ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Y'all are high-larious! I've heard from the folks who know these things that this particular thread topic will be immortalized on Sunday morning. Whether you are a hater, or whether you are a fan, you won't want to miss what we have to say about pop tarts and butter. For the record, the correct answers are: 1. Frosted cherry, no butter; and 2. Spit your gum out into the garbage, or if you're an anarchist, drop it on the ground.

You're going to bump Rocco Welsh up to 184 to even his record with Ruth, then it will come down to Feldman versus Luffman.

I thought this was a joke at first. A damn funny one at that. But I see what you mean. Still, if the seeding committee could know the final records of the wrestlers before the tournament even started, we wouldn't need to have a tournament and could just lay there content in our Matrix pods. With the tubes and the gloop. On another note, I hope everybody discussing Hendrickson and Kerk goes back and watches that world championship gold match where Hendrickson got injured. I was ASTONISHED that he showed up for the All Star match. Lots of heart shown, but bad decision in hindsight. Can't explain the Davison loss, though. By the way, the correct answer is Byrd. Lucas Byrd.

"Jude Law trying his best to be Gene Hackman" is a good line and a smart career move. Cheers!

Below's a video recap of the Fan Fest dual between the ILLINI and Indiana. At this link we do a written play-by-play of the action, as well as a critique of the production of the event by the B1G. Spoiler Alert: We loved it! Finally, we even have a few nice words for Angel Escobedo and his Hoosier team.

We obviously hate Northwestern. I mean, come on! But signing that tweet Col. Storniolo was very cool. Some of the responses to the Colonel's tweet rubbed it in some more:

The ILLINI lost the dual to the Army of the Northwest on a cold January 29, 2022 day by the score of 13 to 26. Shortly after the defeat, the following message was sent:

This classic Matt & Hobbes comic strip comes with a story. We included it in a preview of an upcoming ILLINI/Northwestern dual that would take place on January 29, 2022. Little did we know, enemy spies were lurking.

I always hate to do lists for fear of leaving somebody off. However, there are a lot of great choices in the area. Relentless Training Center Jordan Blanton & Ryan Prayer Chicago area Built by Brunson Zac Brunson Chicago area Izzy Style Izzy Martinez Chicago area Beat the Streets Chicago Iron Sharpens Iron Bloomington ILLINOIS & Fort Dodge Iowa Collum Trained Missouri Purler Missouri

Lot of low-scoring defensive matches at the tournament, but the whole thing is being saved by the Mad Maxes at 149. The lowest-scoring, least interesting match in these medal rounds at the weight was 5-4.

Your head shall remain free of heavy and hard objects! Thanks and congratulations. The movie was interesting and entertaining. I did not buy or rent the movie. Instead, I watched one of those YouTube chains-of-videos that show all or most of the movie. The first video in the chain starts here. What the movie has going for it are in order, starting with the best: Lynn Collins as the Princess of Helium, the story, the CGI and those weird aliens who can go invisible all of a sudden and are there to "manipulate" worlds. What it has going against it are in order, starting with the worst: The year 1999 and a freakishly bad title. It is hard to imagine a worse title. Maybe, "If You Watch This Movie, You'll Get Herpes"? As for 1999, that year saw Keanu Reeves in The Matrix, and if John Carter starred him instead of John Wick, it would've made a lot more money and been seen by a much, much wider audience. It was also in 1999 that a movie called Wild, Wild West ruined sci-fi and old West movies. Finally, 1999 saw the emergence of the anti-star known as Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace. Still, for what I paid for it, it was superbly entertaining. Cheers!

Oh no no no no no no no NO! You guys can't do that. This is an ILLINI sucking up to the refs thread.

JOMBO™ on the big screen? Can a one-joke character compete with today's modern cinema? I say that the answer to that question is an emphatic maybe.

You've seen the picture. That one of your favorite wrestler with a hand raised at the end of a tough match. It's a great picture except there's an amputated hand grabbing his or her wrist. Where did that hand come from? Who does it belong to? That disembodied hand belongs to a referee. For all of your hard work, for all of your attention to detail, for the fortitude to enter hostile arenas and make the tough call, we want to give this to you, the unsung heroes of the wrestling world: (Credit to the great Tony Rotundo, https://tonyrotundo.smugmug.com/WRESTLERS-ARE-WARRIORS)

I did get into the Mad Max movies. Thing is, the movie's apocalyptic theme was somewhat fresh back then. Is it still fresh? I hope so. But we've pretty much explored that genre for the last two decades. Time to find out. I had to google John Carter of Mars and realized it is John Carter. That's a bold pick. I knew that a movie by that name existed, but had no other inkling about it. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 52% critics rating and a 60% audience mark. Over to the Wikipedia, there's this: It grossed $284 million at the worldwide box office, resulting in a $200 million write down for Disney, becoming one of the biggest box office bombs in history and also becoming the film with the largest estimated box-office loss adjusted for inflation ever, losing $149–265 million. With a total cost of $350 million, including an estimated production budget of $263 million, it is one of the most expensive films ever made. Due to its box office performance, Disney cancelled plans for Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars, the rest of the trilogy Stanton had planned. Much of the film's failure has been attributed to its promotion, which has been called "one of the worst marketing campaigns in movie history." That last sentence provides some hope. So, I read the plot. It actually sounds interesting. Anyway, I've decided that I'll watch it, and if it's good, I will congratulate and thank you, but if it is bad, I'll hit you over the head with something heavy and hard.

