CHROMEBIRD

It's unreal how damn good high school kids are these days. It'll be wild if we start seeing wrestlers reclassify up (instead of down) and entering college early to get some of that NIL coin while the getting is good and get a jump on their career in MMA, Olympic wrestling, whatever. I wonder if this has happened in any of the non-revenue sports.

Do schools still teach wrestling in PE nowadays? We did wrestling in middle and high school PE, and it was a good way to create interest and knowledge in the sport. All of a sudden kids who were too short for basketball, too small or football, or too athletic for baseball (ha ha) had a sport they could be great at. But my kid's schools didn't teach wrestling in PE and when my wife was in high school, PE wasn't required after freshman year. So, perhaps some opportunities were lost. One difference between kids taking up BJJ/MMA is that many might be there to learn self-defense rather than a sport. I don't know how well that translates into a longer term interest, esp when they move on from it.

False. WBB now is nothing like it was in the 90s/00s when it was a bunch of players standing around the perimeter and passing the ball around until the one tall player got open under the hoop for a layup (basketball's version of playing the edge and top riding). It's way more fast paced and physical now. Tbf, I think the college wrestling today is far more technical and skilled than it was 20 years ago. It's just that casual fans don't understand the sport beyond seeing pins, clean shots, and big mat returns. Within the wrestling community, the same can be said for why a lot of people don't watch Greco.

Is that the sport's doing? We prioritize the accomplishments of individuals over teams.

WBB is a much much better product now than it was 20 years ago. It helps when Shaq and other media personalities say WBB is more fun to watch than MBB. Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese have a lot of star power, but there are as many skilled and charismatic characters as there are in wrestling. WBB also has broad appeal, so it's easy for fans of different stripes to become drawn in. On the other hand, if you listen to the things wrestlers say and how the sport is marketed (i.e. the commercials and video shorts during Nationals) and it feels like the sport targets a very specific demographic. Imo WBB is not that different from the way women's soccer and the USWNT has grown its fanbase and support.

More like passed out at the seafood counter with all the fish

Ngl, I would watch PD3 drill in the cereal aisle at a Safeway. Vegas oddsmakers say the smart money is on Cap'n Crunch

There's a distinction between barring a country vs. individual athletes (or both) from participating. The IOC dropped a 2 year ban on NK for pulling out of the Tokyo Olympics, but individual athletes from NK were still allowed to compete under a neutral flag (they just didn't or couldn't). But the IOC has blocked financial assistance to NK's national sport committee because of their nuke testing. It could be some other international governing body imposing sanctions blocking the funding, not sure. I believe the IOC is withholding Olympic development money to Russia and Belarus (it's probably not a lot), dunno who else.

Have Mendez and Alirez ever wrestled each other?

Instead of an election, there should be a wrestle-off

Do we even know if Ramos goes MFS? For some reason I thought Greco was his preferred style.

Strength and conditioning should be Brooks' edge. He had the better gas tank last year and should absolutely test Taylor... push pace, heavy hands, hard snaps, pressure, push, look for the blast double like last time. I still think DT may need to shake off some rust and will use his length and ties to slow it to a chess match but Brooks should play to his own strengths.

Thanks. I was wondering what the relevance of the Dynamo Club was. Is Sidakov next? Isn't he higher up the Russian military ranks than Sadz?

*OTT NBC Sports/Peacock has the broadcast rights

No argument there. US-based wrestlers competing for other countries is also a sign of success like we see in Russia, as you alluded to. Didn't Bimeh Razialso recruit JB and Helen Maroulis to wrestle for Iran at a Clubs Cup one year?

Are Scotti Sentes and Mitch Hancock in the discussion at all, or nah?

Yeah, no.

He's also got the ED vote!

IONEL '24!

Sad but true

It would be nice for the conferences to make geographical sense for wrestling. WVU in the Big 12, Stanford in the ACC, UALR in the Pac, etc. stick out like sore thumbs.

Yep. I meant it's not a good look for Gomez to run away from the challenge tournament and then taunting the field for battling it out

Asian Championships are 4/11-16 and the OG Qualifier 19-21. Are they running it like our Pan Am Continental where wrestlers might step on the mat and FF just to compete at the qualifier? Also are we expecting to Matt Ramos there?

Lock him up!

Kind of a weird flex to duck literally the entire national competition and then make fun of them for... not ducking the entire national competition