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He's there to tell Spencer Lee that he actually won.

The interview will be hilarious Mr President what do you think of this event? "Huge Event. Lots of spandex. Never seen more tight spandex. A little gay but these gays are tough. What do they call it? Cauliflower ear? It tastes terrible but you have to eat you vegetables. What do I know. This is a lot of big strong guys. I got here and said Wow that's a lot of big strong guys. A lot of people are telling me this guy Kale Sanderson is the best. I don't know. Is that a vegetable. What do I know. Hulk Hogan. I know the man. Great guy. Really great guy."

Well, I will try to keep this as non-controversial as I can and stick to facts: 1. He is not the current President 2. By any reasonable account, he is an extremely divisive and controversial figure. 3. It can easily distract from the mat action. 4. It can pose security risks. 5. He is widely known for making things about himself. 6. By his own account (as well as journalistic reports), he is about to to be arrested (indicted) next Tuesday, and he has called publicly for protests. Do you want to see protests (or worse) break out in the arena when wrestlers (their families, friends, fans) have spent much of their entire life preparing for this evening and moment?

The worst thing about this is the effect it will have on Spencer Lee himself. Unwilling or unable to face the wrestling public, he forfeits out. Unwilling or unable to compete for third place, he turns his back on the Iowa squad, which he has constantly cited as his reason for wanting to win it all. Psychological problems could be avoided by putting on the singlet and wrestling in the consis. This is called moving on with life. Forfeiting out is the wrong thing to do; it allows the loss to fester and calcify. Spencer should have chosen to wrestle to cleanse it and himself.

Uber maybe taking awhile to get him to the arena. Mom wasn’t cleared to legally drive him in this morning.

Cohlton Schultz !

Well everyone, I generally don’t post much and come here often after the college season ends. I wish all of you and your families health and happiness over the next 8 months and I’ll see you back in November. It’s always a pleasure to interact with everyone here.

This is a really good, level headed post that should land for everyone regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

Jeez, I hope not. I want the finals to be about the finals.

I think if we put it to a vote, most wrestling fans across the country would want to see a coaching change at PSU. That's the elephant in the room.

Apparently, a(n) (in)famous celebrity will be in the house tonight. Wrestling doesn't need this distraction. https://tulsaworld.com/news/local/trump-to-attend-ncaa-wrestling-tournament-as-guest-of-mullin/article_30f9a914-c45a-11ed-8dc1-d36da706da16.html

Vito OW … dominates Fox and RBY.

Vito looked incredible. Deserved to win and definitely don’t want to take anything away from his performance but…. RBY, like Carr, is another guy who was way too overconfident and thought he could sleepwalk his way to another title. Started way too slow and got abused. Props to Vito though, he was a beast!

Post match interviews have been OUTSTANDING this year compared to previous years. Not sure why, but I like it.

I learned it as "run the pipe" - after the oil riggers in Oklahoma who used to pass sections of pipe pulling between their legs.

Apparently he isn't even in the city anymore, unwilling to wrestle tonight, much less in the arena to support his teammates. What gives?

get over your disease presidents and FORMER presidents do this stuff all the time.

Griffith! Standing O for a hero

I know it’s popular to dump all over Shane Sparks, but I’m in the opposite camp. He’s a guy that was forced into this by espn. He could’ve puckered up and did a crappy job with it, but instead he’s invested himself in wrestling and he’s become a fan of the sport. I’ll be the first to admit some of his interviews are awkward (and I’m sure espn makes him do them), but I’ll take it over someone being forced to do it and not caring about wrestling at all. I respect that Sparks took this in stride and decided to become one of us.

When asked if he felt any sympathy for Spencer Lee, Matt Ramos said "excuses are for hawkeyes"

It's weird to relish in Spencer and his mothers misery so much. Iowa fans? Obviously. Brands brothers? I get it. Maybe even Larry Lee with the binder thing. But full grown adults mocking the young man's (and that's not everybody here mind you) is always weird. It'd be one thing if Spencer was a cocky kid, but he's almost boring in his good-guyness. Like Metcalf earned that kind of reaction in college. Anyway, there's a fine line in celebrating seeing something crazy (which I don't think is weird) and mocking somebody's (or their mother's?) pain. Again, I would say there's no problem mocking Iowa fans (we earn it) or the coaches (they seem to crave it), but the athletes themselves unless they court it? Seems weird. And a mother feeling pain for her son? Yeesh. Just one man's opinion.

