Metcalf !
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Great start, but it's early, and the competition gets a lot tougher real quick. Still got faith!
Yep -- Chinese guy was huge for the weight class and extremely strong. It was all Brent could do to hold position. I haven't seen Brent get snapped like that in a very long time, if ever.
Mohammadi is crafty, but he's not nearly as big and strong as this guy. Seeing this Chinese guy, I'm not surprised he beat the guy who bounced Brent from Worlds last year in the first round. Very, very tough dude.
Mohammadi is crafty, but he's not nearly as big and strong as this guy. Seeing this Chinese guy, I'm not surprised he beat the guy who bounced Brent from Worlds last year in the first round. Very, very tough dude.
Tough loss. Mohammadi showed his craftiness. Very slick head snap to a shot did Brent in.
Frustrating to see Brent so tentative. I think he gave Mohammadi too much respect. Mohammadi was good about keeping his left leg back -- took away Brent's bread and butter high crotch for the most part.
Time to root for Iran -- hard to do, but hoping Mohammadi makes the finals now.
Frustrating to see Brent so tentative. I think he gave Mohammadi too much respect. Mohammadi was good about keeping his left leg back -- took away Brent's bread and butter high crotch for the most part.
Time to root for Iran -- hard to do, but hoping Mohammadi makes the finals now.
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Welp, just glad I didn't refer to the Chinese guy as a Chinaman this year. Got quite the lecture last year.
I would really love the see Metcalf with a medal this year. I hope he gets back in and puts the hammer to everyone he faces.
Bummer that Metcalf again is without a medal. Horrible luck. I felt good about #1 Iran getting a win over Italy, but somehow Mohammidi got stuck. It goes to show how tough these guys are. Mohammidi destroyed David Habat in the first round. This tourney is a sonofabitch to be sure. Feel for Brent, he's to good to be without a medal.
Hopefully Mohammadi's loss reminds Brent that he's human and can be beaten on any given day. It looked to me like Mohammadi was in Brent's head a little. Frankly, I was more impressed by the Chinese guy he beat. Mohammadi pulled off a couple of slick moves, but Brent didn't push the pace like he normally does. I think he could have worn Mohammadi down and taken it to him in the second period. Really started slowly. When he did go to his offense, he was quite effective. Just think he gave Mohammad too much credit and got tentative.
Wishing Brent a great year building toward Rio and Olympic gold. He's paid his dues. It's his time.
Wishing Brent a great year building toward Rio and Olympic gold. He's paid his dues. It's his time.
my 2 cents....
the Chinese guy was a beast, who i think came in under the radar. He teched the turk, ranked #6 in world, the guy who beat brent last year. In brent's match it seemed like there was some serious head contact, and it looked like brent staggered a couple of steps and held up his hand. he went on to win, but the Chinese guy was in full attack mode at end and nearly won.
not sure how much that match took out of brent, but in the following match vs iran, brent looked to be bleeding from forehead, and it was stopped briefly for cleanup..not sure if it was related to the prior match.
brent was very close to beating the #1 ranked iranian, but then again, talk about another beast.... the italian is very impressive. he beat #3 asgarov (AZE) in his qtr, and then pinned #1 ranked iranian. metcalf would've had his hands full with italy. personally, think italy (chamizo) is going to win gold
so... tough go for brent. i suspect he'd be going for a medal , had he been in other half of these very uneven brackets.
the distance between brent and the very top guys is razor thin....here's hoping he can get it done in rio.
the Chinese guy was a beast, who i think came in under the radar. He teched the turk, ranked #6 in world, the guy who beat brent last year. In brent's match it seemed like there was some serious head contact, and it looked like brent staggered a couple of steps and held up his hand. he went on to win, but the Chinese guy was in full attack mode at end and nearly won.
not sure how much that match took out of brent, but in the following match vs iran, brent looked to be bleeding from forehead, and it was stopped briefly for cleanup..not sure if it was related to the prior match.
brent was very close to beating the #1 ranked iranian, but then again, talk about another beast.... the italian is very impressive. he beat #3 asgarov (AZE) in his qtr, and then pinned #1 ranked iranian. metcalf would've had his hands full with italy. personally, think italy (chamizo) is going to win gold
so... tough go for brent. i suspect he'd be going for a medal , had he been in other half of these very uneven brackets.
the distance between brent and the very top guys is razor thin....here's hoping he can get it done in rio.
This cracked me up! I'm laughing with you,not at you Chief...
Brutal match with the Chinese and an hour recovery time probably played a factor. Brent did have a big burst at the end against the Iranian tho. It would have been epic if he turned him at the end, but as it is, Brent couldn't make it into the repecharge which I think they should get rid of. Makes no sense and does not reveal the true third place wrestler in my opinion. Train all year and travel thousands of miles for a one and done just cause the guy that beat you got beat the next round? That's completely out of your control, outside of beating him the first time and advancing.
Thanks, whejoe. Agree with Brent 100%. He knows what he has to do -- it's just extremely tough to win World and Olympic gold. Pretty much sums it up. He's going against a bracket stocked with one stud after another. It's a darn tough row to how. Hoping he gets it done in Rio and will be pulling for him every step of the way.
