dragit

Well put - I really thought it was Kokesh's year. He was noticeably crisper, which was saying something because he was already terrific. And he rolled through Big Tens. I always wonder when someone loses Friday morning if it could be weight related. Regardless, after Wilps got past, I was pulling for him, that would have been quite an achievement to win that bracket from the 8th seed. I remember Kokesh had planned to leave wrestling altogether and farm; glad to see him doing so obviously well coaching.

You should take anything I say with a grain of salt. I've been accused once or twice of being a tad over-discerning about broadcasters. You don't want anything to do with my John Smoltz rages.

The Ice Cream Moment was worth several thousand "work hard and get better" and "glory to God" cookie cutter interviews. And in addition to that and the mullet and excuses are for wusses, there are usually some memorable ones every year. I think I remember Zain saying something like he'd dreamed his win over Stieber the night before Whoa, you're saying hard core wrestling fans don't like Quint?

That was a memorable group. Storley Evans Brown Kokesh. I don't think Howe was at 174 when he was in the Big Ten. The other 4 had quite a round robin going. Kokesh and Storley in particular, I think they went back to South Dakota together (?) and then had a last second insane takedown on the edge in the wrestlebacks; the beauty of it is I can't remember which one chased the other down, literally, the one who got taken down was literally running away in the last 3 seconds. Then Wilps crashed the B1G party, made the final, was seconds away from winning after a late TD, and got, shall we say, a little bit of gamesmanship from Gentleman Brown - after a five count stall call tied it, Brown went from feet to knees on purpose to induce a locked hands call, and Wilps's entrapment defense was rejected by the judge. I think Wilps is an MD now. Bonus points for every factual error I made, of which I'm sure there are many, that you can point out.

Mic drop

You had me until "and then with Tim Johnson, even better." Seems like a wonderful man and has some good instincts about the flow of a match, but he engages in these giant trivia data dumps during live wrestling, must be paid by the word, and must be paid bonus for every time he says the word "freshman," which you could make a drinking game of. Gibbons, on the other hand, takes a lot of criticism when I think he in reality is terrific. He has a nice understated manner, and immediately points out crucial and sometimes complex technique issues that provide important insight to the viewer.

These are good thoughtful posts. Delgado is a prime example of the problem with the sport. His first two years he attacked, attacked, attacked. He even bragged about it - said he'd take dozens of shots. And he won a title this way. And was great to watch. Then his junior year it was like he'd had some sort of transplant. He completely reversed, stopped shooting and became the uber ankle grab counter guy. To me this had to be partly the system to blame. That he believed that continuing to attack wouldn't keep working and the way to win is low scores and stopping the other guy.

Totally. Carr's surprise was palpable. My immediate reaction was to blame the current reffing climate - that he couldn't believe they'd actually pulled the trigger when it was warrented when that is so rare. But then the post-match interview was a little confusing to me. His answer was a little garbled - I couldn't tell if he was saying that he was surprised to be called for stalling or that he didn't realize he'd been warned so the call would result in a point. Did anyone else catch/understand what his answer was?

You're asking what it was? It was when Carr was on top and hanging on when O'Toole got to his feet. Those calls were in my opinion correct and well done. If that was how it was usually called then there wouldn't be the problem that has been so lamented on so many threads. Plus it made the overtime and the incredible display by Carr possible! Wow!

I hereby deputize you to figure out a way to word the rule to account for that situation. Because something has to be done. How many matches are going to be marred by the stalling problem tomorrow and then in Tulsa? Everyone knows that the answer is a lot.

The action call near the end of the Dean match is a perfect example of why they need the pushout rule. The ref had called Dean for stalling about 10 seconds before so he wouldn't make the second call that quickly even though it was clearly not an action situation. In other words he would have called stalling on Dean for just bailing out of bounds if he hadn't called stalling 10 seconds before. But he didn't because ... college ref. It's indefensible. They need the push out. Even the most ossified sporting organization anywhere, MLB, has made some rule changes.

LOL on the broadcast they appear to be showing just happened replays and announcing over them. So with 20+ seconds left in the Romero match as they called the taped action on the screen you could hear the PA guy congratulating Romero on the final score. Whoops.

Nice to see Gomez officially in the bracket. When he left the mat at Northwestern you had to fear he was done for the year. It'll be interesting to see if he keeps going after he qualifies.

Whereas I'd generally prefer a focus on Lee, in this case, they wouldn't have had much of a documentary if it was only about Lee and his 2021-2022 season, so, however they ended up deciding to cover the whole team, they probably ended up better off.

Look forward to it. I expect this will reinforce all sides' views. The coaches will come across as intense and engaged and deeply committed to their athletes. The athletes will come across as dedicated, earnest, extraordinarily hard working fine young men grateful to be part of this great program. But this great senior class falls short of its potential, due to inordinately high instances of injuries and an inability to find a higher gear in the biggest matches. I expect that iowa fans will see noble efforts thwarted by bad luck (covid costing them the 2020 title and injuries out of anyone's control blowing up 2022). Non Iowa fans will see uncreative overtraining leading to injury and an inability to adapt and score needed takedowns against top competition.

I fear an average official calling the match. And let's s make sure that if it's going to be a long ride that at least the buses are comfortable.

That was a cover jinx, I think this was only an article, and written by a non staff writer. Plus I think the consensus view is that SI is SI in name only and not relevant enough to put a hex on anyone anymore (says the idiot who still wastes money on a subscription).

This is just making me bitter all over again about the Camelot of sportswriting falling apart. Did I actually used to have my week planned around when the latest issue would hit the mailbox? Did that really happen?

If you cut him I literally believe he'd bleed black and gold. I think he's the closest to an embodiment of Gable, more than the Brands or anyone else. The way he wrestled. And the way he thinks and talks, he has that plain, guileless way of expressing himself - it's striking.

Outstanding! Any diagnosis ever made public? Sprained knee/partial tear?

I'm all for it. But has any news been shared that suggests it's a possibility? I'm hoping I missed it. Last I saw Gomez he had a look on his face that meant he didn't think he'd be back this year.

It's too bad. Sometimes Grace does a real play by play and it's quite good, so that means they just choose not to for large swaths of the dual. One of the matches they just yakked for well over a minute at the beginning of the match without even saying that it had started. You could guess by the background noise that it probably had but didn't know for sure until they mentioned as an aside during their conversation that the wrestler guys who the 15,000 people were there to watch were wrestling.

I am traveling and BTN won't allow me to watch the match off my cable package remotely so I am left to radio. Grace and Ironside are a nice team together and very pleasant but, geez, they literally don't seem to understand the basic necessities of a radio broadcast. It's like watching the match with two cool buddies commenting. Except I'm not watching, all I've got is their commentary, which only occasionally includes painting a verbal picture of the match, or mentioning things like scores, time, who's doing what move, etc. It would be perfect to listen to synced up to a TV broadcast. But alas.

Good idea and correct realistic understanding of how it won't happen. Although I think you couldn't go wrong with 165 last whoever the finalists are.