ILLINIWrestlingBlog

I've got ~30 minutes left on my free Foxsports.com preview. I've decided to spend it on 184 - 285. Hype works! But here's where you come in: I need to know when 184 is about to start. Don't **** this up for me!

WHAT: ILLINI dual Purdue WHEN: Saturday, February 1 at 2:00 pm Central WHERE: Huff Hall ADMISSION: Free SPECIAL: Military Appreciation Day TV/STREAMING: BTN+ (subscription service) A DAY IN HISTORY It is February 16, 2024. You are almost stuck at home babysitting little brother, but Tomb Raider Remastered just came out, and you know that he and his salacious little weasel friends will be locked up in his room for 48 hours playing the game. Wendy suggested that you go with her to see Madame Web or Lisa Frankenstein. You told her [cough, cough] that you were sick. That's because you and the boys have planned a road trip to West Lafayette. Beyoncé's Texas Hold'Em is playing on the radio preset when you start the car, at least until you almost break your finger turning it off. Cheesy Burrito, your high school team's heavyweight, brought the new Ye piece, and he plugs it in. You're worried. You know this is a bruised and battered bunch of ILLINI taking the mat against Purdue. Lucas Byrd and now Joe Roberts are out for the year. On top of that, both Braunagels are taking Olympic redshirts. Freshmen Caelan Riley, Logan Swaw, Chris Moore and Peter Marinopoulos are in the lineup. Gulp! Oh, and you forgot, Isiah Pettigrew is playing the hero, coming back from in-season knee surgery. But somehow, you find yourself screaming as the ILLINI start taking care of business with a Pucino pin and a Ruth major. After 197, Purdue leads 18-16. You swore that Freshman "heavyweight" Peter Marinopoulos just tried to score with a flying squirrel. He did get two takedowns and a win, and ILLINOIS comes from behind for the 19-18 victory! Here's a link to the recap, and below you have the box score and a photo: 125: #1 Matt Ramos (PUR) tech. fall Caelan Riley (ILL), 17-1 (4:55) ILL 0 I PUR 5 133: #24 Tony Madrigal (ILL) dec. Dustin Norris (PUR), 7-2 ILL 3 I PUR 5 141: #25 Danny Pucino (ILL) pins Christian White (PUR), (6:10) ILL 9 I PUR 5 149: Marcos Polanco (PUR) dec. Jake Harrier (ILL), 10-8 ILL 9 I PUR 8 157: Isaac Ruble (PUR) dec. Logan Swaw (ILL), 5-1 ILL 9 I PUR 11 165: #31 Stoney Buell (PUR) major dec. Chris Moore (ILL), 11-3 ILL 9 I PUR 15 174: #8 Edmond Ruth (ILL) major dec. #32 Brody Baumann (PUR), 11-2 ILL 13 I PUR 15 184: Dylan Connell (ILL) dec. James Rowley (PUR), 5-3 ILL 16 I PUR 15 197: Ben Vanadia (PUR) dec. Isiah Pettigrew (ILL), 9-7 ILL 16 I PUR 18 285: Peter Marinopoulos (ILL) dec. Hayden Filipovich (PUR), 8-6 ILL 19 I PUR 18 THE TEAMS Wrestlestat.com predicts a 26-7 win for the good guys. The ILLINI are the #13 dual team in the country, while the Boilermakers are at #33. The Orange and Blue have an 8-3 record, 3-3 in conference, with wins over SIUE (41-3), Binghamton (30-10), Arizona State (37-6), Missouri (23-14), North Carolina (24-14), Indiana (34-3), Northwestern (33-7) and Maryland (33-7). The losses were to Ohio State (9-24), Iowa (6-28) and the criteria mishap with Rutgahs (15-16). Purdue is 8-3, 1-2 in conference. They have beaten Gardner-Webb (34-10), Buffalo (45-0), Princeton (26-15), Chattanooga (41-3), Cleveland State (35-9), Kent State (31-10), Northwestern (31-13) and NIU (29-8). They've lost to Army (19-20), Indiana (11-25) and Ohio State (10-24). INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS 125. #149 CAELAN RILEY vs. #2 Matt Ramos. The Boiler has a huge advantage in the rankings, in records versus common opponents, and in previous head-to-head results. In last year's dual, Ramos scored a tech fall against Riley. This year, the algorithm is predicting a major decision. Against a national finalist, that would be a fine, even expected result. Caelan got his first Big Ten dual win recently, so we can anticipate an improvement over last season's tech fall result. On the other hand, Ramos is 20-0 on the season with a 75% bonus rate that includes eleven tech falls. Caelan will need to fight against those tilts. 133. #3 LUCAS BYRD vs. #95 Dustin Norris. The Purdue kid is a quality wrestler undervalued at #95 by Wrestlestat.com. He was a teammate of Lucas' at La Salle in Cincinnati, Ohio and a 2x state champ. Norris is 6-7 on the year and 30-42 in his career, but he was recently on a five-win streak. That ended in his last two duals, which were a tech fall loss to Angelo Rini of Indiana and a loss by major decision to Nic Bouzakis. We are going to guess that the Boilermaker, as he's tall for the weight, might be having problems with the cut. He was at 100 pounds in 2017, then 106, then 113 and finally 126 in high school. Lucas has a decision and a major against him in their two dual matchups. Wrestlestat.com is predicting a 10-3 decision for the ILLINI. There is a massive disparity between their records against common opponents. Byrd is 32-1 against the same guys who hung an 8-23 record on Norris. 141. #18 DANNY PUCINO vs. #43 Greyson Clark. Unless he's a caped crusader with a secret identity, we think that no ILLINI should lose to a guy named Greyson. Unless it is at bridge or cribbage. Clark is 9-8 on the season with a commendable 26-18 career mark. At last year's dual, this was only a two-point win for Danny, so we will need the Irish Italian Turbo Leprechaun up for this match. The two have similar records against opponents, but Pucino has a perfect 6-0 record against Boilermakers, and that includes their former All American at this weight, Parker Filius. Wrestlestat.com is going with an 11-6 win for the good guy. Pucino is Purdue Kryptonite! 149. #10 KANNON WEBSTER vs. #122 Isaac Ruble. The Purdue kid wrestled 157 last season and had his best record at 8-4. That included a dual win over Logan Swaw. He's at 7-7 this year in a full-time starter's role. This weight seems to be less agreeable to him, as he's given up a fall and a major decision to D'Emilio and Cartella from OSU and Northwestern. Ruble tried a slow standing granby against D'Emilio, and the Buckeye was waiting with a half-nelson to get the fall. The Boiler is a leg rider. The best wrestler he's beaten at this weight is #84, and he also lost to that guy on the same day. Wrestlestat.com is predicting a major for the stud from Washington. 157. #46 JASON KRAISSER vs. #10 Joey Blaze. The algorithm points in the other direction in this match, predicting a regular decision for Blaze. They have remarkably similar 6-7 and 6-8 records against common opponents with Kraisser's mark slightly better than his opponent's. But it is Blaze with the current 13-3 record (30-15 career) and a pretty recent 2-0 win over Peyton Keller of Ohio. He also beat Trevor Chumbley, Peyton Robb and Ed Scott last season. He's got some very good wins, and during the last two years, he seems to always beat the wrestler in front of him unless they are ranked at least #20. Wrestlestat.com is predicting a relatively easy 10-6 win for him, but does that include mad scrambles? Against good opponents, Blaze likes the long scrambles that are opportunities for Cardiac Kraisser. The remainder and a full unedited version at this link.

