scourge165

I remember watching a pretty notable HS Wrestling Tournament and they'd ask the SAME question to everyone. The guy who did it was pretty young and has gotten much better, but it was literally 14 times of "what does it mean to bring the _____ title back to Parkland, Illinois," or "St. Edwards." Wrestler, "Oh, it means a lot, we have a lot of support from our families and our coaches and...yeah, it means a lot." You're right, you're not getting much there. They also do the, "when you were down 4-3 in the 3rd, what was your thought process." And generally...I assume it's, "I gotta score or I will lose." But again, it's the, 'just keep grinding away, I knew I had to keep attacking...he's tough to get in on and I just kept grinding and I'm just glad I was able to get in on a leg and finish that TD!'

LOL...lets just go with, "Both really-really good!'

Fair enough. I think I'm a bit less discerning when it comes to broadcast duo's. They generally seem to be disliked and I find myself having an unpopular opinion quite a bit(NFL, I don't mind Buck and Aikman for example). I think Gibbons is great. I think Shane Sparks has done a lot for the sport and he worked hard to get more access to the Wrestlers...a bit of a pioneer in that regard IMO. Seems like it used to be...what, Gibbons and then they'd have Gable in there who was more of a fan than an announcer. I also like Daniel Cormier when he does the NCAAs or Robles. When you're watching a good match, it kinda becomes background noise...as with Tim Johnson. I know he tells some stories and people may find him a bit grating. I'm indifferent.

Yes...of course, as I said, it was hyperbole, but it speaks to the nature of international Wrestling at that point with the questionable calls overturned. I remember hearing a story(years later and passed along through several people) after Slay won about team USA coaches made sure to follow the officials around as one of the Kolat appeals had been appealed without a USA representative there...and resulted in him getting screwed.

I assume he's talking about Randy Lewis.

I mean...I also qualified it with "maybe the best." This isn't my hill! LOL...just again pointing out how Storley when he was coming out was viewed as a special, unique type of recruit. In fact, I think he may have been the same year as the famous Chris Phillips and that Monroeville team in Ohio with 4-4X State Champs, Phillips, Logan and Hunter Stieber and Cam Tessari. Phillips was a 4X Champ...I think all at 171 in Ohio...which in and of itself should say plenty, but he also just dominated the Ironman a couple times, won National Tourney's and was a freak talent in his own right. None of this really has to do with the thread, but I find it all interesting. And Storley was a 6X Champ in SD with a record of like 230-2. Maybe I mythologized Storley a bit in my head, but I was just a huge fan of his coming out. He was a beast and he was a kid you wanted to root for. You check out this match vs a Fargo AA and how Storley handled it and it was tough to not be a fan. Again...almost totally unrelated to the thread. Just a way of remembering one helluva wrestler who didn't accomplish his ultimate goal.

I was thinking about 2014 I guess when Howe was at Oklahoma and you had Perry, Howe, Storley, Kokesh, Brown, Evans, Wilps in the top 7. Hayden Zilmer was in that bracket, as was Mike Ottinger who was a tank. Sorley and Kokesh had some incredible matches. The year Brown won it, Kokesh looked like he was the odds on favorite(2015). Beat Brown in the B1G finals, but even that match, they were back and forth. IIRC, Kokesh wrestled a lot of close matches, that year he kinda opened it up and it looked like he'd break through. 3,3,4,3. I don't know there there are any factual errors I can point out. I kinda just remember it as a few year run in which there were a few just maulers in the B1G at 174, but I needed to go back and look at the brackets to remember exactly which year who did what(I thought Brown went 5,2,1 instead of 2,5,1 for instance. But watching Wilps and Brown...there were a lot of things I didn't remember or mis-remembered...starting with the fact that I thought Wilps was a long kinda lanky wrestler, but he was just a big SOB. Long, but not someone I'd describe as lanky. He looks like a '97 pounder! I guess Brown's days of moving around from '65 to '97 paid off. And then the final 10 seconds. Wilps with the TD that looks like it's gonna seal it...a stalling point that...seemed a bit quick to me and the baited locked hands as you pointed out. And Brown definitely baits him, but that just had to be a mental slip by Wilps, because he seems hold onto it forever(insomuch as a 3 second go can be forever). Glad I re-watched that and the B1G final. Kokesh was probably the best Wrestler that year at that weight, maybe followed by Wilps, but that's what makes the D1s the best sporting event in the world to me. If you tell me in 2 weeks that Mekhi Lewis, Hidlay, Hamiti, even Glory or Vito are National Champs, I wouldn't be shocked(I'd be shocked if they all wrere). Man, that's 9 years old and it was more than worth it to go back and watch the B1G finals and then this match;

