boconnell

Little Rock is supported by one large donor. Success does matter to him. It matters to all donors at all schools. Most wrestling programs are not supported by revenue, but rather by fund raising. When all of the best wrestlers leave a program, it will absolutely effect fund raising. And while an AD won't care about fewer individual all americans, they will absolutely care about less fund raising.

JB didn't explain strategy. Immediately after Starocci's win JB said he was going to go after Starocci's leg at the Olympic trials. And no, announcers don't do that.

I heard we also landed on the moon.

You're making up some stories here. You claim nobody wants to wrestle for him and he has a bad reputation, but their recruiting the last few (and next few) years has been strong. Their real problem has been culture. They let Ferarri get away with a lot and it wrecked their program. Coleman Scott had a very positive impact this year and they started 4 freshmen and only lose Fix. They were improved this year even without a great NCAAs. Next year they should be improved again. They are just fine.

It's worse to get calls wrong. Review helps get more calls right. The problem is that we don't penalize failed reviews. In FS a failed challenge is a point. In the NCAA finals you have a bunch of coaches challenging stuff because they have a review left and there is no drawback to not using it. Make a failed review worth 2 points and guys will stop challenging stuff frivolously.

He won his only challenge last night.

100% He's a FS guy without any reliable attack in a folkstyle match. He wrestles sumo in FS. He pushes guys and then scores when they push back. Slide bys and snaps and par terre turns. He is so good at that stuff that it's assumed he has folkstyle offense he's choosing not to use. He doesn't. Last night is who he is. 7 years of college somehow didn't change his inability to shoot and score.

I liked him. I find it hilarious that people can be so definitive about what good commentating is. Like it's not something that's largely subjective and personal taste doesn't play into it. I like it, but it's easy for me to accept other people hate it. Just like food. Different people love different things. But with DC we get a bunch of people telling the whole board that he was the worst and nobody could enjoy him.

Absolutely. He was super aware of when to let go. He wasn't pushy. He asked softball questions and let guys talk about whatever they wanted to talk about. I can and do reasonably hate sideline post-match interviews. But Quint was understated and not part of the problem at all. And he clearly cares about it.

That happened. Then after the match Starocci got interviewed by Quint and said he'd be at the trials in a few weeks. When they kicked back to the announcers DC asked if they knew anyone else who would be at the trials and Burroughs answered that he would be there and if he wrestled Starocci he'd be going after that leg for sure. It was more than the original mention of going after a general leg as a general tactic. It was JB saying he'd be going after Starocci's injured leg in April. It's not a big deal, but I can't ever remember anything similar from an announcer in any sport. Of course most sports don't use active competitors as announcers. I can definitely get why a PSU fan (or former wrestler) wouldn't like it. I felt like JB inserted himself into a moment that should have been about the guy who just won his 4th title.

DC got crushed for being unprofessional all weekend. Now we have people defending JB and bashing Nickal for not liking an announcer saying he was going to go after a guy's injured leg. I get that he was joking and it doesn't bother me personally. But it's by far the least professional thing said into a microphone all weekend. Not just the part about going after his leg, but the part where Starocci won his 4th title and JB immediately made it about himself. If you hate DC being unprofessional, then you have to hate that moment. It's super unprofessional for a neutral commentator to say. I honestly like them being humans and having fun. JB is far more fun when he loosens up, and DC loosened him up. The worst part about DC was he talked so much he shut down Rock.

Whatever makes you feel better about yourself for dumping on guys who just won a title and didn't use their 30 seconds well enough.

Agreed. Among the few things more pathetic is a guy on a forum insulting guys for professing their primitive belief.

Also no escapes or stalling points.

Carr scored the TDs on his feet until getting tired late. He didn't really go out of bounds much. He just circled and didn't engage. In FS he would have been put on the shot clock first and probably scored on it. Without RT, escapes, or stall points, I like his chances.

He definitely plays favorites. No argument there. But he has lots of PSU favorites. How does that match up with it being some kind of 20+ year grudge against Cael?

You can't seriously think FS rules would have benefitted Messenbrink in that match.

He's gushed over multiple PSU wrestlers. He gushed over Messenbrink in that match. He sang the praises of Starocci and Brooks all through the semis and probably will again right now. He definitely was pulling for Carr, but it's a weird leap to make it about Cael.

I don't understand people wanting a 4th stall call in that match. Carr did some backing up but rarely went out of bounds in neutral and made serious attacks in every period. How does that equal 4 free points for the other guy just because he moved forward a bunch.

I've enjoyed the announcers. DC is the most fun and the most obnoxious. He's been on the right side of that balance for me. I understand others feel differently. I like it being fun. Even when they wander from the topic I am fine. I don't need anyone to explain wrestling to me while I watch. I do need people to help make me laugh while I watch wrestling.

Get out of here. His matside deameanor is right in line with everyone else. PSU got a review of a review in round 1 by whining. Iowa complains matside. Cornell goes past matside all the way to court. Every team and coach complains, and the successful ones get away with more so they do it more. Smith is just like his fellow coaches.

Fix cheated and mostly got away with it. He's also 26 years old. Then he wrestles a counter offense style that fails to put up points even when he's much better than his opponent. He's easy to root against. But Ragusin did nothing for 10 minutes. He did far less than Fix. His gameplan was to stall and roll through for stalemates on his feet. He made no effort to win the match. Then he was almost handed the match. Then they reconsidered and didn't hand it to him. Then he goes on social media and insults John Smith. You've got to really be blinded by rooting interests to make a hero out of Ragusin in this situation. Maybe instead of complaining he should have attempted an offensive move at some point in the match.

The lack of self awareness here is awesome.

DC has actually pulled JB out of his shell a bit. He has laughed and enjoyed himself more than I ever remember in his previous announcing. He even just made fun of DC for making Starocci his "4th or 5th pound for pound number one".

Awesome from Carr!