Thanks to our friends, who have posted reviews of more current movies. Those reviews are appreciated. That's one of the main reasons this thread exists. You are helping all of us movie-goers. As Nicepool said before he was riddled with hundreds of bullets and did not regenerate, "It costs nothing to be kind." A question for folks: My next rental will probably be Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Smart or unsmart?

MY TOP 5 MCU MOVIES AND A WRESTLING ANALOGY FOR EACH This has been a cumbersome segue into a review of Deadpool & Wolverine. And before we get into that, yes, Deadpool (2016) is in the MCU. Don't be a splitter. That's how we got Southern Baptist and Primitive Baptists and Seventh Day Baptists and eight types of Baptists in Central Africa, ten in Southern Africa. Don't be an MCU splitter. Anywho, D&W has a 79% rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes, while the audience has gone gaga for it at 94%. That tells me something: Some of you unthinking and unfeeling bastards brought your girlfriends to watch it. I can see 6% of girlfriends not liking Hugh Jackman's six pack and all of that gashing and cleaving. On the other hand, I liked the movie a lot. And not because of Hugh Jackman's six pack, although I think all superheroes should have them. Well, except Underdog, who gets grandfathered in. The movie had two separate villain timelines, which is interesting and seems pretty novel to me. Additionally, I just like Ryan Reynolds and the Deadpool character. So, a world filled with Deadpools is a pretty cool place. I especially enjoyed Nicepool and Dogpool. They were very friendly. I'm going to give the movie a solid B+. It's not an A because of a sick prejudice that I have acquired: I hate the X-Men and Spiderman. I don't know why. I just want to vomit. Wolverine was an X-Man. Ergo.... Yet, Wolverine wasn't bad in this movie, but, hey, this is a dark deep-seated prejudice that I can't get rid of. The second problem is best described with a pizza analogy. If you've ever been to small town Southern Italy, they will sell you pizza by the weight. They put it on a scale and sell it to you by the kilogram. Lovely stuff! Perfect pizza with homemade sauce, dough that is better than the finest bakeries in America. It makes me want to unvomit. It's a perfect world! Then, you m-fers ruin everything by putting pineapple or small fish or feta or buffalo chicken on it. Even the Italians will put a hard-boiled egg or freaking artichokes on your pizza unless you specifically tell them: "Se metti un uovo o un carciofo sulla mia pizza, ti pugnalerò tante volte quante Wolverine ha pugnalato Deadpool." That roughly translates to "If you put an egg or an artichoke on my pizza, I will stab you as many times as Wolverine stabbed Deadpool." You see, Deadpool is awesome, but it is a fragile thing. Too much Deadpool is ... too much Deadpool. I think even the screenwriters and director got this, as Deadpool not shutting up was a running gag in the movie. Still, it was-a $5.99 and 128 minutes-a well spent-a, arrivederci, amici miei.

Tough team. Very interested to see how Sasso does. Best of luck to him. Saw him up close at Midlands last year, and he was still limping around. Bad. Never thought he'd wrestle D1 again. Movie one day? Always interested to see Mendez, Geog and Feldman. That 197 bracket is real tough. They hosed Geog with the #7 seed. If they were gonna screw him, they should've given him the #8 seed so he could make it a short day for Ferrari. The ILLINI have the Cougar Clash same day, so I won't be watching CKLV, but I will be looking for results. Good luck, you awful Buckeye!

Embarrassing: "Just like the graph about which team has the best chance to crown four All Americans in March." Should read: "Just like the graph about which team has the best chance to crown ten All Americans in March."

I saw that there was a dual earlier this season where the coaches agreed to extra matches. I would like to see that at every dual. It would also be nice if the TV/Streaming service showed those matches. But in the case of this dual, there is a perfect scenario for extra matches. Lehigh should want to showcase Stanich and Brignola, and PSU has plenty of young guns who'd accept that challenge. Can we get back to having extra matches?

