This year's team ... does it have a focus?
- Thread starter dmm53
- Start date
Concussion protocol (NCAA Rule) has changed dramatically over the years. Every student-athlete has a baseline evaluation done, and the testing done after a possible concussion, followed by treatment if there is a concussion, is intended to prevent even the slightest permanent injury to the brain. It should not be the norm in any sport, bringing an 18-22 year-old back to competition before they are cleared to do so, as the rules are the same for all.
I’m just glad I got to see Ruth, Taylor, Q, Nolf, Nickal etc before the Olympic year modified schedule trend. I’m being selfish, but watching Ruth prowl the mats 35 times a year > 15-20 times a year
The weird rhythm and lack of normal-season rhythm, one would think, would be less of a distraction and less of a lack for veterans as opposed to ~rookies. On the plus side, we have many veterans and an exceptionally experienced and mature ~rookie in AB. And Seth has the grey shirt year under his belt, too. So there is reason to be optimistic that everyone will have the right frame of mind that Cael wants by B1G and NCAA, despite the weirdness of this year.
I agree with this. The biggest victory this year may be the struggle and getting through it.
i have a memory of a psu women's soccer losing their best striker for a while during the season because she was with her (non-US) national team trying to qualify for the world cup or olympics. the fact is there aren't many sports other than wrestling that have their best athletes in college. i imagine you'll see some college track and field athletes trying to make olympic teams coming up in the spring. probably swimming and diving too, but not sure when their trials are and it's a winter collegiate sport.
FWIW, some quotes from Byers during last night’s broadcast regarding status of RBY, Berge, and VJ:
“Roman Bravo-Young is under the weather tonight but is expected to be ready to go on Sunday.”
“Pipher is filling in for Brady Berge who, we heard Cael Sanderson say in the pre-match interview they will get Berge back as healthy as they can by March, but not sure how much, if anything, we’ll get before then.”
“Konner Kraeszig will fill in for Vincezo Joseph who is a little under the weather. Joseph is expected to be ready to go for the Northwestern meet on Sunday.”
Cenzo + Holidays + Skipping the Wilkes Extravaganza + Italian cooking
———> Walking around at 210lbs by January 2nd.
———> Walking around at 210lbs by January 2nd.
It's funny, as soon as someone makes a post about how the team is under performing they get accused of being entitled, or creating the "sky is falling" posts.
It's a discussion. I don't agree with some of the stuff said by either side really.
Olympic dreams are why some of these guys wrestle, without it they may not be here. As a freestyle and folkstyle fan it's just how it is.
Contrary to popular thought on here, Cael can be wrong and he does make mistakes. Not everything is "part of his plan". It's so cringy reading that all the time. Great coach? Yes, but be cautious how high of a pedestal you place other human beings, just makes them fall further eventually.
So far, this season sucks. Sucks due to injury. Sucks due to redshirts. Sucks from lack of tournaments and wrestling activity as a whole. I understand why, for some of it. It still sucks. It's boring.
The streak ends with AZ ST...... let's not rehash that, but probably preventable. Streak likely ends at Iowa anyway, but no way should Penn State have lost there.
Conel's situation was different. I don't think he was ever the same after his injury. Conditioning perhaps played a factor, but he just wasn't himself. I mean, he wasn't a world beater anyway, but certainly AA quality.
Cassar was a really tough loss. We all know that. He made 285 fun to watch. I'll always be a fan. I saw the team as underdogs before he went down, and the team championship likely went down with him.
Another unfortunate side effect of Cassar is that Aaron Brooks shirt was likely pulled to stay competitive with Iowa. I love watching him wrestle, but I wonder if it will cost him 4X. Time will tell.
In the years past we've seen poor performances from the team. In both duals and tournaments. Nothing new here. It could be due in part to a lack of importance placed on duals. By both our coaching staff and NCAA wrestling as a whole.
Meredith appeared to show less effort.
RBY doesn't wrestle.
Verk looks the same as freshman year.
Berge still out.
Cenzo doesn't go for some reason.
Rasheed doesn't perform at the same level we've seen in the past.
The rest of the team performed well.
That's still 6 of ten matches that are disappointing. After a very long break from wrestling.
Makes me question why I spend money on the sport during the season. Just save it all for March, it appears that is just reality of wrestling.
I'm sure I'm just hungover from last night's dual, but I'll say it again, so far this season sucks.
