Ched64

To be honest I didnt even think of it possibly being an asset actually. I actually felt ripped off that they were tipping their hand before I had a chance to see it happen but you bring up a very good point. Thanks again.

I do agree with you there…I think the reason it bothered me more this past weekend is that when Flo has the broadcast and floarena has the brackets they have upcoming matches. I didnt see similar for Track so i was using the thing at the bottom to let me know when guys I really root for are coming up. I never find the bout board particularly helpful…but thanks for the suggestion

Two things: 1-I drastically misused the word “all”…plenty of room for improvement on other issues for sure but I do appreciate the volume of events 2-Sorry if someone else mentioned the time lag earlier in the thread. Just wanted to get it out there.

I appreciate all that flo does on a macro level as they let me watch wrestling from all over the world for a very reasonable price. those guys are traveling all over the place and my guess is that the accommodations are not top shelf. That said, what i find truly annoying is the fact that the matches in progress where you go to change mats are 30-40 seconds ahead of the match on the big screen. you invariably see score changes that have yet to occur before moving back up to see them “live” on the big screen. I am not a tech guy so dont have any suggestions but it really is bothersome.

This is literally one of the funniest lines I have read on the forums, here or the Mat. Kudos to you sir! Maybe I should get out more but I am still chuckling as I type.

I getcha and I shouldn’t have made my “glass of wine” comment so lazily. The thing I love most about traveling are the people I meet along the way. Thanks for responding.

I agree but it won’t be as easy as last year weight wise. He is gonna have to stay real close to 133 all the time or that cut for OTT will be self defeating. I am confident that his team has that mapped out though.

If you are saying I don’t know anyone who made world teams you are dead wrong. I also am extremely generous with my own coin in working with local wrestling clubs to bring D1 events to our area and more importantly in making sure they have scholarship money to send talented kids to tournaments and camps that their families couldn’t otherwise afford. Not saying you were barking up that tree but if so… I watch all of these events and if I see areas for improvement I comment on it. I don’t have time to spend 19 pages discussing Ban Basketball but I do care deeply about the structure of the sport and improving it. It is crucial that young people get a return on their time spent honing their craft and something seems inefficient to me in how this business is being run. And as an aside to Jason Bryant….just because other people dont bring it up doesnt mean no one can…or should.

Expand on that…not sure what you are saying.

I have read the forums for years…I actually enjoy his interplay on many occasions. i don’t comment often but when I do it is generally on improving the sport and the business of the sport. It needs all the help it can get. My biggest complaint is olympic vs non olympic weights (or tweener guys). in my opinion, they should all be tweener guys either moving up or down for a completely different set of weights for the olympics. It ruins the NO’s for what constitutes 75% of the years. But the kids I see at these tournaments don’t always have the dough to get to the big tournaments let alone travel overseas…and thats just in the US…think about the reps from africa or south america. 1 and done just seems like a tough outcome. Let me state clearly I am not a give a ribbon guy by any means…I have coached wrestling for years but it seems like a squandered opportunity to bring all these kids together for one real match. Remember, this was a thread on repechage and its shortcomings. on top of that all the first round losers except 2 go home with just one match under their belt. These are still kids growing and learning. You will notice I never mentioned Seniors. I have coached at NHSCA’s multiple times. There are something like 80 Mats and everyone gets two matches minimum. Are you telling me UWW couldn’t do a better job of this? It demeans the achievement of the kids who qualified from their respective countries in my opinion and has a negative effect on bringing outsiders in to the sport. Lastly, I think one of the greatest achievements in the NCAAs is a guy losing in the first or second round and coming back and landing on the podium. Winning in repechage doesnt compare.

Great Hattie Mcdaniel clip though…I believe she won the Oscar for that…over 80 years ago

I am sure it was a great experience but not sure why you are going so harsh…I do know multiple guys who have wrestled on world teams…my only point is that you have a bunch of kids overseas and nearly half of them leave at 0-1. Not sure where the aggression comes from but my only point was why not have them wrestle the other kids who are there and give them a feel for different techniques. And you said to stay in my lane thus closing any discussion of the topic in your mind. I am glad you had a good experience…did you go 0-1? Not sure what got your back up by my completely benign suggestion.

If you asked AOC, she would say he was just distracted because he wanted to date her.

Sorry NHS…didn’t realize this was forum for only former world team members…gotcha…but sending a bunch of fifteen year olds across the globe to have nearly half of them go 0-1 seems like a missed opportunity for the growth of the sport in my unwanted opinion.

This! I can’t believe we get u17, u20 and u23 kids to fund raise in their hometown so that family members can travel to Boku or some other joint to see their kid wrestle six minutes and go home. At the very least there should be separate exhibitions in which these youngsters get to wrestle two or three other international kids before being summarily dismissed from their lifelong dream. I can’t believe someone, anyone couldn’t come up with a better way of making the most of this possibly once in a lifetime opportunity for these kids. It is like telling someone that they won a trip to Paris, giving them a glass of wine at de Gaulle and then sending them back to JFK! What an absolute waste of an opportunity to train tomorrow’s World Team members.

