ILLINIWrestlingBlog

There's even more Olympic-style wrestling right around the corner. The wrestling portion of the Pan Am Games starts on Wednesday, November 1 at 9:00 am (Eastern), 8:00 am (Central). There is a free streaming service that will supposedly cover all of the matches. It requires a signup. I've already signed up and tested it out: Flo should give them a call. Here's the link. I've watched a little of the Opening Ceremonies, some volleyball and some handballish-type thing. Video was clear, uninterrupted, and there were English-speaking commentators. Lots of world teamers in the mix, even though this isn't an Olympic qualifier. Of course, I'm most interested in the ILLINI, IRTC and ILLINOIS folk, including Zane, Zac, Kennedy, Kamal and Joe Rau. Still, Kyle Snyder will be adding to his trophy room, and although Nick Lee and Helen Maroulis are scratches, we've now got Nashon Garrett and Xochitl Mota-Pettis to watch. And since the wrestling starts on National Singlet Day:

I love this idea. The World Champion wrestles in a special singlet until a new world champion is crowned. A great marketing idea. Make it part of the award ceremony. Of course, the 11-page UWW singlet guidelines would be even longer! Tim Johnson talks about something similar in the video below. He was discussing the coolest singlets in the B1G, and he mentioned the ILLINI tradition of having a wrestler in the National Finals wear the all-orange singlet. That discussion starts at 3:20 -- My picks of the best B1G singlets: GOLD: ILLINI all-Orange (B1G or National finals) SILVER: ILLINI all-White (with the old school ILLINOIS lettering) BRONZE: OSU all-White BRONZE: Mich all-Yellow My picks for the worst B1G singlets: GOLD: Maryland’s two-piece (looked like a pajama party) SILVER: Wisconsin Camo (Who you sneaking up on?) BRONZE: Purdue & Minnesota (Not much you can do w/crappy colors) BRONZE: Northwestern (Same. Purple and Black. Ugh.) But even an ugly singlet is better than a speedo. Today's meme:

The UWW has very specific tastes when it comes to singlets. In fact, that organization spends 11 pages, including a table of contents, describing what is and is not allowed. This attention to detail is probably because, "The singlet is the standard uniform which is used across all Olympic styles." Don't forget that National Singlet Day is November 1, 2023. Wear your singlet proudly!

Anybody using "NSD" for National Singlet Day is already cool. Bonus Meme:

Brian Smith, head coach at the University of Missouri, offered his opinion on singlets: "There is a lot of peer pressure when they are younger, especially in junior high school. We need kids to think of this as a really cool-looking outfit….” There it is, my friends, laid out plain as can be. There is an unwarranted stigma associated with the singlet. When it should be viewed as the starter kit for a super hero uniform, it is looked down upon by too many. One way to change opinions is to show that wrestlers are comfortable in their skins (and singlets) on National Singlet Day by popping into the local 7-Eleven or McDonald's in yours, grab a soda, talk to the people. Today's Meme:

We fell short in the last couple Pan Ams at that weight. At the 2022 Pan Am Championships at 67 kg, the medals went to Colombia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Peru. Most recently, at the 2023 Pan Am Championships, the medals went to Cuba, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. Only the winner at the 2021 Junior Pan Am Games qualified his country. The winner in that contest was from Cuba.

You may recall that we asked the Mayor of Buffalo to issue an official proclamation making November 1, 2023 “National Singlet Day.” Well, we just heard back from the Office of Mayor Byron W. Brown. They had a very good question and wanted additional information to include in the proclamation. First, their question was, Should the Mayor of Buffalo make a proclamation of any “National” day. I suggested that they were exactly correct. Although it will be National Singlet Day on November 1, perhaps the Mayor should proclaim it “Singlet Day” or “Buffalo Singlet Day.” As for additional information for the proclamation, we noted that the Buffalo Bulls open the D1 wrestling season for everybody on November 1 with a big meet. Our response continued as follows: The day is significant to honor and remember the original Olympic sport: Wrestling. The Singlet is the official apparel of amateur wrestlers of all ages and genders. In fact, the State of New York, in the last two weeks, became the most important engine for the progress of women's high school wrestling in the country. This quote from FloWrestling describes what recently happened: "As far as announcements are concerned, none could be bigger for the future of girls' high school wrestling than the one New York just dropped. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) tweeted that it approved freestyle wrestling for the Girls Wrestling State Championships." That's big. It is the style of wrestling you see in the Olympics. Every state will eventually follow New York's lead, I believe. So, a proclamation of "Singlet Day" would honor the local Buffalo Bulls team, the sport in general, and the increased opportunities it has to offer women. Now for today's Meme:

