Eagle26

Uetake definitely has an argument over Cael. Dake not so much.

You kind of answered your own question. Baumgartner and Flynn were the reason for their success. After they left, Edinboro got a dose of reality. The reality is that they’re a small state school with bad winters and not a lot to offer a blue chip recruit. With the emergence of Penn State, a lot of top PA talent is going there, plus the “shrinking” of our country (due to ease of travel and long distance communication) makes it easier for recruits to go anywhere in the country. Sadly, it makes it hard for all these small PA schools to be successful. With good coaching, one or two of these programs should be able to do pretty well (like and Edinboro did and Lock Haven seems to be doing ok now), but I doubt we will ever see the days again when Lock Haven, Bloomsburg, Clarion, etc. all have great teams.

This has been discussed before, but I don’t really think that’s a fair distinction because Starrocci is a true tweener. In folk style, they are about as close as Nolf and Nickal were (and I still believe those two should’ve split the hodge).

Come on now… Jimmy can be a bit annoying but that’s a little harsh! Now those creeps from the other thread though… you wouldn’t hear any arguments from me if someone decided to take them to the train station!

Absolutely disgusting and crazy that someone makes an account just to come on here and defend this! But on to the “what can we do about it” part… As others have mentioned, the singlet needs to go. We have given the option of fight shorts and compression shirt a long time ago. Problem is coaches cater to the elite. The serious wrestlers don’t care and take pride in the tradition of the sport so they all prefer singlets. Unfortunately that’s what the coaches order the team then. You say it doesn’t make a difference, but it is a fact that some kids don’t come out for the sport because they think they have to wear a singlet. If coaches cared more about the growing the sport as a whole rather than catering to the elite, the change would’ve happened a long time ago. Sadly, now we have another reason to move on from the singlet. I hope this is enough to get it to be a mandatory change across the board.

Of course no one knows for sure and it requires faith to believe what the Bible says. Just like it requires a lot faith to believe that all the complexity of life on earth just happened by random chance. No one really knows and the origins of life and religions views will be debated as long as there is life on earth. But none of that is really relevant to this conversation. The main point that is relevant is that, if you believe the Bible (which Brooks clearly does), then what he said is a manifestation of his religious beliefs. He just didn’t really say it in the best way (he’s in his early twenties after all). People who want to condemn Brooks for his faith are being religiously intolerant, which is a bit ironic actually.

Jesus himself said that he is the only way to get to heaven. So as @Hammerlock3 said, a Christian can’t really acknowledge the legitimacy of other religions. I don’t think that makes Christians bad people, just strong in their faith. Now, I don’t think what Brooks said was a good idea and what he said it isn’t going to inspire Muslims to convert to Christianity (probably the opposite). Just wanted to clarify why Brooks said it.

I don’t think the head ref could see it from his angle, but if you look at 9:16, the ref on the side had a perfect view and doesn’t do a thing. That’s a situation where he needs to step in and make sure the right guy is penalized

Hopefully we don’t see a bunch of wrestlers copying it, but I could see it being used as a meme or maybe even an emoji

If Brands still takes AJ at this point, yes, he should lose his job. I doubt that he does though. Not sure if this was a planned trial run, but either way, it was a huge gift to the Brands that this happened. It’s pretty obvious that the whole team will be dragged down if AJ is on it, and if Brands doesn’t see that now, he’s much worse than I thought.

Yes, I do agree with that. It does seem as though some pretend it doesn’t even exist (like the seeding committee) and some count it just the same as a regular match (like Flo). My thought is that it should be considered in rankings (and not seedings), but I wouldn’t give it as much weight because it’s an exhibition. That’s totally just my opinion though. It was definitely a bit of hyperbole for me to say “easy” ranking. I don’t envy the rankers jobs and you are right that Surtin definitely has an argument

IMO it should be an easy ranking to put Noto at #1. He’s technically undefeated on the year. And is the highest returning place winner other than Ramos who has taken several losses. Yes Ramos beat him in an exhibition match, but that should be weighed lower in ranking criteria

And Mark Branch won an NCAA title with a losing record (going into the tournament). For sure, early losses don’t always mean losses at NCAAs, but I think it would be statistically more likely for an undefeated wrestler to win than for a wrestler with losses to win it. So in a hypothetical, you would normally give the edge to the undefeated wrestler, unless there are extenuating circumstances (like there are here)

I guess I have to educate myself better before I post! Thanks for adding that context. Now I have to change it back to add Gray back in . Or better yet, maybe we say this group defies the odds and has 5 win as freshmen. Is that allowed @Wrestleknownothing?

It was cool reading through all those. Thanks for sharing. After reading that, I think I’m going to have to modify my list. As amazing as Gray Simons was, I didn’t realize he took two losses as a freshman. I’d still say he’s a “better wrestler” than most on the list but if we are looking at simply most likely to win a title as a freshman, I don’t think we should have him top 4. I’d go with Uetake, Hodge, McCready, and Rex Peery as the 4th… again probably a tough call there, but him and his sons going 9/9 is just crazy so I think he would’ve won as a freshman too.

I think they mean 174 is no man’s lands as in it’s a tweener weight for international. It does suck for guys like Starocci… Brooks does have a better freestyle resume, but it’s not really a fair comparison

Agree with others that Uetake, Simons, and Hodge are definitely the top three. After that, it’s probably a tough call and I honestly don’t know enough about them to make the call. Any historians out there have insight on who should be the 4th guy?

And don’t forget about a slip too. Miss the headlock or arm spin in freestyle, it’s no points and you get to stand back up. Miss it in folk and your down 3 points plus stuck on bottom.

He knows what he’s doing. It’s all part of his game…He doesn’t actually believe it

I think he is teaching us how to signal “Threeeeeee” for a takedown now.

Yes, to clarify I’m a big fan of the 3 pt takedown, and I’m ok with reversals staying 2 points. I’m not concerned as much as about refs making tough calls either… I’m more concerned that it can be called correctly as reversal, but the action was such that a wrestler got to his feet, didn’t quite get separation, but then “takes down” his opponent from his feet, and then only gets 2 points. IMO the action of taking someone down from your feet is a distinction that makes the takedown more valuable than the reversal, but in this case the action is basically the same. I can live with it though… wrestlers will adjust and put an even bigger emphasis on getting away first (which consequently slows down action).

Yeah but in this situation, there’s not much difference in the action of the wrestlers.

I’m torn on this one. I agree takedowns are generally more “difficult” because reversals often happen when the top guy goes for something and gets out of position. I also like that it is more reflective of freestyle scoring. However, the one thing I have a hard time with is the situation where the bottom guy basically escapes and goes right for an attack. The difference between the ref calling it an escape and a takedown vs a reversal can be a bit subjective. Now that’s the difference of getting 4 points or getting 2 points… I don’t like that.

Yeah I meant it’s pretty clear that PSU is a place that a blue chip recruit can go to to reach their long term goals whether that be freestyle, mma, or just college. Those goals may be met through NLWC or other avenues, but it’s still a reason kids attend PSU. I think that’s a big element to their recruiting

Late to respond but I agree with all these although I do wish our emphasis was on duals more. I still believe the team comes before any individual, but I agree the best way to build the team (and help with recruiting) is to do right by each individual and help them reach their goals.