Yes but he didn’t have to shed an additional 9 lbs to do so. 57k is approx 125 lbs…61k is 134…these guys are small…9 lbs is a 7% drop which for a world class athlete is huge. It takes a toll in every way.

Yes it is

I am just curious how it would even work. Wrestling 133 all year before dropping to 57 for the Trials would be a real achievement. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Vito is wrestling at his very best after moving up in weight. He looks far healthier and stronger and mentally, he is laser focused and clear eyed. This is yet another example of the unfairness of Olympic vs Non-Olympic weights. He has to drop 10 lbs to compete while true 57s stay where they are. Would it ruin the sport to move the weight class to 59k? It would make 61k deeper while giving the 57s some relief.

I really don’t understand all the kvetching about the Olympics. First off, the Olympics has fallen precipitously since its peak in the 70s. Second, I have never met anyone, not one person, who has become a fan of wrestling from watching the tiny exposure given the sport in that venue. Third, as i have written many times before, building wrestling as a business by kowtowing to the IOC is beyond dumb. Adhering to their 6 weight diktat and making those weights the same as six of the weights in non-Olympic years screws up the natural weight structure of its participants and relegates the other 4 weights to asterick status 3 out of 4 years. UWW should tell the IOC to shove it and focus their energies on building the sport on its own or at the very least change the Oly weights to levels between the WC weights so all participants would need to move up or down for the OTTs.

I have watched Yianni for many years now as I am from upstate NY. He simply was not the same wrestler this year. I can’t put my finger on what made me realize it but he seems to have lost the joy that propelled him throughout his youth. Maybe he is burnt or has other stuff going on in his life but he looks like he is just going through the motions. After the gomez loss, i said to a friend that he seemed listless and that continued through the entire season. Was glad to see him buck up at the end but he could have lost at any point in the tourney and i wouldnt have been surprised. Not sure what to say but he needs some time off to find that extra something to get him back on track.

Ever since the Olympics decreased the number of weight classes down to six for freestyle, I have pointed out the insanity of having Olympic weights that coincide with weights that are wrestled the other 3 years. It is awful for the sport as it makes the World Championships in non-Olympic years an also ran in too many weight classes and screws up the division of talent weakening the product as a whole. If your were to put the Olympic weights between the weight classes that exist 3/4 of the time, the distribution of talent in non-Olympic years would be far more equitable. It would also be fairer to the competitors as every one of them would have to move up or down to make the Olympic weights unlike currently where some are forced to gain or lose 12-15 lbs in order to vie for the spot. Lastly, it would be far more representative of the bell curve of human males. The 10 weight classes in non-Olympic years far better represent that curve. Thinking it is good business to keep certain weights intact while delegitimizing 40% of your product line 75% of the time is just plain dumb.

Ever since the Olympics decreased the number of weight classes down to six for freestyle, I have pointed out the insanity of having Olympic weights that coincide with weights that are wrestled the other 3 years. It is awful for the sport as it makes the World Championships in non-Olympic years an also ran in too many weight classes and screws up the division of talent weakening the product as a whole. If your were to put the Olympic weights between the weight classes that exist 3/4 of the time, the distribution of talent in non-Olympic years would be far more equitable. It would also be fairer to the competitors as every one of them would have to move up or down to make the Olympic weights unlike currently where some are forced to gain or lose 12-15 lbs in order to vie for the spot. Lastly, it would be far more representative of the bell curve of human males. The 10 weight classes in non-Olympic years far better represent that curve. Thinking it is good business to keep certain weights intact while delegitimizing 40% of your product line 75% of the time is just plain dumb.

Ever since the Olympics decreased the number of weight classes down to six for freestyle, I have pointed out the insanity of having Olympic weights that coincide with weights that are wrestled the other 3 years. It is awful for the sport as it makes the World Championships in non-Olympic years an also ran in too many weight classes and screws up the division of talent weakening the product as a whole. If your were to put the Olympic weights between the weight classes that exist 3/4 of the time, the distribution of talent in non-Olympic years would be far more equitable. It would also be fairer to the competitors as every one of them would have to move up or down to make the Olympic weights unlike currently where some are forced to gain or lose 12-15 lbs in order to vie for the spot. Lastly, it would be far more representative of the bell curve of human males. The 10 weight classes in non-Olympic years far better represent that curve. Thinking it is good business to keep certain weights intact while delegitimizing 40% of your product line 75% of the time is just plain dumb.

On a happy Greco front, last year a kid named Mikey Altomer from upstate NY lost in the 2 of 3 of U17 to miss making the Cadet World Team. Last month, he won the U20 Open at 82k to again make the 2 of 3. So today all he had to do was hang around all day and wrestle for the berth at 4 pm. That isn’t how he rolls however. Instead, he entered the U23 tournament being run in the morning. Not only that, but he entered it at 87k. Remember, he had to make 82k this am so he was potentially giving up 10+ lbs. He cruised through the morning session without giving up a point to make that 2 of 3. If the afternoon, he went 4-0 and made two world teams within 30 minutes of each other! Great day for him and his family!