4A state complaint...

Am I the only one that was bothered by the announcers at 4A state? No offense to the illiterate, but we really should have announcers that are able to pronounce names correctly. Examples: Strauss, was Struss all weekend. Meredith was Merdith, Tyler was Taylor, Taylor was Tyler, Hughey was Hugey, Hattabaugh was Haterberg, and these are only a small sampling of the beauties that they came up with from who knows where.

At first it was humorous, but I figured that eventually, they would get their reading glasses on, and get it right. But no, it continued. You would think that by the time the finals came around, they would know the finalists names and how to pronounce them. Nope, couldn't do it.

We should also have announcers that announce the correct winners. I'd say 10% of the time, an incorrect winner's name was announced, followed by, "scratch that, the winner was........"

Pretty cute when they announced the winner of the one finals match after only 2 periods had been wrestled. You'd think the announcer might think "why are the wrestlers and referees still standing around on the mat?"

Announcing the entirely wrong match in the finals. Missing it by one weight class I can understand, but missing it by two weight classes?

I know it is a small thing, but I think these kids deserve better. Anyone that has followed wrestling at all, knows these kids' names, and after an entire weekend of wrestling, you should darn sure know 'em.

Announcing incorrect records during the finals. One kid that 30-6 coming into the tourney, was announced as a career record of 99-3.

Announcing incorrect team scores. At one time Andale was announced as having 183 points on Saturday. Before you said that, would you not think "wait a minute, they had 120.5 before that last round, and only 3 of their kids wrestled that round on the back side,, how did they get 60 pts?"

that would have been tough to sit through. especially after listening to beeson do such a great job at the ark city regional!

only complaint i have is that its not with 5 and 6a where it would be alot more interesting adding them back to the venue. does it get crowded why hell yes it does. isnt every tournament you go to crowded since kids wrestling. im mean come on kansas state tournament was a ton more fun to watch with all 3 of those groups than it is now with just 1 in salina and 2 here in wichita. its too quiet. going to a state tournament is about the electricity the kids and parents get by the large crowd. i went to the 5a and 6a and just didnt seem the same as it used to be. it was actually quite boring at times. im sure there were some exciting matches but for some reason it just didnt have the feel like it did back when they were all together.

im pretty sure that announcer that added those 60 points graduated from andale highschool and was just trying to help them out lol. as if they needed any help. nice job andale. andale must have a damn good kids program huh.

Doug:

I've had the opportunity to attend championships in Michigan and Pennsylvania also. The folks in Salina did an outstanding job from setup through execution. HOWEVER, you make an excellent point. Like most folks, the never ending announcing bumbling got old. As you've aptly pointed out, it was so apparent one would assume this will be cleaned up by next year.

Excellent overall event. Congratulations to all the participants.

I think the worst was when Skyler Hittle from Concordia was pronounced Hitler; not once, but twice.

I would have to agree that the announcers at 4a State were not professional at all . These kids work their asses off and to not get their name pronounced right is a sign of disrespect in my eyes.

The 5a 6a venue is a joke. Didn't think things could get worse than the old coliseum but they did. What happened to intrust arena? Might as well just move it back to high schools or cockley's barn.

The 5a 6a venue is a joke. Didn't think things could get worse than the old coliseum but they did. What happened to intrust arena? Might as well just move it back to high schools or cockley's barn.

I knew there would be a topic on here about the folly that was the 4A announcing. The workers also had a heck of a time getting the bleachers back in before the finals. That was actually entertaining to watch.I thought announcing names wrong all weekend was bad enough, but saying SCHOOL names wrong was unacceptable. (KC)SumNer was pronounced SumMer all day.Also I am curious, is it Colby, or is it pronounced Coby?

5/6A announcers I thought did a good job. But I heard Shawnee "Mission" Heights more than once!

You left off some of the best ones! How do you get "Erk" from Eck and not know what year it is?

I thought that the 5A/6A venue was just fine. You could pretty much take in all eight mats with a very good view and it wasn't nearly as congested as a lot of places that I have been. The parking was free (they kind of made it up at the gate) and very spacious with easy access to the building. Although not a spectacular looking building from the outside, it was nice inside. I have no complaints and I thought the announcer did a good job. One more thing, they seemed to be diligent about staying on schedule throughout the tournament.

The announcer for 4A indefinitely should retire. My favorite of the tournament was Sam Son and Ryne Cokeley's 152 semifinals rematch from finals last year at 152.