ELO Also known as the Electric Light Orchestra. Not my type of music, but I got their greatest hits recommended on YouTube and, wow, they were impossibly good. I think of all the love given by music critics to the Beach Boys, and, my dude, it all should’ve gone to ELO. Five of the first six songs on the greatest hits video below are better than anything the Beach Boys ever put out. Actually, there’s an entire hour of music in that video better than anything done by the Beach Boys. This is a digression, but the Beach Boys really piss me off. The United States had Elvis, then England had the Beatles. We needed an answer, and what we came up with, to the eternal shame of our spotless minds, was the Beach Boys. An example. They had a Christmas song called “Little Saint Nick.” There’s an atonal lyric in it that goes like this: “Christmas comes this time each year.” Think about that. No wait! Don’t think about it! It will corrupt your brain. Educational, yes, but doesn’t it make you want to choke out a Beach Boy? Sure it does. Don’t ******* lie to me. Digression complete. I’m especially grooving to ELO’s Livin’ Thing, which is the second song on the greatest hits video below. It has everything. Flamenco, orchestra, opera, pop, rock, ABBA, doo wop, Victorian chords. I think the sixth or seventh or eighth best song among ELO’s greatest hits was a banger called Mr. Blue Sky that was used in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the super-underrated Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. ELO’s sixth or seventh or eighth best song is good enough to play, in its entirety, to start a movie in a multi-billion-dollar franchise. If you can’t dance along with Baby Groot to it, then you’ve been dead for a week, and brother we know it’s been at least a week because after only six days, your skeleton would get up and jangle about on its own. Lately, I’ve played ELO's greatest hits video for hours and hours without an advertisement:

