ILLINIWrestlingBlog

Move wrestling to the Winter Olympics. Think BIG! We can start with a whisper campaign about this--so that Judo and Basketball don't realize we're stabbing them in the back--but if we keep it up soon we'll be marching into IOC headquarters like the Bushwhackers marching into the ring at Wrestlemania. The Olympics are always looking for favorable publicity. What you have here is a natural winter sport switching over to compete ... in the Winter. Instead of French skiers and Colorado snowboarders WHO NOBODY KNOWS OR CARES ABOUT you get the drama of 97kg in Freestyle, the Greco heavyweights and the Japanese women. This is from a report from 2022 about the Beijing Winter Olympics: The Games drew their lowest U.S. ratings ever. Reports released Monday indicate there was an average total audience of 11.4 million viewers for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. That is a sharp decline from the 19.8 million average for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. We would add an entire new world market to the Winter Olympics, and what else can they do to arrest those flagging viewership numbers? Snow Sculpture? International Snowball Fights? They are in a death spiral. They need us. We need them. Don't give up because of the hurdles, fight hard because of the opportunities!

It's indoors. It should be an option. THINK BIG!

Greco is freaking awesome! It is too tied with tradition to be left out. The high amplitude throws are the only rival to gymnastics when it comes to explosiveness. And putting both guys down in a match used to make no sense to me, but it adds to the excitement. More throws! Americans need to get more comfortable in par terre. In 2024, the Olympics are adding breaking which pisses me off. They call it "breaking," though I've always thought it was called breakdancing. Then, there's skateboarding, and you can bet they're talking about Call of Duty. We need to keep every wrestling slot--or add them. My suggestion: Move all wrestling to the Winter Olympics. It would be king!

Oh, what will Jombo™ do next?

POLL. Which is the bigger icon of Iowa Hawkeye wrestling: A. Dan Gable. B. Carver-Hawkeye Arena. C. Jombo McFeedstore™. D. Lincoln McIlravy.

The first and still the best wrestling web-comic is “The Adventures of Jombo™.” For months now, this strip has entertained dozens of people across the country. And the new issue is out! Oh, what will Jombo™ do next? Today we deal with the latest twist and turn in the Ferrari case: A continuance in his trial until October. You know what wrestlers call it when a lawyer continues a case until a later date, don’t you?

We think so. Introducing Amazing Stories! This wrestling web-comic will deal with any wrestling team that makes headlines for the wrong reasons or is sufficiently interesting for another reason. Issue #1 deals with Penn State and Professor Carl Sanderson. This post and the comic herein is a reminder that I hate all of you. It’s not just Iowa that I hate. If you’re not a fan of the ILLINI, I hate you. Just remember, though, it is a measured, professional hatred. Nothing personal. Business.

It is totally irresponsible for us to prejudge the event, but, my dude, that would be a winner. Haha!

As you can see below, a pie chart has been created to show our lofty goals for National Singlet Day -- November 1, 2023! I am in the process of contacting singlet manufacturers across the country to advise them of National Singlet Day. We expect every reader of this forum to each get 1,300 friends to sign up and wear their singlets on this occasion. There should be singlets for as far as the eye can see! Please don't forget that National Singlet Day is November 1, 2023.

I don't think you can say that the infraction is akin to jaywalking or a moving violation in one paragraph, and in the next, acknowledge that colleges have billions invested in the issue and have some incentive to protect that interest. In fact, university sports departments are starting to earn a quarter billion dollars in revenue annually. The valuation of the athletic departments and facilities at those schools must be in the tens of billions of dollars. Jaywalking or moving violations will not upset that apple cart. A point-shaving scheme might. Even the appearance of impropriety could be damaging. Now that that's off my chest, let's take a light-hearted look at sports. It just so happens that young Brands will now go down in Hawkeye history as the subject matter of a "The Adventures of Jombo" strip. (You can purchase an NFT of this strip for one million dollars (US) and own an important part of Hawkeye Wrestling History. Truly, a gift to cherish and hand down to your children).

