Leaderboard

The 4-timer stuff is so compromised and fetishized. It doesn't account for the level of competition and other variables. A 3-timer like Nolf (who only barely lost in the finals to an NCAA champ his freshman year whom he earlier pinned) is actually better than a 4-timer like Yianni. And he was absolutely more dominant than Yianni or Dake. Steiber won some finals he arguably should not have given the calls. Luck, draws, and other factors play so much of a role. Most people are only capable of thinking in terms of simple causality. The world doesn't work that way. It's a mental blindness of the worst kind and attributable in large part to evolutionary psychology.

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.

Seems to me far too many people lost the thread of this thread. The original post was dead on. I cringed when I heard Brooks say that, it was very uncool. Just finished watching the late this morning today so well behind the curve here. I'm not a religious person, but as far as I'm concerned the winner can thank whoever/whatever they want, and make a shout out to their faith. Obviously many of these athletes believe that their faith is a huge part of their success. Who am I to question that. I suspect faith helps you put things in perspective and helps you deal better with all the highs and lows. But that is not what this post is about. It's about Brooks disparaging the Muslim faith, plain and simple. One more thing: For most religions (there may be exceptions), if you are very religious then I think it's safe to say that you think your religion is the one truth and followers of all other faiths are just plain wrong. Otherwise, it's just a matter of choice, right? And if it's a matter of choice, it can't be the only truth. So I would speculate that most very religious people in their hearts agree with what Brooks said. But it's an unwritten rule that in a society such as ours that purportedly welcomes all religions, you just don't say things like that. Brooks is a young man, but old enough to know better.

And Alirez hates school, but he’s been putting in the work in the classroom every day

"Arujau was named Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Championships, and Cornell coach Mike Grey was named tournament Coach of the Year."

This is half speed! Faster than Holy Smoke.

Deserves a dedicated thread. To me, he is the best wrestler in college, this recently ended season and next season. Again, to me. I’ve watched him more than I’ve many seen other wrestlers … ‘best’ is subjective … and I have some bias. What really stands out to me: > Highly technical. His tools chest is DEEP. Lots of attacks. Very interesting finishes. Very good defense. Admittedly, his head hands, while awesome, he does let people get to his legs. Still, all around technique, I feel no one has the depth he has or the expertise in many situations. > Crazy fast. For me, he is the fastest guy we have. Others can approach — McGee is a good example. But Vito is on an island. > Strong - not going to say he is the strongest. Not sure, but after watching him lift so many guys off the mat in a big way when getting to legs .. guy has power. He lost to Latona this year and has a very close one with McGee. True. He was ‘off’ in that window. What I’ve heard/read. Some will count this against him. Ok. Go ahead. He lost to Glory last year in semis. True. Some crazy scrambles that were determined by inches. No excuse. Shit happens. Glory wrestled great. Still feel that Vito is better based on the actual action and activity. But I believe, with all healthy, he is the best of the bunch. And way more freaking fun to watch than 99%+ of the wrestlers out there. Congrats to him. I’m very happy for him.

Many times I've remarked how there are a lot of very smart people on this forum. This thread makes me realize that maybe "we" represent a more average slice of humanity than I thought. I believe "we" have regressed to the mean here. “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” ― George Carlin Thursday, Friday, Saturday were great but I'm looking forward to a time away from about half of you wonderful gents.

I could not love his post- match interview any more. Hanging out with mom and dad. Arm around his dad. Dad with a big goofy grin. The two of them busting each others chops just a bit before crediting mom. And the kiss on top of dad's head to end it. Perfect.

Nobody cares that he is religious. What people care about is his hateful attitude towards the faith of others. The pomposity of believing that his is the only true religion is typical of true believers, and pretty much the antithesis of what his religion actually teaches.

I am no Geography professor, but it may have to do with Cornell being right smack dab in the middle of New York.

Sharing a post from another forum...

Lee's mom's glasses have petitioned for an injury redshirt year.

He said “no false prophet. No Muhammad”. He may believe that but the Islam community sure will take that a ms a diss at their chosen faith. If he’s willing to take the smoke that’s on him, but don’t act like he didn’t create a religious issue with his comments.