Very classy interview on his part, by the way. He knew what he didn't get done and freely acknowledged it. Took full responsibility, didn't try to blame a head butt or any other injury, etc. Very gracious in defeat. USA wrestling fans can be very proud of the kind of sportsman and person he is. All class. Wish him nothing but the best.
Very classy interview on his part, by the way. He knew what he didn't get done and freely acknowledged it. Took full responsibility, didn't try to blame a head butt or any other injury, etc. Very gracious in defeat. USA wrestling fans can be very proud of the kind of sportsman and person he is. All class. Wish him nothing but the best.
Kind of makes one appreciate what Jordan Burroughs or a John Smith has done throughout the years all that much more. And JB doing it on a broken foot. Even Tennis seeds. F*CK!!! Yea, I'm still a little pissed. But I'm a Metcalf guy no matter what. Now we root for Tony to shock the world.
ooooof that interview is tough to watch. This was the one he was gunning for on the home turf and he was right there. A few more seconds and he could have possibly gotten past #1 Mohammadi, but then again he'd still have to face Chamizo who looked damn good too. It stings for him but he's going to get another chance in April to make the Olympic team. Guessing he'll have to go through Humphrey and Green there as well which is no small task, but he can do it.
All we can do as fans is keep supporting him and HWC so that we can eventually bring home that medal.
All we can do as fans is keep supporting him and HWC so that we can eventually bring home that medal.
Brent may be trying too hard. Most athletes need to kick it up to attain optimum results. Some need to to calm down a bit. Metcalf may be in the latter category. Gable has talked about this quite a bit. Just a thought.
Metcalf in 2016!!
Metcalf in 2016!!
Very tough results and bracket for Brent.
Really hate the way they don't seed the brackets and the way they do wrestlebacks. Very stupid IMO. These guys spend their lives training for this event and then it is over in a few hours and way too much depends on the luck of the draw on the brackets and if the guy that beat you continues to wrestle well and reach the finals.
The Chinese wrestler takes a toll on Brent and maybe Brent doesn't wrestle his best match less than two hours later. Brent likely took a fair amount of the #1 ranked Iranian, who goes on to lose a little later and Brent is out. Way too much luck involved in something this important for my taste.
Really wish they would seed things and have a true consolation bracket for bronze to make things fair and truly give the best wrestlers the chance to achieve the best results.
Also would prefer that they run it like a true tournament (like NCAAs) over a few days, but just my preference. Way too much depends on only a few hours of one day. Kind of why they have golf tournaments go over four days to find out who is truly the best, not who caught lightning in a bottle. I can see how conditioning would favor a one day tournament (which maybe is a good thing), but would still rather see it more spread out.
I am sure that this is a very common complaint. Anybody know if there is any movement towards changing to seeding or wrestlebacks?
Really hate the way they don't seed the brackets and the way they do wrestlebacks. Very stupid IMO. These guys spend their lives training for this event and then it is over in a few hours and way too much depends on the luck of the draw on the brackets and if the guy that beat you continues to wrestle well and reach the finals.
The Chinese wrestler takes a toll on Brent and maybe Brent doesn't wrestle his best match less than two hours later. Brent likely took a fair amount of the #1 ranked Iranian, who goes on to lose a little later and Brent is out. Way too much luck involved in something this important for my taste.
Really wish they would seed things and have a true consolation bracket for bronze to make things fair and truly give the best wrestlers the chance to achieve the best results.
Also would prefer that they run it like a true tournament (like NCAAs) over a few days, but just my preference. Way too much depends on only a few hours of one day. Kind of why they have golf tournaments go over four days to find out who is truly the best, not who caught lightning in a bottle. I can see how conditioning would favor a one day tournament (which maybe is a good thing), but would still rather see it more spread out.
I am sure that this is a very common complaint. Anybody know if there is any movement towards changing to seeding or wrestlebacks?
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Why are the brackets so lopsided? Top half guys all get byes and bottom half has close to 1.5 times the top!? Met calf had 31 guys on his side and top had 16? Why? Same with Snyder today.
I believe it is done to minimize the number of wrestlers that have different rest periods between first and second matches and to be fair on the repechage.
I recently posted this on TheMat - probably worth repeating:
The line of thinking has been explained by a guy (Stan Diedzic) who helped make their decisions before and I don't think anything has changed.
The bracketing and repechage result in more nations bringing home medals. Around the world medals=funding, so more nations bringing home medals equals stronger support for wrestling worldwide.
The best guy wins the tournament. Beyond that you are weighing what's good for wrestling as a community vs. what is good for an individual in terms of bringing home a bronze medal.
Honestly, they are probably on the right side of this considering what has gone on the past few years.
I know it's rough from an individual basis, but taking the world view by the governing body pretty doubtful that you are going to get much in terms of separation beyond what they have now. Repechage - I don't see that going away at all. It accomplishes what they want accomplished.
