ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Correction: This is Onosato's second tournament in the upper division. He's the one at 9-2.

With the NCAA tournament getting underway, I thought I'd write this up before I forget. This basho is no fun for me, as my favorite wrestlers aren't doing well. However, just about everybody else in the Sumo world is agog because of two newcomers who are thumping everybody. First, there is Takerufuji, who was an amateur and college star and has been in professional Sumo for just a few tournaments. He just won his match and became the first rikishi (wrestler) to win 11 consecutive matches to start his first basho (tournament) at the top division in 64 years. Almost not to be outdone, Onosato, another newbie, is 9-2. He's so new that he can't put his hair up in traditional sumo style. Everybody else has three or more losses, and there are only four days left in the basho. Besides the cool record, there is the fact that both of these rikishi have looked dominant against pretty good competition. Today, they both wrestled against respected and tested Ozekis (Takakeisho and Kotonowaka). That's the second-highest rank in Sumo, and both the new guys won. So, questions about whether they are flashes in the pan have been answered, at least in my mind. Not only did each beat a powerful Ozeki--and both of the Ozekis were near the top of the leaderboard and were in good form--but they also did not succumb to the incredible pressure of fighting in the last two bouts on day 11 of their first tournaments. It is also exciting for Japanese fans because Mongolians have held the top spot in the sport for a long stretch. These two are Japanese monsters. Okay, I'm a little excited! Hakkeyoi! Image credit: The Japan Times from an hour ago.

As a great man once said, "Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station." It's Edmond Ruth time! Let's go: I especially liked the audible gasps from the spectators at the Purdue dual and the Big Ten tournament.

When are weigh-ins?

Spent 10 minutes on the YouTube looking for other NCAA Wrestling Championships videos from other teams. None can be found. Do they care? Anyway, here's another for the ILLINI:

NCAA HYPE VIDEOS This is a two-parter. First, The ILLINI Wrestling Blog & Forum & Beyond Plus will be coming out with NCAA Hype Videos for all the ILLINI at the Big Dance. If you are a top notch recruit, wouldn't you want to be in one of these videos done in the cool rapping style that all the youngsters of today are so keen on? What other schools have cool NCAA Wrestling hype videos. Show me. SHOULD THE MICHIGAN WILDCATS UNIONIZE? Right now--this very minute--the Northwestern Wolverines are at the height of their bargaining power. The NCAA tournament doesn't start until Thursday. Bormet brought in a bunch of scabs to work for him, but what if those very same scabs held out for better pay? All they need is 30% of their employees, say DeAugustino and Cannon, to sign a petition at the local NLRB office, and BOOM, they can start living the high life of organized labor. As independent contractors their power is limited. As a unit, a union, their voices become amplified and their needs can be met. How about a $1,000.00 per hour raise? They've probably put in hundreds of hours for a pittance already, including Summer workouts, weightlifting and whatnot. Remember, my Wolvercat friends: The longer the picket line, the shorter the strike.

This is awesome! Stretch yourself, this is interesting.

What's funny is that you use the words "front head" and "headlock" but completely ignore the meaning of those words. These are pretty simple words. Let's think about them. The hold is a lock around the head (and the chin is part of the head). Significantly, the neck is not part of the head. If the rules allowed strangulation, they would've called it a necklock. That's why you see refs bending down to see what the lock is around. If it's around the head = legal. If it's around the neck = illegal. But, you know, that's a pretty funny new word. Necklock. So, maybe we call him "Aaron Necklock Nagao" or just good ol' "Necklock."

It is my theory that Nagao fled Minnesota because of the nickname that I gave him: The Gopher Choker. Although Rhyme Zone doesn't include "Choker," I believe that it belongs there just as much as "Clover," which is there and a 92 on their scale. But Nagao can't escape the internet, so I am proposing a new nickname: "Aaron Nagarrotte."

@jajensen09 is a poster. Be a fan. Root for your team. Root against other teams.

Wow! This is so cool! I hope you continue to post here. I've been busy with American high school and college folkstyle, so I haven't posted about the current basho. You could tell us your thoughts about that, any national or international tournaments you and your teammates are wrestling, your practices, etc. It would be great to have another American in the upper divisions of the Japanese Sumo Association. Another person or persons to cheer for. Good luck! Another reason I haven't posted about the current basho is because my favorite wrestlers are getting CRUSHED. The giant Yokozuna Terunofuji is 2-4, Sumo Elvis Kirishima is also 2-4, and Hokutofuji is 1-5. Another favorite Takarafuji was bounced down to a lower division, and even there, he's 3-3. Hakkeyoi!

Let's say you have a bank vault with a timed-lock that won't open until March 21 at 11:35 am. Inside the bank vault--if you could see inside the bank vault--is Carter Starocci and Shane Griffith. But you can't see inside the vault because it's made of good Pennsylvania steel. Can we tell the wrestling condition of the wrestlers? No. Not until that bank vault is opened. Their condition could range anywhere from "A" (perfect wrestling condition) to "Z" (on crutches). There's no way of knowing.

