I have signed on to be a contributor at The Final Sprint.This blog will continue to exist and even be updated, but the posts will be more of a "I had cornflakes for breakfast" type of blog.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Moving
I have signed on to be a contributor at The Final Sprint.This blog will continue to exist and even be updated, but the posts will be more of a "I had cornflakes for breakfast" type of blog.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Fireworks at HSI
In light of the recent issues concerning Maurice Greene and some (apparently well-founded) doping accusations, an e-mail sent to HSI coach John Smith has been circulating around the series of tubes, reportedly written by Ato Boldon. It's not a well-written letter; I haven't been able to make my way through the whole thing, and one observer called it "the email equivalent of drunk dialing an ex."
Whether this is a fake by an outsider, an airing of long-held grievances or a self-serving CYA attempt is up to the reader to decide. But if authentic it does telegraph what I already thought likely: the majority of the unnamed top sprinters that yesterday's NY Times article spoke of were in the HSI/Smith group. It would hardly be the first time such accusations were sent their way, but this time there's something to back it up.
Were the HSI group to be shown as systematic dopers, some fear it would be the finishing blow to a dying sport. From my perspective, the worst outcome would resemble the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
Such a wide-ranging and inherently interesting sport cannot be finished off. Yet there will be leaders who shrug and say it's just a flesh wound.
Whether this is a fake by an outsider, an airing of long-held grievances or a self-serving CYA attempt is up to the reader to decide. But if authentic it does telegraph what I already thought likely: the majority of the unnamed top sprinters that yesterday's NY Times article spoke of were in the HSI/Smith group. It would hardly be the first time such accusations were sent their way, but this time there's something to back it up.
Were the HSI group to be shown as systematic dopers, some fear it would be the finishing blow to a dying sport. From my perspective, the worst outcome would resemble the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
Such a wide-ranging and inherently interesting sport cannot be finished off. Yet there will be leaders who shrug and say it's just a flesh wound.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
London Marathon
SPOILER ALERT!
WCSN on-demand video will be located here.
Let's Run's live thread is here.
Or you can scroll down to see what happened.
Results
London Times story
Less Than Our Best live beer blog
In the men's race, a lead group of nine, including Ryan Hall, went through the half in 1:02:13. By 30k four of them, again including Ryan Hall, were dropped. On the drive in to the finish it was between Martin Lel, Samuel Wanjiru and Abderrahim Goumri, with Lel getting the win by nine seconds in 2:05:15, a course record. Hall was in sixth when dropped, but hung on extremely well, came back up to fifth and damn near got fourth (nipped by two seconds). His time was 2:06:17, the best fifth-place time ever and 16th on the all-time world list (and the idiots will argue is an American Record).
On the women's side, the times weren't quite as spectacular but the race was at least as interesting. Pre-race favorite Gete Wami fell hard at about 30k but made a strong recovery to get back with the leaders. She and Svetlana Zhakarova were dropped at 24 miles by Irina Mikitenko, a Kazakh-born German who was running her second marathon ever.
What do these results mean in the larger picture? If you're cheering for Ryan Hall, you'd have to say he's among the favorites for an Olympic medal but by no means the favorite to win. However, I think an Olympic race plays to his strengths. An extremely fast pace simply doesn't happen without rabbits, and his demonstrated late-race staying power is a tremendous tool for either running down a breakaway runner, or being the breakaway himself. As far as the conditions specific to Beijing (heat, humidity, pollution), I cannot say, except that the Americans have a plan.
Martin Lel has proved himself the best marathoner in the world. Yes, Gebrselassie has all those fast times. But he has run against weak to nonexistent fields, while Lel has a three-marathon winning streak in deep races, two with rabbits and one without.
This Irina Mikitenko character is towards the end of her athletic career (she will be days away from her 36th birthday at the start of the Beijing marathon) but at the beginning of her marathon career. The second fact is far more important than the first, and with that career on an upswing (debuted with second in Berlin '07, then won today) she is my favorite to win the Olympic title.
WCSN on-demand video will be located here.
Let's Run's live thread is here.
Or you can scroll down to see what happened.
