Giving PDIII props

[Housebuye 1,748]

1 hour ago, gromit said:

I'm from MD and have followed the ups and downs of Pat's tumultuous career, going all the way back to his freshman year at Mt. St. Joseph HS, and have to say it is most gratifying to see this latest, seemingly more adult/mature version of PDIII.  He may have his detractors, but IMO, he's a great example of what you can accomplish in this sport thru true grit, determination, and perseverance. Good luck to him in his quest to make it to the top thru 2020.

MD is the weirdest state for wrestling. You guys are mediocre at best most years and then you produce Kyle Snyder, Helen Maroulis, Downey and a handful of other super talents. 

[IronChef 565]

Downey wrestled a great tournament for sure, and I can leave it at that. He's not a redemption story or an example of great perseverance. As I've said before, if you dig a hole and jump in, you don't get praise for climbing out.

This is a bad tweet. He hasn't "been through a lot." He's made a lot of bad choices.

 

[jackwebster 41]

1 minute ago, Housebuye said:

MD is the weirdest state for wrestling. You guys are mediocre at best most years and then you produce Kyle Snyder, Helen Maroulis, Downey and a handful of other super talents. 

Is it any more likely that a freak like Snyder would come out of PA, NJ, or Ohio? He is an anomaly, like Mickey Mantle (Commerce, OK), Jerry West (some holler in  WV), Vince Gilligan (Farmville, VA), Srinivasa Ramanujan (Madras Province), WS (Stratford), etc.

[Housebuye 1,748]

59 minutes ago, jackwebster said:

Is it any more likely that a freak like Snyder would come out of PA, NJ, or Ohio? He is an anomaly, like Mickey Mantle (Commerce, OK), Jerry West (some holler in  WV), Vince Gilligan (Farmville, VA), Srinivasa Ramanujan (Madras Province), WS (Stratford), etc.

But there are others. Helen Maroulis is just as much of a freak. 

[jackwebster 41]

11 minutes ago, Housebuye said:

But there are others. Helen Maroulis is just as much of a freak. 

Yup. I would argue that it's just coincidence that these freaks (and Michael Phelps) were born in MD. I don't think that their success can be traced back to Kolat's involvement in the state, for example.

[Alwayswrestling 144]

A friend and I talked to Downey for about 15 minutes in the hall after his finals win.  I was not sure what to expect bet he was very excited and humble with his USA Championship.

[madcat11 309]

On 4/29/2019 at 1:41 PM, Housebuye said:

MD is the weirdest state for wrestling. You guys are mediocre at best most years and then you produce Kyle Snyder, Helen Maroulis, Downey and a handful of other super talents. 

MyMar

[Mphillips 189]

 

.

Edited May 1 by Mphillips
Wrong thread.

[hbluejr 11]

On 4/29/2019 at 3:19 PM, jackwebster said:

Yup. I would argue that it's just coincidence that these freaks (and Michael Phelps) were born in MD. I don't think that their success can be traced back to Kolat's involvement in the state, for example.

It's certainly true that anomalies can be found anywhere, but the state of Maryland, while not large (#19 in terms of population), does in fact do an exceptional job of producing highly capitalized and elite talent across many sports.

Per NCAA data, Maryland ranks very highly in % of participants/sport recruited at the D1 Level in nearly all sports. For instance: Boys' Basketball (#1), Girls' Basketball (#1), Boys' Soccer (#1), Girl's Track and Field (#1), Boys' Lacrosse (#1), Girls' Lacrosse (#1), Boys' Track and Field (#2), Girls' Soccer (#4), Wrestling (#4), Football (#5), Baseball (#8), etc. 

In the 2016 Rio Olympics I believe 10 different athletes who played high school athletics in Maryland won Gold Medals across 7 different sports.  I believe this ranked 2nd overall behind California and 1st in per capita.  In terms of recent wrestling success oddities, as has been noted, in 2017 four former/current Maryland high school wrestlers won age level World Golds (Snyder, Maroulis, Brooks, McHenry).  

These results across various sports may be due to Maryland being the state with the #1 per capita income in the U.S. (likely due it's privileged greogrphic proximity to the nation's capital), which has resulted in well funded public high schools, many dozens of private schools, many well funded youth sports options, and parents with the means to pay for supplemental athletic training, all located within a very small geographic area that fosters a lot of competitive opportunities and knowledge transfer.

Maryland certainly isn't notorious for wrestling and it's not particularly popular in-state (#24 nationally in terms of total high school participation #'s), but like other sports it does punch a bit above it's weight.  When elite talent does come around, athletes in Maryland may be more likely to be afforded the resources and opportunities needed to capitalize on their potential across a variety of sports.  There certainly are some Phelps and Snyder equivalents out there who just weren't born in to the right situations to succeed athletically.

Edited May 1 by hbluejr

[jackwebster 41]

"There certainly are some Phelps and Snyder equivalents out there who just weren't born in to the right situations to succeed athletically."

Thanks for all the data. I think there might be "freak-o-nomics" explanations for some of it. For example, there's probably a direct correlation between per-capita income, private schools and DI Lax players. Probably also a connection between per capita income, private schools, and college wrestling participation (one wonders which DI schools these kids are going to... probably, private?). The magnet nature of private schools and proximity of NJ, PA, VA, etc might also skew the numbers, eg is McHenry from MD? Is Martin from MD? 

In any event, it looks like I was wrong: there is something in the water. However, I still think that you can't predict where generational/ transcendent talents like Snyder and Phelps will come from. Why hasn't there been a Snyder from the Lehigh Valley? 

 

Edited May 1 by jackwebster

[Blue Dragons 29]

On 4/29/2019 at 1:45 PM, IronChef said:

Downey wrestled a great tournament for sure, and I can leave it at that. He's not a redemption story or an example of great perseverance. As I've said before, if you dig a hole and jump in, you don't get praise for climbing out.

This is a bad tweet. He hasn't "been through a lot." He's made a lot of bad choices.

 

Charges do not equal convictions. As a teenage senior in high school, this kid was maliciously charged with 18 counts and not allowed to finish out his senior year as a varsity quarterback, nor was he allowed to wrestle (which probably cost him his ticket to Penn State), and all of those charges were subsequently dropped.  Follow the facts and don't pretend to know everyone's situation. 

[AHamilton 104]

On 4/30/2019 at 4:17 PM, madcat11 said:

MyMar

I thought he lived in NJ and went to school in MD?  What is the story behind that?

[Jaroslav Hasek 1,727]

1 hour ago, AHamilton said:

I thought he lived in NJ and went to school in MD?  What is the story behind that?

Myles Martin's story gets a little complicated but I'll try to sum it up the best I can: He lived in NJ and went to high school in Maryland. 

[AHamilton 104]

I thought it was something of that nature.  MD is great, beautiful state... but I think I have to give NJ credit for MyMar