It's NCAA week. (Not that silly basketball stuff; I mean NCAA Div. I Wrestling Week).    For many in the national wrestling community, this is a special time of the year. In a couple of days, the opening whistle will be blown at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, and our version of March mayhem will begin.    So what's the big deal, you may ask? For each individual who is hooked on the NCAA Championships, the answer may be different. I am not sure that there is a correct answer. The allure of the NCAA Championships is personal.    For me, there are no memories of competing at the NCAA Championships as an athlete. It was a dream that I did not realize. I got close, but never earned the trip to the show. As a freshman, I lost a close match in the New England Conference finals at 118 pounds to Bob DeStefanis of Rhode Island. You had to win our conference to go to the NCAA meet. I never made the finals again.    My first NCAA Championships was as a journalist the year after my graduation, 1983, at the Myriad in Oklahoma City. I finally got a chance to see what I had worked so hard to make as a wrestler. The power, the intensity, the skill of the wrestling action was tremendous. It was everything I imagined, and more.    That year, I was also helping as a volunteer  assistant coach with my college. I got to sit in the corner for a few matches coaching the athletes. As a journalist, I have been on the floor of the NCAA Championships every year since. The memories of being out there as a coach are still with me, something to cherish.    Memories. Those who make the annual trek to the NCAA Championships, no matter where they are held, have many, many memories. This year's edition in KC will by my 21st consecutive NCAA Championships. My memories are fading with age, but they are very much a part of why I enjoy this tournament so much.    Last year provided a special memory, when Cael Sanderson of Iowa State won his fourth straight without a loss. That weekend was truly a celebration of excellence in the face of tremendous expectation. But I was there when Pat Smith of Oklahoma State broke the barrier by winning his fourth NCAA title. Certainly, Smith had to deal with the most pressure ever faced by a college wrestler. He met that challenge, in spite of all the obstacles that were in the way. It wasn't as pretty as Cael's coronation, but the Pat Smith victory was really something to marvel. That man was tough under pressure.    There was Dan Gable's last year as a coach, when his Hawkeyes stormed the NCAA Tournament and set a record for team points on the way to a dominant win. Gable was the show that weekend, in front of tremendous crowd at the UNI-Dome at the Univ. of Northern Iowa. During the finals, when they had the largest crowd in NCAA Wrestling history, it seemed like Iowans were hanging from the rafters giving Dan a tremendous sendoff.     I remember that crazy NCAA Championships when Arizona State won the team title without an individual champion. That meet was determined through the wrestlebacks, and the Sun Devils got on a roll. The team had a bunch of characters, starting with coach Bobby Douglas, and including such colorful people as Zeke Jones, Tom Ortiz and Mike Davies. It was unheard of for a team from the West to win the NCAAs, but it did happen once.    I thought I'd never see anything like it until a few years ago when the greatest team effort in wrestling history was turned in by the Minnesota Gophers. The team clinched the title in the wrestlebacks, without a single individual finalist, but with all 10 team members earning All-American  status. I was in the corner of the arena when the Gopher wrestlers and coaches celebrated after Garrett Lowney won his third-place match to ice the trophy. That joy reminded me that wrestling is a team sport, in addition to being an individual sport.    You can't go back the 20 years without remembering the dominance of the Iowa program, the way that the Hawkeyes, their coach Dan Gable and their fans ruled the wrestling world. During those days, the Iowa fans owned the arena. When a Hawkeye would put away an opponent with a pin (which happened often), the place would rock with sound and fury. The Iowa teams that won nine straight titles were as famous off the mats as they were on. They were winning and they were having fun. People would argue whether the Iowa domination helped or hurt wrestling. I can't imagine that excellence could ever hurt our sport, just like John  Wooden's UCLA teams did not hurt basketball. It all ended the year that the Hawkeyes had the arrogance to place a Roman numeral X on their singlet, to signify their goal of 10 straight. Every streak ends sooner or later, and college wrestling has never been the same since.     Being an athlete from Boston University, we don't have a ton of NCAA memories about our athletes. Our school has yet to crown its first NCAA title, something I hope to someday witness. The memories are more about upsets. You NCAA junkies will remember my two upset memories very well. There was the early round victory by my younger teammate Tod Giles over Iowa's former NCAA champion Pete Bush. Then there was the first-round win by unknown Earl Walker over No. 2 seed Matt Lindland of Nebraska. Those were proud moments for a former Terrier, something that has happened only about once a decade.    You think of some wild moments, like when Billy Kelly of Iowa State pinned Brad Penrith of Iowa with a "spladle" in the finals. Then Rob Rohn of Lehigh, on his way to being beaten  badly by Oklahoma's Josh Lambrecht staving off a technical fall with the "cement job" throw for a sudden pin. Then there was that unexpected and amazing upset by Steve Marianetti of Illinois beating Iowa's Lincoln McIlravy in his home gym in Iowa City, ending Lincoln's quest to be a four-timer.    You think of some tremendous athletes and competitors, as well. I still marvel at the toughness and skill of Bloomsburg's Ricky Bonomo, as well as the power and poise of Joe Williams of Iowa. You recall the impressive Carlton Haselrig of Pitt-Johnstown, and wonder what his Olympic wrestling future may have been if he was not around during the Bruce Baumgartner era. You remember the days of the champion 400-pound big men, like Tab Thacker of NC State, then the little heavyweights like Kurt Angle of Clarion, who beat bigger men. You think of the rivalries, such as the Nate Carr vs. Kenny Monday wars. You remember athletes with style and class, like Matt Demaray of Wisconsin. Not all of the memories are of multiple champions, such as one-time Jesse Reyes of Cal-Bakersfield who won the NCAA tournament with one move, a tremendous inside trip.     But the NCAA Championships are more than just the wrestling. It is a chance to see old friends and make new ones, all who share wrestling as a passion. Each year, I look forward to running into some of my favorite people, like Joe Campo, the respected coach from Brentwood High School, or Jim Peckham, the Hall of Famer from Boston who was a mentor and friend since my college days. Every year, somebody from my past comes out of the woodwork and reminds me of good times. They are former competitors and other wrestling people that have been part of my journey in the sport. It is like homecoming week, one that travels across the nation on an annual basis.    The NCAA Championships have become an annual sellout, a major sports property. It is great to know that for at least one week, somewhere in America, wrestling becomes a big deal. The newspapers in the host city are full of stories with wrestling special sections. For example, the Kansas City Star had a huge article on Sunday about Iowa's Steven Mocco, to kick off the week of wrestling coverage. Wrestling is shown on the sports segments of the local news. ESPN even does same-day coverage, and an occasional highlight on Sports Center. Wrestling, something I care about, receives some of the treatment that it deserves. Yes, NCAA week is something special. I am certain some new memories will be created for us all this week in Kemper Arena.    TheMatside View is published on Tuesdays.