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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Mark Niemann added to this discussion on April 25, 2010
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Two questions...
1) The crowd looked a good size on the GOhio matches I watched... was it?
2) What happened during Tommy's match against Dom Bradley in the quarterfinals??? Lots of talking, head table meetings and Tommy looked confused... shed some light please...
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Ben Golden added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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Quote from Mark Niemann's post:
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"Two questions...
1) The crowd looked a good size on the GOhio matches I watched... was it?
2) What happened during Tommy's match against Dom Bradley in the quarterfinals??? Lots of talking, head table meetings and Tommy looked confused... shed some light please..."
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I would say the crowd was comparable to a tOSU home dual, but not one of the big ones.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Ben Golden added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Rick Wasmer added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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Where can we see the videos of the finals ?
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Ben Golden added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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Quote from Rick Wasmer's post:
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"Where can we see the videos of the finals ?"
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It was broadcast on the Big 10 Network, so I don't know. Maybe they'll pop up on Youtube, maybe we'll have to watch out to see if it's rebroadcast.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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crowd not what it should have been --- in terms of fan support, re-affirmed Ohio as a great youth & high school state, but a very mediocre college & FILA state. Disappointing.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Jeff Abbott added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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[quote="Laurel Miller"]
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Quote from Roe Fox's post:
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"I don't claim to be well versed in Freestyle but -- relatively speaking -- it looks like Hump is in a good bracket to get to the finals while Jags has some real work in front of him.
Your prediction was almost correct. J Jaggers had a tough tournament, Reese wrestled for third after losing to fellow OTC guy, Shawn Bunch, but lost after a strange incident where he appear to blackout and though he seemed fine. the match was stopped. Anyone who the details of the episode."
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I saw the match up close and Hump was trying to fight out of a headlock and got choked out when Scott pulled him back under. I've seen it happen plenty of times. I was not surprised that they called it a pin, but was surprised when the ref was arguing with his dad instead of trying to revive him.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Bill Splete added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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I thought the tournament had a very poor showing from fans, but I believe that if they made it free for youth and high school athletes and made money off concessions or merchandice. But that is not the point of this post. I am very thankful it was in cleveland. My point of this post is what I saw on Saturday. It was a great moment in wrestling for me. The Saturday morning session had one great wrestler after another. it was truly awesome, and logan had angel on the ropes, he is moving as fast as the upper elite, he is truly a great wrestler. I would love to have seen a clinic during a break. So many great wrestlers it would have been nice to see a clinic, and bring the kids down for a little talk and let them walk the mats. I would have been something to bring the crowd in. I remember meeting steve frasier after he won a gold medal at a national youth tournament. the crowd was all around him. We also met guys at the world cup in Toledo, give the kids access to the greats and the stands will fill. I felt in awe when I walked by John Smith. There was some great wrestling.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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"I believe that if they made it free for youth and high school athletes and made money off concessions or merchandice."
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would be nice however unfortunately thats not a realistic business plan--- since the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission had to guarantee USA WR so much $$ to bring it here, so giving away the product is not feasible. And there are expenses to be paid.
(and of course concessions belongs to CSU or whoever manages the building for CSU. A kid buying a tshirt, a slurpee & a hot dog wont pay the freight.)
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on April 26, 2010
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the Ohio turnout was a disgrace, coaches, fans, whatever-- ive tried to promote Ohio wrestling for about 20 years, maybe i failed, but this was a DISGRACE. s/BobP
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Tim Courtad added to this discussion on April 27, 2010
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I thought it was embaresing for the biggest tounament in wrestling besides maybe world team trials, NCAA's of importance that the U.S. has to offer for our sport. Anyone with a goal to make it to the Olympics can gage themselves by either watching or competing in this tourney. I feel bad for the competitiors. They put their whole life into this sport and have to compete at the highest level with no support.
