SESKER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS JOURNAL: People in Herning have made this trip enjoyable

Sept. 27

HERNING, Denmark - The people here have been very friendly and hospitable.

The Danish people have been great to deal with at the Scandic hotel and here at the venue.

The media operations here have been a challenge, and a slow internet connection is affecting our work today, but the people here have been cooperative for the most part.

The U.S. delegation has spent its share of time hanging out at a place called Murphy's. The people there have been over backward to make us feel at home in Denmark. I love the Pepperoni pizza with Ranch dressing on top.

Spenser Mango is sitting up here with us, helping with the audio broadcast. Spenser is a great young man, one of the best people we have in the sport. He comes from a great family. His brother, Ryan, just started school at Stanford. Spenser bailed us out in the first session Sunday, filling in brackets and monitoring start sheets so we knew when the U.S. guys were coming up.

Another interesting twist here is every wrestler has their last name on the back of their singlets now at the Worlds. I like it. As you may know, Central Michigan has names on the back of their college singlets.

We will have a long day today/tomorrow. A very looooooong day!

We are scheduled to leave the hotel at 3:10 a.m. Monday and then travel by bus for an hour from Herning to Billund.

We then fly from Billund to Frankfurt, Germany, and then from Frankfurt to Washington D.C., and then on to Denver.

We will then drive the final hour from Denver to Colorado Springs.

Then hopefully I can collapse into my bed and hibernate for a few days.

Sept. 26

The actual mayor of Herning, Denmark, was downtown late last night, mingling with the folks of this small European city.

But last night, his city belonged to someone else.

Hakan Nyblom.

Nyblom, who is from Herning, became a local and national hero after winning a bronze medal in Greco-Roman wrestling in front of a boisterous group of hometown fans on Friday night.

Nyblom won a bronze medal at 55 kg/121 lbs. He's the guy on all the flags and posters that are everywhere in Herning.

I chatted with Nyblom briefly when we walked downtown and he couldn't stop smiling. A huge crowd of Danish fans cheering him on yesterday at the venue. Many were out celebrating with him on Friday night.

Nyblom showed me his medal. It was bronze, but it might as well have been gold.

As he said to me, in English, before flashing a smile:

"It's my night."

It certainly was.

Denmark will have another hero on the mat tomorrow.

Two-time World silver medalist Mark Madsen will face two-time World bronze medalist Harry Lester of the U.S. in the first round. It's a random draw, and arguably the two best guys in the bracket.

The tournament schedule was set up so Madsen could wrestle on the final day. Harry will have his hands full, battling a great wrestler on his home turf in front of what I'm sure will be a fired-up Dannish crowd.

It's a tough assignment for Harry, but he wrestles his best in situations like this. It ain't his first rodeo, that's for sure.

The money here is called Kroner. The exchange rate here is 5 Kroner for every U.S. dollar. The 10-minute cab rides from the hotel to the venue are 96 Kroner, almost $20 in U.S. currency. Yes, it's very expensive here.

Sept. 25

Journalist Bill May is one of the people I look forward to chatting with on these trips.

Bill, like I've said on here earlier, is basically the encyclopedia of international wrestling for those in the media room. He's also an interesting guy to talk to. He always has something funny and interesting to say.

His father grew up in Minnesota, and is of German descent. His mother is Japanese. Bill grew up in Minnesota and trained with U.S. World Team Greco-Roman coach Dan Chandler when Dan was competing.

He lives in Prague in the Czech Republic.

He works as a freelance journalist. He's here helping the Japanese with their coverage.

The 15-minute bus trips from the hotel to the venue every morning are interesting. Today, I had coaches from Ukraine and Vietnam sitting in front of me, Cuban wrestlers and coaches behind me, and coaches from Jordan sitting next to me.

Four different languages, none of which were English, were being spoken. Interesting.

When I came back to the hotel room the other night, I had to laugh when "Married with Children" was on. And it was in English. Very funny. I heard the Pittsburgh Steelers game was on here last Sunday.

Sept. 24

Rick Tucci and Tom Clark, who worked the Olympic Games last year in Beijing, China, are here as the two U.S. referees selected to work the World Championships.

Rick actually celebrated his birthday on the first day of the tournament on Monday.

Tom was joking around this morning with me, saying that he graduated from high school the same year Rick worked his first Worlds in 1977.

Tom has done around 15 World events. Rick has done virtually every Worlds and Olympics for the last 32 years. These guys have some great stories about their experiences traveling around the Globe.

As you may have heard, there are not an abundance of hotel rooms in Herning, Denmark. It's a town of only 45,000 people, nestled right in the heart of farm country with cornfields and tractors everywhere.

The officials are staying in a hotel that is a 45-minute drive. They are closer to the airport in Billund, which is about an hour away, than they are to the arena in Herning.