The two most important rules in your life: The Golden Rule and the Carnival Rule.

SPECIAL BONUS MEME FOR @Wrestleknownothing AND @ionel:

There is a contest associated with National Singlet Day. Record yourself wearing a singlet in public in some hilarious (but safe) way, and you can win a prize package! The prize package includes a The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond t-shirt, 2 Chunky bars and a piece of wire. The contest will be judged by a panel of singlet experts. Day two Meme:

I've changed my mind. I just watched the Intermat interview of Lucas Byrd, and it sounds like he's gonna wrestle this season. A pissed off Lucas Byrd wins it all!

Brooks. And not because of Ford Focus, who had 4-2 and 3-2 matches in the finals in 2021, nearly died in a car wreck and has been away from the sport for two years. Moreover, there's a question whether he wrestles anyways. On top of all that, there'd be the Ford Focus circus every week. 197 is deep. Also, the ankles are going to be a lot farther away. On top of that, you have to control the ties to get to those ankles. Harder to push around these 197-pound beasts. Tough question, though. As of now, he's the only one of the four moving up in weight. That means things will change for him. Change can be good or bad.

I'm not afraid of Big Potato. Potatoes are lucky they have slightly more taste than rice. Singlets deserve their one day in the sun. Bonus Meme:

To launch something as important as National Singlet Day, we need memes. Nothing can be accomplished in today's society unless there are good memes to support it. And so this is the first day of a seven day meme-a-day countdown until National Singlet Day has arrived on November 1, 2023. Will National Singlet Day ever become as popular as Halloween or Independence Day? Probably not. But it sure can rival National Potato Day (August 19th) or National Bubble Bath Day (January 8th). It is time for all good patriotic Americans to embrace the singlet! Today's meme:

Man, it was one of those instances where I was watching on Flo thousands of miles away from the action, and I was also screaming, "Stop the match!"

Stechele is pretty good. Zane Richards only beat him by a couple of points.

I don't know if it was this match or another, but a leg got twisted and you could hear the table screaming "Stop the match!," but the ref shook them off. There's gotta be a restart in those positions. Unless it is Tyler Nixt. Athlete safety has to be number one, and the ref should be reprimanded.

The ILLINI Wrestle-offs had their share of surprises yesterday. We have some of the results--and we think all of the final results--at this link. There's also Super 32 news involving IMAR, Lucas Byrd, Seth Mendoza and a bunch of ILLINOIS lads in the quarterfinals or fighting it out on the backside. Finally, we are spotlighting ILLINI Wrestling Babies. Regular babies are okay, I guess, but ILLINI Wrestling Babies are AWESOME. Okay, we'll divulge a couple of the results: Kannon Webster beat last year's starter at 149, and Braeden Scoles beat the starter at 157 from two years ago. Looks like both the Brawlnagels are taking Olympic redshirt years, and Lucas Byrd is taking a medical shirt. That explains Tony Madrigal's transfer from Oklahoma. According to eyewitnesses, he was fantastic in his wrestle-off. He had to be as Kole Brower is a tough ILLINOIS kid.

The ILLINI will hold a wrestle-off today at 11am (Central) in Huff Hall. It is open to the public and well-timed to end so folks can head over to Memorial Stadium for the football game with Stupid Wisconsin. Football starts at 3:30pm. Forecast is for 0% chance of precipitation from 10am to 8pm. Then, it ticks up to 1%. High of 69° and partly cloudy. I haven't heard of a livestream at this time. There are slots in the starting lineup on the line. Moreover, since the first action of the year is a dual, this looks like the way--or at least one of the ways--the staff will determine a starting lineup. If anybody hears of a livestream, please let me know.

