WTT Senior Brackets out

[slushhead]

What world have you been living in? Opposing fan bases have been doing this to Iowa for 30 years. Gilman runs into an opposing teams huddle for a handshake and we have PSU fans crucifying him, calling for the University of Iowa and the Big Ten to take action against this classless act. If an Iowa guy even sneezes the wrong way, we have PSU fans ripping on him and Iowa. Could you even imagine the reaction from PSU fans if Brands threw a brick, towel, and a chair? Or if Gilman got beat, and he started pointing at the ref and people in the crowd while kicking the challenge brick across the mat. The Internet would probably blow up. We'd have people calling for Brands to be fired, USA wrestling to suspend Gilman, and for the University to decry these classless acts.

The reality is this. If it was another set of coaches and a different wrestler, the majority of people wouldn't even care. Heat of the moment, part of the battle. Most wrestling fans understand this. They might not agree with what they did, but in the end it's no big deal. Since this was Cael and Taylor though, I must admit it makes me and others smile. All we have heard from PSU fans for the past few years is how much of class act Cael and Taylor are, how much fun they have, how great it is to be in and around that atmosphere, how they always win and lose with grace and honor, while simultaneously bashing every single act an Iowa guy or coach does.

I agree wholeheartedly with most of this. I do want to respond with a couple of thoughts . . .

I'm not interested in arguing about the degree of its merit, but the Iowa program takes more heat because there is a real perception that "antics" occur there with more regularity than at most other programs. Not sure that the amount of scrutiny correlates appropriately with the degree of difference, but the perception of a difference exists.

Iowa isn't on an island, though. Look at all the heat PD3 takes (begs for?). All the heat that Mr. Martin brought upon his otherwise quiet and respectful son (from what I can tell). All the bashing of Coach Smith making his guys cut too much weight, and the team employing an overly defensive style of wrestling. Delgado hated for ankle-diving. Nebby moving up the ranks of criticized teams because of the more-mouth-than-accomplishment of guys like Berger and Montoya (not to mention the common tantrums of Manning). Gophers taking pills.

Sure, some of those programs/individuals may not take as much heat as Iowa, but they are not nearly as high-profile as Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling, either. And just wait until the Cyclones become relevant again -- you guys will really be under the microscope then.

I get that it sucks for rival fan bases that PSU is the current collegiate wrestling darling, but at least the attention Iowa gets means that it is still relevant. And I totally get why some enjoy seeing golden boys get knocked back down to earth with the mere mortals. It's human nature.

The media generally sucks and will only get worse as sensationalism pays. PSU antics should receive just as much (if not more) attention as everyone else's though. Guess they don't want to tick off the fanbase of the top team. Not sure why that matters, though -- it's not like the Iowa fanbase has suddenly shrunk the past 5 years.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

We would have been lucky to get 8,000 in Carver.

No way. Look at Olympic Trials attendance. It would have been virtually the same. I was there, and there were great crowds. Well more than 8,000.

I don't see 2016 figures right away, but in 2012, the average attendance per session was 13,700. A far cry from 8,000.

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2015/04/22/olympic-wrestling-trials-return/26209725/

 

[PrairieHawk24]

No way. Look at Olympic Trials attendance. It would have been virtually the same. I was there, and there were great crowds. Well more than 8,000.

I don't see 2016 figures right away, but in 2012, the average attendance per session was 13,700. A far cry from 8,000.

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/local/2015/04/22/olympic-wrestling-trials-return/26209725/

Figure a little less since it's not an Olympic team, but 10k is very reasonable and in my eyes expected

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Figure a little less since it's not an Olympic team, but 10k is very reasonable and in my eyes expected

Maybe a little less since it's not an Olympic year, but not much at all, IMO. Wrestling fans understand that the process of making a World team is identical to the process of making an Olympic team. The realize that a World championship is basically just as prestigious in the world of wrestling as an Olympic gold medal. The media take less notice, but making a World team and winning World medals is a huge deal, nonetheless.

In any case, we have good evidence that attendance in Carver for these World Team Trials would have, in all likelihood, been far more than 8,000 and well over 10,000. I'd say something more like 13,000, and more for the finals.