The local organizing committee here, bless their heart, is trying their best to put on a great event.

Having inexperienced people running an event of this magnitude makes life rough on the people trying to do their jobs here.

This morning, the guy at the front gate wouldn't let me into the arena. I need to arrive an hour or more early to set up, pick up brackets and information, and make sure the U.S. media here have everything they need.

The guy at the front gate told me to walk all the way around to the back of the arena where the athletes come in. I walked in there, but was stonewalled by another guy who told me I needed to go in the front.

Dave "Doc" Bennett, who retired last year from USA Wrestling but is here helping FILA with the event, walked around to the front with me. Doc has an all-access credential with FILA, the international governing body for wrestling.

The guy at the front gate wasn't going to let me in, even after Doc flashed his fancy FILA pass. Doc worked his magic, and after a little talking (which he's the master at), I made my way inside.

We have had a lot of problems with our Internet dropping out during the middle of sessions. That really makes your coverage a challenge when you're trying to do live audio and text updates.

Staying cool and composed is sometimes a challenge in these situations, but we managed to do it.

Like my boss, Gary Abbott, often says, you have to be ready for anything at an event like this.

Sept. 23

Jake Varner and Tervel Dlagnev followed up their great work on the mat with great performances with the news media last night.

Jake, as many of you know, is a star in front of a camera or tape recorder. He's engaging, funny and candid. I've had numerous media members compliment Jake for being a "quote machine" in his interviews.

Jake is the type of guy who can draw an average sports fan into this sport because of the type of character and charisma he has.

Tervel does a great job as well. He's very well-spoken. He helped us out at our press conference prior to the World Team Trials. He hasn't done near as much media as Jake, but Tervel is very comfortable and articulate when doing an interview.

We hooked Chicago Tribune Olympics writer Phil Hersh up with Herbert late last night after Jake won a silver medal at the World Championships.

Jake wrestled for Northwestern and it was great to see a major newspaper like the Tribune giving us some great publicity.

We also hooked Tervel up with veteran sports editor Buck Mahoney of the Kearney Hub after Tervel won a bronze medal. It's a small paper in central Nebraska that does an excellent job covering wrestling.

Kudos to Phil and Buck for giving our boys some well-deserved recognition.

The Omaha World-Herald also had a story on Tervel today. I was more than happy to help them with that.

I will wear many hats with my responsibilities at an event like this. I help connect our athletes with the media along with all the information we are posting on TheMat.com.

Kudos to my boss, Gary Abbott, for doing a great job of helping us with our coverage. Gary is back in Colorado Springs, but he's been putting up results, distributing information to the U.S. media and helping post stories when our Internet connection is slow.

I know Gary was trying to get the word out to the Pittsburgh media about Herbert as well. Jake grew up in that area.

Days like yesterday are very long, but it's more than worth it when Team USA is putting wrestlers up on the medal stand.

Sept. 22

Talk about a swing in momentum.

Everyone in the Team USA camp is feeling much better now, thanks to great performances on Tuesday by Jake Herbert and Tervel Dlagnev in the freestyle competition.

Herbert won silver and Dlagnev bronze on Day 2 of the World Championships.

These guys earned it.

They both work extremely hard, they are both super kids, they both have been receptive to coaching, and they've bought into the new plan the U.S. coaches have for the freestyle program.

Herbert sent a big message with his semifinal win over the Junior World champion from Russia. The U.S. can go toe-by-toe with the best freestyle country in the World and beat them.

The U.S. still has a long way to go, obviously, but this was a big step in the right direction on Tuesday.

One of the cool parts of attending the World Championships is seeing the Japanese media in action.

They love their women's freestyle wrestling.

That was evident when Japan hosted the Women's Worlds in Tokyo last year.

It's evident any time they compete in the Worlds.

I was back in the weigh-in area this morning when the first two Japanese girls stepped on the scale. Journalists from Japan were videotaping and taking photos of the girls when they weighed in.

The women also stopped for some interviews as the photographers snapped away. These girls are like rock stars in their own country.

Sept. 21

HERNING, Denmark - The U.S. is off to a slow start at the World Championships with no medals on Day 1, but the American squad is optimistic about the second day with Tervel Dlagnev, Shawn Bunch and Jake Herbert taking the mat on Tuesday.

Kudos to the folks in Herning for going all-out for this event. The crowds here are great and the atmosphere is electric. It's a great environment to wrestle in.

Our coverage plan was altered a bit today, but we managed to post video interviews with all three U.S. wrestlers in addition to interviews with four American coaches.

We also wrote a session wrap-up story on the U.S. team, and Tony Rotundo is posting photos on Tech-Fall.com. Jason Bryant jumped in and did some broadcasting with the audio feed that is being done with Joe Williamson of FloWrestling.

