Here is an assortment of thoughts about the whole medical forfeit thing from this past weekend’s Big Ten Championships:
There were 25 total medical forfeits this weekend — 19 in the actual tournament, plus another six in the six extra brackets used for NCAA qualifying. You could also count Dan Braunagel’s injury-default in the first round at 165 pounds as No. 26.
Two of the medical forfeits occurred in the championship matches: at 141, where Jaydin Eierman didn’t wrestle Nick Lee, and 285, where Tony Cassioppi didn’t wrestle Gable Steveson.
If I’m a Big Ten Network executive, I’m probably a little ticked off, since one was an NCAA final rematch and the other featured Minnesota’s Steveson, the current face of wrestling and Olympic gold medalist.