1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Kent talks about he Big Ten Wrestling Championships are going to be great: March 2nd, 10:25am

Episode Date: March 2, 2022

They've already sold 10,000 ticketsIs Lincoln a wrestling town?What's your greatest favorite sports memory that you saw liveAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You're listening to One-on-One with DP. Sponsored by Beatrice Bakery on 937 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Welcome back to one-on-one. You can text in if you wish 402-99-2460. If you want to do that or you can call into Honolinkin Hotline [phone]. And Kent and I will actually answer your questions or react to your commentary. There is a big thing going on, and Mark Man, we're pushing Mark Manning to come in Thursday or Friday to talk about the Big Ten tournament. We talked about it a little bit with being at PBA.

And how big is this event? How big is this event? To this market. Well, I don't know if the market realizes how big it is yet. That's been the question. Frankly. But they've already sold almost 11,000. tickets for this.

I want you to say that again because that's banana. They've already sold almost 11,000 tickets, okay? There are people coming from a whole bunch from Iowa as there's a shocker. But there are people coming from at least the school areas where the wrestling teams are good. Penn State's coming. Penn State's coming. They're bringing people. Iowa's coming, right?

The rest of them, I'm not real sure, but they've sold 10,000 tickets. Okay, that's the equivalent of a basketball game, but it's all day. And the difference between this and Husker basketball is the people from, you know, state college or wherever, Pittsburgh, ain't going home at night. They're in the hotels. They're in the restaurants. All of that. It's a big deal.

And it's a big success. already, and I think this will mean it'll come back. It won't come back every year because that's not how the Big Ten does things with wrestling, but it will come back in two or three years. And I think it's a big deal. The more you can do these kind of events, the better. You know, Lincoln can't really, because of the hotel situation, cannot do NCAA men's basketball.

Not the number? They don't. Number of rooms available in the, space number of rooms available in uh but omaha can but omaha can because they have just that enough more hotels right it's just a flat number do we know the number that that the raskin needs to reach and i mean with all the development yeah and they're they're probably close they could do women's but they can't do men's yet so and the other thing is lincoln Omaha bids on the on the men's Lincoln will I would don't be shocked they've had a NCAA women's uh first round or no second round

game because what first rounds are played at home sites so be the second round games they've had that at at PBA in the past and we'll probably have it in the in the future would would there be in I mean to me it seems like there'd be some benefit if this event was stretched out over a couple of days of the big 10 wrestling yeah absolutely uh right like I mean just that seems I obvious and apparent. Yeah, and it seemed, honestly, seemed weird to me. I figured it would be two days.

Okay. But I don't know much about wrestling. I will plead, tell you the truth. I am not a wrestling. I wasn't a wrestling. Well, I've always been a wrestling fan. But Manning's insight,

Mark Manning's insight and kind of opening the door to the behind-the-scenes stuff, it makes me lean in, it makes me pay attention. also knowing how strong the conference is and why this thing matters so much but I've been waiting for fans to tell me how deep to go into this or not

so I'll ask you is this is Lincoln a wrestling town not in time how do I want to put this there is a core support group that is very strong fair fair

outside of that core they don't know what they do you had Jordan Burroughs right Jordan was a draw so to speak Jordan pulled people into that wrestling but I don't think you have the same broad community

wrestling town thing that you do with you know the this isn't once again not exactly fair to compare wrestling to this, but volleyball in, you know, pick one, Clemson is not a big deal. Right. Volleyball in Lincoln is a big deal. It's a volleyball town, okay?

I think in Iowa, there are no question that it's a wrestling thing. Nebraska isn't at that level. Okay. I mean, and I think that's the message that's been sent. My phone's blown up because people, I'm so glad you're talking about wrestling. And I'm a fan of it. There are some wonderful personalities on this wrestling team for Nebraska. They've even got a one seat going into this tournament, which is phenomenal in a conference that's so competitive.

But I wasn't sure if the fan base was as engaged as they should or could be. And I think the important word there you said was could. And I'm not sure how you do that. I'm not sure how they get people more engaged. But I think part of it is, once again, how many, we talk about this. It's engagement via some way of. Outside of the press conference. Outside of the press conference.

Outside of the press conference. And it's also on the media to some measure, the traditional media, so to speak, to make it engaging, I don't know if it's by more coverage or better or, but because the proof that people will latch on is Jordan, right? I mean, that's the, I mean, he's the goat. He's the goat. and people follow him and you know well you got how do you bring that to a bigger broader scale break down the wall

break down the wall I mean that's a part of what what I what I envision for the station is being a meeting place and if we put the athletes here and say well here come here and meet them come here and get them come here and get to know them.

