Meeting the President of Bucknell who asked me if I wanted the last danish... at a breakfast meeting before the EIWA's, then getting to speak to him after the EIWA's, scoring Kyle Dake's last loss in the EIWA's that year, going to the NCAA's for the 1st time with a all access pass in hand... walking in the arena through the players entrance before the tourney started... Getting to eat lunch in the penthouse suite of the Wells Fargo Center with Wade Schalles and Nate Carr... then the silly guys from Flo would show up. Screwy Louie from New Jer... say... giving everyone a history lesson on collegiate wrestling from the 50's using his ipad for illustration. Sitting next to Shane Sparks and some guy named Teyon Ware who introduced themselves and became instant friends after spending hrs sitting next to them as they did in arena commentary. Watching the Brands and the Sanderson's... communicate through body language and the verbal variety. Worth the free admission in it's self.
Man... one big blur of UTOPIA. It's what makes Nationals... a National Wrestling Treasure.
Right on, I feel ya! Last year, was the first year I had a press pass, and the mat-side access I had blew me away. I remember watching Cael chew gum from 6ft away and thinking 'dag, that jaw could crush rocks!' Then being in the interview room after IMar won his first title and there were only like 10 other ppl in there and I could ask him whatever I wanted? Blew me away, so many butterflies. I did manage to get out a reasonably-articulated question about how much Jeremy Hunter & Mark Perry had helped him that year--even tho they were both sitting 3ft behind me! I got to watch WIN Mag's Mike Finn absolutely grill Tom Ryan about the loss of his son and remember feeling very yucky about how cold the questions were coming and about how many. Remember watching the disgust on the face of Zeke Jones after McCutcheon beat Blake Stauffer and then beating myself up for not having taken a photo or video of Jones stomping off without waiting to greet or console his wrestler.
This past year (and I have probably 3-5 posts still in my drafts folder), I also got to meet Shane Sparks! But it was different than working beside him...I had just ordered a gyro from the street cart for breakfast, a beautiful sunny day, and somebody tapped me on the elbow and just said, with a huge grin 'what did you get?' I brightened up and told him a gyro, then told him I knew he was Shane Sparks and I was a big fan of his work. I felt like a kid, so...let's call it Wrestling Star-Struck. Dude just oozed the positivity and enthusiasm that we see come out all the time in his work.
At MSG, my press pass operated differently (I think b/c of floor space), so I wasn't really allowed out on the floor beside the mats. I got a good spot in the arena but not on the floor during one session, so I did manage to get a couple decent photos. But I still had free reign in the tunnels and dag was it cool to see those wrestlers up close! Adam Coon looks as big & scary as he did last year in the tunnel on his way out to meet Gwiz for the final. I was bummed Jason Nolf passed on the (apparently) optional post-quarterfinals interview, which was set up in the tunnel, but I got to stand right beside IMar again and the dude from Rider who made it to the semis, as they were interviewed by their local media guys. Mostly, tho, I just tried to stay out of the wrestlers' way while down there.
Last one...this year my pass included a seat on press row, but that was really, really high up, like 8th floor. The arena was on the 5th and the MSG elevators were all old & small & really slow, so getting from seat to floor and back was a bunch of steps and a good 5-minute trip, so I did a lot of just hangin at my press row seat. The woman beside me runs/writes for New York Wrestling News and had been covering Cornell for 7 years, so I talked to her a lot. I've been a longtime Nahshon & Dean fan, but I only know a little about Realbuto & Palacio and pretty much nothing else about any of the rest of them. She had a terrible first day, with the injury to Realbuto and I really felt bad for her and their fans. That tourney's brutal enough without tearing your dang ACL in the first round. But she was a wealth of knowledge. During a bit of a lull, I saw Owen Scott on the mat and just said 'so what should I know about Owen Scott?' She goes 'well, he's wrestled with a face mask for most of the year and this is one of his first ones without it.' I thought, well THIS is gonna be fun! When Smackintosh began working a bow & arrow, I quipped that it looked like Archery Season was now open, then told her 'actually, I think Smack really started to adopt that after getting abused with it by Cam Simaz his TRFR year.' And she told me that they all call it the Cam Opener! Loved it!
It's a beautiful, beautiful tournament.