December 18, 2025 • 26 mins
Mark Manning and the University of Nebraska host North Carolina and Oklahoma State this coming weekend. Let’s hear what Coach Manning has to say in the run-up to the dual, the potential future series with the Cowboys, his relationship with UNC head coach Rob Koll as well as the best Christmas present he ever received.
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Short Time Wrestling Podcast: Episode 796 –Recorded December 17, 2025.
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Want an ad-free version of the show AND the best in wrestling news from around the world? Sign up for the Daily Wrestling Newsletter presented by Resilite on Substack at https://www.mattalkonline.com/news
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Short Time Wrestling Podcast: Episode 796 –Recorded December 17, 2025.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Whoa and Welcome back again, wrestling fans. It is another
edition of the Short Time Wrestling podcast where it is
a long time between episodes. I'm your host, Hall of
(00:21):
Fame wrestling writer, broadcaster and announcer Jason Bryant. Today on
the show, we are talking with Mark Manning and I
say we, that's a collective we as coach Manning and
the University of Nebraska did a little Wednesday media session
prior to their duel meets this weekend against nationally ranked
programs North Carolina and Oklahoma State. Had some familiar faces
familiar voices here on the episode. But before we get
(00:44):
to the Mangler. Although he has now got a new nickname,
we called him the Mangler back in the day, there
was a video before things went viral of him putting
on the football pads and I think it was I
don't know if the drill is called Oklahoma. I know
the folks in Nebraska don't really like the word Oklahoma.
But anyway, there was a football drill where he went
out there on the field and it was taking shots
(01:05):
from the Either he was stopping people or he was
going through the line. I can't remember what it was,
but I want to say it was about sixteen seventeen
years ago, and the mangler Mark Manning, I think I
might still be on YouTube worth checking out at least
for you know, posterity purposes or you know, looking at
see how some of the guys used to move twenty
years ago at that point. A couple of housekeeping things.
(01:25):
The last episode was a mini of sorts with Johnson
O Whales head coach Lonnie Morris as he brought his
reigning Division three national champions Johnson and Wales out to Minnesota.
They took on Augsburg in a duel meet on a
Friday night, wrestled in the Augie Open at this point,
I guess about a month ago. The following day, so
Lonnie talks about that on his desire to wrestle tough opponents.
(01:49):
That's short actually on YouTube and on reels actually blew
up quite a bit. So I honestly, you know, I'm
kind of boring on social media to a point because
you know, I got stats. I'm not sitting there trying
to poke the bear. But this week I decided to
poke the bear a little bit. And it's about the
discussion that flow has been hammered a little bit on
their rankings on why Penn State was two now they're three. Well,
(02:11):
I didn't come to their defense. However, what I did
was I says, well, if they're so bad, they're all bad, right, No,
what a joke is what we what I called it?
It is in my newsletter. Go to mattalkonline dot com
slash news. You can sign up for the matt Talk Daily,
my daily wrestling newsletter, and I provide stats, facts, figures,
and such, but I will also drop feature stories in there.
(02:31):
One of those features is I took the rankings the
five media rankings that did not include computer rankings, so
sorry Setenthall, Pirate, sorry wrestled stat I took Amateur Wrestling News, Intermat,
Flow Wrestling, the Open Mat, and Win Magazine and create
a consensus ranking and totaled them up. Spotted some differences, like,
for example, PJ. Duke taking some hits because he's ranked
(02:53):
eleventh by Flow, whereas he's ranked first by Win. But
the next highest ranking is fifth by the Open Mat.
So rankings all over the board. So when you throw
those things in you might be surprised on what when
you total everything together, who's actually number one in the rankings?
And of course when you look at any such rankings
you don't like them. Wrestling fans just do the knee jerk. Ah,
(03:15):
what a joke. This sucks. They're doing it for clicks,
rage bait, clickbait. I have all sorts of fun. John
Kosek even had a tweet out there where he went
after the that also went after, but he kind of
gave a speaking point on the rankings about quality competition.
Everybody else getting quality competition allows them to move up.
If you're not wrestling hammer competition, you have no opportunity
(03:35):
to move up. So there's some back and forth there.
Mattalk online dot com slash news it is available on
these substack platforms, So mattalk online, doup substack dot com
you get this daily wrestling newsletter almost every day. You
get the premium at ons, which is the statis facts
and figures. I am not bogging down here, and now
I could bog down your email with multiple times a day,
(03:57):
but I'm doing basically the newsletter. And then twice a
week you're going to get the Monday mash up, the
Wednesday wind up. Yeah, I'm going alliterative because you know,
whatever my kids' names are alliterative, So that's just just
how I do it. So Monday's going to get you
bullet point items, the upsets, the results of all the
ranked wrestlers, how the top twenty five farred, and the
(04:19):
dual meets Wednesday is going to give you a look
at who's going to be matching up in the dual meets.
The rankings. Pinbot has made his appearance. Pinbot is is
kind of how I've programmed chat GPT to give me
dual meet rankings again, which don't mean anything in terms
of the NBC Coaches poll or doing me, but I'm
just like, what does AI have to say about this?
