Jason Bryant

I’m taking less of an issue with this as I get older. There’s far more egregious things that get said on streams than this … with regularity. Combat sports have rounds … I don’t use it, but it’s less annoying that using actual words that don’t exist remotely close to the sport.

They aren't rankings, they're ratings. There's a pretty robust explanation on Pirate's link.

Who is "they" in this situation?

Injury defaults are losses. Medical forfeits are not. As I understand it, it's the medical forfeit in a tournament that people have issue with when people bail out and that means the wrestler they're supposed to wrestle doesn't get the opportunity to wrestle. I'm still trying to figure out where and when this claim that injury defaults don't count as losses. They are losses. They've always been losses.

US Opens in Cleveland were gross failures in terms of attendance. Trials in Council Bluffs/Omaha were worse.

Who is going to be the ones to pressure their CVBs and Sports Commissions to at least raise their hand and say "Hey, how about us?" State chapters? State chairs. There hasn't been an answer to the riddle. I know MN/USAW and Wisconsin have two of the best organizations in terms of volume of people to work and staff events from tappers to table workers. Madison drew OK for Trials in the past. I'd love something up here in the Twin Cities but you've got TWO venues of ample size (Xcel and Target). I'm working on putting an event in 3,500-seat Roy Wilkins Auditorium (got bumped in 2023 for roller derby). Personally, I think New Jersey has a lot of options that make sense. Costs are considerably higher in NY/NJ and other union towns. Newark's Prudential Center is AWESOME, but it's Newark. Ain't much around the arena that doesn't scream at people from outside of the tri-state area. Perhaps the new Mullett Arena in Tempe might work. It seats 5,000. Home to the Coyotes (for the time being) and Arizona State wrestling and ice hockey. From the Iowa question asked originally ... Iowa Hawkeye wrestling fans show out, for Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling.

Doesn't matter where you put this. No one will show up. The bid thing is about 90% legitimate. You don't just show up and put something someplace that doesn't want it. I'm trying to host an event and the sports commission here in St. Paul has moving parts, moving dates, other tenants and also adminstrative changover. That's in addition to the issues we have in the sport. Can you put something in a place where the CVB and sports commission doesn't bid? Sure, if you can find a venue that will take you, but you'll lose even more money. Iowa City's CVB puts effort into these events. But in the U.S., we are ALWAYS going to find an excuse not to show up. @BAC, your points are valid, but we STILL have to contend with ourselves. We are the most excuse-filled, complaint-ridden fanbase when it comes to these types of things. We show up to ONE event. I mean, there's only been 102 dual meets in the history of collegiate wrestling that have drawn over 10,000 people and of those 102, 77 have been in either Iowa City, Ames or Cedar Falls. What will WE finally do to show up? Every date one of us picks, another will have a problem with it. The 80 D1 coaches can't get on the same page about anything, so how do we expect thousands of fans from around the country. Let's also not confuse the fact Penn State wrestling fans are Penn State wrestling fans and not necessarily wrestling fans first. Iowa Hawkeye wrestling fans show out for Iowa Hawkeye wrestling, they don't for much of anything else. The Big Ten tournament gets good crowds, but that's again, tied to the best conference with the most success and the two most adoring fanbases from an attendance standpoint. There's zero team element in senior-level wrestling. No one "went" to Titan Mercury. If they aren't currently wearing the colors of said school, they might as well be sitting in the bar with the rest of us. Sorry, just venting - and it's not at you. I just get frustrated as much as everyone else does. I don't know the answer, but a lot of it is us. The diehards here aren't the issue. We want to go. We want to find ways to attend. Like many, I'm married with kids. I live and breathe this stuff, but I don't get to the U.S. Open in Vegas unless I'm hired to go. I lose money for a week-long event. Or even a weekend event. That's our reality too. Those who love this sport aren't flush with cash and we're usually in gyms locally. There's no perfect answer. I share your frustration. I also know from the other side of it - there is a lot of thought that goes into WHERE to host events. You take a chance by putting them in places you know wrestling fans ARE, but if they show up, that's another thing. ... now I'm ranting and off topic ... and frustrated still! Baku for the Greco World Cup was a small venue, but the place was full, loud and boisterous. On Sunday, there should have been a full arena in Coralville. There is zero high school wrestling going on. Bah.

