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Sure, I speak fluent Brands. Let me help. Brands: "Weren't ready. Weren't ready...you have to be ready, like beyond ready. If you just think your ready and you think its normal, its not normal." Translation: I wasn't ready. Brands: "And that's not me putting them on a pedestal, that's not me conceding anything." Translation: We never stood a chance. Brands: "I like our guy." Translation: The portal is closed.

Nice update from Sasso and Tom Ryan yesterday. He's recovering and feels like he's at about 60%, has had surgery on his back, leg, intestines, who knows what else... patched up with screws and other hardware. Working his way back to a possible return to the lineup next year. The neural pathways from his brain to his left leg aren't what they used to be, so Sammy's figuring out how to wrestle with one leg while he works on regaining responsiveness in that limb. Bigger picture, you can see how this whole ordeal has shifted his perspective on things. Dude is full of positivity and gratitude and determination to not let it bring him down. He'll go pretty far in life with that attitude whether he returns to the mat next year or not.

As an outsider, I have to think that the Brands’ bad attitudes and constant “us vs them” demeanors wear down their athletes. It’s probably hard to stay motivated for 4-6 years when working for guys who’s emotional range seems to start and stop at “f*** you”. Again I don’t know, just my observations on a less tangible part of leading/coaching.

I believe he enjoys being the Ghost President with Barack as his top assistant.

I believe they have parted ways and all the bridges have been burnt down.

If they were smart they'd plug in Joe Manchin. He's a guy who could appeal to a lot of folks in the middle and end the daily drama.

The Biden joke is on us. It is on and all over all of us. The Dems pulled off a real live nationwide Weekend at Bernie's scam. Here's Biden, complete with his signature sunglasses. At least 74 million people detected the joke and tried to stop it. Now some of the rest are finally becoming aware that Bernie is not all there. Welcome to the Party, Pals.

At the end of his pressers, "anything else?" usually means "Y'all need to stfu right now, I'm out."

Is your caps lock broken? Put it to use here, man. Never going to have a better opportunity.

I think it is BDSSA. Biden doing stupid shi- again.

You were able to interprete that?

Great take. Brands has been criticized for a while now for the constant physical intensity of his program taking a visible toll on his guys, esp after NCAAs a few seasons ago when the team limped into the tournament burnt out and injured. He's supposedly toned it down, but I have my doubts that his version of "fun" isn't still absolutely brutal. Anyway, I would agree that the "us against the world" and "tougher, harder, better" schtick must wear some guys down mentally as well. To be fair, it drove TnT when they wrestled (and it worked), and it's what they learned under Gable. I'm of the mind that the old bullying, relentless "Iowa Style" wrestling isn't enough today. The game has changed and best kids these days are too slick for it. I don't doubt that Tom and Terry teach technique and gameplan, but it seems like a bigger part of their coaching is along the lines of: "you gotta be stronger," "you have to wrestle better," "you have to be more ready," and other simplistic bs like that. I think either Brands or Iowa Wrestling could really use some new perspectives to refresh Iowa Style wrestling for the 21st century. Look at Okie State these last several years, people saying that John Smith is equally stubborn in his ways with weight cutting and training and team culture, and he tries to keep doing what worked for him in the past, so of course results fall short of expectations. Fast forward to this season, Coleman Scott injects new life to the program and we already see things changing for the better. It might be time for Iowa to do the same.

Don’t hate it, don’t love it. Not something I’d waste my time tweeting about. But on the contrary it apparently is something I’d respond to on a message board to give my neutral opinion about….

Imo Metcalfs while not overtly negative, doesnt exactly come accross and complimentary when talking about culture. Do you think Pearsall, Molinaro, Ruth, Hall, Vincenzo, or Berge would ever feel this current roster at PSU would look at them and think of them as traitors or a douche? Yet that is the sentiment at Iowa. Iowa craps on Schwab and Dresser all the time. That culture doesnt come out of nowhere. Gilman and Ramos were both "franchise" wrestlers for the hawkeyes. Regardless of the reason however valid/invalidmthey maybe its still troubling to me that a past team's biggest star later looks back at the program they came from with negative feelings. I'm kind of perplexed at how you dont see that as an issue that atleast somewhat paints the program in a negative light.

Only the top secret boxes at this point.

This. Hard nosed grinding isn't enough anymore with the evolvement of the sport. Do I think that TnT are absolutely capable of evolving with it? Yes. Do I think that they're too stubborn and think the Gable way of hard nosed grinding is still enough? Yes. This is EXACTLY the same thing with John Smith, imo. Bring in Coleman to get the program into the 21st century and adapt/evolve, and things take a turn for the better very quickly. Also brings a different mentality, not of a drill sergeant. As much as TnT and John like to think these athletes are "kids", they aren't...they're adults, and a lot of adults don't want to be screamed at or beat up constantly. Agree with whoever said they need to bring in some new blood (eg. Yianni). You can still keep Iowa Style, but again, it needs to evolve. NIL money can work wonders to bring in some top tier talent. As it relates to my other thread about "is it a mistake to transfer to Iowa", I think the convo there applies here as well. The grind that TnT and the old school/existing Iowa Style puts on guys is a lot. Transfers coming in from other conferences aren't used to the Iowa Style grind and a B1G schedule, and I'm sure it wears their bodies out. Cael has figured out a way to have his wrestlers in top physical condition and always performing at a high level without them thinking they're in the military. Sure, there are injuries, but nothing (especially long term a la Spencer) that isn't part of college wrestling. Iowa is still a premier program and anybody would be lucky to go there, but there is always room for improvement, especially when you're expecting to be the best every year.