New Yokozuna: Hoshoryu!

I've never thought about any connection, but I would bet that you are right. In America, football steals many top athletes on the portly side. In Japan, they have schoolboy nationwide Sumo tournaments and championships. Being a university grand champion is very prestigious. They have their own throwing-type folkstyle in Mongolia. Yes, I think that there is at least some loss to Sumo.

I hope that that is what happens. I'm a little leery of this: "The association will make the upgrade official on Wednesday at a meeting on wrestler rankings for the next tournament and an extraordinary meeting of its board of directors." The Japanese Sumo Association will make the final call. What benefits Hoshoryu is that there can be multiple Yokozunas at the same time, and there are Japanese wrestlers who will be striving for it very soon. Kotozakura missed out in this basho--if he had won or finished runner up--but he had a losing record! Glad to hear you are getting some local Sumo love from those American broadcasters. I saw Tochinoshin fight many times. He was a monster who made it all the way up to Ozeki, second highest rank, before leg problems derailed him. His crowd-pleasing hold was to bear hug an opponent and carry him just outside the ring and drop him. That is actually something to see when it is actual, real wrestling with somebody fighting against you, and not American pro wrestling. Cheers!

We haven't posted about Sumo recently because there has been abysmal Sumo coverage on YouTube. The Japanese broadcasting company with the rights to show the tournaments clamped down on anybody publishing videos of their product. Thankfully, NHK has started putting out English language broadcasts of the 15-day tournaments. This was the perfect time to sell your product in America. There is going to be a changing of the guard. The great Yokozuna Terunofuji retired after a bad start in this tournament. He was a favorite of ours. So, his retirement was a sad event. But he had bad knees. It was time. But there was also a new hope: Hoshoryu. He ended up winning this basho with a 12-3 record followed by a win in a three-man playoff. The council that decides Yokozuna promotion will consider whether he will be elevated to that highest rank. He has another recent tournament win in his favor, and he has been amazingly consistent in obtaining winning records in bashos over a long period of time. His uncle was a Yokozuna. He has a style reminiscent of the greatest Yokozuna of all, Hakuhō. His recent Sumo has been dominant and exciting, and Sumo needs a Yokozuna. But the council that decides the promotion must also look at his negatives. First of all, he is Mongolian, and the Japanese have hungered for a Japanese Yokozuna for quite some time. This is not part of the promotion equation, but you have to feel that it will be an undercurrent. Secondly, his recent performances have been very, very good but not the domination you want to see from your Yokozuna. He won this basho at 12-3. He was runner-up in the tournament before that with a 13-2 record. This is all very good, but in the tournament before that, he was 8-7 and lost to many basic rikishi. Before that, he was 9-4-2 and before that 10-5. Is that Yoko material? To put it into some perspective, the now-retired Yokozuna Terunofuji won or finished runner-up in six of the seven bashos right before he was promoted to the highest rank. Finally, Hoshoryu also has a total of two basho wins and two runner-ups in 27 upper-division tournaments. Is that Yoko material? Probably not, but he's one of my top two favorite Sumo wrestlers, so I'll be rooting for his promotion. My gut tells me that they will wait for one more tournament to see how he does. On another subject, the three-rikishi playoff showcased not only the potential new Yokozuna Hoshoryu, but also Oho and Kinbozan. Oho is Japanese, and he's always had the talent, but he's never fully achieved the results that his talent demands. In this tournament, he did. Interestingly, in his very first professional tournament back in 2018, Oho had to face another debutant named Hoshoryu. And Oho beat him! The other player in the three-person playoff was Kinbozan, a native of Kazakhstan. He came pretty much out of nowhere to reach the top on the leaderboard on the final day. He has the height and the weight (6'5" and nearly 400 pounds), but except for his first tournament in the upper division where he finished 11-4, he had a losing record in six out of nine bashos. In fact, he was demoted to a lower division a couple tournaments ago and had to win his way back to the spotlight. The big question for him is this: Will he become the most famous Kazakhstan wrestler in the future, or will that always be Borat? GLOSSARY: SUMO -- Japanese wrestling in a raised ring. YOKOZUNA -- Highest rank in Sumo. RIKISHI -- Sumo wrestler. NHK -- The Japanese broadcasting company with the rights to upper-division Sumo. BASHO -- Sumo tournament.

