Olympics=Toxic

[Antitroll2828]

I swear the Olympics bring out the worst and most arrogant of our fan base, the fact that it seems so many people thought we were going to just run through everyone bc the Russia team isn’t here is crazy just for starters …but the hate I’ve seen towards Parris, Dake, Zain and especially Brooks is embarrassing. This is the Olympics ,the pinnacle of the sport , you have the best guys from around the world living out something they ve been dreaming aboutand sacrificing for more then half their lives but that doesn’t stop the fat guy who never placed in districts from sitting on the couch and talking shit.

ive seen about a dozen posts (about 6 from mineo) about how disappointing this Olympic run has been….we still have a chance at medaling 5 out of 6 in men’s freestyle (most likely 4) and we had 4 new guys on the team with no Olympic experience and barely any senior level experience and we re still doing pretty well 

 

I feel brooks has gotten the most crap but in reality he just graduated college , went to the Olympics and lost in the final second by 1 to the Olympic champ and came back and medaled and you think he went 0-2 BBQ 

[d3grappler]

Agreed.

[WrestlingRasta]

34 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

ive seen about a dozen posts (about 6 from mineo) 

Do yourself, and the sport of wrestling in this country, a big favor: block that douchebag. 
 

He is the wick to the TNT of everything you wrote, and a detriment to the idea of support wrestling. 

[wrestle87]

33 minutes ago, Antitroll2828 said:

I swear the Olympics bring out the worst and most arrogant of our fan base, the fact that it seems so many people thought we were going to just run through everyone bc the Russia team isn’t here is crazy just for starters …but the hate I’ve seen towards Parris, Dake, Zain and especially Brooks is embarrassing. This is the Olympics ,the pinnacle of the sport , you have the best guys from around the world living out something they ve been dreaming aboutand sacrificing for more then half their lives but that doesn’t stop the fat guy who never placed in districts from sitting on the couch and talking shit.

ive seen about a dozen posts (about 6 from mineo) about how disappointing this Olympic run has been….we still have a chance at medaling 5 out of 6 in men’s freestyle (most likely 4) and we had 4 new guys on the team with no Olympic experience and barely any senior level experience and we re still doing pretty well 

 

I feel brooks has gotten the most crap but in reality he just graduated college , went to the Olympics and lost in the final second by 1 to the Olympic champ and came back and medaled and you think he went 0-2 BBQ 

Sh*t talking is dumb and people shouldn’t do it.  I don’t read the more famous sources of trash talk in our sport, but the performances we have seen warrant criticism.  

Character attacks are never warranted, but guys getting called out for underperforming when it counts is part of being an Olympian.  It is special because you are THE person representing your whole country.  You are the guy (or gal) of all the others. 

We are also no longer in the 00’s when any medal was a gift from god, at least not in freestyle we aren’t. To make the US team, your typically have to be a world medalist to be in contention.  If you are a world medalist, or champion, that is what is expected of you again.  There is no nice way to say it, but, 65 and 97kg pending, every men’s freestyler has underperformed.  

[WrestlingRasta]

Let’s not forget, wrestling is hard.  Half the bracket, at least, is medal contention.  Yes we have increased our depth and number of elite athletes through the dream fund and RTC’s. 
 

But what wasn’t in place in 2000’s were all these satellites Soviet states fully grounded and operational.  They were still getting their shit together and now many of those countries that used to be one litter the podium.  What you also didn’t have in the 00’s is the level of free agency there is now these days, which has evolved into even more Russians in the bracket and on the podium.  I mean at 86 you have a ‘liev” from Greece, and at 97 you have a “donov” from Bahrain.  Those aren’t rare exceptions anymore. 
 

Americans, by nature, we have a very very high level of esteem for ourselves.  As a whole, Americans wrestlers not collecting the medals we “expect” them to, does not mean they under performed. Others are training for gold too. People around the globe are putting all their focus into how…for one thing among many but is high on the list…how to beat the Americans.  
 

This shit is hard. 
 

That said, my description of Parris match was “a big strong athletic dude just learning how to wrestle”. 

[PortaJohn]

Great post.  I think it's ok to show some frustration with this particular olympic team.  It's ok to question our wrestlers strategy.  Question if the coaches prepared them correctly.  Constructive criticism is a positive not a negative.  But, like you've pointed out the vitriol and hate towards our wrestlers has been absolute garbage. 

[skandar]

This is a sports message board. That’s what happens on these.

