SocraTease

Levi Haines looking good. Great defense and can score when he needs it. Looking forward to seeing him again on Sunday at MSU

Penn started on Jan. 11. Yes, University City (or as us locals just call it, West Philly) is grooooovy

Anyone know what happened to Kennedy Blades? She pinned one opponent, then was pinned herself and forfeited the third match. Hope she isn't injured. That girl has some talent, though she is up a weight class or two now. Kennedy Blades, 76kg - Did not place Round Robin 1: Pinned Taylor Follensbee, CAN Round Robin 2: Pinned by Elmira Syzdykova, KAZ Round Robin 3: Forfeited to Laura Kuehn, GER

Nolf as freshman also pinned IMAR when IMAR was an undefeated NCAA champ. Snyder pinned by Sadulaev. Taylor pinned Yazdani Kade Brock in his first match in college pinning defending NCAA champ Codie Brewer.

Socrates, of course, didn't write anything. It was Plato (his student) who put it all down in dialogue form. And Plato was a wrestler. As a distance runner myself and former wrestler, I'm not sure I fully agree. In any event, here is a brief account: Plato was an athlete, particularly skilled as a wrestler. His given name was Aristocles, after his grandfather, but the coach under whom he trained is said to have called him “Plato” — from the Greek for broad, platon, on account of his broad-shouldered frame. It stuck. So good a wrestler was Plato that he reportedly competed at the Isthmian Games (comparable to the Olympics), and continued wrestling into adulthood. Ensconced at the academy, he spoke strongly on behalf of the virtues of physical education. He felt that one should balance physical training with “cultivating the mind,” exercising “the intellect in study.” The goal “is to bring the two elements into tune with one another by adjusting the tension of each to the right pitch.” Equal parts thought and sweat, so to speak.

"There's no drama like wrestling." -- Andy Kaufman There's a few gems in this soliloquy by Andy Kaufman, Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World

Christian Pyles (of FLO) interviewed the Penn State Coach after his team won Southern Scuffle in 2015. PSU won with Jason Nolf, Zain Retherford, and Bo Nickal, among others, as redshirts. Sanderson turned a question/suggestion back on CP about the plan for the season. As someone at FLO put it at the time, "If you listen close enough, you can hear CP shaking in his shoes.": https://www.flowrestling.org/articles/5051366-the-top-5-scariest-things-in-wrestling

If Lee loses, he is likely out of the Hodge race. Maybe it doesn't matter to him since he has two, but who knows. I think that two things might also need to occur: (1) T & T would have to offer idea as an option (not a requirement) to Lee and Lee would need to accept the challenge; (2) the dual doesn't start at 125 or 133 but rather finishes there (or close to there) so that a good portion of the team score is known ahead of the match. If Iowa can't win with a Lee decision or even major, it doesn't make sense. Finally, my money would be on RBY. Lee is strong as an ox, but RBY is quick as a mongoose (or maybe lightning). (In all my years of wrestling and watching the sport, I've never seen anyone faster.). Lee can be taken down and he gases in the third period. RBY does not run out of gas. PS: I think practically everyone in the sport would love to see the match, however. Two multiple-time NCAA champs going at it. The only recent comparison might be Dake vs. DT.

I believe he has also lost several times to two fellows with the initials A.C.L.

Well done with the stats! Kudos. Now ... is there a MoneyBall for wrestling (a la the Oakland A's)? And has Cael already discovered ... or invented it? What would it entail besides "Just go out and score points" Oh, and "Have fun!"

"I shoot, I score. He shoots, I score" - Dan Gable "You got a plan?" - Cael Sanderson to Christian Pyles “Wrestling is ballet with violence." - Jesse Ventura “A tie is what you get after ice cubes have wrestled with hot water.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

Not sure where to share this, so I will just put it here. Enjoy the fun graphics after you click on the arrow:

He just weighed in for tonight's match.

I'm reminded here of the Parable of the Poisoned Arrow in Buddhism: It's just as if a man were wounded with an arrow thickly smeared with poison. His friends & companions, kinsmen & relatives would provide him with a surgeon, and the man would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the man who wounded me was a noble warrior, a priest, a merchant, or a worker.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know the given name & clan name of the man who wounded me... until I know whether he was tall, medium, or short... until I know whether he was dark, ruddy-brown, or golden-colored... until I know his home village, town, or city... until I know whether the bow with which I was wounded was a long bow or a crossbow... until I know whether the bowstring with which I was wounded was fiber, bamboo threads, sinew, hemp, or bark... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was wild or cultivated... until I know whether the feathers of the shaft with which I was wounded were those of a vulture, a stork, a hawk, a peacock, or another bird... until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was bound with the sinew of an ox, a water buffalo, a langur, or a monkey.' He would say, 'I won't have this arrow removed until I know whether the shaft with which I was wounded was that of a common arrow, a curved arrow, a barbed, a calf-toothed, or an oleander arrow.' The man would die and those things would still remain unknown to him.

