I know this has been covered in the Wisconsin/Iowa dual thread and elsewhere but I just watched the "Alex and Eli" documentary. Wow - it was a tearjerker, I was not ready for that. I knew Alex and Eli were close obviously but I didn't know it was to that extent. They were home schooled together, to Alex, it was literally like losing his brother. I didn't know that the accident was connected to what should have been Alex's initial proposal and he put it off as a result. I couldn't imagine the feeling of what should have been the best day of your life at that point turning into a tragedy like that.
I also gained a ton of respect (not that I didn't have it before) for Tom Brands and how he was available to Mariah instantaneously, knowing she shouldn't be driving in that condition. I didn't put two and two together initially during the Big Ten finals that Bull hitting the mat twice at the end of his match vs Cenzo was to honor Eli (mimicking him touching the bELIeve on the mat against Wisconsin) I thought he was taunting Cenzo at the time (which felt out of character for him) I'm glad I know the backstory now and Bull's relentless drive that tournament makes all the more sense.
Finally, I just wanted to say my main takeaway from the documentary is that although this is an competitive sport that can get heated; the scores, accolades, trophies, whatever all feel meaningless in the grand scheme of things. We all have our biases about our teams but just about every wrestler is probably a great kid, hard worker and has their own story. Hearing story like Alex/Eli's, Willie Miklus losing his dad to ALS, Jim Vollrath passing away from cancer, it puts things in perspective. So we lose a dual meet, we've lost Big Tens/NCAAs and we're going to lose again in the future but life is too short and sweet to stay upset for too long about things like that.
I also gained a ton of respect (not that I didn't have it before) for Tom Brands and how he was available to Mariah instantaneously, knowing she shouldn't be driving in that condition. I didn't put two and two together initially during the Big Ten finals that Bull hitting the mat twice at the end of his match vs Cenzo was to honor Eli (mimicking him touching the bELIeve on the mat against Wisconsin) I thought he was taunting Cenzo at the time (which felt out of character for him) I'm glad I know the backstory now and Bull's relentless drive that tournament makes all the more sense.
Finally, I just wanted to say my main takeaway from the documentary is that although this is an competitive sport that can get heated; the scores, accolades, trophies, whatever all feel meaningless in the grand scheme of things. We all have our biases about our teams but just about every wrestler is probably a great kid, hard worker and has their own story. Hearing story like Alex/Eli's, Willie Miklus losing his dad to ALS, Jim Vollrath passing away from cancer, it puts things in perspective. So we lose a dual meet, we've lost Big Tens/NCAAs and we're going to lose again in the future but life is too short and sweet to stay upset for too long about things like that.
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