billyhoyle

The difference in weights is definitely the main factor here, but "Russia proper" didn't even send athletes this time. I'm just saying there is a streak to keep alive tomorrow, regardless of the fact that it is more difficult to keep it alive these days.

Uguev would have been the favorite going into the event. If you want to say Higuchi is better, I won't argue with you, but my opinion is that it's Uguev.

In 1968 2001 A Space Odyssey was released The Beatles released The White Album and Hey Jude Bob Gibson pitched the single greatest season in baseball history with a 1.12 ERA over 304 innings, but still managed to lose 9 games. Apollo 8 became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon. The country was in the midst of the Vietnam war, and it was dawning on the public that we were losing the war. A civil rights icon and presidential candidate were assassinated, and a former vice president named Richard Nixon was elected President. And it was the last time the U.S. Men's freestyle team competed in the Olympics, but did not win a gold modal. Kyle Snyder and Zain Retherford, two chances to keep the streak alive. Can they do it?

What did he say that was so terrible? He was wrong about nobody remember silver in 20 years. Stephen Abas wrecked by Batirov 20 years ago in the finals at the same weight. But Lee is right to be disappointed in the result from this tournament. He was the favorite going into the tournament, and the best wrestler in the weight wasn't even there. He should be proud about his career as a whole, and I'm sure he will be. All that was represented in that interview was an athlete being honest about how he felt at the moment.

Dake already lost, so it's a good thing you stopped betting!

Is it a gambling problem if the bet is 100% a sure thing? Mijain Lopez only emerges once every four years. You can’t just let an opportunity for free money like that pass!

Being heavily in stocks with money that you absolutely need for retirement a couple years from now is a recipe for disaster. But yeah, there is always Pakistan.

Is it really likely that Taylor wouldn’t have beaten the guys he tech/pinned last year? Or is it possible Brooks was just a really bad matchup for him.

If he beats Yazdani, I’m 100% back on the Brooks bandwagon.

Careful-It seems as if the consensus is that he wrestled great for who he is given how tough the competition is and the guy who dominated the last two worlds regressed into a shell of his former self.

I listed Hrovat because he beat a guy that likely would have done better against international competition, and it was the same weight. But also, don’t disrespect hrovat-it’s possible Brooks is closer to him than he is to Taylor. Hrovat was no slouch, just never medaled. And if you want to argue Russia/Belarus not competing didn’t impact the strength of the weight, fine. But I don’t buy that argument.

Yeah I didn’t mean that as an insult to Brooks. Just a recalibration of the level that he is on. They are great US wrestlers. Herbert made the semifinals of the Olympics as well (and Russia was there). I saw his three matches as disappointing because I was comparing him to the guy we sent the past 4 years (who he beat). But others have highlighted that it’s comparable to his prior results.

I don’t disagree with this. Maybe Taylor regressed significantly over the past year. I don’t think that happened, but it’s not impossible. I think many of assumed when he took out Taylor it was a passing of the torch type of moment.

Yeah. What were his results against them? I get that he shouldn’t have been sent under the current qualifying rules, but is the argument really that he got significantly worse over the past 12 months?

I think it’s fair to say Brooks earned the spot under the system and Taylor shouldn’t have gone, but the best chance for gold wasn’t sent.

How do you think Taylor would have done against them?

He did not look especially impressive in his other matches either though. Yeah, he was good compared who the US would typically send, but not compared to the guy he beat out to make the team.

Did brooks compete at junior worlds/U23?

I saw Taylor win the last two world championships including over the guy about to dominate the guy who beat Brooks. Exactly. All the complaining about the defending world champions having too much of an advantage making the team led to a change that made the team worse.

You need to keep in mind that Taylor wins this match easily though. Brooks looks more on the level of Jake Herbert/Andy Hrovat battling for medals than Taylor.

You see it in NCAA where a guy who is worse beats somebody in a wrestle off and then underperforms against other competition. It seems like that’s what happened here. Brooks didn’t look great in any of his matches.

How was the guy not prepared for those positions?

He didn’t look prepared at all for international wrestling. Like he had trained for Taylor and only Taylor.

That’s kind of random that there’s an Iranian wrestling diaspora within an Indiana wrestling forum of all places.