Final X

pokepelli

All-American
Jul 10, 2005
35,250
7,528
103
Jax had a big mental mistake… but he’s got to find a way around blaze hand fighting. Blaze style seems more towards freestyle. Defensive wiz. Jax will be much better at folk where he can roll around and create.

rough showing today overall. Hope Wyatt’s knee is okay.
 

Cowboy1989

All-Conference
Dec 1, 2009
755
1,962
93
The one 4 point series that won it for blaze - I don't understand. Blaze was awarded a take down while Jax still completely had his leg, one of the announcers said it was white paddled, I was waiting for taylor to throw a brick, then Jax basically quit wrestling and blaze turned him easily. First off, I don't get why that was initially a takedown, second I don't get why Taylor didn't throw a brick, 3rd Jax clearly stopped wrestling like he thought there was a break in action - it was all incredibly weird to me.
 

Corby2

All-American
Jul 14, 2025
4,006
8,886
113
The one 4 point series that won it for blaze - I don't understand. Blaze was awarded a take down while Jax still completely had his leg, one of the announcers said it was white paddled, I was waiting for taylor to throw a brick, then Jax basically quit wrestling and blaze turned him easily. First off, I don't get why that was initially a takedown, second I don't get why Taylor didn't throw a brick, 3rd Jax clearly stopped wrestling like he thought there was a break in action - it was all incredibly weird to me.
I didn't think it was 2 when they called it but about :02 later he gets it and the turn Jax definitely had a mental lapse there and stopped wrestling. The action continues and then the sequence is scored so Blaze getting on top :02 later made the challenge pointless
 
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Cowboy1989

All-Conference
Dec 1, 2009
755
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I didn't think it was 2 when they called it but about :02 later he gets it and the turn Jax definitely had a mental lapse there and stopped wrestling. The action continues and then the sequence is scored so Blaze getting on top :02 later made the challenge pointless

I agree that it was 2 and 2 after Jax stopped wrestling.
 
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OAMC99

All-Conference
Mar 25, 2002
4,780
1,626
113
Just 100% on Jax for losing. He is the best wrestler but he he has mental lapses. Cut your hair. Stay engaged. He stopped wrestling and the match was over. He's better but not that much better than Blaze and Devino. Even in the national championship match he's celebrating early. Mental focus is his only challenge. The 50 hair adjustments per match so you can see properly per match are micro lapses. Cost him a world team spot. Hope he will learn from this.
 

OSU48

Junior
May 29, 2001
704
349
63
I am interested in other's thoughts on the jax/blaze matches. It was frustrating to me to watch the matches not because things didn't work out for Jax ...would describe that more as disappointment.

After some reflection I think the frustration was because of the seemingly contradictory freestyle rules. I should add at this point kudos to Blaze and his coaches for clearly understanding his strengths and Jax's strengths and developing and executing a strategy to take advantage of his strengths and minimize Jax's strengths.

What to me felt like a contradiction is what I understand is the intention of the inactivity warning and inactivity clock which is to encourage action. And on the other hand the criteria of scoring last all other things being equal.

Blaze's strategy seemed to be play defense most of the match with the objective of keeping the scoring within a point and win at the end with a tying point. Wouldn't a consistent criteria rule be to have the advantage be with whoever scored first? Wouldn't that encourage more action early in the match and discourage a strategy of tying the match late?
 
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chasepollard

Heisman
Nov 25, 2005
93,129
15,087
48
I am interested in other's thoughts on the jax/blaze matches. It was frustrating to me to watch the matches not because things didn't work out for Jax ...would describe that more as disappointment.

After some reflection I think the frustration was because of the seemingly contradictory freestyle rules. I should add at this point kudos to Blaze and his coaches for clearly understanding his strengths and Jax's strengths and developing and executing a strategy to take advantage of his strengths and minimize Jax's strengths.

What to me felt like a contradiction is what I understand is the intention of the inactivity warning and inactivity clock which is to encourage action. And on the other hand the criteria of scoring last all other things being equal.

Blaze's strategy seemed to be play defense most of the match with the objective of keeping the scoring within a point and win at the end with a tying point. Wouldn't a consistent criteria rule be to have the advantage be with whoever scored first? Wouldn't that encourage more action early in the match and discourage a strategy of tying the match late?
My view…he’s a good kid and works tirelessly on defense. He actually goes against the directives in so far as making the sport fun to watch is my issue.

Was it a good plan? To win, yes. Does he deserve the spot, yes, he earned it by the criteria of our system. Is he good for the sport, NO! If we 10 reps that replicate his matches, the sport would be defunct.

Disappointed for Jax. This will make him strive for more.

My pain point from Final X is Kyle Snyder. You can’t teach Jesus at a kids camp, go meet a hooker instead of your wife afterwards and then take a vow of silence, only to come out later with a silent statement of Jesus again. He is a false witness!
 

newguy123

All-Conference
Feb 5, 2020
1,482
2,553
113
I am interested in other's thoughts on the jax/blaze matches. It was frustrating to me to watch the matches not because things didn't work out for Jax ...would describe that more as disappointment.

