Eagle26

I think Cox will go back down to 86. He wants to be an Olympic champ, and if he can avoid a guy like Sadulaev, it just makes sense. That said I am actually starting to believe he would win OTT at either weight.

Yeah U23 just seems pointless to me. A lot of guys are in their prime at 23 and think of how many senior champs there have been younger than that. I don’t think they should do anything past U18 or maybe U20. If they do, just make it second string for all ages. Why exclude someone like Ringer who’s not much older and is only not on the world team because of ridiculously good people at his weight

The OP was definitely a troll post, but the question actually does have some merit now that Zain is hurt. At what percentage does Zain need to be for the right thing to do is to give the spot to Yianni? If they are both 100%, they are pretty even, but if Zain is anything less than 100%, Yianni certainly gives the US the best chance at a medal. However if I were Zain, I would want to wrestle worlds even if I was like 50-60%. Who gets to make that call (assuming Zain is the official rep)

I’m pretty sure Rob Koll is upset

That’s right. I figured there was a rule change I forgot about

It doesn’t matter how ugly Dakes wins look. He finds a way to win. That’s why everyone always doubted him against DT but he proved them wrong. I expect he’ll do the same against Ringer and at Worlds

Should the goal be to have the least amount of bull possible or should it be to get the best team possible? I would have hated to see Burroughs eliminated that year and it would have taken away a world championship from him and our country. I agree we want to eliminate taking advantage of the system, but my point is if you have hard set rules and dates there are cases where you will eliminate the best team member. Injuries are not as rare as you think and many cases they are completely legitimate.

Interesting stuff. Sounds like Smith really got screwed after all the legal stuff, but it looked like Lewis deserved to win the second match so it should have ended there. I’m not sure how they originally scored it 8-7 though. It was 5-4. Then it looked like 2 Lewis, 2 Lewis, and 1 Smith. Then two more takedowns for Smith. Wouldn’t that be 9-7, or did I miss something? I can see how the second exposure is questionable but it looked like Lewis initiated to me

Good question... I think it’s the original but I think he is just running out of funny

Do you all remember the year Burroughs won a world title after breaking his ankle? That wouldn’t have happened if we had Final X a month out and had no other options.

I agree it seems like Nolf and Bo both gave up a good shot at a world team and possibly a medal by choosing to go up in weight instead of what seemed like a manageable cut. Nolf’s actually seems a little less crazy to me because it is feasible that 154 was really tough for him. I thought he looked big at 157. Plus 74 is the Olympic weight so some use the argument that he is getting acclimated to it (personally I don’t really buy that). However, Bo not going to 86 after Taylor is hurt just seems crazy to me.

I’m a big Dake fan, and I would actually be ok with him trying to get the wrestle off as late as possible and even entering a tournament before the wrestle off. He needs to do what’s best for himself, but i think the morality of it depends on the way he did it. If he really came at them with dr. notes and lawyers and said he can’t wrestle before 8/17, and then after he got that date said he is going to wrestle before that anyway, that is pretty bad. If that’s true, I will lose some respect for him

Gilman/Fix call not getting overturned because they were embarrassed by the last one

That’s the first I heard this. 143 sounds like it’s still within striking distance of 133... certainly a long ways off from being big enough for 149. Plus, who would replace him at 33? That could really hurt Penn States chance at a title so I can’t see them doing that

Wow this is getting very petty. Hammerlock is just saying there is reason to doubt that Lee is elite in his mental toughness. There are reasons to believe Lee is very tough (like wrestling through his injuries at times), but there are some reasons to doubt it too. We really don’t know. Fix was basically in fist fights with Gilman and won, so he proved he is tough. If Lee is healthy enough to be much improved for NCAAs then why couldn’t he wrestle freestyle this year? Maybe Lee really is injured very badly and he is super tough, but it just seems so questionable that he can wrestle so well at NCAAs and then not wrestle at after that.