always intended to be more inclusive, and to help inspire a sport that aimed to grow, rather than contract. Sometimes I came up short in explaining my thoughts in a way that would welcome more people to my side of the argument, which was a missed opportunity.

With a column you can't have a favorite moment. There are too many questions and takes, and even those that felt satisfying at the time tend to stale over time. Like advocating for women's wrestling or an out-of-bounds rule for college wrestling. Both sparked furious responses from readers, but now that former seems to be a settled issue, while the latter is quickly following suit. That said, my favorite topics to write about were rule changes and the history of the sport. I always thought knowing more about those topics could really help the sport to grow and improve. Again, it's tough to know the impact but I'm hopeful my words helped.

In choosing to shut down the column I know I'm giving up my platform, but it's been a long nine years. When I started this column, I was single and lived with a college teammate in small Chicago apartment. Since then, I've been to 70-plus countries, moved twice, met and married my wife, bought an apartment, and best of all met my beautiful daughter. During those changes the thing that remained unchanged was the mailbag and so it's a little nerve-wracking to give up this habit of sharing my thoughts weekly. The column is something that I really enjoy composing and I'll miss the conversations with readers (here's looking at you, Mike C.). But I also have to look at what I'm gaining. My Thursdays will now be available for me to research how to install in-wall dehumidifiers, or maybe help my daughter build a Frozen-inspired castle out of Magna-Tiles. Thursday is my oyster.

Next week (April 1), my friend and colleague Willie Saylor will be taking over at InterMat, assisted by Earl Smith as its editor. They are passionate and knowledgeable about wrestling and will do a wonderful job in taking this site to the next level. My choosing to end the mailbag has nothing to do with them as people or editors. I really just think nine years is a long time and they have earned the right to make this site be whatever they desire.

While I'm no longer writing this column, I am still covering of the sport. My team at United World Wrestling is busy preparing for Olympic Qualifiers, Continental Championships, and the ultimate prize -- the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. We have some cool documentaries in the works and our on-site coverage is always robust and informative.

Finally, thank you. Thanks to everyone for your readership and kind words over the last decade. I'm grateful to have had this opportunity and feel humbled that so many of you were interested in this column and my ideas. I'm excited for the future of our sport and proud to be a member of our community.

See you soon and stay in touch.

Foley's Friday Mailbag: March 12, 2021

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 13:02:12 +0000

The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships are only a week away and the constant buzzing you hear is the chatter of wrestlers, coaches, families and friends aglow about the reinstitution of the sport's most meaningful weekend.

Like most of you I will not be in attendance. The ticket situation is grim and the press allocations seem difficult. Also, having just been in Rome for the Matteo Pellicone I'm smarter than to leave my family for another weekend. However, for those who are attending, I hope that there is some semblance of normalcy. There won't be loud cheers and pulsing crowds, but there still can be those unexpected conversations and light moments of connection that we've all been missing this past year.

Wrestling is about community and the NCAA tournament is our annual gathering spot. I've covered this in previous years, but in the late 19th and early 20th century there was something called "March Meetings" where farmers from across Vermont, New Hampshire, and other states would gather to discuss how best to get their goods to market and utilize each other's resources to cut costs. Travel to the event would take several days, as would travel home, so the men and boys would stay for a week or so chatting and plotting. However, as men left alone are prone to do, they also consumed a gargantuan amount of alcohol and challenged each other to wrestling matches.

The style of the day was Irish inspired collar-and-elbow so there were fun throws and plenty of pins. There was also gambling, fighting, and other crude side shows. As the meetings became more and more popular and necessary the extracurricular wrestling became a showcase for small communities to promote theirs as the toughest of local lots. Enter wrestling promotions!

There were posters, nicknames, and costumes of sort, but from what is known, the matches did not seem to be rigged. In fact, it was the bragging rights many famers sought and not the extra cash for competition.

Alas, all that is old is new again and this March as those who can migrate from their villages, towns, and cities they too will look to the center of the mat and see their representative taking battle for not much more than bragging rights. It's a simple sport and a simple concept, but it's fundamental to who we are and complaints about seeding and bracketing and COVID aside, it's our moment to connect, to cheer and to celebrate.

To your questions â€¦

Gable Steveson is undefeated and seeded No. 1 at the NCAAs (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)

Q: Is Gable Steveson the Hodge frontrunner after what he did to Mason Parris in the Big Ten finals?
-- Mike C.

Foley: Yes and I think he's the frontrunner to represent the United States at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.

Q: Any takeaways on the NCAA tournament seeds/brackets?
-- Mike C.

Foley: Bracketology is a sub-market of the larger sports industrial complex. It's profitable, exciting, and ultimately pointless but there are few things that get more thumbs rattling than a bad seed or a good draw.

The main takeaway is that there was a lot more parity among the conferences than I would have expected. The ACC is far better than its allotment and the Ivy-less EIWA was gifted a large number of spots. That's maybe not fair, but the NCAA did the best they could given COVID and the uncertain nature of the season.

A positive side effect of the wacky allotments was that some non-traditional programs were able to earn qualifications, including Sacred Heart and the newbie program Little Rock. That's an incredible opportunity for those programs to lift their profile in their respective athletic departments and possibly fundraise for their future.

MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME

Day 3 Matteo Pellicone Highlights

Vicky had a monster tournament

Q: What did you think of the calls/refereeing in the Burroughs vs. Chamizo match at the Matteo Pelicone?
-- Mike C.

Foley: The call was always going to be difficult. Once Chamizo starts scrambling he's constantly changing his points of contact and simultaneously endangering his opponent in ways that most fans and referees don't see very often. I think that the initial exchange was just so complicated to understand in real time (and wasn't reviewed) that there was no way a referee and fans could agree on what they were seeing.

Chamizo had three points of contact on the mat, but he also had Jordan's leg wrapped in his arm. The former is almost always a takedown. However, the latter prevents almost all takedowns from being called. Initially I thought it was a takedown and would have been called IF Chamizo hadn't made an explosive movement at the end of the exchange. If instead Chamizo had stalemated the position or they'd gone out of bounds together then Burroughs would have been given the exchange. As it was, the over-the-back throw was the difference maker.

As we were flying back I had the opportunity to chat with referees who all believe it should have been reviewed. In their estimation it would have either been white paddled for points or Burroughs would have been given two points. But without the benefit of the review, it wasn't possible to change the call. To be fair to the coaching staff it was so early and the expectation was for a lot of points to be scored so it wasn't seen as the most critical exchange, as it later became after very little offense.

I will say that Chamizo controlled the center and earned the passivity calls against Jordan. He set the tempo and walked Jordan back. He didn't take as many shots, but also remember that half shots aren't normally counted as heavily as control of the center.

Foley's Friday Mailbag: March 5, 2021

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 13:08:29 +0000

The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships picture will get more clarity this weekend as the Big Ten Wrestling Championships and Big 12 Wrestling Championships take place Saturday and Sunday.

While the Big 12 can feel preordained, there are several matchups in the Big Ten that will allow for fans to have a better indication of how the postseason race will proceed. The Iowa Hawkeyes will be the clear favorites to win the Big Ten, but their ascension and predetermination as the best team might make any failures by their top wrestlers seem like a sign of weakness. Similarly, the expectations around Penn State's season have been mooted, but with new heavy hitters in the lineup a good outcome this weekend might give credence to the idea the Nittany Lions can unseat the Hawkeyes.

I'm skeptical. As you'll see below I have Iowa winning five weight classes, and even if Penn State overperforms and wins three (or four) they are at a disadvantage in total points scored and access to bonus points. The Iowa team really does seem to be significantly more dominant.

As it was last week, I think the biggest idea to keep in mind is that we are making it to the end of the year. The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships will happen and it will be a massive success for the wrestlers, administrators, coaches, and fans.

To your questions ...

Q: Who are your predicted champs for this weekend's Big Ten Championships?
-- Mike C.

Foley: See predictions below.

Individual:
125: Spencer Lee (Iowa)
133: Roman Bravo Young (Penn State)
141: Jaydin Eierman (Iowa)
149: Max Murin (Iowa)
157: Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)
165: Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
174: Mike Kemerer (Iowa)
184: Aaron Brooks (Penn State)
197: Myles Amine (Michigan)
285: Gable Steveson (Minnesota)

Team:
1. Iowa
2. Penn State
3. Michigan
4. Ohio State

Greg Kerkvliet enters the postseason with a 2-0 record and No. 6 national ranking (Photo/PSU Athletics)

Q: What do you think of Greg Kerkvliet being seeded seventh at the Big Tens? He will likely face Mason Parris in the quarters. On one hand you could argue Kerkvliet is seeded too high based on wrestling only two matches. On the other hand you could argue that he should be a top four seed because of his talent and past accomplishments.
-- Mike C.

Foley: Fair! I think the committee actually balanced the skill and promise with his two wins. While that might feel unfair to Mason Parris, I hardly think that the Michigan Wolverine staff is bemoaning or complaining. Mason is one of the best heavyweights in the country and if you think they are 2-3 then they will fall that way regardless of where they meet in the lower bracket.

This year was a mess with allocations, conference seeding, and a myriad other items of general discontent. I think there are greater injustices and that an early round meetup between two titans is a net positive for the fans.

I have Mason winning the match, but I also have to admit that I haven't seen enough of Greg Kerkvliet this season to know if he's a generational talent who has just lacked the spotlight in a down year.

Q: Do you expect Zahid Valencia to win the Matteo Pellicone again?
-- Mike C.

Foley: Here is the entry list for 86 kilograms:

Hunter Lee (Canada)
Clayton Pye (Canada)
Chahar Parveen (Indiana)
Azamat Dauletbekov (Kazakhstan)
Yeskali Dauletkazy (Kazakhstan)
Ethan Ramos (Puerto Rico)
Fatih Erdin (Turkey)
Mark Hall (USA)
Myles Martin (USA)
Zahid Valencia (USA)

While Zahid is almost certain to medal, I'm not sure I would predict him winning the tournament. Erdin is a monster, Mark Hall is a problem, and Myles Martin can beat anyone at any time. The tournament doesn't have a ton of foreign talent so the Americans will be seeing a lot of each other. Familiarity with an opponent can make for weird outcomes.

Hoping for some awesome action.

Q: Any idea what ESPN's streaming plan will be for the NCAAs? I'm assuming its similar to the past but I have not heard anything yet.
-- Mike C.

Foley: Same.