After some reflection I think the frustration was because of the seemingly contradictory freestyle rules. I should add at this point kudos to Blaze and his coaches for clearly understanding his strengths and Jax's strengths and developing and executing a strategy to take advantage of his strengths and minimize Jax's strengths.

What to me felt like a contradiction is what I understand is the intention of the inactivity warning and inactivity clock which is to encourage action. And on the other hand the criteria of scoring last all other things being equal.

Blaze's strategy seemed to be play defense most of the match with the objective of keeping the scoring within a point and win at the end with a tying point. Wouldn't a consistent criteria rule be to have the advantage be with whoever scored first? Wouldn't that encourage more action early in the match and discourage a strategy of tying the match late?
Freestyle doesn’t care about offense the way folkstyle does. Positioning is way more the point. It’s baked into the rules. So folks can get away with playing defense most of the time.

I do get a sense that there’s some gamesmanship from the refs though. Not just orange tinted glasses, I see it in other matches too. I do hope this is just me not understanding the subtleties of the rules…
 
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Cowboy1989

All-Conference
Dec 1, 2009
755
1,962
93
I am interested in other's thoughts on the jax/blaze matches. It was frustrating to me to watch the matches not because things didn't work out for Jax ...would describe that more as disappointment.

After some reflection I think the frustration was because of the seemingly contradictory freestyle rules. I should add at this point kudos to Blaze and his coaches for clearly understanding his strengths and Jax's strengths and developing and executing a strategy to take advantage of his strengths and minimize Jax's strengths.

What to me felt like a contradiction is what I understand is the intention of the inactivity warning and inactivity clock which is to encourage action. And on the other hand the criteria of scoring last all other things being equal.

Blaze's strategy seemed to be play defense most of the match with the objective of keeping the scoring within a point and win at the end with a tying point. Wouldn't a consistent criteria rule be to have the advantage be with whoever scored first? Wouldn't that encourage more action early in the match and discourage a strategy of tying the match late?
I agree that rewarding the wrestler who scores last encourages defense throughout the match - I don't like that rule. The passivity calls in general are also idiotic, often rewarding the more passive wrestler. Blaze is an amazing talent and he wrestles within the rules, but if everyone wrestled like Blaze we wouldn't have a sport, it's boring as he!! and nobody would watch it. I don't like the bottom wrestling in freestyle either, flattening out on bottom and just defending a turn is also 100% defence - watching wrestling should be exciting, both wrestlers should be working to score all the time from all positions... all the rules should be tailored to scoring. A wrestler shouldn't be allowed to just defend for 90% of the match and try to score at the end - boring!
 

Cowboy1989

All-Conference
Dec 1, 2009
755
1,962
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Penn St 5
Oklahoma st 1
Iowa 1
Nebraska 1
NC St 1
And will be Michigan 1 or VA tech 1
So nobody has more than 1 besides Penn st.
One team is still dominating everyone else
For the moment they still are still #1 yes. I will say this though, we had a #1, two #2s and two #3s. I think that is a clear second place and we will get better. The 2nd thing is having Dake and Snyder, two of the best wrestlers in American history transfer to your club certainly helps. If they would have transferred to our club or any other club things would certainly look different. Guys like Zahid, Wyatt, Hamiti were not the best before they became Cowboys, Taylor developed them. We have not attracted any wrestlers to the freestyle club yet who were already the best - that takes a lot of building the program up before those guys pick us over them.
 
May 29, 2001
24,054
24,863
113
My view…he’s a good kid and works tirelessly on defense. He actually goes against the directives in so far as making the sport fun to watch is my issue.

Was it a good plan? To win, yes. Does he deserve the spot, yes, he earned it by the criteria of our system. Is he good for the sport, NO! If we 10 reps that replicate his matches, the sport would be defunct.

Disappointed for Jax. This will make him strive for more.

My pain point from Final X is Kyle Snyder. You can’t teach Jesus at a kids camp, go meet a hooker instead of your wife afterwards and then take a vow of silence, only to come out later with a silent statement of Jesus again. He is a false witness!
He's a sinner like you and me. You don't know the guy or his heart and it's none of your business. Sit this kind of stuff out.

As for Jax, he did cut his hair and it had zero to do with him not being able to penetrate Blaze's defense. All credit goes to Blaze, he was clearly better. Jax needs to pivot in some way to counter what he saw. He and DT have 9 months to do that.
 

TheJimReaper

All-Conference
Aug 23, 2018
2,591
4,295
68
He's a sinner like you and me. You don't know the guy or his heart and it's none of your business. Sit this kind of stuff out.
If you’re going to be very public with your faith (nothing wrong with that btw) you should be prepared for at least some public accountability. Especially when you mess up as bad as he did.
 

