dragit

The one thing you agreed with I don't think applies. Lee didn't hurt his knee in the Ramos match, or at least if he did, that's not what the problem was. My point was that they both did uncharacteristically, inexplicably, unnecessarily silly things which put them in dangerous positions (Lee's was dangerous in terms of giving up a big move that he easily could have avoided, Starocci's was dangerous physically) that cost them dearly.

I'm gonna run this one past someone in TnT's family for a sober gambling reality check before I bet on it.

Definitely differences, including Lee was in a hard fought national semi and Starocci in a cakewalk in a meaningless dual. But if you watch the videos it's kind of stunning to see transcendent guys who you've watched for four years engage in such truly bizarre sequences and (we'll see hopefully not here) blow up their own opportunity for history.

This will sound weird, and I acknowledge 20/20 hindsight/Monday morning quarterbacking up front, but watching the video of the injury reminds me a little of watching the video of Spencer Lee's last match vs Ramos. How? The best wrestler in the country, going for 4 championships, does something inexplicable. Lee, with a lead as time is winding down, traps his own head in his opponent's chest, locks his hands around Ramos's back, while he himself is stretched out and in no position to drive for a takedown against a guy he knows from the dual meet has great throws, and in the end basically pins himself. Starocci, time winding down on a TF in his last home match, tries to gild the lilly with a bizarre contortion and pulls his opponent on top of his knee. Extraordinarily awkward looking sequences from extraordinarily smooth technical wrestlers. I wonder if the building pressure of being the most watched wrestler in the country going for 4 triggered brain cramps.

The only reason I'm not going to run out of "likes" while binge watching this little episodic masterpiece is that I just landed in the dreaded eastern time zone and it's really late here and I am going to have to go to sleep.

The broadcast was not ideal on many levels.

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming. It's nice to be reminded there was once a Bill Simmons who you looked forwarded to reading. Kind of like when your whole week was made better when that Sports Illustrated hit the mailbox.

I think the streak goes back to 1990, most recently extended by Warner and Woods.

Neither does Merriam-Webster

Just like the other post, I totally agree with your general point but don't agree with it in this case based on what I've seen. He looks small for 184, which is a strength weight, and although you can see huge potential (smart, technique, explosiveness) when he's wrestled, by the eye test he doesn't look like he's match sharp, particularly 5+ matches in three days against the best in the country sharp.

I should say that I think him wrestling Saturday is a perfect move, a savvy use of the new redshirt rules. It's a very important dual for the team for a lot of reasons, and it's a very good opportunity for him to get big match experience. It would mess that up though if they then blow the redshirt for probably not much reward in return for giving up a year of eligibility of a potential great. And would look particularly bad after what to me was a huge mistake with wrestling Lee in the 2021-22 season instead of having him have surgery and recuperate. Lee always insisted it was his choice, which a lot of people didn't buy, but even if it was, I think the staff should have guided him the other way.

Disagree in this case but respect the logic.

You're probably right that would be why he goes. Which would not be wise based on what we've seen. There will be more tournaments and more trophies, but he can only wrestle in 4 of them. He will score (a lot, I think) more points that will support Iowa team trophies in his 4 tries if he redshirts. My only caveat is if he looks much sharper and more like a 184 pounder this weekend but I still can't see him being really ready for three tough days a month from now.

Am I the only one who has been 100% assuming all along that Arnold won't give up his redshirt? He doesn't really look ready to wrestle his best (which I think is going to be really good), and why would he spend one of his eligibility years on 184# when he isn't grown into that weight? I suppose they might see his points as making a difference in the 2-8 team place race, but I don't see him as a likely top 4 finisher, nor even a sure AA, so we're talking about a huge sacrifice for not a lot of points.

Sorry, I could have been more specific -- what I mean is that I look at what Messenbrink is up against and it seems ridiculous that he could win, maybe a candidate for betting the farm against him. But then I think about IMar, two-time champ, had beaten Jason Nolf in the finals the year before, for goodness sake; I never would have given freshman Joseph, who was really good but didn't look anywhere close to IMar's level before the NCAAs started, a chance against him, and would have lost the farm on that bet. So that precedent gives me caution in writing off Messenbrink even against the monsters in his bracket -- and O'Toole and Carr are freaking monsters.

This is along the lines of what I thought the OP was getting at -- he had some sort of source at the NIH telling him that a pandemic was going to shut down the event again, or there's a conspiracy to sabotage all the scales in State College and they're all going to miss weight, or a source in the program says that the pre-practice games are getting too competitive and there's a concern that there will be a gang war between Team Cody and Team Casey's dodgeball teams that will lead to injuries and suspensions gutting the postseason roster.

None. But I wouldn't bet the farm against it, for one reason: Vincenzo Joseph.

Thanks for posting this. He's a revelation - one of the most engaging postgame athlete interviews I've ever seen.

And in his mind, it's justified because you are on his social media so he's getting views. But many of those views aren't fans watching for wrestling reasons (such that they would purchase his stuff), but rather in the way one slows down to rubberneck to get a glimpse of a bad car accident, like one where someone illegally and dangerously crosses the center line and endangers a bunch of other people's lives. Wait. Bad analogy?

Although Terry most certainly can be described as a distraction, which is being diplomatic, his chops as a lightweight wrestling coach are stellar. From Jesse Whitmer to Henry Cejudo to McDonoughRamosClark and a healthy Lee, he has fabulous results. He's special on the mat. You know who would have been perfect for a Terry equivalent -- not wired to be a head coach but a fabulous teacher wrestling coach -- for their upper weights, which despite some of the comments here, strikes me as their clear weakness? Kevin Jackson. That hire by Michigan may be the balance of power in the battle for second in the 2020s.

This is right on. Nailed it here. But can/will they do so.

Good analysis and I agree that he's got time to turn it around. But it's a pretty developed body of work this year so far which raises two concerns. First, he don't look good. Record wise-wise and eye test-wise. Saved by a friendly call vs Echemendia. Then in the interview after the match says he's got to step it up. And does the opposite. He got absolutely pulverized in Ann Arbor and then back at Carver was totally controlled by Bartlet in a manner which strongly suggests he's a level below. Second, this does seem like a pattern with a lot of top Iowa guys of very flat senior years where they regress and don't look good in doing so. It wouldn't be fair to say this only happens at this school because it's not uncommon nationally with guys who are just beat up from the grind, but this is a guy you would have expected to put it all together and so far is doing the opposite.

Don't see how this isn’t accurate. He probably should have lost to Iowa State too. Could be an injury, but none apparent and God forbid they'd say if it was.

This is clearly correct. Just because Metcalf didn't use inflammatory language doesn't mean the thrust of his statements weren't negative. In fact it's really the opposite -- his whole point was that Gilman, while in the Iowa bubble, was confrontational and inflammatory, completely unnecessarily so in a completely benign social situation, and then years later acknowledged that was silly. Metcalf presented this in a calm manner in order to illustrate the extreme culture that he was trying to describe to the viewer.