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Prefacing that I agree 100% on issues with seeding:
The lopsided bracket could actually makes things more fair overall. Any way you slice it, the goal is to get from 96 wrestlers to 32 in 2 rounds. You could sprinkle in byes throughout the brackets, but that would lead to 16 initial matches where competitors have an uneven number of matches, and many more additionally through the bracket. That may be fair in a system of perfect seeding to reward, for instance, wrestlers that competed better in some sort of "regular season", but wouldn't be in a random draw scenario.
In this case, every match in the top 16 is between wrestlers that have wrestled the same number of matches (barring forfeit). The only matches that would be uneven would be the finals/bronze matches. (note: Repechage would as well, but that's for a function of the "wrestleback" format than the unbalanced brackets.) The long break in between helps to level that somewhat (SOMEWHAT! Not claiming the extra match has no effect)
So in summary:
Not seeding, dumb.
Unbalanced brackets instead of randomly drawn byes: Probably more fair than alternative
For the seeding, I'd look for something like the World Cup system. Seed the top 8 based on rankings/prior results/etc. Then random draw from there. It isn't perfect, but at least protects 3 of your top seeds from wrestling in the first 3 rounds of competition.
The lopsided bracket could actually makes things more fair overall. Any way you slice it, the goal is to get from 96 wrestlers to 32 in 2 rounds. You could sprinkle in byes throughout the brackets, but that would lead to 16 initial matches where competitors have an uneven number of matches, and many more additionally through the bracket. That may be fair in a system of perfect seeding to reward, for instance, wrestlers that competed better in some sort of "regular season", but wouldn't be in a random draw scenario.
In this case, every match in the top 16 is between wrestlers that have wrestled the same number of matches (barring forfeit). The only matches that would be uneven would be the finals/bronze matches. (note: Repechage would as well, but that's for a function of the "wrestleback" format than the unbalanced brackets.) The long break in between helps to level that somewhat (SOMEWHAT! Not claiming the extra match has no effect)
So in summary:
Not seeding, dumb.
Unbalanced brackets instead of randomly drawn byes: Probably more fair than alternative
For the seeding, I'd look for something like the World Cup system. Seed the top 8 based on rankings/prior results/etc. Then random draw from there. It isn't perfect, but at least protects 3 of your top seeds from wrestling in the first 3 rounds of competition.
How do you determine seeding at an international event? The politics and disagreements would be at a very high level. Rankings by UWW could be tainted politically knowing they would be used to seed wrestlers. Like to think we could expect people to be fair in sports, but some countries do not like other countries and it could make seeding a joke. I think most wrestlers at this level think that you must beat everyone anyway, so the luck of the draw while not great, it still may be the best option. At least, I think this is the thought process of those making the decisions.
Not seeding (well, actually there is some - not much - separation criteria in place) is actually smart from the governing bodies perspective. Beyond gold do you think they care too much if the 3rd and 4th best wrestler are awarded the bronzes? It's pretty hard for that to happen anyway in large tournaments - even in seeded tournaments, the bracketing can cause some slightly unfair placements unless you are wrestling for true 2nds, 4ths, etc.
Best guy wins the tournament. In 90% of the brackets that come out (estimate, I know) the 2nd to 4th best guy that day is in the finals. Not unlike our seeded, full wrestleback tournaments where a lot of times you have the 2nd best guy in the 3rd place match.
You get a lot of exciting early round matchups this way. Some complaining about the seeding. More nations involved in medal matches. The benefits outweigh the drawbacks from the governing bodies perspective.
Best guy wins the tournament. In 90% of the brackets that come out (estimate, I know) the 2nd to 4th best guy that day is in the finals. Not unlike our seeded, full wrestleback tournaments where a lot of times you have the 2nd best guy in the 3rd place match.
You get a lot of exciting early round matchups this way. Some complaining about the seeding. More nations involved in medal matches. The benefits outweigh the drawbacks from the governing bodies perspective.
This is very true. I believe they DID put in some separation - but you have to be a returning champ or medalist in past year. Any other system of seeding would be gamed by countries.
Everyone - not talking about HR board, ALL the boards - seems to think that these UWW guys are just clueless. Well, maybe the old FILA guys were corrupt (and lazy it seems), but I think these guys have got it on the ball. As much on the ball as you can be when you are dealing with ALL the countries that sponsor wrestling around the world - not just the U.S. (or Russia or Iran, etc.)
We have our own country to run things the way we see fit to run them. That's why we do the things the way we do in folkstyle here. It's not necessarily the correct way to do things worldwide.
NO. Read my post.
Actually, I just realized that you were probably typing your post as I posted my 2nd response.
I would run the NCAA tournament the way it's run now. AA's and 8 spots on the podium are important to us (meaning Americans).
Actually Dice, I'm slowwwww - I was typing continuously beginning three minutes before until one minute after you posted. I don't understand your posted distinction, but who cares, it's time for wrestling.
I understand the medal thing and more support. Keep those rules for the worlds, but for the Olympics make it different.
I believe that is exactly what happened....its ashame, he is as good as any of those guys
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