Crow

[wrestlingnerd 2,779]

I eat crow today because:

Cox ... did not think he’d be the type to arbitrate a personal mistake. Still love him but not a good look and if the theory that KJ is taking the fall for him is true (I don’t believe it), I’ve lost all respect. 

Zain ... has he regressed? I was confident he’d take the whole thing. I was rooting fir JO but couldn’t see him stringing together an entire tournament and best of 3, although I knew he’d beat McKenna 100 times in a row if he had to. 

JB ... I lost a big bet that it’d go 3 matches  i got even odds which I thought was insane  I’m very happy for Dake, who I feel gets shortchanged a lot because he was born a couple years too early, though.

Nickal ... didn’t think he’d make it to the finals so I also lost pretty big there  Is it possible that he switches RTCs or is he done now? I hope it’s not the latter. He’s the guy who would most benefit from a change of scenery in my opinion  

Where art thou...

@Plasmodium

@spladle08

You guys are the kiss of death for JB and other Dake opponents. The more trash you talk on their behalf, the worse JB does.

PD2? Will you pay your debts?

Anyone else?

Edited April 4 by wrestlingnerd

[AHamilton 673]

3 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

I eat crow today because:

Cox ... did not think he’d be the type to arbitrate a personal mistake. Still love him but not a good look and if the theory that KJ is taking the fall for him is true (I don’t believe it), I’ve lost all respect. 

Zain ... has he regressed? I was confident he’d take the whole thing. I was rooting fir JO but couldn’t see him stringing together an entire tournament and best of 3, although I knew he’d beat McKenna 100 times in a row if he had to. 

JB ... I lost a big bet that it’d go 3 matches  i got even odds which I thought was insane  I’m very happy for Dake, who I feel gets shortchanged a lot because he was being a couple years too early, though.

Nickal ... didn’t think he’d make it to the finals so I also lost pretty big there  Is it possible that he switches RTCs or is he done now? I hope it’s not the latter. He’s the guy who would most benefit from a change of scenery in my opinion  

Where art thou...

@Plasmodium

@spladle08

You guys are the kiss of death for JB and other Dake opponents. The more trash you talk on their behalf, the worse JB does.

PD2? Will you pay your debts?

Anyone else?

Cox was all smiles in the interview they showed last night.  I think he was even smiling while throwing KJ under the bus, and referring to him as a "USA Wrestling employee" that told him the incorrect weigh-in time.

[wrestlingnerd 2,779]

1 minute ago, AHamilton said:

Cox was all smiles in the interview they showed last night.  I think he was even smiling while throwing KJ under the bus, and referring to him as a "USA Wrestling employee" that told him the incorrect weigh-in time.

I saw it. Hence he’s at the top of my crow list. Still holding out hope for an explanation that registers with me though. Perhaps foolishly. 

Edited April 4 by wrestlingnerd

[Le duke 139]

I’m guessing some people are eating crow about Nick Lee.


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[AHamilton 673]

1 minute ago, Le duke said:

I’m guessing some people are eating crow about Nick Lee.


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Was fantastic.

[MadMardigain 1,362]

Don’t eat too much, or you maybe over. .  Someone ask JAckson when they expect us at weigh-ins again?

[AnklePicker 553]

Zain definitely regressed. He seems to be the type that needs the college grind to get him in that freak shape where he can just put a pace on dudes that they can’t maintain. That was his advantage, without that he’s still near the top but not the tippy top. 

[2td3nf 547]

I'll eat some crow on Thomas Gilman.

I had Spencer #1 and Vito #2 thinking they could score more points than the rest of the field. Spencer injured, and although Vito looked great against Fix, he couldn't keep up with Gilman's firepower. Thought Gilman was tough as nails in last night's best of 3.

I'm turning into a big Gilman fan now. He qualified 57kg in a clutch match against a very tough Cuban, loved his story on his Dagestan adventure, and imo he's really coming across as a likeable guy on the mat and in his interviews. Would love to see him wrestle Takahashi again (if Takahashi represents Japan) and of course would love to see him against Uguev as well. 57kg at Olympics should be a grinder but I'm expecting Thomas to do well in Tokyo.

Congrats Thomas!  

[GoNotQuietly 1,014]

I am eating crow on:

Saying Gable Stevenson definitely couldn't challenge Akgul and Geno yet. Seeing him just absolutely toy with a former medalist was stunning. He might not win gold, but the Titans of 125kg have not seen anything like him before.

Saying Carr might be able to mess with Nolf, although I did know that was crazy talk, I underestimated how much Nolf must have been injured for some of his previous performances. Makes Dake abusing him even more impressive which leads me to....

Underestimating Dake. I picked him to win going back a year or two, and predicted the Geduev strategy he would use, but I genuinely thought it would be close and three matches, and it really was not at all close.

Underestimating Gilman. When I watch other 57kg guys like Fix and Arujau, I feel like his skills really aren't up to theirs but I consistently overlook how much he is able to maintain strict gameplan discipline and just overwhelm younger guys with a violent and aggressive style (not dirty just tough). 

