Just got done watching Penn State's 33-0 thumping of Lehigh. Ouch.

In a bout pitting a Junior World Champ against a National Beach Wrestling Champ, Bubba Jenkins DID A CARTWHEEL to avoid a shot by Trevor Chinn.

And no, I will never not refer to the beach thing when talking about Chinn.

Pretty Pictures

Two artists I've just discovered after my first visit to Fecal Face in a while:

Greg Simkins


Fecal Face interview


Nancy Chan

Fecal Face interview

Reschedule the dual for '08!

Being a Lehigh fan, I probably shouldn't be conceding this due to some recent bad blood between the two programs, but Cornell has a heck of a wrestling coach in Rob Koll. He's obviously gifted at recruiting and coaching, but he's also got a pretty good sense of humor, shown here with some quotes from a recent email to Big Red wrestling fans:

On 149-pounder DJ Meagher:
"What can I say about our freshman from New Hampshire, other then I am a damn genius for recruiting him! ... For those who have not seen DJ he looks like he is about 12 but he wrestles like an All-American candidate."

On 165-pound freshman Mack Lewnes:
"I don't wrestle him in the room anymore because I am not sure I can score unless I feign injury and he stops wrestling. How many times can I really get away with that offense?"

On his occasionally poor grammar:
"Remember, I coach at Cornell [but] I went to Carolina!"

It's a good thing Lehigh's got the incredible Greg Strobel at the helm (and, you know, their name on my diploma), or else I might consider jumping ship.


Bonus video: Although it doesn't have the history of "The Snake Pit" that is Leeman-Turner Arena at Grace Hall, Cornell's got an awesome facility in the Friedman Wrestling Center.

Lehigh Wrestle-Offs

Just got done watching the streaming web broadcast of Lehigh’s wrestle-offs (full results here). Thoughts:

• Heavyweight Justin Allen started things off with a pin over good sport Samir Soriano, who weighed in somewhere near 184.
• In a weight characterized by tiny guys, Kellen Aura looks especially undersized for a 125-pounder after wrestling 112 last year as a senior in high school. Mitch Berger (not “Ber-zhay”) got the best of him tonight by major decision.
• At 133, Kevin Vinh surprised a few by getting the takedown in sudden victory overtime to defeat Seth Ciasulli, who was not sporting bleached-blonde hair.
• Jeff Santo is recovering from an eye injury and didn’t wrestle tonight. Word is, he’ll be back later in the season wearing John Trenge goggles. The future of the 141-pound weight class after Santo’s graduation looks solid in freshman Kyle Rosser, a 10-0 winner over Steven Seemuller.
• 165-Pound National Beach Wrestling Champion (yes, really) Trevor Chinn is back down at 149 for the college folkstyle season and appears poised to show that last year’s lackluster performance was the exception and not the rule. He won by major decision over Greg Hilbert tonight.
• Like every other Lehigh fan, I’m extremely excited about the arrival of Junior National Freestyle champion Sean Bilodeau. Although he’s likely to redshirt this year, he looked good out on the mat, as did his opponent and fellow freshman Ben Marich.
• It was riding time that allowed sophomore 165-pounder Mike Galante to edge senior 157-pounder Dave Nakasone. I’m hoping for great performances by both guys this season. The 157-pound weight class in the EIWA looks to be up for grabs this year, while 165 is ridiculously stacked.
• Sophomore sensation David Craig is rehabbing his knee and therefore did not wrestle tonight. He’ll jump in eventually at 174, at which point freshman Alex Caruso, who looked pretty good tonight, will bump up to 184.
• Freshman Kadeem Samuels looks very athletic and appears to have quite some potential, but college wrestling experience proved to be the difference as he was edged by bookworm Manuel Schubert in overtime.
  
• 197 is filled with question marks for the Mountain Hawks this year, but looks like it will be filled for now by a bulked-up Alex Iacocca (of the automobile and hot dog empire). He won a fun 15-10 match over Jamie O'Dowd.
  

This weekend: actual competition! Maryland will be at the Avalon Duals and Navy at the Eastern Michigan Open.