Results
London Times story
Less Than Our Best live beer blog
In the men's race, a lead group of nine, including Ryan Hall, went through the half in 1:02:13. By 30k four of them, again including Ryan Hall, were dropped. On the drive in to the finish it was between Martin Lel, Samuel Wanjiru and Abderrahim Goumri, with Lel getting the win by nine seconds in 2:05:15, a course record. Hall was in sixth when dropped, but hung on extremely well, came back up to fifth and damn near got fourth (nipped by two seconds). His time was 2:06:17, the best fifth-place time ever and 16th on the all-time world list (and the idiots will argue is an American Record).
On the women's side, the times weren't quite as spectacular but the race was at least as interesting. Pre-race favorite Gete Wami fell hard at about 30k but made a strong recovery to get back with the leaders. She and Svetlana Zhakarova were dropped at 24 miles by Irina Mikitenko, a Kazakh-born German who was running her second marathon ever.
What do these results mean in the larger picture? If you're cheering for Ryan Hall, you'd have to say he's among the favorites for an Olympic medal but by no means the favorite to win. However, I think an Olympic race plays to his strengths. An extremely fast pace simply doesn't happen without rabbits, and his demonstrated late-race staying power is a tremendous tool for either running down a breakaway runner, or being the breakaway himself. As far as the conditions specific to Beijing (heat, humidity, pollution), I cannot say, except that the Americans have a plan.
Martin Lel has proved himself the best marathoner in the world. Yes, Gebrselassie has all those fast times. But he has run against weak to nonexistent fields, while Lel has a three-marathon winning streak in deep races, two with rabbits and one without.
This Irina Mikitenko character is towards the end of her athletic career (she will be days away from her 36th birthday at the start of the Beijing marathon) but at the beginning of her marathon career. The second fact is far more important than the first, and with that career on an upswing (debuted with second in Berlin '07, then won today) she is my favorite to win the Olympic title.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Anti-Doping News
OK, how many of you out there in trackland thought Maurice Greene was not on any kind of juice? Really? I bet you thought OJ didn't kill his wife, either.Anyway, when Trevor Graham goes on trial next month, expect Greene to be outed as a doper. Or so reports the New York Times.
The star witness will be one Angel Guillermo Heredia, a steroid dealer who has turned state's evidence. The feds find him credible and he's got documentation on a dozen of the best sprinters of the last decade. Most notable among them is the above-mentioned Greene. Whether or not the names come out in court, the info will be passed along to USADA.
Note that Greene's coach, John Smith, has previously been associated with doping.
Distance Training Theory
Let's Run was once a fantastic resource for serious distance runners. The home page is now a pretty good (if amateurish) place to follow professional and college track, but the "world-famous" message board has basically jumped the shark (and admittedly, yours truly has contributed to its downfall).
It's still worth following, because every now and then you get some really good discussions going on. One concerns the implications of Tim Noakes' Central Governor Theory on training, with the general consensus that theories have no place in developing a training regimen; practical experience, both personal and collective, is the key.
In another thread, on the usefulness (or not) of slower recovery runs, one poster gets to the basic misinterpretation of modern exercise phys that Noakes' theory seeks to address:
The poster's final point shows just how strong a hold the traditional Aerobic/Cardiovascular Theory has on most runners. Even though this guy has hit on the important idea of impact in running, he still wants to attach it to factors associated with VO2max. But Noakes reports that runners who are the best at managing and transferring impact forces have the best economy--that is, their racing performance is far better than predicted by their VO2max.
And, most tellingly, the most efficient runners also tend to do the most milage...and milage is the mantra of Let's Run, which has revolutionized American running as of late. It's not that exercise physiology is useless so much as the scientists are way behind the coaches in terms of observation and knowledge.
From a practical perspective, knowing why high milage makes us better runners doesn't matter. If, however, your brain can't tolerate such ambiguity, you probably realize there's a combination of increased capilarization/mitochondrial action and increased neurological efficiency. I'd be willing to bet there's yet another issue in play that no one ever talks about. To really understand it, we shouldn't look to exercise science but food science.
The best learning tool for that kind of science is a series on the Food Network called Good Eats. It's a cooking show with a plot and recurring characters and...well, you just have to see it. The host, Alton Brown, makes a point of teaching the viewer about the structure of the food to be prepared. When it comes to animal flesh, this includes learning about types and relative amounts of connective tissue that permeate the muscle in question.
Here's the interesting part. In general, the more an animal used the muscle, the more connective tissue that muscle contains. This stuff makes meat tough and rubbery (until, of course, it is cooked using the right technique). From my perspective, it only stands to reason that humans follow the same pattern.
