“Hope” is the thing with feathers -

[APSPSUwrestlingfan]

Emily Dickinson understood that back in 1861. Hope is what drives every fan base. When I look at the Intermat rankings I see hope for so many conferences and fans:

Tournament Rankings
RANK	SCHOOL	CONFERENCE	POINTS	NCAA FINISH
1	Penn State	Big Ten	141.5	1
2(T)	Missouri	Big 12	65	5
2(T)	Virginia Tech	ACC	65	9
4	Cornell	EIWA	62.5	3
5	Nebraska	Big Ten	57.5	8
6	Michigan	Big Ten	55.5	6
7	Arizona State	Pac-12	54	7
8	Iowa	Big Ten	48	2

While the B1G has 4 of top 8 ranked teams, 4 conferences have a team with an excellent chance to reach the podium as number 2 in the nation. There are 6 teams projected to score between 54 and 65 points. That is a very level playing field except for Penn State (WE ARE...). Once a team reaches 2nd on the podium, it's just one more step to first, albeit a huge 77 point step. The only sob story in the group is poor, misunderstood Iowa. Their brand of wrestling suffers from twin problems: the long term Iowa wrestlers are beaten up and worn down while their risky one year rentals are just slumming. Iowa's about to be plucked.

 

[tikk10]

Definitely the first wrestling board post that started with "Emily Dickinson understood..."

 

[APSPSUwrestlingfan]

Definitely the first wrestling board post that started with "Emily Dickinson understood..."

I figured that would keep out the HR crazies.

 

[86PSUPaul]

I figured that would keep out the HR crazies.

They are googling her to see if she placed at worlds!

 

[tikk10]

They are googling her to see if she placed at worlds!

All we know is that she made 38kg.

 

[Roar More]

The only sob story in the group is poor, misunderstood Iowa. Their brand of wrestling suffers from twin problems: Tom and Terry.

FIFY

 

[PSU Mike]

All we know is that she made 38kg.

One of Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary’s all-time lineup. Unfortunately they were allowed to compete in the public school championships, starting a nearly two century debate.

 

[Chickenman Testa]

They are googling her to see if she placed at worlds!

Literature? What are you? Some kind of homo?

- Grip220

 

[johnstownsteel]

Definitely the first wrestling board post that started with "Emily Dickinson understood..."

I have started a few of my posts on HR with, "Ima dick understood?" when explaining why I do what I do there. So...I've been close...

Literature? What are you? Some kind of homo?

- Grip220

Lmao. This cracked me upm POTY candidate!

 

[johnstownsteel]

The summer of '23 will be long remembered by Hawk fans. It's been just one kick in the balls stacked upon another. A suffering population....For them, this one might even rival the one New York City endured during that Son of Sam summer back in the 70s.

I'd like to believe they are happy we are now ushering in fall but that only puts them that much closer to watching PSU win another National Championship. Those poor bastards...

 

[WildTurk]

Still a lot of positive of positive things to look forward to. I know you want it to be all doom and gloom. It just simply isn't that way. You aren't truly a fan unless your support your team in the hard times aswell.

 

[Ian]

They will be back… the Brands are working the portal and will be back in 2024/25.

 

[WexfordWarrior]

Still a lot of positive of positive things to look forward to. I know you want it to be all doom and gloom. It just simply isn't that way. You aren't truly a fan unless your support your team in the hard times aswell.

 

[johnstownsteel]

Still a lot of positive of positive things to look forward to. I know you want it to be all doom and gloom. It just simply isn't that way. You aren't truly a fan unless your support your team in the hard times aswell.

"Every time a good wrestler goes to psu I die a little. This off-season was the final straw. I’m officially dead. I do not care.

I hope all the psu fans get together and wank each other every time a smug thought comes to their mind about the 100 top five recruits they get. I hope they are happy…..I don’t care though because I’m dead. So…."

Hawkfan1986

 

[mcpat]

Still a lot of positive of positive things to look forward to. I know you want it to be all doom and gloom. It just simply isn't that way. You aren't truly a fan unless your support your team in the hard times aswell.

