AgaveMaria

It is coming. Penn State has a nice history with Cael & Co of wrestling matches to help some schools. They show up & the gym is packed with fans. Even the hometown folks knowing PSU is probably going to shellac their team, hosting PSU helps promote the sport & gives their program a boost. With former PSU great David Taylor now coaching OSO - this one will happen. Plenty of open dates for them to meet in a home & home format. It is coming, no doubt about it.

4 timer at Big 10. Not at the Big Dance.

BruceyB wrote: " but I think that's just more of an embarrassing heat of the moment reaction than a depiction of who he is as a coach, mentor, and man" It is those "heat of the moment" reactions and actions that define us. They show who we really are, positive and negative. That they are not usually on display - just how it is. Bottle it up & only show it under pressure. Just like those who are drunk and do stupid stuff "That's not who I am". Sure it is - you show it - and later realize the real you came out. That said, Ryan is a damn good coach. All who associate with him have so many positive things to say about him that this coming out as a negative is just part of a complex man. This is a small part - it is not like AJ Ferrari where the negative overrides almost all the positive, or Andrew Long where the negative was so strong it ended up with him in prison. Knowing Ryan isn't perfect is not a surprise. Watching him through the years I would gladly send my kids to wrestle for him if they had the talent. He isn't perfect. The only perfect one - is a myth. Tom is real and a positive force in College Wrestling. (it's not like he throws chairs, is it?)

Since the Cornell that won before is not Cornell of the Ivy League - they are my first Choice. Good program & two 4 timers in their history. Still with Campbell Fighting Camels as the second choice. Love that mat! Have a good Campbell baseball hat with the Fighting Camel logo - my favorite next to my FRITO-Lay Sunflower growers hat. (farm country here & neighbors grow corn for them - as well as Oats for Cheerios)

I know they don't stand a chance but would love to see The Fighting Camels take the Team Trophy. Second choice was going to be Cornell or UNI - but both have won it in the past. So, will go with Nebraska & the Spiderman at 141 this year.

Pair him with John Smith. Loved Smith commenting during the Olympic games. Insight from a master. Was reeling off options the wrestler could do as the match was in progress. Went back & watched again a number of times and listened to his doing this. Learned a lot I had not thought about before. Informative, not repetitive.

Still Larry Owings beating Dan Gable & ending his High School to College undefeated folkstyle winning streak.

Considering the overall condition of Utah Valley Prep - it has to be Barraaclough.

Iowa HAS the talent. What they don't have is coaches willing or able to move past Dan Gable and what worked for him. Dan was not one dimensional. Tom & Terry basically are. "Dan did it" is as dumb as photographers with "Ansel did it". Mired in the past - not learning from the past are very different. Gable was a grinder on the mat but did not force that on kids who can't do it. That was "The Iowa Style" but he had some wrestlers who did not quite fit the mold. He was smart enough to push them in their style with his determination. Tom & Terry don't do this. Iows has the talent. They don't have a coaching staff that can develop that talent past high mid levels. Very few who come in show a lot of improvement. It is the coaching.

The biggest problem Iowa has is the coaches inability to move on from Dan Gable. Jim Zalesky could not do it. Go ahead and listen to him in his pre-match talks. Try & fail. Tom Brands can't do it. Try & fail. He is good but his inability to change his approach, to fine tune it and make it his is failing the program. Both were great wrestlers and both good, not great coaches. Both for some reason trying to be Gable, without his tools. Until Tom & crew move on, taking the best and incorporating a new(for them) approach & be willing to further tweak what is working - Iowa will be a top team, but not at the top. Being "the best of the rest" is where they are at and that is in danger of being lost as they flounder trying to make "same shiz, different year" work.

Based on what we have seen Iowa will have a tough time finishing higher than 4th. What they are really worried about is their long streak of having a Wrestler in the finals. Two look decent for it but losses in the Big 10's have to be of concern to the Terrible Two & fans.

Employing all these incredibly realistic (and somewhat creepy) tactics to appear and smell dead to predators is a much more effective way for opossums to stay safe, than running or fighting (via A-Z Animals).

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry said it best: A legend in his own mind.

They are not yet at the level of frustration of John Smith. He sure looked like a crabby old guy yelling "get the hell off my lawn" when he would watch a number of his wrestlers on the mat. T&T still whoop it up and encourage them. Problem is, it is not working. They have the Gable legacy but have not moved past it because they don't have the Gable talent for coaching individuals.

Friend who are not normal wrestling fans watched the finals with me. They commented about the broadcaster and all the information/explanation given during the matches. They like it for helping them understand what was happening. Much of wrestling is a confused mystery to those who are not already familiar with the sport. Commentators like this help a lot. Original poster is lucky he wasn't around when Howard Cosell was broadcasting.

Too many Penn State wrestlers looked as if they expected to phone it in. Way close matches that shouldn't have been that way. Losses unthinkable a week ago. Some seem to forget that Tournament Time means most everyone ups their game. Forget that & you are in trouble, as evidenced by too many PSU performances. Then again the Sanderson crew is generally not at their peak for Big 10's. That comes in two weeks. Big 10's are a wakeup for some of them. We'll see if it holds true this year.

If his skin turns Orange will he later run for President of the US?

Big question on him is this: does his mom wear glasses?

Have watched some of his matches and he sure does a lot of nothing. A lot of backing up and ties without attempting an actual takedown. Riding without attempting turns. No stalling calls?

Penn State under Sanderson is known for bonus points at the Big Dance. Nothing like Pins to rack them up. How many will their guys get overall this time around? Not Technical Falls, but the real thing.

Ferrari, or Monica Lewinski? How does Ferrari look in a blue dress?

Any you think would not have added a 4th title, given the chance?

Follow the Money. Long lasting impact on all the teams. Covid was a few years & done.

Carter Young, OSU. A number of losses that could have gone his way. We'll see if Coach Taylor somehow gets him past the mental hurdle that has held him back in too many matches.

One thing not mentioned is that these are still College students and have to stay academically eligible to wrestle. Even getting paid now they have to take a minimum number of classes & do well enough to stay eligible. Not always that easy with the amount of mat time required to stay on top of their game. As Dan Gable told his wrestlers: College for you has three components. Wrestling, school and social life. Pick TWO - because you can't do all three successfully at the same time.