Roll Call for Tulsa
- Thread starter WexfordWarrior
- Start date
Safe travels for everyone heading out. I'll be hitting the Marriott Southern Hills about midnight. Anyone think they'll be in the bar that late?
I'll be in A bar that late.
And don’t forget the General’s new casino!
Dwight Manfredi says Hi!!
If anyone is staying at this hotel, please give the legendary PA wrestling journalist a hand.
If any folks can be counted on to help in that situation, it’s wrestling folks! I bet he has more help than he needs! 👍
Anyone see my favorite wrestling mom yet? Give her a hug from me, she needs one.
Arrived yesterday morning. Same hotel as the Iowa team. Should be a fun weekend. Sit back, relax but cheer hard for the good guys, and enjoy the wrestling.
Anxious to hear how the trip was for those who attended.. Hoping you guys can give us some tidbits or interesting stories...
Yeah it would be interesting to hear as I myself visit Tulsa every December for The Tulsa Shootout and I do however try to qualify for the race but come up short like usual LOL … I generally stay at the Expo Center as we are parked inside , you can shuttle to the city but it’s a pretty big mess trying to get there so I have enough food and cold beverages that last me the week … But A Big Congrats To Penn State Wrestling for another awesome year … I’m A Big Fan Anything Penn State 👍🏻
I'll take a quick stab at this, as I'm just not feeling KYPSW happening tonight.
PAWrestlersDad and I travelled to Tulsa and had a great time. I had slight trepidations due to some of the concerns that were discussed on here beforehand, but NONE of them came to fruition.
Travel: This was the biggest issue of the whole trip. Air travel from central PA was difficult and expensive. There are apparently only two airports on the east coast that fly to Tulsa direct, Reagan National and Charlotte. So, rather than take two hops, we drove to Reagan. Airport busyness and security was a breeze both ways. One easy hop, with a three hour drive to and from. Drive time to Reagan was opposite rush hour, and Sunday was Sunday traffic, so easy-peasy.
Hotels: Because the NCAA rented most of the downtown hotels, we stayed with the PSWC about 9 miles away. Travel to and from on the busses was easy. There was some concern that there would be traffic that would delay us getting into and out of downtown, but we had absolutely no issues.
Arena: BOK center is a nice facility, easy to find your way around, and minimal to no people-flow issues. The worst congestion was after the finals. Otherwise, concourses were wide open. Entry and exit was easy, as well. The very friendly BOK Center employees seemed to be in a contest to get people to use "their" entrance. To take some of the pressure off of some of the main entrances, they opened some minor entrances, and the folks managing those REALLY wanted you to use their entrance. It kind of became a running joke.
Dad and I used ADA seating, which was really quite good. I'll let others discuss their issues with the regular seating, as I know there were some.
Food and entertainment between sessions: There were some who thought this was going to be a big issue, and honestly, it wasn't. I'm sure there were some places that got packed, particularly on St. Patty's Day, but the restaurant selection was large, and they were reasonably close by (we walked two of the days, the other day we went to a PSWC social by bus).
There are sayings like "It isn't the destination, it's the journey." But, one I saw today hit home. Paraphrasing it to fit, "It's not the journey, it's who you walk with." On a micro level you choose those who you'll be with, so in large part, they make the outside arena activities so much fun, but the other thing that strikes me is Penn State Wrestling fans travel so well, that if you see blue and white on someone, you can literally stop them and strike up a conversation. When you get on the busses, if you're not with your micro group, it's the same thing. There's always wrestling to talk about, finding out where people are from, whether they realized PSU had wrestling before 2009, etc. So, there's that group of people you're also on this journey with. And, the same thing happens with non-PSU fans. You can start a conversation with virtually anyone that is wearing wrestling affiliated gear, and have a great conversation. The wrestling community is good to have on your journey.
All in all, this was a great trip.
PAWrestlersDad and I travelled to Tulsa and had a great time. I had slight trepidations due to some of the concerns that were discussed on here beforehand, but NONE of them came to fruition.
