Jim L

This is true of mot Olympic sports. Even sports that are popular during Olympics years like swimming and diving are mostly irrelevant during non-Olympic years. I don't know if there are pockets somewhere in the world where sports like Canoeing, Fencing, Shooting, Sailing, Water Polo etc. have large following and the athletes are celebrities, but looking at the list of Olympic sports I would guess the majority of them are niche sports similar or even less popular than wreslting.

"Matisde" weigh-in already occur at the big BJJ tournaments without any issues. Uniform, skin and weight check are done in a bullpen before you are allowed to go to the mat area with no delays, a few extra bodies are needed to staff this area.

Agree, I love this bit of mythology and the belief that it proves how great Gable was. I heard USA wrestling is doing the same thing now to find someone to beat Sadulaev. Scouts are out from the Alaskan tundra to inner city Miami hoping to find someone to beat Sadulaev as we have found anyone in traditional wrestling hotspots that can beat him.

Very interesting. I don't watch a lot of Greco, so I am surprised by this. It would be interesting to see how many of those points are TDs v. FS. Also, passivity penalty points should not be part of that average IMO.

Most of those sports are not sponsored by US high schools, so this lead to a relatively small number of athletes participating. Even at the senior level, athletes in those sports do not cut the amount wrestlers do, with the exception of MMA.

Can a college mix and match what sports they opt-in on? OR if you are in on one sport you have to be in on all sports?

I cut the extra pound just to prove how tough I was. Lol You are correct. It was 158

HS - 114, 128, 140, 147 College 157, 167, 167, 157. Cut was brutal to 157 senior year in college. I was doing good until the cutting wore me out and had a catastrophic conference tournament. I went to 200 lbs by the summertime, more muscle than fat as I stopped running focused on lifting. 35 years later still 205ish, not as much muscle though

Andy McNerny from Harvard. He had just come off a 4th place NCAA finish. I was a senior in HS and in my first senior tournament. I had just wrestled a Syracuse starter and lost but a lgot a TD or maybe even two and was feeling pretty good until McNerny demonstrated next level wrestling. He was incredibly fast and slick. I remember as I was being taken down trying to figure out what he just did with his setups and misdirections

Wow, one pin between Henson, Fired and Mac, so much for wrestling back in the day being more exciting because everyone was always going for the pin!

I agree that IOC would love to dump a combat sport and will not be Judo which is hugely popular in Western Europe, which is what truly matters for a sports inclusion in the Olympics. Greco needs major reform. I don't believe that any one can to look at high level Greco now and see that that it is a good product for the athlete or spectators. If greco does not make big changes it will become obsolete. I like the concept of dirty greco. It keeps the heart off the sport and expands it and should have a more scoring. Gold medals won in 1-1 criteria are not good for anyone. Even a match that is decided by a single gut wrench is not what Greco should be to about. We want to see bodies flying through the air and rule changes (even radical ones) that promote that are good for the sport

A radical change to the Greco rules are needed, so if some Olympic champions may lose out of they can't adapt. Judo did a similar thing about 15 years ago when they banned leg grabs, firemans and blast doubles were go to techniques for some Judo champs and they were suddenly banned. Adding trips and sweeps to Greco is less radical because techniques are not banned but are expanded. I disagree that current Greco champs would be novices because there is no one doing this style at a high level right now. Put a Judo champ against Greco champ in a dirty Greco match and without a gi to grab the Judo guy is lost. 100% of my money is on the wrestler.

I think the I like the 3 point TD because, to me, it feels that TDs should have more value. A wrestler who gets an actual TD, should be ahead of an opponent who "just" got two escapes. I also believe that it promotes bigger comebacks. A wrestler down by 3-4 points a that start of third period has a reasonable chance of winning, if he is much better on his feet and especially if his opponent is gassing. I don't necessarily buy that it increases stalling in 3rd if the wrestler has a lead. Wrestler are always going to "protect" a lead and shut down their offense if they are ahead late in the match.

Kozlowski 2x for D2??

While we are doing Greco trivia name the only DI champ to win a world meal. And name at least two other DI champs who made US World team.