CHROMEBIRD

L = QV W = LV

It's just high expectations is all. Most people probably thought he had the best chance of bringing home a gold medal out of anyone on our MFS team this year. Is that a fair expectation? Maybe not, but we all know what Spencer is capable of. To his credit, it was kind of a shock that he didn't bulldoze his way through the bracket.

Could be that he's putting additional pressure on himself to raise his career stock if he really wants to be a coach, AD, or college administrator. Not that his current accolades aren't already impressive as hell...

Zahid or Hidlay should make things interesting. Loser of the match can no longer be on social media or podcasts. Who cares about belts

If he did what you're hinting at, he wouldn't be able to compete at UWW events until late 2027. That's a lot of time away from competition. I think he's still a legit threat to make another World/Oly team in the US.

Sounds like International Metcalf syndrome. I still like Spencer's chances to be our guy in 2028 and a World medalist before then. Plenty of time.

I heard Ionel has a new pickleball training partner. Coincidence?

This part. One of the most helpful things Brands could do for Spencer right now is watch tape with him. Lee is notorious for spending exactly zero time gameplanning against opponents, and it's a skill that he's never developed. While it's a flex for sure to just do your own thing and force wrestlers to have to adjust to you, this approach has bitten him in the past and now we're talking about World level best-of-the-best caliber competition. Going into matches blind and having to figure things out in real-time puts him at an automatic disadvantage no matter how good you are. It was a good move by Brands to allow the Otoguros to come train with Lee & DeSanto, but he needs to be smarter with his "don't overthink it" philosophy. Yes, Spencer shouldn't overthink all the what-ifs and let anxiety take over his game. OTOH, I think it would help to go a level deeper and study some film and learn a thing of two. Hell, bring in Kozak, have him teach Spencer how to analyze and break down match footage. That would be a tremendous help.

Injury or no, I'll chalk today's results to the ol' "early in the quad irrelevance" and predict that he'll be good for a run at 2028. I, too, thought the runway was pretty clear for Spencer to win a World title this year, and he clearly puts a ton of pressure on himself, so my biggest worry is that this weekend's somewhat meaningless L will turn him into a head case. The sport has not been kind to Spencer when stakes are high, but then again, it's has not kind to 99.999% of us. Maybe he should talk with Tony Ramos' sports psychologist or take a year off and climb some rocks somewhere. He's been grinding nonstop since he was a kid and could use a bit of a break.

You mean a sport-specific salary cap? Or that there should be a minimum or lower limit? Most D1 programs are already capped at the department level and that ends up limiting what wrestling can offer. Bigger issue is likely the P2 disparity and for wrestling, the B1G vs. everyone else

That was when Robb was recovering from flesh-eating bacteria. I remember he kind of hit a wall during the regular season, so it's possible that Antrell was staying within striking distance of 157 in case Robb wasn't good to go and he needed to make the descent. IIRC Bubba Wilson was also up a weight from 165 that year.

Sucks for sure, but I also feel like we've been conditioned over years past to not put a lot of weight into early quad Worlds lineups/results so I'm pretty much at the ehh w/e phase now

Maybe some of that sweet Barstool money will trickle its way down to wrestling? Portnoy is kind of an idiot, but it would be nice to have more Big XII wrestling coverage

What if RAF one day ended up being a feeder into MMA? Dunno if that would piss wrestling fans off, but Dana White has been investing in BJJ development. He could probably concoct something interesting with a combat series facing BJJ and RAF league champs against one another for a shot at the UFC. I really don't know how MMA works, so I'm just spitballing.

Thanks for the update. I was wondering what that dude JO was up to these days. I'd love to see JO vs. Yianni. No idea what their weights are though.

I agree that we may not have even seen Amit at her peak yet. Adeline I think was a bit older when she had a child, but was still in her prime IIRC. On the other side of the hump, the Alo sisters, notably Teshya, were on the rise before pregnancy and other life things took over.

Dylan Palacio vs. the last person he shіt talked on social media Dylan Palacio vs. Mike Kemerer disguised as a homeless person Joe Smith vs. Chandler Rogers Baylor Fernandes vs. Mitch Mesenbrink, no TF rule Braden Davis vs. the president of Teke Kyle Dake vs. Fluoride

Asics all the way. BRUTE was a great shoe back in the day too.

Did Sadz get cleared for Worlds? I thought I saw somewhere that he may not be able to travel but couldn't tell if it was him specifically (and if so, what's the deal?) or the entire/multiple wrestlers from Russia. Also what happened to Yamashіta? I thought someone mentioned previously that he beat Aoyagi at Japan's nationals or something

What if he removes his tattoos?

8 hats? In this economy??

When was the last time anyone in the world dominated 65(ish) kg year after year? Early career Chamizo comes to mind, though I don't remember when he moved up a weight and maybe doesn't have enough hardware to be considered dominant. Fadz?

"forget"

It migt be more like you don't need to be a weatherman to see which way the wind blows