Travel: This was the biggest issue of the whole trip. Air travel from central PA was difficult and expensive. There are apparently only two airports on the east coast that fly to Tulsa direct, Reagan National and Charlotte. So, rather than take two hops, we drove to Reagan. Airport busyness and security was a breeze both ways. One easy hop, with a three hour drive to and from. Drive time to Reagan was opposite rush hour, and Sunday was Sunday traffic, so easy-peasy.
Hotels: Because the NCAA rented most of the downtown hotels, we stayed with the PSWC about 9 miles away. Travel to and from on the busses was easy. There was some concern that there would be traffic that would delay us getting into and out of downtown, but we had absolutely no issues.
Arena: BOK center is a nice facility, easy to find your way around, and minimal to no people-flow issues. The worst congestion was after the finals. Otherwise, concourses were wide open. Entry and exit was easy, as well. The very friendly BOK Center employees seemed to be in a contest to get people to use "their" entrance. To take some of the pressure off of some of the main entrances, they opened some minor entrances, and the folks managing those REALLY wanted you to use their entrance. It kind of became a running joke.
Dad and I used ADA seating, which was really quite good. I'll let others discuss their issues with the regular seating, as I know there were some.
Food and entertainment between sessions: There were some who thought this was going to be a big issue, and honestly, it wasn't. I'm sure there were some places that got packed, particularly on St. Patty's Day, but the restaurant selection was large, and they were reasonably close by (we walked two of the days, the other day we went to a PSWC social by bus).
There are sayings like "It isn't the destination, it's the journey." But, one I saw today hit home. Paraphrasing it to fit, "It's not the journey, it's who you walk with." On a micro level you choose those who you'll be with, so in large part, they make the outside arena activities so much fun, but the other thing that strikes me is Penn State Wrestling fans travel so well, that if you see blue and white on someone, you can literally stop them and strike up a conversation. When you get on the busses, if you're not with your micro group, it's the same thing. There's always wrestling to talk about, finding out where people are from, whether they realized PSU had wrestling before 2009, etc. So, there's that group of people you're also on this journey with. And, the same thing happens with non-PSU fans. You can start a conversation with virtually anyone that is wearing wrestling affiliated gear, and have a great conversation. The wrestling community is good to have on your journey.
All in all, this was a great trip.
I'll echo @pawrestlersintn's comments above. The only issue with Tulsa as a location was air travel and nearby accommodations. And I did get to meet PAWrestlersDad as well.
The area had enough walkable restaurant options and we had no trouble finding places to eat/drink. We were lucky enough to have rooms at The Mayo, so we were only 3 blocks from the BOK Center.
The drinks at the BOK Center were a kick in the ass, but I guess you can always drink water if you're out to save money.
The locals in Tulsa were incredibly friendly as were most all fans in attendance. Met plenty of fans from every size school. It is great to see fans from tiny schools making the trip to the tournament every year.
Our group had some new fans in attendance as we had 10 fraternity brothers in our suite as well as @WexfordWarrior and his pal that was with us in Detroit last year.
Always a highlight of the year. I'm feeling very blessed to be able to see our guys perform at such a high level. Can't wait for next year.
The area had enough walkable restaurant options and we had no trouble finding places to eat/drink. We were lucky enough to have rooms at The Mayo, so we were only 3 blocks from the BOK Center.
The drinks at the BOK Center were a kick in the ass, but I guess you can always drink water if you're out to save money.
The locals in Tulsa were incredibly friendly as were most all fans in attendance. Met plenty of fans from every size school. It is great to see fans from tiny schools making the trip to the tournament every year.
Our group had some new fans in attendance as we had 10 fraternity brothers in our suite as well as @WexfordWarrior and his pal that was with us in Detroit last year.
Always a highlight of the year. I'm feeling very blessed to be able to see our guys perform at such a high level. Can't wait for next year.
