The Big Ten announced that it would be returning to the football field with games scheduled to begin in late October. The move, advocated for by several prominent alumni and focused on creating income for the school's at-risk athletic department budgets, will put more than 1200 student athletes into a travel and competition schedule.
As we know, college athletes are unpaid for their work. We also know that COVID is a highly transmittable disease that has killed 200,000 in only six months. There are also known, and unknown, long-term consequences resulting from the disease. As I'm apt to share online, I still suffer from parasomnia, an ailment in which leads my brain to misinterpret smells and make me believe I'm smelling rotten eggs. Minor, but hyper annoying.
The short term economic benefit of the unpaid labor force taking on the risk of death in order to compete in a football contest will make the Big Ten and other conferences vulnerable to lawsuits, and eventually a system that will require the players to have greater agency in their health and career choices. The current system, which limits the complaints of players to their internal "NCAA-approved" communication channels doesn't provide players with enough voice in their health.
Add in that a large majority of NCAA football and basketball players (especially starters) are Black and you can readily see that their voices aren't being heard because they are hardly considered by a largely white, and wealthy, governance structure.
The return of the players is however good for the nation's NCAA wrestlers. While ODU and Stanford have dropped, the income from football -- even if at 50% pre-COVID expectations -- will help preserve many programs. That preservation won't come without a cost to the wrestlers, too.
Should there be events, they will be held in 2021. The window for competition will be limited to something like 8-10 weeks and will be regional-only dual meets. Tournaments, like the ones being held in Pennsylvania, are simply not healthy for the wrestlers or fans. Finally, the NCAA tournament will be held the same time and likely without fans.
That's best case. The other option might be something more extreme than we are seeing in football, where some schools compete, and others sit out. And if there are enough schools that sit out, we could be looking at another lost season. Devastating as that might be, it could preserve the future of many wrestling programs who would see significant cost savings through a year of competition hibernation.
For now, the benefit of football players taking the field is evident, and real, for wrestling programs around the country. However, after only one week of the current season we still don't know what the spread will be, or if there will be any additional stoppages to conference schedules. Should those occur it will alter the landscape once more.
To your questions …
Q: Predictions on the NLWC event? What do you think will be the most exciting match?
-- Mike C.
Foley:
Malik Amine (CKWC) df. Rick Durso (F&M) via FALL
Nick Nevills (NLWC) df. Jordan Wood (LVWC) via TF
Jennifer Page (NLWC) df. Desiree Zavala (Team Takedown), 6-0
Dom Abounader (CKWC) df. Jaime Espinal (NLWC), 7-4
Zain Retherford (NLWC) df. Alec Pantaleo (CKWC), 3-2
Jason Nolf (NLWC) df. David McFadden (Penn RTC), 5-4
Vincenzo Joseph (NLWC) df. Dan Vallimont (PRTC), 11-5
Greg Kerkvliet (NLWC) df. Youssif Hemida (CKWC), 3-3
Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (NLWC) df. Logan Massa (CKWC), 9-1
Jane Valencia (NLWC) df. Julia Salata (Kings), 5-4
Thomas Gilman (NLWC) df. Darian Cruz (LVWC), 7-2
Kyle Snyder (NLWC) df. Mike Macchiavello (Wolfpack WC), 8-3
Alex Dieringer (CKWC) df. Bo Nickal (NLWC), 5-4
Tough to turn away from the action when it comes to this card. The NLWC-based card will be the first on Rokfin, a new cyber coin-based payout system that is supported by $9.99 USD subscriptions -- it'll be interesting to see the quality of the presentation.
Outside of the NLWC guys, which will attract a great online audience and feed the need to see our recent graduates and top competitors back on the mat I'm most excited to see the growth of our national team members. The last Flo card showed that David Taylor was back in tip-top shape and I think we will get time to analyze several of our Olympic hopefuls on this card all the same.
Weirdly, I'm most excited to see Thomas Gilman and what adjustments he's made since coming to State College. Darian Cruz has a great game to challenge Gilman and push his style adaptations in a real competition. The main goal for him ins 202-2021 is to get on the Olympic team and to do that he has a Murderers Row of familiar faces to look forward to. His approach to this match and specifically if he's created new offensive attacks, will give us insight into how he will matchup up with Spencer Lee, Jack Mueller, Daton Fix, and more in 2021.
Jane Valencia was the first women's wrestler from Mexico to qualify for wrestling at the Olympic Games. She's not widely known by fans, but she is a tough-as-nails competitor who is strong, agile, and scores in bunches. Her husband Jaime Espinal was part of the reason she moved to the NLWC and her development has been incredible. Julia Salata brings a solid game to the match. It'll be a match that gives Salata an updated measurement on her standing in the world and provides Valencia the top-level competition she needs in 2021.
The Dieringer and Nickal match is an unknown to me. I have no idea what's going to happen once the whistle blows. Nickal is often of two minds; he spends a lot of time attacking when he feels confident in his upper body leverage but will also sit back and absorb attacks in order to rely on his score-heavy defense. Which Nickal will we see? And will Dieringer's typically shoot-first approach be stifled by fear of a Nickal scramble, or does he have a game plan on how to finish quickly? Very interested in how they compete against each other and if either is impressive enough to substantiate a serious challenge at 86 kilograms or 97 kilograms.
MULTIMEDIA HALFTIME
Cool interview with King Vlad
Reupping this cool Behind the Scenes
Q: Any thoughts on the recruiting dead period being extended until January 1? No campus visits, no off-campus visits and no face-to-face contact.
-- Mike C.
Foley: Makes total and complete sense given the pandemic. We shouldn't be encouraging the coaches to zig zag the country, or worse still feel like they are compelled to travel in order to keep up with other coaches who might be more willing to take the risk. The rules are in place to keep everyone on a level playing field and I think this rule helps accomplish that goal.
Q: Michael Chandler signed with the UFC. How do you think he will do? Do you think he has the potential to challenge Khabib?
-- Mike C.
Foley: I think of Mike Chandler as one of the most sincere and hard-working fighters in the world. Making the UFC and earning a chance to climb that rungs of the organization was no doubt a career goal for him and one that we should all be happy he's achieved.
Right now I don't think he can hang with Khabib, but let's wait to see what happens with him and Dustin Poirier, who is a former champion and someone we know will give Chandler a proper welcome to the UFC.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now