It's a discussion. I don't agree with some of the stuff said by either side really.
Olympic dreams are why some of these guys wrestle, without it they may not be here. As a freestyle and folkstyle fan it's just how it is.
Contrary to popular thought on here, Cael can be wrong and he does make mistakes. Not everything is "part of his plan". It's so cringy reading that all the time. Great coach? Yes, but be cautious how high of a pedestal you place other human beings, just makes them fall further eventually.
So far, this season sucks. Sucks due to injury. Sucks due to redshirts. Sucks from lack of tournaments and wrestling activity as a whole. I understand why, for some of it. It still sucks. It's boring.
The streak ends with AZ ST...... let's not rehash that, but probably preventable. Streak likely ends at Iowa anyway, but no way should Penn State have lost there.
Conel's situation was different. I don't think he was ever the same after his injury. Conditioning perhaps played a factor, but he just wasn't himself. I mean, he wasn't a world beater anyway, but certainly AA quality.
Cassar was a really tough loss. We all know that. He made 285 fun to watch. I'll always be a fan. I saw the team as underdogs before he went down, and the team championship likely went down with him.
Another unfortunate side effect of Cassar is that Aaron Brooks shirt was likely pulled to stay competitive with Iowa. I love watching him wrestle, but I wonder if it will cost him 4X. Time will tell.
In the years past we've seen poor performances from the team. In both duals and tournaments. Nothing new here. It could be due in part to a lack of importance placed on duals. By both our coaching staff and NCAA wrestling as a whole.
Meredith appeared to show less effort.
RBY doesn't wrestle.
Verk looks the same as freshman year.
Berge still out.
Cenzo doesn't go for some reason.
Rasheed doesn't perform at the same level we've seen in the past.
The rest of the team performed well.
That's still 6 of ten matches that are disappointing. After a very long break from wrestling.
Makes me question why I spend money on the sport during the season. Just save it all for March, it appears that is just reality of wrestling.
I'm sure I'm just hungover from last night's dual, but I'll say it again, so far this season sucks.
I agree. There's nothing wrong with a discussion. Dmm is taking some ribbing because of his early morning posting history in combination with the topic matter.
Its certainly a tough beginning of the season with Cassar injured, questions at 125 (nothing new there), Berge, Verk, etc. But Seth should do fine. Not a big deal that Shak is shaking some rust off. Brooks is just going to get better. Nick Lee is looking great. Joseph will be fine. I heard he is recommitting to Jenny Craig. Mark Hall is going out with a bang. Lots of season left.
I think you guys are missing the obvious.
Cael is spending too much time on the media stuff.
He needs to pull back.
Cael is spending too much time on the media stuff.
He needs to pull back.
I didn't spend enough time on the positives. There is much to be happy about as a Penn State fan. I enjoy positive posts and posters, but it seems like when a member says something negative people pile on against them. Sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I don't. It's sports.
With that said, after yesterday and watching the Men's basketball team under perform again I'm going to play video games. That way I can be disappointed in my own performance for a change.
Also check the Primanti Bros. security camera footage. Those big buttered pretzels are irresistible.
I get that some are experiencing disappointment as sports fans. That's fine. I'm sure any of us who gives a damn about the performance of this team (and its wrestlers) experiences disappointment whenever injuries occur, guys have to sit, or losses happen.
But how should we deal with it? I suppose you are free to disagree, but I'll call ignorant on anyone and everyone all day everyday who wants to question whether this team "has a focus". It's outrageous and should be called out as such. To question whether this team has leaders is ludicrous and should be called out as such. I'd love to see someone go into the room and preach such nonsense to the team. It's just a really, really ignorant collection of thoughts.
This program has given so much. So much dedication. So much hard work. So much performance, both in and out of the room. There is just so much to love and respect about what this program has been producing and turning out year after year.
So yeah, I'm not going to feel the slightest bit guilty throwing garbage back into people's faces when they want to whine about the team not entertaining them to their satisfaction at a given point in time. This program has achieved too much for too long to be treated like that by its "fans". Have some trust and loyalty, and deal with your disappointment privately. Or go follow another sport. Do anything but call them out as unfocused and leaderless on a public forum.
This particular team is facing a lot of adversity, and I trust the staff and the wrestlers are giving 100% in trying to achieve all their goals. And if they are not, the program has still earned that baseline level of respect from me as a mere fan of Penn State Wrestling.