And again I'm telling it speak specifically on the results,
(04:40):
So if you want to see what pinbot says about it,
that's also in the Wednesday matchup. And then I also
include stats, drops and facts and figures within the headers
of the daily newsletter. Also some notable things too. We
also had news Greg Warren, all American wrestler at the
University Missouri, you know Ms Stu Stallings, Wesley West Wesley
or just through a stand up on Comedy Central and
(05:00):
Nateland and such, been a great friend of wrestling, been
a great friend of wrestling media. Really, he's been on
my show multiple times, he's been on frol and he's
been featured back in early early days when Joe Williamson
and Greg Warren said in my basement and we put
together Wesley West Wesley goes to the Olympic Training Center
back in twenty eleven, twenty twelve, and one of the
(05:20):
cooler features that some of the best stuff if we
talked to Joe Williamson to this day, the best stuff
that we will I mean, if we put everything in,
it would have been like a two hour amazing We
made it about a twelve minute short. It was so
much fun to do. And I still talk to Greg
about those types of things. So it's really cool to
see a wrestler on the Tonight Show, especially seeing Greg
go through the last twenty something years of being a
stand up comic and makes the Tonight Show. That's an
(05:42):
awesome thing. That's a win for all of us because
it does things the right way. He is a good dude,
and it's great to see his success. Other things that
are coming down the pipe with those newsletters, Oh we
had a new program. I'm like, yeah, yeah, Conquered University
in West Virginia D two school added women's wrestling and
then Thursday morning open up the old fee reader and
Kent State University coach Josh Moore already getting things done.
(06:05):
He was trying to add women's wrestling at that place
in Cleveland that drop wrestling last summer, but you know what,
he's doing good things already at Kent State. Kent State
becomes the seventh NCAA Division one school to add a
women's wrestling program. They're going to start in twenty twenty seven.
They'll join Lehigh, Iowa, Delaware State, Lyndon, Wood's, Sacred Heart,
(06:26):
and Presbyterian as Division one schools with women's wrestling programs.
What's also interesting, of those, there'll be a men's and
women's component. Of course to Kent State new program. As
I mentioned with Concord, they don't have a men's wrestling program.
Of course, Dell State and Lyndon Would also don't have
men's wrestling program. So hopefully one of these days we
can see those men's programs back at those two Division
(06:47):
one institutions because they are Division one now. But congrats
to Josh Moore and the entire crew at Kent State
getting that doing. That's big news, that's big stuff. You know,
Kent State had a real hard go of it. Coach
andersty great dude stepped down last year, came back to
the program in another way, but Josh Moore and Kent
State got that thing rolling with improved results already. And
(07:09):
now women's wrestling program. Now we're gonna talk to the Mangler.
As always, I'd like to thank you for spending your
time with me, because you've always got time for sure time.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Who Hey, guys, appreciate everyone being here and thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So I guess i'll fire away first. Coach Manning one,
I missed the era of the silver Fox. We've got
the we get the whole white now. But it's a
different look, but I'm getting used to it. But you've
got two ranked teams coming in.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Silver Fox was was our boyfriend Michigan.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, but you had that era of the silver Fox
going from uh, I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Not a five, I'm not I'm not a white.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Wolf, white Wolf, Kyle. You're gonna save that one white wolf,
Mark Manning. We can move away from white from the
Mangler to white wolf.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Way.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
We've got You've got two big ranked opponents coming in
looking at North Carolina seven ranked head to heads Oklahoma
State nine ranked head to heads. A couple people you've
crossed paths with over your career, Rob Cole, let's talk
about that matchup a little bit. Uh, at North Carolina,
they're they're they're on a pretty good run right now.
And you know, you've got a Friday Sunday, this is
a mid season type of weekend. So first thoughts about
(08:21):
Carolina coming in with a pretty solid squad.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, Rob, Rob's one of my good friends. He's uh,
you know, we Uh, I was an assistant coach at
North Carolina when he was a sophomore in college there,
and so we go way back. Have a lot of
respect for Rob. Rob's a winner. I mean, he really
helped build Cornell wrestling into what it is today, and
(08:45):
then he went to Stanford for a couple of years
and really a lot of those guys on that team
are guys that Rob recruited. But uh, you know, he's
he's a winner. He's gonna have good, good guys on
his team, and uh, he's gonna be well prepared. So
you know, it's it's gonna be a great challenge on
(09:05):
Friday night, And I think they have four or five
ranked guys in the top twenty. I think, so we're
we we have to be prepared to wrestle our best.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, you've been thrown right at it with the National Duels.
I mean, you guys have have a pretty solid schedule
with who you've been wrestling in terms of ranked opponents.
Then to go again to Friday Sunday to bring an
old old Big eight Big twelve rival, Oklahoma State in
David Taylor's got some energy with that program. You know,
they've got a lot of fiery superstars, nine ranked head
to heads. There's that's kind of a callback to those
(09:38):
old old knockdown dragouts you used to So what are
you expecting with the Cowboys on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, it's it's just David standing over there instead of John.
So you know, it's he's got a he's got an
amazing team, a lot of young talent, you know, talent
coming out of their shoelaces. Man, they got they got
a lot of good guys. We've got a lot of
respect for them. And but yeah, I mean I think
you know, obviously Sunday is setting up. You know, they
(10:05):
they they whipped us, you know, a month month and
a half ago, and we had some guys hurt that duel,
but uh, you know, they have a really good team
and it'll be a great challenge and it'll be you know,
it's something that David called me up and said, hey,
you want to start a home and home and really
a forever thing, not a not a one off, not
(10:28):
one time here, one time there. We're just going to
do it. We're going to continue to do it for
years to come. So it's going to be really good.
I think people in the Midwest, and obviously here at
Nebraska and Oklahoma State have a lot of respect for
each other's team, and it's gonna be it's gonna help
us both.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Coach. What's the chance lamor status?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So Chance Lamer is he hopefully you know, he'll be
uh certified to be able to wrestle on Sunday. If not,
you know, we'll we'll we'll have some different options, but
hopefully that's really in the hands of our academic people
here at Nebraska. But yeah, he's done taking his test,
(11:13):
so he doesn't have any more tests for the semesters.
