St. Louis Lands Another NCAA Wrestling Championship

dweebe · PostMar 21, 2008#262008-03-21T14:44+00:00

Looks like the NCAA Wrestling is really drawing out-of-town visitors to downtown.

-I'm suprised by the number of pedestrians I'm seeing in the western part of downtown.

-When I got off work Thursday around 4pm I took a spin past a number of places. Maggie O's, Senor Julios and Ultra Sports Lounge all had large crowds.

-There are a number of RVs parked in the lots around Scottrade. Yesterday a number of people were tailgating and the RVs were from out of state.

-Coworkers tried to go to lunch yesterday at Union Station and came back saying that every place was crazy busy. They also said that pretty much every empty storefront in the mall has temporary tenants and stands.

-One of the contractors leaving this week tried to stop by Einstein Bros at Union Station this morning to pick up bagels. She said the line was out the door. Same with Starbucks.

-A couple of other visiting contractors said they tried to some of the downtown bars last night to watch basketball. They said every place was much crazier than usual. They ended up going to the Dubliner as even they had switched the TVs from European soccer to March Madness Basketball.

I'm going to try and check things out later.

throatybeard · PostMar 21, 2008#272008-03-21T15:34+00:00

Those Iowans are yahoo serious about wrestling.

dweebe · PostMar 21, 2008#282008-03-21T15:38+00:00

throatybeard wrote:Those Iowans are yahoo serious about wrestling.

I remember staying at the Hampton Inn in Iowa City and they had a shrine to Iowa State wrestler (and coach I think) Dan Gable in the lobby.

innov8ion · PostMar 21, 2008#292008-03-21T15:54+00:00

Cael Sanderson, Iowa State coach, is the man. He actually beat Dan Gable's record of 100 consecutive wins. I'd love to see him excel at coaching just like the great Dan Gable. Cael has amazing determination and character. What a guy...

Cael's Record

- 159-0 record in collegiate wrestling

- Four consecutive NCAA titles

- Olympic Gold Medal winner in 2004

cityzen · PostMar 21, 2008#302008-03-21T20:20+00:00

Its really a shame how bad the Opera House looks with all these visitors walking past it. The east stairwell on 14th is full of leaves and trash and someone's clothes and who knows what else.

I also cringe at all of the visitors walking north from Scottrade to Washington past NLEC and Lucas Park.

juiceinkirkwood · PostMar 21, 2008#312008-03-21T21:04+00:00

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
DeBaliviere wrote:I wrestled for a few years in high school, and when I see the wrestlers in the NCAA championships, I'm quickly reminded of why I quit. Tough sport.

Did any of your opponents ever use a foreign object while their manager distracted the ref?

It always amazed me to see how many times that worked in the WWF/WCW. It's like, man, you'd think they wouldn't allow that to happen. You would almost think it's fake, but...no.

jcity · PostMar 22, 2008#322008-03-22T20:31+00:00

i noticed the mass amount of people downtown on Friday. I LOVE seeing downtown like that! Tons of people around the arch grounds too. I was amazed at all the tourists sitting on the arch steps, staring at the riverfront. I WISH the east side of the river didn't look like a total dump. Can't they AT LEAST just plant some trees, shrubbery? It looks like a larger version of the River Des Peres, while up the river where trees line the banks, the river actually looks attractive.

datawhse · PostMar 22, 2008#332008-03-22T21:17+00:00

From the post....

Through two days — four sessions — of the tournament, attendance is 62,458. If today's two sessions average 16,700, total attendance would rank No. 2 in the tournament's history

matguy70 · PostMar 22, 2008#342008-03-22T22:17+00:00

Went to the championships last night (Friday) with some buddies. Nice set-up and great to see so many tourists in March. the place was packed - close to sold out and Union Station looked great too.

debaliviere · PostMar 24, 2008#352008-03-24T18:30+00:00

Has anyone heard what the final attendance figures were?

lasalle · PostMar 24, 2008#362008-03-24T19:40+00:00

I think Sunday's paper said attendance was around 95,000. Whatever it was, it ranked as the third highest attendance. St. Louis also holds the #1 and #2 spots in attendance for this event , set in 2000 and 2005.

dweebe · PostMar 24, 2008#372008-03-24T19:57+00:00

After dealing with the families for close to 12 hours yesterday (Easter) my fiance and I went to Flanery's for a few drinks to wind down. We ended up talking to the bartender and a waitress and I asked how the crowds were from wrestling.

They said all three days were very good with steady all-day-long traffic with lots of out-of-town people. The waitress said lots of families, but mostly father/son(s) or grandfather/father/son combinations. The bartender said they were not as big on the drinking during the day, but that the nights were big because the arena was dry (per NCAA rules).

PostMar 24, 2008#382008-03-24T20:00+00:00

LaSalle wrote:I think Sunday's paper said attendance was around 95,000. Whatever it was, it ranked as the third highest attendance. St. Louis also holds the #1 and #2 spots in attendance for this event , set in 2000 and 2005.

