wrestle87

One of the keys to good commentary is answering questions that somebody in the home audience likely asked for those situations, and otherwise, keeping your mouth shut to not distract from the action. The commentary for the whole weekend was trash because these guys didn't know when to shutup. They distracted from the wrestling so much with their incessant blabbering. I'm talking both about the DC JB team and the Sparks Robles team. I do not overly enjoy Shane Sparks, the dude has a very energetically monotone voice and all he and Robles talked about all tournament was "the coffee grinder." Sounded like two 11 year olds by the end of the tournament. That said, as much as I tire of Sparks shtick, I tried a few different times to listen to the DC JB feed, and was back to the matcast with sparks and robles within 15 seconds each time. DC was potentially good for bringing eyeballs to the tournament, but no person on earth can say he did a good job commentating. Because he didn't commentate. He spent half the time making oblique jokes with burrows about his weight, and then trying not to take offense when jordan obliquely called him fat. He and JB were a very bad combo, but nobody has ever been interested in hearing JB talk at length. He's just not that type of dude. So people came into this tournament expecting DC to carry the combination...and he didn't do that. I don't know who the 3rd guy was in there, but there were a few instances where DC and JB just went off on some joking tangent, sounding like children, and the 3rd guy on the mic came out of nowhere with actual factual interesting commentary. I died laughing, but kind of out of sad laughter. CAN dc be a great commentator? Yes. He does it very regularly for the UFC. But that is an environment he spends far more time in, and he has Rogan and Jon Anik in there who actually provide all the structured discussion, and DC just chimes in with the athlete perpsective of "yeah, that sh*t sucks!" or "Dang...what a punch." He's there to add a bit of joviality and laughter to the broadcast, but he is not the type of personality to carry an entire broadcast on his own. If you guide him and give him prompts to start peeling back his experience, he is fascinating to listen to, he has great stories to tell about his early days wrestling and all the things he's seen. But he's not a douche, so he doesn't talk about his own stories all the time. He actually understands how things work interpersonally, and he is (typically) very conscious of keeping it about the competitors rather than him. This was probably his biggest failing during the tournament, he just talked about himself in half sentences. I think DC is catching all the heat bc the world (rightfully so) had very low expectations for JB behind the mic. They were a tough combination and DC probably shouldn't have showed up sounding drunk, but but DC is taking the heat for the whole team's underwhelming performance, which is a bit unfair to him. He was mis-evaluated by the network, and put in a bad spot.

Anybody who watched NCAA's this weekend is feeling a lot better about Vito.

A rightfully earned one at that...

I think you mean consistently the second best funded coach in the country. And I like the idea of a strong Iowa team. It's great for the sport. But consistently is a strong word here.

That's amazing for Cornell. What a year. Definitely would not have picked that they would place this high, especially for only having 3 placewinners. Having a few very serious savages can take a team a long way. Re the portal, I think it's great that colleges no longer have Dean Wormer unlimited power over athletes. I have come across too many self-serving coaches who flippantly play god with kids dreams to think otherwise. It will definitely drive the evolution of the sport, but in a good way. Is it good for smaller programs? Not necessarily, but being realistic, look at a kid like Cayden Henschel. He's a D2 wrestler, and he's one of the most famous people in wrestling media AS A COLLEGE KID. He wouldn't be allowed to do any of what he's doing under old rules. The NCAA would find a way to disallow it guaranteed. Smaller schools can get marketing smart, help wrestlers build social media profiles, eyeballs = dollars in that game, and it's about building a platform. Schools that develop smart athlete profile development offices will thrive. Just like before, small schools will always be fighting an uphill battle, but if you have a reputation for getting your kids what they are looking for...the school will succeed.