All that is right with his college transcripts.

What an old school throw back. Felt like I was watching a post match interview from the 1970's. He looks like he can go back to working in the steel mill next week a champion. Good stuff.

The Hawkeyes did well to place second behind the Nittany Lions. Yet even so, the Hawkeye faithful might have a few things to grumble about. Iowa was blown out by 55 points, and this is the second year in a row in which they didn't have any champions. While I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Hawks' performance, some in Iowa City might have been expecting a bit more. Lee -- although we all regard him as a legend and a hero -- did not win his fourth title. After losing in the semis, he medical forfeited down to 6th. (I definitely hope his knees heal up so that he can give freestyle a go.) Lee was also was not the tournament's highest scorer, as many predicted. That honor went to Starocci -- a Penn Stater -- with 24. A third Hodge seems out of reach, as well. Woods was a great acquisition from out west, finishing as a runner up in impressive fashion. However, as the number one seed, I'm sure some hoped that he would win it all. (And I have to add, Nickerson's brick in the championship match was the most impressive brick of the tournament. If there were a Golden Brick to award, Nickerson would absolutely deserve it.) Of course, there were a few bright spots: Warner placed 5th as the 14th seed; Brands placed 5th as the 11th seed; and Murin placed 6th as the 8th seed. Cass also did well to wrestle to seed and place 4th. Kudos to those young men! I think there's a lot for Iowa to be proud of.

He plays fast and lose with the truth. Everyone who is on this board knows that Spencer was not favored to win the Olympic Gold in 2020 or 2024. Why do people need to stretch the truth, the story is compelling enough without the exaggerations. I made it half way through and he kept piling on more untruths. Specner was not going to be the first and 4X PA champ. He was not undefeated in college until his tournament. After 5 minutes I could not take anymore

I just want to get past having 6, 7, and even 8 year seniors... they really water down the value of a "4x" anything.

A few mistakes from memory... Brands picked down on Foca to start the second after having won neutral in period 1 and holding a 1m+ riding time advantage. Elam picked down on Sloan when Elam is better on his feet and Sloan is good on top. Not atrocious given the 2-2 score but neutral was the pick there. Hendrickson picked down on Kerk after having won neutral in the first and getting ridden in the second. Monday picked down on Carr after getting ridden in the second. RBY picked down on Nagao after having been ridden in a previous match. In hindsight, the freshman Haines shouldn't have picked down on the brute AOC. (the only one of these that seemed worth the chance to score first in a 0-0 tie) On the smarter side Nino smartly chose neutral to start the third period. He was down a point, had the riding time advantage on Sloan, and knows that Sloan is good on top. Lee picked up to start the second period while losing to Ramos

Starocci scores a lot of TDs against top tier competition for a guy who stalls so much. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Because the other wrestlers didn't insult nearly two billion people? Just spit-ballin' here.

One more more year. 4th in 2019, ORS in 2020, no Ivy season in 2021, 3rd in 2022, 1st in 2023.

Lmao the NCAA really put that up on its Twitter feed

did the other guys also disparage other people's beliefs?

You do realize that Cornell is in New York State right? Hence, the "New York connection"

I'm not trying to diminish their accomplishments. They have wrestled at extremely high levels and should be commended and celebrated. Yianni had 2 years off though, right? Dake won so many close matches. He was nowhere near as dominant overall as DT, whom (yes) he beat in close matches. But Taylor (who won 2 titles) is absolutely a better wrestler overall than four timers like Pat Smith, Steiber, and (so far) Yianni. In fact, I would say he has surpassed even Sanderson. Same thing could be said about Boroughs, who "only" won two titles. Or even Spencer Lee. Much more dominant than Yianni. Cornell doesn't wrestle the level of competition that the Big Ten faces. My point: the four timer focus is not the sole or absolute measure of greatness. Yes, luck figures into it. A very large swath of people (especially religious, conservative, anti-scientific folks) like simple solutions and explanations. They over-emphasize personal control (responsibility) and downplay or ignore all the conditions and contributing factors that are outside our control. Wade Schalles (a great wrestler and very creative, fierce mind) recently pointed out (honestly and frankly) in an interview with Mark Bader that wrestlers are not the smartest lot as a whole. They are like football players academically (or worse) and in other ways. And he was right in terms of the data. And, I would add, my own observations for what small worth they might be. Yes, there are exceptions, but they prove the rule.