I think that Kraisser's defensive fall was a good no call. Sure, Jason was reaching back and had both hands locked around Conner Harer's neck, and Harer's back was flat on the mat for a couple of seconds with the ref right there to see it all, but, man, you can't call the defensive pin against the home guy in his home gym. Great call! I thought it was a fantastic entertaining dual. One of life's great blessings is to see Lucas Byrd hit an ankle pick that sends his opponent's butt to the mat as if it was dropped from Space. For me, it's like the first flower blooming in Spring. The ILLINI needed a bunch of the takedowns that they were one or two ergs away from getting. Credit to Rutger's stingy defense, and their granby rolls. They grow excellent tumblers in Joisy. Webster and Scoles aren't completely back yet, but the team took a month off in December. Hope they dialed in the right time to peak like it is a Moon landing. Edmond Ruth will have to explain to my doctor why I have high blood pressure, and, finally, Zac and Poz was a war.

RESULTS: Weight Matchup Score 125: Caelan Riley (ILL) dec. Abram Cline (MARY), 10-5 ILL 3 I MARY 0 133: #4 Lucas Byrd (ILL) dec. #11 Braxton Brown (MARY), 7-3 ILL 6 I MARY 0 141: #12 Danny Pucino (ILL) dec. Dario Lemus (MARY), 8-5 ILL 9 I MARY 0 149: #12 Kannon Webster (ILL) over #32 Kal Miller (MARY), fall (4:39) ILL 15 I MARY 0 157: #6 Ethen Miller (MARY) major dec. #22 Jason Kraisser (ILL), 15-6 ILL 15 I MARY 4 165: #13 Braeden Scoles (ILL) tech. fall Alex Uryniak (MARY), 20-3 (3:15) ILL 20 I MARY 4 174: #21 Danny Braunagel (ILL) tech. fall Branson John (MARY), 22-7 (5:24) ILL 25 I MARY 4 184: #13 Jaxon Smith (MARY) dec. #10 Edmond Ruth (ILL), 4-3 ILL 25 I MARY 7 197: #18 Zac Braunagel (ILL) tech. fall Chase Mielnik (MARY), 20-4 (3:55) ILL 30 I MARY 7 285: #10 Luke Luffman (ILL) dec. #12 Seth Nevills (MARY), 4-2 ILL 33 I MARY 7 That was a whuppin'. Maryland started out 3-0 in the Big Ten, but that came to a screeching halt. Braxton Brown, Seth Nevills, Jaxon Smith and Ethen Miller are quality wrestlers. They just happened to wrestle at weights were the ILLINI have a better stud, or the ILLINI were good enough to keep the matches close. Close-ish in the Miller/Kraisser matchup considering Miller is ranked #6 and is undefeated now at 16-0. Luffman and Byrd are stacking top ten and top fifteen victories. I think Kal Miller is a darn good wrestler, but we got OG Webster tonight. Glad to see Caelan Riley get his first B1G dual win. He also accounted for multiple takedowns. That should help the confidence quite a bit. Big match with Rutgers on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how they respond to their PSU beatdown. GO ILLINI!!!* *GO ILLINI intended in the most fair and impartial journalistic manner.

It is on the ESPN+ schedule, but it is a mistake. Oklahoma wrestles Northern Iowa on Saturday.

I once did a graphic about how the ILLINI shouldn't fear the turtle, they should kill the turtle! Can't find it now. Cheers and GO ILLINI!!!

Expect a Double Bonus Special Issue on this topic in the Sunday Funnies.

