ILLINIWrestlingBlog

This is less a comic strip and more a working hypothesis:

Back in 1980, the Chicago Sun Times published a review by Roger Ebert about a movie that "never finds a consistent comic note of its own," that also "never develops a plot," and that never allows the "central characters" to get "involved in the same action." He was writing about Caddyshack. By way of explanation of the comic strip below for the younglings, here's a very short :23 video of one of the greatest movies ever made: How does this relate to wrestling? Well, because Jombo™ has become involved. Also, it is my firm belief that the least likely person in the history of mankind to have ever liked amateur wrestling is Roger Ebert. And yet, in 1985, Ebert gave Vision Quest 3½ stars. I think that's pretty interesting.

I've enjoyed the seed predictions and the bracket talk. Great job! Now that we know who are the final entries, when will USA Wrestling publish the actual brackets? I'm getting antsy in my pantsy.

If you get rid of Bono, what you've got left is U1. Only instrumentals. BONO FOREVER!

Missing Olympic trials by one point = J. Bullock Missing Olympic trials by two points = Y. Thomas Feel for those guys. Youth caught up to B. Bassett. But Jax Forrest!

What strategy to use in the consolation bracket of a tournament like this? You'd like to win, but don't necessarily want to wrestle. If you change into your street clothes right away, the other guy puts his singlet on and gets his hand raised. So, you change into the appropriate singlet and warm up vigorously near your opponent and grunt and growl a lot. He starts doing the same, and it becomes a game of chicken. When I wrestled for Team Surrender in the 1980s, we perfected these techniques. My favorite was looking at my opponent with mouth open and crossed-eyes from across the warmup area. On another subject, the young kids are all right. Just amazed at some of their wins. This is a tournament full of part-timers, so maybe we'll get a true evaluation at the OTTs. Still, this was for a shot at an Olympic team for the younglings and the oldsters making it pretty spectacular.

Little Tommy Cello is the #1 seed at 57kg, Josh Rodriguez is #2. I couldn't tell who the #2 seeds were for the other weights because Track put a pop-up ad over their names. The ads didn't have an "x" to get rid of them. Then, another, bigger ad popped up over it. Just unbelievable how money-grubbing and incompetence can ruin the experience.

He did coach at Brown, but he's been back in Champaign, ILLINOIS for months. Brian Swaw and I interviewed him for The Threeeee Is the New Twooooo Podcast a couple weeks ago. He's the head coach at Relentless Training Center South. If you live in the greater Champaign area and want your kid to be an NCAA Champion.... What a great pleasure it was to talk to him! On another note, I'm now completely persuaded that the Ramazan Attasuaov transfer is real and not an April Fool's prank. Coach Poeta posted it on social media. My questions for Cyclone fans and anybody else familiar with him: Was he wrestling up a weight at 133 for ISU? Was that the weight he wrestled because it made for the strongest possible lineup? Did he look like he could drop 8 pounds? What was your opinion of him as a wrestler? He was in the program for four years, but it looks like he has two years of eligibility remaining because of Covid and a redshirt. Is that true? Is he able to beat Terukina? Why do you choose to live in Iowa? He qualified for the NCAAs but got injured. What was that injury, and has he seemed to have gotten past it? Ramazan's beaten some quality wrestlers so far in his journey, including Tony Madrigal (x2), the #1 NAIA wrestler, NCAA qualifiers Jake Gliva, Ethan Oakley, Angelo Rini, Julian Farber, Connor Brown, Sidney Flores (x2), Derrick Cardinal, Sean Carter and Dustin Norris, as well as Cullan Schriever, Cory Land and lost by two to Vito Arujau and Austin DeSanto. Hoping for the best.

This is ******* hilarious! That's from the biggest fan of Charles Dickens in the world. Top marks!

I've been told that I'm the worst judge of weight by folks on this board. I think they have a point. My thought is that Lucas Byrd is gonna go where Lucas Byrd feels he can do the most damage and, as he puts it, "put people on their heads." If Attasauov has #125 on his announcement, I'm going to say that's probably the plan. Cheers!

There's zero evidence to support that. On the other hand, Coach Poeta has secured funding for a state-of-the-art wrestling facility, signed a top ten class with three Fargo winners (two of whom wrestled in Who's #1), sat in the corner for two Final X winners for the RTC, and will lead the strongest ILLINI team in maybe ten years this upcoming season.

