I hear what you are saying Mark, but the fact still remains I have never had my bad searched at the Bi-Centennial Ctr, Tulsa, Municipal in KC, others. And they have exculsive contracts for food at every one of them.

24/7

in the end no matter what, food hotels. bag searches. you guy's do host a great tournament, and in the end thats all that matters...

so no matter what we all complain about, give your self a pat on the back for offering a great tounament for our kansas wrestlers.

if i did not have this site to complain on and had to complain to my wife she would get tired of hearing it and slap the crud out of me.

I have been to Salina a few years ago and they had stuff taken out of bags all over the table at the entrance.

as long as the wrestlers are alowed to bring in gatorade, water etc. i think most people will be happy. the problem i have is this we had a wrestler come through with 2 bottles of gatorade and he was told that he was only alowed to bring in one. i agree we always bring sandwiches and eat in the parking lot, or back at the motel. i don't want to bring in a feast, we just want water and gatorade for the kids. thanks for responding, it shows that we do have a voice.

I'll bring a grill everyone can furnish their own meat and we can have a tailgate! haha

Adding to Marks comments, today at the Bicentennial center atheletes were denied bringing in even just bottled water. I witnessed a situation where security was called to the entrance for two men bringing back in coffee cups that they had purchased in the concessions and then absentmindedly ventured out into the entry commons area.

My point is that it is happening all over and even tighter then what the expo does. I bought $3 20oz bottles of water and diet coke today. Lets just get over it.

I agree with meditz, if you thought or think that topeka was bad then you definately would have been Pi**ed of at salina today. Because wrestlers and family were not allowed to bring NOTHING in the form of food or drink in.

On the forum it said that Salina's concessions would be affordably priced. In my book, a $3 hot dog was not affordably priced. On the other hand we stopped at the sizzler in Junction City and paid $50 for the 5 of us and we all left wishing we'd eaten a $3 hotdog along with a $3 bottle of water!! (Next year i'll pack sandwiches and we'll eat in the car!!)

I meant to say - don't stop at that Sizzler... food was not good. The hot dog would've been MUCH better!!

At Salina this year they did check bags. However, you could leave your coolers in the lobby and go out as you needed. The kids, all of them, quickly learned how to avoid the security. Additionally, no one pat searched anyone and most of their staff were polite. Salina just has a better place, its just too small.

Salina is a great place but way to small. What do you mean there was no body seaches I had one IT WAS GREAT AND SHE WAS POLITE !!!! Why do so many hate the expo center so much? Its high priced? Try going to a national tournament parking 10.00, entry 45.00, Coaches pass 30.00, Food out of this world high? I know I'm lucky its pretty close but at the end of the day I drive 1 hour stay in hotel anyway and we treat it like a vacation the whole family goes. I live in KCK if you move it Goodland in a corn field the kids wrestle on a gravel lot and charge top dollar to get in. Bottom line if he wants to go and gets in, we'll go! Move it if ya'll want trade it back and forth to be FAIR (Politic correctness is killing me) if you want Hopfully we'll be lucky enough to be there.

but was she cute.

we had 2 wrestlers that purchased gatorade from the concessions at salina and went outside and were not allowed to come back with their gatorades had to toss them to get back in. My suggestion is a little sticker to put on items that were purchased in the bicentennial center (or any other venue) so that you could bring them back might solve some problems.

I think that these venues need to quit taking themselves that serious. I think that if you look at the "security" as a whole they were there to make our lives tougher. Why do they watch a person walk out with a drink they bought at the concession stand and then not let them back in with that same drink??? I am being critical on these venues because we need answers. Why do they need such tight security on bottled water??? What are the security risks of a homemade ham and cheese sandwich??? Which fruits are on Homeland Security's Watch List??? I may sound narrow minded or cynical, but we have not heard anything but excuses by others as "that is just the way it is" or "they are big business." If they would come out and just say "we feel we can hike up prices because we have a captive audience and can control distribution..." Fine. Just quit hiding behind security. Things are not any worse than when many of us were wrestling.
On top of that...what happens if an altercation breaks out??? Do these people have the training or the physical ability to get things under control???

Coach Craig Adams

"Security central, we have a teen with a lethal weapon at gate 3, appears to be trying to sneak an orange in. As long as his arms are, I bet he is a pitcher on the baseball team, could probably throw 80-85 MPH, possible threat......Call in the SWAT team"

What they don't seem to understand is without all of us coming to these venues they would not be a "big business"

It may come down to having the state tourneys at a smaller place, say Salina, and doing it in sessions, like Tulsa and Reno do now.

We could do the first two rounds in split sessions, then come togther for the rest of it, after eliminating some of the kids.

Just talking without thinking much here..........

That is just normal for you isn't it?

How about someone from Salina putting together an approx time table that we'd need to make it work using the Bicentennial center? Maybe we'd need to weigh in Friday night, and wrestle the first round, and the first round of consolation to thin things out friday night.

That is what my wife says.