So, having just watched what we all watched in the longest and (felt like) most undeniably one-sidedly officiated series of matches I've seen in a very very long time, I decided to conduct a bit of a research expedition into the individual with most runner-up finishes in history. What I found surprised me, and didn't surprise me, but ultimately had me come to an interesting theory. I just speed-watched all of Fix's finals matches, as well as some of his historic NCAA earlier round matches that I could find. Consistencies I found: 1) Stupid challenges. J smith threw a challenge brick Fix's freshman year trying to get a "hands to the face" penalty point. 2) Poor coaching behavior from Okie State staff. Esposito was just as much of a whiny tool as anyone in Fix's earlier finals matches. 3) Very convenient stall-calls in ways that would help the plight of one D Fix in certain sticky situations at crucial moments in matches. Suriano got hit with a really dubious call in their match in the 2nd. In 2021 RBY got hit for stall riding with 15 left in the 2nd period, after doing the same ride the whole 2nd period, and then got hit for 2 stall calls within 15 seconds of each other late in the 3rd to take the match from 2-0 to 2-2 4) Edge-playing and gamesmanship that he was never penalized for whenever he was tired. Gas tank has been an increasing issue as the years have gone by for D Fix. This is not something that anybody would be surprised by, we saw the tournament this year. What DID surprise me however, was what a review of historical brackets and historical matches showed: 1) In his first three tournaments, Fix put up points. He straight up put on a show when he took the mat. In his early tournaments he had lots of majors and pins. My theory is that Fix's weight cut has gotten increasingly worse, and that the Okie State staff actually worked out a strategy this year for him to manage his output alongside making weight. In 2019 he scored 44 points on his way to the finals, losing 4-2 in SV-2 In 2021 he went 16-3; Pin; Pin; 3-2 decision on his way to the finals, losing 4-2 in SV In 2022 he went 20-8; 7-4; Pin; 5-1 on his way to the finals, losing 3-2 in regulation In 2023 he went 20-8; 8-4; 3-2; L got majored by Vito; W 6-4; L 2-1 for 3rd This year he went 17-1; 5-4; TB-1 2-1; TB-1 3-2; L 5-3 2) Fix got after it in his earlier years. Dude is a nasty wrestler despite what we saw this year. He didn't play the edge at all until late second early third period...when gas tanks start to get a bit fragile. But in his early-on tournaments, dude went after it like a beast. 3) What surprised me most however was this... Prior to Ferrari, Ringer and Heil were the last wrestlers to bring home NCAA titles for Okie State. That is a long long drought...and for John Smith, one of the handful of greatest individuals to influence the legacy of wrestling in our sport, this is a tough tough legacy to leave. It just looks bad. So, I don't love the fact that the Fix may have been in, and I don't love the fact that Okie State coaches whine their face off every match...but I do understand wanting to get one more up on the podium before calling it a career. Being the guy that enabled and gave Johnny Go-Fast and the vroom vroom family their platform isn't a great note to end a career on, both for coach and school alike.

Sure you weren't blinded by all the salt from all the dudes jerking each other off in here? It's pretty thick...

Ah, we have identified the problem. Excessive #NaCl has been proven by scientists to make troll posts and sarcasm complete invisible to afflicted individuals...

I feel like I'm being asked to explain how water makes you wet...

Yeah, really, it's the wrestling equivalent of asking "why can't XXX baseball manager coach a pitcher to a perfect game" Things have to line up magically in so many ways for what Cael accomplished. Dude just crowned TWO 4x wrestlers in the same night. That's f*cking insane. And...Cael, like a good coach, doesn't care about the losses along the way. NCAA's are what are meaningful, and the rest is just there to practice in different settings.

This is one of the best troll posts I've come across in a while.

You are right. People complained...and then the overall level of wrestling went through the roof. Eastern bloc wrestlers developed cardio. Iran made a killing on it. And India developed a team.

Yo they were. Every single match he had that was close they gave him the benefit of the doubt. If he has a ref who is more neutral, or calls things in his opponent's favor, he's wrestling in the blood round. He got called for stalling 1/10th of the time that the collective "average wrestler" in the tournament did. Daton Fix was a throwback to the stall-fest wrestlers of the mid to late 00's this whole tournament. It's to the point where I think the NCAA or ESPN sat them down and said "hey, we like ratings, you get paid for this tournament bc of ratings, Oklahoma state drives ratings. You make sure a few orange singlets get far in this tournament."

