ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Have you listened to yourself lately? You guys are a South Park episode. "Member when the Six Million Dollar Man wrestled Bigfoot as Journey sings "Don't Stop Believing?" "I member."

Quirky. Here be Spoilers: I guessed the ending exactly, except when the ref asked, "Ya good?," I expected the kid to look into the crowd and say, "Yeah. I'm good." Instead, he just smiled. By the way, headlocks and hip tosses are to wrestling movies what frying pans and two by fours are to Tom & Jerry cartoons. What did you think, Bucky?

It's my understanding that ILLINOIS is not sending their starters except for Caelan Riley. The Northwestern site lists 37 teams attending, and the list in the original post has 37 teams named. Wrestlestat.com has 20 teams scheduled for the Midlands, but that's because they only put them on the schedule if they are on the team's official schedule. I expect that like the ILLINI, Michigan, Ohio State, Missouri, Lehigh and a few others are sending partial squads. With 13 Orange and Blue wrestlers attending, that means a fun-filled Sunday and Monday for me! Get to see the young guns! The tournament doesn't have the star power at the top, but most of the weights have 10+ guys ranked in the top fifty-ish at Wrestlestat.com. We went last year and were a corporate sponsor, but it wasn't on the school's schedule this season, so we passed. Maybe we'll be back next year.

Midlands doesn't appear on the official University of ILLINOIS Wrestling schedule. It doesn't even appear on Wrestlestat.com's schedule. According to our sources, though, the ILLINI will send non-starters to the event this year. The Northwestern website indicates that 37 teams will show up including these B1G schools: "Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, and Wisconsin." We believe that ILLINOIS, Ohio State and Michigan will be sending partial squads. The tournament starts on Sunday at 9:30 am (Central) and will be streamed on BTN+. For the full Preview, check out this link. Here is who may go for the ILLINI:

The last time I bet on a wrestling forum, I ended up owing and then paying $100 to Veritas, the owner of TheOpenMat.com. That's because ILLINOIS football, for some bloody ******* reason, can never beat Minnesota, even when I need it the most. The Lord knows I hate Minnesota so, so much.

In response to your title question, the answer is "No, January 17, 2025 is not the day." The day is Sunday, February 16, 2025 when the Fighting ILLINI cap off a perfect 13-0 nonconference and B1G dual season with a win over PSU at State Farm Center in Champaign, ILLINOIS. By that time the Orange & Blue will be 12-0 (7-0 B1G) with wins over Arizona State, Missouri, Ohio State and Iowa. Everything will be settled on that fine day, and the Universe will be put back in order. We all know that Professor Carl will duck at least one of his wrestlers because that's what he does unless y'all are wrestling Binghamton or Bellarmine. Byrd wins. Webster and Scoles win. The person who wrestled the best against Keegan The Tool for 6½ minutes this year was Danny Braunagel, not Levi Haines, and wait'll you see an uninjured Danny Braunagel. Big Brawny wins as well, bursting the Barr Bubble, Carter Stallrocky ducks (smart move), and it all comes down to Luuuuke Luffman at home in his final dual for the ILLINI, and y'all know what happens there.

I don't like sushi. I don't like the idea of sushi. What kind of small-brained mammal decided to forgo fire and heat to eat their fish plucked directly from nature? I did like Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which is #1 on the list of free YouTube videos on Rotten Tomatoes with a 99% rating on their Tomatometer. Again, we need to discuss how they come up with their ratings. This isn't a documentary that is 99% perfect. It is a fine, okay look at a master sushi chef. I think it is another of those films that nobody really has an objection to, but it isn't going to set the world on fire. It's not Citizen Kane, nor is it The Thin Blue Line. I bring up the latter only because I want to toot my own horn. The Thin Blue Line is an award-winning documentary about the unjust conviction of a man for murder in Texas. Back in the day, I represented the distributors of The Thin Blue Line in a Texas court. My clients wanted to remove a state lawsuit to federal court. The lawsuit was filed by a Texas lawman for defamation, as the documentary seemed to imply that he had been in cahoots with a murderer, helping him get away with murder. I was successful despite my client being a raging ******* who was almost impossible to talk to over the telephone, and it seems that a couple decades later, Harvey Weinstein's character finally caught up with him. What does all of this have to do with Jiro Dreams of Sushi? Well, diddly. Okay. It has a little to do with it. The Thin Blue Line is a documentary full of drama and excitement. It is 99% awesome. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a week in the life of a sushi chef, and 99% of critics didn't have a problem with that. I would recommend it because it's free on YouTube and worth the time. If you like sushi, it is probably a must-watch. If you haven't seen The Thin Blue Line, you should watch it now for free. It is epic:

Your image didn't show up, D3. I clicked on the link, and it was blank as well.