WHAT: The ILLINI dual Maryland WHEN: Friday, January 24 at 6:00 pm Central WHERE: College Park, Maryland TV/STREAMING: BTN+ (subscription service) STREAK: The ILLINI are 8-0 in the series WHY WE HATE MARYLAND I'm having a rage seizure thinking about this state. The name sounds like a cheesy amusement park or Putt-Putt course. Maryland was actually named after a lady who wasn't even technically a queen because she was the wrong religion and was never coronated and then fled England as soon as her husband's head was chopped off. Moreover, there's this phrase, "a bunch of Mary's." It refers to a group of men who won't fight or who don't fight well. Perfect. Finally, the state had THE IDEAL OPPORTUNITY to change its name. In 1776, there was a freaking revolution! You can bet that it was discussed at high-level meetings, and a bunch of Mary's probably chimed in with, "Well, it's already on all the stationery." THE RUTGERS MATCH Maryland will only have one match this weekend. The ILLINI will have two. After traveling to College Park for that dual, they'll need to hit Piscataway, New Jersey for a dual with Rutgers on Sunday at Noon Central. ILLINOIS is 3-2 all time against the Scarlet Knights. In a tweet discussing the top tier of the conference, Shane Sparks gave them bulletin board material by putting the Orange and Blue above the team from Jersey. On the other hand, Wrestlestat.com is going with a 16-15 win for the bad guys. There will be great matches up and down the lineup, but wins from the Brawlnagels and Luuuuke Luffman will be key to victory. SCOUTING MARYLAND The ILLINI are #13 according to Wrestle.com and have a 7-2 dual record with wins over SIUE (41-3), Binghamton (30-10), Arizona State (37-6), Missouri (23-14), North Carolina (24-14), Indiana (34-3) and Northwestern (33-7). The losses were to Ohio State (9-24) and Iowa (6-28). Maryland is 8-5, and for the first time, starts the B1G season 3-0. They have a team ranking of #28 on Wrestlestat.com. The Terps have wins over Kent State (29-10), Bucknell (26-11), American (38-0), Morgan State (43-3), Michigan (19-18), Michigan State (27-11) and Wisconsin (24-13). Losses were to Pitt (12-25), Rider (17-18), SDSU (7-27), Binghamton (10-28) and Columbia (18-19). We're not sure which dual box score would be the most relevant to our discussion, maybe the loss to common opponent Binghamton, but we know which one is the funniest, so we'll show the win over Michigan: 125: Christian Tanefeu major dec. (12-4) Tyler Garvin (Michigan 4, Maryland 0) 133: No. 14/15 Braxton Brown fall (5:45) Nolan Wertanen (Maryland 6, Michigan 4) 141: No. 12/9 Sergio Lemley dec. (6-3) Dario Lemus (Michigan 7, Maryland 6) 149: No. 29/32 Kal Miller dec. (4-3) No. 28 Derek Gilcher dec. (Maryland 9, Michigan 7) 157: No. 6/8 Ethen Miller dec. (4-2) No. 16/19 Chase Saldate (Maryland 12, Michigan 7) 165: No. 26 Beau Mantanona dec. (6-4) Alex Uryniak (Maryland 12, Michigan 10) 174: No. 32 Branson John dec. (5-4) No. 25 Joseph Walker (Maryland 15, Michigan 10) 184: No. 13/11 Jaxon Smith dec. (4-1) No. 19 Jaden Bullock (Maryland 18, Michigan 10) 197: No. 3/2 Jacob Cardenas tech fall (15-0, 4:54) Chase Mielnik (Maryland 18, Michigan 15) 285: No. 10/12 Josh Heindselman dec. (4-2) No. 13/14 Seth Nevills (Maryland 18, Michigan 18) ***the Terps earned a point on criteria for the pin at 133, making the final score 19-18 in favor of Maryland A DAY IN HISTORY It's January 30, 2015. At the movies, you can choose between American Sniper, Project Almanac and Paddington. You're thinking that Paddington would be so awesome if you were like four. Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift are playing on the radio. Not your cup of tea. But the day will turn out to be nearly perfect as you head to Huff Hall to catch the ILLINI wrestling team put a Chicago back alley beatdown on Maryland. You get to see Jesse Delgado and IMAR on the same team along with Zane Richards, Jackson Morse, Steven Rodrigues and Zac Brunson, all of whom were, or would become, All Americans, although seeing Delgado in that shoulder brace kinda makes you sad. How did that ILLINI team not win the NCAA tournament? The Maryland wrestling team must be thinking the same thing as they get beat 3-32. IMAR and Morse get tech falls, while Zane rolls up a major. It is a good day. Here's a link to the recap; the box score and video highlights are below: #4 Illinois 32, Maryland 3 157: #2 Isaiah Martinez (ILL) over Lou Mascola (MARY) (TF 20-4, 4:32) 165: #8 Jackson Morse (ILL) over Tyler Manion (MARY) (TF 18-2, 4:15) 174: #8 Zac Brunson (ILL) over Josh Snook (MARY) (Dec 4-1) 184: #18 Nikko Reyes (ILL) over Tony Gardner (MARY) (Dec 6-2) 197: Jeff Koepke (ILL) over Rob Fitzgerald (MARY) (Dec 4-3) 285: Brooks Black (ILL) over #13 Spencer Myers (MARY) (TB1 2-1) 125: #1 Jesse Delgado (ILL) over Josh Polacek (MARY) (Dec 3-2) 133: #2 Zane Richards (ILL) over #16 Geoffrey Alexander (MARY) (MD 14-4) 141: #13 Steven Rodrigues (ILL) over Shyhiem Brown (MARY) (Dec 3-2) 149: Ben Dorsay (MARY) over Kyle Langenderfer (ILL) (Dec 3-1) THE INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS 125. #173 CAELAN RILEY vs. #165 Tyler Garvin. This is Caelan's time. Wrestlestat.com is predicting an 11-5 win for the kid from Lockport. That's not just a win, but a blowout! Garvin is a true Freshman with a 4-13 recored and a current nine-match losing streak. He has beaten the #74 wrestler from American, though, so Caelan will need to be sharp. THE REST AT THIS LINK.

