The Mental Takedown Podcast

 When I started this last year as a quarantine project, I had no idea where it would take me, I thought no one was interested in this stuff except me. I didn't think I could get more than 3 people to talk to me. After all, I had zero press creds(still don't) and my only wrestling experience was sitting on the couch and screaming along with my fellow fans with every takedown and pin. When you take a step back and think about it, what I was trying to pull off was damn near impossible, I was going to talk to people that are world-class at their craft, while not knowing anything about the technical aspect of wrestling. However, as I got started, I realized that, short of being a national champ/high placing All-American, the chance of you getting a long podcast interview is few and far in between, and many of the questions would be the same old, same old...  1. When did you start wrestling? 2. Why did you choose x college? 3. How did it feel winning(insert big wrestling tournament ...

Me-asks open-ended question  Zach-Talks for 5 minutes Me-*visibly shocked that he is still talking Zach-Talks for 5 more minutes  Me-*Totally Shook Conclusion-Zach Sherman can't shut up Now, before all of you come after me for being a complete a**hole, I had been gone for 6 months and I was unmotivated to keep doing the show, with the whole season in limbo, the overarching theme with these interviews was COVID, COVID, AND FREAKING MORE COVID, every single freaking podcast had the overarching theme of beating a dead horse and asking about how the wrestlers improved over what feels like an infinite lockdown,  What I cam to the conclusion is that every single college wrestler is a motivated and fit machine that's going to be the .1% of the population that doesn't spend the lockdown period Watching TV and eating junk food until the cows come home, and even if they did, they sure aren't about to admit it with a camera in their face during an interview. I needed someone with ...

 I'M BACK! (and this time I don't plan on going anywhere...) Your favorite amateur writer and podcast host with way too many chess references that no one else understands is back. Man time flies faster than we can freakin blink... call me a one-hit-wonder, flash in a pan, or whatever other colloquialisms that suits you, but it's been 6 months since a naive 16-year-old booted up a computer, did some basic research, and caused a huge mess in the wrestling world for about 48 hours. Wrestling media has gone through a massive transformation, largely due to the increase in competition. That doesn't take a genius to figure out. One thing I have promised from day one is no BS, calling the action exactly as I see it. Although many of the long term structural problems with the way the sport is promoted have gone largely unaddressed and unsolved, we are at least seeing a short-term attempt to at least allow the top-level of wrestlers to survive making a living off their craft. We ...

 The more I think about it daily, the state of wrestling politics is a microcosm of our nation and in some cases, our international political climate. There is a saying as old as time, "A proper compromise is when both parties leave the table unhappy." The very basic definition of a compromise is an agreement that is reached with both sides making concessions. I don't understand why we think shaming AD's and talking about the "benefits of wrestling" on Twitter does anything except piss off AD's. Everything that circulates on the dark embers of social media about various athletic directors is probably true. They are crooked. They are short. They are arrogant. They are unfair. They are apathetic to student-athletes. This has been the reality of college sports certainly in my lifetime, and probably will be at least for the next 10-15 years. Just like in modern-day politics, the hardest changes to make are to those of the structure itself. Pointing out the f...

       First of all, before I dive into this issue as you all know by now I am extremely passionate about, I'm. sorry. I and the wresting community have failed you. I am sorry to each and every one of the wrestlers on the Fresno State Roster. You will now inevitably have to make unnecessary life-changing decisions because of our failures. I am sorry that we took the entertainment and raw athletic ability that you provided us with for granted. I'm sorry that we as a community were unable to come up with the necessary monetary funds to keep your dream alive. I'm sorry that I sat in total negligence as hegemonic media companies profited off what you worked so hard to achieve and still will continue to achieve. We as a community owe an apology to Brandon Betancourt, Beau Colombini, Hunter Cruz, Chris Deloza, Haiden Drury, Anthony Federico, Aaron Gandara, Greg Gaxiola, Randy Gonzalez, Zack Gonzalez, Jackson Hemauer, Gary Joint, Adam Kemp, DJ Lloren, Anthony Moulton, Mateo...

FloSports's plan is genius... if they were a pharmaceutical company. Flo reminds me of that San Francisco pharma startup that thinks they've found the cure to cancer, then decides to put together a fancy investor pitch with nothing more than sweet jargon. What happens next? They raise a ridiculous amount of capital but come to find out that the "magical cancer cure" was nothing more than another fancy placebo pill. It gets worse, though, then they have no other choice but to tell any people with internal employees not to say anything, or else the whole world will know of the awful fraud. It leaves them with just one choice with any defectors, the dreaded slip of paper that asks your ass to show up in court...   I haven't gone to business school, but the No.1 rule is they under promise and over deliver, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. This pay structure is always impossibly difficult to pull off. This has been proven in various other sectors. Remember the good old days, ...

Literally I've been slacking on the blog, Episodes 7 and 8 are now out with Devin Schroder and Taylor Venz and Monday I will be releasing a interview with Noah Gonser... More to come soon...

I am back! It feels so good to finally speak at normal speed and not have to worry about debate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I promise I will crank out episodes at a much furious rate than ever before. It really is amazing how stupid we can be sometimes. I started this show because I wanted to know more about the psychology behind something as competitive as wrestling, and the day to day struggles of being an athlete. I'm certainly not asking anyone to spill their entire life story, but my hope was to at least gain a little more insight than the average podcast. I'm not joking when I say this, I had Grant eyed up from the day I started this show, like let's keep it real, the dude literally has a bionic body at this point and by ordinary means should have quit wrestling a long time ago. I told my parents half of what Grant had gone through, and my mom, who has been a registered nurse for almost 15 years now, made a grimace that I've never seen her make. ...