So it's just about the paperwork getting submitted and people
signing off so we're excited about chance.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Yeah, coach, So, I was wondering when we saw the
duel with Oklahoma State. Everybody thought that that would be
one of the best tools of you know, the entire season,
non conference tool. Some coaches may prefer just to have
that on campus rather than you guys wrestled at the
National Duel's Invitational, you know earlier. Does does that take
(11:49):
anything away from it or does that actually make it
more interesting for you more storylines and your staff can
make adjustments and try to, you know, get back some
of those matches.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Well, we we Uh, I mean I had about five
minutes to decide when when the turnaround from Ohio State
to UH to Oklahoma State. I think it had about
eight minutes or someone someone told me. But we we
wrestled both of our twenty five pounders at one, at
twenty five, one at thirty three. Van Dee was hurt
(12:22):
and Trell Taylor hurt his knee. LJ. Rougio heard his hamstrings.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So we were we were, we were banged up there
and uh, we just I mean, it is what it is.
So it Uh, you know, we're we're we're going to
be healthy going into this duel and so you know,
they got a lot of firepower. So it's gonna be
a great duel. That's what wrestling is all about. And
you know it adds some storyline. But we you know,
(12:49):
we could see you know, obviously four or five of
these guys come in, say a tournament, So I think
that's you know, we we David and myself, we both
know it's going to be, uh you're in battle and uh,
it's it's gonna be it's gonna be really good for
our guys to to just keep elevating, uh, you know,
(13:12):
each wrestler at each school, so great challenge and looking
forward to it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
How excited is Brock to have that match against Vega?
Back run that one back?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, you know it's uh, you know, he he out
wrestled us in some positions that normally Brock wins, and
you know, it is what it is. You got to
give your tip your hat to le Roy Vega. He
he wrestled really well, He wrestled with a lot of
great composure, and you know he's he deserved to win
(13:48):
that match. And you know, we just we made a
lot of a lot of mistakes that normally Brock doesn't
make and but hey, that's why it's imperfect sport and
that's why it's called wrestling, not doing moves. So it's uh,
it's really good. You know, Vega's got it. You know,
he's a really great competitor and you know he's he's
(14:11):
got a lot of talent. So and we have to
be at our best come Sunday at forty one.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
Hey, Mark, Uh, you said that you were gonna go
with ty Ice at against North Carolina on Friday night.
He's been previously at seventy four. Is that the place
you kind of wanted to stay or is he just
kind of fluid moving around a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, well we're uh, we're just going to give Silas
a day off of making weight and we uh we
have Tye going out. We'll go on Friday night there,
but yeah, we'll just see moving forward. Nothing set in stone,
and uh, you know Ty's got a good competitor that night,
(14:54):
so he's he's got to wrestle. Really well, it's good
opportunity for him to have his first really kind of
home opener as a Recher freshman on Friday.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
How nice is it having that? Not not looking past
North Carolina because they're a great team, but how nice
is it having that duel on Friday to kind of
kick the rust off for some of these guys, especially
like Ferrari who hasn't wrestled since National duels.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, for for it's going to be really good. It's uh,
it's good to be home. You know, it's good when
you have you know, we're so used to have Friday
Sunday duels in the Big Ten, you know, you you know,
it really hardens you up when you have to go
on the road. When you when you're at home, you
don't have to travel, it's so much easier and just
(15:44):
a lot a lot less stress on the on your team.
But this will really bring our team together and really
show what we're about and really get us prepared for
the second half the season where you know, we have
we have a really challenging schedule in in the Big
Ten in January and then February. So it's just going
(16:05):
to prepare us for the best day five days in March,
and that's what we're all about.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Coach, what did you learn about the peaking process from
last year? Because you guys got better and better throughout
the season. What can you apply from last season that
you're using this.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Year really really nothing. Just keeping our guys healthy, Kyle,
really getting our getting our guys in the in really
good shape and uh, you know, getting their mind right,
getting them ready to battle, and and then just cutting
them loose. Really that's uh, keeping guys healthy is is
(16:42):
is a trick. You know, it's hard to it's easy
to overtrain and harder to hold them back sometimes.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
You know, but.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
What they need to do is be able to perform.
And that's you know, you just work backwards. But we
feel what we do works pretty well. And and it
really starts with getting guys guys bodies right and uh,
and that gives them in the best pops possible position
(17:16):
to to you know, give their best effort.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
When you look at Nebraska sports, of course, the state
seems to rotate around things that go on there and Lincoln,
whether it be football. Of course, volleyball has been been
made national headlines for their attendance. But your attendance is
nothing to sneeze at your top ten and duel meet attendants.
Last year you brought good opponents in, you know, just
even looking at them on the streams, it looks like
that's that's a boisterous, rocking place. So what have you
(17:44):
guys done to really make Nebraska wrestling a draw for
the Lincoln community and the wrestling community in that region
at large, because it looks like they're a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, you're right, it's uh, it's been really good. We've
just really I think our fan base has just really
grown with with how our team has really progressed. You know,
We've always had some really good teams here and now
more and more people are catching on. I think we do.
We do a radio show every week. Derek Pearson has
(18:17):
been really gracious with ninety three point seven the ticket
has really helped promote our program the last three years.
