THE ILLINI WRESTLING BLOG AND FORUM

  For previous episodes, see previous posts starting here and then here . 

BACKGROUND It is no secret to ILLINI fans who follow this site and who followed the old ILLINOISMatmen that I always cherished my time watching the ILLINI wrestle at Huff Hall with my boy by my side, and a Huff Dog in hand, while he ate the Nachos with the bright nuclear goo. Even during the before times, back in 2001 through 2005, there was just enough capacity for those big crowds.  But even back then, the place was old.  That's two decades ago. The bathrooms were dingy, and the hot water radiators in the wrestling room reminded me of a New York apartment in 1950.  Something had to change.  There were complaints from opposing teams about the mold and asbestos. Remember the Coach Poeta and IMAR war with Northwestern? Sure, historic Huff Hall, the home of the first "March Madness" high school basketball games in history, was quite a sight when it opened in 1925. The ILLINI basketball team had a 339-79 record in its friendly confines from 1925 to 1963. That included eight

GRECO DUALS In the first match of the day, the first wrestler to take the mat for ILLINOIS was ILLINI incoming Freshman Anthony "Joey" Ruzic. He would win 9-0 with the tech fall and score four big team points for the home team, starting them off on a 52-14 romp of Ohio Blue.  The ILLINOIS team is stacked, and it has three future ILLINI, including Ruzic, Jayden Colon and Marko Ivanisevic. It is a pleasure to watch all the ILLINOIS kids and to get to know them.  In their next match, the ILLINI faced Minnesota Red. It was Marko Ivanisevic who scored the ILLINI points for Team ILLINOIS, as he won 7-0 against a hulk-bro wrestling for that silly Golden Gopher state. The final team score was 38-22.  That win pushed ILLINOIS into the finals of Pool D where they'll meet Colorado. CORRECTION: An earlier iteration of this post stated that the team would face California Blue in the Pool Finals. That was actually the ILLINOIS Women. In the pool finals, Team ILLINOIS was deadlocked 8-8

  TAPE #1 Looking forward to ILLINI Wrestling in 2024 to 2025 through an AWOLNATION lens. Taking what you might call a "panoramic view." Wrestlers included are Danny Braunagel, Zac Braunagel, Lucas Byrd, Danny Pucino and Kannon Webster. The song is called "Panoramic View" by AWOLNATION, and it is a kicker! Video credits to the NCAA, ESPN, BTN, USA Wrestling and maybe FloWrestling (whoever streamed last year's Midlands). Outro music by Audio Beats. Photo credits in the outro sequence to FightingILLINI.com, NCAA.com, uiaa.org, wrestlingchangedmylife.com, ILLINOISMatmen.com, flowrestling.com, intermatwrestle.com. This video is not to be monetized. TAPE #2 Wrestlers included in this video include the same as AWOLNATION TAPE NO. 1, except Luuuke Luffman is here in lieu of Kannon Webster. The song is called "Sail" by AWOLNATION, and it is legendary. The remaining credits are the same.  This video is not to be monetized. 

 

In your Sunday morning comics, you have the traditional funnies, the one-panel one-liners, and some great villains, but you also have the heroes, heroes like Prince Valiant, Dick Tracy and Funky Winkerbean. In that mold, we bring you the  World of Orangecraft: We wanted to make fun of Red Ape Family, which is the worst cartoon ever made. It hurt us bad. If you are into self-inflicted pain, try episode one: The World of OrangeCraft super team will absolutely destroy the Red Ape Family. That will be so satisfying.   Maybe Iowa and Penn State get a little roughed up in the process. Call that collateral damage. 

  Camden Fontenot came out wearing swim trunks. WTF?  All The Irish Nightmare in round one. Huge throw down from a bear hug from O'Connor. Then, ground and pound for the rest of the round. Throws a leg in, hip control. Throwing lefts and rights.  "AOC, AOC, AOC" chants from the crowd.  First time I've seen a chicken wing for more than :30 in an MMA fight.  Fontenot comes out in the second round like a Power Ranger with high kicks. Austin puts him on his back almost immediately. Slams him down. Sticks in a leg and pounds his head and ribcage. The announcers call it "Big Brothering" him.  "It's like a martial art form I've never seen before." TKO in the third from ground and pound.  The announcers were on point the whole way through the bout with, "Miranda Rights were read." After winning, "Some of the most creative and mean wrestling I've ever seen." In his interview, AOC showed a little potty mouth, with the "F&