I've been playing with Britt's data this year in the hopes I can actually expedite the time it takes to create my D1 Preview Guide. It's also giving me data to start working more with how I'm learning how to write MySQL and understand HOW it works. Everything I've done is self-taught, so there's holes in methodology and sometimes understanding queries and joining tables, etc. https://almanac.mattalkonline.com/dual-impact-index-2022-23/ This won't include wrestlers not listed, since blank fields in tables don't like to be sorted very well. The NULL values load up the front and back when sorting. One of these days, we'll have some type of uniform way to cross-reference data. I'm trying to learn it without repeating what WrestleStat is doing. Britt's data is ONLY stuff that'll be used for qualification, so I'll be using that, since it'll line up with what the NCAA will export with its brackets, etc. Granted, you'll lose some of those "oh, he lost to a D3 kid, it's not listed" kinda things, but it's not being used for qualification anyway. This is why records in our sport SUCK. Even when we track it, it's not used or like the ECM's, coaches exploit the rule so badly in one year, it's removed.

9 over 7 (Coaches Poll - dual meet ranking) isn’t a huge upset. Not sure what rankings are being cited in the OP.

I’m going to need to see/hear the specific comment that they claim the NCAA doesn’t count injury defaults … because they’re losses and they count.

Eight hours in a car after flying into Memphis the morning of, driving 2 hours, announcing, and then driving 7-8 hours more is not my idea of a great wrestling trip.

... Did that the first 2-3 times I went down there. I think my favorite spot so far, aside from Lost Forty Brewing, is Gus's Fried Chicken downtown.

I’m announcing in Little Rock on Sunday, but getting to NOLA by Monday morning from a border state proved to be too much of a pain in the ass. Will be watching from my speakeasy.

Julia Salata ...

Shawn Kenney is on the commentary.

People can hate the rule all they want (I do) but it was applied correctly in this instance.

Brave is a chromium-based browser. It’s allegedly for some better protection for privacy. I use it on my phone and my Macs.

I can’t get arena to load on brave on my iPhone. I have to use Safari.

Well said.

There's also the distinction of pxp and color commentary. Ironside is the color commentator, where he ads his experience and the technical know-how to explain to the viewer/listener. His broadcast partner, Stephen Grace sets it all up. Gibbons calls this "down and distance" - so when Jim and I have worked events, I'll set the table with the basics of what's happening and Gibbons jumps in with what's happening with the wrestling mind. When you're on a one-person show, like Byers is 95% of the time, you're going to lose the technical aspects, but probably get a more data-driven type of commentary. Wrestling's vernacular is also very, very regional. If I call a move one thing from how I learned it in Virginia, it doesn't always translate to the same meaning here in the Midwest. I called a heavyweight's shoulder roll a "jelly roll" on a stream once with me and @Viratas when we were with TOM. He was like "Jelly Roll? Stop thinking about food." As far as finding people to do this - much like the topic we had with why teams don't do their own content. Quality control, although BTN's history with it's Student U seems to throw that theory out the window at times. There might be people at these schools with the ability, but usually there's one person for the school hired to staff these events - if those people don't know that there is someone who exists on campus or in the community - they don't know what they don't know. I know we all have our preferences with how we like to hear a match called and yes, it gets VERY annoying to hear people who butcher the calls. People do business with folks they know, like and trust - you don't always have someone who fits those criteria around the people who make decisions.

I was thinking what does Jenna Burkert have to do with any of this ...

Byers is a home-town announcer on radio. He's not a neutral television broadcaster. Penn State puts his feed into their video and that's the easiest thing for them to do. Trying to classify him as something he's not isn't a fair view of what he is. He calls a good event and if you're listening, you know everything that's going on. If you're listening as a Penn State fan, you're really going to know what's going on. Don't go into a match he's calling expecting him to do anything other than what he's paid to do. "That guy sucks at the guitar" "Well, that's because he's playing the cello"

It’s pretty sterile. 10 mats, bleachers don’t get too high so sight lines can be impacted. Too bad the Orleans Arena isn’t an option.