BigRedBlooded

Pretty good, yes, but In Hoc, I'll spot you Austell if you'll give me Stavrum.

Do any of your credentials involve 8th grade civics? If "what's best for the majority is the law of the land," what land is your pedestal in, exactly? I'm just trying to keep up here.

Okay, but BCB has to be Robin.

Use of this imagery is acceptable as long as it's along the lines of The Dark Knight and not Adam West.

Interesting and evenhanded rundown. A little too evenhanded, probably, but hey. I will say, though, that if you're looking for an upset, I'd look a lot of places before I picked 145. Nothing but respect for Stone, but Chanse is humming along now on a wavelength that very few other wrestlers in the state could match. He wrestled Jonathon Taylor on Saturday--the same Jonathon Taylor who in December scored 12 points on TJ Duncan before pinning him (and with only about three practices under his belt)--and took him down in the 1st, rode him out in the 2nd nearly taking him to his back a couple of times, and then reversed him and rode him out in the 3rd for a 4-0 win. Taylor is a brilliant athlete, and I'll be rooting for him to win in February, but Hayes was superb. Chanse had two nailbiters against Patrick Marchetti last year, including an overtime match in the duals finals, and he's better and stronger than he was last year. The match I'd most like to see this year would be Zach Watson and Ethan Hames, but a Marchetti-Hayes rematch would be a close second.

Indeed. Take heart, though, Grandpa, I know more than a few Blue families evolve with enlightened younger generations that decide to head for the Land of Hope and Dreams on the river. So tell 'em to go on and have a boy. He may well wind up helping Jim and Schaack hang a few more banners. Got nothing but love for the Bruisers, though. Thumbs up for that. If she takes after the uncles, they've got a few lacrosse championships in front of them. Congratulations! BRB

Tee and BCB, a belated congratulations for a marvelous accomplishment. A great career in a storied program. Brynewood has again been done proud. I was of course going to make some appropriately smart alec remark, but TroubleMaker's is perfect, so I won't (once again the words of Butch Cassidy ring in my ears: "Who IS that guy?"). BRB

No, I'm really not. And that was no criticism of T.J., just of your hyperbole.

Two years ago someone actually dropped to get into TJ's weight; I'm not aware of anyone going the other way.

Wow. That's quite a book. Let's see: Corey Manson... Daniel Waddell... Reed Doster... Spencer Manley... Cody Cleveland... ...are a few of the folks I can think of off the top of my head who can't make it into BB's "book," seeing as how they just weren't good enough to win more than two championships in that weak ol' DII. Oh yeah, Nick Marable, forgot about him. He's another. I find it unfortunate that someone would publicly mock the accomplishments of kids by calling into question their competition; I find it interesting that the mockery comes from the direction of a program that can't bring itself to step on the mat with those very kids. Nothing but coal in BayouBear's stocking this week.

Does your tipster know if Jeff Francis will be at 130, too? Don't overlook him.

BCB, I wouldn't and shouldn't deign to offer my OK on such a personal decision, but I bet babybearmom is a fine choice if she will have you. All this talk on the other thread about the camera nonsense put me in a reflective mood about that 11-page monstrosity of a post that developed around your Cleveland/Bradley fiasco a couple years ago, and I think I recall her (and Kevin Randolph) being particularly classy in finally dousing the digital brushfire that had flared up. She's probably a better host than you deserve (the hog I don't know about). Me, though... well, were I to need to do the unthinkable and breach the invisible, inviolable Bradley/Baylor barrier and reach out to a member of the Bear wrestling clan, I confess that my first choice would be TNLadyinCali. I haven't spoken of this before, and please keep it between us, but like it was yesterday I remember her sudden appearance in a late-season thread last year like some sort of rhetorical ninja, wielding the written word like Balisar'da or Kusanagi. You ever seen one of those movies where a swordsman takes a slice out of someone with such deftness that they don't realize they've been cut until they look down and see their arm lying on the ground? Such were her skills, though subtlety didn't seem to be one of her priorities. BRB was blushing like a schoolboy in admiration of her abilities. And she even had Harry's respect if I remember right, a stamp of approval matched only by yours. But instead of stepping out of the shadows and tipping my cap to her wordsmithing, BCB, I kept my feelings to myself because, well, what was the point? We know how that movie ends. Baylor-Bradley, Hatfield-McCoy, Montague-Capulet, Vampire-Lycan--it could never have worked and probably would have resulted in a plague or some sort of rip in the space-time continuum or something. I guess you never know about the future, though, and whether I have the strength to forget her rhetorical charms. I'm a man with certain... passions, and she's a woman who is clearly capable of satisfying them. God knows I pay for them often enough. Just check my Books-a-Million bill. Green and Red forever, especially this time of year, BRB

Could somebody advise on what Saturday's schedule will be?