I've attended 100's of wrestling tournaments over the last few years and this announcer was by far, the worst i have ever listened too. I can't remeber ONE thing he got right. After the Hattabaugh match, Andale was Andrew! Come on, you have to be mentally challenged to be that far off after 2 days. Surely, someone will listen to the entire tape and get someone qualified for next year. Otherwise, this was a well run tournament and provided GREAT entertainment. Great sportsmanship was generally the rule. Can't find fault with a few isolated incidents and the excitement of the moment. A big thanks to all the young students who worked their "buns" off to make this such a special sport.

I could not agree more with Doug 747. The MC was horrible. The trivial pursuit question about KS wrestling between each of the championship matches was embarrassing. The music that was played for each of the championship marches to the medal stand was from the dark ages. I mean the theme from Star Wars. This was my first visit to a KS 4 – A championship the whole event was like a step back in time. I have been to many other states wrestling championship and it was clear the commitment that was made through the use of technology to make it an event for the athletes and their parents. One can only hope that the powers that be can learn from this less than impressive performance. Those athletes gave all they had to give on those two days. Not sure they can say the same about the adults.

The 5A announcing was fine except Koehn was pronounced "ko-en", and Haake was pronounced "hawk-ee" & "hake". These 2 names may be difficult to pronounce for some, but it'd be nice if the announcers confirmed the correct pronunciations. Small issue with a really great tournament.

Would you care to elaborate on this? Other than a "few" flubs by the announcers I don't think I have heard any other negative comments. Certainly not to the level of calling it a joke.

Hartman comments

Hartman arena was a nice venue, you could see all eight mats from anywhere in the arena, the staff was courteous, i walked in with water and coffee all weekend and was never stopped at the door

5a/6a Bouchet and Kmiec mispronounced wrong. Maybe I'm mistaken but Jake Gentzler # of state championships was wrong.

I brought in a bag and was not searched:) Overall best experience from the last 4 I've attended.

5/6 tourney great.....intrust sucked...pay for parking...pay for entry....food outrageous...hartman same...but all in all great venue...the staff a hartman was great no problems....even let kids club kids to go onto the mat to hang out with "the big boys" Way cool for them to be with those caliber of wrestlers....Won't get that "With Intrust natzis"......keep it at Harmon....

I didn't bring up the Erk one, that isn't that difficult to pronounce. With the lack of intelligence in our family, the first Eck to come to America from Germany, named Eckenbacherswartzendruber, was shortened to Eck, for fear of future embarassment of misspelling our own name............Great great great great great Grandpa probably thought he'd never run into someone not able to pronounce the shortened version...........

Yeah, Ryne Cokeley/Cade Blair, same difference huh?

Eckenbacherswartzendruber....................Eck is a great name.

I don't think I would have been able to remember the name of the wrestler that beat me pretty soundly in high school if his name was Eckenbacherswartzendruber.

In the announcers' defense, they did ask coaches to come up and tell them how to pronounce any tough names, but the tourney wasn't filled up with tough names. Coaches assume that the announcer has the ability to read at least at a 2nd grade reading level.

Other than that, the tourney wasn't too bad

Couldnt agree with this topic more. The anouncing was horrible. 1 of them was much better than the other but overall it was sad. How by the way do you get Augustus out of Augusta? and Erk for Eck was outragously dissrespectful for an outstanding wrestler. Other than the Water Police on Saturday searching bags all went very smoothly.. Didnt understand that either, Ok to bring in Water on Friday and not on Saturday? Oh well NBD Congrats to all the Medalist on a fantastic tournament.

I think it's time for the reffs and others that can set back and let a wrestler get hit with a fist at the state meet at the end of the match and toss him and nothing else happens to him besides a point can be taken from the team score. If this would have been a coach they would have thew him out and would call the police. This happened in the 4A 135 pound weight and not only did he get hit but also in the match hut his arm and had to take sixth. It's time that schools be held responable for a kid during what happened sat. Years ago we had a boy have his front teeth knoted out and the school had to end up paying 2,200.00 for the bill to fix what happened. I think the wrestler that did this and the school should have the guts to at lease tell him there sorry and if the coach is a man he should to.
I want to say thanks for Mike costa from Hiawatha who deserved more than he got for a great weekend.

By far the best venue that we've had the last 5 years. Easy access and great viwing off all the mats. Plenty of space. Hat's off to Hartman!