 

[Sett1997]

How did the true second matches turn out? I haven't seen anything in any of them so was curious if they truly happened?

http://www.flowrestling.org/result/10324-senior-men-s-freestyle-world-team-trials#.WT2sOeBOl9U

 

[SmartAggressive]

Don't mean to be a Debbie downer, but the attendance for the 2016 trials was much lower than in 2012. And the attendance for a World Trials would be even less. I was there for both, and I was in Lincoln yesterday. For those of you whining about the attendance in Lincoln, were you there supporting the HWC yesterday? How do you know what it was like if you weren't there? I was there and it was a very good atmosphere. Those who weren't there missed out on one hell of a show by the wrestlers (and Classy Cael). I had a lot f***.

No doubt, we have the best wrestling fan base in America, but if we want to continue to claim to be the best wrestling fans in the world, we damn well better sell out Carver for the World Cup next year! Yeah, that's a challenge for you fellow Hawk fans. Get off your couch and get to the World Cup next April to support the HWC/USA!

Disclaimer: I realize not everyone can make it to every Hawkeye/HWC Event or donate thousands to the HWC. I certainly can't at this time. The fundraising momentum the last couple months has been awesome, but let's not resort to putting down other programs and cities for their attendance numbers when we have yet to sell out Carver for a freestyle event.

2018 Freestyle Wrestling World Cup. April 21-22. Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa City, Iowa. Be There!

 

[Jackhawk87]

I posted the original tweet of the DT/Cael video but have put off any rash judgement on DT and Cael's actions.

After thinking about it a bit, I think DTs actions are at least understandable. His dream of a World team has been crushed again. He won the first match and was in good shape. When Cox got hurt, he thought it was in the bag. Cox may not have been super offensive the last couple minutes and I am sure DT thinks he should have been put on the clock - but Cox did score offensive points twice in the last couple minutes and did take shots. I do think it is poor sportsmanship on his part for pointing and yelling at the ref and ?Zaddick and kicking the brick. If he is pushing the choirboy image and f*** schtick, he needs to act better than that. That said, his actions are at least understandable given the stakes and disappointment he just experienced.

Cael's actions were inexcusable. There were no blown calls, no bad breaks for DT, and no "DT got screwed" moments. He lost. For any coach, much less one acting as the "above the fray f***master", his actions were out of bounds. Throwing the challenge brick into the refs chest, following it with a towel to the chest and throwing the chair on the mat is just unacceptable behavior and deserves a reprimand of some sort. Seriously - deliberately throwing a challenge brick into the chest of the ref? I don't see how any reasonable person can justify behavior like that from a coach.

 

[pumpdog20]

My takes:

-Gilman was the man, that bracket was sick! I didn't think he would make it out of the challenge tournament, let alone take out Ramos. I was aware of his previous jr level results, but combining how Cruz and Mega used their athleticism and a seemingly lackluster LCQ, I thought he would struggle. On the other hand, I'm thinking "dammit Gilman clearly you should have been a 2 time champ".

-"Atmosphere" appeared exciting, 4k makes it irrelevant. Gilman vs Ramos, Dake vs Burroughs, and Taylor vs Cox... those story lines weren't around last year. Easily 10k in I.C. which is awesome for not an olympic year. With that said, we need to pack the place for the World Cup. We also need to come up with an annoying chant to drown out the Iranians.

-Don't really care about the DT incident. The F*** stuff gets annoying, but so does the whole "but if Iowa did it...". Yes, clearly more would have been made of the deal, but it's getting to "but if Obama/Republican/white guy/etc does it..." levels and it would be great if it stopped. We need to decide if we like the whole Iowa vs the world mentality or don't. I prefer the former.

-Sucks to see a talent like Dake not get his dream, but that's what happens when you're in the shadow of greatness. Same with Taylor.

-Everyone knows I'm still a big TRam fan. As a new HWC donator, I was clearly cheering for Gilman. It hurt when Tony left the way he did. It was unnecessary, and he should have just said he wanted a change in philosophy. My biggest worry about last night was that Tony was going to win. Not that I don't wan't Tony to win, but I felt he was going to do something towards Gilman/Brands/Iowa that would have turned me off to him. He was gracious in defeat, and I hope he mended some fences with some Iowa fans. We clearly have Gilman's blessing, "He's a hawk..."