Navy Wrestle-Offs

Some quick thoughts on last night's Navy wrestle-offs:

• Things started off at 149 where projected starter Joel Ahern had to default to Spencer Manley with a back injury. I hope it's nothing too serious, as I think Ahern should be ranked somewhere in the high teens or low twenties nationally.
• Returning All-American Matt Stolpinski needed the sudden victory overtime period to beat Ben Nichols.
• Matt Parsons looked good in proving that the 184-pound spot belongs to him.
• Robert Johnston, last year's original starter at 165, got huge and bumped up to 197, but failed to snatch Tyler Moyer's spot.
• Scott Steele was the aggressor and got the best of Ed Prendergast, making me wish that we could start both heavyweights. Both of them could be ranked top ten nationally. (Prendergast currently is.)
• In three consecutive weight classes, Navy will start Maryland natives. (Parsons went to Northern-Calvert, Moyer to Broadneck, and Steele to Towson.) Not even the University of Maryland can say that.
• I like what I see in Freshman 125-pounder Joey Boone.
• Both back-up 133-pounders, Joe Breen and Matt Pagan, look good as well. With Breen (a McDonogh alumnus) winning in overtime, that makes four Marylanders in the starting line-up at the beginning of the season. Joe Baker is being held out for a bit to try to avoid the injury bug.
• I was sitting behind Joe Baker and heard him say, "The big boys are boring, the light weights are much better to watch."

Next Tuesday: Lehigh's wrestle-offs, featuring several exciting match-ups exploring the good-for-the-team versus good-for-the-individual question, and me deciding whether or not I want to pay Yahoo! to watch.

Maryland Wrestle-Offs

I just got back from the University of Maryland wrestle-offs. Full results can be found here, so I've just got a few quick thoughts:

• Annapolis resident (but Mt. St. Joe alumnus) Jon Kohler surprised me by bumping up to 141 (after starting at 133 as a true freshman last year) and beating 2005 ACC champion Charlie Pinto.
• Eric Medina, last year's #10 recruit overall, will be awesome. He won tonight by first period fall.
• We had an interesting (at least to me) 157-pound wrestle-off, as both competitors are relatives of former Lehigh wrestlers. Freshman Brian Letters is a cousin to Troy Letters, 2004 NCAA champ at 165. Senior Clint Stout's brother John was a part-time starter at 125 for Lehigh a few years ago before transferring to East Stroudsburg. The elder Stout's main claim to fame is having twice beaten Navy's Joe Baker - once by decision and the other by knockout. Also, if you didn't know, head coach Pat Santoro was an assistant at Lehigh before taking the job here at Maryland.
• In the other 157-pound match, freshman Jake Fedechko messed up his knee something fierce. As bad as I feel for him, I also felt bad for his opponent, fellow freshman Dan Hawvermale, after seeing the look of sorrow/regret/worry on his face during the injury timeout.
• After having a somewhat ho-hum year as a freshman at 157, I liked what I saw of Mike McGill at 165 tonight.
• Mike Letts is a beast.
• No match was contested at 184, so I'll assume that means Josh Haines will be starting again this year. Let's hope he can avoid the injuries that have been plaguing him for the past few years.
• Hudson Taylor didn't have a match tonight, but he was hanging around. He definitely dresses like a theater person. Which he is. He actually made up his own major, something like Street-corner Improvisational Political Theater. I'm only half joking.

Tomorrow: Navy's wrestle-offs! I'm particularly looking forward to the Moyer-Johnston match at 197 and Prendergast-Steele at heavyweight.

The Boss and the Butlers

How awesome is this?

DJ Egg?

If you're looking for something to do next Wednesday, October 24, come to Stan and Joe's, where I'll be one of several Underground Wednesday dwellers taking over by contributing a set to DJ Dan's Guest DJ Party.

Clear eyes, full heart, can't get that song out of my head

I got The Rolling Stones’ Out Of Our Heads a while back, because it’s the album with “Play With Fire,” and that had been in my head for a week thanks to mentioned in a Jeopardy! question (something about Phil Spector playing bass). I got really into the album, thanks to a bunch of rad Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, and Marvin Gaye covers, and even went so far as to say I might like it more than Exile On Main Street. Then I listened to that one again to make sure. Boy was I wrong. All it took was the piano intro to “Loving Cup” to change my mind back.

Some other songs that’ve been stuck in my head:

The Clash’s “Pressure Drop” (also the Specials and Toots & The Maytals versions), thanks to the Nissan Rogue commercial.

Wilco’s “Muzzle of Bees,” after hearing it twice in the season two premiere of Friday Night Lights. (Unlike many others, I’ve still got hope for the show. I liked everything about the episode except for one scene. If you saw it, you know the scene I’m talking about.)

“She Took All the Money,” from the new Frank Black (Black Francis, whatever…) album, with its “sham-a-lam-a-ding-dang” chorus.

Paul Simon’s “The Obvious Child.” I have no idea why.