SocraTease

Three!

Or because of "no challenge" consideration?

Iowa has a lot of transfers: Teske, Woods, Voinovich, Frank, Calienda ... Maybe Iowa isn't a "flyover state" but a "fly to and land" state now. Apparently, Pennsylvania, no longer delivers there, however.

Voinovich (although a transfer) has that classic Iowa body, look, and style. Hold position. Rarely shoot. Apply pressure.

Dresser might have messed up there.

They are starting it on ESPN2 right now

Starrocci seemed to indicate he is not going. I'm sure the huge weight cut in the season plays a big role in that decision, and that makes sense. He indicated he plans to win NCAAs, which would qualify him, and after he eviscerated Mekkhi Lewis, few would doubt his confidence. I haven't seen a list of registrants anywhere and the event is less than 3 weeks away.

Wrestlers qualified already for Olympic Trials: https://www.themat.com/news/2023/november/20/2024-u-s-olympic-team-trials-qualifiers-as-of-november-20

Who's going? Who's not? Committed wrestlers? Rumors? Van Ness and Kerk from Penn State both said they will be there. Spencer Lee and Nolf recently both qualified for Trials so I highly doubt they will go. Early Registration deadline is Dec. 1. Online registration deadline is Dec. 10. No weight allowance. The top five finishers per weight category at the 2023 Senior Nationals will earn a spot in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. (Note: An athlete must place in top five. If one of the top five is already qualified, no additional athletes beyond the top five are added). https://usawrestlingevents.com/event/2400000502/schedule

I thought DT on the mic was absolutely great. He provided technical insights and even some "insider" information (e.g., Snyder helping out Kerk). He stayed relevant and was focused on the wrestling or wrestler in question. He's articulate and he knows the sport inside and out, including both freestyle and folkstyle, the coaches, the training centers, the international scene, etc. It's easy to see why he is a great coach for high school guys and probably why he will be a successful college coach if he elects to go that route. He seems to know everyone; he's respected; and has lots of connections that any program would want. i suspect he would only want to go to one of the very top tier college programs, or perhaps try his hand with the US freestyle team.

Brands seems like a tiny man who believes in big conspiracies. Something is always hiding in the cornfield, so to speak, to blame or to provide a simplistic single-cause explanation to a complex, multi-causal situation. I would bet he listens to a lot of reactionary talk radio on his drives through the midwest. This is arguably a larger problem in the wrestling (and athletic) community: the tendency to project the one-on-one struggle on the mat onto a larger social field so that it frequently devolves into something like us vs. them, the good guys vs. the enemy, stark black and white views of complicated affairs, extreme individualism, blind loyalty, etc. Among other things, it's a form of moral and intellectual immaturity.

Icarus of Ithaca falls. Maybe once you win the World(s), the only place to go is down ...

Pete Davidson: “Ann Coulter and no black people? What are we roasting? A cross?” David Spade: “Ann hopes the Republicans can hold onto the House so she can still haunt it.” Nikki Glaser: “God, it’s white up here. It’s the only way we could get Ann Coulter, though.” Jewel: “I do want to say as a feminist that I can’t support everything that’s been said tonight. But as someone who hates Ann Coulter, I’m delighted.” Jeff Ross: “Ann is against gay marriage. What is your thinking on that? If I can’t get a husband, they can’t either?” Peyton Manning: “I’m not the only athlete up here. As you know earlier this year, Ann Coulter won the Kentucky Derby.” Pete Davidson: “Ann Coulter is here. If you are here, Ann, who is scaring the crows away from our crops?” Rob Lowe: “Ann has never had kids. She is so anti-immigration, her vagina won’t allow any more in the country.” Jimmy Carr: “Ann is one of the most repugnant, hateful, hatchet-face bitches alive. It’s not too late to change, Ann. You could kill yourself.” Nikki Glaser: “Ann, you are awful. The only person you will ever make happy is the Mexican who digs your grave.”

He's also very capable of He's also very capable of (a) undermining the well-being and chemistry of a team; (b) directing lots of unnecessary energy to his narcissistic needs; (c) besmirching the reputation of another school and program; (d) committing more crimes; (e) embarrassing the sport of wrestling; (f) losing to Aaron Brooks at 197; (g) becoming even more of a joke himself. If you will sell your own "soul" for a chance at one guy winning a title, then it suggests your sense of "dignity" is pretty low and isn't worth much.

Why would anyone want this toxic loser? He's an embarrassment for the sport and for life on earth.

Spencer as Icarus. Brands made him fly too close to the sun . . . and not close enough to the fun

Yes, with two big tears in his eyes: one for each ACL. Or one for the loss at PA state finals and one for the loss at NCAAs his final year.

Taylor has wrestled and beaten Torreblanc 4 times. The first two were close. The second two were both 8-0.

Zain looks solid. Throws a leg in after a takedown in each match and hips and rips them over for exposure or the pin.

Hall just isn't big enough for 86KG. He seems completely like a 79KG. But he is training at Penn where Borroughs has that spot. Or maybe Hall just likes to eat. Torreblanca just threw him by or down about 5 times.

