Had a birthday recently, and might be coasting into grumpy old man territory. Was watching some NCAA wrestling this past weekend.

(And congrats to former Lisbon prep Cael Happel, who earned All-American honors wrestling with Northern Iowa. He finished fifth at 141 pounds.)

Wrestling, especially when the stakes are high, like they are at nationals, can be tense and thrilling to watch.

But so many matches are snoozefests.

I get it. When two highly-skilled wrestlers face off, they don’t want to make a mistake and give away a championship on a bad shot or a misplaced grip. But fans end up watching two wrestlers dancing on their feet for seven minutes. Maybe each of them gets an escape, and they finally try to get a takedown in the closing seconds.

Maybe wrestling technicians like this kind of chess-not-checkers approach to wrestling, but I find it very boring. I’d say score every period, and wrestlers have to win 2 of the 3 periods. Force a little more action earlier in the match.

Or make every match end in a pin, no matter how much time it takes. That’s the true spirit of wrestling, right? (On second
thought, I don’t want to cover a double dual that lasts until midnight.)

In fact, let’s celebrate the pin! With the 3-point takedowns, many elite wrestlers have fallen in love with technical falls. Techs are definitely more dominating, after all, taking your opponent down time after time after time and breaking their spirit. But techs only give the team 5 points in a dual, whereas a pin is 6.

Another grump.

It looks like the Hawkeyes have got a new men’s basketball coach. Good luck to him. A lot of people think no matter who is on the sidelines, Iowa is hurt by playing in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

I noticed the women didn’t have many problems filling the Arena when Caitlin Clark was playing. And Iowa wrestling often fills it to the rafters for big duals. Let’s face it, most of the problem has been the mediocre product, not the outdated Arena.

But there were times early in CHA history where it filled up for average teams. It seems as the fans have gotten older,
those many, many, many concrete steps have become a tough climb.

And going to games is a hard sell for some – finding parking, walking, paying for overpriced concessions on a weeknight? It is not like football where it is just seven Saturdays and each one is a rollicking party.

A $30 ticket could also pay for a month of Netflix AND Disney+, and what is the better entrainment value?

The first, best option, a new Arena, is not really an option. Iowa has sunk a ton of money into CHA, first with the practice gym and new offices on the West side, then by adding the wrestling facility.

(But imagine building a new Arena where the Old Capital Mall is. How great would that be? Well, except for parking and the tipsy college kids, of course.)

I think they should build some tiers into CHA and add a few escalators. It would eliminate some seating, but give fans more options.

In this configuration, you could also give the big donors nice seats behind the benches, maybe even some suites, but also get the students closer to the action. That’s one of the biggest complaints I hear.

And add a few more ice cream vendors. Carver Cones are nothing special, but people love them. Give the people what they want!

My final grump is actually a thank you. The IHSAA is going to put state tournament events on PBS. I really liked that I could watch every IGHSAU game on my computer, for free, with no hassle. Then I tried to watch a boys’ game the next week, and had to pay for the privilege?

In those instances, someone is putting that money in their pocket. And those games should be available to everyone.

Don’t make me tap the sign *Iowa is the only state in the country with separate boys’ and girls’ athletic unions*. I’m glad they got their priorities straight.