That's really helped our athletic director Troy Dannin's really helped
us the last year and a half. You really, you know,
we have a really nice stage, beautiful stage, Matt Side
season tickets. We really do a good job just promoting that,
(18:40):
and we have a lot of good people selling that
aspect and just Husker fans just really enjoy our team
and really enjoy kind of the way our culture is
in our program and the way our kids, you know,
act on and off the mat and they they have
(19:01):
a lot of respect for how our guys compete as competitors,
and but how they treat people off the mat is
I think a big selling point too.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Yeah, Mark, you know, obviously on Sunday one of the
big matches, people are kind of circling that didn't get
to happen at National Duels. Is you know Andrell Taylor,
you know he was injured, wasn't able to go against
Land and Robbie Doo and you know that's you know,
undefeated freshman. What do you kind of see in that matchup?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You know, Robodo is really good. He's really good. He's
really uh, he's strong, he's tough. You know, good matchup
for Antrell. You know it's uh, it's going to be
a good battle. You know, probably see him again at
the NCAA tournament. So you know it's uh when you
say is he's we got a lot of respect for
(20:04):
Landon Rodo He's I didn't know he was undefeated, he's
he's he's really good, really good. I tried to recruit
him out out of high school. So he's, uh, he's
a really good wrestler, really good competitor. You know, he
seems very you know, he's he doesn't get rattled, he
and and so, uh you know that that makes him. Yeah,
(20:28):
he's a mentally tough guy. You can tell by how
he competes. And he's a hard nosed guy. And he's
what he's what you want on your team and for
him to be wrestling at the level he is as
a true freshman, he says a lot about him and
his future. And you know, David's done a really good job.
He's got a lot of good young guys and his
team like rodo you know, I mean Vega true freshman.
(20:52):
You know, he's got other guys and so you know
they're not going away. You got to you got to
meet the challenge and and uh that's what's great about sports.
And hey, that's what Andrell is looking forward to the
match just like he is. I'm sure so, Hey, best
man wins.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Circle back to another young guy on your side this
time LJ. You know he's a guy that you know,
was under the radar for a lot of people coming
out of high school, even though he had some pretty
solid results, had a busy offseason wrestling freestyle and such.
And obviously people know that the Nebraska freestyle, off season
circus pretty good. It's got a pretty good resume there.
But what do you see from LJ from his red
(21:32):
shirt ear through the summer to now injury and ouwithstanding
about his progression and where he's going to fit in,
you know, in the not just in the lineup, but
nationally this season and throughout his career.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, I think you know a lot of people a
little bit more in the Midwest knew about LJ. And
you know, he's a guy that's just really hungry because
he loves his sports so much. You could tell a
lot about guys of how they, you know, much work
they're going to put in the off season, and LJ is,
you know, he's he's one of those guys that he's
(22:06):
he's he's around the wrestling room six out of seven
days and he's, uh, he loves it. He loves learning,
he loves to get better. He's just a gnarly tough kid.
And you know he's getting better and better in all
three positions, top, bottom, and on his feet, and you
know he's gonna he's going to be pretty good by
(22:27):
the end of the year. And uh, obviously he's got
to wrestle. Uh, you know two really tough guys, North
Carolina guys. Hefner's is an experienced guy, ustle a lot
at Ohio State. And so we got to got that's
a big match, you know on Friday night for LJ.
And then you know quick turnaround with with locket on Sunday.
(22:48):
So what a great challenge for LJ. And and uh,
nothing but good things can happen for him. The more
he wrestles these guys, the more he gets his hands
on and uh, LJ is going to be He's going
to be a force to reckon with. Moving forward?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
What what?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
What matches are you guys looking most forward to? Hey,
uh my student, you guys don't know I have a
student on this broadcast here, Kyle Kleingman. What what match Kyle?
You're looking most forward to?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Forty one on Sunday? Forty one forty one? Yep?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you what you want
to hear. I'm gonna say Black Hardy is gonna win.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Hey, do you have at two o'clock you have David
Taylor going on telecast.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
I'll tell him what he needed to hear. How about
I'm looking forward.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
To that one.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
How about Dylan, what do you guys think?
Speaker 6 (23:55):
I really like that mento Alex facundo match.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I mean that was.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Decided on a you know, scissor leg in the last seconds.
I mean that thing was razor thin. I'm excited about
that one.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, that's you're yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I kind of alluded to it already. Is LJ? You know,
healthy LJ? Where he's at? You know, you got two
stud freshmen here. This is this is you know, we're
looking at future battles here. This is uh, you know,
see them one percent. That's something I want to look
at for because I mean, where's the grind going to
be with when these kids get long in the tooth
in their first full season in the lineup? Where where's
that gonn at? What's gonna happen there? I mean, how
they can handle it? So this is, uh, you know,
(24:33):
we're we're approaching the new year. This is where kids
start being like, all right, now my body starts to hurt.
So kind of keep an eye on that one.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
That's right, Jason, You're right, that's a good point. And uh, yeah,
these guys that looks like Locke, it'll probably be at
sixty five for a few more years, so these guys
could battle, you know, a number of number of times
a number of years. So yeah, it's good. It's it's
what more rustling more, you know, we need to set
up more these matchups and in wrestling, in our sport.
(25:03):
I mean, people love it. I mean it's hey, it's
what what keeps me awake at night. This this is
great stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Hi, coach, I got a question for you from Rob Sanders.
He wants to know the best Christmas gift you've ever received.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Wow, uh, man, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Ah h.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Best Christmas. I don't know. I'm a sweet tooth. You
and my wife will get me something and and uh,
you know that I love on you know, man, packet
of gummy bears or something. I don't know. I'm pretty simple.
I don't need much. But uh, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
He sent me ten, but none of them are constructive,
so we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Good Christmas. But I don't have to go into the
wrestling room that day usually, so that's a good present. Now.