Wonderful, as always! Braeden Scoles is a great story, so is Danny Pucino. Kannon Webster would be right there in the conversation if he didn't do so well last year as a true Freshman. Scoles is 8-0 with 100% bonus, and he's wrestled the Wrestlestat.com #11 and #13 guys. Can he keep up that pace on Friday against either Derek Gilcher or Tyler Lillard at the Fan Fest dual in Indianapolis? But now for some quid pro quo. What is it that @wrestleknownothing seeks? Is it the ELO rating surges of ILLINOIS wrestlers? I think not. So, what is he looking for; what does he want? We covet what we see every day. There is a young fellow on the PSU squad who will be making a splash in the ELO soon. He's a true Freshman who has only had four matches thus far. Not enough for an ELO yet, but our friend is a little antsy in the pantsy. Just like the graph about which team has the best chance to crown four All Americans in March. Premature at the time for PSU, but in the works. As the late, great Dr. Hannibal Lecter once said, "All good things to those who wait."

OVERVIEW: A SPLIT SQUAD In the recent Coach's Corner podcast, ILLINI Wrestling Coach Mike Poeta indicated that the Cougar Clash, which is next Saturday, was initially the only thing on the schedule next weekend. Then, the B1G offered the Fan Fest dual in Indianapolis the day before the conference football championship. It also fell on the day before the Cougar Clash. Still, Coach Poeta said it was easy to agree to the offer. So, next Friday, December 6, the ILLINI will be in Indianapolis for the dual with the Hoosiers. The next day, Saturday, a split squad will show up to the Cougar Clash in Edwardsville. To wrestle in both events, the ILLINI starters in Indianapolis would need to get on the bus by 6:30 pm (Central), take a three-and-one-half-hour drive (225 miles) to Edwardsville, arriving around 10:00 to 11:00 pm (Central) for a tournament starting the next morning. Not impossible, but also not conducive to winning matches. All of the other big name schools at the Cougar Clash (Missouri, Minnesota, Little Rock, NIU and SIUE) have at least six days off before the Clash. Coach talks about the Fan Fest event near the end of the video at 33:40: WHAT: B1G TAKEDOWN at the FAN FEST WHO: ILLINI dual Indiana WHERE: Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN WHEN: Friday, December 6 @ 4:00 PM Central TV/STREAMING: BTN TICKETS: Ticket Prices are $12 adults, $6 children age 3-12 (Gets you into Fan Fest) A DAY IN HISTORY It was February 13, 2005, a Sunday. Your little brother still has three days to wait until the release of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and he swears he's gonna stay locked up in his room until Moms buys him a copy of that video game. Hitch made Sony Pictures over ten million at the box office on the day. Feathery-voiced Mario topped the Billboard charts with Let Me Love You. But the real entertainment happened that Sunday afternoon in Huff Hall, as your soon-to-be 2005 B1G wrestling champions destroyed #19 Indiana by the score of 37-0. Mark Jayne captured his 99th varsity win, while Anton Dietzen and Kyle Ott each scored six points for the team. It was a long bus ride home to Roundballville for the Loosiers. Here's the box score: TEAM MATCHUP In all of the 2000s, the record between the two schools is thirteen wins for the ILLINI and zero wins for Indiana. Wow! That's an even worse record than Northwestern! It's been slow-going, but Angel Escobedo has steadily improved his team. Under the prior administration, they would have a nonconference schedule with D2 schools and lowest-tier D1 teams and end up with an undefeated record. Then, lose all of their B1G duals. According to Intermat, ILLINOIS' dual ranking is #11; Indiana's is #28. Wrestlestat.com has the ILLINI at #12, while the Hoosiers come in at #30. The prediction is for a 32-0 win for the good guys. Indiana is 4-0 on the season with wins over Cal Baptist, Cal Poly, a one-point win over #40 Central Michigan and a two-point win over #49 Columbia. The ILLINI are 5-0 with three wins over top twenty-five teams, including Missouri, ASU and North Carolina. The remainder of the preview, including individual dual matchups and The Cougar Clash at this link.

CLASSIC JOMBO™ The price paid for each of the three JOMBO™ strip NFTs shown below was $0. The combined current value of the three NFTs is $0. That is a loss of exactly $0 on your investment. Bored Ape Yacht Club #599 shown below, lower right, sold for over $225,000.00. The owner was (and maybe still is) Jimmy Fallon. These NFTs lost ~90% of their value. That is a loss of approximately $202,500.00. You were the smart investors.

I've just finished Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), and it does belong at #6 on my list of best movies of all time. The film has everything from Dr. Seuss to Edgar Allan Poe and everything in between. All of the people in this world are either snarky or rude except for Charlie. I didn't remember an epic rivalry between Veruca Salt and Violet Beauregarde, but it's there, hoo boy, and it is snap! Veruca steals every scene she's in, and what about the amazing bit near the end when Willy Wonka slowly covers the Everlasting Gobstopper with his hand, while saying, "And so shines a good deed in a weary world"? That quote was lifted from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. I told you it had everything from Seuss to Poe, and William Shakespeare fits right in there. Snuggly. But, my friends, our story has a sad ending. You see, I've never--not once in my life--felt a powerful urge to murder anybody, not even a movie critic. Not even a movie critic from Iowa! After perusing the Rotten Tomatoes (92%, 87%) post on Willy Wonka, I now have four such urges.