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The Future of Track and Field
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Conway
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Joined: 25 Aug 2001
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Location: Northen California

PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 6:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Where do you see the futureof the sport ?? Here in the United States ?? On the World level .. Are we near the limits of World Records ?? Is the US losing its grip as #1 in the World ??

I for one see some promise for the US as teh #1 World power in the sport .. I'm excited about the future of distance running .. Alan Webb has proven to be a talent in the mile/1500 .. And Ryan Hall may be even better long term .. And Dathan Ritzenheim has proven not only to be fast over 2 miles/5000 but to have much much heart and drive .. Will their college experiences help nurture them ??

We seem to grow sprinters and hurdlers as easily as we grow food in California .. But where are our field event performers going to come from ?? And why have we tailed off so in the past decade ??

And how about the 400 & 800 - men and women ?? Who's on the horizon and why have we dropped ..

Are we getting enough help from our national body ?? We have the best coaches in the world spread across the land, but it doesn't show .. Do we need a new system .. Plenaty to discuss ...
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Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I see it remaining pretty much a niche sport in the US. I think the XFL (which, by the way, I predicted after 2 or 3 games would be the first (?) league to have the plug pulled after a year because of low TV ratings) pretty much proved that our sports attention span has been stretched about as thin as it can get, and more fringe sports will keep appearing and stealing that valuable 2am ESPN2 time slot that track so desparately clings to... Have I painted a grim enough picture? Wink

World-wide, it will probably continue on as it is now for the forseeable future. I don't get the impression that the rest of the world is as fickle with its viewing preferences as the US.

While the current crop of young distance talent is certainly better than their predecessors of the last 20 years, I'm taking a wait and see approach as far as whether that will have any impact internationally. My guess is no. All they've really done is leapfrog an ugly 15-20 years on the timeline where the US fell far behind. That just gets them back to where the US had a few solid hopefuls in any given international competition, but no real threats (fire away!). I'd be happy to be proven wrong, though.

As far as the 800, wow, I'm not sure where to start... One of the schools in our conference, currently DIII, was NAIA DII until a couple years ago, had 3 or 4 straight years with guys going 1:49. Run that today and you've got a shot at winning nationals...

National body? I'm a USATF certified official and was at one time a card carrying member, and I don't have a clue what that signifies... I suggest renaming the USATF site from usatf.org to usatf.com, because I'm not aware of the organization to pull off any sweeping changes in the area of national development. Sorry, couldn't resist the lame attempt at humor. Smile

Dan
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Conway
Olympic Medalist
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Joined: 25 Aug 2001
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Location: Northen California

PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 12:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gloomy Dan .. Gloomy .. Your glass isn't half empty, its being poured out as we speak .. Sad

Niche sport in the United States ?? When the numbers of youth in school participating continues to rise ?? And we continue to be the leading country in the world ?? (at least in medal counts and money earned) .. I do think we have a problem getting it televised to the masses, but does television determine whther or not it is a Niche sport ?? IN that case so are gymnastics and swimwming and diving .. I know what you are saying, but I think I might elevate the sport a hair above niche .. Smile .. WE do need much work though ..

World wide I agree we won't see a lot of change, but that is becasue it is one of the more viable sports world wide .. I believe that Edmonton got the biggest numbers ever for any sport world wide this last month .. The one thing that I do expect to see changing is who the major players are .. It used to be the major world powers .. But more and more smaller, 3rd world level countries are acoming to the fore .. Countries the size of Cuba and Jamaica, the North Africans, and possibly what is now undeveloped Africa is and will continue to come to the fore ..

Yes we are behind still in the distances .. But I think that even though WEbb et al are, as you say, getting us to where we should hlave been a decade or more ago I think it is a good signal .. Or maybe I am hoping so .. Barriers in athletics tend to be m ore mental than physical .. I think the US has been suffering big time in that regard as far as distances go .. WE have some problems in some other events (mostly the field) but I think those are more related to us having depended on some core athletes for too long with no one in the wings ready to step up .. In the distances I don't think that we believe any longer that we belong .. You have seen postings from the newsgroup and the general tone ends up being that "we are inferior and the Africans are superior" .. We can't win .. I believe differently .. WE are no more physically inferior than we were during the days of Ryan and Liquori, Prefontaine and Lindgren Or even Maree, Padilla, Marsh, and Spivey .. But we are totally psyched out these days .. Th ebar keeps getting raised and we just keep looking at it with awe instead of as a challenge to get better .. Whereas in teh sprints times have dropped to where Carl Lewis would be a casual observer in most races, sprinters have met the challenge and gotten faster .. Our distance runners have just given up .. Unless someone can prove me wrong ..