Episode 5 was a live stream on Youtube! I really did enjoy recapping all of my episodes with great clips and a lot of talking, as if the show wasn't enough to begin with. Hope y'all enjoy it! episode 5 LIVE!

Episode 3 with Josh Finesilver is now live on Youtube! We are now also on a ton of podcast platforms I've never heard of until 3 days ago, you live and learn that's literally what happens on this show. Episode 4 with a very special guest next week, one specific backpack will join the show next Monday 6/15 10 AM CST  🎒 All our podcast links can be found at the bottom of our sidebar on the website Segment Announcement: Texas Takedown Roundup-Every 5 interviews, I will do a show replaying some of the most interesting moments and some of the things that did not make the recording, just in case you don't get enough of my voice on the show, do not fear there will be more....

Episode 3 was a blast! Josh is genuinely a wonderful guy, and as with all my guests, I am forever grateful that he was willing to do this show.  Full Interview will be released in accordance with our release schedule which is next Monday at 10 AM CST.  This honestly is just so amazing, if this picture does not exemplify heart, guts, and soul, please check your pulse... One last plug for Tomorrow at 12 PM CST- full release of Episode 2 with Travis Piotrowski on Youtube..... Follow Josh´s socials IG Twitter Follow Us! IG Twitter YouTube

The official release times for new episodes from now on will be every Monday at 10 AM CST and 12 PM CST every other Wednesday.  As always everything will be updated on our social media pages, and of course, my boomer blog, which I am willing to bet that I am one of the only, if not the only wrestling show that runs one of these things from the early 2000s, oh well, it is my show? Episode 2 with Travis Piotrowski- Wednesday 6/3 at 10 AM CST Episode 3 with a Guest TBD - Monday 6/8 at 12 PM CST In other news, call me stupid, but I kinda didn´t know that Anchor exists until yesterday... Oops, well better late than never, obviously because of you know we kinda have a pandemic going around, I suspect it´s going to be quite some time before we can hit all the cool and hip podcast websites, but we´ll see how fast my application gets approved...

Our first full episode will  premiere on our YouTube Channel tomorrow at 10 AM CST. If you haven't figured out already I'm very blunt when it comes to discussing things. For a first episode on 72 hours notice, this honestly could have turned out 10 times worse than it did. If you get past the fact that my voice kinda sounds like I am yelling at the beginning and that I was extremely nervous throughout the whole episode, I actually think Micky does offer some great insight into what it is like to have something that you love taken away from you for a pretty extended period of time, and something we can all learn, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, regardless whether we wrestle or not, is to cherish the things we love and enjoy so much because we never truly know when it will be taken away from us. As I mentioned in the intro, Micky is extremely well spoken and honestly is a great ambassador to the sport. IN OTHER NEWS- Episode 2 will drop on our YouTube on Wednesda...

Remind me not to record 2 episodes on the same day, got a little cocky that I could pull off 2 interviews back to back..... In other news, I'm working on getting the audio files of the episode uploaded onto all your favorite podcast platforms. This is a tedious process and my skill level for technology is mediocre at best, so please bare with me :) In the meantime, follow our socials for updates and highlights Instagram Twitter

"There's nothing the man can't do!" In the second episode, I sit down with Travis Piotrowski and we talk everything from his illustrious 4 year career at Illinois, to how he plans to transition from athlete to advisor/coach. Did I mention he did this whole interview while driving? Damn. Best of luck next season as a coach! Full interview will be up on Wednesday.  #illini

What a day! I told myself I wasn't going to be nervous, but my heart was pounding when the interview started. I didn't realize this until after the interview, but my voice ain't the most angelic to say the least. Oh well it is what it is, Sigh. It became quickly apparent during the interview that Micky was extremely well spoken and insightful. Full interview will be up on Monday. Best of luck this season Micky! #h2p

Let´s get this show on the road! The first two episodes are tentatively scheduled to be released next Monday and Wednesday. Our first 2 episodes feature a pair of 133-pound studs that were right in the thick of things for a national championship and almost certainly would have been All-Americans had the NCAA tournament happened. Thanks to Micky Phillippi of Pittsburgh and Travis Piotrowski of Illinois for coming on. I´m super stoked to start the podcast off with a bang, and can´t wait to release more details soon. Last but not least, a huge shoutout to Cam Kramer for his wonderful photos. Subscribe to the blog so you don´t miss a thing!                                                                                                    ...

Hey everyone! My name is Daniel, and full disclaimer, I don't wrestle at all. I am a self- proclaimed nerd that enjoys chess and debate, the literal antithesis to wrestling. One of the greatest mysteries that I still haven't quite solved yet, is why I enjoy watching college wrestling so much.  Why would a nerd who is literally clueless about wrestling technique and the physical element of wrestling start a wrestling podcast. There is a problem throughout sports, not just throughout wrestling, we interview people literally minutes, maybe sometime even just seconds to process a match that just happened before we stick a microphone in their face while they're still gasping for air and ask them generic questions such as "How did this match feel?" or "What did you do to maintain composure in the 3rd period to keep calm?". These generic questions can be used in a pinch, but over time they are dry and don't provide any insight as to the actual emotions...