Tell the athletes here, here's a great chance for you to let people inside, let people know who you are. But a lot of the culture was 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. That was it. And I said, that's fine, but that's 30 hours each weekday,

each week, weeknight, that we could put in more content and give more access, how weird is that like am i wrong in thinking that people will use nighttime hours to engage in husker athletics no no here's the i the key is getting people to know that they can during those hours my sense is that it doesn't matter the sport right if people are into it they want to be into it, right? And because of that, if you, you know, okay, to me, the most interesting thing that I saw on television, I guess it was on the weekend was they have bowling.

Okay. Now, I don't know how many people go to the Hollywood Bowl to watch them bowl, not very many because it's not that big. But, you know, here it is on TV. It's clearly a sport that Nebraska is a really good at. And there are going to be some fans, some people that are into that. If they know that, hey, I can come to this place, this station, and get that kind of intimacy, for lack of a better word, they'll come. And it's just getting to know, I think, because my sense and maybe it's just me as an individual is when you're into it, you're into it, right?

I mean, you got to Kobe, got the Mamba. Got to Mamba. Well, I've been locked into that for years, you know, people hate me for the teams. I like the Lakers, the Raiders. You know, pick one. Love who you love, man. Love who you love. And, you know, to the point where, you know,

I drive to Minneapolis or Denver, Oklahoma City, or wherever to see them play. Right? Well, it's no different on a college level. And you just got, you know, would I have loved an opportunity to hear when I was, you know, in high school, whatever, hear the guys that were playing then, you know, hear John Rogers on a radio or, you know, Rich Glover, or, you know, I can run down all these names that were like the guys that, you know, here I am in high school, you know, starting high school,

and they're playing for national championships. And those are the guys, you know, you looked up to. and they were your and to have some kind of access to that on a to absolutely yeah it's i mean it to talk bowling i mean when i pitched the idea that we would have a bowling show each week every monday night the eyes rolled the size the guffawls and you go okay except now that you've met them folks are showing up and i said exposure to greatness is is limited when it happens you have to take advantage of it. Same thing for gymnastics, swimming, diving.

I want to expand to every sport within the athletic program. And I still, I'd like the athletic department to let us help them. Like, could you imagine if, you know,

Thursday night, we can go back and replay Nebraska, Florida. And not have to bend over backwards and sideways. at the same time. We could go back and I mean there's an archive of amazing interviews that are untouched and unused.

I think instead I'm going to get those people to talk about those moments because the experience resonates higher with people than the actual game itself. I would agree with part B. Yeah. Right. You know, you might want to run the Tommy Frazier run down the sideline in the Orange Bowl where with Tommy with Tommy and talk about okay here's the I went through nine guys you know on that run but the to replay a game only hits in my the real hardcore going to listen to that you know that I did having them have those conversations is is the best part of radio yeah but exactly having those guys sit around and talk and you know I mean you can describe what's I'll ask you what's so it's And to make this point, what's your greatest favorite sports memory that you saw live?

Hmm. Who's the greatest athlete you ever saw a lot? Oh, now that's a, that, you're walking me down. You're walking me down the path. But that's on purpose. Yes. I saw actually probably the best single game, too. Five years ago, whenever the last time they had the NCAA regional up in Omaha,

the AP, who I work for, has one really great seat at every, I was sitting right next to Jim Nance. I mean, Jim Nance was as far from me as you are during the Duke, Kansas game that Grace and Allen missed the final shot. So I couldn't be closer to that game. That's probably the best college game I've ever seen, okay? Not the best athlete, but best game. Professional basketball, I was able to see a Lakers Celtics. play a NBA finals game at the forum that Kareem won basically on a skyhook.

Right. You know? Like from the free throw line. Yeah, from. It was a sky hook, but it was like, you know the game I'm talking about? I do. I was at that game. I would put Kareem up there. You know, people ask me, greatest basketball player.

Always put Kareem at the top. and people are like, or it's Michael George. Hey, y'all see, ever see Kareem play? They change the rules because of that guy in college. How good are you got to be if they changed the rules? Like, he's just, I mean, his UCLA run is ridiculous. And then to walk into the league with Milwaukee and turn it around. And then go to L.A.

Yeah. And the big O, that, you know, now, see, that was a team that got me when I was a kid, was because I follow UCLA. and then Lucius Allen, Brian Winners. Brian Winner. Like, I'm in. I'm with you. We're in.

I'm with you. I'm with you. I remember that group. Jim McMillan as well. They had their thing. We'll throw a break. We'll close out one-on-one with Kent Wogamott from the Lincoln Journal Star. This is always the journey that you want to take.

This is what sports does. And this is what we want to highlight. So stay tuned. We'll close out this hour when we come back. Watch live on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. Switch, you're listening to one-on-one with DP on 937 the Ticket and the Ticketfm.com.