BAC

The executive order is plainly unenforceable as impermissible executive legislation. Though directionally appropriate it's also ill considered and will serve only to inject added chaos to an already messy environment.

I agree it's a bad take by Pyles, but I can't get too upset. It's a fine line between stating the obvious (that Vito wasn't himself) and not giving due credit to the victor, and I think Pyles was just trying to make sure he wasn't disrespecting Jax. That's laudable, but here, he came off as denying the obvious.

It was hard to watch. After watching Vito slump off the mat in the first match, while Jax skipped off, the result of the second match seemed like a sure thing. It's been a while since I've seen a wrestler whose cardio was that bad. I don't want to judge since we all know Vito is coming off some sort of injury, but dang, I can't help but wonder if there was something else Vito could have done while he was getting wrestling-ready to keep his cardio up. Ride a bike, swimming, anything? Both matches his tank was empty at the 4 minute mark.

I've shuffled the rankings in my head of "who's the best P4P high schooler?" about 3-4 times the past 6 months, between Blaze, Jax and PJ. I wonder if I'll need to do it again after today. One thing's for sure -- the US has never had 3 current high schoolers who were as good as those three. And I doubt it ever will again.

Agree with this. If anything, it's a feather in Cornell's cap that they had 3 guys in Final X (including Dake), which is outstanding. Second only to PSU (with 4), right? What's more, each of these Cornell Final X'ers have world medals to their credit. Any recruit worth having is going to know full well how credentialed Vito, Yianni and Dake are, and that Cornell produced them. There's zero shame in losing to a high schooler when they beat everyone else too.

Some pretty crazy rankings in there. Here is the entirety of Luke Simcox's resume to be ranked #16 (per WrestlStat): #74 Navida, Elias (14 - 5) #17 North Carolina 02/23 Wildcat Open 141 W DEC 7 - 0 #154 Sly, Charlie (8 - 11) #61 Gardner-Webb 02/23 Wildcat Open 141 W FALL 6:28 #92 Reihner, Blake (10 - 7) #78 Davidson 02/23 Wildcat Open 141 W DEC 5 - 0 #65 Sherlock, Tyson (13 - 7) #78 Davidson 02/23 Wildcat Open 141 W FALL 1:57 #38 Basile, Braden (11 - 6) #25 Army West Point 01/04 Southern Scuffle 141 L MD 18 - 4 #154 Sly, Charlie (8 - 11) #61 Gardner-Webb 01/04 Southern Scuffle 141 W FALL 1:46 #68 Iamunno, Joey (14 - 13) #55 Brown 01/04 Southern Scuffle 141 W DEC 10 - 3 #77 Oswalt, Ian (17 - 7) #55 Brown 01/04 Southern Scuffle 141 L DEC 10 - 5 #151 Matthews, Devin (11 - 14) #65 LIU 01/04 Southern Scuffle 141 W DEC 6 - 1 #6 Frost, Jacob (28 - 9) #13 Iowa State 12/21 Iowa State - North Carolina Dual 141 L MD 10 - 1 #3 Wilson, Josh (D3) #101 Greensboro 11/25 Greensboro - North Carolina Dual 141 L DEC 4 - 1 In sum: Highest ranked win is vs. #65 (a back-up at Davidson), with losses to #6, 38, 77 and a D3 kid. I know it's all algorithm based but what kind for formula would make a computer say "yeah he's 16th"?

No one's saying that. But if he were ramping up for a competition, there's be a stronger inference of intent to cheat. Since he wasn't, the inference cuts the other way. The point is that the supplement was allegedly purchased *after* he was sick (according to his dad), and he didn't find out about the negative test result until *after* Final X had passed. It isn't dispositive, but that too cuts in favor if it being inadvertent. Um, OK. Whatever that means. Well, the problem here is we don't know exactly what he bought, or how that product lines up to his explanation. His dad says he was "looking at his doctor’s report and all the things he’s lacking in. And he went to get supplements to replenish whatever it is that needs to be replenished." If I'm the USADA, I want to see what the doctor's report says, and whether/how the product he bought replenishes that. Again, it isn't a defense, but it might tend to show it was bought more for healing purposes than competitive purposes. Conversely, some are claiming he bought supplements that are literally called "DHEA." But do we know that? His dad says he bought "a supplement, a natural, plant-based supplement," which doesn't quite track, unless he's referring to the soy/yam from which I understand DHEA can be synthesized. I guess we'll find out. If it was literally called "DHEA," that's some next-level stupid and you can't claim it was ingested accidentally (only that you didn't know it was banned). This we won't know until the report comes out, but don't see the point in definitively stringing him up without knowing the truth. What's the basis for tagging the "asshole" label on Brooks, besides his misfortune of having gone to a college that kicked everyone's butt? I could do without his Christian proselytizing too but he's entitled to his views and I'm entitled to mine. You may find his outward religiosity cringey but a-hole is a stretch.