I will probably never see September 5, as I've read the books and the newspaper articles and seen the documentaries. I get the fresh perspective angle, but it is from a perspective that I don't particularly prize. I also don't like unhappy endings, and I especially don't like unhappy beginnings, middles and endings. On the other hand, I will certainly see The Brutalist, as it sounds like it will be another The Godfather experience that travels into an era from a perspective about which I'd like to learn more. Plus, it's getting killer reviews. In fact, that helps me better understand movie review aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes, and it helps me explain my review of Source Code. SOURCE CODE (2011) Whereas a lot of the critics have raved about The Brutalist, giving it 9 out of 10 or calling it an "epic" and so forth, it is my theory that a massive percentage of critics and audiences saw Source Code as a pretty good movie. Yet, it gets a 92% rating from critics and 82% from audiences at Rotten Tomatoes. That's where Math comes in. Great films like Memento, A Bug's Life, Children of Men, Traffic, Cinderella (1950 animated) and West Side Story (1961) also sit at 92%. The key to Source Code is that only a small percentage of the critics hated it, not that a large percentage loved it. In other words, there was something in the movie for each critic to give it a Bart-Simpson-passes-the-fourth-grade grade. Here be Spoilers. This may be the most derivative movie in Hollywood history. Here you have stolen IP from Groundhog Day, Jacob's Ladder and especially 12 Monkeys. Thing is, Groundhog Day is funnier, Jacob's Ladder is scarier and 12 Monkeys is more dramatic. But the movie is pretty good. As for the Science Fiction, I want my Sci-Fi based on something more than an analogy. It was a good and interesting analogy--the way a light flickers as it goes out--but not enough to base a movie around it. That's why when science makes a giant leap, we get all of the new genres of Sci-Fi, whether it is rocket ships in the 1950s (Rocketship X-M, after the development of "practical" rockets in WWII), meetings with alien creatures (2001: A Space Odyssey, just before and after the Apollo missions), computers (War Games), and now Artificial Intelligence (Ex Machina). Here is where I get hypocritical: The movie is pretty good. The acting, screenplay, CGI and action are all ... pretty good. In fact, Source Code passes my Bart-Simpson-passes-the-fourth-grade bar for a recommendation: It is worth the money and time spent on a free YouTube viewing.

The very latest Rotten Tomatoes guide to free movies on YouTube is out for 2024. There are a number of tasty selections on the menu. I was going to watch Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga tonight, but I'm going cheap and will watch a free movie on YouTube. I'm leaning towards Source Code (2011), but I'm also going to eventually watch Train to Busan (2016). Also on the list is The Insider (1999). Thoughts? Recommendations? I'm also thinking about doing my own YouTube movie channel reviews. Because there aren't enough of them now. This'll have to be after the college season, though.

Brian Swaw and I get to talk to ILLINI Legend Brian Glynn about his wrestling career. Then, we start the Great Debate: Was the 2005 ILLINI team better'n the 2012 one? Jordan Blanton joins in defending his 2012 teammates. Coach Mike Poeta jumps in as an impartial observer. Here is a short trailer that deals with the Great Debate: The full podcast: Credits on YouTube.

Looking back at it, I think the writer meant that that would be a nice rule change. An aspirational goal. I was fooled, and I'm glad you spoke up so that I was incentivized to check the actual rule. Cheers!

Birden is long and tough, and he'll be a problem for years in the B1G. Shumate won that match. Swenski didn't wrestle up to his #43 Wrestlestat.com rating, and that makes him 3-2 on the year. Y'all need Feldman back. Finn Solomon is a good wrestler. That was a nice win for D'Emilio. I'll be rooting for Sasso against everybody but the ILLINI.

Correcting my earlier post. I wrote the post based on an article by the NCAA that seemed to outright state that any redshirt athlete could use those 5 free dates: For older athletes, competing for a few matches during a redshirt season can also allow them to gauge an injury, assess their health or just wear off some rust. But I looked up the actual rule (12.8.3.1.7 Exception), and it still only applies to Freshman. Still, I think the NCAA would grant Rocco Welsh and Ohio State a hardship waiver to wrestle against the ILLINI because otherwise it'll be a slaughter.

I posted about Welsh on @MPhillips' Ohio State forum about this issue based on an article by the NCAA that seemed to outright state that any redshirt athlete could use those 5 free dates: For older athletes, competing for a few matches during a redshirt season can also allow them to gauge an injury, assess their health or just wear off some rust. But I looked up the actual rule (12.8.3.1.7 Exception), and I believe you are right. Still, I think the NCAA would grant Rocco Welsh and Ohio State a hardship waiver to wrestle against the ILLINI because otherwise it'll be a slaughter.

