alex1fly

The proper response lol

Hey I always appreciate insider info. That's why I'm here! It was mostly the "you must not be much of a fan" part that was funny. I've never been close to the program despite growing up there, living near John Smith, wrestling in JH, going to all the duals, etc. The Mastros were another weird vibe kind of family recruited at the same time. I suppose staff weren't worried about it, but obviously it didn't work out. Again I just want that fly-on-the-wall biopic about WTF went down between 2018 and 2021... there were an usual amount of public facing head scratching decisions made. Drammma haha

Flexing on me just like a Ferrari would! Noice Personally I would love a whole feature piece on all the Ferrari drama that never left the inner circle of OSU wrestling. The drama is so juicy lol

Both cringe but one is “I’m really excited about the future” cringe and the other is “remember those things I did? Please?” cringe lol Yeah. Dude was it indeed. As an OSU fan I watched it all starting with recruiting. And I really have to wonder what the heck happened. Did the car wreck or admiration change his brain chemistry? Did OSU coaches and admin not have the ability to rein him in? Because he really was a fun spectacle to follow, it was cheesy but well meaning cheesy. Then it turned dark and sad (harassing people, missing camps, getting kicked out of OSU, accused of sexual assault in that order) and has kind of stayed that way. He’s chosen to lean into everything instead of of putting social media away, putting his head down, and trying to repair his reputation. It just seems like he lost some hold on reality somewhere in there and unfortunately doesn’t have anyone in his life to help him be more normal. Maybe it’ll work out for him who knows.

Lol. Let's remember that there are groups dedicated to sowing social discord in the American population by creating and promoting divisive content that may or may not be based in any kind of truth. It's literally their job to push our buttons and make us argue, y'all. There's questionable validity to this story and as such there's no reason to get worked up about it.

Is that real? Three tiny and oddly placed logos on a huge picture of AJ?

Fascinating to know if anyone has actually reached out to him or if every visit is due to a Ferrari cold call. The drama lol

I thought the exact same thing watching the other day! Strong, impeccable technique, doing things normal humans cannot. Really impressive what they can do.

AJs issues wouldn’t be that big a deal in college athletics if there were one or two issues. But there’s a dozen issues, not one or two, and that makes him an unattractive addition to a team.

Perhaps. It's all speculation obviously. But evaluation periods happen with big life events, so a break from wrestling makes sense to me. Maybe he'll interview for open positions next year after missing the sport and getting his family on board to move across the country again. Maybe big bad OSU convinced the entire wrestling community to blacklist him and he can't get an interview unless he kisses DT's boots. Who knows really

Lol I can't even be mad at Jimmy's investigative journalist vibe. "Prove he ISN'T blacklisted!" is just funny. Go get em! In all seriousness I wouldn't be surprised to see Scott take a break from coaching until his kids are graduated. Uprooting can be hard on a family.

Thanks for sharing this story and finding the match! Wow what a battle

$20 fine for disingenuous posts on Intermat. Dang, I owe $20! In all seriousness with some of the money these kids are getting, it makes some sense. Though most NIL recipients are not making very much.

Has Keckeisen done any senior/international level wrestling? I couldn't find anything. I wonder what his post-grad plans are.

I would bet that Joe Rogan works out with kettlebells only in the same way that Aaron Brooks doesn't lift.

Watched Cael wrestle several matches in person. We marveled at how he was always multiple steps ahead of his opponent. In general there wasn’t much talk about wrestlers beyond matches and rankings. So not much lore so to speak, at least in my circles.

“I don’t lift, I do strength training with weights. Big diff”

Same playbook! controversial title then zero engagement in their own thread. Classic lol

I don’t think Putin wants to take over Europe. However nothing I saw in Trumps first term makes me think Trump can gracefully navigate an incredibly complex geopolitical situation like the Ukraine war beyond blustering and taking credit. I do feel for the Russian athletes. They don’t really get a say over their destinies. We’ll see what their Friendship Games have to offer after the Olympics.

No asterisk. It’s competition. You compete against who shows up. Maybe Russia gets banned. Maybe the top guy gets the flu. No asterisk either way.

Do know it’s far more complicated than that. Espo left and we were shocked. Then Coleman came in and we were so stoked. The improvement and energy was apparent. He was all in. The athletes seemed jazzed. We started to look like the OSU of old again. Then John retired, which we knew would happen eventually but didn’t know when until the announcement. Then Coleman lost the job to a literal GOAT of American wrestling. So yes, sad for Coleman because we were excited to have him take over. But also excited to have David Taylor come in. So if you want to push a narrative that’s fine but recognize that it’s complex for anybody that follows the program even when it’s not making headlines. It’s been a roller coaster and every OSU fan I know is still making sense of it which will probably take several years of actual wrestling.

I’ll go start knocking on doors. Worth it in this heat.

“I interviewed for a job and didn’t get it. They screwed me” is not the mentality of an Olympic medalist. Or probably any wrestler for that matter. IMO. Betcha his family doesn’t want to move again so soon and there’s no D1 openings nearby.

We’ll likely never know what happened behind the scenes at OSU. Theyve been tight lipped about the whole fiasco. Maybe former staff will shine some light one day but maybe not. It would be interesting to see if AJ would sacrifice his social media in order to wrestle. I’m just listing things I think would actually help the young man grow as a person. Of course they won’t happen though.

Exactly. Most people aren't experienced with wrestling or combat. And many of those that are into combat prefer striking. Plus with swimming you know what you're getting - people racing in the pool. With wrestling it could be exciting or boring, there could be throws or pins or stalling. Same with gymnastics - most people haven't done it, but you know what you're getting. It's easy to absorb for the casual viewer. If Olympic wrestling included some kind of exhibition event where the athletes demonstrate certain moves, that could actually bring in the casual viewer. That's exactly what swimming and gymnastics are doing - demonstrating the sport. There's so many cool moves in wrestling that are hard to pull off, and so a wrestling match may or may not demonstrate anything interesting.