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Which state does it best?


budkus37

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Which state puts on the best finals as far as pageantry? I enjoy Indiana as it comes down to two wrestlers on one mat under the lights with the whole arena watching. I've witnessed other states that have class wrestling and wrestle the championship matches for a certain weight at the same time, or wrestle placement matches at the same time. Not a class wrestling post at all just wondering how other states do their finals and which ones compare to, or are better than Indiana when it comes to putting on a show.

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1 hour ago, buscowrestling said:

I always thought this video showed that Ohio does a nice job with the pageantry.

Ive been to the Ohio finals a few times.  And yes, it has class wrestling.   But if I  remember correct, they put on a show.   Spotlights and good announcer, and the  Schottenstein center  is pretty nice.  I had to scalp tickets to get into the finals, as it was about 10 years ago I went.  Its a good scene, and Columbus rivals downtown Indiana for restaurants.   Also, the "Arnold Classic" is going on at the same time at the Columbus convention center.  And the Arnold Classic is cool.   Columbus is buzzing that weekend.    Columbus was so busy that weekend, I had to drive to Springfield, OH to get a hotel room.

 

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I posted this in a different thread 

I think we take for granted how awesome indiana wrestling really is. We may not have 5 guys in every weight that are ranked nationally, but the show and production of the state finals is second to none. Legit freakin awesome with 2 guys battling for a title under the lights. No can defend

once I left southern indiana after teaching and coaching I moved to Arizona and went and watched their state finals.... Holy crap it's pathetic, I've never even gone back, not one time. Yet every year I watch ihsaa via track wrestling..... Even though it severely disappointed this year. Watching on track wrestling this year was a train wreck. 

Arizona has like 5 classes and multiple kids at STATE with losing records like14-17 or 12-15

and these guys call themselves state qualifiers. U can watch other stae finals on YouTube and just see that they don't compare to what we have going on in the Hoosier state

 
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Michigan moved their state finals to Ford Field this year which I think is a pretty neat idea ( March 2nd and 3rd ).  They increased the number of mats so that even with 4 DIVISIONS and WRESTLE BACKS, they will start the first round on Friday at noon and start the finals on Saturday at 3PM.  This was a 3 day tournament in the past.  The morning rounds on Saturday are scheduled 1 hour apart so it will move super fast.  I am curious to see how they lay out the mats.  I think they could do it all the way around so each mat is close to the seating.  It won't be like Indiana's but I think they could do a good job with it and hope they stick with the 2 day format going forward.

I wonder if Indiana would consider this type of format and use the RCA Dome if it allowed for wrestle backs.  

 

Edited by doctorWrestling
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46 minutes ago, doctorWrestling said:

Michigan moved their state finals to Ford Field this year which I think is a pretty neat idea ( March 2nd and 3rd ).  They increased the number of mats so that even with 4 DIVISIONS and WRESTLE BACKS, they will start the first round on Friday at noon and start the finals on Saturday at 3PM.  This was a 3 day tournament in the past.  The morning rounds on Saturday are scheduled 1 hour apart so it will move super fast.  I am curious to see how they lay out the mats.  I think they could do it all the way around so each mat is close to the seating.  It won't be like Indiana's but I think they could do a good job with it and hope they stick with the 2 day format going forward.

I wonder if Indiana would consider this type of format and use the RCA Dome if it allowed for wrestle backs.  

 

The RCA Dome would be way too cold in February (since it is a parking lot now)

Lucas Oil Stadium would have to give the IHSAA a great deal/discount to use it affordably.

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1 hour ago, doctorWrestling said:

Michigan moved their state finals to Ford Field this year which I think is a pretty neat idea ( March 2nd and 3rd ).  They increased the number of mats so that even with 4 DIVISIONS and WRESTLE BACKS, they will start the first round on Friday at noon and start the finals on Saturday at 3PM.  This was a 3 day tournament in the past.  The morning rounds on Saturday are scheduled 1 hour apart so it will move super fast.  I am curious to see how they lay out the mats.  I think they could do it all the way around so each mat is close to the seating.  It won't be like Indiana's but I think they could do a good job with it and hope they stick with the 2 day format going forward.

I wonder if Indiana would consider this type of format and use the RCA Dome if it allowed for wrestle backs.  

 

We could add mats to Banker's Life easily. It would be a tighter fit, but we could go with 6 or 8 mats in there. We wouldn't need to move venues.

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I love the single class format our state has (would like to have both classed and single class for individual and team duals but no dice). I wish Fox Sports IN would televise all the rounds and parade of champions like Comcast Chicago did for the Iowa finals. Also be nice if they could cover the team state duals.

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I don't know about anyone else, but following the action on 4 mats is tough enough. Trying to follow the action on 6 or 8 mats would be nearly impossible as a fan. I do agree that wrestlebacks do give the best wrestlers a chance to get to a more correct placement though. Personally, the vastness of a Ford field would not be an attraction to me. Guessing the stands would be mostly empty and many of the seats would be far away from the action.  I prefer the smaller arena like Banker's Life

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2 hours ago, GrecoCoach said:

The RCA Dome would be way too cold in February (since it is a parking lot now)

Lucas Oil Stadium would have to give the IHSAA a great deal/discount to use it affordably.

What  RCA dome wrestling might look like.

wrestling in the snow.jpg

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22 minutes ago, MattM said:

I’ll take that event at Lucas Oil!

If I'm sitting in the seat the photo was taken and my team's wrestler is on that far mat ... hope you brought the binoculars!

Edited by base
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I'm ashamed to admit back in my home state of Kansas,  which is a classic class wrestling state,  the 4 four different classes wrestle in 3 different locations.   Ive personally seen one of those locations where we wrestled at, so I'm not sure what goes on at the other two.   That's the biggest complaint is that they have four classes, but don't have a location big enough to host all four classes. 

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On 2/22/2018 at 2:10 AM, Boxcar said:

once I left southern indiana after teaching and coaching I moved to Arizona and went and watched their state finals.... Holy crap it's pathetic, I've never even gone back, not one time. Yet every year I watch ihsaa via track wrestling..... Even though it severely disappointed this year. Watching on track wrestling this year was a train wreck. 

Watch what you say on here about trackwrestling.  Indiana has great trackwrestling experiences.  It is probably because you were in Arizona.  Michigan's is not very good either.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I know you were all dying for an update.  I thought it went pretty well with the 20 mats on Ford Field for the Michigan state finals.  Started wrestling at noon on Friday and started the finals at 3 on Saturday.  It is impossible to match Indiana's pageantry which is what this thread asked, but to finish up the tournament WITH WRESTLE BACKS that fast was still a lot of fun.  Any state with multiple classes in one location is going to make you really feel like you are missing something that is going on.  I would be super bummed if I had a kid lose 1 match on Friday night and be out though.

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Yes, each of the 4 divisions had 5 mats.  Not sure why they chose that number.  There was room for more if they wanted.  Made it hard to watch other divisions, especially before the finals when they brought 4 mats together and ran all divisions at the same time.  Even then, a human can really only watch and pay attention to 1 match at a time.

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