I wonder if having the tourney on Easter weekend might have hurt it a little? Some of yesterday's March Madness basketball games seemed to have a lot of empty seats in the upper seating levels.

the central scrutinizer · PostMar 24, 2008#392008-03-24T20:07+00:00

LaSalle wrote:I think Sunday's paper said attendance was around 95,000. Whatever it was, it ranked as the third highest attendance. St. Louis also holds the #1 and #2 spots in attendance for this event , set in 2000 and 2005.

Wrestlemania will probably draw close to that many just for 1 day.

lasalle · PostMar 24, 2008#402008-03-24T20:19+00:00

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:
LaSalle wrote:I think Sunday's paper said attendance was around 95,000. Whatever it was, it ranked as the third highest attendance. St. Louis also holds the #1 and #2 spots in attendance for this event , set in 2000 and 2005.

Wrestlemania will probably draw close to that many just for 1 day.

CS: I just want you to know, that I, for one, truly appreciate the contrast (and gadfly aspect) you bring to this forum. It would be much less fun without you.

Oh, and as a native Iowan, "Go Hawkeyes!!!"

datawhse · PostMar 25, 2008#412008-03-25T14:59+00:00

Link to a discussion about the St. Louis experience at "themat" website. This site is dedicated to everything wrestling. Check out the first post on page 2 about leon Spinks.

http://www.thematforums.com/myforum/?sh ... forum_id=3

debaliviere · PostMar 25, 2008#422008-03-25T15:22+00:00

^

Glad to hear that Union Station is making such a great impression.

the central scrutinizer · PostMar 25, 2008#432008-03-25T16:07+00:00

DeBaliviere wrote:^

Glad to hear that Union Station is making such a great impression.

I'll have to try that Flanders place.

southsidepride · PostMar 25, 2008#442008-03-25T16:11+00:00

from said wrestling forum

"The burgers I had at the HARD ROCK CAFE and HOULIHANS were good. I also ate at Pita King's twice at Union Station also and it was fine. I've had better pizza in Oklahoma though."

Too bad Dooley's closed a week early or he would have had a burger that put those other two chains to shame.

And that part about "better pizza in Oklahoma" makes me want to drive down there with some Black Thorn or Joanie's pizza in the backseat. I can't imagine any pizza in Sooner land to be better than that!

datawhse · PostMar 29, 2008#452008-03-29T04:28+00:00

Article from the Des Moines, IA Register.....

Love the title. Hopefully the Sports Commission comes through!

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/p ... 8803260377

innov8ion · PostMar 29, 2008#462008-03-29T14:25+00:00

Ok, so I have an interesting story from the final day of the wrestling championship. I was in the Time Boutique shopping for some women's shorts when I noticed five women in Iowa Hawkeye garb racking up some purchases. I asked them if the Hawks had sealed the championship and they confirmed that in fact was the case. Congratulating them, I talked about how I grew up in Iowa and was an alumnus of Iowa State. Sharing my admiration for ISU's coach Cael Sanderson, I told them I hoped he could be as great a coach as the Hawk legend Dan Gable.

The alpha female in the group then asked me what I thought of Iowa's current coach, Tom Brand. I basically told her I've heard good things about him but that he was no Cael Sanderson in my opinion. Heh, so that's when she pulls out her credit card with a surname of Brand. It turns out that she was the Iowa coach's wife! I smiled and then her friends started to give me a hard time in a teasing fashion. So then I groveled for a bit much to their delight.

They left with full shopping bags in tow and smiles on their faces.

bonwich · PostMar 29, 2008#472008-03-29T16:13+00:00

Did they buy any turtlenecks?

MattnSTL · PostMar 29, 2008#482008-03-29T16:42+00:00

innov8ion wrote:Ok, so I have an interesting story from the final day of the wrestling championship. I was in the Time Boutique shopping for some women's shorts

Great story, but the way you frame it makes me wonder.

innov8ion · PostMar 29, 2008#492008-03-29T17:54+00:00

MattnSTL wrote:
innov8ion wrote:Ok, so I have an interesting story from the final day of the wrestling championship. I was in the Time Boutique shopping for some women's shorts

Great story, but the way you frame it makes me wonder.

Ha, it's an old joke!

bonwich wrote:Did they buy any turtlenecks? Cool

While rubbernecking, this leatherneck didn't observe any turtlenecks in their possession however I did see some tourists necking in a bar. Lucky guy, she pinned him!

brickandmortar · PostMar 19, 2009#502009-03-19T02:12+00:00

I haven't seen much on the news, but tomorrow the wrestling finals begin. St. Louis seems to be one of their favorite places over the last few years. Even today, I've noticed a lot more activity at the Arch than the usual weekday.

Here's the schedule:

http://www.stlsports.org/wrestling/schedule.php

St. Louis Lands Another NCAA Wrestling Championship

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