The good:
- Good competition at every weight. Though not quite as deep as past years (more on that below)
- WWN. Pretty cool to see Sam Ottow there reping Washington Wrestling Network. I like that they are bringing more hype and attention to our kids.
- Aaron Brooks and Amit Elor were awesome. They signed autographs and took pictures for hours. Amit helped with the awards, and they both made themselves available to hang out and chat with the kids. Both class acts.
The bad:
- who likes ending BOTH days after 11pm? I think that would be no one. By the time kids were in bed, and accounting for the early weighin on day 2, most probably got 4 hours of sleep. Totally crappy.
- Directly related to item 1, there were way more, to say it nicely, “outmatched” wrestlers than in the past. Whereas individuals used to have to be returning state placers to get in- or top 10 team- now the only criteria is having a Visa card. These goobers clog up the brackets, resulting in 6 hour waits between matches. Which causes the late nights. I’m sure the mighty marauders of Mariner are great guys, but they (and many others) do not meet the criteria. So why were they there?
- Some of the top teams from the past no longer come. Probably because of the items mentioned. Resulting in less depth, and eroding the whole idea behind this tournament.
- The awards ceremony sucks. Big time. Two easy fixes: first, get a proper podium. For a “national level” tournament that bills itself as a professional production, it’s ridiculous to have a janky little platform with computer paper printouts of the placings. Second, give out the awards for each weight class after the next weight wrestles. Like state and most big tournaments.
- The awards ceremony sucks part 2: so bad it needed two bullets. Not a single weight class had all medalists on the “podium”. Teams left early because they still had to drive home 3-5 hours away for some, so waiting for awards wasn’t an option. End at a reasonable hour and people will stay.
The ugly:
- the ref making the most absurd stall calls I’ve seen in my 35 years in this sport. Beyond anything I’ve ever even imagined.
- No DoE sightings. IYKYK
I appreciate the effort going into putting this on. But the late nights were enough of a problem that I’m not sure if we’ll be back next year.
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