He only has the Iowa fan base, who incidentally he likes to praise, to thank for that.
US Open-Entries
- Thread starter zzs006
- Start date
That's a lot of contradiction wrapped into 1 sentence.
I think it is fair to say Spencer came back too quickly after surgery. Not enough rehab time led to the gastank issues and lack of explosiveness. The question is why? Let's assume his doctors cleared him to wrestle (can't imagine this didn't happen).
Did he think he could come back at 70%, 'get by' and win?
Did he think he could come back at 30% and dominate?
Or was he subjected to outside pressure (TnT, GIA fanbase) to be back this year, 'no matter what?'
The answer to my question may never be answered but might be the most relevant to what really happened this season.
Did he think he could come back at 70%, 'get by' and win?
Did he think he could come back at 30% and dominate?
Or was he subjected to outside pressure (TnT, GIA fanbase) to be back this year, 'no matter what?'
The answer to my question may never be answered but might be the most relevant to what really happened this season.
Damn, I look away for a half second and I'm the target of a driveby shooting.
Still I'll bet I've seen more Rangers Stanley Cups in-person than anyone here has seen Penguins/Flyers cups over that time.
Js said he was sick of the grind of college wrestling. I think it was his choice that this year was going to be it for him one way or the other. I mean, he tried to come back last year without the surgery (or any ACLs) just to get it done with and just couldn’t. That really set him back for this year. If he just had the surgery right after the 21 title and had taken a Med redshirt in 22, he’d have come back this year with a full year of recovery and probably would have been in a much better spot.
Thanks for the recap. I only follow women’s during World Cup / Olympics but saw Amit lost recently? Do you know anything about that match? She seemed so dominant last summer… just bullied her way to gold as a teenager. I didn’t think anyone would be able to withstand her raw horsepower, especially as she continues to physically mature.I know a lot of you don’t follow women’s wrestling as much but 76kg at the US open is possibly the most stacked weight in the entire tournament.
6 time world champion Adeline Gray is back after having a child and taking last year off.
Young phenom Kennedy Blades is entered and won a ranking series event earlier this season. She is one of the brightest young stars in the sport but missed all of 2022 with a concussion.
Kylie Welker is also one of the best young wrestlers in the world. She made the 2021 senior world team at 19 years old and also took bronze at U23’s that same year. She hasn’t wrestled yet this season however.
Yelena Makoyed is possibly wrestling the best of anyone right now. She just won her 3rd college national title while not surrendering a single point all season! She has also won 4 straight international ranking events and pinned the 2 time world champion Adar at the World Cup. She lost in Final X last year to Dymond Guilford.
Dymond Guilford was the US rep at 76kg at the world championships last year. She did not place there but did win silver at U23’s. She also just won her 4th college national title while going undefeated for the year. She recently took bronze at the Zagreb.
Precious Bell is a 2 time US Open champion and reached Final X in 2019 losing to Adeline Gray.
Skylar Grote is moving up to 76kg from 72kg where last year she won the pan ams and the Mateo Pellicone. She lost to Amit Elor in Final X last year.
What a great weight class. I’m interested to see how Adeline does after a year off and giving birth. Blades and Welker are 2 of the best up and comers and it looks like they will battle for world and Olympic teams for a long time. Makoyed might not have the resume or hype that some of the others have but she has gotten better and better and seems to be wrestling her best right now. Should be a really fun weight to watch and whoever comes out on top will be in the conversation to win world gold
The 76 kg US Open Field Is Loaded With Star Power - FloWrestling
No weight class compares to 76 kilograms at this year's US Open, and we can't wait to see who comes out on top.www.flowrestling.org
She hasn’t lost in a long time.
Her last match was at the World Cup. Before that she won U20, Senior and U23 Worlds in 2022.
Last edited:
The Pittsburgh Penguins have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals 6 times, in 1991, 1992, 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2017.. The New York Rangers have appeared in the Stanley Cup Finals 11 times, in 1928, 1929, 1932, 1933, 1937, 1940, 1950, 1972, 1979, 1994 and 2014.Unless you are really old and saw pre 1950 then I have you beat. Been to all of the Penguins cups.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are 27-17-0-0 versus the Rangers in the playoffs all-time.
I was 9 and 10 years old for Lemieux’s Cups
so didn’t make any of those games. Adam Graves is still a chicken shit.I was a Pens season ticket holder from the lockout through 14-15, but lived in Philly (05-07), Colorado (07-13), and Florida (13-15) so rarely went to a game. Right out of the lockout, teams played in-division 8 times, so often went to the Garden, Meadowlands, and Philly for road games. The only cup finals games I attended were 07-08 games 5 and 6 in Detroit and Pittsburgh. Pens were down in series 3-1 and scored to tie game 5 with 30 left, then won in 3OT. The wife and I hit the road and made it to Pittsburgh in time to have breakfast with her folks the next morning. The Wings won the Cup in 6. Hossa lost, then lost again the next year.
Can he make 70kg? I’m not sure if they give an allowance or not but he would only have to make the weight a few times. If he can’t then I’d also love to see him and Messenbrink get a rematch
Not specifically. To my ear the explanation was that he hasn't been fully healthy and he wanted to focus on getting as healthy as possible in preparation for senior level wrestling.