 

[TarpHawk]

First and foremost, kudos to Gilman.

Second, good that Ramos didn't throw a hissy fit. But he looked to me like a guy who knew he'd been beaten still wanting to share in the winner's limelight. Gilman looked like he wanted Ramos to leave him alone. I'm glad Gilman won. I don't give a crap about Ramos.

Third, kudos to HWC, all of whom wrestled above their seeds.

Finally, I don't really have an issue with Taylor or Cael's behavior. I tried to be outraged for about half a second, but it didn't take. An apology by Cael would be nice, but whatever.

And, yes, people need to give the pedo crap a rest.

Good tourney.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

Don't mean to be a Debbie downer, but the attendance for the 2016 trials was much lower than in 2012. And the attendance for a World Trials would be even less. I was there for both, and I was in Lincoln yesterday. For those of you whining about the attendance in Lincoln, were you there supporting the HWC yesterday? How do you know what it was like if you weren't there? I was there and it was a very good atmosphere. Those who weren't there missed out on one hell of a show by the wrestlers (and Classy Cael). I had a lot f***.

No doubt, we have the best wrestling fan base in America, but if we want to continue to claim to be the best wrestling fans in the world, we damn well better sell out Carver for the World Cup next year! Yeah, that's a challenge for you fellow Hawk fans. Get off your couch and get to the World Cup next April to support the HWC/USA!

Disclaimer: I realize not everyone can make it to every Hawkeye/HWC Event or donate thousands to the HWC. I certainly can't at this time. The fundraising momentum the last couple months has been awesome, but let's not resort to putting down other programs and cities for their attendance numbers when we have yet to sell out Carver for a freestyle event.

2018 Freestyle Wrestling World Cup. April 21-22. Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa City, Iowa. Be There!

I was at both the 2012 and the 2016 Olympic Trials, and attendance looked very similar for both events to me. It certainly wasn't on the order of 8,000 per session. You know as well as I do that we'd put more than 10,000 in Carver per session for WTT's, and I think it would be a good bit more than that, especially considering recent momentum among Iowa fans. I don't understand your basis for such pessimism regarding potential for attendance at Carver.

Many of us, myself included, couldn't be in Lincoln because of more important things like family. So I wouldn't be so quick to criticize those who couldn't be there. There actually are more important things in life than Iowa wrestling. That said, one of our points of emphasis in the DSM group is to find ways to motivate Hawk fans to flock to HWC events the same way they flock to Iowa wrestling meets and tournaments. I'm confident that USA Wrestling events will start to see more of an Iowa fan presence in the near future.

Apart from that, I agree with everything else you say. No doubt, we need to pack Carver for the World Cup -- and I have little doubt we will.

 

[SPOONER]

Don't mean to be a Debbie downer, but the attendance for the 2016 trials was much lower than in 2012. And the attendance for a World Trials would be even less. I was there for both, and I was in Lincoln yesterday. For those of you whining about the attendance in Lincoln, were you there supporting the HWC yesterday? How do you know what it was like if you weren't there? I was there and it was a very good atmosphere. Those who weren't there missed out on one hell of a show by the wrestlers (and Classy Cael). I had a lot f***.

No doubt, we have the best wrestling fan base in America, but if we want to continue to claim to be the best wrestling fans in the world, we damn well better sell out Carver for the World Cup next year! Yeah, that's a challenge for you fellow Hawk fans. Get off your couch and get to the World Cup next April to support the HWC/USA!

Disclaimer: I realize not everyone can make it to every Hawkeye/HWC Event or donate thousands to the HWC. I certainly can't at this time. The fundraising momentum the last couple months has been awesome, but let's not resort to putting down other programs and cities for their attendance numbers when we have yet to sell out Carver for a freestyle event.

2018 Freestyle Wrestling World Cup. April 21-22. Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa City, Iowa. Be There!

One doesn't have to be there to know 4,500 is meh at best. That just over half full and that's with two local stars (including wrestling royalty) with strong chances to win the thing, and did. We don't have to "resort" to anything--we are PROUD for how we support these events far better than other cities. We have earned it. Defending 4500 but holding Iowa fans to a sellout (15,000 seat) standard--twice in the same post--is curious at best.