A runner who puts in multitudes of triple-digit weeks would develop a greatly increased amount of connective tissue within the respective leg muscles. Since footstrike involves a great deal of eccentric muscle deformation and reformation, the runner with more collagen, reticulin and elastin in his muscles simply uses less muscular effort to propel himself forward and bounces off the road like a well-inflated ball.
Bullshit? Maybe. But at least I'm thinking.
It's still worth following, because every now and then you get some really good discussions going on. One concerns the implications of Tim Noakes' Central Governor Theory on training, with the general consensus that theories have no place in developing a training regimen; practical experience, both personal and collective, is the key.
In another thread, on the usefulness (or not) of slower recovery runs, one poster gets to the basic misinterpretation of modern exercise phys that Noakes' theory seeks to address:
I agree with the idea of doing the easy days real EASY. But, me and some friends have been wondering: Why should it be running?(emphasis added)
When running slow, my form is nothing at all like when I run fast. According to the principle of specificity, I'm not training the right muscles when I run slow and I'd be just as well suited to ride a bike or something. It will pound my legs less, and the motion is no further away from my racing form as slow running is (although it's different than slow running).
There's got to be something wrong with that logic, so someone point it out....
Perhaps the answer is this: Running is a lot about managing and transferring impact forces. Slow running may not look like fast running but it still could be training your body to deal with impact forces (just in a softer, lighter way) that biking/pool running never can. Even the lighter impact forces from slow running are still training many of the same muscles used when handling the harder impact of fast running. So, even if I'm shuffling, the "right" muscles in my quads are firing and the right muscles are still getting capillarized/mitochondria development etc.
The poster's final point shows just how strong a hold the traditional Aerobic/Cardiovascular Theory has on most runners. Even though this guy has hit on the important idea of impact in running, he still wants to attach it to factors associated with VO2max. But Noakes reports that runners who are the best at managing and transferring impact forces have the best economy--that is, their racing performance is far better than predicted by their VO2max.
And, most tellingly, the most efficient runners also tend to do the most milage...and milage is the mantra of Let's Run, which has revolutionized American running as of late. It's not that exercise physiology is useless so much as the scientists are way behind the coaches in terms of observation and knowledge.
From a practical perspective, knowing why high milage makes us better runners doesn't matter. If, however, your brain can't tolerate such ambiguity, you probably realize there's a combination of increased capilarization/mitochondrial action and increased neurological efficiency. I'd be willing to bet there's yet another issue in play that no one ever talks about. To really understand it, we shouldn't look to exercise science but food science.
The best learning tool for that kind of science is a series on the Food Network called Good Eats. It's a cooking show with a plot and recurring characters and...well, you just have to see it. The host, Alton Brown, makes a point of teaching the viewer about the structure of the food to be prepared. When it comes to animal flesh, this includes learning about types and relative amounts of connective tissue that permeate the muscle in question.
Here's the interesting part. In general, the more an animal used the muscle, the more connective tissue that muscle contains. This stuff makes meat tough and rubbery (until, of course, it is cooked using the right technique). From my perspective, it only stands to reason that humans follow the same pattern.
A runner who puts in multitudes of triple-digit weeks would develop a greatly increased amount of connective tissue within the respective leg muscles. Since footstrike involves a great deal of eccentric muscle deformation and reformation, the runner with more collagen, reticulin and elastin in his muscles simply uses less muscular effort to propel himself forward and bounces off the road like a well-inflated ball.
Bullshit? Maybe. But at least I'm thinking.
Enough About the Torch Relay
This is the last-ever post I'll make about the subject. I promise.
#1. I find it interesting that the Nazi invention of the torch relay is regularly referred to this year, but not once in the mainsteam media in either 1984 or 1996. Gee, I can't figure out why not.
#2. The Olympic Games may be losing relevancy, but not nearly as quickly as Frank DeFord is.
#3. Jacque Rogge says "the media is being manipulated by protesters". Hello? Isn't that the whole idea of a protest?
#4. Comedians usually get at the reality of a situation better than anyone else. Case in point:
#1. I find it interesting that the Nazi invention of the torch relay is regularly referred to this year, but not once in the mainsteam media in either 1984 or 1996. Gee, I can't figure out why not.
#2. The Olympic Games may be losing relevancy, but not nearly as quickly as Frank DeFord is.
