St. Louis to host 2008-2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships

St. Louis will host the 2008 and 2009 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said Thursday.



The championship will be held at the Savvis Center, hosted by the St. Louis Sports Commission and the University of Missouri-Columbia, March 20-22, 2008, and March 19-21, 2009.



St. Louis hosted the Division I Wrestling Championships in 2000, 2004 and 2005, and set an attendance record in 2000 at 96,944 fans. The 2005 championships were expected to bring in 15,000 visitors and generate $10 million into the local economy. The commission reported about 95,000 attendees for the three-day event.



Tom Bold, previous chair of the NCAA Wrestling Committee who presided over the site selections, said the committee has been impressed with the dedication of the staff from Missouri, the Savvis Center and the St. Louis Sports Commission to the event.



The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will host the 2010 championships at the Qwest Center in Omaha, and Rider University and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference will host the 2011 event at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia.

Good news. There was talk of making St. louis the permanent site, so maybe in the future it will happen. Even 2 every 4-5 years is pretty impressive.

Next weekend is the wresting championship



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



Not my cup of tea, but the last time it was here it did draw a pretty good out-of-town crowd(mostly from Iowa and Oklahoma)

Not my cup of tea either, but the visitors should be great for downtown. I had the (business-related) opportunity to go to this last year in Detroit, and if ever there was a city that makes us look good, that's it. The "Palace at Auburn Hills" arena is in a suburban wasteland with virtually nothing walkable around (think Family Arena). The headquarters hotel was 8 miles from the arena! People I talked to were overwhelmingly looking forward to a much better setup here in terms of hotels and proximity.

brickandmortar wrote:Next weekend is the wresting championship



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



Not my cup of tea, but the last time it was here it did draw a pretty good out-of-town crowd(mostly from Iowa and Oklahoma)

In the picture at the link, notice the orange portion of the crowd. That is the Oklahoma State University faithful, my alma mater, where collegiate wrestling is big. The finals are scheduled to be broadcast live from Savvis on ESPN HD 7:30 PM on March 22.



Collegiate wrestlers are the best conditioned athletes in sports -- their success does not depend on being born tall or big, and no equipment technology to help you. Just one-on-one raw speed and stength.

This is my cup of tea. I'll be taking my kid to one of the sessions. My 7 year old love wrestling. Perhaps he'll be competing at Savvis in 10-11 years.



Here's a couple of his matches from this year.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYu_G9B-MJg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFPv-aogXfY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LeSAGqfl5c

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:

datawhse wrote:This is my cup of tea. I'll be taking my kid to one of the sessions. My 7 year old love wrestling. Perhaps he'll be competing at Savvis in 10-11 years.

The Nature Boy will be retired by then, but maybe Randy Orton will still be around.

I never understood why anyone watched so-called "Pro" wrestling. People who prefer pro wrestling to collegiate or olympic probably prefer donkey basketball to the NBA and roller-derby to the NHL.

Wrestling is not my thing, but I do think the wrestling guests from a few years ago were great for downtown. They were polite and seemed to eat out a lot.



I run on the arch grounds after work and there was a group of them cheering me each time I ran the stairs. It was funny.

migueltejada wrote:Anyone selling turtlenecks probably won't have a single sale during that week.

Is there a need for supposed urbanists to be so condescending and sophomoric toward those from outside the city? Get with the program, peeps! They're here, enjoying St. Louis and spending their money.

innov8ion wrote:

migueltejada wrote:Anyone selling turtlenecks probably won't have a single sale during that week.

Is there a need for supposed urbanists to be so condescending and sophomoric toward those from outside the city? Get with the program, peeps! They're here, enjoying St. Louis and spending their money.

Somehow I'm guessing that champion collegiate wrestlers that grew up within the city limits also lack turtleneck-friendly necks. (It's an equal-opportunity quip.)

My bad, I interpreted it wrong. I thought he was referring to a deficiency in style rather than an excess of neck. All these absurd suburban/urban generalizations have got me on alert.

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.

The Central Scrutinizer wrote:Did any of your opponents ever use a foreign object while their manager distracted the ref?

No, but I did wrestle a kid named Jim Snooka who jumped off the top turnbuckle and hit me with a flying elbow when I was down - something that is clearly against the rules. I think he went to DeSmet.

^ Here's the wrestler from DeSmet. DeB is just below the frame awaiting some pain.

Superfly!!

The cauliflower ears have invaded downtown. That side effect alone would discourage me from the sport. Sorry I don't have photos. Anybody know if that's as painful as it looks?

Cityzen wrote:The cauliflower ears have invaded downtown. That side effect alone would discourage me from the sport. Sorry I don't have photos. Anybody know if that's as painful as it looks?

It can be very painful, but can easily be avoided by wearing headgear in practice.