BAC

Just saw that. He was always a tough out at Iowa. Seems like a good and sincere kid, hard not to like. Did pretty well at trials too, with nice wins over Berger and Haines. I wonder if Iowa has a job for him, or if he'll move on? Wish him well.

What do we know about who's retired post-OTTs? I know J'Den and Mark Hall left their shoes on the mat. JB said before OTTs that this was his last go-round, but I haven't seen anything "official" from him. Have to assume Green is done. Not sure what to expect from Gilman, Taylor, Gwiz... Thought Starocci was one and done, but he gave an interview pre-OTTs saying he's leaning toward coming back to PSU so maybe he isn't done internationally either.

And smacked him again when he went to shake his coach's hand! There's something wrong with you as a fan if you are NOT booing that. Big fan of JB but what he did in that match was as boo-worthy as it gets.

They booed JB's actions not JB generally. When he delayed returning to center, he got booed. When he wouldn't slap MM's outstretched hand, he got booed. When he whacked MM on the back of the head, he got booed. When he kept jawing after they returned to the center and wouldn't resume wrestling, he got booed. When he shoved MM a second time after MM went to shove JB's coaches' hands, he got booed.

Don't know much about Stutzman or the Buffalo program but the "sabotage" allegations are pretty clearly bogus -- at least insofar as they're based on misdiagnosed injuries and mold on the mat. There's pretty much a 0% change a school or trainer would willfully misdiagnose an athlete based on dislike of the program, or fail to clean up a health hazard like moldy mats. Devoting minimal resources to a program, sure. But no way they leave themselves open to the legal exposure that would come with intentionally harming an athlete or exposing them to contaminants.

I'll agree that the premise is suspect, but I'm actually more offended by the giveaway built into the title. We know from the title that the whole movie will be about a Halloween gone awry and a dog who tries to fix it, which is fine, but the problem is we also know how it ends -- that yes, in fact, the dog will indeed save the holiday. Its like Sixth Sense being called "The Boy Who Could See the Dead Psychiatrist." I mean, at least keep me in suspense on whether the pup will be able to save Halloween or not. Maybe "The Dog Who Tried to Save Halloween," or maybe a question mark title, like "Can the Dog Save Halloween?" Yeah, I know, its a kiddie movie, so by definition it'll probably have a happy ending. But at least let me hold out hope for an Old Yeller type ending where the dog succumbs to its injury to a flesh-eating Halloween mummy while trying to save his family. Those unexpected tear-jerkers are great. Or better still, a Million Dollar Baby type mid-move plot twist where early in the movie, the dog gets shanked by some hook-wielding Halloween pirate while trying to save the day, prompting a timely internal family debate about whether to euthanize the crippled dog. But no. We already know the damn dog saves Halloween. I call BS.

Didn't see Ty Whalen mentioned. Will he be back with Princeton this coming season? About .500 his freshman year in '22-23. Greyshirted this past year and went undefeated, including winning Midlands, beating Parco and Watters along the way. Gotta think he'll be a force.

Is it really that unreasonable to have Blaze at #1? Recent wins over Forrest and Knox, plus NCAA finalist Matt Ramos. Nothing to sneeze at. If I went by the "eye test" I'd have Duke over Blaze too. But on paper its pretty close.

Chance Marsteller had a pretty nasty elbow injury in the semis of 2012 Cadet worlds. ARCHIVE 2012 Cadet World Wrestling Championships FS 76kg Marsteller (USA) vs Rychko (UKR) (youtube.com)

Yes it’s a shame that NJ’s coaching and competition is so poor that their best guys need to get out of the state to develop and reach their true potential.

Much bigger. Bigger than every other 86kg'er at the tournament. Can't help but think that it played a role in some of his wins against more well-known opponents (although Lujan looked huge too).

Its kind of confusing but I think he's saying it was a gift from Vito. Which has me wondering if it before his Oct 2023 commitment, in which case it was a recruiting violation, or if it was after Oct 2023 -- i.e. in the last 6 months, which also would be weird since it would be mid-season for both of them. Did Vito, like, suddenly FedEx a BLR singlet to Knox for no apparent reason? Its beyond me why anyone would care where the singlet came from, but now I'm kinda curious. BigRedFan, care to enlighten?

It wasn't the weight. Its not like he was fading at the end of matches. He was just flat-out getting wrecked and looked out of it mentally. I give him credit for going thru wrestlebacks but I think the Missou freshman version of Eierman would have torched this version, much less the version that was going toe-to-toe with Lee/Rivera a couple years ago. I'm sure the HWC stipend is nice but I think he knows its time to move on.

I was wondering this too. Whipped Brands 10-0, then proved it wasn't a fluke in beating him again for third. Maybe Brands is a bit rusty but Gunderson had other good wins too, including techs over Foca and Lujan. Looks like he's finishing into his RS sophomore year at Northern Iowa: https://www.wrestlestat.com/wrestler/73049/gunderson-john/profile Not the most impressive results. Starter in 2022 as a true frosh where he got whooped, then redshirted in 2023, and a non-starter this year with a couple losses at Soldier Salute. But I wonder if he's turned a corner after rolling around with Keckeisen. He was a big 86kg'er, and looks like an absolute unit. Will be interesting to see how he does in college next season. Looks like 2 years of eligibility left, maybe 3 if there's an extra Covid year floating around in there.

I agree that's hard to know, but the bigger question for UWW (or really the IOC) is: what do we do about potentially blameless athletes in a country has violated the rules of participation and merits exclusion? The current approach merely requires a lack of evidence of the athlete's support of that position. It means that boneheads like Sadulaev who attend a pro-war rally won't be able to compete at the Olympics, but virtually every other athlete from that country will. And so Russia will be there, at least 99% of it, just not in name. A more robust ferreting-out would require individual athletes to affirmatively disavow under oath their country's prohibited practices (e.g. in Russia's case, doping or invading Ukraine). That's still over-inclusive (as many will like), but better guards against the exception swallowing the rule. That'll never happen, due to concerns that it puts a target on those athletes' back. Some have suggested an even narrower exception, where athletes must provide affirmative evidence of resistance against the prohibited practice. I think that's a non-starter for the same reason as above. The cleanest answer is to just not allow any exceptions. I admit I'm partial to this solution. Not just for the reason you state -- how could we possibly know what's in the heart of individual athletes? -- but also because bans are toothless if almost all of that country's athletes get to go anyway. It puts no real pressure on the violating country, as the individual athletes really couldn't give a darn if they get to wear the Russian uniform or not, as long as they get to compete and try to win a medal. But if the result was full banishment, then that creates *enormous* pressure within the country, from athletes as well as their supporters and millions of fans, against the government to change their practices. You can say that's unfair to the individual athletes, but I'd say their remedy lies in defection and establishing citizenship elsewhere, preferably under rules established by the IOC (including residency in new country plus abandonment of prior citizenship) so that the privileged isn't abused (as it has been by Russia and its sister -stan countries in the past).