#3. Jacque Rogge says "the media is being manipulated by protesters". Hello? Isn't that the whole idea of a protest?
#4. Comedians usually get at the reality of a situation better than anyone else. Case in point:
Sea Ray Relays Video
Live streaming video available here.
Does it show how old I am if I want to still call this meet the Dogwood Relays?
Does it show how old I am if I want to still call this meet the Dogwood Relays?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
TV/Web Listings
Don't have WCSN TV? Contact your cable subscriber and tell them "I gotta have WCSN!"
Friday, April 11
Big Ten Network, 3:00 p.m.
Michigan at Ohio State
(repeats 4/15 at 1 p.m., 4/16 at 4 a.m.)
Bridges TV, 10:30-11:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Saturday, April 12
HDNet Movies, 6:00-8:05 p.m.
Without Limits
(repeats 4/13 at 4:30 a.m.)
Sunday, April 13
WCSN, 3:55 a.m.
London Marathon
Monday, April 14
CBC, 7:30-8:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Tuesday, April 15
HDNet Movies, 8:30-10:40 a.m.
Chariots of Fire
Wednesday, April 16
ESPN Classic, 2:00-2:30 a.m.
Cheap Seats: 1978 Superstars
Sunday, April 20
NBCSports.com, time TBA
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Monday, April 21
ESPN Classic, 2:00 a.m.
1978 World's Strongest Man (Geoff Capes)
Versus, 9:30-12:30 a.m.
WCSN, time TBA
Boston Marathon
Saturday, April 26
ESPN, 2:00-4:00 PM
Penn Relays
Sunday, April 27
NBC, Noon-1:00 p.m.
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Thursday, May 8
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Illinois Twilight Meet
Friday, May 9
WCSN, time TBA
IAAF Doha Super Grand Prix
Sunday, May 11
WCSN, time TBA
IAAF Race Walking World Cup
Monday, May 12
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Jesse Owens Invitational
Wednesday, May 14
Big Ten Network, 6:00 p.m.
Musco Twilight Invitational
Sunday, May 18
ESPN2, 10:00-midnight
Adidas Track Classic
Thursday, May 22
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Big Ten Championships
Saturday, May 31
ESPN2, 8:00-10:00 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 1
CBS, 1:30-2:30 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 8
NBC, 4:00-6:00 PM
Prefontaine Classic
Saturday, June 28
USA, 12:00-1:00 a.m.
NBC, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, June 29
NBC, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Monday, June 30
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Thursday, July 3
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Friday, July 4
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Saturday, July 5
NBC, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, July 6
NBC, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Friday, April 11
Big Ten Network, 3:00 p.m.
Michigan at Ohio State
(repeats 4/15 at 1 p.m., 4/16 at 4 a.m.)
Bridges TV, 10:30-11:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Saturday, April 12
HDNet Movies, 6:00-8:05 p.m.
Without Limits
(repeats 4/13 at 4:30 a.m.)
Sunday, April 13
WCSN, 3:55 a.m.
London Marathon
Monday, April 14
CBC, 7:30-8:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Tuesday, April 15
HDNet Movies, 8:30-10:40 a.m.
Chariots of Fire
Wednesday, April 16
ESPN Classic, 2:00-2:30 a.m.
Cheap Seats: 1978 Superstars
Sunday, April 20
NBCSports.com, time TBA
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Monday, April 21
ESPN Classic, 2:00 a.m.
1978 World's Strongest Man (Geoff Capes)
Versus, 9:30-12:30 a.m.
WCSN, time TBA
Boston Marathon
Saturday, April 26
ESPN, 2:00-4:00 PM
Penn Relays
Sunday, April 27
NBC, Noon-1:00 p.m.
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Thursday, May 8
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Illinois Twilight Meet
Friday, May 9
WCSN, time TBA
IAAF Doha Super Grand Prix
Sunday, May 11
WCSN, time TBA
IAAF Race Walking World Cup
Monday, May 12
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Jesse Owens Invitational
Wednesday, May 14
Big Ten Network, 6:00 p.m.
Musco Twilight Invitational
Sunday, May 18
ESPN2, 10:00-midnight
Adidas Track Classic
Thursday, May 22
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Big Ten Championships
Saturday, May 31
ESPN2, 8:00-10:00 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 1
CBS, 1:30-2:30 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 8
NBC, 4:00-6:00 PM
Prefontaine Classic
Saturday, June 28
USA, 12:00-1:00 a.m.