I thought Bartlett would be more clutch than he was, Things I said to myself and got shown up on during the tournament: I definitely didn't give Davison nearly the credit he deserved. I had him likely being 7/8 best 5/6. I assumed O'Toole had Carr's number, Carr waaay outperformed what I thought he was capable of. I mentally discounted the bad habits that led to Braeden Davis's poor performances, obviously that was an error. I assumed Jore Volk was done on day 1. I assumed Kasak was done on day 1. I gave Wolak no chance to be competitive this tournament. I assumed Vito was done for the year after EIWA's, and that maybe Vito's run last year was a flash in the pan, that we had already seen the best Vito we would ever see. Boy was I wrong. I assumed Okie State was no longer relevant enough to influence the ENTIRE OFFICIATING POOL...my god was I wrong about that. Go look at the ref raising Vito's hand after the match. He does it so quickly and flippantly with almost a look of disdain on his face. Probably bc Vito just about told him to go "f" himself after the ref messed up ANOTHER takedown situation on the edge. I thought that the good will and respect I had for the Okie State program and the new coaching staff would continue through the tournament, it did not....

Yeah, when he was the face of USA wrestling, it was bravado, but it's also an extremely classic situation, the personality that allows you to be the best in the world doesn't fade as the career progresses or ends, what was viewed as confidence turns into salt and d-baggery, and we're just left with a dude who sounds salty and kinda like an asshole. This is probably why the Brands sound so weird when they give interviews, they're fighting the salty d-bag things they would like to say, but they do a good job editing what their brain wants to say.

This too. JB is competitive to a fault, DC was trying to have fun and be jovial, but JB is just such an aggressive competitor, he didn't really fill the role of great broadcast partner. I still think David Taylor would have been perfect in there instead of JB. He did such a good job on the event he covered earlier this season.

Nickal has his first main card fight coming up in three weeks, he's just trying to grow his follower base ahead of the UFC card. To be a long-term main card fighter in the UFC, you're basically required to learn how to talk shit and get in fake social media fights as part of the marketing for the event.

This is pure ESPN 8 "the ocho" magic. Edit: Hahahaha no way this will be even allowed on tv much longer. "A 17-year old Pillow Fighting Prodigy...."

It would be great to see...the Brands have their job now because there are still people who remember life under Gable, and the brands are basically Dan Gable's spirit in two people, minus the empathy and athlete insight. Gable wasn't just a relentless coach, we was tireless in his investigation into his athletes, all about the mind. Way way way more insightful and thoughtful of a dude than he gets credit for because he was so firey. I think one of the key distinctions is that Gable really really wanted his athletes to achieve their own goals, he could talk for hours about every guy he coached. It's the old story of great athletes =/= great coaches. To be an athlete, you just go do it, it's up to you. To be a coach, you have to convince, entice, and motivate others to do something, not everyone is great at that. I'm not saying the brands aren't great coaches to some of their guys, but it would also be obnoxious to pretend that they live in a house that they built.

Little Rock is a perfect fit for the Big 12.

There's a UFC fight night on right now. And then olympic trials are in a month. After watching Vito tonight, I feel so much better about the 57kg weight class.

You're definitely right...my reaction was entirely subjective because I hope that doesn't happen.

This is very true, but Iowa State wasn't any sort of exceptional foundation. Cael was just an alien monster who people assumed would stay where he was. Cael leaving was more along the lines of Dake leaving Cornell than it would be for DT to leave PSU.

Yeah, DT who has a wrestling club, a farm, and has put down major roots around Penn State, building his whole life and career around Pennsylvania and Penn State, has started multiple businesses in Penn State, brought Kyle Dake to Penn State, and has access to more olympians and olympic medals in one room than 5 rooms outside Happy Valley Combined can offer. To go to Iowa like that, you'd have to be a pretty angry prick. He hasn't done enough of anything in the direction to justify leaving everything he has built, and everyone who has helped him built it, to just go off and fuel his own ego. I could always be proven wrong...but this sounds like some Minnow level bs there.