 

[jammenz]

CHA has cheap plastic seats that are crammed together with no leg room. When I was there for the OTT I had to give away my premium ticket to go stand in the concourse area to watch because my legs cramped up so badly.
Give me Devaney any day. Comfortable seating with plenty of leg room and best of all, fewer Iowa fans. After the remodel it holds 7907 and that is with the bleachers out. For the event it held 5,500.

 

[1stplacehawk]

CHA has cheap plastic seats that are crammed together with no leg room. When I was there for the OTT I had to give away my premium ticket to go stand in the concourse area to watch because my legs cramped up so badly.
Give me Devaney any day. Comfortable seating with plenty of leg room and best of all, fewer Iowa fans. After the remodel it holds 7907 and that is with the bleachers out. For the event it held 5,500.

We apologize for CHA not being ergonomic for the elderly.

 

[rossel 33]

CHA has cheap plastic seats that are crammed together with no leg room. When I was there for the OTT I had to give away my premium ticket to go stand in the concourse area to watch because my legs cramped up so badly.
Give me Devaney any day. Comfortable seating with plenty of leg room and best of all, fewer Iowa fans. After the remodel it holds 7907 and that is with the bleachers out. For the event it held 5,500.

Leg room insufficient? Have you flown domestically recently?

 

[GableEdge]

Old man cramps legs

 

[GableEdge]

CHA has cheap plastic seats that are crammed together with no leg room. When I was there for the OTT I had to give away my premium ticket to go stand in the concourse area to watch because my legs cramped up so badly.
Give me Devaney any day. Comfortable seating with plenty of leg room and best of all, fewer Iowa fans. After the remodel it holds 7907 and that is with the bleachers out. For the event it held 5,500.

I bet the crampy legs made it better for everyone sitting around you. Lord knows your swollen prune of a prostate would force you to be getting up every 5 minutes to use the ladies room.

 

[rossel 33]

I posted the original tweet of the DT/Cael video but have put off any rash judgement on DT and Cael's actions.

After thinking about it a bit, I think DTs actions are at least understandable. His dream of a World team has been crushed again. He won the first match and was in good shape. When Cox got hurt, he thought it was in the bag. Cox may not have been super offensive the last couple minutes and I am sure DT thinks he should have been put on the clock - but Cox did score offensive points twice in the last couple minutes and did take shots. I do think it is poor sportsmanship on his part for pointing and yelling at the ref and ?Zaddick and kicking the brick. If he is pushing the choirboy image and f*** schtick, he needs to act better than that. That said, his actions are at least understandable given the stakes and disappointment he just experienced.

Cael's actions were inexcusable. There were no blown calls, no bad breaks for DT, and no "DT got screwed" moments. He lost. For any coach, much less one acting as the "above the fray f***master", his actions were out of bounds. Throwing the challenge brick into the refs chest, following it with a towel to the chest and throwing the chair on the mat is just unacceptable behavior and deserves a reprimand of some sort. Seriously - deliberately throwing a challenge brick into the chest of the ref? I don't see how any reasonable person can justify behavior like that from a coach.

I think many on this board would be willing to cut some slack to Taylor and even Cael, as it's a heartbreaking loss that they thought they should've won. Taylor was on a roll.

But as you say, it's the whole "choirboy - we like to have fun" imagery that the PSU coaches and Taylor have spoon fed to the media in almost every interview. Cael and Taylor's conduct in defeat pulls open the curtain. It's not fun when you lose. That is what Iowa and other fans are pointing out.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
- Martin Luther King Jr

 

[rossel 33]

I'll bite...

So PSU preaches fun fun fun...when you're winning - it's fun! Most of this "fun" speak has come alongside numerous NCAA team titles and a decent measure of SR level success. Lost in all of this, thanks to the dramatic reactions of the NLWC coaches and DT last night, is that NLWC had a champ, 2 team members and they can claim some measure of a tie to another champ (Gwiz) and another team member (Frank). That's an impressive night and it deserves some celebrating! Unfortunately, if you have an incident like last night, any previous preaching of fun or sportsmanship is going to get thrown in your face. Perhaps rightfully so...

