I know there's a diverse audience here on Panther-lair. Some of you are pretty active on Twitter, some not so much, so I'm guessing a lot of you missed this in the buildup to the UNC match.
I'm not a Barstool guy, but I did stumble onto Jersey Jerry, who works for Barstool a year or so ago when he jumped on the Kenny Pickett bandwagon. I mostly forgot about him, but he'd pop up on my Twitter feed every now and then talking about how he's getting into wrestling.
This week, he blew up with the following tweet about how the NCAA declined his request for a credential in Tulsa. WARNING, I THINK THERE'S SOME SALTY LANGUAGE
Wrestling Twitter was all abuzz about it. Then, Jerry, who has more than 200,000 Twitter followers, announced that he was coming to the Pitt-UNC match. A huge Steelers fan, he posted a picture of him with Pickett on Friday night, then retweeted a Pitt wrestling graphic noting that the first 250 students got free pizza. He offered to pay for another 250 - which it looks like Pitt took him up on - so that was pretty cool.
He posted a video of him shadow drilling - his handfighting leaves a lot to be desired, but hey, he's new to the sport - and one of him in the Pitt wrestling room with Tony Ramos.
OK, so his ankle pick technique is worse than his handfighting, but it's all good exposure for Pitt and college wrestling.
He posted a short clip about being impressed by Nino that has 94,000 views.
Another one, of Cole Matthews coming off after his win and celebrating with Jersey Jerry has 121,000 views, and a still photo of it tweeted by Pitt has 200,000 views.
A final tweet expresses his appreciation for the hospitality shown by Pitt and UNC - particularly Tony Ramos.
So, all in all, it was great exposure for the Pitt wrestling program. It sounds like he plans to go to more matches across the country, but hopefully he'll continue to shine a light on what Coach Gavin and the Panthers.
I'm old school, so Jerry's style isn't mine, but if it helps bring a new audience to wrestling in general and Pitt specifically, I'm all for it.
I'm not a Barstool guy, but I did stumble onto Jersey Jerry, who works for Barstool a year or so ago when he jumped on the Kenny Pickett bandwagon. I mostly forgot about him, but he'd pop up on my Twitter feed every now and then talking about how he's getting into wrestling.
This week, he blew up with the following tweet about how the NCAA declined his request for a credential in Tulsa. WARNING, I THINK THERE'S SOME SALTY LANGUAGE
Wrestling Twitter was all abuzz about it. Then, Jerry, who has more than 200,000 Twitter followers, announced that he was coming to the Pitt-UNC match. A huge Steelers fan, he posted a picture of him with Pickett on Friday night, then retweeted a Pitt wrestling graphic noting that the first 250 students got free pizza. He offered to pay for another 250 - which it looks like Pitt took him up on - so that was pretty cool.
He posted a video of him shadow drilling - his handfighting leaves a lot to be desired, but hey, he's new to the sport - and one of him in the Pitt wrestling room with Tony Ramos.
OK, so his ankle pick technique is worse than his handfighting, but it's all good exposure for Pitt and college wrestling.
He posted a short clip about being impressed by Nino that has 94,000 views.
Another one, of Cole Matthews coming off after his win and celebrating with Jersey Jerry has 121,000 views, and a still photo of it tweeted by Pitt has 200,000 views.
A final tweet expresses his appreciation for the hospitality shown by Pitt and UNC - particularly Tony Ramos.
So, all in all, it was great exposure for the Pitt wrestling program. It sounds like he plans to go to more matches across the country, but hopefully he'll continue to shine a light on what Coach Gavin and the Panthers.
I'm old school, so Jerry's style isn't mine, but if it helps bring a new audience to wrestling in general and Pitt specifically, I'm all for it.
