ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Just watched a bunch of U17 US Open Greco, and it was astonishing! ILLINOIS has dominated in Greco for years, as can be seen in the Fargo and National Duals record books and even on this year's Senior World Team, but other states are starting to pick it up, and there are some exciting kids in the pipeline. As a nation, we've sucked at the simple gut wrench even in domestic competition, but Wyatt Medlin, by himself, must have had about 20 in this tournament from start to match three of the best of three finals. And there were throwers! Really big stuff. I wish y'all coulda seen it.

I would say this about the ref in that match: Don't make a production of it. That was how a WWE ref would make the call. Especially, don't be that demonstrative in making a huge call that benefits a hometown wrestler on his hometown mat late in an important match. On the other hand, singlet pulls are very hard to see, so I appreciate the fact that the ref let everybody know what happened. I would suggest, though, blowing the whistle, signaling the call (like a normal human being), then jogging over to the head official to explain what happened. That way, it can be shared with the fans in attendance and the TV announcers. As for the ref getting run over by the action. It happens in Sumo at least once each tournament. The difference is that some of those Sumo refs are old enough to have taught the Five Point Exploding Heart Punch in Kill Bill: Volume Two. Also, the Dohyo in Sumo is almost twice as small as an Olympic-sized mat, and the ref knows everything is going out of bounds and usually at speed. Shouldn't happen in Freestyle. Did the ref blow his whistle early out of self-preservation? Could Zahid have finished that takedown?

I like the slip throw rule. The original poster writes: "No, then no one will take a chance at a throw!" That's old rhetoric. Sometimes old rhetoric is the best rhetoric. Would we ever see another arm throw in our lifetimes if slipped throws were penalized? Double over-hook throws? Headlock throws? Goodbye forever to those, my friends. Additionally, if you catch the wrestler attempting to throw and stop his momentum, you can score a takedown yourself or hit your own throw for exposure. So, there is a remedy for half-baked throw attempts that slip. What I would change is that a slip throw in the Passivity Zone would be a Caution and Two with choice of position. Otherwise, let them try! Unrelated, but I thought the image below was funny when I saw it the other day. Is that Alabama Greco? I love the internet:

Not International rules, but NCAA. It was a home dual for ILLINOIS versus Michigan. Mike Poeta is a Freshman wrestling up a weight at 165 against Ryan Churella. Match is tied as regulation time expires. Poeta hits a double in sudden victory for the apparent win. Crowd goes crazy. Ref calls an equipment grab, claiming that the ILLINI pulled on Churella's knee pad. We screamed our displeasure. I've never been louder expressing my dissatisfaction (except when I saw my toddler boy start to cross our street without looking both ways). Poeta loses by an infraction point in SV. So, in the first interview I ever had with then-Associate Head Coach Poeta, I ask him about it. He basically said, "It was a good call. I grabbed the knee pad. It was inadvertent as my fingers got stuck, but I grabbed it."

The ILLINI will be sending a powerful team: Kannon Webster, Braeden Scoles, Chris Moore, Logan Swaw, Will Baysingar and others. That's two Who's No 1 wrestlers, a true Freshman NCAA qualifier, a Big Ten Tournament starter and a spot starter. Probably have some incoming Freshmen/high school Seniors show up as well. So excite!

Greco is a manly pursuit and not for everyone.

Also featuring Matt & Hobbes (which in no way is a copyright violation of Garfield), Colonel Storny and everbody's favorite, Li'l Bormy. Today's strip is entitled "Wolverine Trap" and is a Matt & Hobbes:

Post Mortem on the Coverage: In my opinion, Peacock did an excellent job, much better than Flo. That's especially true regarding everything besides the finals. Those are usually less than impressive when viewed through a Flo lens. It was quick and easy to switch mats. The only glitches for me occurred after about :20 into a new match, the system reset. I did have a couple of short outages on day one. The cameras were top notch, and they brought you right into the action. Cameras now have zoom lenses! There were also actual camera operators who turned the cameras to continuously face the action. I was not aware that that was possible. I will certainly cancel Peacock after about a week. It offers almost nothing besides a Real Housewives for every major metropolitan area in America (and Dubai). I want to see Oppenheimer still, though. I did watch Superbad and was disappointed. The movie is a 113-minute fart joke. If you had told me that Bill Hader could be unfunny, I might have punched you. Still, I give a weak recommendation just for the McLovin character. Dude was perfect. To their credit, Trackwrestling finally fixed the information at the end of matches to show the true winners instead of only doing it for the first few matches, so that for the rest of the tournament it would always read something like "Patrick McKee wins 7-3." Still, I don't get why you have to do an extra click to "View Final Result." Whether you click or don't click there's gonna be the same amount of lag time before the next match shows up, so why not just show the final result? Track also got all of the results right, at least from what I saw. That is not usually the case. On the other hand, Trackwrestling still has this bugaboo:

THEY DID! Those NLWC refs let both Braunagels make their third-place matches, for some reason I can't understand, but Zac's girlfriend lost just now, thanks to an awful NLWC ref who hates true love.

To cool the temperature in the room, I want to provide a love story. Zac Braunagel is one match away from the third place bout just like his girlfriend, while his brother Danny Braunagel is already in the third place bout. All that despite these NLWC refs.

The Retherford/Lee referee is the same one for Burroughs/Nolf. What's a guy to do?

OMG. This is a WWE ref!

Now the refs are getting PHYSICALLY in the way of NLWC opponents. I think I saw a ref punch Zahid as well. Shenanigans!

The person not being fair was the mat referee. How do you shoot on somebody constantly backing up and running side to side and doing everything not to engage? Your response presumes that Nolf presented himself, which he absolutely did not. Now, since I have no dog in this argument, I'm out. Cheers!

No. This is a bad take I've now seen multiple times on this board. The ref blew the action dead. Then, Nolf jumped over. Let me stress this again: 1. REF BLOWS WHISTLE. 2. NOLF JUMPS OVER BURROUGHS. Yet, that same referee, after making those two awful calls that favored Nolf in the first period, then let Nolf run for two minutes in the second period even while the mat judge was calling for a Caution and One, and the other judge was calling for the match to be stopped. Very stinky.

How do you folks think you can take a shot when your opponent is constantly running backwards and to the side? I love seeing the fanatics, as I am one, and that makes it fun to argue. The Announcer said after the match that the mat judge was screaming for a caution and one, and that the other judge yelled to have the match stopped. Why would they do that? Because the mat ref let Nolf back-pedal, run to the side and hide for about two minutes. It was grievous and blatant. Burroughs needed to sit in a blind and hit Nolf with a shotgun like he was a quail. And for the record, I hate Burroughs for beating Poeta in the NCAA finals. I do believe in fairness, though.

This is one of the worst takes I've seen today. You even edited it to make sure it was the worst possible take. But I get it, you're a fan. So am I. So bring on the bad takes, build up the fervor, be a fan. Cheers!

Announcer just said the mat judge was calling for a caution and one on Nolf for fleeing, and the other judge was calling for the match to be stopped. Suspect mat referee. Stinky.

Can ask for like four passivities on Nolf, though.

This ref is a Penn State fan. Wow. That was bull****! The ref, HIMSELF, blew the action dead, then Nolf jumps over and out of bounds for two? This is stinky.

Yes, but Spencer is especially chubby, so I'm saying we require weigh-ins twice a day for him.

Greco fans: Joe Rau wins, Zac Braunagel loses. The ref in the Brawlnagel match called Zac for passivity twice. I swear on the souls of my children! Not only did the ref eschew the usual call "A" for passivity in the first period and "B" in the second, but this dude called Zac Braunagel for passivity twice. It's like it started raining upwards! Will the mantle of true heel be taken from PD3 and handed over to the PSU crowd? Booing Jordan Burroughs is a nice start.

So, the last person to beat Jesse Mendez was Kannon Webster during the Summer of 2023?

If we all decide to believe in making weight, then Spencer Lee will have to make weight again tonight. So, everybody, join in with me: "I do believe in scales. I do believe in scales. I do believe."

How often do you think they shout "Gas Tank Gary" during the Flo Watch Party? I am willing to bet that 27% of the conversation has revolved around 0-2 Pat Downey, Jr.