I love being in there, So okay, appreciate you guys.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
The Short Time Wrestling Podcast has been outfitted by Compound
Sports where since ever since you need something, shirts, hats, gear, teamwear.
You need it, They've got it. Call up Cliff and
the crew at CMP Sportswear dot com
Whoa and Welcome back again, wrestling fans. It is another
edition of the Short Time Wrestling podcast where it is
a long time between episodes. I'm your host, Hall of
(00:21):
Fame wrestling writer, broadcaster and announcer Jason Bryant. Today on
the show, we are talking with Mark Manning and I
say we, that's a collective we as coach Manning and
the University of Nebraska did a little Wednesday media session
prior to their duel meets this weekend against nationally ranked
programs North Carolina and Oklahoma State. Had some familiar faces
familiar voices here on the episode. But before we get
(00:44):
to the Mangler. Although he has now got a new nickname,
we called him the Mangler back in the day, there
was a video before things went viral of him putting
on the football pads and I think it was I
don't know if the drill is called Oklahoma. I know
the folks in Nebraska don't really like the word Oklahoma.
But anyway, there was a football drill where he went
out there on the field and it was taking shots
(01:05):
from the Either he was stopping people or he was
going through the line. I can't remember what it was,
but I want to say it was about sixteen seventeen
years ago, and the mangler Mark Manning, I think I
might still be on YouTube worth checking out at least
for you know, posterity purposes or you know, looking at
see how some of the guys used to move twenty
years ago at that point. A couple of housekeeping things.
(01:25):
The last episode was a mini of sorts with Johnson
O Whales head coach Lonnie Morris as he brought his
reigning Division three national champions Johnson and Wales out to Minnesota.
They took on Augsburg in a duel meet on a
Friday night, wrestled in the Augie Open at this point,
I guess about a month ago. The following day, so
Lonnie talks about that on his desire to wrestle tough opponents.
(01:49):
That's short actually on YouTube and on reels actually blew
up quite a bit. So I honestly, you know, I'm
kind of boring on social media to a point because
you know, I got stats. I'm not sitting there trying
to poke the bear. But this week I decided to
poke the bear a little bit. And it's about the
discussion that flow has been hammered a little bit on
their rankings on why Penn State was two now they're three. Well,
(02:11):
I didn't come to their defense. However, what I did
was I says, well, if they're so bad, they're all bad, right, No,
what a joke is what we what I called it?
It is in my newsletter. Go to mattalkonline dot com
slash news. You can sign up for the matt Talk Daily,
my daily wrestling newsletter, and I provide stats, facts, figures,
and such, but I will also drop feature stories in there.
(02:31):
One of those features is I took the rankings the
five media rankings that did not include computer rankings, so
sorry Setenthall, Pirate, sorry wrestled stat I took Amateur Wrestling News, Intermat,
Flow Wrestling, the Open Mat, and Win Magazine and create
a consensus ranking and totaled them up. Spotted some differences, like,
for example, PJ. Duke taking some hits because he's ranked
(02:53):
eleventh by Flow, whereas he's ranked first by Win. But
the next highest ranking is fifth by the Open Mat.
So rankings all over the board. So when you throw
those things in you might be surprised on what when
you total everything together, who's actually number one in the rankings?
And of course when you look at any such rankings
you don't like them. Wrestling fans just do the knee jerk. Ah,
(03:15):
what a joke. This sucks. They're doing it for clicks,
rage bait, clickbait. I have all sorts of fun. John
Kosek even had a tweet out there where he went
after the that also went after, but he kind of
gave a speaking point on the rankings about quality competition.
Everybody else getting quality competition allows them to move up.
If you're not wrestling hammer competition, you have no opportunity
(03:35):
to move up. So there's some back and forth there.
Mattalk online dot com slash news it is available on
these substack platforms, So mattalk online, doup substack dot com
you get this daily wrestling newsletter almost every day. You
get the premium at ons, which is the statis facts
and figures. I am not bogging down here, and now
I could bog down your email with multiple times a day,
(03:57):
but I'm doing basically the newsletter. And then twice a
week you're going to get the Monday mash up, the
Wednesday wind up. Yeah, I'm going alliterative because you know,
whatever my kids' names are alliterative, So that's just just
how I do it. So Monday's going to get you
bullet point items, the upsets, the results of all the
ranked wrestlers, how the top twenty five farred, and the
(04:19):
dual meets Wednesday is going to give you a look
at who's going to be matching up in the dual meets.
The rankings. Pinbot has made his appearance. Pinbot is is
kind of how I've programmed chat GPT to give me
dual meet rankings again, which don't mean anything in terms
of the NBC Coaches poll or doing me, but I'm
just like, what does AI have to say about this?
And again I'm telling it speak specifically on the results,
(04:40):
So if you want to see what pinbot says about it,
that's also in the Wednesday matchup. And then I also
include stats, drops and facts and figures within the headers
of the daily newsletter. Also some notable things too. We
also had news Greg Warren, all American wrestler at the
University Missouri, you know Ms Stu Stallings, Wesley West Wesley
or just through a stand up on Comedy Central and
(05:00):
Nateland and such, been a great friend of wrestling, been
a great friend of wrestling media. Really, he's been on
my show multiple times, he's been on frol and he's
been featured back in early early days when Joe Williamson
and Greg Warren said in my basement and we put
together Wesley West Wesley goes to the Olympic Training Center
back in twenty eleven, twenty twelve, and one of the
(05:20):
cooler features that some of the best stuff if we
talked to Joe Williamson to this day, the best stuff
that we will I mean, if we put everything in,
it would have been like a two hour amazing We
made it about a twelve minute short. It was so
much fun to do. And I still talk to Greg
about those types of things. So it's really cool to
see a wrestler on the Tonight Show, especially seeing Greg
go through the last twenty something years of being a
stand up comic and makes the Tonight Show. That's an
(05:42):
awesome thing. That's a win for all of us because
it does things the right way. He is a good dude,
and it's great to see his success. Other things that
are coming down the pipe with those newsletters, Oh we
had a new program. I'm like, yeah, yeah, Conquered University
in West Virginia D two school added women's wrestling and
then Thursday morning open up the old fee reader and
Kent State University coach Josh Moore already getting things done.
