billyhoyle

I hate how WWE treats their athletes. It’s not UFC where it makes sense to cut a fighter after losing a few fights. Apparently this guy was decently popular with their fans (unlike Gable). Clearly based off that tweet he wants to keep wrestling. But zero surprise that WWE cuts him likely out of spite almost immediately after Gable leaves.

In what world do any of our ncaa coaches give a shit about the Olympics? Brands wrestled Spencer Lee on a questionable knee in an Olympic year. Cael has the best freestyle room in the country and they are barely even going to international tournaments-they sure do a great job preparing the ncaa wrestlers though. And now apparently teams are investing 500K for NIL athletes to score like 15 team points…

Yes, based on who initiated the “action”. I think we would see just as many leg attacks because we do see them in freestyle. But in our training, it would force us to actually practice good finishes because the attacking wrestler will have finish the shot and can’t rely on scrambling out of a counter. Seeing the 65 kg Japanese wrestler execute what I consider to be the cleanest low single/finish of the year is the perfect example of this. Taylor’s style of attacking/finishing is another-it played up perfectly in free. Why did JB transition immediately to free? Because his double had an extremely clean finish. Brooks shooting and hanging onto the leg as a stall technique would have worked in folk, but didn’t in free.

Watch folkstyle matches from the 80s. Then watch the matches from today. Do you really think the product that is folkstyle is getting better for fans? I think it is getting less exciting with less action. I love folkstyle too-I wrestled through college and only competed in one freestyle tournament in my life. I know the folkstyle rules and techniques better than freestyle because it’s what I did. But NCAA wrestling is dying right in front of our eyes, and we are just letting it happen. Changes need to be made to encourage the type of action we saw in the 80s/90s. Our athletes are not being set up for success the way they are in swimming and track. Changes need to be made so that they can bring back gold medals.

Yes, exactly. Par terre isn’t really that critical at the top levels of freestyle, and our athletes do a relatively good job learning guts and leg laces. The folkstyle fans will be happy because the change I’m proposing only alters one small aspect of the sport (the type of scrambles that happen, not the existence of scrambles), and our athletes will be better served because the way they train will directly translate to freestyle. Most folkstyle elements that distinguish it from freestyle (all the different top/bottom techniques) will remain in tact. From neutral, the product will still be highly similar to folkstyle, except now there will be more throws and less rolling on your own back. I think that this change alone, once implemented across levels and given time for youth athletes to develop, will lead to the US surpassing Russia and Iran. It addresses the single biggest issue our athletes face at the international level-the lack of fluidity in their style when scrambling with freestyle neutral exposure as a possibility.

To have NCAA men’s wrestling stay competitive in the NIL era, we must switch to freestyle or at the very least a more exciting version of folkstyle that allows our athletes to better transition to free. It’s our best chance of boosting the popularity of the sport. NCAA wrestling is losing fans every year-adapt or die, and we are choosing the latter.

Where did you see that I liked it when Trump did it? You think I like that we have a candidate telling his followers to write “vote Trump for no tax on tips” whenever they’re in a restaurant?

I know it's different-I agree that the legality of what Biden did is questionable. I'm just saying the concept of student loan forgiveness isn't novel and is part of the law itself.

No, I'm referring to the federal student loan program. you can get forgiveness through the public service loan forgiveness program (10 years), as well as through income driven repayment plans when working in the private sector (20-25 years). These provision are written into law and are a part of the federal student loan program.

The only rule that folkstyle needs to add is to count a neutral exposure as 4 points. Once you get exposure points, you are considered to be in the top position. If you end up on bottom after the scramble, your opponent gets a 2 point reversal. 1. The first result would be significantly more neutral throws (because you have the potential to get 4 regardless of the outcome and then backpoints if you keep your oponent in a danger position). I am talking about bringing us back to 80s style wrestling with Randy Lewis, Louden Swain. Folkstyle wrestling today is not the folkstyle wrestling of the 80s, and we have lost a lot because of it! Go watch NCAA matches from the 80s, while Lunatic Fringe is playing in the background, and tell me that the sport we have today remotely compares to that. 2. The second result would be exciting counters by defensive wrestlers in response to shots. This would end the boring folkstyle counters that involve rolling around on your own back to force a stalemate. Instead, we would have just as many scrambles, but they would inevitably lead to more points and more action! 3. The last result is that our athletes would be forced to have significantly better technique. A lot of folkstyle wrestlers shoot in on legs and hold on, either to stall or to try to force stalling calls. We even saw Aaron Brooks try to do this at the end of his semifinal match. That is not good wrestling! Good wrestling is you shoot, you score. Like Otoguro's low single. John Smith invented the low single, but Otoguro's low single was better than any U.S. wrestler that I have seen since Smith. The reason is that folkstyle in its current form does not punish you for failing to finish your shots! Folkstyle fans, I am not trying to take away your precious top/bottom wrestling or riding time! Let's just make the sport more exciting by encouraging more throws and better technique!

