NM1965

Most people call him "Carl".

They should just already give OW to Aaron Brooks and dispense with the formality.

My bad. He's been the same for 7 years. 2 FR years, 3 Soph years, 1 Jr year and 1 Sr year.

It does. Why would you jynx the kid like that?

I know it sounds pretty harsh, but those guys are all going to be able to transfer somewhere else if they actually have the skills. I can't stand weaker programs constantly having to beg for money to survive, especially when they have scant fan support. Why should the university keep supporting a sports team that puts, maybe, 50 butts in the seats and always loses money? Also, do the fans really deserve a team if they don't support them by showing up? No, they don't deserve a team if they won't support them. There are actually some positives to losing weaker programs. The talent goes elsewhere and is less spread out than before. What talent they had, that is, because Queens was rancid in D2 before going D1. Presumably the local North Carolina colleges (UNC, NCSU, App St) will benefit from that local talent not being siphoned off to Queens U. Plus you know the wrestlers will be happier somewhere else. Who wants to wrestle at a school that doesn't care about them? I remember wrestling at a bball school for years and it always pissed me off when I saw the support other school's teams had.

I still think that one Hidlay got jobbed against Nolf. Remember that match? Maybe it's time for the Hidlays to finally get a win vs PSU.

Did I say I blamed him for transferring?

It's hard to cry over the loss of such an insignificant program.

Brooks is very dominant, but you know how that goes at NCAAs, sometimes weird shit happens.

Why would Brooks dodge a guy who quit PSU because he couldn't beat Brooks?

Not after this year for Fix. It depresses me he's been at OSU for 6 years now and is still exactly the same wrestler he was 6 years ago.

Fix should probably be the favorite, but I bet Fix wrestles too passively and loses a close one in the finals to Crookham.

Hidlay has wrestled Brooks very tough before. If anybody has a chance against Brooks, it's Hidlay. Plus the Hidlay boys always wrestle tough at NCAAs. Brooks/Beard gives off a weird David Taylor/Bubba Jenkins type vibe, huh?

Not my dog, but I'd say anybody "thanking God" would be doing his religion a disservice with their open pronouncements of favors from god (or gods). Are their deities so petty they favor one wrestler over another? That's lower level than the Greek gods, who actually lived with humans for a long time and thus had good reason for hating them.

We all know he's going to bonus everybody at NCAAs

So true My offensive line coach even taught me how to hold and not get caught I was really good at it.

LOL, you are right. I saw the chopped off picture above and couldn't see how his other arm was around the kid's throat. I thought that was illegal?

My two cents probably is worth about that much, but here's my opinion. I think "duck" matches are a bane to the sport from a fan's perspective. Of course we all want to see premium matches ike Starocci/Griffith or Fix/Crookham, but we're being selfish aren't we? Crookham has never wrestled Fix before and has rapidly improved in the last year. Fix is about the same as he was last year prior to NCAAs. Why should John Smith let Crookham test himself against Fix at this point? Fix is a tricky guy to beat and Crookham probably has never wrestled anybody exactly like Fix before. The less experience the rapidly improving Crookham gets against Fix, the better from John Smith's perspective. OSU only get's Fix's points at NCAAs one more time. I certainly like Fix's chances better without Crookham having experience against him. Regarding Griffith/Starocci, Griffith barely beat PSU's 2nd team guy, Barraclough. Barraclough is AA strength though (in my opinion). I can understand a coach holding out guys in dual meets, especially when a team is so superior to the other that you can put in one of your reserves to get a little mat time. Perhaps Cael didn't see the point of Griffith/Starocci for one reason or another but saw a lot of upside for one of his better reserves to get a some Big 10 experience agaisnt a tough opponent. I know if I was a coach with a great wrestling team that I'd be putting in some reserves whenever I had the opportunity, that would help keep the wear and tear of the starters down until the important tournaments at the end of the year and get more experience for reserves, especially ones destined to be starters next season. Probably most of the time the wrestlers actually want to wrestle the other guy and sometimes maybe they are a little too brave for their own good, and the coaches are protecting them by making them sit (unlikely, most wrestling coaches are sadists). Sometimes it's probably for seeding purposes, sure, but I doubt the wrestlers are making the call in those situations.

Brands has never had any class, why are you surprised?

He might make a better head coach than John Smith at this point, come to think of it. Fix has never improved in college. Ever.

Doesn't look like an arm against the throat to me. Plus, since when have arms against the throat been illegal if there's an arm in there with it?

I don't think so. PSU is so much better than everybody else now that fans think Iowa is down when Iowa is just having a rebuilding year, which is normal. Iowa is still a legit top 5 team, and will be better next year. I didn't think OSU would beat Iowa in the dual, and I'm an OSU fan. I thought OSU would keep it a little closer but Iowa just kicked the Cowboy's asses that night. Off the topic a bit, but I bet Fix finishes 2nd or 3rd this year if he doesn't amp up the aggression at NCAAs.

Is that your way of predicting that KOT will injury default in the finals?

He is a stud, but what I noticed is he was 21 years old during the article and 22 years old when he began his freshman year. Most kids are 19 their first year in college, that had to be a huge advantage for him.