The 800 .. Major down period .. One of those events where forever we could depend on GRay and Everett .. And here and there one or two others would step up .. Now the void is there waiting for someone to step to the plate .. But will take someone willing to get out of their comfort zone .. That was the key to the previous generation .. They weren't afraid to go close to 50.00 on the first lap .. They understood that the 800 is an extended sprint so to speak .. IT is not a pace and kick distance event .. Which is where the current group of 800 runners seems to be ..

ANd the National body .. Needs major major work .. Big time .. Don't get me wrong they have done some good things .. Some TV deals .. A few sponsorships here and there .. But what we need is some MAJOR changes going on .. Not sure in its current incarnation it is ready for that ..
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Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 1:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think participation and spectator interest are two very different things. If the other team sports didn't have to cut kids, we may well see a huge swing in participation levels. Also, it isn't just TV as a popularity criteria, but coverage from all media outlets. The Portland/Vancouver area pretty much has a lock on national XC meets, yet there's hardly ever a word of them in the local papers. Of course no one's going to go watch.

The US would still be considered the dominant power, but that is using a pretty loose definition of the word dominant. Russia (a mere shadow of their former sports machine) matched us for the medal count in Edmonton, and the Kenya/Ethiopia/Morocco combo only fell one medal shy.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that the young distance guys are stepping up. But I also think it may be a mistake to pin our hopes on Webb and Ritz, considering we have no idea where they are on their improvement curve. I don't honestly think they've peaked, but they're not exactly 7:58 junior steeplers, either... If this youth movement does lead to a US resurgence in the distances, I think it will come in the form of the current crop raising the bar for the generation that follows.

If I'm not mistaken, didn't the true power players stay in charge when they changed the name to USATF and later ousted Cassell?

Dan
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Micah Ward
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 2:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Where to start, where to start? Ward's Worthless Opinion is that publicity is the key. We have participation but we need for that participation to be shown to the sports fans in this country. I would like to see a real emphasis be put on the high schools and college competition. Being from the south I know how big the Georgia-Florida football game is. Why not a Georgia-Florida cross country meet or track meet? In the past couple of years the NCAA has sponsored some meets where the emphasis was on the team competition in meets where natural geographical rivals competed, i.e. Auburn, Alabama, Georgia or Texas, Oklahoma, Olk ST, Texas A&M...you get the idea. If we build a fan base in the high schools or colleges the fans will follow their favorite runners on to the world stage just as they follow their favorite high school players to college and from college into the NFL and NBA. It is probably just a dream because I know what the reality is. Last spring I went to see my daughter run for James Madison Univ at a meet at William & Mary. Also present was Lehigh, Yale and 7 or 8 other schools. But as I looked around in the stands and the track the only people I saw were athletes, coaches and parents. Cross country and track and field are exciting sports but how do we capture the rest of the countries interest like they do at Hayward Field? And how do we get a race longer than 1500m shown on TV? If people will watch a 500 mile car race why won't they watch a 10K foot race? I wish I had the answer.
Micah
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Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 2:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
If people will watch a 500 mile car race why won't they watch a 10K foot race?

Lots of speed and big crashes...

Your idea of building fan loyalty through promoting collegiate competition is a good one, but I think it needs to be done in conjunction with some sort of post-collegiate team atmosphere, otherwise people are unlikely to remain attached to the kids they rooted for in college.

I think even more important than getting the events on TV is showing them live. Even if I do my best to tune out the rest of the world and not read results for the 12-48 hours until they're shown (if we're lucky; ESPN shows the college XC champs a month or two after they happen, it seems), I have a very hard time taking the event seriously knowing it is a historical event by then and is being funded by BowFlex and The Juicer infomercials.

I'm really not in a foul mood today. Smile

Dan
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Micah Ward
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could be excused for being in a foul mood. During that month that ESPN is waiting to show the NCAA's how many billiards, world's strongest man, aerobics and cheerleading competitions do you think they show? Can there really be more people who would watch billiards or bowling at 8:00pm than same day highlights of a Stanford vs. Arkansas dual meet?