The ILLINI's next dual is against the Buckeyes. I could see the good guys winning 7 and possibly 8 against the lineup they sent out tonight. Ohio State has four more duals in December before they face ILLINOIS. I'm thinking Tom Ryan has to get Rocco Welsh to stop eating so much food so that he can make 184 by January 10 and burn one of his "attached" days. 174: No. 17 Luca Augustine (Pitt) dec. e'Than Birden (Ohio State), 2-1 TB-1 (Pitt leads 3-0) 184: No. 11 Reece Heller (Pitt) dec. Seth Shumate (Ohio State), 6-5 (Pitt leads 6-0) 197: No. 16 Mac Stout (Pitt) dec. No. 15 Ryder Rogotzke (Ohio State), 8-2 (Pitt leads 9-0) 285: No. 14 Dayton Pitzer (Pitt) tech. fall Hogan Swenski (Ohio State), 16-1 (7:00) (Pitt leads 14-0) 125: No. 6 Brendan McCrone (Ohio State) major dec. Matt Marlow (Pitt), 8-0 (Pitt leads 14-4) 133: No. 7 Nic Bouzakis (Ohio State) major dec. No. 31 Vinnie Santaniello (Pitt), 14-4 (Pitt leads 14-8) 141: No. 2 Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) tech. fall No. 21 Anthony Santaniello (Pitt), 16-1 (5:00) (Pitt leads 14-13) 149: No. 12 Dylan D'Emilio (Ohio State) dec. No. 28 Finn Solomon (Pitt), 7-4 (Ohio State leads 16-14) 157: No. 7 Paddy Gallagher (Ohio State) major dec. No. 31 Dylan Evans (Pitt), 13-4 (Ohio State leads 20-14) 165: Jared Keslar (Pitt) dec. No. 8 Sammy Sasso (Ohio State), 13-11 (Ohio State wins 20-17)

Here's another "tossed" in this thread. There is a VERY bright line test in the rule and the application example: Tosses are different than throws. The wrestler threw the headgear. I would go so far as to say he flung it. The ref had no choice. And my opinion is not based on the fact that I'm biased towards referees, who I believe are actual Saints that we should listen to and abide.

Different strokestyles for different folkstyles. To put it all as plainly as possible, the referee did what the rule forced him to do.

I dissent. You have used two forms of the word "judgment" in your post, but this was not a judgment or discretionary call by the referee. He could not use his own judgment, my friend. The rule and the "situation example" both provide that in the event of a throw, there will be a penalty. The referee can only use his or her discretion if there is a toss. That didn't happen in this case. It was not a toss; it was an obvious throw. The board's and the internet's anger with this referee is misplaced. The anger should be directed at the folks who (1) wrote the rule, and (2) made it strict liability. On behalf of this board and the internet as a whole, I want to extend the most gracious apology possible to this referee, and I want to thank him for applying the rule that he had to apply. Referees are indeed wonderful people, and we really need wonderful people to settle our disputes on the mat, and, moreover, wonderful people like him deserve the benefit of the doubt.

The issue here is between TOSS and THROW. The rule, as written, is strict liability. If you THROW your headgear, you will be penalized. As demonstrated above, a TOSS would have an arc on it. This was a THROW, zero question about that. I would be able to convince twelve jurors of that fact, I am confident. This situation raises questions that we as Americans must address: 1. Are we to be a nation of rules, or shall anarchy prevail? 2. Should we not treat referees with the utmost respect, as they represent the best of us? On a final note related to your post, the physical laws you describe actually work against the aerodynamics of headgear. That's why you never see headgear-shaped aircraft. Those physical laws actually bolster my argument because that headgear had to work against those physical laws to maintain that much speed in the air.

Wasn't he wearing a Grant Leeth neck brace at Cougar Clash? Tough guy. Sad to see.

And I'm not saying this just because I want all refs to know that ILLINI fans love them and treasure them and respect them and want the good calls in the future. Sure, that's part of it, but there's also Physics.

Why not let Physics decide? If the wrestler just tossed his headgear, there would have been a significant arc involved. The formula for velocity in relation to gravity is v = gt where "v" is the velocity, "g" is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.8 m/s² on Earth), and "t" is the time elapsed; essentially, the velocity of a falling object is calculated by multiplying the acceleration due to gravity by the time it has been falling. Let's use an analogy. I would consider a toss to be how you throw a baseball to your three-to-five-year-old boy when playing catch. A throw is what he starts to get when he is six. At seven, he gets the heat.