Why Social Media is enriching our lives, while it eats away at the fabric of our society.

[amattaro]

I date this to spring of 1992. Grew up about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. This picture is at Donegal elementary in Mt Pleasant Area school district. Trials were in Pittsburgh that year so I assume it was around then, but don’t remember any details other than John Smith came to our school with an Olympic gold medal.

 

[BigFella235]

I date this to spring of 1992. Grew up about an hour outside of Pittsburgh. This picture is at Donegal elementary in Mt Pleasant Area school district. Trials were in Pittsburgh that year so I assume it was around then, but don’t remember any details other than John Smith came to our school with an Olympic gold medal.View attachment 1421934

Olympic gold medals are just something else when you see them in person. For whatever reason it doesn’t come across on TV, but there’s just something about them when you see them in person. I went to a lot of Edinboro camps when I was in HS so I’d been around Bruce’s medal case, but it really wasn’t until the OTT in 2024 when I saw Ben Peterson’s gold medal on display that I thought “holy sh*t, that’s an Olympic gold medal”

 

[King of Poland II]

Will have to respectfully disagree on Dake. What he accomplished in college without the redshirt and at much tougher weights is equal to what Cael did. Cael 1A Dake 1B

Nah… Dake is a solid #2, not 1b. The only place he touches Cael is Schalles awards (where they tied with 1) and Natty’s. Record, winning streak, OWs, conference titles, handsomeness, Yeti hats, and protein cookies all favor Cael.

It’s OK to recognize Johnny Smith or Dake as the great wrestlers they were, but they simply never achieved what Cael did in folkstyle.

 

[El_Jefe]

Will have to respectfully disagree on Dake. What he accomplished in college without the redshirt and at much tougher weights is equal to what Cael did. Cael 1A Dake 1B

That 149 weight class in Dake's SO year was not exactly the 1985 Chicago Bears. Here's who was in the bracket:
- Dake won as the 4 seed
- Darrion Caldwell was the 1 seed, should've faced Dake in the semis except he defaulted out in Round 2
- Frank Molinaro beat Jason Chamberlain in the other semi
- Dake, Caldwell, Molinaro, and Chamberlain were the only eventual 3x AAs in the field. Also the only ones to ever finish top 3 in their careers.
- Other than Caldwell, the best wrestler to not place that year was 2x AA Scott Sakaguchi (5th, 7th) -- who was in Chamberlain's quarter of the bracket.

Put another way: the immortal Mario Mason got the 7 seed.

Not Dake's fault, but he can't get extra credit for a difficult field when he only faced Molinaro.

 

[dicemen99]

Will have to respectfully disagree on Dake. What he accomplished in college without the redshirt and at much tougher weights is equal to what Cael did. Cael 1A Dake 1B

Dake lost to Donnie Vinson and Kevin Levalley. End of story.

 

[El_Jefe]

Dake lost to Donnie Vinson and Kevin Levalley. End of story.

Also: Mike Evans is not impressed.

 

[TwoJoints]

Dake lost to Donnie Vinson and Kevin Levalley. End of story.

Also, I’ve never heard that Dake has EVER beaten Nico in the room.

 

[Kingslayer]

Will have to respectfully disagree on Dake. What he accomplished in college without the redshirt and at much tougher weights is equal to what Cael did. Cael 1A Dake 1B

This is where I land , I think Dake’s NCAA brackets contained more world team members and world Medalist.

 

[King of Poland II]

This is where I land , I think Dake’s NCAA brackets contained more world team members and world Medalist.

But…. to reuse a term dropped by the Boss, did he ever beat the “Immortal” Danny Cormier?

 

[King of Poland II]

Dake lost to Donnie Vinson and Kevin Levalley. End of story.

Donnie Vinson. Let’s go Bulls! (Except against Matt Campbell’s boys on the 19th)

 

[HikeNatParks]

DT may be Lion enemy #1, but I love the Stilly Sheep Show video I stumbled on. It’s Taylor and his adorable daughters grooming sheep for an award show one of the girl’s wins that evening. Guessing his wife is one of the women in the vid. No farm guy in any way, it was cool seeing the whole Taylor clan enjoying this event. Got the same vibe as when @amattaro shares pix of his kids mixing it up at elite wrestling training camps. Both are slices of shared, wholesome family fun that too many of today’s phone-as-appendage kids and kids-phone-is-my-nanny parents couldn’t be bothered with. After Penn State’s unparallelled wrestling environment, it’s easy to see Taylor’s appeal attracting most of the elites that don’t end up with Cael.

 

[El_Jefe]

DT may be Lion enemy #1, but I love the Stilly Sheep Show video I stumbled on. It’s Taylor and his adorable daughters grooming sheep for an award show one of the girl’s wins that evening. Guessing his wife is one of the women in the vid. No farm guy in any way, it was cool seeing the whole Taylor clan enjoying this event. Got the same vibe as when @amattaro shares pix of his kids mixing it up at elite wrestling training camps. Both are slices of shared, wholesome family fun that too many of today’s phone-as-appendage kids and kids-phone-is-my-nanny parents couldn’t be bothered with. After Penn State’s unparallelled wrestling environment, it’s easy to see Taylor’s appeal attracting most of the elites that don’t end up with Cael.

"Stilly Sheep Show" sounds like another Flo podcast.