That's actually what my first reaction was, except salary cap, not roster cap. By "salary cap," I mean that in a program that's dependent on just 1 or 2 major donors for NIL money, they only have so much money they can spend each year. That's the salary cap. If those funds get tied up in someone who isn't starting, it's that much less they can devote to some other recruit. To free that money up, the donor needs a valid reason to break the NIL contract -- and dismissal of the team is one such reason. Can't say that's what happened here, but since Arnold was already destined to ride the pine while still collecting Nicolls' NIL money, it would make some sense for Brands to seize on the first defensible reason they had to cut him loose, thus freeing up Nicolls' NIL money for some other recruit. Nicolls making his displeasure known on the Hawk boards may have accelerated that process.

DHEA is a hormone that your body naturally produces. I assume the supplements are a synthesized version but it's irrelevant -- the point is when you buy supplements, it's likely a non-FDA approved use, which means you need to be extra careful to check the ingredients. However made, DHEA is a steroid, full stop, so he's getting dinged for it -- rightly so. The only question is whether he intended to cheat. Here, there is zero evidence of it. The fact that he wasn't planning to compete anyway points the other way. (He didn't get his test results until WTTs were over.) Yet here you are, along with 90% of other "fans," celebrating the downfall of a world team member, accusing him of lying, and all but DEMANDING the USADA find him guilty of intending to cheat. Why? Because his alma mater kicked your favorite team's azz. That's all. Welcome to Team USA, home of the worst fans in the world.

I see the PSU haters are out in full force in this thread. If it were up to this crowd, Brooks would be banned for life, jailed, and sterilized for good measure. Brooks was boneheaded, no doubt. Not reading the label of a natural supplement is a inexcusable, pneumonia or not, so I'm not sympathetic. I'm also ticked that his actions will hurt the strength of Team USA. But saying he's outright lying and intending to cheat, without a lick of evidence, is pretty nasty stuff. If the USADA decides otherwise, then I'll defer to that finding, as there may be more to the story. But if the USADA determines this was a result of negligence, and not an intent to cheat, is this crowd going to collectively petition the USADA to reconsider, and to impose a harsher punishment? It used to be the case that when a guy graduated and was on the World team, the entire USA wrestling community would be behind him. I guess not so anymore. I can just see some of you guys cheering like maniacs when Ramazanov came from behind to beat him at the Olympic semis. Best day of your life, eh? I guess some guys just can't get over the beatings Brooks gave your team in his college days.

Thanks Caveira. I, for one, feel enlightened. I had thought perhaps a stolen watch was more the size of a breadbox and thus would be difficult to conceal without smoke and mirrors. Thanks for setting me straight.

I don't know Caveira. Why don't you delve into your history of petty theft to enlighten us.

I'm not sure why you would assume he *wouldn't* mention it. My read of the article is that Beau thought Carter was retaliating because Syd mentioned the sexual assault allegations to Carter, and Beau thought Carter's unwelcome photo of him while naked was an example of his vindictiveness. The article says "the photos were reported to Sanderson along with the theft," suggesting Beau thought they were linked -- i.e. each an act of retaliation and/or revenge. If Beau sees the photo as evidence that the theft was done by Carter, why wouldn't he mention that to police?

If someone steals your car, and you think your former neighbor did it since he did something really nasty to you lately, do you mention that to the police? Or just stay quiet, giving the police nothing to work with in their investigation?

Because Beau thinks Carter took his stuff as retaliation and wants the police to understand why he thinks that. Presumably Beau would inform the police of other vindictive stuff that Carter has done that back his theory, such as unwanted photo-taking. I could be wrong, but to me, it would be weird for Beau to point the finger at Carter without mentioning other douchy stuff he's done since his wife spilled the beans.