... MEANWHILE ON OTHEREARTH

You are not a careful observer. You are, in fact, the old man in a loose and negligently-tied bathrobe who greets the Girl Scout selling cookies at the door of defective conclusions. In our preview of the dual, we concluded: The ILLINI will be underdogs in this match. We think it will take something similar to what UNI did to Nebraska in their recent dual meet. There, the Panther train won all the close matches. Obviously, that didn't happen. Yes, the ILLINI got swamped in this one. Congratulations to Iowa for losing two matches, getting a major upset, and winning two other matches by one point, while the ILLINI 125er just had surgery on his neck, and while the Hawkeyes won two more matches that were basically decided by a takedown. At least we got a banger video out of all of this:

RADIUS (2017) Here I continue my journey through the 100 best free movies on YouTube according to Rotten Tomatoes. Radius is #66 in the top 100, and it is supposed to be a Sci-Fi thriller that is also part mystery. It has a 93% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The synopsis provides: "When he wakes up after a car accident and doesn't have a memory, a man makes his way into town to look for help. As he heads to town to look for help, he discovers dead bodies that have strange pale eyes." This movie was awful stinky garbage trash. The Science Fiction was stupid and pointless except as a plot device for a cringe plot. The acting was horrible. The pace was a crawl, and the special effects were worse than or equal to the special effects that I personally apply to a two-minute video about ILLINI heavyweight wrestler Luke Luffman. The only mystery offered by this movie is how the **** it received a positive recommendation from 93% of the film critics who reviewed it. I was so stunned by the awfulness of it — I felt so scammed by it — that I was determined to solve this mystery. I believe that I did. The first clue was in the movie credits. As they roll by, you learn that the movie was made in Canada by Canadians who worked for a Canadian production company. It was filmed entirely in Canada. Moreover, it received a special tax exemption from the Canadian government. The second and final clue came from the critics who reviewed the movie. You actually have to dig a little deeper than the reviews themselves. You see, Canadians look a lot like us, they sound and write like us, but they are not us. They are Canadian. Never forget that. To solve the mystery, you have to go beyond the reviews and google the names of the critics. Approximately 80% of them are citizens of Canada or the UK, which is what I call "Stuck up Canada." The American critics who recommended this pig slop were from Minnesota and Oregon, which are like mini-Canadas without the hockey and good manners. It's sad that these folks would destroy their credibility because of geography, I write, as a writer for the ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus, but that's the world we live in. My hypocrisy is fine, yours, when it affects me in a negative way, is the worst thing ever!