[Pa in Taiwan]

Yeah, my comment on the other thread about Post-Olympic reflections, which appeared before the 65kg and 97kg weights had even begun:

 

This guy is making a statement about our FANS, not our wrestlers. And perhaps he is making a statement to demonstrate something about HIMSELF as a US wrestling fan. Seriously, the number of US fans saying that we would win gold at all six weight classes really had me chuckling. I know it's nice to be a homer, but you should never let your homerism get in the way of logic and truth. The logic and truth have been telling me that THE WORLD IS DEEP. I commend the US team for representing our country and giving their all. I agree that things didn't go our way this Olympics, and a few close matches went the wrong way for the USA. Those who were talking sh** about how the US would take all six gold medals weren't giving proper respect to the quality of wresters at the Olympics. Anyone not respecting the US team this year is completely wrong. I just give props to ALL the wrestlers who make it to the Olympics. No easy matches.

 

[scourge165]

5 minutes ago, Pa in Taiwan said:

Yeah, my comment on the other thread about Post-Olympic reflections, which appeared before the 65kg and 97kg weights had even begun:

 

This guy is making a statement about our FANS, not our wrestlers. And perhaps he is making a statement to demonstrate something about HIMSELF as a US wrestling fan. Seriously, the number of US fans saying that we would win gold at all six weight classes really had me chuckling. I know it's nice to be a homer, but you should never let your homerism get in the way of logic and truth. The logic and truth have been telling me that THE WORLD IS DEEP. I commend the US team for representing our country and giving their all. I agree that things didn't go our way this Olympics, and a few close matches went the wrong way for the USA. Those who were talking sh** about how the US would take all six gold medals weren't giving proper respect to the quality of wresters at the Olympics. Anyone not respecting the US team this year is completely wrong. I just give props to ALL the wrestlers who make it to the Olympics. No easy matches.

 

What serious person was saying we'd win 6 Golds?

[PortaJohn]

5 minutes ago, Pa in Taiwan said:

Yeah, my comment on the other thread about Post-Olympic reflections, which appeared before the 65kg and 97kg weights had even begun:

 

This guy is making a statement about our FANS, not our wrestlers. And perhaps he is making a statement to demonstrate something about HIMSELF as a US wrestling fan. Seriously, the number of US fans saying that we would win gold at all six weight classes really had me chuckling. I know it's nice to be a homer, but you should never let your homerism get in the way of logic and truth. The logic and truth have been telling me that THE WORLD IS DEEP. I commend the US team for representing our country and giving their all. I agree that things didn't go our way this Olympics, and a few close matches went the wrong way for the USA. Those who were talking sh** about how the US would take all six gold medals weren't giving proper respect to the quality of wresters at the Olympics. Anyone not respecting the US team this year is completely wrong. I just give props to ALL the wrestlers who make it to the Olympics. No easy matches.

 

I think one issue is a lot of US wrestling fans come over only during the Olympics and only have the info from the headlines they read or from social media posts.  Kyle Dake is a great example.  If you follow somewhat you'd know he lost to Sidakov at worlds.  Sidakov is out now Dake is a lock.  What a lot of these fans didn't know is at that World's he lost to Sidakov he wrestled Takatani and won by the slimmest of margins and  the match could've gone the other way. 

[scourge165]

Yeah, I've seen it as well. It's disappointing.

I'm a little disappointed for some of these guys, but not IN these guys. I feel bad FOR Brooks, Lee, Dake. I'm not angry AT them. That's asinine. 

 

It's really disappointing when it comes from people who know the sport. It's SO ***ducking** easy to WATCH Wrestling and say what a guy should do. "Why didn't Brooks just elevate the leg and post off on the other leg! He wouldn't have given up 2!

That's...so lazy and  annoying.

I thought we COULD win 4, but that we would win 2 Golds. So...that's a disappointment...I guess. Because I thought these guys would all beat all the rest of the best in the world? Or maybe that speaks to the talent we have. 

I think you could re-wrestle the three brackets we had tough losses in and I could see Lee, Dake and Brooks all winning it...but you get one chance and it sucks. That's why an Olympic Gold carries a bit more weight. 

 

Pretty proud of team USA and I think we've still got one gold coming!

[PortaJohn]

7 minutes ago, scourge165 said:

What serious person was saying we'd win 6 Golds?

I don't know if anyone said 6 and was being serious but this team had a lot of hype and I was one who believed in it.  I did set my over/under medal count (G/S/B) at 3.5 medals. 

[scribers]

both Kyle’s were favored for gold and maybe a surprise elsewhere. So even is you figure 2 golds and a silver and maybe 2 bronze it was the best we could hope for with this team. Brooks was too inexperienced and we are hurting if we can’t mat gable as a great team always has that hammer that anchors the team. We’ve enjoyed several excellent years prior to now so naturally you expect more and that’s good. Better than settling for less. 

