billyhoyle

Calling it dominating is a stretch. Pico had two takedowns but couldn't keep him down. Standing up was fairly even until the knockout. Plus that was only four minutes. He's only 28, so I don't see why it's over for him. He just has a tendency to get knocked out, so he'll probably always be a journeyman. Wouldn't be surprised if he gets into the top 10 or top 5 at some point though if UFC keeps him around.

This is more convincing. I don't think 1.5 point TD helps though. Maybe just going back to 2 pt. Or maybe giving more points on a takedown for initiating a move versus scoring on a counter. I do think it is good that an athlete who scores a TD is rewarded over one who scores an escape and gets a RT or stall point.

That is a pretty significant decrease in your effect size just by including tech falls (you've lost about 20% of it). I wonder how much more of that effect is lost if you were to count overtime matches where one takedown was scored as one takedown matches? And then when you plot the trend, I bet there is minimal change of one takedown matches comparing the most recent years prior to 2023 and 2024-2025.

This logic makes no sense. A takedown becomes only 0.5 points more than an escape? There'd be little incentive to waste energy trying to get takedowns early in the match. A reverse becomes exactly the same as an escape? Everyone in the top position would give up a reversal on purpose. And you did a poor job interpreting your data by comparing 1993-2023 and 2024 to 2025. The trend was heading to fewer points per match from 1993 to 2023. You have to plot the trend. Another huge issue with your analysis was discounting overtime matches. Are fewer matches going to overtime with this rule change? How did removing tech falls impact your analysis? Are more matches now ending in technical fall?

The one difference is this guy was almost murdered not too long ago, and had his entire dream and what he thought was his future taken away from him. Drugs and guns seems like a reasonable human response to this. Drugs as pain management (mental and physical) and the guns for self defense but realistically as a way to feel safe. Obviously though, this is not a healthy way to deal with the situation. I think the response here should be to get him help. But yeah, he probably shouldn't be coaching for a few months until this is resolved.

Either trump is a liar who is covering up for a pedophile, or maybe there isn't some crazy worldwide conspiracy related to this case. Maybe Epstein was exactly who we have known he was for a decade, which is a sick/evil individual who was helped to avoid jail by officials in Florida. What makes more sense: a worldwide cospiracy that Biden and Trump are both behind? Or a rich person using his money and influence to get out of prison?

So I guess your 80 year old hall of fame football coach can have an over-controlling 24 year old girlfriend, OR your wrestling team can bring in a transfer who was charged with sexual battery, is a pretty reckless driver, and is on video discharging firearms indiscriminately. But both is a no go.

It would be pretty crazy if she was actually the voice of reason on this.

I think all we can ask of you is that you do your due diligence and share what you feel is to correct to share. It's better to report nothing than to report something inaccurately. Those of us with zero inside connections really have seen one article and accusations from somebody who many of us view as a credible source, but nothing else. I don't see how anyone could have a problem with what you have shared given how early things are. I remember when the Ohio State news was first breaking on the older forums. There was pretty strong sentiment that it was BS or overblown because it was coming from DiSabato. It turns out that his accusations were correct and if anything understated the problem. Obviously the length of Starocci's involvement in the program and type of accusations here are very different than the Ohio State situation. But we just don't know what (if anything) else will come out next.

I think a lot of Ohio State wrestling fans will be rooting for Lehigh wrestlers with him in their corner. So great to see him coaching and back home too. It was mindblowing. He knew more than anyone else what was taken away from him. Yet even before sentencing he could say that. Absolutely an incredible person.

Hmm. Mark Ruffalo played the investigative reporter who uncovered the catholic church scandal in Spotlight. Mark Ruffalo played wrestling legend Dave Schultz who was murdered by lunatic John DuPont in Foxcatcher. Mark Ruffalo played the lawyer who uncovered the DuPont chemical spill in Dark Waters. Maybe Mark Ruffalo is who we need to solve this situation. Or maybe we need somebody to step up who can later be portrayed by Mark Ruffalo in a movie?

Great to see this news. Most importantly for his family. Whatever his role in the wrestling community will be in the future, it will be great in an capacity.

Anyone who believes this was an honest mistake is one of the dumbest people out there. Same thing for the Fix situation.