Bottom line, wrestling is only fun when you're successful and last night, the golden boy of our program didn't succeed. I believe the reactions were way over the top and not a display of good sportsmanship whatsoever. I don't like the way the match was reffed, but that doesn't make it ok to essentially throw a tantrum like that. That being said, DT missed another opportunity at achieving his dream and there was some controversy - I'm sure I'd have had a tough time handling that with class if I were him too.

I (not speaking for everyone, just myself) don't judge people for isolated incidents in the heat of the moment. Repeated behaviors are always a bad look, but getting carried away in an emotional situation can happen to anyone atleast once! I hope DT finds his way on to a world team some day and gets his shot at a world gold because I think he deserves it...hell I hope Dake does too because he deserves it as well (obvious disclaimer - I am NOT a Dake fan!).

The beauty of wrestling is this...for the last few years, I rooted against Steiber against Zain, Green against Nolf, Cox and Snyder against Morgan, and Gilman against plenty of people! Now I get to root for all of them as they represent USA! Hell, once we're talking SR level, I got to enjoy Gilman's run as a fan of the sport, not sure I could've done that if it were NCAAs. After he crushed Nico (and I'm a huge Nico fan) I found myself more impressed than disappointed- he put on a show! He won me over for the rest of the tourney and I was really excited about his epic run!

The DT-Cox episode shouldn't be the talk this morning...what should be -

-Gilman's 6-0 run through 4 NCAA champs and a runner up!

-Steiber doing Steiber things and surviving a Maple scare and coming back to dominate!

-Zain winning out in a 3 match slug fest against his former coach!

-Green making his third world team!

-JB coming back and beating Dake for the third time in four matches this month!

-Cox coming back to win two matches against an offensive dynamo while battling an injury!

-Snyder dominating once again and this time avenging a rare blemish on his record!

-Gwiz winning out and providing us with the most exciting HWT option in the US!

Congrats to all of these guys and congrats to the warriors they all competed against! Looks like an insane team and I'm excited to see them go to Worlds and bring back some hardware!!! Go USA!!!

Well said. You sound like a true wrestling fan.

 

[rossel 33]

Do I really need to pull up threads where many of you wished he was on your staff NOW? Hell, one guy stated he'd fire a current coach to make room for Taylor. You guys think I'm just go around making this stuff up??

pretty much.... yeah

 

[caliPSUfan]

Well said. You sound like a true wrestling fan.

Used to wrestle, now I coach...I'll always be a true fan of this sport - nothing else compares to it!

 

[PrairieHawk24]

CHA has cheap plastic seats that are crammed together with no leg room. When I was there for the OTT I had to give away my premium ticket to go stand in the concourse area to watch because my legs cramped up so badly.
Give me Devaney any day. Comfortable seating with plenty of leg room and best of all, fewer Iowa fans. After the remodel it holds 7907 and that is with the bleachers out. For the event it held 5,500.

Never had knee problems at Carver because I'm standing up too often getting ice cream cones

 

[SmartAggressive]

I was at both the 2012 and the 2016 Olympic Trials, and attendance looked very similar for both events to me. It certainly wasn't on the order of 8,000 per session. So while I appreciate your enthusiasm for attendance, you know as well as I do that we'd put more than 10,000 in Carver per session for WTT's, and I think it would be a good bit more than that, especially considering recent momentum among Iowa fans. I don't understand your basis for such pessimism regarding potential for attendance at Carver.

Many of us, myself included, couldn't be in Lincoln because of more important things like family. So I wouldn't be so quick to criticize those who couldn't be there. There actually are more important things in life than Iowa wrestling. That said, one of our points of emphasis in the DSM group is to find ways to motivate Hawk fans to flock to HWC events the same way they flock to Iowa wrestling meets and tournaments. I'm confident that USA Wrestling events will start to see more of an Iowa fan presence in the near future.

Apart from that, I agree with everything else you say. No doubt, we need to pack Carver for the World Cup -- and I have little doubt we will.