That's what I'm wondering, CHROMEBIRD. I have done Moneyball looks at Zane Richards' opponents before, as well as Zac Braunagel's. That was a very manual and arduous process going through videos. Stopping and starting a hundred times for each video. As you note, there is a service that is available that looks very labor intensive, using humans to catalog what the wrestlers are doing, but it also looks like it provides valuable data for coaches. According to one company, AI is capable at this time to do some work "watching" video: "AI can not only observe data but can also be trained with large volumes of video footage to detect, identify, categorize and automatically tag specific objects. Overall, it is a tool used to assist humans in understanding video content, and make automated decisions based on observations made from the data collected." What is left unclear in my mind is what "objects" are being detected. Facial recognition software can map faces, but can it learn to follow movements? How would it handle a Nashon Garrett/Jesse Delgado scramble? Someday, I think. Again, I turn to AI art renderings. What the program I used on IMAR's photo did was in a number of cases, inexplicable. Below is the AI render next to Tony Rotundo's original photo. IMAR's right foot is wearing Sideshow Bob-size shoes. His right hand has a finger bending at an impossible angle. Then, there's the scarf worn by the ILLINOIS coach. A nice touch, but it makes zero sense. We can see now why the AI put a Coke and a hot dog on the mat: The red ankle band left on the mat magically became a refreshing snack! Strangest of all, the ref has the green Infinity Time Stone on his forehead. There is NOTHING in the original photo to suggest that the ref should be wearing the Eye of Agamotto! If AI can't get still photographs right, I don't think it's ready for videos.

This is a valid point. Would it work? I think in the example that I gave, using the half and arm bar, once the initial holds are obtained, and you use the AI suggested torque with your legs and torso, it wouldn't matter what the other person did. Moreover, even if you failed, at least you gave yourself the best chance to succeed. That's the bottom line for me. It may not work. But doesn't every wrestler want to know the absolute best way to get the takedown? To get the pin? To escape? Especially if that absolute best way was computationally tailored to your and your opponent's physical attributes and abilities. Also, I would think AI in the future would suggest only holds that it can logically foresee you being able to accomplish. That will likely be way in the future, though. Here's an AI render of a photograph of Coach Poeta on a recruiting visit with Seth Mendoza. I thought this one looked fantastic:

Serious questions: Are folks against Wrestling in the Winter Olympics or just being realistic in the belief that the IOC will always require that sports in the Winter Olympics have some direct link to frozen water? Is there another reason? I can see folks being originalists. That's how I feel about the Summer Olympics. That seems to be how a lot of people feel about the Summer Games when sports like flag football and break dancing are mentioned. (Haha! I just realized that I called break dancing a "sport"). I can see other folks wanting to have Wrestling in the Summer Olympics because that's where the other glamour sports like basketball, track and gymnastics are. On a final note, don't forget National Singlet Day on November 1, 2023.

Adam Tirapelle, ILLINI legend and member of multiple Wrestling Halls of Fame, is either joining the Wrestling-in-the-Winter-Olympics revolution or appears to be persuadable. On a separate note, in researching the Pan Am Games for an article, I discovered that they will host Break Dancing as a sport. Additionally, two video games will be "demonstration sports" in Santiago: e-Football and DOTA 2. We best grab that Winter Olympics pie and start eating before nothing's left!

"It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. You stupid monkey!"

Here's the article, which was free for me to read. Thanks! That is a very niche application: Predicting blitzes. But based on it, you can envision a Wrestling AI being able to predict a wrestler's takedown attempt after viewing and analyzing that wrestler's movements in dozens or hundreds of videos. In college, a Freshman wrestler with immediate success gets to hear, "Wait until he gets scouted." With the stockpile of video from high school at Flo and youtube and other services, nobody will have to wait once AI gets involved.