I thought it was the Schlatter claw?

Yes, and better methods of training to allow athletes to compete later and have less of a drop-off. I still think the absolute peak for the combination of endurance and strength required is ages 22-26. The older these guys get, the more likely they are to have to overcome significant injuries as well (see Yazdani)

Exactly. There is nothing special about the water in Dagestan. In fact, they have significantly worse training conditions than athletes in the U.S. and a smaller pool of athletes. There are really three questions that need to be asked. 1. Should the U.S. be the best country in the world for freestyle? (I think yes, but many seem to not think so) 2. Do you want the U.S. to be the best country for freestyle? (I do, but some seem to not care about U.S. athletes once they graduate from college and stop scoring team points) 3. What changes need to be made so that the U.S. is #1? (This is where it gets contentious. The simple solution is to switch to freestyle, but tweaking the folkstyle rules may be enough, as would some other changes that incentivize better training environments and additional international experience).

The prime of wrestlers is 22-26. The prime of U.S. wrestlers, unfortunately, is 25-29 for this exact reason. And that's because it takes time to adjust to freestyle. The sad reality is that most don't fully adjust and still have terrible habits from folkstyle/never had the opportunity to develop their own style in freestyle.

There are multiple forms of student loan forgiveness written into current law that authorizes the federal government to provide student loans. These are public service loan forgiveness and forgiveness forgiveness from income driven repayment. These aren't handouts but part of the "deal" that people make when they take out student loans. These programs allow for social mobility and for poor people to attend college and graduate/professional schools. Many students believe that the requirements for forgiveness should be less stringent (e.g. decreasing the required payments or years for IDR or PSLF). It's perfectly fine to think that the current law is fine and doesn't need to be made less stringent, but the concept of loan forgiveness is already written into law. BTW, I agree that all student loans shouldn't just be magically forgiven, but I don't think something like the SAVE plan that was implemented is ridiculous. The concept of just saying "tips aren't taxable" is pulled out of thin air, and it's pure populism. What is the point of that? Why do one specific class of workers no longer have to pay income tax on their income?

In some states, servers are required to be paid at least minimum wage (not counting tips) + benefits if they are full time. The solution to restaurants not paying a living wage isn’t to create an arbitrary group of tax-free employees-it’s to pay actual salary.

But neither are Russia’s or Irans. The best athletes in those countries are playing soccer.

I’m sure they saw a poll in Nevada showing how popular it is. It’s idiotic populism to just deem tips as a form of tax free income. Why should waiters pay no taxes while janitors and cooks do?

The reason the Russians are better isn’t because they weight train differently. And it’s not because there are chemicals in the water in Dagestan. You can succeed in wrestling without doing heavy weight training, but it helps a lot to do it. And yes, the elite athletes are doing different types of lifts than just curls and bench press, so you don’t have to worry about that.

130 Kg final is easily the answer from an entertainment standpoint. The 65 Kg final from a standpoint of it being absolutely great wrestling. That low single to lace sequence against a guy who was heavily favored and demolished everyone was the most unexpected thing I’ve seen in the sport in a long time. And it was executed beautifully. The wrestling equivalent of a perfect spiral on an end zone fade route or a 90 mph slider that paints the corner.

From raw numbers of course there will be more folkstyle wrestlers- because Americans wrestle Folkstyle and U.S. wrestlers have been a significant percentage of MMA fighters. As more Russians are entering UFC, it is becoming more clear that freestyle is the better style for MMA. It's not a coincidence that despite the prevalence of folkstyle in the U.S., the most successful American wrestlers in UFC had a strong freestyle (Cormier, Cejudo) background. Then when you factor in GSP and Khabib, I think it becomes pretty clear.

If Ohio State fans are bitter at all about how Kyle Snyder left Ohio State, they need to reassess their priorities. The guy is the greatest wrestler the university has ever produced and one of their greatest athletes. If he wanted to move, regardless of the reason and whatever the timing, that's his choice and the fans should support him. He gave so much to that program, and he did it before NIL existed. And it's not as if he was somebody that wasn't heavily recruited that they largely developed in house, he was the biggest can't miss recruit in our lifetime.

So based on talent, participation, and training resources, would you say we should be #1? But based on our approach to developing this talent and using these resources, it makes sense that we aren't?

So do you think if the U.S. switched to Greco/Freestyle, we would be the best in the world at both?

Swimming emphasizes all the different strokes, which is why overall they are the best program in the world.