So after a long bus ride, watching average officials, and feeling a little sick, I'm now in the comfort of my own home. (The average official and being a little sick thing were added to spice up the post...though I know it isn't an original thought 
).
Anyway...aside from my duties on the trip, I spent lots of time here today, on my phone, attempting to add to the sane wrestling discussions, which at times were hard to find...but find them I did!!
Shared our hotel with Minnesota fans, and had several really wonderful discussions. In fact, it keeps my B1G trip fan-civility metric intact. Over the years, we've shared space with Iowa fans several times, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota, and other schools too, and almost to the fan, the shared interest in wrestling far overshadows any dislike, at least away from the mat.
The wrestling was as good as the National Tournament, on a smaller scale, but with higher overall average quality. Think 3 years from now, when I'm guessing they'll be back at PSU...those close by should try to go if they can manage.
Our guys wrestled really well. Almost good enough to win, and showed their fight by shaving 9 points off of an 18.5 point deficit on Sunday. Showed character, with only one loss in 7 matches at the 3:00 session. Zain and Jason held serve. Cenzo excited an already excited PSU section with a great win over an NCAA Finalist, and besting his seed by 1. Hall came within an eyelash of beating a 4th year Junior, and #1 seed...as a true Freshman! Bo came back from a disappointing loss to MyMar to finish strong. Cutch matched Cenzo's performance, though with less flair in a grind-it-out 3-2 win over a guy that pinned him during the season. And Nick N. used a takedown to secure a hard-fought 2-0 win. All-in-all, just what the doctor ordered to build on some positive results and thoughts as they prepare for and then head to Nationals.
I was surprised a little by the refereeing, as I've noted in other posts. This year is the end of the 2 year cycle for rule publication, so a new Interpretations Rulebook will be published this summer for 2017-18 and 2018-19. A discussion on any changes are for another day.
).Anyway...aside from my duties on the trip, I spent lots of time here today, on my phone, attempting to add to the sane wrestling discussions, which at times were hard to find...but find them I did!!
Shared our hotel with Minnesota fans, and had several really wonderful discussions. In fact, it keeps my B1G trip fan-civility metric intact. Over the years, we've shared space with Iowa fans several times, Indiana, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota, and other schools too, and almost to the fan, the shared interest in wrestling far overshadows any dislike, at least away from the mat.
The wrestling was as good as the National Tournament, on a smaller scale, but with higher overall average quality. Think 3 years from now, when I'm guessing they'll be back at PSU...those close by should try to go if they can manage.
Our guys wrestled really well. Almost good enough to win, and showed their fight by shaving 9 points off of an 18.5 point deficit on Sunday. Showed character, with only one loss in 7 matches at the 3:00 session. Zain and Jason held serve. Cenzo excited an already excited PSU section with a great win over an NCAA Finalist, and besting his seed by 1. Hall came within an eyelash of beating a 4th year Junior, and #1 seed...as a true Freshman! Bo came back from a disappointing loss to MyMar to finish strong. Cutch matched Cenzo's performance, though with less flair in a grind-it-out 3-2 win over a guy that pinned him during the season. And Nick N. used a takedown to secure a hard-fought 2-0 win. All-in-all, just what the doctor ordered to build on some positive results and thoughts as they prepare for and then head to Nationals.
I was surprised a little by the refereeing, as I've noted in other posts. This year is the end of the 2 year cycle for rule publication, so a new Interpretations Rulebook will be published this summer for 2017-18 and 2018-19. A discussion on any changes are for another day.
