Ponzi

Just to review, I honestly could not tell from the video want the NC kid did. Also, was he DQed on the first offense of the match or the second (or third) offense? Can someone please explain?

Intermat has Cornell tied for third in its tournament rankings and and just 4 point behind Iowa for second. This is quite a bump. Is it for real?

Does Cael train these guys in public speaking, too? Come on guys. Speak into the mic and don't act like you need a nap.

On TV, I thought it was exciting, except the heaveyweights.

So Cornell and Columbia is looking a lot more intriguing than I thought!

Hasn't he been there a while? "Former Clarion All-American Bekzod Abdurakhmonov joined the wrestling staff as a volunteer assistant coach in December 2014."

Was Assad hurt?

People die on hills. They are not buried on hills. But in this case, we will do neither.

That you can name one guy (Cejudo) who went another way and another (Pico) who might have, does not prove or even suggest that their path is viable-- even if it is possible. Meanwhile how many Americans have won international medals after wrestling in college. I don't know the number so let's call it X. Whatever X is it's much bigger than 1 or 1.5. I guess Lee could have quit high school and moved to Dagestan. That would have been possible, but not viable and not a good idea.

"just because that is the common path does not mean it is the best path..." It pretty much does mean that. Right or wrong, it's the only viable path in this country. Maybe the powers that be could or should create a different path. But until they do, the decision to wrestle in college is the right one for anyone who aims for international success.

I am not sure that everything you say about statistical correlation is correct. But I will accept it. In any event, there certainly is a strong color statistical correlation between NCAA success and worlds senior level of success. That is almost every US wrestler (not all, there are exceptions) who won a world senior medal also won an NCAA medal.

What's the deal with all these suggestions that Lee ruined his knees (or his body or his life) by participating in NCAA wrestling. If the idea is that he will never be great as freestyle on the senior level, that remains to be seen. But as far as I can tell every U.S. freestyle medalist except one (Henry Cejudo) wrestled in college. There does not seem to be any other reliable path to excelling on in the international level.

I guess Lee is level-headed enough so it should not be a problem, but isn't the common coaching wisdom to downplay your guy's ability at least a little so he doesn't get coky or complacent?

You can, but do not better. See the answer I just posted.

Here's the answer: John Smith Baumgartner Rulon Gardner Kyle Snyder Spencer Lee (shared award) To me the big surprise is no Gable and no Cael. But Gable won his gold in the same year as Mark Spitz won seven. Cael won his gold in the year Paul Hamm became the only American man to win the all-around gold in gymnastics. I guess Cael might have-- should have?-- won in 2002 when the prize was taken by Sarah Hughes, who won Olympic gold in figure skating (2002 being an Olympic year winter Olympics). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Sullivan_Award

You only got 1!

4 of 5

Five wrestlers have won the Sullivan Award. Can you name them-- no googling!

Kerk also beat Parris at the NCAAs last year.

Oh, realllly? Now I get it. But my bet is he beats the rap.

Media outlets can do what they want-- yes. But it does not answer the question of why Intermat (which is who we are talking about, right?) put Kerk ahead of Cass. I don't think their ranking is crazy as Kerk was ahead of Cass before his loss to Parris and Kerk has not lost to Cass this year. But if I was ranking, I'd put Cass #2 as he is undefeated and has a lot more wins.

So you think he will transfer to Syracuse and revive their program. Bold prediction!

It's been very quiet on the Ferrari front. Does anyone know what happened in his criminal case? Does he want to wrestle in college again? Is he going MMA?

Love both guys. And while Lee is way more dominant, I gotta say Dake for two reasons. 1. Dake did it with no redshirts. If Lee does it, it will be with two redshirts in a sense, though neither was by choice. Lee won as a true freshman, but he did not compete in the NCAA tournament as a junior because the tournament was cancelled. Then, last year, in his 5th year of college, he took a medical redshirt. So this is his 6th year. 2. In three of his four finals, Dake beat a future NCAA champ or a former-and-future NCAA champ. Lee beat one future champ (Suriano) and another (Tomasello) along the way. I don't think you can count Dake's freestyle success post-college b/c Lee has not had that opportunity yet. Also, if he stays healthy, he might do just as well.

If that's what they mean, it's very different from what they actually say. Maybe they mean not they should shoot more, but that they should shoot more successfully. If so, it's very good advice.