Wanted to recognize a few guys who sacked up and worked their way through the consolation bracket: 133: Jesse Mendez, Ohio State: Beat Zaccone (Camp), Ragusin (Mich), Byrd (Ill.) and Latona (VT) after dropping a second round match to McGee - who he'll see again tomorrow in the consi semifinal. Great run. Good true freshman season. 141: Clay Carlson, SDSU: Beat Ervin (SIUE), Happel (UNI), Hart (Mizzou), and Filius (Purdue) after losing to Bartlett in round two - who he'll see again tomorrow. 141: Dylan D'Emilio, Ohio State: Beat Cook (VT), Mattin (Mich), Matthews (Pitt) before falling to McNeil (UNC). Will see Filius (Purdue) for 7/8. Honestly, he was super close to knocking off Woods and has had a good tournament. 149: Caleb Henson, Virginia Tech: Beat Lovett (CMU), Zapf (Penn), Thomas (NW), and Mauller (Mizzou). Will face Van Ness (PSU) tomorrow in the consi semi. Good rebound for the freshman after Rooks took him out. 157: Ed Scott, NC State: Beat Pappas (GMU), Jacques (Mizzou), Cardenas (Stanford), and Andonian (VT) after dropping a bout to Lewan. Will get Humphreys (Lehigh) in the consi semi. 197: Jacob Warner, Iowa: After falling to Elam, he knocked off Bockman (UVU), Trumble (NC State), Allred (Neb), and Cardenas (Cornell) to set up another bout with Elam. 197: Max Dean, PSU: Following his loss to Allred, he beat: Hoffman (Ohio State), Harvey (Oregon St.) and Smith (Maryland) before dropping a SV decision to Truax. He'll go for 7/8.

Nelson Brands…. 4 takedowns!

A few of the finalists seemed to cast their vote for wrestlers named Jesus or God. One gave a penalty point to a fellow named Mohammed (Brooks). One voted for his balls (Starocci). One voted against himself (Yianni, who said he has to get much better). Several voted for their parents or the genetic lottery. One or two gave a partial vote to their coaches. One may have voted for his losing opponent (O'Toole). And a celebrity with body guards in the stands voted for himself. In fact, I think he gave himself a dozen or so votes. And said they are still looking for the rest of the ballots.

These reviews...

He’s 5 seconds behind at the moment.

Literally weeping I love it!!!! So happy for him!!! My wife and I met in grad school at Princeton and we’re both so pumped!

I have never met a casual college wrestling fan. But, of course, they may exist.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!! WHO'S COMIN' WITH ME?!?!?!?!?!?!

I caught that too, super cringe. Even Quint paused for a split second, like "uh," lol

He came in well before the parade of champions. Crowd was about 1/5 capacity when he came in He is sitting with Mayor of Tulsa off to the side on the end. A very small crowd around him they only announced him once when acknowledging the mayor. O’Connor ran over after his interview and got his picture taken. He has not taken away from the finals at all. No need to be triggered.

Lots of class there

Saying it again Carr seems like a great person. Love the sportsmanship. I’ll root for both these guys whenever I can

Side note …Spencer Lee is present and was part of the Parade of AA

Decisive or not, a former President taking an interest in wrestling and bringing more eyeballs has to be a positive. Any publicity is good publicity, I guess.

6:40 of the Lee-Ramos match STOP THE COUNT!!

Thanks for all the commentary and passion for those of us who couldn't make Tulsa. Love the passion! Well done gentlemen and thank you!

I'm sure he knows nothing about the sport of wrestling but he won't go to the basketball tournament because he thinks it will be a bunch of Black people. Wait until he finds out there is a Latino at 125, a Black guy at 133, a Black guy and a Latino at 141 and Black guy at 165, 174 and HWT. It is weird that he's going though since the last time he went to a big sporting event was the 2021 World Series specifically to do the tomahawk chop. Maybe he thinks Oklahoma will cheer for him.

It would certainly be unprecedented for a former president to attend a sporting event on the same day he says he was about to be indicted and called for protests.

He was healthy

Humphrys is enormous, yeesh

Griffith wrestling thru injury and keeping a program alive. A leader. He deserved a standing O

Shane Sparks LOVES this sport and we need 100 more of him to elevate this sport to a level we all know it deserves.

Oh come on, predicting one of the top recruits in the country wrestling for the top program in the country is going to be a beast is not exactly going out on a limb.

If anybody chooses bottom against him, they should slap their coaches. Rode RBY and Fix like they were rented mules. Guy next to me said 'Fix isn't RBY. He has man's strength.' Now he won't make eye contact with me.

So...it IS a bruised ego...

Kerkvliet knocking off undefeated #2 seed Hendrickson was pretty crazy. Thoughts?

Too bad he didn’t go out on the mat to forfeit today. Wave to the fans. He would’ve gotten a long standing ovation.

I wonder what Randy Lewis’ opinion on this is? He battled like an effing warrior to 7th place his senior year with use of one arm. And it gets talked about over 40 years later with admiration.