Mark Hall reading the PSU Collegian today:

It might be unfair, but given PSU's history, running a program where this happens should be grounds for termination of the coach, even if the coach wasn't covering it up. The only question in my mind is whether the allegations here are true. I hope they are not. But if they are and a 17 year old was taken to the PSU locker room/groomed/and then assaulted when they were 18, the coach has to be fired. There are also the allegations that members of the team were sexually assaulted/photographed with the photos shared on a snapchat that everyone knew about....Not good either. You can't run a program where that behavior happens at PSU in athletic facilities given the history of the university. It's not the coaches fault legally, but running a program with that type of culture should put you out of a job at PSU. But like I said, these are just allegations and need to be supported by evidence and investigated by PSU.

If even half of what's in that article is true, Cael should be out of a job. I'm curious to see how many notable people who were inside the PSU locker room at the time come out to defend Starocci (and Cael). Something that is very telling is that they clearly protected Starocci the entire time he had eligibility. But the second it was gone, they were ready to not sign him to NLWC.

Maybe he doesn't have insurance and just chose not to get it because he's self employed? I don't think you can even get an organ transplant unless it is medically necessary because they are so rare to get (many die on the waitlists). It also doesn't make sense that he wouldn't have insurance though because he has an entire family.

None of us knows how close Iran was to obtaining a nuclear weapon or whether they were moving toward that. We will find out in the coming years the intelligence that led to this decision by Israel and Trump. We also do not yet know what the consequences of these actions will be in the long term. If in fact this move has destroyed Iran's nuclear weapons program and has ended their pursuit of a bomb, we are all safer for it and should be thankful the decision was made. This could go down as the most impactful and consequential decision of a president in decades. None of us can say for sure what will happen though.

In the world of paying college athletes, we are more likely to see all eligibility rules taken away where athletes can compete as long as they want while taking as few classes as they want, than we are to see redshirts taken away. Although of course I agree with you. Redshirts stopped making sense 30 years ago.

I have no clue what his financial situation has been, but somebody independently wealthy can buy insurance and then be covered for medical expenses. The medical system isn't failing people with money. It fails people who cannot afford insurance but don't qualify for medicaid. I imagine they are fundraising for costs that are beyond what insurance would cover. Like lodging near the hospital and/or travel to and from (if they are commuting via plane). Also, a big thing for them is probably lost income. Askren was making money from appearances and things that isn't coming in anymore. Because he didn't have a 9-5 job, I doubt he had disability insurance that would cover his income. Mortgage payments don't stop just because the primary earner is in the hospital. Neither do costs associated with their kids. None of that is the fault of the medical system-rather it is a consequence of a tragedy. The other thing is buying an Askren shirt isn't really the same thing as asking for donations. His name is a brand that has value on apparel-he has sold "funky" gear for years. People wanting to buy more of his gear at the moment isn't an act of charity, although the money does help his family. It is still purchasing branded gear.

As bad as Jordan looks from this, which is bad, Hellickson looks even worse. Hellickson has nothing to lose from coming out and supporting his athletes. He even is on tape in a prior interview essentially admitting that he thought the situation was strange with the showering and he brought this up with Strauss. Nobody expects him to say he knew everything and covered it up-they just want him to admit what is obvious. That he should have done more and the admin at tOSU should have done more, but didn't. There was one case in the documentary where a victim sought care at the student health center and then was drugged/driven home and raped. I think there were many more cases from the report, but I'm pretty sure some actions in his "medical check" could qualify as rape depending on what exactly he was doing. So I'm sure some of the cases reported by the tOSU investigation were that (actions in his medical check).

This is the most shocking and devastating situation that I've seen on this forum since Adam Frey. There is really nothing to discuss, since there are no updates and it is clearly an extremely dire situation. At the same time, how can we discuss anything else with this going on? Askren is one of the most notable wrestlers of the past two decades. He is in the prime of his life. This has come out of nowhere.

All it takes is one AJ Ferrari incident and they immediately have an excuse to get a new HC.

The only surprising thing here is that the documentary wasn't made sooner. Every major sex abuse scandal ends up with a documentary. I don't recall anyone accusing Jordan of that.