[Gus]

25 minutes ago, scribers said:

both Kyle’s were favored for gold and maybe a surprise elsewhere. So even is you figure 2 golds and a silver and maybe 2 bronze it was the best we could hope for with this team. Brooks was too inexperienced and we are hurting if we can’t mat gable as a great team always has that hammer that anchors the team. We’ve enjoyed several excellent years prior to now so naturally you expect more and that’s good. Better than settling for less. 

Taz was the favorite for 97kg. Dake was the only true favorite to win gold on team USA.

[WrestlingRasta]

I don’t want to sound like one of those social media coaches, but watching both this morning I think I see a path for Snyder over Tazhidonov. 

[Gus]

Just now, WrestlingRasta said:

I don’t want to sound like one of those social media coaches, but watching both this morning I think I see a path for Snyder over Tazhidonov. 

Definitely! Snyder can beat him.

[Antitroll2828]

1 hour ago, wrestle87 said:

Sh*t talking is dumb and people shouldn’t do it.  I don’t read the more famous sources of trash talk in our sport, but the performances we have seen warrant criticism.  

Character attacks are never warranted, but guys getting called out for underperforming when it counts is part of being an Olympian.  It is special because you are THE person representing your whole country.  You are the guy (or gal) of all the others. 

We are also no longer in the 00’s when any medal was a gift from god, at least not in freestyle we aren’t. To make the US team, your typically have to be a world medalist to be in contention.  If you are a world medalist, or champion, that is what is expected of you again.  There is no nice way to say it, but, 65 and 97kg pending, every men’s freestyler has underperformed.  

Every freestyler has underperformed? See this is that attitude I’m talking about …..  

Spencer Lee made his first world team with an arthritic knee and had like 3-4 different surgeries on said knees and was wrestling in his first real international competition since U 20s in 2016 and took 2nd …at the damn Olympics 

Brooks just finished college 2 months ago, knocks off DT , loses by one in the final seconds to a man with a lot more experience (and an Olympic champ) and comes back and takes bronze AT THE OLYMPICS 

as far as Dake goes , he lost his father this year , the man whose taken this entire journey with him his whole life , all reverse age jokes aside he’s 33/34 and slowing down and even the last time he won 74kg (2022) his last 2 matches came down to criteria so this notion he was the overwhelming favorite is wild , I mean he got teched at the last Olympics by a guy most fans hadn’t even heard of, he was in the conversation for gold but only good ole American homers thought he would run through the bracket.

Parris just isn’t on the level and didn’t have any previous results that showed him as a true medal contender, his tournament and path to the podium always was dependent on match ups and how the bracket fell and it didn’t fall his way 

As For Zain most thought he wouldn’t place at the last chance qualifier , we didn’t even qualify the weight last Olympics and had the worst possible match up first round for him so if we get anything from 65 its a positive 

 

I don’t see how this is underperforming, this is the pinnacle of the sport and we had no returning champs to begin with , you as an individual can be disappointed but as a whole team USA hasn’t disappointed 

[bnwtwg]

@Antitroll2828 agree with all of the above except Parris did win bronze last year and had an extremely tight match with Geno in the semis. And Dake was the overwhelming favorite, but every year at worlds and Olympics an overwhelming favorite gets taken out - this year was no different. Same happened to Susaki at WFS 50kg as a matter of fact.

[Antitroll2828]

Just now, bnwtwg said:

@Antitroll2828 agree with all of the above except Parris did win bronze last year and had an extremely tight match with Geno in the semis. And Dake was the overwhelming favorite, but every year at worlds and Olympics an overwhelming favorite gets taken out - this year was no different. Same happened to Susaki at WFS 50kg as a matter of fact.

You make a good point about parris , but geno is always on a different level come Olympic time compared to off years , honestly I think gable could take his shoulder pads off and still bonus parris right now , he’s just not on the level of the top guys yet 

[MJD]

I think the USA team has done a remarkable job and does so every year. I think some folks are disappointed because the USA spends so much time and money on wrestling, yet doesn't dominate every year. That's simply because most of our wrestlers move to full-time freestyle at 23 - 24, which is really too late. And as far as money goes, we've got several div 1 coaches making over a half million a year, with assistants in the six figures, plus lots of other perks and benefits; how many other countries have so many coaches and assistants making those amounts? Zero. We just spend our dollars -- and our wrestlers' prime years -- on a related but quite different version of wrestling, folkstyle, and therefore can never hope to be as dominant as Russia. But our wrestlers have done a remarkable job!

[bnwtwg]

1 minute ago, Antitroll2828 said:

You make a good point about parris , but geno is always on a different level come Olympic time compared to off years , honestly I think gable could take his shoulder pads off and still bonus parris right now , he’s just not on the level of the top guys yet 

gonna have to agree to disagree - Geno makes the finals every year going back to 2017. And a few bronzes before that. Now if we're talking offseason Geno he makes Moose look like a marathon runner lol