If we stop at the point he swung, I agree that his actions, although crossing a line, weren’t that over the top. That obviously isn’t all that happened though.
I told you so…
- Thread starter vhsalum
- Start date
I thought ADS did worse than that. In both cases, internal punishment is merited; but, not a permanent ban.
Zack started the melee by charging him immediately before he even stood up. Don’t start something you can’t finish. If you start a fight, don’t be shocked if that person takes a weak slap at you while they are back peddling to get away from you. Zack didn’t get touched, only thing hurt were feeling of both guys.
Yeah, flipping off the Iowa parents section isn't going to endear him to anyone. That and swinging (open handed or not) at a respected veteran (potential) teammate isn't going to earn him any respect in the room, and if the other guys don't want him there, it will be an untenable situation for the Brands to manage. I obviously have no idea how the other guys actually feel about him (and what happened), but if I were on that team, I'd tell the coaches I don't want him anywhere near the team and I'd rather roll with Glazier. We'll see, I guess, but IMO AJ needs to move over to MMA or WWE where those antics are a part of the sport (which they are not in NCAA wrestling).
I think you nailed it. It should be handled internally with the team input.
This question is in no way in defense of A.J.'s actions but when do you determine it is acceptable for an athlete to react to fans displeasure in their performance? When they are booed, profanities thrown at them, actual items being thrown or regardless of the behavior of the fans it is the responsibility of the athlete to accept it with grace and dignity and walk off the mat and smile. When it went down my immediate thought was how unfortunate this was for the Iowa program not to boo either athlete. It might have already been said but the Iowa fans in attendance that did boo have a bit of accountability in this situation albeit very small.
The fans should not have been booing him. The Iowa program is working with both athletes even though one needs much more work on behavior than the other. Anything that makes that job more difficult for Brands should be avoided.
He received a flagrant misconduct which carries an automatic 1 match/event suspension.
A non-Iowa athlete takes a swing at an Iowa athlete, gives him the finger, then does the same to the Iowa crowd. But the Iowa crowd shouldn't boo him.
My God.
At that time you would have to be pretty detached from Iowa wrestling not to know that the only thing indicating that he wasn't part of the team was the color of his singlet. Not too many non-Iowa athletes have several images floating around social media wearing Iowa singlets.
Does it take effort to be this dumb? He is totally connected to the Iowa program. Wasn't that The Bull and Dennis in his corner? They got chippy with each other. ZG wasn't a totally innocent by-stander. The fans should have just shut up and let the coaches handle it. Booing only incites more horrible behavior. They started booing him, so, he flipped them off. Both were very immature.
when something bad happens that involves an Iowa wrestler it seems like 100 new rookie posters appear on here and trash the team, the coaches, the wrestlers individually and then the tradition of Iowa wrestling. The Mods need to eliminate these Jackasses and as regular contributors we SHOULD IGNORE them...but some people will never learn and they start to argue with these TROLLS and then it drops the entire discussion into the gutter and off we go. I believe if you hate the wrestlers or TNT then go the hell away. Even better don't attend the matches and don't contribute to the wrestling program...just go away until a better option suits your tastes.
Booing and profanities are part of sports. Athletes need to know how to handle that better. Would it have been better if he hadn't been booed, especially with the crowd knowing that he was a prospective Iowa wrestler? Yes, of course, but that does not absolve him of responsibility for his actions. If anything was actually thrown at him, he has to be able to show restraint himself, but people throwing things at athletes should be subject to legal or at least disciplinary actions against them, too. That is crossing the line for fan behavior. I didn't see anything thrown at him until he was leaving after the fight and ensuing bird splits, so that wouldn't have triggered his boorish behavior.
Biggest thing to me when it all happened, including 149, was the the current Hawk team doesn't care much for them. I thought Rathje flexing at the younger Ferrari showed that and then it was obvious during the Glazier after party. Did you see Glazier point over at Brands after Ferrari took a swing at him? To me, that was him saying, "Are you watching this? Is this what you want to bring into our team?" Could be way off, but that's where my thoughts initially went.
I don't think Glazier did anything wrong. I think most guys would react that way after having their head pushed on the mat well after the whistle had blown. Truth be told, I didn't have much of a problem with anything up until the birds being flipped and the splits show. AJ is a clown and I think this program will implode from the inside out if he is brought on board.
"Connected is one thing. Being actually committed to Iowa, in school, and on the roster is another.
Saying what he did "wasn't over the top" means you are in no position to take shots at others.
I don't know about that, but i have read about male fish in the Great Lakes area having eggs due to all the hormones in the pills we take and pee out. So frogs with wings may not be far off.
One thing to consider is that the current Hawks that are at their weight class do not seem to care for the Ferrari's. I can understand why they would not. They were recruited over.
his horrible behavior wasn't his fault...those mean fans made him do it
luckily he'll never face fans that boo him anywhere else
Rathjen was recruited over twice this year, first with VV3 and then with Ferrari, so he really had a chip on his shoulder for this one. He grew up a Hawks fan, was an Iowa state champ, a Fargo runner up, and a top 30 in his class on Willie's big board. Since committing, he was recruited over with Chittum first, then VV3, then Ferrari. It's like, what does this kid have to do to get any respect around here?!?
That’s what I was thinking. Two guys buried on depth chart for years have a shot to start finally, and anyone is surprised they were baiting their new competition into loosing their cool, and don’t want the coaches to bring them in?? I’m shocked!
He gets respect for his wrestling ability, but if he really wants to be respected a good start would be to quit getting arrested in the off season.
Well what he has done since November 2020 is rack up 4 speeding charges, 1 public intox, 1 owi, 1 charge for using a fake ID to purchase alcohol. That will lose you some respect.
Yeah, ok, that's true, LOL. I was kind of being facetious a little. Him and Ferrari in the same room seems like a great idea!
Maybe the Ferrari’s are jealous of his off the mat exploits is where the rub is?
He served his team suspension, hopefully he learns from it and doesn’t let it happen again.
Beating a high AA level wrestler gets you respect. Losing to Sam Cartella does not.
The altercation was started when AJ pushed down on him after the take down in OT. Glazier then escalated it by pushing/charging AJ. Both were at fault at this point but with nothing unusual for a heated match ending. At that point it should have been over but AJ took it past acceptable with the bird. Then it got nuts.
You make an excellent point. I saw that too. That is why I think the whole team needs to have input.
Why don't you clearly define what is "over the top".
True story. His parents certainly won’t punish him. It’s up to Tom.
Beat a top-5 opponent