[wrestlingnerd 2,779]

32 minutes ago, GoNotQuietly said:

Underestimating Dake. I picked him to win going back a year or two, and predicted the Geduev strategy he would use, but I genuinely thought it would be close and three matches, and it really was not at all close.

Underestimating Gilman. When I watch other 57kg guys like Fix and Arujau, I feel like his skills really aren't up to theirs but I consistently overlook how much he is able to maintain strict gameplan discipline and just overwhelm younger guys with a violent and aggressive style (not dirty just tough). 

Excellent comments as usual, but I disagree on the Geduev strategy. Dake said in an interview recently that he wanted to evolve his style to combine that of three guys: Sadulaev, Muskaev (I was surprised by this one), and Cox. When pressed for why Cox, he said he wanted to keep that to himself. Now we see what he meant. The purposefulness and fluidity of Dake's footwork was reminiscent of Cox and he completely confused JB. Did JB ever control the wrestling? I felt like Dake imposed his style on JB for the first time ever and JB didn't know how to adjust. All the openings JB was used to getting on Dake were closed, and whenever Dake gave put himself in a risky position, he immediately pounced into a more advantageous position by jamming JB's head down (with his ass, no less) while threatening 2+ points. We saw a glimpse of it against Ringer in that best of 3, but Dake's motion and handfighting were at another level last night and what won him the series and likely what will win him the gold medal. The man has been doing serious work in his garage.

Incidentally, JO should get some credit for Dake 2.0. Dake himself gives props to JO for helping him with his motion. 

[HurricaneWrestling2 671]

1 hour ago, 2td3nf said:

I'll eat some crow on Thomas Gilman.

I had Spencer #1 and Vito #2 thinking they could score more points than the rest of the field. Spencer injured, and although Vito looked great against Fix, he couldn't keep up with Gilman's firepower. Thought Gilman was tough as nails in last night's best of 3.

I'm turning into a big Gilman fan now. He qualified 57kg in a clutch match against a very tough Cuban, loved his story on his Dagestan adventure, and imo he's really coming across as a likeable guy on the mat and in his interviews. Would love to see him wrestle Takahashi again (if Takahashi represents Japan) and of course would love to see him against Uguev as well. 57kg at Olympics should be a grinder but I'm expecting Thomas to do well in Tokyo.

Congrats Thomas!  

Hated him when he was a villainous Hawkeye, but now he's a genuinely nice guy. Go Gilman!

[wrestlingnerd 2,779]

1 minute ago, HurricaneWrestling2 said:

Hated him when he was a villainous Hawkeye, but now he's a genuinely nice guy. Go Gilman!

Funny how a change of scenery changes a man! They don't call it Happy Valley for nothing.

[Jose132 40]

I’ll eat some crow on Gable. After his freshman year of college I thought he was good but over hyped. Holy crap was I wrong. The man is a once in a generation talent. The sky is the limit with him.


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[wrestlingnerd 2,779]

1 minute ago, Jose132 said:

I’ll eat some crow on Gable. After his freshman year of college I thought he was good but over hyped. Holy crap was I wrong. The man is a once in a generation talent. The sky is the limit with him.
 

The sickest thing about Gable is that he's only 20 years old, FFS. Suggests the massive leap within such a short amount of time has plenty of room to continue.

[Jose132 40]

The sickest thing about Gable is that he's only 20 years old, FFS. Suggests the massive leap within such a short amount of time has plenty of room to continue.

I really hope that if he doesn’t bring back Gold that he gives it one more Olympic cycle. Like you said, such a huge growth in such a short amount of time is very impressive. He has a shot at multiple world and and Olympic golds if he sticks with it.


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[Weems 10]

1 hour ago, AHamilton said:

I think he was even smiling while throwing KJ under the bus

He did not sell it well. I could just eyeball this one

[Jose132 40]

He did not sell it well. I could just eyeball this one

This is pure speculation on my part. But I think KJ told him to throw him under the bus. Cox is a good dude and didn’t feel comfortable with it but is doing what his team told him to do.


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[Major Kong 33]

1 hour ago, GoNotQuietly said:

I am eating crow on:

Saying Gable Stevenson definitely couldn't challenge Akgul and Geno yet. Seeing him just absolutely toy with a former medalist was stunning. He might not win gold, but the Titans of 125kg have not seen anything like him before.

Saying Carr might be able to mess with Nolf, although I did know that was crazy talk, I underestimated how much Nolf must have been injured for some of his previous performances. Makes Dake abusing him even more impressive which leads me to....

Underestimating Dake. I picked him to win going back a year or two, and predicted the Geduev strategy he would use, but I genuinely thought it would be close and three matches, and it really was not at all close.

Underestimating Gilman. When I watch other 57kg guys like Fix and Arujau, I feel like his skills really aren't up to theirs but I consistently overlook how much he is able to maintain strict gameplan discipline and just overwhelm younger guys with a violent and aggressive style (not dirty just tough). 

He just seemed too strong for Vito. There were positions he won on pure strength. Impressive.

[treep2000 973]

57kg

I underestimated COVID, as it took down my projected champ in Nicky pushups before it even started. 

