AnklePicker

With the depth in that room I guess they can get away with it. What a room. The best room in the history of the USA?

If I’m Iowa I’m going all in on getting Starocci as top assistant.

And I’m a fan of Bo. But that’s a bad take.

Does Starocci go with Dake in the room. Crazy that Nolf, Starocci and Dake are all practicing together. Bo and David are quite a bit bigger than Burroughs. Not sure why they feel so tough calling him out.

On a recent FRL Ben Askren talks about having to adapt his funky style a bit because he kept hurting his knees. What’s interesting though is that knee injuries have seem to go up across all sports not just wrestling.

He MIGHT be a great coach? What possibly makes you say that?

Another major problem for the Brands is their tough guy act. That act works well when you’re the top dogs but it looks foolish when you act tough and then get your teeth kicked in. A little humility would go a long way. Cael and company come from a place of humility and gratitude. That was the game changer for their program. Making that their cornerstone mindset. Takes away pressure.

There’s also the technical side. Ben and Max and Cael and co are evolving the sport. Funk, far ankle defense, understanding every nuance of every position. The Brands brothers are tremendous positional technicians, I’m just not sure they are evolving and they are definitely not great at coaching what to do once someone gets in our your legs. Their physical stature influences their style. It’s not for everyone.

Iowa has very poor defense once you get to their legs. Caliendo seemed clueless on defense. They need to bring in someone from outside of their program. Telford and Morningstar weren’t exactly technical wizards. They should go hard after someone like Yianni as a coach. Not head but high up.

Woods has regressed. Maybe he’s hurt, maybe he’s been sick twice now. But he barely even took a shot last night.

Gilman is a world champ.

Then why is it I see so many at the highest level work? I think they don’t work as well because coaches don’t teach them. When a throw presents itself there isn’t an easier takedown.

I'm wondering if coaches will start teaching more throws since you can get 7 points off of one good one. The odds of going feet to back off of a TD is much less likely. Most coaches seem to think throws are risky but when they present themselves they are actually not very risky and they have tremendous reward especially with the new rule set. Nothing easier than a perfectly timed and executed lat drop.

Are you taking Tom and Terry Brands to lead your program or Kevin Dresser and Brent Metcalf? Who you got?

You're saying that having less weights doesn't make the remaining weights more deep? I just heard David Taylor talking about just the opposite. How loaded the weights are because of having less weights.

Look who JB had to go through just to make the team. Taylor, Dake, multiple time world champs. He wrestled after the break up of the Soviet Union which makes it WAY more difficult plus he’s wrestling in an era with far fewer weight classes. Do you not factor in any of those things? Smith beat Canadas Gary Bohay in the finals. A guy who never medaled before or after those world championships. Smith is my hero, he was like a god to me growing up while he was winning Olympic titles, but your competition matters. The depth he faced isn’t nearly what JB has faced. 1=Burroughs.

I think the better question is has there ever been a more d bag post than this?

Because he’s better than Haines. You’ll see.

Thanks Gus!

Now someone compile the list of guys who have won both cadet AND junior world titles for the US. I can think of Gable who won 2 cadet titles and 1 junior title. Are there any others in USA wrestling history? I'd say that puts Shapiro in some pretty rarified air. If you don't think he has a chance to win a title this year, you haven't actually watched him wrestle.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/us-sports-news-olympics-news-wrestling-news-russian-wrestlers-doping-scandal-unravels-after-a-marathon-of-nine-years-court-of-arbitration-for-sport-drops-the-hammer/ Now do Geduev.

Didn’t realize he was at 57kg just last year. I guess he did make it. My apologies. Amazing run he had.

I forgot that Lalovic is Serbian.

You missed the point smh.

This kid is unique. The old eye test shows me that. Also doesn’t hurt that he was a cadet and junior world champ at a super tough weight. How many guys in US history have won a cadet and junior world title? Gable?