It may say there were 1544 "crimes" in Buffalo county, but last year we had what the Kearney Hub said was our first reported shooting in 'x' amount of years, which I would bet cannot be said about Omaha. It makes me wonder a little what is considered as a crime. Also, the crime rate may not go up exponentially, but I bet if a graph was made of miles from Omaha vs. percepted crime rate it would go up exponentially if you surveyed those over 40.

Badger and grapplinman, you should remember that even here in David City where we are only an hour from Omaha there are a lot of older people that are afraid of Omaha. In fact, I am not saying either of you are old, but you may have been in high school or close to it when some of them were in school. They just never left town.

I hear a lot about the fact that we will not lose true wrestling fans which is probably true, but the Devaney Center did not sell out with only true wrestling fans. It sold out with proud grandparents and other extended family, those in our small communities that like to support the town and school and all athletics even though they don't have kids anymore, and others that know the wrestlers. These are the people that we may lose. Again, I will try to convey that there is nothing to be afraid of in Omaha to the people in my community, but I cannot say they will all listen to me. I sometimes have a harder time getting respect from parents than I do wrestlers due to my age.

If you are wondering how Burke is so full for state track consider a few things. First, in wrestling we have 896 competitors from 217 schools or something right? Track has 2,884 even qualifiers and for that I am counting relays as only one and not 4 and I did not consider extra qualifiers for field events. Now if you would take those into account along with the fact that some athlete are multiple qualifiers you probably get about 2,000 qualifiers. And what school doesn't have a track team, so they are coming from more schools. Also, with no seating on one end, not very many people sit on the other end and on the hills they are not packed as tight as they would be in seats I would say there are far less people at state track anyway. You should also consider that the hills keep away some of the grandparents anyway. There is also a big difference in the perception of 120th and Dodge compared to downtown. That is how you fill Burke stadium.

Times change, we were at the Coliseum, Pershing, then Devany. Each time was a move for the better. Do todays wrestlers want to go to Pershing? After moving to Quest in a few tomorrows, they won't want to go to Devany either. I am a hick from out west, but we need to realize that one-half of the population of Nebraska lives east of 84th street in Lincoln.
Omaha will welcome all wrestlers from all over the state, they certainly haven't hurt attendances, etc. at the state track meet.

Badger and Red Rocker I don't have anything personally against Omaha. I go there 2-4 times a year to see my buddy to go to the College World Series and to take my children to the zoo. I am not talking about me, I am talking about average wrestling fans from outstate. I know the people in my community and I know that a lot of them won't go and support us at now. Right, wrong or indifferent they don't like or are scared of Omaha. It is there hard earned money that goes to pay for it and if they don't like or trust the city there isn't anything I can do about it. Now on to the ticket issue, are we still going to be able to send in as groups so our fans can sit together or do you have to call in yourself?

monarch_man,

Who are you calling old? I call it distinguished. You are right; I grew up on a farm and know what the rural people think. I used to believe some of the same things. What I am saying is that they are wrong. Omaha is full of very good people and Omaha has some bad people just like any other town in the state. There are far more good people than bad. I have lived here for almost 20 years and never heard a gun shot, never felt threatened, or was scared that I would be a victim of a crime.

I also know those fans and they will support their team where ever they are. You say that we will lose the grandparents and extended family? I say that you are completely wrong on that one. If my son makes it to state next year I guarantee that not a single one of our family members including grandparents that attended the state tournament in Lincoln will think twice about attending the state tournament in Omaha. They all live in rural areas and will all be in Omaha. I am willing to guarantee that the Qwest Center will break attendance records in the next 2 years.

Badger, I wasn't talking about David City people when I was saying some of the older people will not come. I could not think of anyone that followed the Aquinas team either that I would think would be afraid, but you forget that I coach a team much further away from Omaha.

You have really never heard a gunshot in Omaha? I only go there to visit and once we heard gunshots. He did not live in the best part of town though. Just to be fair though I have heard gunshots in Lincoln as well and actually saw the end of a police chase/shootout in East St. Louis on my way to Florida this year for spring break. Also had a guy try to jump under the wheels of my car about 4 blocks from Devaney in Lincoln once, but all of these things happened at about 2-3 am at which time I would hope no wrestlers or fans will be out.

