It's no secret I'm a wrestling fan. If you've followed the blog for long, you've seen my fervor.

So this, then, is the best time of year for those of us former wrestlers lucky enough to stay in the sport in some capacity. The state meet is in two weeks at Rabobank Arena. It's a spectacle worth seeing whether you know wrestling or not. And if you do, it's the mecca.

For Central Section wrestlers, the road to that mecca begins in earnest tomorrow at Lemoore and Mendota, where the section's Yosemite and Sierra/Sequoia Division meets are held. The top six from Lemoore and top four from Mendota advance to next week's Grand Masters tourney at East High. There seven of the 10 wrestlers make it to state.

The real drama on this road, though, happens in Lemoore. The big-school tournament has 32 wrestlers in each weight, and just six make it on (as opposed to 4 of 16 in the less deep Sierra/Sequoia Division).

But, disregard whether the big-school, small-school advancement process is fair. I'm more concerned with the seeding process in the Yosemite Division this year.

In no fewer than 13 cases — in 10 different weight classes — a wrestler was seeded below a guy he just beat in their league tournament. How does that happen? I understand that one league result or three might have been an anomaly, but 13 times?

Let me be more specific: Bakersfield High's Natrelle Demison beat East's 112-pounder Marc Collier 10-4 on Saturday at the SEYL meet. It was the first time the two had wrestled all year. So how in the world does Collier get a No. 5 seed at the Divisional meet when Demison was only given a No. 7? It doesn't make sense.

Again, same two schools at 125: BHS' Maxx Ramirez beat East's Nick Gonzalez 9-0 at league; Gonzalez is seeded seventh, Ramirez is unseeded.

Why is this important? Well, Demison will have to face the No. 1 seed, Clovis North's Vince Rodriguez, in the quarterfinals. If he can't spring the upset, he'll be one bad match away from failing to advance to Masters. Meanwhile, Collier (and this is nothing personal against a guy who is a quality wrestler) will wrestle the No. 4 seed in the same round with a much better chance of winning, reaching the semifinals and guaranteeing advancement.

Because he's unseeded, Ramirez was randomly drawn into the bracket. He'll have to face the No. 2 seed, Clinton McAlester of Clovis, in the second round. Without an upset, he'll need a four-match winning streak just to make Masters. And imagine if another seed is upset and thrown into the losers bracket — you could have two guys who have earned the right to be seeded meeting with their seasons on the line.

And this happened time and again in the section (the other local example is 189 pounds, where South's Kiefer Davenport was given the No. 8 seed even though he was pinned by Centennial's Chace Walker in the SWYL final. Walker is unseeded and now has to face the No. 4 seed in the first round.) There are other discrepancies with the section rankings put out by The California Wrestler, which are generally well-researched and informed. For instance, Ridgeview 140-pounder Javier Sanchez, who is undefeated, is ranked third in the section; he received a No. 6 seed. Buchanan heavyweight Kyle Papendorf is ranked No. 4 by TCW; he's seeded first, ahead of both East's Antonio Hernandez and Foothill's Angel Posadas, who are Nos. 2 and 3.

So what gives? There is a formula by which these wrestlers are seeded, and it gives points for placings in tournaments and head-to-head results and state rankings, among other things. I think it's safe to say the powers that be need to add a common-sense quotient to that equation. If one wrestler dominated the other less than 24 hours before Sunday's seeding meeting, how can you not take that into significant account?

It goes even deeper than that, I'm afraid. I'm still digging, but East coach Joe Triggs, whose wrestlers benefited from head-scratchers in the above two examples, complained about the whole process. He said Buchanan athletic director Chris Hansen — who has become the Bears' interim coach, coincidentally or not — changed the seeding process at the last minute from what had been previously agreed upon. I'm trying to see if I can confirm this for a story for Friday's paper, but I'm not having much luck so far.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to watch what happens in Lemoore this weekend. I'll file a couple of blog updates from the road. They'll be mostly on wrestling, but I'll try to check in on the soccer playoffs and basketball seedings, which are unveiled Saturday for the playoffs that start next week.