2016 Olympic Trials Attendance*
Saturday session 1: 10,855
Saturday session 2: 11,066
Sunday session 1: 11,171
Sunday session 2: 11,162
* from hawkeyesports.com

Decent, but a drop off from 2012, and plenty of room for improvement for the World Cup.

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

2016 Trials session 1: 10,855
2016 Trials session 2: 11,066

OK -- less than 2012, but not dramatically less. With the recent uptick in enthusiasm among Iowa fans, I think it's a very safe bet that attendance increases from 2016. Obviously far more than 8,000, so I think we can agree that struggling to reach 8,000 ain't happening, and we'd just about triple the attendance from this weekend.

 

[SPOONER]

2016 Olympic Trials Attendance*
Saturday session 1: 10,855
Saturday session 2: 11,066
Sunday session 1: 11,171
Sunday session 2: 11,162
* from hawkeyesports.com

Decent, but a drop off from 2012, and plenty of room for improvement for the World Cup.

4500 is "very good. 11,000 is "decent." Lol

 

[cidhawkeye]

2016 Olympic Trials Attendance*
Saturday session 1: 10,855
Saturday session 2: 11,066
Sunday session 1: 11,171
Sunday session 2: 11,162
* from hawkeyesports.com

Decent, but a drop off from 2012, and plenty of room for improvement for the World Cup.

So 3 out 4 sessions had more than the Devaney could possibly hold in both sessions? Sounds like IC has the trump card

 

[ih8iast8]

CHA has cheap plastic seats that are crammed together with no leg room. When I was there for the OTT I had to give away my premium ticket to go stand in the concourse area to watch because my legs cramped up so badly.
Give me Devaney any day. Comfortable seating with plenty of leg room and best of all, fewer Iowa fans. After the remodel it holds 7907 and that is with the bleachers out. For the event it held 5,500.

At 40 yo I have no problem with the seats or the leg room at Carver. I work very hard to stave off morbid obesity.

 

[pointtheway]

WTT in Lincoln was a great time. Fantastic wrestling and a nice facility. Nebby did a nice job hosting it and there was a large contingent of Nebby fans in attendance. Obviously there are going to be some differences between the venues when their facility is designed to accommodate 5500 people versus 15500 people for Carver.

Positives:
1 - The crowd of 4000-5000 per session was much smaller than if it had been at Carver, but the smaller arena means you get to sit closer to the action. Seats were more spacious and more comfortable than seats at Carver.
2 - The big video screens were fantastic and they utilized them very well with scores and videos, instead of filling them with advertisements. The replay videos of the challenges were super. Carver seems to put more advertising on their video screens and doesn't even put the name of the opponent wrestling on a video screen during dual meets.
3 - Traffic to/from the arena in Lincoln was no problem (except for the after-event parking lot disaster noted below) with a simple drive down Cornhusker Hwy to our hotel out by the airport. Traffic within Iowa City is not bad after an event, but seems more congested that what we dealt with in Lincoln, possibly because Lincoln is a much bigger city and this was a small event held during the summer break.

Negatives:
1 - They weren't prepared for the early wrestling crowd on Friday for Junior WTT. Many of us showed up around 9:00am and walked right into the arena as all of the doors were wide open with no ticket booths open and no ticket takers at the door. Later the arena staff came in and kicked us all out where we ended up waiting in a line for our will-call tickets as they scrambled to round up the staff that were supposed to work the ticket booths. Fro every event we've been to, Carver Arena staff is much better prepared and coordinated. Nebby staff was friendly though, just like Carver staff.
2 - No parking attendants or traffic security after the event on Saturday night, so exiting the parking lots was an absolute disaster. We left the arena as soon as the last match ended, hurried to our vehicle, backed out and moved about 20 feet where we sat for 20 minutes. It took us 25 minutes to get out of the lot on the north side of the arena. That's unbelievable for a crowd of 4000-5000 that parked on both South and North sides of the arena. At Carver, for crowds of 8000-10000, we get out of the parking lot in a few minutes. They must be able to deal with large parking crowds for Nebby football, but they sure dropped the ball for this small event.

 

[jammenz]

At 40 yo I have no problem with the seats or the leg room at Carver. I work very hard to stave off morbid obesity.

Not everyone is 5'3".