I thought this was an April Fools prank, but all the guys on the team were reposting this on Instagram yesterday. It would give Ruzic an opportunity to redshirt, but allow him to wrestle five dates on the calendar, while Caelan Riley can wrestle any other dates, so that, in theory, Attasauov only has to hit 125 a couple times during the season. Maybe certify, a random open, the Midlands, the BTT and NCAAs. Then, you have Zane Richards there to provide expert advice on weight management, train with Jesse Delgado, Zane, Lucas Byrd, and all the folks they bring into the IRTC to work with Richards, as well as Ermak Kardanov (Euro bronze; formerly wrestled for Russia) in the IRTC to head the welcoming committee.

We have to peel layers and layers of this onion. LOL!

Chris Moore at ILLINOIS makes sense. I also suspect: 157 -- Logan Swaw 285 -- Peter Marinopoulos

Jesse Delgado and Adam Tirapelle.

Wow! Love to read this! I was amazed by his athletic ability back in the day. Back in June 2023 when I looked him up, I was amazed by his many accomplishments. He was a striver and a barrier-breaker his whole life. Thanks for your testimony!

I knew it was you! The brains behind the conspiracy. Does his son really, really look like Yianni, or was that a joke or a hoax?

Didn't understand the reference. Googled it. HILARIOUS! Reminds me of a project that I'm working on that some will probably allege is complete bull**** even though it's 100% true. There was a guy from Dagestan named Magomed Islaniev who came to America and wrestled in (some say) about 80 high school tournaments around the country over a number of years. He rented himself out as a ringer. His greatest achievement was winning the 155 and 167 weights back-to-back at the 1985 IHSA tournament. He had to wrestle up a weight so he could change and get back to the mat in time. He died in a motorcycle accident. We're looking for actors to play that part (strong Eastern European accent a must), various 1980s-era coaches (should look comfortable in singlet and t-shirt), and some opponents (looking specifically for Greg Brady haircuts). If interested, call me.

The thing is Suds Dubler is 100% real. You can go to the Clarion website and see for yourself. The only questions are whether he is in fact a real person, a disinformation campaign, a Yianni clone or one of the pod people. As for Potatoes McBrewster, they took that page down. Suspicious, no? P.S. If enough of you go to the Clarion website and vouch for the fact that Suds Dubler (i.e. Giant Yianni) IS NOT THERE, I'll know that I'm ******* crazy. Either way, that would be valuable information to have.

Oh for crying out loud!

Below you see a map of the State of Pennsylvania. I challenge you to find “Irvona” on that map. Good luck. It’s not there. Who is pulling the strings on this hoax? Is Yianni coming back heavier and under an assumed name?

On the official roster for Clarion, they have a wrestler by the name of “Suds Dubler.” That’s right. Suds. Dubler. Sounds like a character played by Will Ferrell. In other words, FAKE NEWS. If you go to the website (or you can see a screenshot below), you’ll notice that Suds Dubler IS ACTUALLY YIANNI DIAKAMOHOLIS AFTER A MONTH OF PROTEIN SHAKES! A second clue is the name itself. Suds Dubler is an anagram of “riddles” as long as you carefully add an “i” and take out a “b” and a “u” and another “u.” Are there other clues on the official Clarion roster website? You bet. His “position” is listed as 165. Nobody in Pennsylvania would use “position” instead of “weight” for a wrestler. Do they think we’re stupid? DYOR. On top of that Suds Dubler supposedly comes from a town called Irvona, Pennsylvania, but if you look at a map of that state, THERE’S NO IRVONA IN PENNSYLVANIA. Whomever is behind this has even fooled Wrestlestat.com with fake match results, crisis actors and who knows what else. I don’t know what their game is yet, or whether this is a Russian, Chinese or Amish disinformation campaign, but I’m going to keep a close eye on this so-called “Suds Dubler.” Where We Wrestle One, We Wrestle All.