Although it opened him to plenty of criticism, it was probably the best injury/health decision he's made in the last 6 years.
I think people have way overthought this - probably because they like poking at Spencer/Iowa. This is basic risk reward. The reward of a 4th title was more than enough for him to wrestle through injury (see his double acl title run). 3rd place? Definitely not. Especially since he is trying to be ready for the Open.
I get that Iowa fans are annoying, but Spencer Lee is probably the best example of the warrior mindset in this sport we have. Nobody has wrestled through injury at a high level than him.
I see on here people on here referring to him as " always having an excuse" as if the injuries weren't that big a deal. He's a victim of his own success there. 2/3 of his titles were won on torn ACL's and one of them he had both. That gets taken for granted to much. It's INSANE.
"Excuses are for wusses" might have been a factor in the criticism.
And yet he's gone out of way to say he didn't lose because he's hurt and praise Ramos, so what's the real criticism?
Is he supposed to lie and say "actually I didn't tear my ACL 3 times" ?
Nah, Eric Lindros only saw this in his dreams.
Lee at least has 3 individual and 1 team championship. (Sorry, I can't resist taking a jab at the Flyers when I'm given the opportunity.)
i was at the flyers game last night that was overridden with bruins fans. at one point the new englanders started a "we want the cup" chant and i could only shake my head and say "well you ain't gonna find it here"
i'm not watching the interview again, but i thought i remember him saying that he just didn't care about 3rd place since it didn't affect the team race. then he said something about the 6th place trophy just going into a box in his parents garage along with his 3 first place trophies.
Spencer Lee's statement "excuses are for wusses" set a stupid standard to begin with and was clearly unfair to any other wrestler who lost while injured because he becomes a "wuss" by Spencer Lee's definition if the wrestler states he was injured when he lost. The statement "excuses are for wusses" only holds water if the wrestler wins despite injury or if the wrestler never mentions that he was injured when he lost.
When Spencer Lee stated in his interview that he was less than 100% when he lost to Ramos, the statement is by definition an excuse, although a clearly valid and accurate excuse. Spencer's excuse that he lost because he was less than 100% only makes Spencer Lee a "wuss" by his own standards set by the stupid statement that he made after he won a National Championship while injured. Nobody in their right mind actually thinks Spencer Lee is a "wuss." However, there is also no way that Spencer Lee's stupid statement holds up through his loss to Ramos and his unequivocal statement in the interview that he was injured when he lost.
His attempt to say that his injury is not an excuse is semantics only, as the clear and overriding implication of his interview is that Ramos beat him while he was injured. Once again, there is nothing wrong with the valid excuse, only the standard set by the stupid statement.
Last edited:
The reward of humiliating a team mate in order too get that prestigious Iowa Cornhole Open title must have been worth the risk though,right JS?
Last edited:
That whole situation was so weird. Spencer just expected Ayala to forfeit so he could take first? And he takes it as some sort of an insult when Ayala wants to wrestle? Seems like a reasonable situation that Drake wants to compete on the mat at a tournament. Even if Lee is 10x better, I think it shows a level of sportsmanship and competitiveness that he wants to put himself out there and see where he stands. Would love to hear SL’s explanation on how Ayala somehow offended him by wanting to compete.
Any word on Nick Lee? What's he up to these days? Still have World level aspirations?
Pretty sure he’s training hard for NLWC, and trying to build his apparel company. I’d be pretty surprised if he doesn’t enter the Open—but to my knowledge most of our team hasn’t done that yet.
Gable knows Cassar is MMA full-time, so this tournament is a safe-space for him.
U20 86kg is absolutely stacked. So far there is Connor Mirasola, Payton Thomas, Clayton Whiting, Lenny Pinto, TJ Stewart, Rylan Rogers, Tate Naaktgeboren, Max McEnelly, Seth Shumate, Wyatt Voelker, Bennett Berge, and Brayden Thompson. By far the most stacked weight with a bunch of top high schoolers and college kids. I would have to think the college kids like Pinto, Berge, Rogers, and Shumate should be favored but Thompson is a top 3 recruit this year and Mirasola a top 10 next year. U17 and U20 trials are definitely one of my favorite events of the year
Kyle Dake finally accepted his bid for Final X. When asked why he waited so long Dake replied: "I was hoping to get young enough to qualify for the U20 but I just missed by 10 days. Next year for sure"
That joke never gets young
If he isn't going for 4, he probably isn't healthy enough to wrestle at all if we are being honest. I see a lot of PSU folks looking to pile on for the sake of piling on.
Still, I think there is certainly value to his finishing the tournament on Saturday, and you still have to look at the message that is sent when he doesn't finish. He DID choose to wrestle for 4. He doesn't want to be The Guy, apparently, but it seems like everything he does is to be The Guy. But only when it comes easy, to an extent. The hard thing, both physically and, likely psychologically, was to wrestle back for 3rd. He couldn't have been too injured to do so if he wrestled to the semis.
Similar threads