 

[dtripp26]

WTT in Lincoln was a great time. Fantastic wrestling and a nice facility. Nebby did a nice job hosting it and there was a large contingent of Nebby fans in attendance. Obviously there are going to be some differences between the venues when their facility is designed to accommodate 5500 people versus 15500 people for Carver.

Positives:
1 - The crowd of 4000-5000 per session was much smaller than if it had been at Carver, but the smaller arena means you get to sit closer to the action. Seats were more spacious and more comfortable than seats at Carver.
2 - The big video screens were fantastic and they utilized them very well with scores and videos, instead of filling them with advertisements. The replay videos of the challenges were super. Carver seems to put more advertising on their video screens and doesn't even put the name of the opponent wrestling on a video screen during dual meets.
3 - Traffic to/from the arena in Lincoln was no problem (except for the after-event parking lot disaster noted below) with a simple drive down Cornhusker Hwy to our hotel out by the airport. Traffic within Iowa City is not bad after an event, but seems more congested that what we dealt with in Lincoln, possibly because Lincoln is a much bigger city and this was a small event held during the summer break.

Negatives:
1 - They weren't prepared for the early wrestling crowd on Friday for Junior WTT. Many of us showed up around 9:00am and walked right into the arena as all of the doors were wide open with no ticket booths open and no ticket takers at the door. Later the arena staff came in and kicked us all out where we ended up waiting in a line for our will-call tickets as they scrambled to round up the staff that were supposed to work the ticket booths. Fro every event we've been to, Carver Arena staff is much better prepared and coordinated. Nebby staff was friendly though, just like Carver staff.
2 - No parking attendants or traffic security after the event on Saturday night, so exiting the parking lots was an absolute disaster. We left the arena as soon as the last match ended, hurried to our vehicle, backed out and moved about 20 feet where we sat for 20 minutes. It took us 25 minutes to get out of the lot on the north side of the arena. That's unbelievable for a crowd of 4000-5000 that parked on both South and North sides of the arena. At Carver, for crowds of 8000-10000, we get out of the parking lot in a few minutes. They must be able to deal with large parking crowds for Nebby football, but they sure dropped the ball for this small event.

Over twice the attendance and traffic is more congested...go figure

 

[ih8iast8]

Not everyone is 5'3".

6'1"

 

[SmartAggressive]

OK -- less than 2012, but not dramatically less. With the recent uptick in enthusiasm among Iowa fans, I think it's a very safe bet that attendance increases from 2016. Obviously far more than 8,000, so I think we can agree that struggling to reach 8,000 ain't happening, and we'd just about triple the attendance from this weekend.

I'd consider a 20% drop off pretty dramatic. And it's highly unlikely to reach OTT attendance figures with a WTT. You, me, and most everyone on this board knows they are essentially the same, but the more casual fan may not. Olympics are a lot more prestigious than Worlds in many people's eyes. Also, at WTTs you don't have Greco and Women's family, friends, and fans.

 

[SPOONER]

I'd consider a 20% drop off pretty dramatic. And it's highly unlikely to reach OTT attendance figures with a WTT. You, me, and most everyone on this board knows they are essentially the same, but the more casual fan may not. Olympics are a lot more prestigious than Worlds in many people's eyes. Also, at WTTs you don't have Greco and Women's family, friends, and fans.

Nothing packs in the fans like women's wrestling and Greco. Kudos to the Huskers for their 4500 and shame on Iowa for 11,000.

 

[SmartAggressive]

4500 is "very good. 11,000 is "decent." Lol

Not at all what I said. Said it was a very good atmosphere yesterday. I think anyone who was there would agree with me.

Said 11,000 was a decent crowd for the OTTs in Iowa City. It wasn't great, imo, considering it was a 20% drop off from the previous OTTs in Iowa City.

 

[SPOONER]

Not at all what I said. Said it was a very good atmosphere yesterday. I think anyone who was there would agree with me.

Said 11,000 was a decent crowd for the OTTs in Iowa City. It wasn't great, imo, considering it was a 20% drop off from the previous OTTs in Iowa City.

Of course it was a good atmosphere. Wrestling fans are a passionate group. Had nothing to do with the local venue.