I'm very aware of that. I had been planning on going to Cleveland-Ryan before I was reminded this weekend just how good LaFayette is these days. So I'm currently undecided, leaning towards Baylor-LaFayette. After all, with gas $1.40 again, I ought to take all the road trips I can while it lasts. You, though, ought to go to Cleveland. You've got scouting to do, Cochise.

Touch?©. My only riposte shall be that if both Hayes boys had been replaced with??¦ nobody, Baylor would still have lost by only one point. 43-9=34 23+12=35 Substitute warm bodies that avoid getting pinned and Baylor still wins. Last week, anyway. I don??™t doubt Soddy will be much improved later in the season. But, never forget, I defer to you on all things wrestling??”your track record speaks for itself. And, indeed, the only time I recall questioning your broader intellect, either, is when I see you insisting on wearing shorts on frigid winter weekends. The legs are nice, BCB, but not that nice. Unless you do it right, of course, and wear a pair of Larry Birds. I think I??™d pay a thousand dollars to see you wear a pair of those the next time you go over to Bradley.

Wow. My interest in Baylor's visit to LaFayette on Friday has gone from minimal to maximal overnight. Might have to make that trip after all.

I don't have all the results--like everyone else, I breathlessly await BCB's recap. As previously mentioned, Notre Dame had a fine weekend. Match of the day was probably Tee Boone and Stuart Doster in 125 finals, won by Tee something like 4-3. Doster cut him early in the third and wasn't able to get the takedown. Two great wrestlers I'd like to see go again... and again... and again. Though I doubt they feel the same way. And yes, ru4, you flushed me out--I think Baylor had 13 semifinalists, with the 14th having to withdraw due to injury Friday night. A good weekend for Chattanooga-area teams all round, it sounds like.

TFP is wrong. Hey, by the way, anybody know how many wrestlers Baylor put into the semifinals this weekend?

No, BCB, just a typical property line like everyone else. I doubt the match is going to turn on the two dorm students present in your hypothetical starting lineup. On the other hand, take away the at least half dozen alumni kids and the faculty child or two you have listed and things might get tough.

Please. He's sandbagging. I caught him between matches at McEachern a couple years ago sitting up in the top corner of the bleachers grinding through a worn, dog-eared volume of Kierkegaard, for God's sake, muttering something like "So THAT'S where Heidegger got his idea for existential guilt!" or some gibberish like that before he noticed me and tried to hide the book inside a copy of MAD magazine.

Another reason to go to Soddy instead of McCallie is that there's a better chance the scoreboard will work. Welcome back, BCB. I appreciate periodic self-flagellation as much as the next guy, but sheesh--two weeks was a little much, no? The board becomes a dark and lonely place without the Godfather around. If nature abhors a vacuum, then CoachT ain't natural, cause there's no replacement for your one-man circus when it goes away. So, in the future, please do your best to avoid the tripwires that mandate these bouts of conscience. At least until mid-February. Whoopee, it's that time again, BRB

And also Cole Hayes--junior 130, Special Mention.

The true Irish--the ones that sport that traditional Irish hue. You know, purple. Other school traditions: kung pao chicken on Fridays, Oktoberfest, and flying the Union Jack. And their favorite saint is Archie Manning.

Good luck to Collins Hill, RMC. Though I don't think it'll be necessary. I smell a blowout.

I think that's fine; both sets of fans knew exactly where things stood, and it made 12 of the 14 matches critically important, not just those involving our own wrestler. I'd like to think that we were both rooting for the kid wrestling our opponent, though, rather than actively rooting against a teenager for our rival. A slight difference but an important one. I know that we TBSFBAGers sure adopted some big boys there at the end. And we've commissioned a bust of Andrew Severson for display in the Wrestling Center lobby next year. Best Friends Forever, big guy.