CHROMEBIRD

Where the hell was that slacker Gilman? I thought RBY said he mainly rolls with him and Bartlett these days. Nick Lee looked pretty big. Was hoping also to see Gilman participating in dodgeball though Dake and Snyder were participating. I hope RBY pulls back the curtain and gives us a peek into his nutrition and weight cut too. He said he's already made the weight and is trying to hold his weight down near 57kg but it sounds like it hasn't been very pleasant for him.

Points wise, I don't see him as an AA threat. He wouln't bring much to a team, relative to the risk.

Hopefully UNCo gets him some help and he learns something from this. He's no longer wrestling's problem, but could now be society's problem. The kid behaved like a psychopath.

Good take. I could see Amine stonewalling Messenbrink, being selective with his attacks, and grinding out a win. OTOH I think his match with Hamiti will be fun. I expect a shootout with some insane scrambles.

I'm a bit surprised to hear this. My impression of RBY from his past interviews, live streams, podcasts etc. is that he's nice but very terse, sometimes to the point of boredom. When he does talk, I like hearing what he has to say because he's honest and open, but he also has this lowkey chill vibe all the time and I don't see him doing single-word mumbly color commentary.

Slightly disappointed at Taylor for not sneaking a "Christian Cow Pyles" joke in there

He must've signed up for the PD3 college admissions prep course

Eggum may still be getting his arms around NIL and the transfer portal. Is there a list of guys who transferred out or that he should've landed? My expert math tells me that, Minny lost Nagao and didn't sign Kerk, but Baylor Fernandes transferred so that's a net positive for Minny

An extension through only '25-26 is a pretty small contract, almost inconsequential. Seems like a move by the Minny AD to keep Eggum on a short leash.

NIL deals can't be tied to competing. If he weighed 315 on Dec 8, his descent plan would have him making 285 by the weekend of Feb 2. IIRC the regular season ends the weekend of Feb 16, so not a lot of runway if he's over.

I'm sure they did the math which makes it even crazier that Stanford was willing to take the 30% payout deal. Their cut comes out to around $11-12M revenue per year before travel expenses, which I would guesstimate to be in the $25-30M range (UCLA estimates a $24M Big Ten travel budget for about 25 varsity sports, but Stanford has 36 sports). Even if they were earning zero in media money and ticket sales by staying in the Pac-12 they'd be losing less money than by going to the ACC. Maybe that's where the value of being in a Power 5 conference comes in, though I am not convinced that Stanford will sell significantly more seats to fans who want to see them play visiting ACC teams.

BigXII didn't want Stanford and Cal.

Impressive how he got straight to work right after his bowl game

He certified this week at Hwt, right?

Possibly, but the NCAA D1 championships media rights deal expires this August and is "wildly undervalued" according to the article. It includes all the current D1 championships that are currently covered (except for basketball) and is expected to include streaming, etc. deals for the Olympic sports and others that Stanford usually does well in. So I think Stanford is hoping to bank on some of that, though I hope they aren't hanging their hat on it. It's so crazy that they accepted that deal for 30% for 7 years. Desperate times, I guess.

It looks like Stanford wrestling will be safe after they move to the ACC next year. AD Bernard Muir says they've figured out a way to keep all 36 of the school's sports. As we all know, travel expenses are expected to increase several-fold following the move. For comparison's sake, UCLA projects their travel budget will nearly triple from $8M/yr in the Pac-12 to nearly $24M when they move to the B1G. Also, while Stanford's media revenue will increase from $37M in the Pac-12 to $39M in the ACC, they will only take 30% of their payouts for the first 7 years (then 70% in Year 8, 75% in Year 9, and 100% in Year 10 and beyond) as part of their deal to join the conference. From the sound of things, the Athletics Department will be tapping into Stanford's endowment to keep afloat. Hopefully there are no academic or administrative cutbacks in the near future, as fingers will likely be pointed, rightly or wrongly, at sports. https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/college/article/stanford-athletics-acc-18555245.php

And leave the farm??

I think Gilman will pull it together for one last run. He'll be wrestling with a chip on his shoulder and with something to prove, which is when we often see him at his best.

True, but man that's A LOT of risk and potential downside just to finish 2nd.

Good point, the F Troop was there

It was a little strange that Army participated in the Scuffle instead of the Soldier Salute.

Lol, no. The team will follow Brands' lead.

I hope he doesn't enroll anywhere.

Someone already went there