Apathetic to Iowa Football anymore

I used to live and die with Iowa football. A loss like last night would've ruined my entire weekend and I'd be in a bad mood all day today. But I'd say about 10 years ago apathy started to slowly creep in. Until I almost found it amusing how incompetent we are on offense. If I find myself with...

iowa.forums.rivals.com

 

[WildTurk]

"Every time a good wrestler goes to psu I die a little. This off-season was the final straw. I’m officially dead. I do not care.

I hope all the psu fans get together and wank each other every time a smug thought comes to their mind about the 100 top five recruits they get. I hope they are happy…..I don’t care though because I’m dead. So…."

Hawkfan1986

You will drag this crap back here, but you don't bother to post anything here during the World Championships? Why is that?

I woke up this morning to my son telling me how excited he is to go to his first wrestling practice soon. Seeing the smile on his face is all I need. Him and his little brother are going to have a lot of FUN wrestling together growing up. They will get my full support! I'm very much looking forward to it. That's what truly matters in Life.

 

[WexfordWarrior]

You will drag this crap back here, but you don't bother to post anything here during the World Championships? Why is that?

I woke up this morning to my son telling me how excited he is to go to his first wrestling practice soon. Seeing the smile on his face is all I need. Him and his little brother are going to have a lot of FUN wrestling together growing up. They will get my full support! I'm very much looking forward to it. That's what truly matters in Life.

 

[Eyecatcher]

They are googling her to see if she placed at worlds!

“I'd tunnel—till my Groove
Pushed sudden thro' to his” — Emily Dickinson, c. 1862

She doesn’t appear to have a lot of grappling experience on the world stage, but she does appear to appreciate the work that goes into tunnel creation.

 

[HawkFan1986]

"Every time a good wrestler goes to psu I die a little. This off-season was the final straw. I’m officially dead. I do not care.

I hope all the psu fans get together and wank each other every time a smug thought comes to their mind about the 100 top five recruits they get. I hope they are happy…..I don’t care though because I’m dead. So…."

Hawkfan1986

You’re welcome. I’m glad my humor has inspired a quote back to this board. My actual point though, veiled in sarcastic humor, is that I’m done being upset by psu and their fans. I’m actually curious to see how they juggle this level of talent.

What’s the difference between losing by 1 point or 100 points. Ego. I’m sure someone notable said that…hell maybe it was Emily Dickinson.

 

[GOLDBANGER]

You will drag this crap back here, but you don't bother to post anything here during the World Championships? Why is that?

I woke up this morning to my son telling me how excited he is to go to his first wrestling practice soon. Seeing the smile on his face is all I need. Him and his little brother are going to have a lot of FUN wrestling together growing up. They will get my full support! I'm very much looking forward to it. That's what truly matters in Life.

I didn't post about Worlds because I was in Belgrade, Serbia.

 

[WildTurk]

I didn't post about Worlds because I was in Belgrade, Serbia.

Awesome 👌

 

[johnstownsteel]

You will drag this crap back here, but you don't bother to post anything here during the World Championships? Why is that?

I woke up this morning to my son telling me how excited he is to go to his first wrestling practice soon. Seeing the smile on his face is all I need. Him and his little brother are going to have a lot of FUN wrestling together growing up. They will get my full support! I'm very much looking forward to it. That's what truly matters in Life.

I made several posts during worlds but do admit I wasn't aware that I was under some sorta quota. Maybe Cael and PSU will dock my pay...

 

[johnstownsteel]

You’re welcome. I’m glad my humor has inspired a quote back to this board. My actual point though .....is that I’m done being upset by psu and their fans.

Challenge accepted!

 

[El-Jefe]

I made several posts during worlds but do admit I wasn't aware that I was under some sorta quota. Maybe Cael and PSU will dock my pay...

HIgher quota than the rest of us. Downside of all your handles.

 

[WexfordWarrior]

I made several posts during worlds but do admit I wasn't aware that I was under some sorta quota. Maybe Cael and PSU will dock my pay...

