SocraTease

Ah, a play on Voltaire's remark: “S'il n'existait pas Dieu il faudrait l'inventer." (If God did not exist he would have to be invented.)”

I wondered that myself. Wasn't it 19-5? Or was there a stalling point added at the end?

Penn State hasn't given up a TD in 17 straight (individual) matches.

Over the PSU boards, they are saying no Gomez, no Kasak and no Starroci

Someone should pay you for all your great work ... or, minimally, give you a free ticket to NCAAs each year.

Nomen est omen (A name is a sign/omen): 184: #23 Maximus Hale (PENN) over Blah Dahnweih (UNC) (TF 23-7 0:00)

Many athletes, and especially but not only wrestlers, seem to be addicted to utter nonsense. They project the wrestling mat (playing field) onto the greater universe, and see all things as a cosmic struggle. Jacob wrestling an angel ... or whatever. "God" (whomever that is) is on their side. Jesus (in actuality a nonviolent, flawed, and very mortal human) helps them to imagine they (and he) are immortal. And so on. It's really, really embarrassing how individuals who claim to be committed to the "here and now" flee from it into an imaginary void. If only this flight possessed the "truth" of myth. Instead, it is a kind of wounded narcissism, one that drowns on the very surface of things. Ferrari is someone who makes an extremely great and historical sport—yes, wrestling is magnificent—so much less. His addition is a hundred fold subtraction.

Toxic religion (especially Christianity) is a real problem in wrestling. Faith over facts. Loyalty over truth. It's fed by narrow individualism, the blind belief in a simplistic struggle of good vs. evil, and all kinds of utter nonsense. It's been going on for decades and anyone awake and aware enough can see it. It's amazing that so many people are in denial about this embrace of authoritarianism and religiosity, and the fact that a large swath of international wrestling culture (Russia, Iran, major parts of the U.S., etc.) is extremely reactionary. It's also there not just in these "Jesus trained" zealots but also in the very culture. It's embarrassing and dangerous. We see it with all kinds of figures from Marinelli to Brooks to Nickal, and so many more. They need something to seize upon to justify and rationalize their "sacrifices," but there is of course no (zero, nada) evidence that the fictions they subscribe to exist. Evolutionarily, these delusions might help them to believe they are destined to win. But if you step outside this tiny, ghetto culture and have even a half decent understanding of biology, history, philosophy, or psychology, you will see how delusional it all is. Ferrari is simply a laughable form of it— a clown like others in a larger community who trump-et themselves in pathological ways.

Nickal is a far right wing Christian evangelist. He's "Jesus-trained" like Marinelli, but more pushy about it. Rogan is a shill and conspiracy theorist. Both of them are deeply uneducated or at best half educated. Why would anyone get their news or opinions from these toxic figures? If you think that Biden rambles, take a look at this. It is common course for he who will not be named: "Look, having nuclear — my uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart — you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world — it’s true! — but when you're a conservative Republican they try — oh, do they do a number — that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune — you know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a little disadvantaged — but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that really bothers me — it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important as these lives are — nuclear is so powerful; my uncle explained that to me many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right, who would have thought? — but when you look at what's going on with the four prisoners — now it used to be three, now it’s four — but when it was three and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna take them about another 150 years — but the Persians are great negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just killed, they just killed us, this is horrible."

... when you put on a singlet and can't see your toes because your bulging belly resembles a woman's in her last trimester .... when you go back to your high school room over the Christmas break and get head-locked and decked by the third string JV guy, who laughs increduously at your claim that you once made it to the state finals .... when you find yourself spending more time on the Intermat forums responding angrily to posters who make fun of your losses than you do actually training for an upcoming match .... when your ears are so disfigured that they are poked with a fork at the steakhouse salad bar by a patron who actually mistakes them for cauliflower

I think all the ranking services should rank "Nobody" at the #1 position for 125 pounds each week until or unless a big dog (clear favorite) emerges to legitimately take over the spot. It seems like at least once a week that one or more of the top ranked guys goes down to defeat. Perhaps its a variation on the so-called Sports Illustrated Cover Curse.

A few guys not (yet) qualified off the top of my head. Feel free to add to the list: Suriano Starrocci Pantaleo Vincenzo Joseph Kerkviliet David Carr Eierman Morgan MacIntosh Jacob Warner Mekkhi Lewis

You can tell that Lee is as strong as an ox. If you've seen him to do pull ups, for example, you know his strength is off the charts

As someone pointed out on the PSU forum: 86kg Olympic team trials will have at least 5 past ,current or future Nittany Lions. DT, Brooks, Hall, Dean and Mirasola. Dean and Mirasola are all but guaranteed a spot as McFadden suffered a nasty ankle injury in his semi against Dieringer and is almost certain to forfeit out. To which we can add: 74KG will likely have around 5 or more guys associated with NLWC: Dake, Nolf, Messenbrink, maybe Zain (if he goes up), maybe Starrocci, likely "Bear Claw" and/or Facundo who are in consolation semis. 57KG: Gilman, Nico, possibly Lilledahl 65 KG: Nick Lee, Bartlett, Zain (if he descends) 97KG: Snyder 125: no one yet ... Kerklivet if he wins NCAAs Plus PSU has "home field" advantage since trials are at Penn State

My own view is that it is possible but probably unlikely given that (a) he would be moving up in weight and giving up size; (b) he would very likely have to first get past either Borroughs or Nolf (who should be seeded on opposite sides); and then, if that happened (c) get past Dake in the best of two of three. My initial point was more about what happens after the Olympics. Zain's best weight is clearly 70KG, where he has proven to be a force, and it would also be good for team USA to be there. And if he goes up, he won't shed muscle and strength which he would likely lose going down to 65KG (which is about 6 pounds less that what he competed at during college.) But, hey, it is of course up to none of us, and I think he has a sense of whether he can hang with Nolf and maybe even Dake or not since those guys have been teammates and in the NLWC room for a while as well as on the same training teams. He's also lost to Nick Lee at 65KG the last time they wrestled, and Bartlett will be there as well because he qualified for trials today.

Well, the harder task might be making the team at 74KG. If he was able to do that, I bet he could medal.

Why not? Because he would be small? Perhaps. As I see it, though, the problem is that he has really filled out as a 70KG guy and won a world championship and a silver medal at that weight. If he shrinks his body down, he's going to lose a lot of muscle mass and that could hurt him if he goes back to 70KG and continues to compete. If he goes up, yes, it's a long shot to make the team, but he can come back down more easily to 70KG and won't have to starve himself in the process.

Dake, Nolf, Messenbrink, and either Facundo or "Bear Claw" or both. If Starroci goes down, that could make either 5 or 6. If Zain goes up, that could make either 6 or 7.

It's really vile. They do it at the 30 second break, which is one thing, but to do it during the action, is pathetic. Hey FLO, wake up. This is beyond embarrassing and reprehensible. Do you want to put an advertisement on the moon when we look up at it. Or tattoo one on a child's forehead? What's next?

Are semifinals at 5 PM EST?

Nope. His plan is to win NCAAs and qualify automatically. He's said so. Plus I don't think it makes sense for him to drop all that weight during the season. He is stuck between a Dake (rock) and a DT (hard place). Nowhere to go.

Yes. top five. And if you are already qualified and finish in top five you take a spot from someone else. So, Spencer Lee, for example, can steal a spot

Zain was never pinned in college (or high school) but he was caught and pinned in freestyle at Pan Ams when he was running either a leg lace or a gut wrench. RBY was pinned at the Southern Scuffle, not in a dual. He was ahead at that time by 8-2