HS...best High School Wrestler.

I'm just going HS. If you include post-HS, it's not even a competition. He's got at least a couple Olympians in front of him in Lewis and Mcllravy.

Brown had as tough a time cracking the PSU lineup as he did winning a title! I remember he was a '65 pounder...maybe it was '74, but he went up and beat a pretty good '97 pounder from Michigan. He also had a pretty competitive wrestle off with Ruth I believe. Pretty damn good career though. 2, 5, 1 in 3 years. That was when there were like 5 or 6 just physical, tough '74 pounders in the B1G who didn't exactly light up the scoreboards, but they beat the hell outta you and were tough to score on. Storley, maybe the best Wrestler in SD HS history. Kokesh, Evans, Howe...probably forgetting a couple guys.

I've never heard it called a "head grinder" before. Always been coffee grinder to me. Also never heard it called a Gizoni. I can't tell how serious the OP is being. I don't think Shane Sparks is "ridiculing" anyone. I think he's made a couple of jokes and they have a good rapport with each other, a lot of mutual respect(though moreso from Shane to Gibbons). I would not question Gibbons, but...you know how this stuff is. It's regional. It's also not something I really pay much attention to. Gibbons does a great job of breaking down Wrestling in a way that you can understand even if you're not a Wrestler. Talking about just the head position, the hand fighting, back pressure, position in scrambles, "whoever can get their head up here is gonna win this position." It's really an awesome duo. And then with Tim Johnson, even better.

Yeah, he's a stud. I think he's going to be a really nice slot WRer/return man at the next level. Problem is...he's also older for the draft, but a 5th round pick maybe? Blew up this year at Purdue. Wasted as Iowa. I'd like to see him in Green and Gold next year.

I was convinced a nice big duplex was a BRILLIANT idea! Start building capital...rent out the top half! Like an infomercial, "it's that easy!" Worked out in the end, but stressful for a while.

I don't think he needs a change of scenery, just a year of health. Dude had a BRUTAL injury last year to that elbow. I think it was replacing the ball that goes into the elbow joint. That doesn't help much with your weight training. And then this year just drilled onto the mat with that double. Nothing dirty, but just bad luck. You can land like that a dozen times and one fluke time your shoulder comes out or you break a collar bone. I think he's in a good place at UM and I'm hoping he can come back next year, get back to where he was LAST year, #1 at one point. He seems like a good dude. Obviously tough. Season is probably over and I imagine he'll be training like a madman from now until next season and I see no reason he can't have a big comeback season and...who knows? Maybe he puts together a run. Or maybe he hangs it up as it'd be his 6th year with the extra Covid year. But if he did wrestle for the last time, I'll remember him trying to gut out another painful looking injury and just battling.

In over my head with a mortgage...working two jobs.

No...I'm pulling for Hamiti and I can't see a justification for him getting the 2 over O'Toole because he lost twice to Carr. You have a defending NC with 2 losses all year, both to the 3rd place winner and champ the year prior...it should be a no-brainer. Don't complicate this. Carr #1, O'Toole #2. Hamiti had a great B1G. Lost to both this year H2H. Took 6th last year.

