BAC

According to this, they the US average height is just a tiny bit higher than Russia/Hungary.

Nice work brother. I have no great answers, but I'll offer a theory. 65kg, in general, has one of the highest concentrations of talent, but even more so outside the US, since the average person is smaller outside the US. If you look it up you'll see the US average height/weight is higher than all the countries you listed above, save Poland. As a result, that's the weight range where a lot of other countries' best wrestlers are, so it's most competitive. It's concentrated there in the US too, just not to the same extent as other countries.

I don’t think there has ever been a match between 2 4x’ers, much less against a 4x’er and a 5x’er. New record today: 9 combined NCAA titles on the same mat, and a combined 9-0 in NCAA title runs. I don’t know who wins but how can you not be stoked for this?

I hear you brother. The rules are the rules, even the dumb ones, and it's his job to know them -- and you'd have hoped he'd avoid criminally risky behavior so close to a competition. Funny thing is, I doubt Snyder himself agrees with a word of what I'm saying. I'm not personally bothered by what he did, I don't think any of it should be prohibited by USAW or Safesport or the law, but I'm guessing Snyder himself absolutely agrees it should be a Safesport violation and illegal, and that he'll say as much.

All very good points, and I agree. Thanks.

Hope you didn't get any "reward" for it from the missus. Cuz that's "sexual exploitation" if you haven't heard.

What do you want me to rephrase? I literally wrote, "The Safesport Code is pretty clear that solicitation for prostitution is a violation." Then I made the point (repeatedly) that it shouldn't be. Am I really being that unclear?

I read the same section but I interpret it differently. Since there is no comma after "prostituting," I interpret that word as linked with "trafficking" and modifying "another person." In other words: "Engage(s) in (1) solicitation of prostitution, or (2) prostituting or trafficking another person" (numbers mine). So if you're a john or a pimp, you're in violation, but if you're an escort, you're cool. Sounds like you're assuming he had a felony conviction, and I don't think that's the case. You may be right though. FWIW, I don't think theft should be a Safesport violation (because, while more problematic than solicitation, it still lacks a nexus to safe participation in sport), but it certainly should keep you from being an investigator.

All good points and I agree. My issue is this shouldn't be a Safesport violation at all. Excluding someone who engages in a consensual sexual act with an adult, compensated or no, isn't making anyone safer. I'm not familiar with the typical penalties, but if it's true that this sort of violation only results in a warning or probation, then that's all the more reason they shouldn't have this mandatory "interim suspension" which is deeply harmful to both the athlete and to USA Wrestling, which is going to fare worse at Worlds as a direct result of Safesport's ill-considered policies, delays, and unjustified "interim suspensions."

I don't know about you, but I had no idea that he could be suspended for something like that. Even when news of the arrest came down, it didn't occur to me that anyone would be so preeningly moralistic as to suspend him over entirely private consensual conduct. It wasn't until news of the Safesport suspension came out, and my looking at their rules, that I realized that yes, appallingly enough, in fact they DO very clearly claim the right to punish you if solicit sexual favors for compensation, even if you aren't convicted of it. There's not even an exception for doing it where it's entirely legal. It's "sexual exploitation," they say. Shoot, just last month I was giving my wife crap that I hadn't gotten any in a while. She mentioned I hadn't mowed the lawn. I mowed the lawn. I got some that night. Don't tell the church ladies at Safesport!

You mean someone got off and money was exchanged? Quick, someone file a Safesport complaint to investigate!

I agree that they can't rule on something in a way that conflicts with a judicial ruling, but that's not what happened here. It isn't like some judge said, "I've looked at the facts Mr. Snyder and I conclude that you are NOT guilty of solicitation, only of disorderly conduct." Rather the prosecutor just chose to reduce the charges to get a guilty plea. He was never found not guilty of solicitation. That gives SafeSport the window they need to investigate the conduct as originally charged. And, despite my railing against Safesport in the preceding post, I actually do agree that this is what the rule should be, as a general matter. Imagine for a moment that some youth wrestling coach is charged with sexual abuse of minors. But there's problems with the prosecution: maybe the statute of limitations has passed, or the kid is too scared to testify, so the prosecutor, figuring something is better than nothing, accepts a guilty plea for disorderly conduct. Would you, as a wrestling parent, want Safesport to be allowed to look at what the real facts are and make a decision (e.g. a ban) based on those real facts, not the plea? I'm guessing you would. Here I'm just annoyed because even accepting that Safesport is allowed to look at original solicitation charge, there's nothing in the charge that is remotely within Safesport's proper purview, as there's no victim, and no conduct showing it's harmful for him to be in the sport. It's just moral judgment, nothing more, and hypocritical moral judgment at that. Our world team is going to be worse because of their idiocy.

What's interesting about the guys going to OSU is that their entertainment value. I doubt there's three guys who are more fun to watch in the 2026 class than Forrest and the Raney, who are all massive risk takers and don't mind giving up points as long as they score more. Vega and Lockett have flash too, as to a couple of the others. You may not like them, but they're going to be one of the most entertaining teams to watch.

Unfortunately it probably won't. The Safesport Code is pretty clear that (a) solicitation for prostitution is a violation, and (b) pleading to a lesser charge won't preclude them from finding a violation for what you were charged with. I doubt the public release of information has helped Snyder's cause. It's utterly ridiculous that the Safesport people have taken it upon themselves to claim jurisdiction over such matters. There's no victim. They need to worry about conduct where there's an actual victim, and stop sticking their nose into other peoples' bedroom to see what consideration was exchanged between two consenting adults. We don't need the morals police telling us who can and can't be on the world team. For an added dose of irony, prostitution itself is *not* a Safesport violation. Only solicitation. If the woman had paid Kyle to give him head instead of the other way around, he'd have been fine. Kyle's only hope is they adjudicate it quickly and let him off with an admonishment. But the odds of that are basically zero, as Safesport is famous for its foot-dragging and indefensibly slow handling of cases. On top of that, they're in turmoil after firing their CEO a few weeks ago, when it was learned he'd covered up the fact that their investigator was arrested for stealing money from a drug bust (apparently THAT crime is OK), which came out when he was later arrested for rape. (Details here.) Don't count on Safesport getting their act together before the weekend. Hope Snyder keeps his head up and comes back strong, and Safesport gets the reform it badly needs.

Might want to check your sources. The police report doesn’t say that so it’s probably made up. Ads for stings are usually out in the open so they can nab as many people as possible. Only reason the cops would turn to the dark web is to pose as a child prostitute, and if that’s what happened the charges would be far more serious.