I’ve been having issues with my cable lately, so this afternoon, Comcast is bringing me a new cable box. The bad part of this is that I will lose all my DVRed programs, including the 2007 NCAAs. I’m rewatching the NCAA’s now since I’ll be losing my cable, and I figured that this was a good excuse to share my thoughts on the tourney and the broadcast.
- I highly doubt that Cael Sanderson was hoping that his “mere presence” would inspire the Cyclones to the title, as the announcers suggested. I can just picture Cael, sitting in a recliner at practice, and yelling at Backes “Don’t I inspire you? I mean, I’m here. Isn’t that enough?”
- Moore from UC Davis’ mom was my favorite cutaway shot of the broadcast. She was sitting very close to me during her son’s match, and as a friend of mine noted, she did everything short of going out and wrestling the match for her son. It was fantastic to see it again on TV.
- Even though I knew who won the Perry-Hendricks match, while watching that match, I was still cheering him on as if he wasn’t going to get those nearfall points. Right behind Mizzou’s third place finish, Askren’s win and Pell’s third place finish, Perry’s win was a highlight for me. I’ll be honest; I didn’t really like either of the wrestlers. Seeing Perry win, though, and get that monkey off his back was fantastic, and I was once again impressed by Hendricks’ classy reaction to the loss.
- Tom Brands looks ridiculously uncomfortable when giving his “That’s a reversal” lesson.
- I liked seeing Gregor Gillespie, and Edinboro win. To me, Edinboro is the little school that could. Bruce Baumgartner’s alma mater employer continues to produce quality wrestlers, despite less funding than the Big 10 or 12, or the EIWA powerhouses.
- I did NOT like seeing the cutaways of Mark Churella during Josh’s match. Wrestlers are proud men, and father’s are generally pretty proud of their sons. Seeing Mark Churella, this amazing wrestler and father of top wrestlers, watch his son lose did not add to the quality of the broadcast.
- ESPN’s broadcasts have improved over the years, but is it that hard for them to find an effective matside reporter? Kessenich was passable, but clearly did not know wrestling. He mentioned that Churella ate the same breakfast every morning for two years - yeah, when wrestlers find meals that work within their diet, and keep them at their weight, that is a meal they will stick with. The weight management aspect of that story would be much more interesting story than easy “breakfast of champions” quip.
How many days until wrestling season?
