Let's hear it for the old farts

[dragit]

Watching the NCAAs as an old person I started to wonder if some 15 year old was going to just storm in to my office and take my job.  Nice to see the geriatric set do so well yesterday in a terrific day of wrestling.

Lee.  Was very happily and pleasantly surprised by his performance.  Did give up another upper body big move but not on a brain fart like he has a lot recently.  And to see him being the one to come back from an early deficit was quite the plot twist.  I think/hope he'll have great confidence for Worlds.  

Zain.  Has made himself into as good a freestyler as his college beast self.  Such a terrific guy that maybe he gets taken for granted sometimes.  It's a bummer that he doesn't really have an Olympic weight but it's great that there is a weight he can compete at 3/4 years.

Green.  Another wonderful guy.  He is wrestling fantastic without the weight cut.  Didn't get deterred at all by the shock loss.  To dominate the center of the mat like that for 18 minutes against a quality opponent is pretty impressive.

Dake.  Wow.  Just wow.  He looked just too small in the first match and then got some natural light and vitamins and was 27 years old again the next two matches, you could see it literally from the first second of the second match.  It reminded me of his two Olympics when he was flat in the semis and then made his adjustments and came back hard for the bronze matches.  Luckily this time he could lose one without losing his chance to be a champ.

Snyder.  Same as Green, didn't wallow or whine in the shock loss and came back and took care of business.  He is so good on his feet, every match of his is a positional instructional video.

Congrats to all of them.

[ionel]

Those farts ain't old ... let me tell ya about some guys named mp, nhs, ... 

[GrandOlm]

Lee: He's old for a lightweight, but old as in he's in the ending stretch of the spectrum where lightweights tend to win medals. Still in his 20s. 57kg might have become a transitionary weight as human athletes of that size become ever rarer, with Spencer being one of those few examples. 

Zain: Yeah. Non Olympic weight - they are less prestigious/coveted- helped.  

Green: Yep, he is both old and beat up for the weight class. 

Dake: 86 kg is borderline an upper weight, it's not that unprecedented for mid 30s year olds to have some success at those 85kg+ weights. I think him being so undersized is at least as hindering as his age. 

Snyder: Snyder has been around forever and looks way older than he actually is (being completely bald, bulky muscles), but he's only 30. A lot of upper weights peak in their early 30s. Size and strength are really important at those upper weights, and men often not only keep but improve in those aspects through their 30s. So no surprise there. I think big Bruce was at his best in his early 30s , and Snyder is the modern incarnation. 

[JMill]

More than half of the top 20 ranked 57kg wrestlers in the world are 27 or older, with a few over 30.

[bnwtwg]

Snyder shall maintain annual medalist status until proven otherwise, at which time he will move up to heavyweight and may continue racking up hardware despite no longer being in gold contention. His competition is internationally, not domestically.

 

Peptides

Over

Fear

[Hilton Head Joe]

I heard during a podcast that Snyder nearly went 11 years without a loss to an American at the senior level? That is mind boggling. They pulled together his record against Americans for like 12 years and it was like 155-2. Better than anyone they said in American history. They were like the guy right behind him is the only American to beat him in his prime. Jake "Boring" Varner! They were like if Snyder didn't show up Varner keeps wrestling. I don't hear much GOAT talk about Kyle but is he in the running for greatest American ever? 

Edited June 22 by Hilton Head Joe

[bnwtwg]

7 hours ago, Hilton Head Joe said:

I don't hear much GOAT talk about Kyle but is he in the running for greatest American ever? 

M. Rushmore certainly. He needs to beat Sadulaev again and get at least one more world title, or win two world titles. If he can do those two things then I believe it is a fair conversation. But the conversation will always have the asterisk of "yeah but what years was Sadulaev allowed in the bracket?" which is a very fair qualifier. Snyder may go down as the second best wrestler of his vintage, but will always be behind the Russian Tank.