The Importance of 15,955

Two years ago, I attended my first wrestling meet. It was a blowout for the team I was rooting for. I didn't have a clue what was going on, but when the other 13,000 fans cheered, I cheered. It ended with a freshman named Morningstar knocking off the number 1 ranked wrestler in his weight class. Yes, it was Iowa - Iowa State, and it was a surreal moment. I could have never imagined that 13,000 people would show up to watch ten matches that pitted two sweaty college guys climbing over each other. But that, of course, was before I had truly come to grasps with the Iowa way of doing things. About two minutes into the first match, I was a converted wrestling fan!

From then on, I had to learn about the scoring. 3 points for a decision, 5 for a tech fall, 2 for a take down, 1 for an escape.

Then came the history. 21 National Championships in 32 years. Dan Gable. Tom Brands. Average home attendance 4 times that of the national average!

Until this past weekend, I thought I knew it all. I had learned from watching and from lifelong fans. The Hawkeyes had it all. The passion, the domination, the attendance records. That is, most of the attendance records.

My learning curve came full circle, however, on Saturday evening, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It was there that I was able to witness history with 15,954 of my closest friends (give or take a couple hundred from the wrong side of the state)! I felt proud that I was able to yell "twwooooooo" at the ref when he was hesitant to give Tsirtsis his points towards the end of the 3rd period. But then, it happened. A moment so great, it was only fitting that it took place in front of a record crowd.

Iowa wanted the record back this past weekend. This was proven in their rigorous advertising campaign. But with the number of people who showed up in black Saturday night, I think it was obvious Hawkeyes everywhere wanted their record back. It wasn't good enough that Iowa was a part of the largest wrestling crowd if it didn't take place in Iowa City.

So here is my dare to Minnesota. Go ahead, try to re-break the record. Go back to the Target Center and sell a couple more thousand seats. Because whether or not we have a professional sports arena to use, we have the final say in all wrestling records. Worse comes to worse, Kinnick Stadium holds more than any of your venues!