I do have to say that the announcer was really bad but he did ask for people to come up and let them know if you have a name that would be difficult to say. I am not defending them so please don't think that. just saying they did ask. They actually got our name right and it is usually pronounced incorrectly.

Hopefully they will fix this for next year.

"Erk" was an omen.......he knew Levi would be "erked" after Nick whipped him............

I'm surprised everyone noticed the mis-pronounced names this weekend because i couldnt even hear the crappy PA system most of the day. Guess I didnt miss much.

Is this the same adult fan who was screaming at the stated wrestler " You are a piece of @#!* " and other obscenities several times in front of all the innocent fans, should they get an apology as well? Just wonderin'----

Tom S, if you didnt know, the coach is also his dad.

Although I agree with Doug's assessment, I am hesitant to attack the volunteers. I know Steve and his heart is absolutely in the right place. I blame KSHSAA for not making this event as important as it should be. We should have a professional announcer and there should be an attempt to make this event totally special for these kids who have sacrificed many, many hours of freedom to hard work. I have said it before and I will say it again. The medals are a joke, the awards assembly is a joke, the setup is a joke. The bleachers should be pulled out and fans should be allowed a closer view. The lighting makes it impossible to take a good video or take good pictures. Ideas for improvements:

1) Raised platform for the finals.
2) Pull out the bleachers and sell premium floor tickets.
3) Real Announcer.
4) Better lighting.
5) Awards given on the raised platform and then move them to the podium for picks.
6) Let the head coach or fathers award the medals.
7) Play some better music for the awards.
8) How about a medal with some wrestlers on them? Does KSHSAA not know that it is GOLD for 1st, Silver for 2nd, and Bronze for the other placings?

Lastly, the biggest announcment snafu, to me, was when the guy tied to jinx Ryne by announcing him the State Champ when they still needed to wrestle the 3rd period!! He is lucky Ryne held up or we would definitely be looking for at least one new one next year.

As an announcer myself, I believe it's very important to correctly pronounce names. Nothing makes an event and an announcer look and sound more pathetic than saying someone's name wrong. C'mon...do a little homework before the event begins. God forbid, an announcer actually asks someone. I thought the announcing at 3-2-1A state was generally ok, but Schumacher was pronounced Shoe-mock-er by the announcer. And Schumacher's from Hays!

That being said, there's 224 wrestlers competing at each state tourney. It's nearly impossible to get every name right. I had at least one wrong myself. Batt from Hoisington is pronounced "Bott". Again, I should have asked. Never assume.

Why should the school punish the kid? Yeah what he did wasn't the best thing to do, but the punch to the face (which actually just hit his head gear from what i heard) has nothing to do with the injury to the Costa's arm. His arm got hurt because Costa's opponent was wrestling intensively. I agree that the kid should not have hit Mike but the punishment is between the wrestler and the coach. In this case a dad and his son. Not between the entire school. And you shouldn't expect the other school to pay for any damages to Costa's arm if it got hurt from legal hard nose wrestling because that would be ridiculous.

Its amazing how in one instance we can talk about wrestling "intensively" and then when the table is turned, it is refered to as "dirty" wrestling or head-butting. Very interesting.

No records or class on the 4A brackets???? They turned 321A on us!

I am reconstructing the brackets and the new brackets will have records and year in school.

Update: It appears that it was in fact a silo and not a tall building.

Now this is super funny!!!.

first off I did not say anything about the other school having to pay for what happened to Mike arm or being hit by the other wrestler, what I did say was that happened to one of our wrestlers years ago and there was a bill that had to be paid by the other school and if was going to court before it was selted out of court. Not at anytime did I say anything about the school or the wrestler having to pay for what happened and your right Mikes arm was not hurt from getting hit, and I also did not know that the dad was the coach and it does not matter but at the same time the kid new better and it could have cost Mike a chance for a better place and as far as the coach he feels bad enough without every one taking sides. there should not be a side to take it was a thing that can happen and you and I know it will happen again somewhere down the line and if just one kid reads this and it helps him then its worth it to talk and write. I have seen coachs in the Kids wrestling program get so mad that some times they don't understand and also parents can put so much on winning and do anything to win knowing that they have to go home and face there parents.
this is in reply to Quagmire . I have been a coach in the kids program for over 20 years and belive me I have seen it all.

Not sure why Hartman was such a joke, clean arena with plenty of seating and along a major highway so very easy to get to. As for the names they will never be all pronounced correctly, and for the first time this year at a away meet my son's name was said correctly.

Thank you!