SocraTease

That sounds more like a boxing (or political) conspiracy than a wrestling truth ... although I could see Cael lobbying so that Brooks got the very last match of the first round finals so that Brooks could more fully recover from last night late night action

Wow, Taylor looked big but didn't look like his energized self. Commence the drama ... to see if there will be a changing of the guard. I've got to think that DT comes out hard in the second match tonight

Here we go ....

Elor is a beast. She could surpass all the US women (Maroulis, Gray) in accolades when she retires. Not sure who the Japanese rep is at that weight or how good she is, however

Perhaps they need a spark on announcing to add some excitement -- a Shane Sparks

In one series with Dake, Nolf was the only guy of the two to score a TD ... but ended up losing on Dake's clock points and pushouts. Dake seems to get the clock points even though a lot of his game is evasion and wrestling on his knees.

April 11th I think

DT vs. Brooks up finally in two matches. It's the last of Round One finals matches. Brooks should be rehydrated. I think the match will be more interesting than Zain vs. Lee or Dake vs. Nolf.

He took a lot of (half) shots. It's just damn hard to get through Dake's head and hands defense and dancing around

Predictable match by Dake. But it worked. Something has to be done about the total evasion of engagement in the last minute by guys with a lead.

Nolf v. Dake round 1 now!

Mesenbrink hammered Monday 12-1. JB is sitting in the true third place match but will he wrestle? Maybe he will wrestle in the challenge tournament against selected Penn State fans in the arena.

Mike Mal is good, though he is on a side mat.

What's the issue? I see a shiny Snyder on the left, a long Trumble on the right, and the squatty ref in the middle.

F-in cameras on mat 2

Mesenbrink vs. Monday coming up on Mat 4

Snyder up next and then Dake vs. Nolf in two matches. Does Nolf have a way to score on the stingy Dake? That is always the challenge. I think Nolf has taken him down once in their matches

My guess: Looks like they are holding off DT vs. Brooks until one of the last matches this round to give Brooks time to recover because he wrestled at 10:30 PM last night and had to cut weight after that.

Blades wrestled a smart match. Got the lead and kept it. Gray keeps coming like a slow shark, but Blades was able to hold on.

Llilidahl vs. Blaze up on mat 3

The Zain vs. Lee match was like a room wrestle off. Low scoring, predictable, not very exciting. You find a way to squeak out a win and that's it. Not fan friendly.

Gilman wrestled a strong match against Lee and it almost worked. He didn't get the breaks on a quick stoppage when he was in on the leg. He didn't get the break on what could have been a four, and even Lee's TD to a turn was something he might have prevented in retrospect. The point: these two guys are close, and Gilman seems to have the better gas tank the longer the match goes.

I thought they wrestle two matches this morning at 57KG and 65KG and only a third one tonight if necessary

I think some of us might have short memories and are forgetting or downplaying some of JB's "line pushing" wrestling against Dake and many others through the years: hands to the face, hard clubs, dancing around evasively with time running out, pulling up his socks slowly for a breather, trash talking off the mat, and so on. And in many (even most) ways that is just part of the game. He's been a great ambassador for the sport but the point is: he is also a very, very, fierce competitor and comparable at times to someone like Michael Jordan, who would always look for the slightest advantages and ways of getting into the head of his opponents. When you are older, you get savvier (and wiser) if you want to keep on winning. When you are young, you also rely on your relative advantages, too, whatever they are.