He didn't diss, he was apeaking his truth. The majority of Christians view Islam as a false religion due to the fact that its adherents reject the Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ. Kind of like Islamists won't wrestle Jewish in international competition. The only difference is Christians do it on a more innocuous scale.

Yianni wrestled a great match and achieved a huge milestone with 4 titles, but I think Vito stole the show. KOT, Parris, and Glory also wrestled tough but Vito just took it to the next level and then some.

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."

I think it's worth noting how impressive it is for an Ivy school to have 2 4xers out of the 5 given the difficulty of recruiting top talent vs non Ivy. We can talk about the school of agriculture all we want but the lack of redshirting amongst other aspects make this really quite unbelievable... especially with all the success Iowa has had historically and PSU more recently, the fact that Mike Grey has a 4 timer before Cael is pretty wild and I hope they get a lot more looks from blue chip recruits around the country. They've more than proven they can take athletes and develop them and get them over the top with what I would view as less resources. Hats off to Cornell and can't wait for them to win a team trophy hopefully not in the too distant future.

...because of what Brooks said specifically. Watch the clip.

If I was RBY, I would have self-pinned much earlier in the match when everyone could smell the asskicking brewing.

The promise of his family has FINALLY delivered. I realize he is coached by Grey, but this journey started a long time ago while Grey was still wrestling, and Koll was actively recruiting the whole dang family to buy into the program. Vito is ready for the big leagues. He might not make the world team this year, but he has all the tools to do what his dad pulled off decades ago. Watching him destroy RBY made my night.

it should 100% stay as a reminder that all this manufactured outrage is just that...

I'm kinda surprised NCAA Wrestling would clip this. I mean we knew he was going to talk about God/Jesus anyway but Quint really teed him up.

anyone in here feel a little silly this morning?

Fifth largest by points

All good regarding Cornell. I was emotionally drained in a good way. Ended on a very big high. I do think it is very fair to note that Penn State DOMINATED the tournament. 2 champs seeming like a down year is laughable. Just shows their level year to year. I am surprised that Cael didn’t get coach of the year.

haines has to have 3 years left, no? they only said "true freshman" 400 times tonight.

Landmark tournament for Cornell with what they've been through. Head coach who built the program leaves. Extreme Covid restrictions Big Ten schools don't have to deal with. Former finalist leaves and wins at new school. Former finalist's brother amd coach who has two first place trophies of his own departs. Greatest college wrestler ever and former coach departs. And they get a four timer and Vito treats a world silver medalist and the guy with the longest winning streak in college like hapless workout partners. An absolutely extraordinary night for them.

You know what, you are right I can admit that I am wrong for generalizing.. I have applied the cone of shame.

I must be getting soft but I liked the interviews this year. Vito was delightful. Glory was pure joyousness. Starocci was his candid self. KOT was pure grace. Nino couldn't be more unpretentious.

Another ignorant clown comment!! Unbelievable! You should be ashamed of yourself, troll. The truth is that Iranians will not wrestle Israelis in international competition. Iranians WILL wrestle Jews, just not those from Israel. Other Islamic countries wrestle Israelis and Jews from other countries. You should stop commenting on things that you are ignorant of!

I just had a date with his wife and highly recommend it.

Brooks checked that Sadulaev wasn’t still at 84kg before saying that

Very, very rarely does an athlete (or celebrity) say anything interesting, especially immediately after a performance. They are mostly known for their bodies, not their minds or creative tongues. There are a few exceptions, and those often involve the use of humor and light heartedness or just the expression of gratitude. Being silent is frequently a good option: it at least generates mystique or mystery or the illusion of profundity.

Whaaaa? I can't fathom anyone in the Muslim world taking offense to that and reacting poorly. It's not like he made a cartoon!

Great wrestler, but a religious zealot.