Cox is apparently going 97KG at the upcoming tournament this month in France: https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Wrestling/Features/2023/January/12/Henri-Deglane-Challenge-USA-roster

Lee has a few things that he does extremely well. He was also apparently gifted with super hand and arm strength. But in my opinion at least and compared to other very elite wrestlers, he does not seem to regularly display the range and diversity of skills or moves that make him so interesting to watch aesthetically or athletically. His game plan and path to victory are pretty predictable and well known, and few wrestlers can stop or delay it. But he is still pretty predictable. He's clearly a great wrestler, but he's also been put on his back a number of times, pinned once, ridden heavily a few times, and often runs out of gas in the third period throughout his career when the match goes that far. Has that happened to Cael or Dake or the best of the 3-timers (Ruth, Nickal, Nolf, etc.) who wrestled many more matches in their careers? I think it is also reasonable to say that it is easier to dominate at lower weights when others outgrow the lowest weight and you do not. When you ascend in weight, I suspect you are typically dealing with more upperclassmen on a regular basis and more mature bodies. Compared to the innovation, creativity, technical skills, or stylistic flamboyance (for lack of a better phrase) of a number of other wrestlers in folkstyle (as well as freestyle), I just don't find his wrestling that interesting to watch. It's clearly successful; it works; and he wins. No doubt about that. That, of course, matters and in the ends matters most to many, but we all have our favorite wrestlers to follow, and he simply isn't in the top few for me. The GOAT of Iowa from PA ... well maybe but not the American GOAT in folkstyle ... not yet and not even if he wins his fourth.

Maybe ... but he was staring at the lights in the ceiling for a while today after being taken down two slick times in a row. And, if Ramos, had fastened his hold a bit tighter, there could easily be a thread entitled "I Enjoyed the Spencer Lee Era" followed by a removal of Lee from the Hodge Watch list. Yes, I know it's a counterfactual "if" but it was a decided whiff of a possible "if". If you lean in closely, you can hear an inspired Pat Glory doing push ups in his basement all night

Jordan thinks the recent incident was simply a guy going for a takedown: https://news.yahoo.com/jim-jordan-offers-unreal-defense-175527659.html

After taking Lee down, Ramos threw Lee for a 6 point move and was very close to the pin. He was up 8-1 but Lee came back. Lee is definitely vulnerable if a #9 guy can do that. Maybe Glory can take him out

Ramos takes down Spencer Lee, then throws him for a 6 point move and was very, very close to pinning him. Lee comes back and pins Ramos. Crazy start to the dual. edit: whoops, wrong location for this

I'm surprised Gym Jordan didn't get in on the wrestling action on the floor of Congress ... though, on second thought, he apparently enjoys being a voyeur more. The most famous incident of aggression in Congress, of course, is the caning of Sumner in the Senate chamber (1856). If they had gone to a 16th vote last week for the Speaker, maybe we would have seen something like this happen to Matt Gaetz.

Breaking News: Illinois (and also Penn State) will need to cross the dreaded River of Melted Butter to take on Wisconsin this weekend. Both teams are currently consulting Willy Wonka for navigation advice since the viscosity of his River of Chocolate is apparently similar. Carl Sanderson was also speaking with Christian Pyles, who reportedly now "has a plan" for the team to fjord the river. Full story below: River of melted butter blocks Wisconsin waterway after fire at dairy plant Firefighters describe struggling through butter ‘three inches thick’ on steps as they battled blaze at factory https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/05/butter-wisconsin-dairy-plant-canal-melted

Over on the Penn State boards, they are spinning the loss as a positive and trying to make wine out of, well, lemons. It's like the cult around a famous Orange figure. Nothing prevents true believers from perceiving a world they desire. They see what they seek. They also think that the Byers is the greatest wrestling announcer alive. He's not only a terrible Homer; he simply does not know wrestling very well (moves, positions, technique, and the nuances of the sport); he often can't properly pronounce opponents names; and when he has announced freestyle matches, it is far, far beyond an embarrassment. But, hey, he gets excited for a Penn State win so that's what counts right?

And please, no one write "wrestling" . . . for whatever this "professional" activity is. It derailed into a circus, a sideshow, a theatre of the absurd, a clown car out of control. And they are ... um ... now milking (!) it for whatever it is worth to people who likely don't appreciate actual sports Oh America. Oh crazy performance kitsch.

Seth Gross seems to be the new "Funky for Freestyle" guy. Like his predecessors, Ben Askren, Wade Schalles and (way back) Rick Sanders, he is totally unorthodox and very unpredictable. He looks like an easy pushover, a kind of wispy reed or JV wrestler about to get shredded, but his style confounds many opponents. Even his red shoes are rather funky. I'm curious to see how RBY (and others like Fix) might wrestle him this year in freestyle.