(06:05):
He was trying to add women's wrestling at that place
in Cleveland that drop wrestling last summer, but you know what,
he's doing good things already at Kent State. Kent State
becomes the seventh NCAA Division one school to add a
women's wrestling program. They're going to start in twenty twenty seven.
They'll join Lehigh, Iowa, Delaware State, Lyndon, Wood's, Sacred Heart,
(06:26):
and Presbyterian as Division one schools with women's wrestling programs.
What's also interesting, of those, there'll be a men's and
women's component. Of course to Kent State new program. As
I mentioned with Concord, they don't have a men's wrestling program.
Of course, Dell State and Lyndon Would also don't have
men's wrestling program. So hopefully one of these days we
can see those men's programs back at those two Division
(06:47):
one institutions because they are Division one now. But congrats
to Josh Moore and the entire crew at Kent State
getting that doing. That's big news, that's big stuff. You know,
Kent State had a real hard go of it. Coach
andersty great dude stepped down last year, came back to
the program in another way, but Josh Moore and Kent
State got that thing rolling with improved results already. And
(07:09):
now women's wrestling program. Now we're gonna talk to the Mangler.
As always, I'd like to thank you for spending your
time with me, because you've always got time for sure time.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Who Hey, guys, appreciate everyone being here and thanks for
joining us.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So I guess i'll fire away first. Coach Manning one,
I missed the era of the silver Fox. We've got
the we get the whole white now. But it's a
different look, but I'm getting used to it. But you've
got two ranked teams coming in.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Silver Fox was was our boyfriend Michigan.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, but you had that era of the silver Fox
going from uh, I'm.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Not a five, I'm not I'm not a white.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Wolf, white Wolf, Kyle. You're gonna save that one white wolf,
Mark Manning. We can move away from white from the
Mangler to white wolf.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Way.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
We've got You've got two big ranked opponents coming in
looking at North Carolina seven ranked head to heads Oklahoma
State nine ranked head to heads. A couple people you've
crossed paths with over your career, Rob Cole, let's talk
about that matchup a little bit. Uh, at North Carolina,
they're they're they're on a pretty good run right now.
And you know, you've got a Friday Sunday, this is
a mid season type of weekend. So first thoughts about
(08:21):
Carolina coming in with a pretty solid squad.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Yeah, Rob, Rob's one of my good friends. He's uh,
you know, we Uh, I was an assistant coach at
North Carolina when he was a sophomore in college there,
and so we go way back. Have a lot of
respect for Rob. Rob's a winner. I mean, he really
helped build Cornell wrestling into what it is today, and
(08:45):
then he went to Stanford for a couple of years
and really a lot of those guys on that team
are guys that Rob recruited. But uh, you know, he's
he's a winner. He's gonna have good, good guys on
his team, and uh, he's gonna be well prepared. So
you know, it's it's gonna be a great challenge on
(09:05):
Friday night, And I think they have four or five
ranked guys in the top twenty. I think, so we're
we we have to be prepared to wrestle our best.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, you've been thrown right at it with the National Duels.
I mean, you guys have have a pretty solid schedule
with who you've been wrestling in terms of ranked opponents.
Then to go again to Friday Sunday to bring an
old old Big eight Big twelve rival, Oklahoma State in
David Taylor's got some energy with that program. You know,
they've got a lot of fiery superstars, nine ranked head
to heads. There's that's kind of a callback to those
(09:38):
old old knockdown dragouts you used to So what are
you expecting with the Cowboys on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, it's it's just David standing over there instead of John.
So you know, it's he's got a he's got an
amazing team, a lot of young talent, you know, talent
coming out of their shoelaces. Man, they got they got
a lot of good guys. We've got a lot of
respect for them. And but yeah, I mean I think
you know, obviously Sunday is setting up. You know, they
(10:05):
they they whipped us, you know, a month month and
a half ago, and we had some guys hurt that duel,
but uh, you know, they have a really good team
and it'll be a great challenge and it'll be you know,
it's something that David called me up and said, hey,
you want to start a home and home and really
a forever thing, not a not a one off, not
(10:28):
one time here, one time there. We're just going to
do it. We're going to continue to do it for
years to come. So it's going to be really good.
I think people in the Midwest, and obviously here at
Nebraska and Oklahoma State have a lot of respect for
each other's team, and it's gonna be it's gonna help
us both.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Coach. What's the chance lamor status?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So Chance Lamer is he hopefully you know, he'll be
uh certified to be able to wrestle on Sunday. If not,
you know, we'll we'll we'll have some different options, but
hopefully that's really in the hands of our academic people
here at Nebraska. But yeah, he's done taking his test,
(11:13):
so he doesn't have any more tests for the semesters.