No Elmer's to look for this time Frank!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Ryan:
To those coaches who take offense at my earlier post. I re-read it and don't see anything that implies you are not a good coach if you don't want to move the state meet to Omaha. All that I am saying is that there are a lot of coaches out there, in small, medium, and large schools who don't want the tournament to move. 25% of them are tell their wrestlers and fans that this is a great opportunity. You can be a part of history by taking part in the first state meet in the new arena. 75% of those coaches are complaining and talking about how the move is going to hurt their program and scare their fans away. Which coach is doing more for their program? The move has been approved. Embrace it and get your wrestlers and fans to do the same.

o great...home field advantage for skutt.

Has anyone asked the kids where they would like to hold their state tournamnet. This is about them you know. All of this I have to drive more, I have to go to Omaha. I bet the NSAA didn't ask them either. From what I have heard, the wrestlers liked it in Lincoln. Just like the finals in football, Lincoln was the place to go when you wrestle in state. What has averyone else heard? I just thaught maybe we should shift the focus back ontot he wrestlers and off ourselves.

Sorry MM. I'm inclined to agree with Badger on this one. Give wrestling fans in communities all over the state from Banner County to Fall City their due. They’ll show up at the Qwest Center next February (just like they've showed up at Devaney for years) and we will set some attendance records starting next season. I think after a year or two at the Qwest, people will be wondering why we didn't move two years ago.

Dr. UNK -- all of the arguments about keeping the tournament in Lincoln vs. moving it to Omaha, in all honesty, have been based on what's best for the fans, not the wrestlers. All everybody with a complaint has talked about is extra driving distance, paying for parking, big bad Omaha, etc., etc.

Believe it or not, this is a move for the kids on several fronts. It gives them an opportunity to wrestle in a bigger facility that will allow them to use ALL of the wrestling circle and be able to do all that they need to do without feeling like they are the middle fish in a sardine tin.

In all honesty, most of the wrestlers I have talked to could care less where the state tournament is held. Their biggest concern is being able to get their hand raised on Championship Saturday, and it doesn't matter if the tournament is in Omaha, Lincoln, Benkelman or in beautiful, downtown Arthur so long as they get that chance.

This is a move for the wrestlers and the sport, and all of us are going to have to accept the fact that the next two state tournaments are going to be at the Qwest Center in Omaha and embrace the change that comes with it. It will be good for the wrestlers and good for the sport's continued growth in Nebraska.

I agree with you NWI, no matter what is said the tournament for the next two years is going to be in Omaha so everyone better get used to it. I just wanted to see what other wrestlers think about the move. In some extent, the kids probably feel that it doesn't matter becasue they want the opportunity to get their hand raised and stand on top of the podium. From what I have heard from the wrestlers is that they liked it in Lincoln. If they like the new place better then great. I just think that most kids feel that they go to Lincoln to compete for a state title in any sport. Never was it mentioned that saftey, warm up space, weigh-in space, driving distance, motel prices, or any other circumstance that has been discussed ever come up when I talked to some wrestlers. All that was mentioned was that they liked the atmosphere and loved compeating in Lincoln. If this is still the case in Omaha, then I have no problem with the move.

I think we can all agree on one thing...when it comes to this sport, you could throw a mat down in the middle of 72nd and Dodge and still draw a crowd of passionate wrestlers and fans. Someone said earlier that it's not the building that creates the atmosphere and tradition, it's the people inside that building that do it. I don't think that is going to be a problem in Omaha.

1 thing I haven't heard anyone talk about is how much the tournament will grow just having it close to a higher population. I would guess alot of people living in and around Omaha will go to the tourny because of its convenience. Now that my son is graduating,I wasn't going to drive an hour plus to go to the tourny. But now I hope to catch some of the action!

Actually, there is a lot of potential for the tournament to grow in Omaha. As I have heard recently, there is discussion of adding another 2-4,000 seats at the north end of the arena, which would bring it to a capacity of about 17,000 for wrestling.

Even if Lincoln follows through on plans to build a 15,000-seat arena, it would be smaller in size to the Qwest Center once that expansion is complete, which would make the Omaha vs. Lincoln argument a real hoot somewhere down the road.

As I've said numerous times, I would love to see the tournament somewhere closer to the middle of the state if a facility big enough to hold the tournament were built. If the people in Grand Island had thought ahead and built such a facility, we could move it there (although people in Omaha and Lincoln would be the ones whining about the long drive and the alleged high crime taking place in Central Nebraska).

Ultimately, this move is going to be good for the sport of wrestling in Nebraska.