Tell him what will happen @82bordeaux .

 

[mcpat]

Just pointing out that 100 top five recruits would take a minimum of 20 years and Cael has only been head coach at PSU for 14 years.

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

“I'd tunnel—till my Groove
Pushed sudden thro' to his” — Emily Dickinson, c. 1862

She doesn’t appear to have a lot of grappling experience on the world stage, but she does appear to appreciate the work that goes into tunnel creation.

Because I could not stop for Iowa
Iowa kindly stopped for me
The mat held just ourselves
And NCAA immortality

Writing was never my strong point : ) In all seriousness, I appreciate good natured banter between Penn State and Iowa fans. And to WildTurk, I envy you getting to see your son wrestle. No sons here for me : (

 

[AgSurfer]

You will drag this crap back here, but you don't bother to post anything here during the World Championships? Why is that?

I woke up this morning to my son telling me how excited he is to go to his first wrestling practice soon. Seeing the smile on his face is all I need. Him and his little brother are going to have a lot of FUN wrestling together growing up. They will get my full support! I'm very much looking forward to it. That's what truly matters in Life.

So both your boys have already committed to Penn State! Good for you! 😁

 

[WildTurk]

So both your boys have already committed to Penn State! Good for you! 😁

🤮

 

[GogglesPaizano]

"Every time a good wrestler goes to psu I die a little. This off-season was the final straw. I’m officially dead. I do not care.

I understand where you are coming from, but all of us fans can appreciate great wrestling to some extent independent of how & where it is concentrated.

We certainly can not blame highschool recruits from wanting to wrestle for Cael, or anywhere else assuming an otherwise level playing field.

Having said that, I am not thrilled one bit with the twin devils of Portal combined with NIL. I despise the idea of lesser programs getting "poached", and taken to it's logical extension we may see a fair number of smaller schools pull the plug on wrestling due to the inability to field a competitive team year after year.

I think there is a possible solution: Cap the number of transfers who can start for a team at one or two
starters max. Penn State is passed the ragged edge here, and what Michigan did this year is an abomination. I much prefer Penn state building a roster through the highschool pipeline, and despite the obvious advantages, seeing a future portal/NIL pipeline filling every gap in the lineup is not attractive to me.

 

[Ian]

The portal has changed the landscape and the kids hurt the most will be the high schoolers who will likely end up at “lower level” schools for a year or two then be poached by the top schools later if the succeed.

Why would a major program take chances on HS kids when they can grab kids who have already proven themselves? PSU is benefiting too from the portal and might have 3 in the lineup this year. Same with scUM and Iowa. That’s 30% of a lineup and it’s only getting started!

 

[nerfstate]

The portal has changed the landscape and the kids hurt the most will be the high schoolers who will likely end up at “lower level” schools for a year or two then be poached by the top schools later if the succeed.

Why would a major program take chances on HS kids when they can grab kids who have already proven themselves? PSU is benefiting too from the portal and might have 3 in the lineup this year. Same with scUM and Iowa. That’s 30% of a lineup and it’s only getting started!

We might end up with more than 3:
McHenry, Nagao, Messenbrink, Truax & Kerkvliet would be half our team.

I’m not sure I like the trend, but can’t fault the team for staying ahead of the curve either. Those kids are all Nittany Lions now, and that is enough for me.

 

[SCub]

I don’t like transfers if wrestlers are actively being recruited away from programs to fill open spots and improve a team and hide recruiting deficiencies. I might be naive, but I don’t believe that to be the case with PSU. If you listen to interviews from Mess, Tru, Nagano, Kirk etc - they want to be in the absolute best wrestling room to improve their skills and become champions. Until other programs start to demonstrate the sustained success Cael and staff has had at developing kids, it isnt going to stop. And I wouldn’t want to deny kids from wanting to be the best they can be.

 

[Ian]

Don't kid yourself... Cael is doing what everyone else is doing and pursuing to fill openings. PSU has recruiting deficiencies, too. Yes, the kids may have approached first but PSU took them for a reason.

