While I revolve my life around trying to cover all that their is of Oregon wrestling, one thing worth mentioning is all the national coverage our sport has been receiving this year.
It started out with all the duals they showed this year. The Big 10 Network was in its first year and it didn't disappoint. I saw dual after dual on that channel and it was awesome. Cable people complained because they didn't get it because of some beef with Comcast and the Big10. However, Dish and Directv people were not left out and I was grateful.
Second came the live webcast of the Pac-10's. Of course it had a little more edge to it, considering it was being held at MacCourt in what possibly was the last match held in Eugene for the Ducks.(Check www.saveoregonwrestling.com for their latest effort to get the program back). For people who couldn't be in attendance, they got to watch some pretty good wrestling online those days. I believe it was something in the range of 15,000. Word is, the numbers for the webcast have been so good, the Pac-10's are supposed to be shown on Fox Sports next year.
Third, it was the NCAA's. I have never seen so much coverage on ESPN of wrestling, ever. They showed the quarters, semis, placing rounds and the finals over three days. Its was outstanding coverage. Got to see a lot of future Olympians and MMA fighters compete.
Fourth has to be the coverage of the Olympic Trials over the last two days, with a third still to come. The people from the NWCA, USAW and Intermat really pushed for some live coverage and we got our wish when www.nbcolympics.com announced they would be doing a live stream of the best of 3 challenge matches over the 3 days of the Trials. Would it be out of line to say I sported a little wood when that announcement was made? Not meant to be gross, but it was nice since I had to cancel my original trip to watch the Trials this year, in order to take my wife on vacation to Reno. This was a must in order to stay married longer. ;) I bought some pizza on the first day, invited some of our wrestlers to the school and hooked it up to the big screen and we got to witness some great matches. Nothing wrong with that. On day two, got to hang out at home and chill with the kids while we watched high schooler, Jake Deitchler, make his way to the Olympic team and Henry Cejudo(21) beat Olympic Silver Medalist, Stephen Abas to earn his trip to Beijing. Even got to hear about OR great, Oscar Wood, announcing his retirement by leaving his shoes at center mat. What a great career he had.
The internet age has really been something else for our sport as its helped to spread the word about us fans wanting more coverage of the sport, to the masses. They answered our call and I'm grateful. Hopefully, you are too.
Leave some comments about what you've thought of the coverage of wrestling this year.
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3 comments:
Oscar didn't retire. Lester did. But thanks for the kind comment about his career.
I thought someone had mentioned Wood had retired? Guess I was wrong. Thanks for the clarification. I hope when he's done with his career, he makes his way back to OR and gets some coaching in to help our Oregonians to strive for bigger and better things.
Oscar and Bill Zadick are putting on a clinic for Coach Sprague & Cobra club July 1. It should be a good one.
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