 

[SmartAggressive]

Nothing packs in the fans like women's wrestling and Greco. Kudos to the Huskers for their 4500 and shame on Iowa for 11,000.

The Husker wrestling fans aren't the ones tooting their own horns. Many of our "greatest wrestling fans on the planet" were on here disparaging the Nebby fan base for only having 4,500 fans at the WTTs. Yet most of those pointing the finger couldn't be bothered to drive across the river to Lincoln to support the HWC.
We should be proud of our program and our fanbase, but a little humility (and a dose of reality) would serve us well.
I think there would have been considerably more fans in Iowa City than in Lincoln, but I don't think we should get to host every OTT and WTT just because we have the most fans. It's good to move the trials around to let fans around the country get an up close look at the best wrestlers in the US.

 

[cidhawkeye]

Not at all what I said. Said it was a very good atmosphere yesterday. I think anyone who was there would agree with me.

Said 11,000 was a decent crowd for the OTTs in Iowa City. It wasn't great, imo, considering it was a 20% drop off from the previous OTTs in Iowa City.

So the 2nd most attended trials were a disappointment because it was 20% less then the record. Using your criteria a regular season wrestling meeting with an attendance of 30k would be a disappointment because the grapple on the gridiron was so much larger.

 

[IAChief32]

The Husker wrestling fans aren't the ones tooting their own horns. Many of our "greatest wrestling fans on the planet" were on here disparaging the Nebby fan base for only having 4,500 fans at the WTTs. Yet most of those pointing the finger couldn't be bothered to drive across the river to Lincoln to support the HWC.
We should be proud of our program and our fanbase, but a little humility (and a dose of reality) would serve us well.
I think there would have been considerably more fans in Iowa City than in Lincoln, but I don't think we should get to host every OTT and WTT just because we have the most fans. It's good to move the trials around to let fans around the country get an up close look at the best wrestlers in the US.

There were a shitload of Hawk fans there which accounted for a sizable chunk of the 4500. When Gilman won, there was a serious roar from the crowd in all of his matches.

 

[wasdt21]

if a place has 4,500 people in it, i don't understand how they redid it to hold 7,900 people is relevant.

 

[PrairieHawk24]

Did they give out an Outstanding Wrestler award?

 

[WWDMHawkeye]

The Husker wrestling fans aren't the ones tooting their own horns. Many of our "greatest wrestling fans on the planet" were on here disparaging the Nebby fan base for only having 4,500 fans at the WTTs. Yet most of those pointing the finger couldn't be bothered to drive across the river to Lincoln to support the HWC.
We should be proud of our program and our fanbase, but a little humility (and a dose of reality) would serve us well.
I think there would have been considerably more fans in Iowa City than in Lincoln, but I don't think we should get to host every OTT and WTT just because we have the most fans. It's good to move the trials around to let fans around the country get an up close look at the best wrestlers in the US.

I'm not going to get into a pissing match with you. Frankly, I don't understand why you seem so determined to have one. I'll just say this:

I haven't seen anyone disparaging NE for their small crowd. I've pointed out that it would have been multiples larger in Iowa City, which is in no way disparaging NE. Just stating a fact. You made an erroneous assertion that we'd struggle to reach 8,000, and I pointed that out. We disagree on what constitutes a "dramatic" decrease in the Carver crowd for OTT's. Fine -- agree to disagree. In addition, I don't understand your preoccupation with talking down the potential for Iowa fans to turn out for a major event. Don't get the pessimism.

I see nothing arrogant about reminding Iowa fans of what a special thing we have going for Iowa wrestling. Our fan base give us a distinct advantage over other programs, and we're doing what we can to leverage it so that we can even the playing field with other top programs that have received massive injections of cash. If we're going to compete and overtake them, we need to mobilize our uniquely large and passionate fan base. This is happening, and we're only getting started. You seem like an avid Iowa wrestling fan, yet you're quick to disparage those of us who are doing all we can to get the Hawks back on top by helping to motivate and mobilize one distinct advantage over other top programs -- our fan base. Frankly, I don't get it. I'd think you'd be all for that, but evidently not. But whatever trips your trigger. I'm done with this circular discussion.