dragit

Exactly. And he makes good money doing it which he is totally entitled to do. And we get to see him wrestle a lot of televised matches. And hopefully he gets in the groove with the sport and does at least one full quad of freestyle. Or does everyone who is bored by this think our freestyle team was so good this year that we couldn't use the help?

Totally agree. Would have gone with a HALLELUJAH response emoji if there was one.

100%. As has been obvious for quite some time. This is what he is good (not good, incredible) at, and the only rational financial move. Reminds me a little of Michael Jordan. He is the transcendent best at one thing and isn't good at anything else but insists at trying them. Although he isn't a jackass like Jordan about it. He left a lot of money on the table with the Olympics, but he is still young and apparently needed to work through a process -- but he finally got to where he inevitably had to get. Thankfully so!!! If he can find and hold his motivation he can accumulate some real wealth while accomplishing true greatness.

Love your optimism but even in the extraordinarily unlikely event that he stays on the team and even wins a national championship -- without seriously competing in years and following a season practicing in a room with one victory in a mediocre conference tournament -- it won't be a landmark for a region that has had poster boy recruits like Robles, Valencia, and Griffith as well as other champs.

Speaking of which, why in the world wouldn't Steveson come back? Big money one would assume from NIL. No apparent other way for him to earn anything close. He's going to, right?

Emphasis on "at most"

If he wants to keep wrestling and can afford to, of course it's his preference. Whether he can be successful and make world teams is another question. The last match over the weekend shows why that's unlikely. He just wrestles very conservatively in important matches and invariably the opponent makes something happen and beats him. There is only one reason to think this might change -- a good year with the new coaches, if they can find a way to get him to open up. Maybe Taylor's example on the mat could trigger something and maybe Taylor's coaching could get him the confidence he needs in the key situations to score.

It's complicated. The Jordan comparison is interesting. I do think that Burroughs has some similar uber-competitive traits which are a big part of his success, and that that includes using perceived slights as motivation. I'll also say that I'm not a giant Burroughs fan, I was rooting for Marsteller, whose travails I find compelling. And I'm not crazy about some things about Burroughs -- the head clubbing, not a gracious loser, etc. I also disagree with the notion that he is the GOAT over John Smith. But nothing he does is anywhere near being outside of a normal and acceptable range in the extraordinarily competitive and high stakes world he inhabits. To boo him or show anything but the highest respect for his achievements and for his life is bizarre to me. He is not a complete jackass like Michael Jordan, who has no ability to control himself even years after retiring from competition (someone mentioned cringing at Burroughs statement about Starocci's knee; if you want to cringe yourself into a seizure watch and try to make your way to the end of the absolute embarrassment that is Jordan's Hall of Fame speech). He has always been completely candid about the zero sum game that is competition for the one spot on a world team, and he makes no bones about his view that he has to beat people on the mat to provide for his family (he's an earnest family man). This to me is way more valuable to the fan to hear than platitudes. He trains like hell, he fights through major injuries, and he supplements his physical skills with as good a mental game as there is in sports. Plus he's further contributed to the sport as a knowledgeable, insightful, and well-expressed announcer who can adapt to a range of broadcast partners from Jim Gibbons to Cormier. And I have no way of knowing for sure, but it's possible that his success in the early 2010s helped contribute to a surge of top wrestlers of color in recent years. If he wants to be a little ungracious and not stay above the fray with Messenbrink's antics (a guy I love watching wrestle) and be a little over the top in his interview with the it's me vs the entire institution of Penn State wrestling when it was mainly one guy who was way over the line, I got no problem with that if it helped produce the viewing pleasure of the clinic that Burroughs put on this weekend at age 36 against a strong field.

Lot going on with the Penn State thing, which seems to have started at the NCAAs with Starocci and then blew up in the arena at OTTs. I'm on his side, my view there was nothing wrong about what he said about Starocci as a potential competitor -- it gave insight into his competitiveness, which sometimes rubs people the wrong way, but should be understood for what it is and what it has produced: An extraordinary wrestler and an extraordinary man. All American wrestling fans should be grateful for his presence in and contributions to the sport.

Give the people what they want!

Well put

A four time what? Transfer?

I suppose if Ferrari could make the finals that his loss to Starocci could be interesting but mainly because it would be so surprising that he made the finals.

I'd put him at closer to 1 in 10 without Starocci in the field, and in the Washington Generals range against Starocci.

Don't worry about it. I believe the research suggests CTE comes from repetitive hitting. Training camp and a little practice squad work shouldn't put him in danger.

Just a remarkable person.

He is a titanic intellect. Tempered by his great respect for others' views and his ability to disagree and argue in good faith. And the ellipses punctuated such an effective writing style . . .

OK I'll imagine that. 20-25 points at heavyweight guaranteed. Potential high finisher at 197 if everything goes exactly right. But the more likely range of outcomes is somewhere in the range of mid AA to different guy wins the spot to gets thrown off the team to gets thrown in jail. And with a very high probability of hurting team morale under all scenarios.

I think the best athletes in the world (top tier at their sport plus athleticism) are probably Carlos Alcaraz, Jalen Ramsay, and Mookie Betts.

People, Gable Steveson is not going to play in the NFL. He knows it and if he doesn't then the NFL does. Hopefully he will wrestle again. I expect he will. It's the thing he can make the most money doing. It's also a noble pursuit with respect to which he is the best in the world, whereas he will not be particularly good, let alone great, at anything else he does. That is not an insult; instead it is a commentary on how good he is at wrestling.

Best in the world at the first two. Zero chance he'd be successful at the next two. Doubt he'd be particularly successful at either of the last two. But only he can decide what he thinks is best for his life.

Strongly agree with the basic premises. Not a serious NFL prospect, and at some point he'll realize that real wrestling is his best shot at steady income. I draw a different conclusion from these starting points about whether he would go to college -- why wouldn't he do one more year if he can get that retroactive bogus Olympic redshirt approved for a high six figure payday. He is a different kind of guy. Better at wrestling than literally everyone else but not nearly as interested in wrestling as everyone else. My fervent hope is that he comes back to the thing he is singularly great. I'd be surprised if he'll be any kind of successful at anything else he's interested in. He is however (sadly for anyone who wants to watch the greatest wrestler wrestle) as a man of free will to be entitled to be interested in other things, including that he's entitled to go to a football training camp if a team is willing to invite him (think they like wrestling in Buffalo, Burroughs spoke to them once at practice) and see if it generates any worthless publicity regarding something that isn't going to happen. Just gotta wait for this to blow itself out and see if we're lucky enough to get him back.

Heart condition or no, does anyone seriously think there is any chance that Steveson is ever going to play a down in a regular season NFL game? This is all part of the show -- not his strong suit. His strong suit is in being the best heavyweight wrestler on the planet, a true, can't-take-your-eyes-off-him, force of nature on a wrestling mat. All that's left is for him to decide if that's what he wants to do. If not, then he can go be mediocre at best at whatever else he wants to try next. Everything else is just noise, noise that not as many are as interested in as there used to be.

Definitely a teasing aspect to all this as best demonstrated by them claiming he could be a serious NFL prospect which doesn't seem credible to me. My guess is that if he can get granted the eligibility he'll wrestle in college. Would be a big payday and he has to think he is a commanding favorite to win. It would beat taking your chances on MMA where it's not clear at all you'd dominate competition, guys would literally be trying to kill you, and your trash talking skill which wasn't strong in WWE would still be a problem. Why literally get kicked in the head if you don't have to?

I doubt it will be a consideration for Taylor in his hiring one way or the other.