Sure, I hate Iowa. If Iowa was drowning in a lake, I would shoot it. I also don't care for Nelson Brands because he beat Edmond Ruth in the blood round. With that bit of transparency out of the way, I would ask the posters on this board to think of the Mount Rushmore of sports scandals. On my Mount Rushmore, two of the spaces are taken up by gambling, Pete Rose and the Black Sox. Then, I would have the SMU football death penalty and the steroid era in baseball (McGwire, Sosa, Bonds). I want to squeeze in Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan because that was silly and disgusting and creepy all at the same time. Plus, we ended up getting an x-rated video out of it! The point is that I hate Iowa, and the point is that gambling and sports don't mix.

Well, that was quick and unfortunate. I'm out, D3. Thanks for being such a good play-by-play and color commentator!

Armenian the #2 seed. Go Sarge!

Easy to root for the fellow on deck on Mat C, SGT Xavier Johnson:

What if ...

And the fall is challenged, but the challenge is lost! Turkey-Yeah! into the finals, Ukraine into repechage. Win-win there. Cheers and I'm out, D3!

I'm rooting for Turkey-Yeah! here because that would bring to repechage the Ukrainian who beat Braunagel. Sancho is out with the loss by the Armenian giant. Durn.

Wow. That 67 kilo Armenian must be six-foot tall! Sancho has to hope he goes on to win in the semis. The American loses by techfall.

The Azerbaijani who beat SGT Johnson won in the next round. He only has to win one more for Johnson to be pulled back in. Unfortunately, Zac Braunagel wore out his reigning Olympic Champion opponent in their match. He lost a close one after that. Zac is out. Brent Metcalf Syndrome. Specialist Alejandro Sancho up in one on Mat D.

VARIOUS REACTIONS TO ALEJANDRO SANCHO'S LAST-SECOND COME-FROM-BEHIND WIN: CHINA'S COACH: WTF were you thinking? (but in Chinese). SERGEANT FIRST CLASS SPENSER MANGO: We had that all the way. FREESTYLE FANS: Booooring! FOLKSTYLE FANS: Sancho needs to develop a leg attack. He never ONCE touched China's leg. ESPN: We are the World Leader in SOME SPORTS. ME: I'm going to open a new wrestling camp: The ILLINI Wrestling Blog and Forum and Beyond Intensive Three-Week Interlocking Fingers Camp. SANCHO: Movin' on!

Specialist Alejandro Sancho with the last :03 takedown for the 3-0 win. That was beautifully violent! Congratulations, you are moving on. (And the fact you whupped China makes it extra sweet). GO AMERICA!!!

Salute to Sgt Xavier Johnson for putting up a huge fight against his World Bronze Azerbaijani opponent.

Sancho and Johnson won their first round matches as well! GO USA!

I didn't see Zac's second match against the current Olympic Gold Medalist and previous Olympic Silver and multiple World Championship medalist Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine because I was busy working on this: But according to Coach Medlin, it was a 1-5 loss for the Brawlnagel that probably tuckered out the Ukrainian. I hope we don't see "Brent Metcalf Syndrome," where you wear out your opponent so much they lose their next round match. Rather, hoping for repechage. Still, you gotta respect the fact that Brawny will put up his best against the best and not lay down. In his last three international matches, Zac has faced two MULTIPLE Olympic and World Medalists, and the cumulative score for both matches is 2 for the good guy and 7 for the bad guys. And he's just starting.

Zac Braunagel wins his first-round match against Turkmenistan! He was down early because his failed throw was turned into two for the Turkmen, then he was hit for passivity. Then, Zac went to work wearing out his opponent. He got pushout after pushout until he got his own passivity point, then he hit a four-point throw on the edge. His opponent challenged and lost. Final 8-3 for Zac! He's got a living legend in the next round, the multi-Olympic and World medalist from Ukraine, Zhan Beleniuk. So, he can shock the world or get some repechage action. GO ILLINI RTC!