Grapple on the Gridiron
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 9:05 am
Iowa and Oklahoma State will wrestle tomorrow in an outdoor meet at Kinnick Stadium (Iowa's FB stadium). 35,000 tickets have been sold.
Imagine that feeling in the late summer of 1969 when word spread of a massive concert in New York. Everybody who was anybody was set to take the stage for an event known as the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
They came, they saw, they remember.
Not that Saturday’s Oklahoma State and Iowa dual meet inside cavernous Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City will rival Woodstock, but for collegiate wrestling fans it might just be a pilgrimage of epic proportion. Tickets went on sale in early October ― in the first few hours over 21,000 sold ― and entering the final days before the first whistle over 35,000 are expected to attend the 11 a.m. meet.
Yes, that Kinnick Stadium. Home to the Iowa football team with a capacity of 70,585. Saturday marks the first time two programs of this stature have wrestled on a football field. And with the unbeaten Iowa Hawkeye football team hosting Big Ten rival Minnesota Saturday evening, a few extra bodies will be in Iowa City. Football tailgaters might translate to a large walkup crowd if the weather cooperates.
“Iowa is known for being able to run wrestling events, so I’m not concerned with how this thing is going to run,” said Oklahoma State head coach John Smith, whose Cowboys open the season ranked No. 1 by most prognosticators. “Never experienced anything like this. It is going to be something exciting, something different for everyone involved.
http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/arti ... tdoor-meet
Imagine that feeling in the late summer of 1969 when word spread of a massive concert in New York. Everybody who was anybody was set to take the stage for an event known as the Woodstock Music and Art Fair.
They came, they saw, they remember.
Not that Saturday’s Oklahoma State and Iowa dual meet inside cavernous Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City will rival Woodstock, but for collegiate wrestling fans it might just be a pilgrimage of epic proportion. Tickets went on sale in early October ― in the first few hours over 21,000 sold ― and entering the final days before the first whistle over 35,000 are expected to attend the 11 a.m. meet.
Yes, that Kinnick Stadium. Home to the Iowa football team with a capacity of 70,585. Saturday marks the first time two programs of this stature have wrestled on a football field. And with the unbeaten Iowa Hawkeye football team hosting Big Ten rival Minnesota Saturday evening, a few extra bodies will be in Iowa City. Football tailgaters might translate to a large walkup crowd if the weather cooperates.
“Iowa is known for being able to run wrestling events, so I’m not concerned with how this thing is going to run,” said Oklahoma State head coach John Smith, whose Cowboys open the season ranked No. 1 by most prognosticators. “Never experienced anything like this. It is going to be something exciting, something different for everyone involved.
http://www.ncaa.com/news/wrestling/arti ... tdoor-meet