Well, that's a lie. Last year's recruiting class was top ten with three of them starting in the Big Ten Tournament as true Freshmen. And none of those three were any of these guys [my comments in brackets]: Kannon Webster (Washington, Illinois) Washington Community High School Webster is the top-ranked recruit of this Illini class coming in at 21st overall. He is a two-time Illinois State Champion and carries a 45-3 record with three pins. He recently won the Maryville Open at 141 pounds via 11-4 decision. [He won that third state championship, won another couple of Fargo titles, wrestled in Who's #1, and was 18-1 as a redshirt with that one loss being very questionable.] Braeden Scoles (Kewaskum, Wisconsin) Kewaskum High School Scoles was a highly touted recruit in this class, ranked at 28th overall. He is a three-time Wisconsin State Champion and just recently went 7-1 enroute to third at the USA Wrestling Junior Championships. He carried a 54-2 record throughout his young career with 21 pins. [Braeden won his fourth Wisconsin state championship and a Fargo title and wrestled in Who's #1, giving young Ferrari the best match he had. Recently won the Zingo Nationals after cradling everybody from his opponents to the timekeepers. Same with Kannon Webster. Also beat an NCAA qualifier in a spot start in a dual.] Will Baysingar (Mount Prospect, Illinois) Mount Prospect High School Baysingar is the second home grown prospect and slots in as the 52nd ranked recruit. He is a two-time Illinois State Champion and most recently won the Illinois Greco-Roman State Champ title at 138 pounds via technical fall 8-0. [Baysingar got two starts in duals as a true Freshman and currently has a Wrestlestat.com #64 ranking at the weight as a reserve.] Chris Moore (McHenry, Illinois) McHenry High School Moore is the final Illinois prospect Poeta added to this 2023 cycle. Moore is an Illinois State Champion and recently earned a runner-up finish at the IHSA Boys Individual State final at 160 pounds. [Chris went on to win his second IHSA title, so he was a 3-time finalist, 2-time champion. He ended up in the big board rankings because he too won a Fargo title. Most importantly, though, he stepped in and earned the starting role at 165 and qualified for the NCAA tournament as a true Freshman with wins over Caleb Fish and Stoney Buell.] Hudson Goebel (Findlay, Ohio) Findlay High School Goebel is the last out-of-state recruit and final piece of this 2023 class. He is a OHSAA State Finalist and most recently he earned a runner-up finish at the OHSAA State Tournament. [Hudson's season was interrupted by injury, but he's a talented kid from Ohio, which is something ILLINI fans like to see.] Then, this season, the ILLINI didn't have as many scholarships to give because of the huge class the year before, but still ended up with two ILLINOIS three-time state champions and a two-time state champion and three-time finalist from Ohio. Another lie, or perhaps you didn't do your homework before spouting off, who knows? In any event, the ILLINI will be moving into a state-of-the-art wrestling facility smack dab next to State Farm Center in 2025. So, Coach Poeta not only got the facility funded, and not only did he get the recruits, but, my friend, you've got nothing. Professional artist rendering of the new facility with the giant spaceship (State Farm Center) in the background:

Yes, you did. My apologies.

Not true. Braeden Scoles is a Wisconsin 4xer and Fargo Champion who will do big things in college and was high up in the P4P rankings, and like Webster, was a Who's #1 wrestler. He had an injury this year that slowed him down, but not before he beat an NCAA qualifier in a "free" dual appearance early in the season. Chris Moore was another Fargo Champion, and he was forced into the lineup this year at the toughest weight, 165, and still became an NCAA qualifier with wins over Caleb Fish and Stoney Buell. Add Will Baysingar to the P4P list coming out of high school. The class coming in this year includes two ILLINOIS three-time state champs (Ruzic & Colon), along with a two-time Ohio state champ (Bennett), and they are all vicious pinners. I'm very excited about them in an impartial journalistic way! With a new state-of-the-art facility coming on line in 2025 next to the giant spaceship (State Farm Center), and with everybody coming back from Olympic redshirts (Zac & Danny Braunagel), Medical redshirts (Lucas Byrd) and injuries (Luuuke Luffman) along with returning AA Edmond Ruth and a couple other NCAA qualifiers, and with the Freshmen entering the lineup (Webster, Scoles, etc.), they will have a powerful team and a very solid basis for recruiting in the years to come. As a final note, somebody upthread indicated that Danny Brawlnagel was on a regular redshirt. That is also not true. He earned an Olympic redshirt with his placement in the qualifying tournament over the Summer. Look for him at OTT at 77kg in Greco.