CHROMEBIRD

Do the schools still put out media guides before duals? Those were always a great resource. This board is also a goldmine for background content and commentary fodder. Why did they change the pacing from match to match? Ads?

How does Cuba select its reps?

We'll probably get a sense of how Lee vs. Vito would go based on the Ono match, even if it's transitive property logic. I'm looking forward to Valencia vs. Brooks but hope everyone goes at 100%. I guess it wouldn't be so bad to see guys open things up, but I wouldn't want to see it too loosey goosey either since the stakes aren't super high.

Right, that too. Just when the sport is just about to clear its free pandemic year roster barnacles, the NCAA is thinking about giving athletes 5 years to compete in 5. With that plus roster limits, no longer counting JC seasons, and NIL $ some wrestlers are never going to move on. Yet D1 expansion has been slow going at best while there's the same amount of hs wrestlers graduate. It would be nice to see JC and NAIA wrestling thrive or to have more D1 programs because of this, but ehhh. Also weirdly, if Starocci wins his 5th it might just be a matter of time, rather than an anomaly, before another kid comes along and becomes a 5-timer.

Great to see Spencer back on the mat, even if it's vs. Ono. A lot of people were talking like he might hang it up after Paris. Looks like he's still got the fire burning.

I could see it happening. Look at senior year RBY. We all thought he would be unstoppable coming into the season but he wrestled selectively, didn't seem to take the season seriously, then got worked by Vito at NCAAs. I'm not convinced that college wrestling is a challenge or even interesting for Steveson. If he's just going through the motions and his heart isn't totally into it, anything could happen.

Speaking of, Pico had a wicked snap back in the day. Bassett and Pico would be a fun fantasy match. Ironside has said that the best defense to hard snaps is constant forward pressure. I say downblock and counterattack. Shrugs, deadlifts, and neck flexions are also helpful.

I've got KOT, but would love to see Kharchla on the podium, assuming he can stay healthy. Good test for him coming in exactly two weeks.

Poor broadcasting > no broadcasting It's fine to expect better, though. We can wish for nice things.

If Taylor really wanted to switch things up, he'd wear no vest and only sleeves

Can Burwick be Soda Popinski?

I'm feeling the same way. The season hasn't been bad thus far, but I'm just less excited about it. My interest in college sports in general has been fading a bit. It feels like the transfer portal, NIL, pay to play settlement, realignment, etc. have taken a lot out of the parity and tradition that used to make D1 sports fun.

I actually hope there's some AI bot scraping these forums and exploding every time it tries to figure out what the JOMBO comics are about

Also makes Randy Lewis's stories about all the heavy partying and drinking they did at Iowa, even the night before competition, all the more impressive to me. They were that good!

Not anymore. The NCAA only tests for postseason competition though, in-season drug testing is done by the individual schools or conferences. We had something similar, it was "don't do stupid things" even though there was no official dry rule. It mostly worked itself out, during the season most wrestlers and pretty much all of the starters did very little if any partying by choice because everyone was so keyed into training, cutting, and keeping any sort of edge for competition.

Yep. Though the angle I'm after is whether it's a lot tougher for coaches to attempt to run clean programs when weed is legal-ish and allowed by the NCAA

Intermat should get a cut from ChatGPT for scraping its data, and then we should get a cut from Intermat for making our data scrapeable, then we should all pool our monies to develop a new AI that creates and posts Sunday JOMBO Comics everyday.

I thought there might be some Pepplemans (Pepplepeople?) in there, but I guess they weren't prolific enough after hs.

Alcohol is on the decline these days among the youngest segments of consumers, with more kids not drinking by choice. Same with traditional tobacco. Bigger challenge might be cannabis, which I think the NCAA now allows. Dunno if individual schools have been relaxing the rules as well. Imagine how recreational weed might mess with weight cutting, lol.

I was under the impression that Spencer was interested in a more administrative career path, like his dad, and wanted to be an AD or something like that. It would probably be a good thing for the sport. Metcalf, Ramos, DSJ seem well-positioned to succeed TnT, and I assume they would take the job, but it's hard to tell. As far as the program's brand, the Brands (and Zelesky) inherited and emulated the culture that Gable created. The big debate around here is whether the Iowa Style grindset culture still works today. Tom is a solid head coach, but he doesn't seem like the type of person to innovate a program. He lives and breathes within the guardrails he knows best.

Headgear is easier to see than ankle bands. Why not red headgear - green headgear?

Speaking of, in the last sequence of scrambles in KOT-Haines, Levi was draped over KOT's shoulders with the inside leg hooked as he was coming up. A guy with length like Hamiti would've instantly spladled KOT. It looked like O'Toole was asking for it the way he was keeping low and giving that far leg to Haines.

Just a toothless animal at this point

If Barr goes back down to 184 next season, he could have the chance to test drive two Focuses.

Damn. I was really looking forward to seeing Rags make a run in March. Glad that he'll have some time to heal and rehab though, as it sounds like more than his knee was banged up.