Joe is doing an amazing job at Flo, and he's been great to work with over the past year. We can only make the sport better by working together, and that's what we're doing here.

Joe understands there are guidelines and protocol to follow, and he does a great job with their Website. It's been great having him around this week. He even brought his dad along to watch the event.

We're planning to go hang out with Joe and his dad later. No, the Apocalypse isn't near.

Sept. 20

HERNING, Denmark - I'm so excited right now for the wrestling competition to begin at the 2009 World Championships.

I journeyed over to check out the venue this morning. I then walked over to the area where the first three U.S. wrestlers - Danny Felix, Trent Paulson and Jake Varner - weighed in on Sunday morning.

The venue is very nice. It is the perfect size for this event. It seats around 4,000 people and will provide an intimate setting for this event.

The good news for us is there is actually a press tribune, the area where journalists and media work inside the venue. They didn't have a press tribune in Baku, Azerbaijan, two years ago and it created a lot of problems for us.

They also have an enormous press center that is located adjacent to the arena. The Internet signal is very strong, which is a great sign for us. That's critical to our coverage.

They have a great set-up in the venue as well, with lunch and dinner provided for athletes, coaches, workers and media.

As R.C. Johnson has said in his blog, everything in this country is very expensive. Jason Bryant and I went out last night for dinner at this great pizza place. We then ventured next door for a cold beverage. It was expensive.

It was a good time as well. They had a cover band playing outside in the downtown square near our hotel. As we walked up, they were jamming to Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild." They also played their share of U2, AC/DC and Bon Jovi. They actually weren't too bad.

We walked into this little pub called Murphy's. As JB said, it was an Irish pub with Danish beer. We met this old regular named Kallick. He reminded me of Norm from the old TV show "Cheers." He was hilarious. He walked over and asked us if we were from the U.S. JB thought he looked like Adrienne's brother, Pauly, from the "Rocky" movies.

I had an expensive morning today. I bought a 16-ounce bottle of Coca Cola in the hotel lobby. It cost 20 kroner, which translates to $4 in U.S. money. We then caught a short, five-minute cab ribe to the arena that cost me 96 kroner, just shy of $20 U.S.

We are wondering if they've jacked up the prices here since the World Championships are in town.

I ran into past World silver medalist and Olympian Mike Zadick this morning. He and his father, Bob, are here watching the event. Past World champion Bill Zadick, Mike's older brother, is here as one of the assistant coaches for Team USA. Mike always cracks me up. He's a character, that's for sure.

I also ran into former co-worker Jason Townsend. He's now helping FILA organize the 2010 Youth Olympics. He's living in Singapore and is here observing this event. I had lunch with him at the venue. He always has his share of funny stories.

This should be a good event. They seem organized and seem to have an idea what they're doing. The people are very friendly.

Denmark excels in Greco-Roman wrestling, and the Greco sessions are reportedly sold out for the last three days of the event.

Like any World Championships, the quality of wrestling will be excellent. It will be fun to see what happens.

Sept. 19

HERNING, Denmark - It's never felt better to be checked into a hotel.

24 hours after I left the airport in Colorado Springs, I've arrived in Herning. I'm exhausted.

The eight-and-a-half hour flight from Chicago to Frankfurt went relatively quickly. I watched two excellent movies - The Hangover and The Night at the Museum sequel - on the flight. I was so tired that I fell asleep during the third one, the latest edition of the action-packed Fast and the Furious movies.

Shortly after I found my gate for the flight from Frankfurt to Billund, Denmark, USA Wrestling's Jim Ravannack, Rich Bender and Pete Isais met me for the short flight.

I was giving Rich a hard time for not bringing enough bags. He brought some extra luggage, filled with warmups, singlets and other items that weren't ready to transport when the coaches and athletes left for Europe. He also brought two cameras that we will be using for the event.

We had wrestlers from Canada, Poland, France and Senegal on our flight into Denmark.

After arriving in Denmark, it didn't really seem like we were in a foreign country. We even didn't get our passports stamped or have to go through customs. That was great.

On the 45-minute bus ride to Herning, I felt like I was back in my home state of Iowa. There were cornfields all over the place. This is farming country, and everything is really green. I've never seen so many windmills in my life.

The bus dropped us off at the arena. I went in and grabbed my credential. I ran into U.S. World freestyle team member Shawn Bunch, along with his coaches, Lou Rosselli and Tim Flynn.

There were no late shuttles to the hotel, so I ended up talking this guy driving a city bus into giving me a ride to our hotel. We are only about a five-minute ride from the hotel, but it's too far to walk when you're lugging suitcases and a computer bag.

I'm just glad I'm in a hotel. Some of our group, including the freestyle travel partners, are staying in mobile homes that are located by the arena. There aren't many hotels in this town, and there are people from all over the World rolling in here in the next few days.

