ILLINIWrestlingBlog

I wanted to ask a bunch of people for interviews, but those guys from the 2005 Big Ten Championship wrestling team were there to celebrate their season, and you just know that every second they get to spend together is gold. If by MJ you mean Mark Jayne, I've been trying to get an interview with him for about 2 years! LOL!

LOL! That was my podcast partner Brian "Voice of the ILLINI" Swaw. He was really good last year, and he sounded even better tonight. Brian used to do talk radio, so he's a real pro. He has energy, is super knowledgeable about wrestling and a great sense of humor. The student announcer sounded like the same undergrad from last year. He has also gotten better. There was one "play" in there, but for the most part, he was on top of things. Plus, he's got Brian to shepherd him through the process.

Thanks for the play-by-play for everybody who couldn't watch. It was fun to relive the match in my mind with what y'all posted. The team came to wrestle. Loved their fight! I was skeptical of a wrestling meet in a tent, especially since it snowed in Champaign this morning, but with tailgaters for football, they've got it down to a Science. Saw your pickleball buddy Zane Richards tonight. He is impressive every time. Big smiles from me after that dual!

About the Scoles/Steed match, it did seem like a head injury for a time, then a knee injury. Steed has a brace on one leg and a sleeve on the other. I never boo when a wrestler takes an injury timeout, as I used to pretend to have been hit in the groin area all the time, and I'm a very convincing actor. But my resolve to be a good fan was seriously challenged when Steed got up and hit a lightning-quick double on the restart. Later, you could see him limping around. Steed won the battle on the feet, but Scoles' relentless pressure and riding abilities and the injury were too much. ILLINI fans get to see the Webster and Scoles show for four years. Wow! For Scoles' ELO and rankings, I will be a Cam Steed fan for the rest of the year unless they meet again. As for the dual itself, I had a blast! This is IMAR and AOC talking to some VIPs after the match (I can't camera very well):

YOU ARE THE FIRE!

I WANT TO STEAL THAT.

My Podcast partner calls ILLINI home meets on BTN+. He talks to the coaches a couple of days before each dual. Based on the lineups the coaches gave him, expect Riley and Walker.

I would. It was 5-2 for The Tool in the middle of the third period with Brawlnagel an inch away from scoring a reversal. That would've made it 5-4. Somehow the Tiger didn't give up the reversal here and secured a cradle:

BTN+

Loved it! But I've loved all of his nonfiction books. I've been to Charleston and Fort Sumter twice, and that trip blew me away both times. The Larson book that I'd recommend to start with is The Devil in the White City. The way he weaves storylines together and then throws in historical trivia is a style I have tried to emulate. For example, in The Devil in the White City, he tells us about a serial killer in Chicago during the 1893 World's Fair while also describing how the fairgrounds were built, the first Ferris Wheel, and especially the insane gardening that had to be done, and why the Hell haven't they got me those damn Peonies yet! Oh, and then the killer strikes again. Besides being a Dickens fanboy, I also love me some Douglas Adams. Yes, the Hitchhikers, but now I'm fixated on the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency series. Maybe because I've re-read them most recently? I curse the coronary artery disease that killed him at such a young age.

A couple of asides, wrestling fans should follow Edmond Ruth on Instagram. He's doing lots of funny short videos on cutting weight, training partners, etc. He shows his filmmaking prowess, too. One of Edmonds videos has 9.1 million views. A new favorite is the Braeden Scoles Fan Page. I don't know who is behind it (I secretly suspect Kannon Webster), but it is funny as well. Of course, the little king of social media is Lucas Byrd. They've been featured on bar stool sports among other places. This account is a trip! His partner and he have almost 400k followers. Tickets to the match include a buffet dinner, entertainment (unfortunately no strippers) and a great dual. They are almost sold out.