My point is saying, 'what if this was in a different part of the mat where the action would be different,' is silly and stupid...and utterly pointless. It wasn't in the Middle, it was on the edge and I have no idea if Haines could have gotten the wizard in and gotten his hip out and leg out if it was in the Middle. Probably not. But staying in bounds is part of control. But this ain't my hill. I THOUGHT this was meant to be a thread about Levi Haines chances to win an NC Title. Answer-Yes. He has a very realistic chance.

Yeah, this is a typical Jimmy thread. I agree. He obviously has a chance to win it. I watched him last year and predicted he would(after he broke out and had a great Sr year competing in opens) take a Mark Hall route as a Freshmen. It's hardly a given, but I can't back off that now. I think he can win it and will win it. He's just so good at sucking in that single when he's kinda extended, it reminds me a bit of Askren. He's not the strongest looking kid, but the back and shoulders must be pretty damn strong. If he ends up losing the 5th place match to Robb or Scott, I would hardly be shocked, but as the likely #2 seed, I like his odds.

I don't understand "what if this was in the middle," argument. It wasn't. It was on the edge. And yeah, I think he might scramble out of it in the Middle...it also just...doesn't matter because...he WASN'T IN THE MIDDLE!

Yeah...which is what makes your little...game so weird and annoying. 'Can the Freshmen who just won the B1Gs win the NCs...and lets start that talk off by a TD that Robb COULD have gotten but didn't because of this thing called reaction time in our sport!' How many threads will you start about how PSU probably can't win the team title this week? I'm guessing one thread per returning champ and their losses. One about how Kerk has no chance to win it. One about how Bartlett's ceiling is Rd of 12. There's Ride or Die...and there's Jimmy.

How old is Nelson Brands? I watched an interview from him and it was back from Jan '21 and I thought they said he was 22. He's got 2 years left. He's gonna be another older Hawkeye.

I couldn't believe he finished that match. If it was a shoulder, Ok, that's brutal, but I can see it. If it's a broken collarbone...I don't see how he finished the OT match where he injured it. Tougher than hell and impressive job at gutting it out, but...as badly as I feel for the kid, not a good reason for an at-large.

It feels like Griffin gets underrated. I think I had him taking a 7th last year, maybe a 5th. But 2020 he was undefeated going in as a RSFR. As a True Freshmen, he had a 6-4 match with Joseph who'd won 2 titles his first two years at that point. Came back and beat Wick last year and then gave O'Toole a great match in the finals. I don't know why and maybe it's more my own perception, but it's felt like he's a fluke despite all evidence to the contrary. I agree with you. There's no reason he can't end up back atop the podium.

Of course...but this version of Hamiti looked slow, sluggish. In the B1Gs he looked so much quicker, a lot more solid defensively. Still lean O'Toole for sure, but I don't expect he'll get taken down as easily.

I would go 1-Carr 2-O'Toole 3-Hamiti 4-Monday 5-Griffith 6-Ramirez 7-Kennedy H2H could flip Hamiti and Monday(plus Monday is a returning runner up, though not at '65). Monday's lone loss was to Ramirez who Hamiti beat handily, but who knows. Hamiti did look like he was wrestling better than he has yet in his career. This would just be my seed. B1G winner. #1 and #2 should be obvious, then...kinda toss-ups after that. It'd be best for Hamiti given how he Wrestled Carr if O'Toole was somehow dropped to the 4 seed as I could MAYBE see Hamiti upsetting Carr based on their prior match and how he scrambled with him, got in on shots and just the way the two match-up. I think it's far less likely that Hamiti beats O'Toole...just based on the matchup, but it's gonna be exciting. And Griffin always finds himself right in the mix, Monday is capable of beating anyone. Not sure I see anyone out of the top 5 save for Amine as having a realistic chance of winning it, but who knows. Amine is a complete darkhorse. I could see him losing in the quarters and then in the rd of 16 or upsetting O'Toole and giving Carr a great match in the finals.