As far as after college goes...maybe a professional track & field circuit could be tried again. Only utilize some type of team competition instead of just individual standings.
Who knows?
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Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 6:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I would love to see a pro circuit with team competition, but I don't have any ideas as to how that could be worked in with the current European circuit ($$$). One of the major problems the sport faces is that you can only compete hard a very limited number of times, so people are going to pick their meets carefully. Adding an extra 3-4 meets to someone's "pre-season" is quite significant -- either they go hard and burn out later in the season or they coast through and put on a poor show. The same cannot be said for basketball, baseball, or pretty much any other sport, where effort and performance are not nearly so closely linked.

Dan
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Conway
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 8:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What the US could do is create a semi-pro league for track and field .. Only the elite get to go to Europe to compete .. But in sprinting for example that means that those who can't crack 10.25 or better frequently don't get to go .. Would make for a hell of summer competition however !! And could be considered "developmental" .. Crack a couple fo birds with the same stone so to speak .. Put a regional spin on it as far as the teams and how they are made up .. Something sort of like what the US Olympic Festival was in the beginning .. Have some sort of payout system .. Heck for these guys somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 - $1000 would be great money .. And I bet we would be on to soemthing there ...
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Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 8:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Do you think people would watch? I have a hard time believing even the US' second tier sprinters (better than most of the rest of the world) would draw much interest outside of those die hards that would watch any track meet. After all, competition is arguably second fiddle to the cold harsh reality of the clock, not that it necessarily should be. People argue that college basketball and football are better than the respective pro games -- excitement, energy, etc., even though very few of those players are good enough to make it at the next level. With track, it always comes back to how fast you ran... And in a country that expects its sprint stars to not only dominate the world, but to consistently field 9.9's, I don't see that working all that well.

Of course, having prize money might just make spectators think there's something there worth watching. Smile

Dan
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Conway
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 8:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't know .. ASk the people that go to the high school state meets .. OR the NCAA's .. Part of it is the competiton .. The other part is the team aspect .. Besides there are tons of races each year that are wind aided etc .. HOw many guys go to the NCAA or USATF meets each year with outrageous times .. ONly to get chewed up by the "real deals" .. There would be fast times a plenty .. Fast enough to keep interest up .. ADd to that the fact that tons of people take their own watches to meets and can never understand how come they took that time away from that guy !!! BEcasue the casual fan (the ones we're after) don't necessarlily understand the whole FAT thing .. They just want their own version of how fast he was .. Where we would have a problem is with the longer races casue there is no way to hide those flaws ..
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Dan
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 9:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You may be right. I wonder if journalists would know what to write about if there were no record attempts (or misses) to hype? Maybe junior records, but it wouldn't necessarily be geared toward youth stuff. Actually, combining the different high school "championships" and possibly USATF nationals into such a circuit could be interesting.

Dan
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Conway
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 30, 2001 9:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think there are several different ways to approach it .. After all outside of the NCAA meet there isn't much going on with the college system such as it is .. I just think a big part of the problem is that outside of those already good enough to go to Europe, there is nothing for the others once the college or high school seasons are over .. And if you are not in college of high school you are really in abad way .. For example take someone like Obea Moore for example .. Where he really thrived was in the "club system" .. High school just became his forum to show his stuff .. When that was over he died so to speak .. We lose a lot of people come th end of high school or college, when they should be beginning ot blossom .. Some type of semi-pro circuit would help that .. And the sport ..
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Micah Ward
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2001 3:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Philosophical question...With all the recruiting scandals and adverse publicity that seems to follow the big money sports (football and basketball) do we really want to subject our sport to the same? Would it be better to keep it "pure" but underappreciated? Sure t&f has had scandals but they seem to be minor in comparison with the big time sports. Or am I being hopelessly naive? If the shoe fits I'll wear it.
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Dan
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PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2001 6:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Personally, I'd opt for the big money, scandal attracting, highly visible and popular sport. I think it's a misconception that track is pure. Heck, through high school and college most sprinters are also football players, so how can the two really be separated? Track keeps trying to say it has less drug use than the other sports, which may well be true (who knows -- they don't test and we don't test well), but that only comes back to haunt us when someone like Capel is shunned by the NFL because of recreational drug use... Was the sport more pure when atheltes were not paid as professionals, or even further back when it was a sport for white gentlemen? No, I would say that was misguided, not pure. Pure competition, maybe, but even that is on shaky ground with top athletes dodging each other in most events and skipping out for the big money races.

Dan
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