125. Ramazan Attasauov v. Noah Surtin. To paraphrase what Hiram Roth said to Michael Corleone: If Ramazan shows up at weight, I know we have a 125 pounder. If he doesn't, I know we don't. I expect Riley against Walker based on what the coaches have said. The ILLINI are 0-3 in duals at this weight. File under people grow differently: Caelan Riley beat Missouri's 165er Cameron Steed in the 17u Nationals five years ago at 106 pounds. ILL-0; MIZZ-3. 133. Lucas Byrd v. Kaden Moore. The Tiger is a tough kid, but he medical forfeited his last match at the Tiger Style Invite, then lost to UNC's McGonagle 0-3. Lucas gets the train started, as the ILLINI need to win these lower weights. ILL-3; MIZZ-3. 141. Danny Pucino v. Josh Edmond. My Upset Special! Edmond won 10-5 in last year's dual, but Pucino is trending up, while Edmond is trending down. ILL-6; MIZZ-3. 149. Kannon Webster v. Logan Gioffre. What was a pretty close match last season is now a major decision or close to it. ILL-9; MIZZ-3. 157. Jason Kraisser v. James Conway. The Tiger is 0-7 in duals. Make that 0-8. ILL-12; MIZZ-3. 165. Braeden Scoles v. Cam Steed. To me, this is the most intriguing match in the dual. Both are undefeated big-boarder 4x state champion prospects. Scoles is 6-0 and 100% bonus. Steed is 5-0 with 80% bonus. ILL-15; MIZZ-3 174. Danny Braunagel v. Keegan The Tool. I call him "The Tool" because everybody can't like Keegan. That's un-American! Anyway, very close match two years ago at the Tiger Style Invite until late in the third period when Keegan got the pinfall. ILL-15; MIZZ-7. 184. Edmond Ruth v. Colton Hawks. This could be the most exciting match of the dual. Ruth is majoring in Film and loves drama. He's 10-2 in overtime matches in his career. Hawks can shoot from distance but also likes to tie up. Will he tie up with Ruth? Going with clutch Edmond to win. ILL-18; MIZZ-7. 197. Zac Braunagel v. Aeoden Sinclair. This was going to be the headline match but Rocky Elam is reportedly a no show. He didn't wrestle until December last year. Sinclair is another blue chipper, but Zac won Fargo and Pan Ams and all those state championships, too. Plus, he's a handfighting legend. ILL-21; MIZZ-7. 285. Luke Luffman v. Seth Nitzel. I see Nitzel as a smaller version of Zach Elam or Lucas Davison. I think Luuuuke has speed, weight, agility, flexibility and experience advantages. Nitzel may be stronger, but he'll have to prove that on the mat. ILL-24; MIZZ-7. Missouri has real chances to win at 141 (where they're the paper favorite), 165 and 184. If the Tigers win all three, that would make it MIZZ-16, ILL-15. Wrestlestat.com has the Tigers winning 19-13, but that includes Rocky Elam wrestling and Seth Nitzel beating Luke Luffman. On December 7, we are more likely to see the full ILLINI and Missouri lineups at the Cougar Clash. Less than 100 tickets remain for this Dinner/Entertainment/Wrestling event.

I'm going to leave this here and run:

Video predictions alongside "The Voice of the ILLINI" Brian Swaw. The dual is tomorrow, and it will be an extravaganza. Brian will be on the call for BTN+. If you can't make it in person, watch on that network.

I think that that is true. If I find out that I'm wrong, I'll correct it. There's a 24% chance of "snow showers" Thursday evening with a high of 37° and 24 mph gusts. Perfect tent weather! From the ILLINI website: Fighting Illini Wrestling Dinner Theatre Event Date: Thursday, November 21, 2024 at 7:00 pm Facility: Lot 31 - Stadium Club *Ticket prices are subject to change until added to the cart. Join the Fighting Illini Wrestling team for a unique experience, Wrestling Dinner Theater! The Illini host the Missouri Tigers on Nov. 21 in the Lot 31 Stadium Club. Tickets include a buffet dinner, and pre-match entertainment. The event will also honor the 20th Anniversary of the 2005 Big Ten Championship team. Doors open at 5 PM, entertainment at 5:30 PM and the meet starts at 7 PM.

I have read every book and short story and every article written by Charles Dickens. It was popular to publish anonymous editorials and opinion articles during his day, so I might have missed one or two of those. I like to go back and re-read all of his books. He is my #1 hero. Since it's the season, I'm going to drop a short video I did about A Christmas Carol here: A smidgen of a transcript: I. What Was Dickens Trying to Do? In the first ten sentences of a very short book about Christmas, Charles Dickens used the words "undertaker," "mourners," "burial," "coffin," "deadest" and "unhallowed." But it doesn't end there. In those same ten sentences, which were short sentences for Dickens--one consisted of a single word--he also managed to squeeze in the word "dead" four times! In the eleventh sentence, there's another "dead"! Who gets away with that in a story about Christmas? It's like a children's story about ducks and ponies and vampires.