 

[Sunshinedynomite 1]

I do find the irony is DT was Caels first big recruit. Face of the program battled the enemy in Dake for years and in a crazy world we as a fan base now love Dake and dislike Taylor.
Truly, a ironic twist

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

DT may be Lion enemy #1, but I love the Stilly Sheep Show video I stumbled on. It’s Taylor and his adorable daughters grooming sheep for an award show one of the girl’s wins that evening. Guessing his wife is one of the women in the vid. No farm guy in any way, it was cool seeing the whole Taylor clan enjoying this event. Got the same vibe as when @amattaro shares pix of his kids mixing it up at elite wrestling training camps. Both are slices of shared, wholesome family fun that too many of today’s phone-as-appendage kids and kids-phone-is-my-nanny parents couldn’t be bothered with. After Penn State’s unparallelled wrestling environment, it’s easy to see Taylor’s appeal attracting most of the elites that don’t end up with Cael.

That was a fun video. I feel it is such a benefit for children to be involved in these type of activities. Like David said, it teaches them responsibility. Those girls are blessed to have two loving parents and to be able to grow up in that rural setting instead of a "concrete jungle". Sometimes as an officer it would break my heart to see children who were "being raised" by unfit parents, or no parents at all. Most of those children lived in some rough parts of town. Sometimes I would sadly think to myself, "that kid doesn't have a chance." This video just reminds me to be grateful for my childhood and upbringing and to remember that many people had very rough childhoods.

 

[OzarkLion]

"Stilly Sheep Show" sounds like another Flo podcast.

Sounds like something that originated in Tijuana

 

[WexfordWarrior]

I do find the irony is DT was Caels first big recruit. Face of the program battled the enemy in Dake for years and in a crazy world we as a fan base now love Dake and dislike Taylor.
Truly, a ironic twist

 

[LostInTransition]

Yeah, I can't bring myself to hate DT. I've got a lot of respect for his creativity on the mat. His ability to bounce back from some tough losses and find a way to get to the top after being stopped by Dake, JB, Cox, and Yaz. Most of all, his work developing young wrestlers at M2 before moving on to the next level.

I appreciate the rivalry he's trying to build but looking forward to this being one challenge he can't overcome.

 

[TwoJoints]

Sounds like something that originated in Tijuana

I believe the show in Tijuana involves a donkey, not that there’s anything wrong with that…

 

[mvattivo]

I do find the irony is DT was Caels first big recruit. Face of the program battled the enemy in Dake for years and in a crazy world we as a fan base now love Dake and dislike Taylor.
Truly, a ironic twist

Not an ounce of me dislikes Taylor, and I can't imagine an ounce of me ever will. He will always be one of my favorite PSU wrestlers. He was dynamic and so much fun to watch.

 

[Nitlion1986]

I too could not dislike Taylor even if I tried. He has always been nice and welcoming when interacting with me, plus he was a very important part of starting this that we enjoy today.

 

[Dogwelder]

.. looking forward to [PSU] being one [another*] challenge he can't overcome.

FIFY. * Dake is a previous challenge that Taylor could not overcome. Burroughs is another previous challenge that Taylor could not overcome (in non-Flo competition).

 

[BaccaFarmer]

I do find the irony is DT was Caels first big recruit. Face of the program battled the enemy in Dake for years and in a crazy world we as a fan base now love Dake and dislike Taylor.
Truly, a ironic twist

A lot of us don’t dislike DT and never will. He is an indispensable part of our tradition. He’s our competitor now. I want great competition and David is a hell of a lot more likely to deliver great memories than Tan Tom or the dwarfs in Iowa City.

 

[BigFella235]

This has to be one of the more fitting and cool traditions in college wrestling:

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

Paul Kenny vs. Grey Burnett when they were eight-year-olds. Their skill level at that age was pretty amazing.

 

[mvattivo]

Paul Kenny vs. Grey Burnett when they were eight-year-olds. Their skill level at that age was pretty amazing.

That was a really fun match. That was high level wrestling for 8 year-olds. I'd love to see other matches of future phenoms wrestling when they were young. I've watched Taylor-Stieber in high school many times and it is a great watch.

 

[psumac]

Paul Kenny vs. Grey Burnett when they were eight-year-olds. Their skill level at that age was pretty amazing.

and i'm over here struggling to get my 8yo to keep his head up when shooting a double leg

 

[nerfstate]

 

[PSUPetch]

Was anyone else nervous that the ref was going to penalize us a point when Antney tossed his headgear?

 

[Psalm 1 guy]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[Tom McAndrew]

 

[nerfstate]

Hard to believe, he was so on top of the world last year. What is Zahid’s deal with conditioning? It’s always been a thing. Is it motivation? I’ll go ahead and say it, maybe it’s bad coaching.

 

[Dogwelder]

.. What is Zahid’s deal with conditioning? .. I’ll go ahead and say it, maybe it’s bad coaching.

David made Zahid hate Wrestling!

 

[NittanyLion84]

Hard to believe, he was so on top of the world last year. What is Zahid’s deal with conditioning? It’s always been a thing. Is it motivation? I’ll go ahead and say it, maybe it’s bad coaching.

My guess would be arrogance, thinks he’s good enough that he doesn’t need to be in top condition.

 

[TwoJoints]

My guess would be arrogance, thinks he’s good enough that he doesn’t need to be in top condition.

If this is actually the case his recent results have demonstrated that he should lose the arrogance, decide if he really wants to compete at a high level going forward, and put in the work necessary or move on.

 

[Nitlion1986]

If this is actually the case his recent results have demonstrated that he should lose the arrogance, decide if he really wants to compete at a high level going forward, and put in the work necessary or move on.

I am guessing his commitment isn't really there, but whatever the Cowboy RTC is paying him it is more than what he can earn doing anything else.

 

[vhsalum]

My guess would be arrogance, thinks he’s good enough that he doesn’t need to be in top condition.

This... ish. His lifestyle outside of the room is trash.

 

[nerfstate]

This... ish. His lifestyle outside of the room is trash.

Of all the things DT could help him with, this is the easiest. But I guess it’s one of those “easy to say, hard to do” things.