Thanks for teeing that up for us. Besides the content, something noticeable to me that's also relevant to the topic is that Metcalf SOUNDS much different now than he used to when he was in "the bubble." He used to sound just like Tom Brands in his cadence and manner of speaking, now he sounds much different -- more like, I guess, Brent Metcalf.

Sadly people thought he was joking

Look who called it years ago.

Oh no ya got me. damn straight it is. Biden is a mental disaster and needs to step down for the safety of our country. Biden Disaster Syndrome is real.

It will be whomever Obama wants it to be.

Anyone but newsome. We will turn into a California shithole faster than we already are.

Go to about 20 min in.

There’s also the technical side. Ben and Max and Cael and co are evolving the sport. Funk, far ankle defense, understanding every nuance of every position. The Brands brothers are tremendous positional technicians, I’m just not sure they are evolving and they are definitely not great at coaching what to do once someone gets in our your legs. Their physical stature influences their style. It’s not for everyone.

Seems to me Cael applauds when he sees his wrestler put in great effort. He is a process guy.

We all know Cael has a plan, but the question is does Christian Pyles?

If he refuses Fornite because it for "kids" Settle it with Street Fighter 2.

Yes sir, just made the donation!

iowa's main problem is being in the unpleasant position of being the only team that gets compared to PSU in a meaningful way.

I'd rather transfer to Lock Haven than Iowa.

When I saw this live I threw up in my mouth seeing a joint bent that way. Immediately called work to let them know I’ll be out for the next week recovering from the psychological trauma of seeing that. This might be what gets this sport banned, and we’ll all be better for it.

This is the old, now regularly rehashed story coming out of Iowa. Yes TnT have great success, but they are dyed in the wool old guard coaches who are still reading from the same playbook gable handed them. They are the purest athlete distillate of the gable era, but without the athlete knowhow that gable has, and Cael clearly has too, just in a different way. If anyone on here has read Gable’s old coaching books, he talked tirelessly about the importance of understanding athletes as individuals, and maintaining the right headspace for the athlete. Now, he clearly only got a specific cross-section of the population coming to him, those who were willing to put up with him or who thought like him, bc wrestling is the outlet for his own internal rage. He just drove guys so hard and so emblematically that the style embossed itself on the sport for 40 years. Then Ben Askren came along, as the first glimmer of a different way, and Cael has meaningfully refined his approach to the mental side of things. It is so clear that PSU has figured out the mental side of approaching competition as fierce as wrestling, that everyone who touches the program improves. Listen to any of the (rare) interviews PSU guys give about mindset and the focus from Cael, they all deemphasize the heightened negative emotions associated with competition. The next major difference, I believe to be the largest, and also directly related to the mental side of things, is PSU attracts guys and they don’t leave. TnT meanwhile have burnt bridges right and left with their best athletes, tirelessly chasing the next thing instead of developing a good base of young graduates to support the ranks. They have a very bad (high) rate of eventually betraying their best guys or running them out of the program. Go back and look at their guys who have won ncaa titles during their tenure, and count how many are still involved in the Hawkeye program or have a good thing to say about those guys. The number is low. For anecdotal evidence, let’s individually remember the stories of metcalf, ramos, gilman, and spencer lee to name a few. I don’t know St John’s story, but they missed on him too. Ultimately, certain personalities and coaching strategies are short term effective, long term caustic. Others actually succeed in building positively in the long term. The old school coaches are on the way out, the new school are dominating the sport (askren and cael). They have a more comprehensive system which yields better outcomes, and it is really coming into sharp form with this cohort of athletes. We all know who the best coach ever is, he just hasn't been at it long enough to have accumulated the titles.

After that he yelled, like a crazy homeless person, “Not to put them on a pedestal!”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wouldn't this be a good time to check out that hide function?

Probably not the "part" of you that posted aggressively 2 hours before this last post of yours. If you're bipolar, it can be a real problem between your "parts." I have friends with your condition. I understand. I sincerely wish you nothing but the best.

Coaches want restart was gonna be ride out.

backboards or rims is prob what you want here He banked it off the Spalding or He put it thru the JayPro.

All the Iowa trolls are out in full force I see.

Unless someone quotes them then you see their comments anyway.

Vak, we need to settle this in Fortnite. don't give me no 'i'm an adult' bs

Both religion and wokeness are trumped by his hatred of a certain guy named Donald.

Let’s just revisit how dumb this statement was. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hello! Here is the link to Tarleton state donation page! https://donorbox.org/tarleton-state-wrestling

but I heard from someone that Ohio University has the best hospitality room for wrestling events because its catered by their culinary school or something

"went over to ex gf house"

For all the non-runners, this is like skipping worlds the year before and Pan Ams that year and hoping to qualify at global last chance even though you had 4 years to plan.

While we are all bitching, I'm here to complain that my buddy again narrowly missed making the olympic team yesterday because Team USA and their stupid goddamn blatant money grab known as the olympic team trials decided to put on a marathon in FLORIDA that didn't end until after NOON. Everyone dropped like flies and now we may only send two reps on the men's side because of the complex and difficult global selection process that was blatantly ***ducking** ignored and the women's side produced unexpected results to say the least via picking terrible race conditions. The athlete's issues were straight up ignored because they wanted some sweet money from NBC/Peacock. It would be the equivalent of having to weigh in at 65kg in order to compete at 74kg. ***ducking** travesty. End rant but I needed to complain outside my running bubble, please resume complaining about the Pan Am $ham.

BTW, hearing more about the process and what I hear is stupid. Not only are organizers requiring an entrant at the championship one week before the qualifier, they are talking about using the championship results to seed the qualifier which would force the same wrestler to enter both. Between that, if it happens, and our new challenge process we wind up aaking our top of the ladder to break their training cycle three times in a few weeks. And with the championship ending the 24th while the qualifier begins the 28th this is just stupid. By stupid I mean money grab.