You are providing a masterclass in the use of adjectives. Bravo!

A chilled mug of Hawkeye tears.

Add your favorite duals here. Heck, you could include this year's ILLINI win over Arizona State. That was a thing of beauty! I will add duals to the thread as well. You could also include most memorable duals. I have a couple of those in my brain that didn't end up with an ILLINI win but were full of excitement in one way or another. To jog your memory, you can go to FightingILLINI.com and find the opponent on the schedule for this year or all the way back to 1998-1999 and look up their history against the Orange and Blue. As an example, this is the history for duals against Missouri. There are both memorable and favorite duals in that history!

A DAY IN HISTORY It is February 12, 2012. You check to see what's playing at the theaters, and it's all trash. The top four movies are Safe House, The Vow, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and perhaps the most disappointing film ever released, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. You put the newspaper down in disgust. There's nothing happening on Snapchat, so you turn on the radio just in time to hear Casey Kasem's American's Top Forty as it runs through the top three in ascending order: Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson and Adele with Set Fire to the Rain. You put a hammer through the radio. It was made for cheap in Korea like your car and The Simpsons. And you try to remember when America made things, and then you remember that America makes great wrestlers, and you'll get to see some of them today as the #6 ILLINI are in the NWCA National Duals Regional Finals. They face #5 Cornell in cold and ugly Ithaca, New York. The dual starts out with that new Freshman sensation Jesse Delgado facing off against All American Frank Perelli of Cornell. Delgado is coming off an upset of #1 Matt McDonough in Iowa City, so you have your fingers crossed. You keep them crossed because this is a Flo stream. And there's the 8-3 win for the Cali Kid! He might turn out to be pretty good some day. At 133, All American BJ Futrell absolutely mauls an Arujau with a tech fall. Things are shaping up. You almost forget that Adele has the #1 song in America and that Jar Jar Binks exists. The team from ILLINOIS needed to win three of the four matches to start off the meet. They do. They needed that because the Big Red (named after chewing gum?) have #1 Kyle Dake, #5 Steve Bosak and #1 Cam Simaz later in their lineup. Jackson Morse actually takes Dake down in that match and the excitement is through the roof! He ends up losing 4-6, but there is no bonus. There is a window of opportunity here. All Americans Conrad Polz and Jordan Blanton win their matches for ILLINOIS at 165 and 174. But now we've hit the real tough stretch of the dual, as #5 Bosak and #1 Cam Simaz are warming up. But Head Coach Jim Heffernan pulls a fast one. He moves up his Sophomore 197-pounder to heavyweight to take on the Cornell Senior. It pays off! Mario Gonzalez wins, and the ILLINI take the dual! #6 Illinois 19, #5 Cornell 16 125 No. 6 Jesse Delgado (ILL) dec. No. 6 Frank Perrelli (COR), 8-3 133 No. 5 BJ Futrell (ILL) tech fall Naryman Arujau (COR), 18-3, 6:08 141 Mike Nevinger (COR) maj. dec. Daryl Thomas (ILL), 9-0 149 No. 17 Eric Terrazas (ILL) dec. Chris Villalonga (COR), 3-1 157 No. 1 Kyle Dake (COR) dec. Jackson Morse (ILL), 6-4 165 No. 9 Conrad Polz (ILL) dec. Marshall Peppelman (COR), 8-3 174 No. 12 Jordan Blanton (ILL) dec. William George (COR), 7-6 184 No. 5 Steve Bosak (COR) dec. Tony Dallago (ILL), 4-0 197 No. 1 Cam Simaz (COR) pinned Martin Smith (ILL), 3:31* HWT No. 14 Mario Gonzalez (ILL) dec. Maciej Jochym (COR), 8-2 -------------------------- This is my second-favorite ILLINI dual of all time. Part of the reason for it is that the win catapulted the Orange and Blue into the National Duals Final Four. Also, it was just a freaking great match. The NWCA National Duals brought excitement to the sport. I would love to see them happen again, and I would suggest that February is the best time. The way to bring back the National Duals is to have teams like ILLINOIS, Missouri, Cornell, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, NC State, Penn, Pitt, Northern Iowa and other highly-ranked teams all show up. Then, the champion gets to parade around for the rest of the year as NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. See how long Professor Carl and the Brandos keep their teams from becoming NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