That said, I thought the finals had no organization and was hard to follow for the common fan. Have the wrestlers get anounced, come out from the tunnel, and give a bio on them so the fans get a good chance to know who they are rooting for. There was no music, special effects, ect. If they are going to run a tourney like that they shouldn't use such a big facility. Have the tourney at an arena that holds only 5 to 7000 fans. I think the wrestling community has to start to think outside of the box. If we don't we are going to die as a sport. Most of our best wrestlers aren't even competing any more do to the lack of funding and support. We should model how Dana White has transformed the MMA world. Wrestlers have to either join the circus or be left to die as a sport.
We have a whole year until next years tourney, let's try to come up with good ideas and work on making this an exceptional tourney for next year. I am willing to meet with the tournament directors and try to convince them to think outside of the box.
There are so many passionate wrestlers out there wanting to see the sport strive that we can't just sit and watch, we need to be pro-active.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Bob Preusse added to this discussion on April 27, 2010
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bottom line Tim, is that fans didnt show up----- outside the box is fine idea, theres always room for that approach and to improve the presentation--- but the basic problem was very simple: though a group of people worked hard to promote the event, the ohio wrestling community did not show up--- pretty basic and pretty sad.
high school & club coaches all over Ohio were contacted, info was posted on forums, ads were run on the Big Ten network--- the Plain Dealer ran a couple major articles before the tourn and gave the tourn good coverage while it was going on-- but fans didnt come, coaches didnt use group rates to expose their kids.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Harry Lester added to this discussion on April 27, 2010
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After watching and competing at nationals since 2002, I thought the crowd was around the same size as the crowds in Vegas, but I was very disappointed we didn't have more fans out, more coaches, and wrestlers. Wrestling is a dying sport because we ourselves do not support it. It's a shame that they have to move everyone to one side of the arena for the cameras because wrestling fans did not show up, and you wonder why we don't get much media attention. I thought the tournament was ran really well, and the venue was perfect size for the event. From a athete's point of view it was a perfect venue. I don't see where anyone can blame the tournament organizers or USAW for how this event went or the location. I just hope next year we don't embarass Ohio wrestling again by showing up with low numbers.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Tim Courtad added to this discussion on April 27, 2010
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Bob,
I agree the fans didn't show up. I enjoyed watching the finals myself. I understand from Harry's perpective it was a great venue and ran smoothly. I totaly agree, the only problem is that we are well informed and have competed in the tourney and follow the wrestlers that are in the tourney. If you take a step back and try to look at an average fan or just someone looking for something to do, you will see where my concerns are.
I am not just trying to rip on the people that ran the event, I want to help as well as I hope others do in trying to make this event better. We have a chance to help our youth and high school wrestlers by having the nations best wrestlers compete in ohio as well as our high school and early college kids competing in the FILA jr's. A couple of suggestions I feel that would enhance the attendence is as followed:
1. Schedule on a weekend where there are not conflicts.(Tournament of Champions)
2. Bring a main attraction in for the tourney.
ex. exhibition mma fight, public speaker Lee Kemp ect, East West main event match, Old timers creative match ups.
3. Promotions, buy one get one free tickets.
4. Make the finals into a main event. I don't even like basketball, but when you go to a CAVS game it is an experience like know other with the music and special effects.
5. Wrestle all of the prelims and 3-8 placing matches before the night main event. Have three mats with freestyle, greco, and women all getting their own mats for the finals. This way you could let all matches end and then have a grand announcement for each match for the finals.
Vegas was always a great place, because you never saw all of the empty seats. Fans were all around the mats and as an athlete your adrenaline was flowing. I'm not sure how the athletes felt with such an empty venue, but as most wrestlers they are so focused it might not even matter. I would like to keep this tourney in Cleveland as long as we can, Let me know what you think.
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Discussion Topic: US Open In Cleveland April 22-25
Ben Golden added to this discussion on April 27, 2010
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Quote from Tim Courtad's post:
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"
2. Bring a main attraction in for the tourney.
ex. exhibition mma fight, public speaker Lee Kemp ect, East West main event match, Old timers creative match ups. "
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Either Brands vs. John Smith!
That might not be good because whoever lost would probably throw a fit that would not be good for youth wrestlers to see, but it would be a great match 15 years after any of them have competed.
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