Right. In an era of short attention spans and a lack of knowledge about or appreciation of history, it's important to remind some people that wrestling did not commence in 2010 or even 2000. To cite one example, that other Gable (Dan), for whom Gable Steveson was named, earned an Olympic gold medal by winning 6 matches without giving up a single point (3 pins and 3 shutouts). But, I guess, since it is not on Twitter or Tik Tok, it doesn't count. Or John Smith: his career included four World gold medals, and two Olympic gold medals. At the Senior level, his international freestyle wrestling record was 100-5. He is the only American wrestler to ever win six consecutive World or Olympic championships as a competitor.

You've goat to be kidding me! Christian Pyles (on FLO) just argued that Gable Steveson might be (is) the GOAT. Here's the video if you can access it: https://www.flowrestling.org/events/10749208-2023-final-x-newark/videos?playing=10940686&limit=60 But the claim is dead wrong. And the elevation of Steveson to the pantheon of the greatest American wrestlers is premature at best. And, more likely, just irresponsible. However dominant he presently is in the US at 125K (or 285 pounds), he has just two NCAA titles (compare that with others) and two losses to Anthony Cassar. He wrestled less than 70 matches in his NCAA career. And while great on his feet, he is average (at best) in the top position. He's not a pinner. He has only wrestled 40-some matches in senior level freestyle and has lost 6 of them, including defeats to Gwiz (twice), Coon, Bradley, and Nelson. While he is an Olympic champion (and did that in dramatic style), he has no other Senior level world championships and not even much of an international career. Roughly 3/4's of his senior level matches have been in the US. He hasn't wrestled guys like Zare (Iran), Petriashvilli, or Akgul (Turkey) on a regular basis and beaten them more than once. (He hasn't wrestled Zare at all.) Further, his Olympic win was literally a last second victory that might never have happened if the referee wouldn't have put both wrestlers quickly back on their feet. In other words, this conversation would not be happening if it weren't for a relative contingency. Don't get me wrong: I'm not disparaging G.S. He is a great, talented and athletic wrestler who is dominant at his weight in the US and one of the top guys in the world. But Pyles should not be forcing comparison to him with John Smith, Borroughs, Dake, Taylor, and so many others who have shown an ability to stay at the top for a very, very long time and win both National and (many!) International championships. I submit Pyles is not just trying to be provocative (though he is) but that he is guilty of recency bias and dead wrong as well. As Aristotle pointed out wisely (and roughly 2500 years ago), "One swallow [bird] does not a summer make" ... nor, we can add, does one Olympic title a GOAT make. If Steveson stays on the mat another 5 years or so, we can revisit this claim. Pyles needs someone from UWW or even WWE (Gable himself?) to throw him down on the mat (against the ropes) and shake some sense into him. .

Valencia can wrestle for Mexico but not this year. There is a window and waiting time for transferring to another country. Seems there is a de facto "transfer portal" now for freestyle (international) not just folk (domestic). In the future, guys might be able to wrestle for Mars or Venus or Jupiter.

Two Cows Explain Economics Better Than Any Class: https://www.boredpanda.com/corporation-economies-explained-cows-ecownomics/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

For some reason, this conversation and the banter about political theory makes me imagine we are living in a repressive Eastern European country, where one can't talk about ideas and issues directly for fear of being arrested, Kafka-esque style ... and so jokes become a way of communicating in the workplace and elsewhere. See, for example, a novel by Milan Kundera called "The Joke". Aside: Marx (who is still immensely relevant in my view) once reputedly said in frustration to his nephew, "I am not a Marxist". Construe that as you will. The other thing it reminds me of is cows: WORLD IDEOLOGIES EXPLAINED BY REFERENCE TO COWS FEUDALISM You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk. SOCIALISM You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you a glass of milk. FASCISM You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk. PURE COMMUNISM You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your neighbors bicker about who has the most "ability" and who has the most "need". Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk, and the cows drop dead of starvation. RUSSIAN COMMUNISM You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market. PERESTROIKA You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the Mafia takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the "free" market. CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you. DICTATORSHIP You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you. PURE DEMOCRACY You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk. REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk. BUREAUCRACY You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows. CAPITALISM You don't have any cows. The bank will not lend you money to buy cows, because you don't have any cows to put up as collateral. PURE ANARCHY You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you. ANARCHO-CAPITALISM You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. SURREALISM You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons. OLYMPICS-ISM You have two cows, one American, one Chinese. With the help of trilling violins and state of the art montage photography, John Tesh narrates the moving tale of how the American cow overcame the agony of growing up in a suburb with (gasp) divorced parents, then mentions in passing that the Chinese cow was beaten every day by a tyrannical farmer and watched its parents butchered before its eyes. The American cow wins the competition, severely spraining an udder in a gritty performance, and gets a multi-million dollar contract to endorse Wheaties. The Chinese cow is led out of the arena and shot by Chinese government officials, though no one ever hears about it. McDonald's buys the meat and serves it hot and fast at its Beijing restaurant. AMERICAN CORPORATE CAPITALISM Both cows are bloated with toxic steroids. They are set out to graze on privatized public parks, release massive amounts of flatulence that destroys the ozone layer, die from excess ultraviolet light, and are processed into meat-like products that look great as a result of clever and unprincipled marketing strategies. When you mortgage your artificially devalued farm at high interest rates in order to buy meat, you consume the poisoned material and develop terminal illnesses because there is no health care plan to treat you. The corporate management uses your purchase price to acquire THEIR meat from cows raised "naturally" on tree-free rain forest land outside of the country where labor and resources are cheap. BRITISH REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY Both cows are mad