I totally respect the rivalry-based animosity
... especially with team sports like football, basketball, baseball, etc.
But I have a hard time when it comes to rooting against wrestlers as individuals, and they are basically wrestling just as individuals at the NCAA tournament. More than any other sport, these guys work so hard for so little national attention.
When Mueller is competing against Tech, I want him to lose badly. But when he's against wrestlers from other schools, I appreciate the level of training, sacrifice and pain that it took for him to get there (more than any other sport), and I have to cheer for him as a young man out there on his own and representing our conference.
Mueller actually had a very vocal cheering section dressed in maroon and orange - which was good, since the Hoo fans either didn't show up or were too busy reading The Washington Post on their Kindles to pay attention to the mats. (Fan snarkiness is always in season.)
I was happy to see a couple UNC wrestlers AA - O'Connor and Ness; Mitch Finesilver AA'd and the other 17 Finesilvers did well; and Pittsburgh has a couple of talented freshmen in Phillippi and Bonaccorsi who just fell short at the blood round. NC State did not do as well as expected, but I think Hidlay was robbed against Noff. But 8 AAs from the ACC was a good showing.
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In response to this post by hokie576)
Posted: 04/09/2019 at 12:31PM