Jeez. That last bit posted like a long Poem. I hope it's more interesting than that. Sorry! Cheers!

WHO: ILLINI v. Missouri Dual WHAT: Home Opener and a Big Party! WHEN: Thursday, November 21 @ 7 pm (Central) WHERE: Lot 31, Stadium Club (near Memorial Stadium) TV/STREAMING: BTN+ (subscription service; $12.99/month) LIVE STATS: Link to Stats (Free; Trackwrestling) TICKETS: Link to Tickets A DAY IN HISTORY It was just an awful day. February 10, 2000, a Thursday. We had all come to grips with the fact that the entire world could be shut down because of one coding error. Sure, Y2K didn't happen, but it left us emotionally scarred and wary. Even worse, Jim Varney the gifted thespian known for such movies as Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Saves Christmas and Ernest Goes to Camp died on this day at the age of 50. Still worse, the number one Billboard hit in America was I knew I Loved You by Savage Garden. On top of that four-course dinner of awfulness, the top grossing film at the Box Office was the awful Scream 3. But the day was salvaged, somehow, in of all places, Edwardsville, ILLINOIS. In that town with a year-2000 population of 21,787 near the border with Missouri, the ILLINI destroyed a Missouri Tiger wrestling team by the score of 33-6. The Orange & Blue had a roster chock full of seven ranked wrestlers, including #1 Adam Tirapelle and #1 Dr. John Lockhart. Scoreboard: No. 5 Illinois 33, vs. Missouri 6 February 10, 2000 Edwardsville, Illinois 125 No. 6 Ryan Escobar (ILL) pinned Justin Spates (UM), 3:52 133 Jesse West (UM) defeated Kelly Madden (ILL), 9-5 141 Mike Castillo (ILL) defeated J.P. Reese (UM), 11-10 149 No. 1 Adam Tirapelle (ILL) defeated Jesse Jordan (UM), 7-2 157 Ryan Berger (ILL) versus David Neff (UM), 17-4 165 No. 12 Matt Lackey (ILL) tech fall Clint Freeman (UM), 6:23 174 No. 10 John Kopinsky defeated No. 18 Ben King (ILL), 6-2 184 No. 9 Nate Patrick (ILL) pinned Ry Stone (UM), 5:48 197 No. 7 Pat Quirk (ILL) defeated Dante Stone (UM), 11-5 Hwt No. 1 John Lockhart (ILL) defeated Chad Hertzog (UM), 12-5 PRE-DUAL ENTERTAINMENT We saw a comment on social media which indicated that the pre-dual entertainment will include a buffet, a stand-up comedian and something else. What that something else is, we cannot recall. It wasn't a cock fight or a strip show. We would've remembered that. That time Ben Askren ruined our family camping trip. TEAM MATCHUP According to Wrestlestat.com, the ILLINI are the #9-ranked team in the country when it comes to duals. Missouri is at #11, so this should be a real ugly fracas. As usual, much will depend on who is able to wrestle for both teams. Noah Surtin and Rocky Elam missed the Tigers' first two duals. Ramazan Attasauov missed the ILLINI's last. Despite the lower dual ranking, the missing wrestlers from their duals, and it being a home meet for the good guys, Wrestlestat.com is giving the 19-13 edge to Missouri. As we like to say, They'll have to prove that on the mat. INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS 125. #27 RAMAZAN ATTASAUOV v. #13 NOAH SURTIN. Neither of these wrestlers participated in their team's last dual. Who shows up is anybody's guess. Missouri fans are high on Surtin. He's a 4x National Qualifier with a R12 to his name. He's got a nasty head pinch to look out for. The Tiger is tall for the weight and has more muscle for that length than you'd expect. Could be he's been out of the lineup to give him time to acclimate to 125. That's been Ramazan's issue as well. (We think). Wrestlestat.com is calling for an 8-6 win for Surtin. However, we may see #131 Caelan Riley for the ILLINI and #112 Gage Walker for Mizzou. With no additional information on who will wrestle, we'll go with the 8-6 Tiger win as predicted by Wrestlestat.com. 133. #5 LUCAS BYRD v. #32 KADE MOORE. The question here is whether Lucas will be ready to wrestle again after a November 16 All Star match in Pennsylvania. He looked great in that match, becoming that rare thing: A two-time NWCA All-Star Classic winner! We think he probably wrestles, but if not, the ILLINI will send out #109 Kole Brower or #120 Brian Beers. The other question is whether Kade Moore will be available for this match. He forfeited his last match at the Tiger Style Invite to teammate #77 Jake Crapps. Wrestlestat.com calls for 9-3 win for Byrd over Kade Moore. We think a less-than-100% Moore or a Jake Crapps equals bonus points for the ILLINI, and we think that Byrd can name the amount of bonus points he wants. As the cool kids say, "Byrd is the Wyrd." Remainder of the Preview at this link.