I underestimated NATO.  Made the top 3 after a long layoff.  I wonder how he may have done with consistent competition?  

65kg

I underestimated JO.  He wasn't my pick.  Was thinking Zain. 

74kg

I underestimated Nolf.  He's the #3 guy now, and his dismantling of everyone except Dake was interesting to watch.  He's definitely progressed, but Dake is Dake.

86kg

I underestimated Nickal.  I had thought Zahid would beat him, and that he already had one foot out the door into MMA land.  

97kg

I underestimated Cox and his team.  I thought they were on a mission.  I just can't fathom how this happens.  Maybe we'll come to find out this was some type of Nancy Kerrigan incident in the next few weeks/months.  I dunno... something doesn't smell right.

HWY

I underestimated Gable.  I believe he can hang with Akghul and Geno.  I believe he can bring this home at HWY.  Absolutely astonishing performance.

[shieldofpistis 154]

I'll eat crow.  I publicly said I thought Snyder would win at least one if college level Snyder faced this version of steveson 3 times.  I can say I was wrong.  This years Gable defeats any version of Snyder at heavyweight. 

Gwiz looked powerful and in shape.  Hard to believe Steveson ran through him. 

[BigTenFanboy 1,739]

7 minutes ago, shieldofpistis said:

I'll eat crow.  I publicly said I thought Snyder would win at least one if college level Snyder faced this version of steveson 3 times.  I can say I was wrong.  This years Gable defeats any version of Snyder at heavyweight. 

Gwiz looked powerful and in shape.  Hard to believe Steveson ran through him. 

Thats not eating crow. Thats changing your opinion. Eating crow is when you admit your opinion/prediction was wrong based on nonspeculative results. College level Synder beating or losing to Steveson will always be speciulative since it cant be proven one way or another.

[Crotalus 464]

Nick Lee is receiving a lot of praise, and rightfully so, but McKenna not so much. I guess the was no true second, which makes sense given McKenna had two rounds against JO, but would have loved to see those two wrestle. I'm not surprised they are surpassing Retherford. His folkstyle instincts are just too ingrained. But surpassing Yianni surprised me.

[GoNotQuietly 1,014]

57 minutes ago, wrestlingnerd said:

Excellent comments as usual, but I disagree on the Geduev strategy. Dake said in an interview recently that he wanted to evolve his style to combine that of three guys: Sadulaev, Muskaev (I was surprised by this one), and Cox. When pressed for why Cox, he said he wanted to keep that to himself. Now we see what he meant. The purposefulness and fluidity of Dake's footwork was reminiscent of Cox and he completely confused JB. Did JB ever control the wrestling? I felt like Dake imposed his style on JB for the first time ever and JB didn't know how to adjust. All the openings JB was used to getting on Dake were closed, and whenever Dake gave put himself in a risky position, he immediately pounced into a more advantageous position by jamming JB's head down (with his ass, no less) while threatening 2+ points. We saw a glimpse of it against Ringer in that best of 3, but Dake's motion and handfighting were at another level last night and what won him the series and likely what will win him the gold medal. The man has been doing serious work in his garage.

Incidentally, JO should get some credit for Dake 2.0. Dake himself gives props to JO for helping him with his motion. 

This is really smart, and you could definitely see the JO influence with the Muhammad Ali style dance he did in the second match. He was moving amazingly and even feeling himself in a swaggery way we have only ever seen on the other side of this matchup.

I should define what I mean by the Geduev template to beat Burroughs, as it is equally psychological as tactical and consists of three main things Dake also did:

1. Punch Back. Burroughs triggers his offense off of repeatedly illegally punching people in the face and no ref on Earth has the stones to DQ him for it. Rather than immediately complaining to the ref, which also confirms to Jordan that he is winning, Geduev got in his space and shoved him backwards about ten feet.  In these matches, Dake repeatedly clubbed Jordan in the back of the head and disrespectfully palmed the side of his face. He only complained to the ref when there was a finger in his actual eyeball, which I don't think you can reasonably endure. 

2. Check Down. on every single break they both either went to the Gorilla stance or dropped to both knees and did not come up even one bit to allow a Burroughs reattack where he is truly lethal. Neither of them ever came up until they had at least a hand on Burroughs to gauge where the heck he was.

3. Fight Everything. Of the few people who can beat Burroughs, no one ever really does it by surrendering even one easy takedown to him, aside from maybe Chamizo once. There were quite a few times when a reasonable person would have bailed rather than clawing their way back to the chest wrap position, but Dake was constantly challenging and threatening him in every position and growing in confidence every time. Gedeuv and Dake were ready to battle for every single second of their matches, when people like Zahid, Taylor, and a hundred others thought they could cost for a second and paid the price.

Huge ups to Coach Gray and Dake's whole team for implementing a pretty flawless gameplan against one of the best competitors to ever live.

[Le duke 139]

I don’t understand the people thinking Vito was going to beat Gilman; Gilman beat him 6-2 at Henri Deglane two months ago.

Now, beating him the way he did in the first match? Sure. That was a surprise.


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[headache 126]

I thought it was Yianni's time. I was totally wrong about him.