A DAY IN HISTORY It is February 12, 2012. You check to see what's playing at the theaters, and it's all trash. The top four movies are Safe House, The Vow, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and perhaps the most disappointing film ever released, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace. You put the newspaper down in disgust. There's nothing happening on Snapchat, so you turn on the radio just in time to hear Casey Kasem's American's Top Forty as it runs through the top three in ascending order: Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson and Adele with Set Fire to the Rain. You put a hammer through the radio. It was made for cheap in Korea like your car and The Simpsons. And you try to remember when America made things, and then you remember that America makes great wrestlers, and you'll get to see some of them today as the #6 ILLINI are in the NWCA National Duals Regional Finals. They face #5 Cornell in cold and ugly Ithaca, New York. The dual starts out with that new Freshman sensation Jesse Delgado facing off against All American Frank Perelli of Cornell. Delgado is coming off an upset of #1 Matt McDonough in Iowa City, so you have your fingers crossed. You keep them crossed because this is a Flo stream. And there's the 8-3 win for the Cali Kid! He might turn out to be pretty good some day. At 133, All American BJ Futrell absolutely mauls an Arujau with a tech fall. Things are shaping up. You almost forget that Adele has the #1 song in America and that Jar Jar Binks exists. The team from ILLINOIS needed to win three of the four matches to start off the meet. They do. They needed that because the Big Red (named after chewing gum?) have #1 Kyle Dake, #5 Steve Bosak and #1 Cam Simaz later in their lineup. Jackson Morse actually takes Dake down in that match and the excitement is through the roof! He ends up losing 4-6, but there is no bonus. There is a window of opportunity here. All Americans Conrad Polz and Jordan Blanton win their matches for ILLINOIS at 165 and 174. But now we've hit the real tough stretch of the dual, as #5 Bosak and #1 Cam Simaz are warming up. But Head Coach Jim Heffernan pulls a fast one. He moves up his Sophomore 197-pounder to heavyweight to take on the Cornell Senior. It pays off! Mario Gonzalez wins, and the ILLINI take the dual! #6 Illinois 19, #5 Cornell 16 125 No. 6 Jesse Delgado (ILL) dec. No. 6 Frank Perrelli (COR), 8-3 133 No. 5 BJ Futrell (ILL) tech fall Naryman Arujau (COR), 18-3, 6:08 141 Mike Nevinger (COR) maj. dec. Daryl Thomas (ILL), 9-0 149 No. 17 Eric Terrazas (ILL) dec. Chris Villalonga (COR), 3-1 157 No. 1 Kyle Dake (COR) dec. Jackson Morse (ILL), 6-4 165 No. 9 Conrad Polz (ILL) dec. Marshall Peppelman (COR), 8-3 174 No. 12 Jordan Blanton (ILL) dec. William George (COR), 7-6 184 No. 5 Steve Bosak (COR) dec. Tony Dallago (ILL), 4-0 197 No. 1 Cam Simaz (COR) pinned Martin Smith (ILL), 3:31* HWT No. 14 Mario Gonzalez (ILL) dec. Maciej Jochym (COR), 8-2 -------------------------- This is my second-favorite ILLINI dual of all time. Part of the reason for it is that the win catapulted the Orange and Blue into the National Duals Final Four. Also, it was just a freaking great match. The NWCA National Duals brought excitement to the sport. I would love to see them happen again, and I would suggest that February is the best time. The way to bring back the National Duals is to have teams like ILLINOIS, Missouri, Cornell, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, NC State, Penn, Pitt, Northern Iowa and other highly-ranked teams all show up. Then, the champion gets to parade around for the rest of the year as NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. See how long Professor Carl and the Brandos keep their teams from becoming NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.

Vincent Robinson and Kannon Webster had battles in high school. They crossed paths at a lot of tournaments. Now, we've seen Webster gain weight (and especially height) and Robinson wrestle smaller. I'm actually pretty shocked at what Vincent is doing, and not because he doesn't have talent, he's got loads of that. It just seemed that in every big match he got hurt. Whether it was real or just a lung timeout, I don't know. He had the knee pads, braces or something. I've faked injury in the past to get a sweet lung timeout, so I'm not calling him out for that. Do what you gotta do. He's obviously sorted everything out in his head, and if that's the case, he's gonna be dynamite. Cheers!