My cheap $.02. At the beginning of the year, I was hoping Cael would consider redshirting guys like RBY and Lee. Concede the title this year like we did w OSU in 2015 and be ready to reload for another 4 year run. Went all in for what was expected to be a tight race and suffered some unfortunate injuries.
The best part of this thread.
RBY was under the weather-was wearing sunglasses which suggests Pink Eye-had his wisdom teeth out.
Lol.
thank goodness he wasn’t wearing a cup outside of his warmups.
RBY was under the weather-was wearing sunglasses which suggests Pink Eye-had his wisdom teeth out.
Lol.
thank goodness he wasn’t wearing a cup outside of his warmups.
Is that anything like going into Ritenour with a broken finger and leaving with mono?
Lol, too bad the gif didn't come through. Using Giphy is annoying sometimes.
Yes, and I tried to find a link other than Giphy, but all roads led back to it.
Testing.
Edit: Hmm. It seems at least an iPhone running iOS 13.3 will let you keep your finger on a GIF on the giphy site, and bring up a pop up menu that you can choose “copy” from. Now you can paste the image URL (that you just “copied”) into the BWI pop up form that you bring up using the photo button at top of the post entry area.
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Sarcasm meter broken?
You're a great poster, often enjoy your posts.
The best athletes in the world at various sports often admit that focus and leadership can be difficult to maintain. Now it's ignorant to question whether this is a possible reason for poor performance? Instead of growing the sport they should follow another sport because they don't meet the same high standard of a fan as you would like? Isn't that a similar form of disrespect?
Again, I don't believe leadership is an issue. If focus is an issue it's dual meet focus imo. I can't rule it out 100%, so it certainly isn't ignorant. You obviously disagree, but seems like a mountain out of a mole hill situation.
Nope. Not on Android S10. The pop- up menu doesn't give the copy option.Testing.
Edit: Hmm. It seems at least an iPhone running iOS 13.3 will let you keep your finger on a GIF on the giphy site, and bring up a pop up menu that you can choose “copy” from. Now you can paste the image URL (that you just “copied”) into the BWI pop up form that you bring up using the photo button at top of the post entry area.
I also have that issue with giphy (using an S9). Chalk one up to Apple. I still hate them. Maybe we should turn this thread into an Android vs Apple discussion.
I don't know why HR traded you back to BWI, Slush, but I'm glad they did.
We got him for posters to be named later.
Just wait until they discover it's Jammen and a couple JTS handles.
The problem with a "focus" discussion is that i's impossible to do that meaningfully without singling out individuals.
I mean, does anyone seriously think Nick Lee or Mark Hall lacked focus last night?
Maybe not for all posters, but chances are "lacked focus" = "didn't win" or "didn't win big enough," which really means incorrect expectations. In some cases, not accepting Bill Parcells' quote that you are what your record says you are. And in some cases, expecting a team title and shoehorning individual expectations accordingly.
Maybe for some it means "I wish we had no guys trying to qualify for the Olympics" -- which is a problem we didn't have 10 years ago. (OK, 12 years ago since 2010 was not an Olympic year.)
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I don't think any individual lacked focus yesterday. To me that would mean not being aware for example of time left in a period, or what the score was.
I'm making an assumption that he meant team focus, as in with it being an Olympic year there isn't 100% focus on the 2020 folkstyle season. Some of our guys have training and part of their focus elsewhere.
Thanks, and I have always considered you a good poster, too.
However, I can't get on board with the original thesis here and the lack-of-leadership perception posted in another thread. An athlete losing focus is not the same thing as a team not having a focus. Obviously, the focus of this team is to maximize individual achievement while winning a team championship. Same as it has always been. We know, the coaches know, and the wrestlers know that individuals will lose focus at times. But it does not mean the team as a whole
does not have a focus.
As for leadership, tell me with a straight face that Nick Lee, Vincenzo Joseph, and Mark Hall are not effective leaders. And I'm sure there are other under-the-radar leaders on this team. Oh, and then there is the staff. Pretty effective leadership.
Just look at what Hall did last night. That was not a guy just doing his job. That was a guy doing everything in his power to score as many points as he could - not for himself, but for his team. That was a guy picking up his team when the chips were down.
I just cannot accept that this team
is aimless and lacks leadership. Especially since such a notion is the complete opposite of the well-established pattern set in motion 10 years ago.
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