I don’t want to speak for everyone in this blogging/wrestling/writing world, but for myself — and I’ll go ahead and say that I believe a lot of others probably would say similar — a lot of my motivation comes from my experiences in the sport.

As an adult, I’ve found that a lot of life lessons I learned growing up in wrestling have helped me in my career and daily life. I also believe that my experience and education gained at Oklahoma State has done similar.

So often when I write about the sport or Oklahoma State, I look at it from that angle. I want to see the sport grow and succeed and I want to see Oklahoma State grow and succeed, because both played such a big role in my life. I say all that to admittedly say that is sort of the angle here.

If you haven’t noticed yet, I really nerd out on this wrestling stuff. One specific area I really enjoy nerding out on is attendance. Last year with solid home crowds throughout the season and with one of the largest crowds in Gallagher-Iba history vs. Iowa, OSU was able to average it’s highest attendance in recorded history.

This year OSU won’t be doing that. OSU’s home schedule wasn’t the most exciting one we’ve ever seen, the Cowboys are in a bit of a rebuilding year, and its best guy Daton Fix is taking an Olympic redshirt.

They’ve still managed to draw better crowds than in most recent history though. Here are the averages from the last thirteen years. These records are kept by the Mat Talk Almanac.

Here are the totals for each dual this year and what the Cowboys have averaged to this point in the season.

If it holds at the current average after the OU dual, the Cowboys will have the fourth highest attendance in the last thirteen seasons. Which again, is certainly good by fans when you factor in that it’s a bit of a down year.

The average needed to finish the season with the third highest average in the past 13 years is 3,687.

Here’s the magic number to hit that average.

6,269

So for the Bedlam dual if the Cowboys have 6,269 fans in attendance they will have the third highest attendance mark in the last thirteen years.

It’s definitely a reachable goal, though it will take a good showing by the fans. Last year’s Bedlam dual had 5,238 and the Cowboys most well attended dual this season had 5,324.

I wrote a little on this after the Bedlam football game this season, but wrestling is something that Oklahoma State fans should really embrace. It’s certainly not for everyone, and I respect that many people just don’t get into it, but if you’re a fan of Oklahoma State athletics, you’re going to walk away from some Bedlam events a bit frustrated at times. This is one where that’s rarely the case.

Will wrestling get their third highest attendance average in the last thirteen years after Bedlam? It will be interesting to see.