u/Old-Artichoke-2251

I’ll probably hurt some feelings with this, and I may very well be wrong, but I’ve always thought it was a little weird when SWAT guys refer to themselves as “operators.”

To me, that term has traditionally been associated with military special operations, and generally speaking, most actual SOF guys don’t even call themselves that in casual conversation. Because of that, it sometimes comes across like some SWAT dudes are trying a little too hard to emulate a world they’re not actually part of.

For context, I’m on my department’s SWAT team myself. We’ve got a solid team, and I know a lot of outstanding guys on both part-time and full-time teams. This isn’t me saying SWAT work isn’t legitimate or dangerous. It absolutely is.

I also served in the military, though nowhere near the special operations community. I just feel like if actual special operations guys heard SWAT officers constantly calling themselves “operators,” they’d probably chuckle a little.

Maybe I’m off base here. Curious what everyone else thinks.

I wrestled 174 over ten years ago, but I’ve always believed 149 is the hardest weight class in college wrestling. One of my former teammates wrestled 125/133 and was highly successful and he believes 125 is the hardest weight class.

What do you guys think is historically the toughest weight class in college wrestling, and why? Could be based on depth, athleticism, talent concentration, difficulty of winning multiple titles, etc.

My old teammate laid out some pretty good arguments about why 125 is the hardest weight class with his thought process is typically lifelong wrestlers and top-level athletes who had no other choice but to wrestle. He believes the higher weight classes are generally less athletic because many of the top athletes at those weights often have other options, such as football or basketball.

He also stated there was an article about ten years ago that stated 50% of NCAA champions wrestled 103/106 in HS and says historically people at lower weight classes do better when they move up.