Wrestlers are awesome! We live in a culture that prizes toughness. Expects it. Our motto is not "Chop Suey, Carry the One" for a reason. We expect our champions to have almost super-human powers and abilities. Other sports fans see it differently. MMA fights get canceled all the time for less serious injuries. If a two-year old pulled a tendon two weeks before the starting gate at the Derby, that animal would be a scratch and would not be allowed to race. Would not be allowed to race. We expect our wrestlers to fight through pain and injury. That's why so many folks believe in Spencer Lee, even though he stands on two Jenga towers. One Austin Powers Judo Chop in the right place, and he would have to injury default. I 100% get it. Back in 2015, Jesse Delgado was a returning three-time All American and two-time NCAA Champion. Yet, he had an injury that year. That injury caused him to be unseeded in the 2015 NCAA tournament. It especially sucked for the #8 seed Tyler Cox of Wyoming, his first round opponent. As a Delgado fan, I wanted to believe that he would win. I'm sure he believed he could win. And he did in the first round. Poor Tyler Cox lost a close 2-3 decision to the two-time NCAA Champion. Then, in the next round, Jesse lost 2-4. In the wrestlebacks--something the ILLINI hadn't seen since his redshirt freshman year--he was forced to injury default at the 2:52 mark to a 17-9 wrestler. Not only are Starocci and Griffith a risk to default their first match, but they are at heightened risk every match after that as they face increasingly better opponents. It is a shame. Injuries suck. The NCAA should not allow them to happen, but somehow injuries still happen. What I see in the top portion of the 174 bracket are a lot of "ifs." If Starocci and Griffith have sufficiently recovered from their injuries. If they have had the ability to get into match shape in time for the tournament. If their timing isn't off. If they don't injury default before, during or after their first-, second-, third- or fourth-round matches. The big "What If" in my mind, though, is this: What if the top bracket just got two injury defaults? I will be in the Main Concourse of the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City to sign my book Chop Suey and Carry the One.

In my impartial opinion based upon years as a respected wrestling journalist, I've got Edmond Ruth for the win here. Before I change my mind, I want to see proof of life videos from Stall Rocky and Griffith. Earlier today, somebody posted a video on social media of Starocci giving an interview in front of a window showing PSU wrestlers practicing in the background. Not proof. I demand a video of both of them practicing, then walking over to the camera while picking up that day's newspaper. This is nonnegotiable.

Just wait until folks figure out NIL and product placement. I don't know why they haven't yet. But when they do, you'll wish they were thanking a higher being and not a beverage.

What about seeds? I haven't done a deep dive, but I'm a respected and impartial wrestling journalist, so let me give it a go, keeping in mind the respected part and the impartial part: 1. Mekhi Lewis (undefeated; won conference) 2. Cade DeVos (should be lower for putting a capital letter in the middle of name; only one loss, one less than Ruth) 3. Edmond Ruth (DeVos won his conference and Cliff Keen; Edmond won conference and Midlands) 4. Danny Braunagel (4-0 on the year, won Lindenwood, will be wrestling unattached at NCAAs) 5. Carter Stall Rocky (last place in conference; two losses) 6. Shane Griffith (second in conference; three losses) 7-33. Nobody cares

Not a package deal, but a lot of great things coming together in about six months: ED RUTH -- Coaching announcement in July 2021. ILLINOIS MATMAN OPEN -- in December 2021. ILLINI wrestled there, as did Edmond Ruth unattached. He won. EDMOND RUTH -- Recruiting announcement in January 2022.

They were saying "Ruuuuuthhh" when his name was announced. At the third quarter board meeting at Cliff Keen and NLWC, Inc., how do you think they will judge ROI for their respective products, the North Michigan Trees and the Cal Penn Gophers?

Just had my annual pilgrimage (visited the site) to Mecca (the police blotter). The ILLINI wrestlers are either really in the NCAA tournament or really, really out, but this was still fun. Great service to the community! It's also funny that it's called the police blotter.

But what you wrote was a malicious lie.

No, I'm talking about both the Brawlnagels, who were Covid-year All Americans. Are you talking about the Kennedy who made Round of 16 one time, and who is best known for losing wrestle-offs?

Are you talking about the Kennedy running for president, the dead Kennedy, or the Kennedy who earned an Olympic red shirt and wrestled at Final X?

Ohio State's Rocco Welsh is seriously tatted up. Not IMAR level, but he's making a statement protected by his First Amendment Free Speech rights! He's also beaten by Braxton Brown who has a full sleeve. Patrick Adams of Northwestern needs a tattoo really, really bad. He looks way too un-menacing otherwise. If not a tattoo, then I'd suggest a mohawk. As it stands, it looks like he just left Science Lab. Or, he wrestles for Duke. Brody Teske and Nick Bouzakis wrestled an all-tat match, but they both look like they asked for Lilac ink. Touch-ups are necessary, boys! As an impartial and professional independent wrestling journalist, I'm going to award best-ever tattoo in the Big Ten wrestling tournament to four-time B1G champ Isaiah Martinez:

You can praise IMAR for not advising anybody to get a tattoo, as he does in the full-length video, or maybe both Coaches for providing the hard facts about tats in the podcast: They hurt like ****! I don't have a tattoo myself, but I think a good tat is pretty cool. I think a great tat is awesome! In fact, I'm going to give JOMBO™ a tattoo (totally my idea) in his next strip. And when I do give JOMBO™ a tat (an idea that is totally mine), it will be backwards, of course, because he did it himself using the mirror at the jail in the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, and that mirror is made of polished metal, and, moreover, he doesn't understand the concept of lateral inversion. You don't want to know how he got the black and yellow colors. Just try not to think about it.

I should have thought of this first! I blame you for thinking of it first.