I'll check out the competition venue tomorrow. The first group of Americans - Danny Felix, Trent Paulson and Jake Varner - weigh in tomorrow morning at 11:30. Wrestling is set to begin on Monday at 1 p.m. local time, six hours ahead of New York.

I'm very tired. Time to get some rest.

Sept. 18

CHICAGO - I've just landed at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. I landed in the Windy City after a short two-hour flight in here from Colorado Springs.

In other words, I'm only about 100 meters into doing a marathon. I am still a very long way from Herning, Denmark, but the trip is underway.

That's international travel for you, spending a lot of time waiting around to get on an airplane.

I arrived in Chicago just before 6 p.m. local time. I now have four hours to kill before I leave on an eight-and-a-half hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany. My flight leaves at 10 o'clock, so I should be tired enough to get at least a little bit of sleep as we fly over the Atlantic Ocean and into Europe.

Numerous members of our delegation are taking different routes to Denmark over the next two days.

Two of my USA Wrestling colleagues, Executive Director Rich Bender and National Events Director Pete Isais, drove up to Denver this afternoon. They will fly from Denver to Frankfurt, arriving about the exact same time I will from Chicago. Barring any problems, we will then all fly together from Frankfurt to Billund, Denmark.

Tom Clark, one of the Americans who is a referee at this event, told me he is flying today from Indianapolis to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, and then Amsterdam to Billund.

Another member of our group, Jason Bryant, is flying from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, and then flying with Tom Clark from Amsterdam to Billund. Photographer Tony Rotundo, from Tech-Fall.com, is flying from California to Copenhagen, Denmark, and then traveling across Denmark by train to Herning.

I know it's a major task trying to figure out how to get the U.S. delegation overseas, and do it without blowing out the company budget. Kudos to our hard-working people back at USA Wrestling World Headquarters for mapping out our journey.

Now I need to figure out what to do for the next four hours.

Sept. 17

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - I've covered three World Championships, the Pan American Games and the Olympic Games, so you would think I would have the art of packing for a long trip mastered by now.

Of course, I don't.

Trying to pack for an 11-day trip overseas is a bit of an art form. You need to keep your luggage at 50 pounds or less, and that is a bit of a challenge.

And you need to throw a few important items in a carry-on bag as well, just in case the airlines lose your luggage. Unfortunately, that is a common occurrence. That happened to our Greco-Roman team on their trip to Denmark earlier this week.

Aside from trying to make sure I didn't forget anything for the trip to Herning, Denmark, I can't wait for this trip. The World Championships is a great event. My first three trips were memorable.

In 2006, Joe Warren and Bill Zadick won gold medals for the U.S. in Guangzhou, China. In 2007, the Greco-Roman squad won the only World Championships team title in U.S. history in Baku, Azerbaijan. In 2008, Clarissa Chun won a gold medal at the Women's Worlds in Tokyo, Japan.

I take off tomorrow (Friday) around 2 p.m. from Colorado Springs. I fly 2½ hours to Chicago, have a 5-hour layover, and then fly 8½ hours to Frankfurt, Germany. I have a 3-hour layover in Frankfurt and then we fly about 1½ hours to Billund, Denmark.

Mitch Hull, our National Teams Director, said it is about a 50-minute drive from Billund to Herning. The 50 minutes is approximate, Mitch said, depending on how many combines and tractors are on the road.

We are only five minutes from the venue and it's a town of only 45,000 people, so it should be easy to get around once we finally get there.

It will be a long day of travel. I'm prepared with my iPod, and my new issues of Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine. I'm sure I will catch a few of the movies they show on the flight as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the U.S. team fares. 14 of the 21 Americans who are wrestling in Denmark will compete in the World Championships for the first time.

The United States has a long history of first-timers excelling at the Worlds. Let's hope that trend continues.

As I've done in the past, I will try to provide some interesting behind-the-scenes information and anecdotes from the trip in this journal.

We also have some new plans for our coverage. I am going to be doing a live, interactive blog with up-to-the-second updates on what is going on. That all hinges on whether or not the Internet works at the venue. It's a feature I think people will enjoy, and it's a quicker way to put up information.

We also will have a lot of video coverage as well. Jason Bryant will be working with me. He will be conducting video interviews with the athletes, and doing some features as well.

The schedule for the Worlds also is a little different this year. Freestyle wrestles first, followed by women's freestyle and Greco-Roman.

The sessions also don't start until 1 p.m. local time each day. Denmark is six hours ahead of New York, so that will be a 7 a.m. Eastern Time start.

Retired USA Wrestling video guru/coach Dave "Doc" Bennett, one of the stars of my previous journals, stopped by my office the other day. He's going to Denmark, but Doc told me not to write about him this year. I guess he's not bringing any lime green shirts to Herning.