SlickWillie18

All-Conference
Jul 16, 2024
775
2,612
68
He’s a sinner like all of us but unfortunately for him he’s also a lot more than that. He’s a world class athlete who has made what I imagine is appreciable sums of money from camps and other events where a big part of the spiel is his faith. I’m not saying he needs to be banned from the sport or ostracized, but if you’re going to profit off of how public your faith is you should face at least a little bit of public scrutiny for a (massive) misstep. Go back to running camps and selling shirts to folks who will pay you, but as my dad would say you’ve gotta eat the **** sandwich first.
 

chasepollard

Heisman
Nov 25, 2005
93,129
15,087
48
He's a sinner like you and me. You don't know the guy or his heart and it's none of your business. Sit this kind of stuff out.

As for Jax, he did cut his hair and it had zero to do with him not being able to penetrate Blaze's defense. All credit goes to Blaze, he was clearly better. Jax needs to pivot in some way to counter what he saw. He and DT have 9 months to do that.
We’ve done this before. I know he wants people to know and think. If he wants to continue doing that, he needs to address it and put it behind him to continue his mantra. You can have your opinion, I can have mine. I don’t like his act because he’s using it with responsibility.

*his singlet said “Faith over fear” is the entire reason I brought it up. If he were to just stay silent and Wrestle, I wouldn’t have commented.

The rest I agree with.
He’s a sinner like all of us but unfortunately for him he’s also a lot more than that. He’s a world class athlete who has made what I imagine is appreciable sums of money from camps and other events where a big part of the spiel is his faith. I’m not saying he needs to be banned from the sport or ostracized, but if you’re going to profit off of how public your faith is you should face at least a little bit of public scrutiny for a (massive) misstep. Go back to running camps and selling shirts to folks who will pay you, but as my dad would say you’ve gotta eat the **** sandwich first.
And my Dad always said, “one aw sh** can white out a hundred attaboys.”
 
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zzs006

All-American
Mar 27, 2017
1,100
6,042
113
Razor thin to having 3 from OSU. Two others on the national team in 3rd.

The gap is closing but PSU is still the top RTC no question.
Actually last year OkSt had 3 on the world team with a champ and a 5th at worlds . The defending champ and 5th place finisher didn’t make the team this year. Not sure that is closing the gap even if the matches were razor thin
 

OAMC99

All-Conference
Mar 25, 2002
4,780
1,626
113
We’ve done this before. I know he wants people to know and think. If he wants to continue doing that, he needs to address it and put it behind him to continue his mantra. You can have your opinion, I can have mine. I don’t like his act because he’s using it with responsibility.

*his singlet said “Faith over fear” is the entire reason I brought it up. If he were to just stay silent and Wrestle, I wouldn’t have commented.

The rest I agree with.

And my Dad always said, “one aw sh** can white out a hundred attaboys.”
I am stealing that line from your Dad. Good stuff. I need to remember that with my kids and sports. Keep that shig inside.
 

newguy123

All-Conference
Feb 5, 2020
1,482
2,553
113
So what happened with Zahid? I saw him win the first one then couldn’t watch any more matches.
 

98lberEating2Lunches

All-Conference
Feb 11, 2018
906
1,543
93
... play defense most of the match with the objective of keeping the scoring within a point and win at the end with a tying point. Wouldn't a consistent criteria rule be to have the advantage be with whoever scored first? Wouldn't that encourage more action early in the match and discourage a strategy of tying the match late?
So the person who scores first can then play defense with an even a greater advantage?

There's already plenty of that.

Scoring first doesn't seem to promote subsequent action. It just as likely can result in taking a point or two in passivities or step outs (without fleeing the mat) over takedowns to preserve the criteria of biggest point scoring move. That, or just wait for the late flurry to try and regain criteria by last point scored, if a "tie" is possible.
 
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98lberEating2Lunches

All-Conference
Feb 11, 2018
906
1,543
93
For the moment they still are still #1 yes. I will say this though, we had a #1, two #2s and two #3s. I think that is a clear second place and we will get better. The 2nd thing is having Dake and Snyder, two of the best wrestlers in American history transfer to your club certainly helps. If they would have transferred to our club or any other club things would certainly look different. Guys like Zahid, Wyatt, Hamiti were not the best before they became Cowboys, Taylor developed them. We have not attracted any wrestlers to the freestyle club yet who were already the best - that takes a lot of building the program up before those guys pick us over them.
Where was Hamiti? Barr was injured for PSU and Messenbrink sat this cycle out.
 

Cali_Nittany1

All-Conference
Dec 11, 2019
771
3,312
93
My view…he’s a good kid and works tirelessly on defense. He actually goes against the directives in so far as making the sport fun to watch is my issue.

Was it a good plan? To win, yes. Does he deserve the spot, yes, he earned it by the criteria of our system. Is he good for the sport, NO! If we 10 reps that replicate his matches, the sport would be defunct.

Disappointed for Jax. This will make him strive for more.

My pain point from Final X is Kyle Snyder. You can’t teach Jesus at a kids camp, go meet a hooker instead of your wife afterwards and then take a vow of silence, only to come out later with a silent statement of Jesus again. He is a false witness!

Only the sinless can witness for Jesus? I think you're missing the basic premise of Christianity.