I had a great time over the weekend spending roughly 16 hours of the countries best college wrestling and more cauliflower ears than in a Midwest farmers market. Here are some of my observations and oddities:

Observations in no particular order and are only my opinion:

1. Penn State wrestlers seemed tentative, not so much going for bonus points but just getting through the matches. There were a few exceptions like Retheford and Nickal but I guess that makes sense if the strategy is to get the best seed at the next level.

2. Kuhn did an absolute great job considering such difficult circumstances. He did what he was supposed to do winning more than 2 matches but despite still being within the top 10 125#'s still did not achieve a wildcard, likely because he was not "bronze" level with enough matches going in to the tourney

3. Rasheed had trouble pushing bigger 197#s but is still the best selection at that weight. He will advance in the NCAA's and score bonus points though will not finish in the top 4.

4. Reality came back while realizing that Nick Lee is still a freshman. The other Lee (Spencer) is really good but Tomisello is not only talented but cagey. Tomisello will win his second NCAA ship.

5. Suriano did not look impressive and I wonder just how much he is hampered by his ankle injury, he MFF'd so to save it for Cleveland.

6. Rutgers wrestlers are jerks, especially Gravina. 141# Turk from Iowa is a jerk as well as his coaches. I hate to say it but Buckeye wrestlers are good, nice kids and great ambassadors  for their school, especially Tomisello and Snyder.

7. I shared a room with 2 other guys at a Holiday Inn Express, after 1 day the room carried the odor of a Pennsylvania Dutch dairy farm....I am too old for this. Staying at the hotel was the Minnesota team though I didn't get to talk to their coaches or team, I didn't think it appropriate. I did meet the dad of Mike Carr, the Illinois 141#r who beat Nick Lee. Carr was a 2x PA state champ and went 84-0 his last 2 years of HS. Such a nice family, I wished Mike good luck in the finals but was defeated soundly by OSU McKinney.

Oddities and again just my opinion;

1. As you might expect the venue was well attended by PSU fans. Fans from other schools cheered for their team but when not on the mat, they cheered for anyone wrestling against PSU. It was clear to me that there is very much an anti PSU sentiment more likely due to Cael and PSU success than anything else (just like Paterno).

2. Between sessions there was a woman sporting a t shirt that said "I am Tomisello's Favorite Aunt". She kept walking around and around with no real purpose other than to be noticed.....just strange if not  bit embarrassing.

3. Although the venue at Michigan State was very nice and the campus beautiful, their wrestling team is just gawd awful. I'm told by some Iowa fans that have been there before the attendance was way lower than when held at other venues like Iowa, Penn State, Ohio State et all.

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