Wrestling fans take in the finals of the 2016 NCAAs (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)I've covered three Olympic Games, two Pan American Games, two World Cups and a dozen World Championships.
But in my opinion the best wrestling event on the planet happens every year on the third weekend in March.
The NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships is a three-day, six-session rollercoaster of jubilation and elation combined with an equal amount of heartbreak and devastation.
That's why the event routinely sells out and draws crowds of around 20,000 fans per session. That trend will continue this week at the 2017 NCAAs in St. Louis.
I've been to 19 NCAA tournaments since attending my first Division I national tournament in 1995 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.
Feel free to disagree, or even agree, but here are my rankings in order for what are the best rounds at the NCAAs. I can't really say best-to-worst because for me, and many others, all the rounds are outstanding.
No. 1: Saturday night finals
Picking the finals may seem like the obvious choice, but this is a much tougher decision than you might think. The Friday night semifinal round gives you the most amount of quality wrestling matches for your money. You not only have 20 compelling, hard-fought bouts going on side-by-side in the semifinals, but you also have wrestlers on the backside battling for a coveted top-eight spot on the medal podium. But the ultimate goal obviously is to have your hand raised on the stage on Saturday night.
The best and most memorable moments in NCAA wrestling history have included Cael Sanderson becoming the only undefeated, four-time national champion, Larry Owings's stunning upset of Dan Gable and Kyle Dake defeating David Taylor in a battle of superstars to win his fourth NCAA title in four different weight classes. I still get goosebumps thinking back to the five-minute standing ovation Cael deservedly received after he made history in 2002 in Albany, New York.
Myles Martin battles Lelund Weatherspoon in the NCAA semifinals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)No. 2: Friday night semifinals, round of 12
Some of the very best matches of the three-day extravaganza will occur during the "blood round" -- the gut-wrenching round where the winner clinches an All-American spot and the loser goes home crushed and empty-handed. The semifinals are a treat to watch, with the stakes obviously very high where the winner keeps their championship hopes alive and the loser tumbles into the consolation semis. Many wrestlers I greatly respect consider this the best round and it's hard to argue with them, quite frankly.
No. 3: Friday morning quarterfinals
The worst part about this round, which is almost as good as the best two rounds, is trying not to miss all of the good wrestling going on. With four quarterfinals going on at the same time, it's a smorgasbord of top-notch competition.
It's also a round where numerous upsets occur. It is the second day of weigh-ins and athletes who are cutting a lot of weight can start to wear down when wrestling in a round shortly after stepping on the scale for the second time in two days.
And of course, this is the round where most of the matchups feature battles between seeded wrestlers. The team race also becomes much more sharply into focus. Quarterfinal winners clinch a top-six finish, so a large number of team points can pile up in this round. You obviously also have great battles in the wrestlebacks as athletes try to stay alive.
Anybody who says this is the best round of the tournament won't get much of an argument from me. It's wall-to-wall great matches with no shortage of drama.
No. 4 Thursday morning first round
There are no givens in this round. Seeds guarantee nothing obviously and this a chance for unheralded athletes to make a name for themselves by knocking off a highly seeded athlete.
Among the casualties in this round have been Matt Lindland, Coleman Scott, J.D. Bergman and Jimmy Kennedy. Lindland, the U.S. Greco-Roman National Coach, went on to win Olympic and World silver medals. Scott won an NCAA title and Olympic bronze medal. Bergman and Kennedy both make World teams.
Every year, seeded athletes fall in the first round. And this year will be no exception.
Ohio's Cody Walters celebrates after winning his seventh-place match (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.comNo. 5: Saturday morning placing matches
It may seem a little silly, and possibly crazy, to rank this round fifth when 10 wrestlers earn third-place finishes. But that just tells you how entertaining that this tournament is to watch. The Saturday consolation semis and subsequent placing bouts for third, fifth and seventh are a battle of attrition in many cases. Wrestlers typically are beaten down mentally and physically from three days of tough matches and weigh-ins, plus everyone wrestling Saturday morning already has fallen short of the finals.
When I reflect back on my memories from this round, I think about athletes with wraps and tape around their head, shoulders, knees and ankles. It's a physical, grueling sport and this tournament takes an obvious toll on the wrestlers. That's part of what makes it so gratifying when they win and reach their goals.
I was impressed when wrestlers like Franklin Gomez, Jason Tsirtsis, James Green, Robert Kokesh, Alan Waters and Sam Hazewinkel rebounded from tough losses to place third.
This is typically the worst attended round of the tournament, but fans who skip it are really missing out. For the athletes, this is a true test of their mettle where they have to regroup and simply gut it out in many cases. And in many years, athletes are fighting to score points with the team race being on the line.
Having team scoring is what makes this event so incredible as well. The huge contingents of fans, who create a boisterous and exciting atmosphere, wouldn't attend this tournament without team trophies at stake. That's why this tournament draws better than domestic wrestling events in freestyle and Greco-Roman.
No. 6: Thursday night second round
Even though this round checks in at No. 6 and last in our countdown, it obviously is a very pivotal and important round of wrestling. Winners advance to the quarterfinals and guarantee a top-12 finish. And first-round losers have an opportunity to bounce back with wins and maybe build some momentum to make a run on the backside of the bracket.
Going one round deeper in the tournament means more close bouts and not as many mismatches as there are in the first round. Plus, you have a good idea and gauge after that round which teams might actually be contenders to earn a trophy. It's a round you obviously don't want to miss.
As so many die-hard attendees of this storied event already know, you miss a round of this tournament and you miss a lot.
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