Excellent choice! I wouldn't touch that Grinch fellow with "a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole!"

BEST CHRISTMAS/HOLIDAY MOVIES These are my rankings. Are these the best rankings? Is Aaron Brooks too short for 197? Of course. One caveat: I don't consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie. Nor is Home Alone. If you disagree, all I can say is, with all due respect, and in the spirit of the holiday season, bite me. 1. THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS (1966). I just checked the Wikipedia article on the movie and learned some things. First of all, it did not debut on a movie screen. All that work for a TV special. Second, it's running time is only 25 minutes. There's so much perfect packed into 25 minutes, I would've sworn it was at least 75 minutes long. Boris Karloff's voice acting, the characters and the songs. Those songs! 2. IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). After my opening paragraph, you might say this is a hypocritical pick. You would be right. Your reviewer is the worst kind of hypocrite. I will hypocrite right in your face and then dance around in wanton celebration of my hypocrisy. This writer at Forbes, the one who first called Die Hard a Christmas movie, wrote an article explaining why this 1946 Frank Capra holiday classic wasn't a Christmas movie. Talk about a hypocrite! That Forbes writer/hypocritical dick argues that only "47% of the movie [is] set during Christmas Eve." But that's why the message works! George Bailey/Jimmy Stewart was given the greatest gift. In fact, the movie was based on a short story entitled "The Greatest Gift." It could only happen during the holiday season. On the other hand, the message from Die Hard is that dropping Germans from a skyscraper is good fun. I'm down with that, sure, because that's entertaining, but that ain't Christmas, not even in Somalia. 3. ELF (2003). "If you're really Santa, what song did I sing for you on your last birthday?" "'Happy birthday,' of course." The snowball fight is classic. Perfect cast. Will Ferrell is a genius. "Smiling's my favorite." Santa is real. THE WORST CHRISTMAS MOVIE 1. THE POLAR EXPRESS 2004. All I'm going to do is tell y'all about "The Uncanny Valley." I think that explains exactly how and why this movie creeps me out. So, here goes: Robotics professor Masahiro Mori's "original hypothesis states that as the appearance of a robot is made more human, some observers' emotional response to the robot becomes increasingly positive and empathetic, until it becomes almost human, at which point the response quickly becomes strong revulsion."

Your second best post ever. Your 2BPE.

And here, a 2x NWCA All-Star Classic winner for the ILLINI makes his first appearance:

I have created a list. I found the following wrestlers to be 2x NWCA All-Star Classic winners: Cael Sanderson, Jake Varner, Chris Pendleton, Greg Jones, Steve Mocco and Lucas Byrd.

Lucas Byrd is now a two-time NWCA All-Star Classic Champion. That's very rare. Zac Braunagel and his opponent got a standing ovation from the crowd for their 19:17-long war. There were questions related to that first "takedown" that the refs said was out of bounds. But in the end, we were entertained!

Johnny "Goose" Mologousis is 4-0 on his MMA journey and has already won a belt. He will face another undefeated prospect on the card. Matt "no ring name yet" Wroblewski is 0-0 and making his MMA debut. Their fights will be FREE ON YOUTUBE! Sunday, November 17 at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Prelims start at 3:00 pm Central. If you have UFC Fight Pass, you can watch the fights on it. If not, and you're not driving to Milwaukee even to put a couple $$$ on the pass line, then there's free streaming from the Anthony Pettis YouTube channel. Give Pettis a sub, why not? The card is called APFC 14 Milwaukee. (Anthony Pettis Fight Club) Mologousis and Wroblewski and former ILLINI wrestler Jake Reicin (who set up the interview) were cool enough to talk about the upcoming fights in this short video: Did you see that TKO from Mologousis? That was :32 into the fight. The first punch/takedown combination was even better! Wow! Also, WroboCop's story about his first-scheduled opponent who backed out because he thought he could learn wrestling in two weeks. Then his second opponent scratched. More on our website here.