 

[PSU Mike]

We might end up with more than 3:
McHenry, Nagao, Messenbrink, Truax & Kerkvliet would be half our team.

I’m not sure I like the trend, but can’t fault the team for staying ahead of the curve either. Those kids are all Nittany Lions now, and that is enough for me.

It’s amazing how many “flavors” of transfer there are among that set.

 

[El-Jefe]

The portal has changed the landscape and the kids hurt the most will be the high schoolers who will likely end up at “lower level” schools for a year or two then be poached by the top schools later if the succeed.

Why would a major program take chances on HS kids when they can grab kids who have already proven themselves? PSU is benefiting too from the portal and might have 3 in the lineup this year. Same with scUM and Iowa. That’s 30% of a lineup and it’s only getting started!

Mitch Mesenbrink, hardest hit.

 

[ss7]

The portal has changed the landscape and the kids hurt the most will be the high schoolers who will likely end up at “lower level” schools for a year or two then be poached by the top schools later if the succeed.

Why would a major program take chances on HS kids when they can grab kids who have already proven themselves? PSU is benefiting too from the portal and might have 3 in the lineup this year. Same with scUM and Iowa. That’s 30% of a lineup and it’s only getting started!

I look at it the other way. I look at it as creating more opportunities for kids who may have been overlooked coming out of high school to move to a program that they actively want to wrestle/compete for.

And it's pretty clear PSU will still be taking chances on HS kids when you consider the fact that they still recruit kids out of HS.

 

[mcpat]

I keep reading takes about how the portal is bad for lesser programs. I submit it can be good for them. Where a top program has a NQ or even AA level wrestler unable to crack the starting lineup, they can transfer and start at the lesser program.

You can create a decent squad in one year from the portal alone. If Colorado can do it in a sport like football, surely it can be done in wrestling.

 

[TheRealSmee]

Having said that, I am not thrilled one bit with the twin devils of Portal combined with NIL. I despise the idea of lesser programs getting "poached", and taken to it's logical extension we may see a fair number of smaller schools pull the plug on wrestling due to the inability to field a competitive team year after year.

I think there is a possible solution: Cap the number of transfers who can start for a team at one or two
starters max. Penn State is passed the ragged edge here, and what Michigan did this year is an abomination. I much prefer Penn state building a roster through the highschool pipeline, and despite the obvious advantages, seeing a future portal/NIL pipeline filling every gap in the lineup is not attractive to me.

I'd point out that the "portal" is simply an administrative tool that makes the transfer process easier on all parties concerned, and that your beef is really with the transfer rules, but as the saying goes, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

As the parent of a son who has used the transfer portal twice now, I've been on record here and elsewhere that it is a fabulous thing, and only the first step in the right direction. Transferring for student-athletes should be identical to transferring for any student -- which is to say, whenever you want, wherever you want, however many times you want. Anything less is just various levels of indentured servitude. If you're the parent of a student-athlete the current rules would keep you up at night until you remember how absolutely suckful we adults treat our kids across the board. You can't drive until your 16. Can't vote until you're 18. Can't drink until your 21. Can only transfer X times and still play the sport that's the love of your life. I mean, seriously, who the hell do we think we are?

Anyway, the prediction that "a fair number of smaller schools pull the plug on wrestling due to the inability to field a competitive team year after year" is just the same hogwash we've used for centuries. We can't allow women to vote, the republic will go down the drain. We can't let kids vote, the country will be ruined. We can't legalize marijuana, mass hysteria and crime will result. I mean, c'mon. Do you really hate young people that much? Let kids go where they want to go, whenever they want to go.

 

[SCub]

Mitch Mesenbrink, hardest hit.

Mess is, to me, a perfect example of why transfer rules should have been relaxed. He committed to Baptist early. His development as a wrestler accelerated later in the process. He tried to remain loyal, but ended up in a room/program that didnt match his goals and he looked for better opptys. In the old world he would have been stuck or lose a year of eligibility. The process required commitments, then things change. Coaches, skills, circumstances, etc. You have to allow kids the chance to adapt to those changes.