So it's just about the paperwork getting submitted and people
signing off so we're excited about chance.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
Yeah, coach, So, I was wondering when we saw the
duel with Oklahoma State. Everybody thought that that would be
one of the best tools of you know, the entire season,
non conference tool. Some coaches may prefer just to have
that on campus rather than you guys wrestled at the
National Duel's Invitational, you know earlier. Does does that take
(11:49):
anything away from it or does that actually make it
more interesting for you more storylines and your staff can
make adjustments and try to, you know, get back some
of those matches.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Well, we we Uh, I mean I had about five
minutes to decide when when the turnaround from Ohio State
to UH to Oklahoma State. I think it had about
eight minutes or someone someone told me. But we we
wrestled both of our twenty five pounders at one, at
twenty five, one at thirty three. Van Dee was hurt
(12:22):
and Trell Taylor hurt his knee. LJ. Rougio heard his hamstrings.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So we were we were, we were banged up there
and uh, we just I mean, it is what it is.
So it Uh, you know, we're we're we're going to
be healthy going into this duel and so you know,
they got a lot of firepower. So it's gonna be
a great duel. That's what wrestling is all about. And
you know it adds some storyline. But we you know,
(12:49):
we could see you know, obviously four or five of
these guys come in, say a tournament, So I think
that's you know, we we David and myself, we both
know it's going to be, uh you're in battle and uh,
it's it's gonna be it's gonna be really good for
our guys to to just keep elevating, uh, you know,
(13:12):
each wrestler at each school, so great challenge and looking
forward to it.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
How excited is Brock to have that match against Vega?
Back run that one back?
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, you know it's uh, you know, he he out
wrestled us in some positions that normally Brock wins, and
you know, it is what it is. You got to
give your tip your hat to le Roy Vega. He
he wrestled really well, He wrestled with a lot of
great composure, and you know he's he deserved to win
(13:48):
that match. And you know, we just we made a
lot of a lot of mistakes that normally Brock doesn't
make and but hey, that's why it's imperfect sport and
that's why it's called wrestling, not doing moves. So it's uh,
it's really good. You know, Vega's got it. You know,
he's a really great competitor and you know he's he's
(14:11):
got a lot of talent. So and we have to
be at our best come Sunday at forty one.
Speaker 6 (14:18):
Hey, Mark, Uh, you said that you were gonna go
with ty Ice at against North Carolina on Friday night.
He's been previously at seventy four. Is that the place
you kind of wanted to stay or is he just
kind of fluid moving around a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yeah, well we're uh, we're just going to give Silas
a day off of making weight and we uh we
have Tye going out. We'll go on Friday night there,
but yeah, we'll just see moving forward. Nothing set in stone,
and uh, you know Ty's got a good competitor that night,
(14:54):
so he's he's got to wrestle. Really well, it's good
opportunity for him to have his first really kind of
home opener as a Recher freshman on Friday.
Speaker 3 (15:10):
How nice is it having that? Not not looking past
North Carolina because they're a great team, but how nice
is it having that duel on Friday to kind of
kick the rust off for some of these guys, especially
like Ferrari who hasn't wrestled since National duels.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Yeah, for for it's going to be really good. It's uh,
it's good to be home. You know, it's good when
you have you know, we're so used to have Friday
Sunday duels in the Big Ten, you know, you you know,
it really hardens you up when you have to go
on the road. When you when you're at home, you
don't have to travel, it's so much easier and just
(15:44):
a lot a lot less stress on the on your team.
But this will really bring our team together and really
show what we're about and really get us prepared for
the second half the season where you know, we have
we have a really challenging schedule in in the Big
Ten in January and then February. So it's just going
(16:05):
to prepare us for the best day five days in March,
and that's what we're all about.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
Coach, what did you learn about the peaking process from
last year? Because you guys got better and better throughout
the season. What can you apply from last season that
you're using this.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Year really really nothing. Just keeping our guys healthy, Kyle,
really getting our getting our guys in the in really
good shape and uh, you know, getting their mind right,
getting them ready to battle, and and then just cutting
them loose. Really that's uh, keeping guys healthy is is
(16:42):
is a trick. You know, it's hard to it's easy
to overtrain and harder to hold them back sometimes.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
You know, but.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
What they need to do is be able to perform.
And that's you know, you just work backwards. But we
feel what we do works pretty well. And and it
really starts with getting guys guys bodies right and uh,
and that gives them in the best pops possible position
(17:16):
to to you know, give their best effort.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Coach.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
When you look at Nebraska sports, of course, the state
seems to rotate around things that go on there and Lincoln,
whether it be football. Of course, volleyball has been been
made national headlines for their attendance. But your attendance is
nothing to sneeze at your top ten and duel meet attendants.
Last year you brought good opponents in, you know, just
even looking at them on the streams, it looks like
that's that's a boisterous, rocking place. So what have you
(17:44):
guys done to really make Nebraska wrestling a draw for
the Lincoln community and the wrestling community in that region
at large, because it looks like they're a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah, you're right, it's uh, it's been really good. We've
just really I think our fan base has just really
grown with with how our team has really progressed. You know,
We've always had some really good teams here and now
more and more people are catching on. I think we do.
We do a radio show every week. Derek Pearson has
(18:17):
been really gracious with ninety three point seven the ticket
has really helped promote our program the last three years.
That's really helped our athletic director Troy Dannin's really helped
us the last year and a half. You really, you know,
we have a really nice stage, beautiful stage, Matt Side
season tickets. We really do a good job just promoting that,
(18:40):
and we have a lot of good people selling that
aspect and just Husker fans just really enjoy our team
and really enjoy kind of the way our culture is
in our program and the way our kids, you know,
act on and off the mat and they they have
(19:01):
a lot of respect for how our guys compete as competitors,
and but how they treat people off the mat is
I think a big selling point too.
