Jim L

IMO, National Champs and All-Americans matter much more than NCAA team points. I would much rather be fan of a team with many AAs and than feeling good about my team finishing 7th or 8th in team points. I know of course, that the number of champs and AAs do align closely with team placement

The rise of the Ivies over the the past decades seemed to have hurt Lehigh's standing where it was the place where you can get a highly rated education and still compete for a national title. Cornell and now Princeton have bested Lehigh fin both areas.

Lots of countries with a wide variety of styles. Lots of traditional belt wrestling. India has sand wrestling, Mongolia has a great traditional wrestling style. Easy to go down an internet rabbit hole on this

Did not know that. Well, I am not going let this new information change my thinking

Surprisingly few differences in match results. IMO, Gross over Wilson always seemed to be a good example of what was wrong with the old scoring system not putting enough emphasis on TDs. Your scenarios assume that both wrestlers would have wrestled the exact same match despite what was on the scoreboard and the new incentive to score TDs. If the new rule does not change the how matches are wrestled there is not much point in the rule change. Just curious, in your re-scoring of the matches did you factor in the new riding time rules, not getting a RT point unless there is exposure?

Of course, this is anecdotal, but just the responses from the coaches on this board show that wrestlers are still focused on being at lower weight classes and it would be difficult for them to maintain their weight throughout a tournament. In addition, almost everyone who has wrestled knows how crappy it is to try to loss/maintain your weight during wrestling season. Beside the unhealthy dehydration/starvation practices, just being constantly focused on your diet and trying to drop a few pounds when you are already in really good shape is no fun. TBH, there is an old school part of me that wants kids today to show the same dedication I did and SUFFER. I also honestly feel there is value for a middle class kid who never will face food insecurity to experience what t like to go to bed hungry. But the down to earth sane part o me knows that this is not good for the sport or the wrestlers. Finally, I know that this is the college section, but I am generalizing for the sport. I will not assume that this makes sense for elite D1 wrestlers, but even most college wrestlers would have a much better experience if they did not have to focus on weight. I also feel that there is large population of wrestlers who might have considered college wrestling but hated the weight management part so much that they passed on college wrestling.

IMO, Hyping winning a 5th title is a little disingenuous. He just career just happen to fall during an unprecedented event in NCAA history. Does anyone think any of the pervious 4Xer wouldn't have won their 5th title had they magically been granted a 5th year after winning #4?

One weigh-in per day and then all the matches follow quickly after. How fast do the Olympics/WC go through the brackets to determine finalists? Two hours? It can be done.

I agree with all you say, but to say that because there are problems with the sport, everything even remotely related to sport is suspect, seems silly to me. The thing, I think we should take from a BJJ tournament is that the logistics of weighing a lot of competitors in quickly and immediately before their competition can work. Also that brackets can be completed quickly and this addresses the issue of multiple weigh-ins and also has the benefits of not having wrestlers/parents spending 12+ hours in a gym on a Saturday.

Why doesn't the data point that this is done all the time at large BJJ tournaments count? It shows the logistics could work. And a few pilot tournaments will not change the attitude of wrestlers about cutting weight. I see this throughout this thread. Wrestlers are going to working out/not eating etc. because they all will be close to weight and need to constantly monitor their weight. I know would be a big change and I think it would take years for wrestling to change the basic practices that are part of out sport. To me it makes sense that off season tournaments start doing this, especially the big ones which will be required if we want to see change

My sarcasm detector is on the shop and I truly cant tell if this serious.. one of the biggest events in global sport

Was there really an reason to hold back some as good as Bo for wrestling either?

I would say yes. Everything should be about to focusing on wrestling not weight cutting. One issue that could get a bit tricky is that kids are still growing in HS. Adding 1 to 2 lbs growth allowance by the end of the season seems reasonable.

A second day "mat-side" weigh-ins can work for two days tournaments as well with no time for recovery. One weigh-in per day with the matches following immediately after weigh-in

Almost everyone at the typical BJJ tournaments is clean as there are typically 1000+ "hobby" level guys v. the few dozen elite athletes and psycho MMA wannabes. I would guess the "local" BJJ tournament is cleaner than the an international wrestling tournament.

Right before your first match. You go through a bullpen that leads to the mats, you step on a scale and have skin and nails check and then go wrestle. You don't make weight you forfeit, this should never happen, as there is a scale to check your weight before you step on the official scale. You essentially stay matside until you bracket is finished. This is not a hypothetical. This is how the large BJJ tournaments work pretty much without any issues. Once you get used to it and get over the way wrestling tournaments work, it makes so much sense and t seems bizarre how stuck people are in the mindset that it cant work. There is still some weight cutting, but not like wrestling. I used to love it when I could tell my opponent was cutting weight, I felt that this was a huge advantage for me. And cutting weight is the worst part of wrestling, not only for the wrestlers but also for the parents and coaches.

I don't listen to the Flo Bros, so I was unaware that they were advocating this.

Everyone in the anti-matside weigh-ins group seems to ignore the possibility of having one weigh-in per tournament. If the matches scone quickly that will achieve essentially same effect as multiple weigh-ins with the added benefit of shortening the day for individual wrestlers.

I remember the ski jumper wiping but have not memory of the hurling (I suspect the guy who was decked has no memory either). That was ridiculous

Not what I was saying at all. One weigh-in per tournament and all the matches happen quickly afterward. All day tournaments turn into two hour affairs for Mom and Dad.

This! (though I don't see how less weight cutting would ever make numbers drop, even temporarily)

Just curious on how much you think weight would vary if someone is not dehydrated/ sucked out to begin with. One weigh-in per tournament with all the matches happening in relative quick succession would address this similar to the day1 of the world championship tournaments

That is good to hear. I am not closely involved with youth/HS wrestling anymore. Being old school though, it is hard for me to believe that HS kids aren't doing the unhealthy cutting and hiding it from their coach/family.

I believe less weight cutting will help build programs, it is the worst part of wrestling and taking away the advantage will be better for the sport. I came from a non-wrestling family and I had to hide my weight cutting from my parents as the concept of HS athletes not eating healthy meals 3x a day was not something they understood

There ways to minimize this. If no one is cutting weight (or there is no advantage to it) bumping up a weight class will not be a big deal. Many tournaments already allow multiple entries per school, making this the standard would be better for a marginal school rather than having 4 wrestlers take on the extra misery of cutting weight