Sports writer/assistant sports editor - Hanover, Pa.

Not sure where you're from originally, but welcome to the high school wrestling scene in Pennsylvania, kid.

Sucks you're bailing out. The Pa. state wrestling tournament in Hershey is the greatest high school event you'll ever go to.

 

The wrestling fans on Pennlive can be rough -- it's why reporters never should read message boards.

I remember one of TopNotch's Hanover predecessors got beat up regularly on those boards. I believe a poster registered under the reporter's name and posted some questionable content, too.

 

I do want to see if Cory Beaver will repeat as state champ and how well Bermudian can do ... but it's just my time, I suppose.

 

Meh. In my opinion, the results are more for the fans.

I'm talking about the actual experience of covering the tournament: Thousands and thousands of spectators at a high school event, the finality of it all for many of the participants, several days of schmoozing with writers and editors from all over the state, and all the chocolate and cookies you can fit in your face.

Mmmmmmmmmmm. Hershey.

 

Sounds like a blast. Pennsylvanians love their wrestling and youth hockey.

 

Youth hockey? What the hell are you talking about? Hockey's fifth on the pecking order of sports in Pennsylvania, behind football, NASCAR, wrestling and basketball. Maybe a bit higher near Philly, but not much.

 

Wrestling, yes. Not so sure about youth hockey. The state track championships are a few of the best days of the year, IMO.

 

From spending a lot of time in Pennsylvania as a child visiting relatives, youth hockey seemed to be pretty big there. The state track championships are something else and I only can imagine covering a big-time wrestling tournament.

 

State track's great. So's state wrestling. And state hoops is like a family reunion with all the writers around the state. (Although I wish that was still in Hershey.)

 

Yeah, you've got a shorter drive to Hershey!

Track and field is an effin circus. And if you're from a smaller paper that doesn't have one of its teams in the basketball finals, you ain't going. Conversely, every paper is almost always going to have a local athlete in the wrestling championships.

The wrestling tourney by far is at the top of the pecking order, IMHO. Something to look forward to every year.

 

Yeah, but I do love that circus that is state track. Doesn't hurt that it's in my hometown.

 

Never had the pleasure of covering state wrestling in Hershey, but I did cover district wrestling in Hershey. It fun seeing seven writers fight for dibs on the lone phone line in the press box when I didn't have to worry about it.