Speaker 6 (19:18):
Yeah, Mark, you know, obviously on Sunday one of the
big matches, people are kind of circling that didn't get
to happen at National Duels. Is you know Andrell Taylor,
you know he was injured, wasn't able to go against
Land and Robbie Doo and you know that's you know,
undefeated freshman. What do you kind of see in that matchup?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You know, Robodo is really good. He's really good. He's
really uh, he's strong, he's tough. You know, good matchup
for Antrell. You know it's uh, it's going to be
a good battle. You know, probably see him again at
the NCAA tournament. So you know it's uh when you
say is he's we got a lot of respect for
(20:04):
Landon Rodo He's I didn't know he was undefeated, he's
he's he's really good, really good. I tried to recruit
him out out of high school. So he's, uh, he's
a really good wrestler, really good competitor. You know, he
seems very you know, he's he doesn't get rattled, he
and and so, uh you know that that makes him. Yeah,
(20:28):
he's a mentally tough guy. You can tell by how
he competes. And he's a hard nosed guy. And he's
what he's what you want on your team and for
him to be wrestling at the level he is as
a true freshman, he says a lot about him and
his future. And you know, David's done a really good job.
He's got a lot of good young guys and his
team like rodo you know, I mean Vega true freshman.
(20:52):
You know, he's got other guys and so you know
they're not going away. You got to you got to
meet the challenge and and uh that's what's great about sports.
And hey, that's what Andrell is looking forward to the
match just like he is. I'm sure so, Hey, best
man wins.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Circle back to another young guy on your side this
time LJ. You know he's a guy that you know,
was under the radar for a lot of people coming
out of high school, even though he had some pretty
solid results, had a busy offseason wrestling freestyle and such.
And obviously people know that the Nebraska freestyle, off season
circus pretty good. It's got a pretty good resume there.
But what do you see from LJ from his red
(21:32):
shirt ear through the summer to now injury and ouwithstanding
about his progression and where he's going to fit in,
you know, in the not just in the lineup, but
nationally this season and throughout his career.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, I think you know a lot of people a
little bit more in the Midwest knew about LJ. And
you know, he's a guy that's just really hungry because
he loves his sports so much. You could tell a
lot about guys of how they, you know, much work
they're going to put in the off season, and LJ is,
you know, he's he's one of those guys that he's
(22:06):
he's he's around the wrestling room six out of seven
days and he's, uh, he loves it. He loves learning,
he loves to get better. He's just a gnarly tough kid.
And you know he's getting better and better in all
three positions, top, bottom, and on his feet, and you
know he's gonna he's going to be pretty good by
(22:27):
the end of the year. And uh, obviously he's got
to wrestle. Uh, you know two really tough guys, North
Carolina guys. Hefner's is an experienced guy, ustle a lot
at Ohio State. And so we got to got that's
a big match, you know on Friday night for LJ.
And then you know quick turnaround with with locket on Sunday.
(22:48):
So what a great challenge for LJ. And and uh,
nothing but good things can happen for him. The more
he wrestles these guys, the more he gets his hands
on and uh, LJ is going to be He's going
to be a force to reckon with. Moving forward?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
What what?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
What matches are you guys looking most forward to? Hey,
uh my student, you guys don't know I have a
student on this broadcast here, Kyle Kleingman. What what match Kyle?
You're looking most forward to?
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Forty one on Sunday? Forty one forty one? Yep?
Speaker 2 (23:30):
What do you think?
Speaker 4 (23:31):
Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you what you want
to hear. I'm gonna say Black Hardy is gonna win.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Hey, do you have at two o'clock you have David
Taylor going on telecast.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
I'll tell him what he needed to hear. How about
I'm looking forward.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
To that one.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
How about Dylan, what do you guys think?
Speaker 6 (23:55):
I really like that mento Alex facundo match.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I mean that was.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Decided on a you know, scissor leg in the last seconds.
I mean that thing was razor thin. I'm excited about
that one.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yeah, that's you're yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I kind of alluded to it already. Is LJ? You know,
healthy LJ? Where he's at? You know, you got two
stud freshmen here. This is this is you know, we're
looking at future battles here. This is uh, you know,
see them one percent. That's something I want to look
at for because I mean, where's the grind going to
be with when these kids get long in the tooth
in their first full season in the lineup? Where where's
that gonn at? What's gonna happen there? I mean, how
they can handle it? So this is, uh, you know,
(24:33):
we're we're approaching the new year. This is where kids
start being like, all right, now my body starts to hurt.
So kind of keep an eye on that one.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
That's right, Jason, You're right, that's a good point. And uh, yeah,
these guys that looks like Locke, it'll probably be at
sixty five for a few more years, so these guys
could battle, you know, a number of number of times
a number of years. So yeah, it's good. It's it's
what more rustling more, you know, we need to set
up more these matchups and in wrestling, in our sport.
(25:03):
I mean, people love it. I mean it's hey, it's
what what keeps me awake at night. This this is
great stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Hi, coach, I got a question for you from Rob Sanders.
He wants to know the best Christmas gift you've ever received.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Wow, uh, man, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Ah h.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Best Christmas. I don't know. I'm a sweet tooth. You
and my wife will get me something and and uh,
you know that I love on you know, man, packet
of gummy bears or something. I don't know. I'm pretty simple.
I don't need much. But uh, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
He sent me ten, but none of them are constructive,
so we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Good Christmas. But I don't have to go into the
wrestling room that day usually, so that's a good present. Now.
I love being in there, So okay, appreciate you guys.
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
The Short Time Wrestling Podcast has been outfitted by Compound
Sports where since ever since you need something, shirts, hats, gear, teamwear.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.