NBC, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, June 29
NBC, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Monday, June 30
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Thursday, July 3
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Friday, July 4
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Saturday, July 5
NBC, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, July 6
NBC, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Weekend Update
Let's Run brings us The Big Picture for the week. WCSN has their Athletics Notes, Athletics Weekly has the international roundup, and Runnerville has their weekly podcast.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Olympic Torch Relay
From Deadspin: Olympic Torch Relay Proceeding Smoothly So Far, is likened to a huge game of capture the flag. I do have to admit it's the only relay I can remember that isn't bland and boring.
And we're not even to San Francisco yet, with its huge East Asian population and reputation for left-wing activism.
On a more serious note, this is probably the best possible situation that could have come about. Given their record on a multitude of issues, China probably should not have been awarded the Olympics. Nothing has yet changed on those issues because of the attention China has received. On the other hand, it's quite doubtful that anything would have changed if they hadn't gotten the Olympics, either. The whole hubbub going on now is the worst possible publicity China could get--and ironically, little if any of this would be possible if the western democracies decided to boycott.
Even more ironic is that the Olympic torch relay was created for propaganda purposes by another totalitarian regime--the Nazis. This relay has turned into the destruction of propaganda, highlighting the worst of a nation instead of its best.
Autocrats, by definition, do not listen to others. If there's any way to get through to China, this might be it.
Athletics in Britain weighs in on the subject as well, with the best writing on the subject I've seen.
And we're not even to San Francisco yet, with its huge East Asian population and reputation for left-wing activism.
On a more serious note, this is probably the best possible situation that could have come about. Given their record on a multitude of issues, China probably should not have been awarded the Olympics. Nothing has yet changed on those issues because of the attention China has received. On the other hand, it's quite doubtful that anything would have changed if they hadn't gotten the Olympics, either. The whole hubbub going on now is the worst possible publicity China could get--and ironically, little if any of this would be possible if the western democracies decided to boycott.
Even more ironic is that the Olympic torch relay was created for propaganda purposes by another totalitarian regime--the Nazis. This relay has turned into the destruction of propaganda, highlighting the worst of a nation instead of its best.
Autocrats, by definition, do not listen to others. If there's any way to get through to China, this might be it.
Athletics in Britain weighs in on the subject as well, with the best writing on the subject I've seen.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
College Rivalries
Yesterday I went to the Ohio State-Michigan dual meet, which the Buckeyes won 110-93. This was a pretty sharp reversal of the indoor meet, won by the Wolverines 90-71. How did they pull it off?
Ohio State's campus newspaper reported the athletes were ready to take the meet a bit more seriously. The Buckeyes did avoid major errors (unlike at the indoor meet) and their horizontal jumpers did much better. Other than that, the biggest differences were beyond the athletes' control. The addition of the long throws and the 4x100 helped Ohio State, and the absence of Lex Williams seriously hurt Michigan.
Ohio State took efforts to make this meet a good experience for the fans. Besides a good meet on a relatively tight timeframe, they brought out the cheerleaders, Brutus Buckeye, and the Best Damn Band in the Land.
All the publicity for this meet refers to Ohio State-Michigan as the greatest rivalry in college sports. But it's only a big rivalry for football, as it's not a particularly big deal when the basketball, baseball or hockey teams meet (and if track were a big rivalry, the meet wouldn't have disappeared for 15 years). You'd have to say that college rivalries are sport-specific; Duke-North Carolina is bloodsport in men's basketball but gets no attention for anything else.
So what are the big rivalries in college track? At the D-I level, probably USC-UCLA and that's it. For years it was the only dual meet between major-conference schools. There's also Stanford-Cal, Arizona-Arizona State, and Washington-Washington State, but none of those get headlines. We need more rivalries.
What do rivalries do? They elevate the profile of both teams involved. I mean, would you otherwise care about a game between two usual bottom-dwellers (Army and Navy) or two schools that otherwise never even get national mention (Lehigh and Lafayette)? They give each program a championship of sorts to shoot for; Minnesota rarely has a shot at winning the Big Ten but always has a chance to win the Paul Bunyan Axe.
So what is necessary to build a rivalry? Geographical proximity is important, but that doesn't guarantee anything by itself. The teams need to either be among the best in their conference or have a long tradition of hating each other. But obviously college track rivalries need additional boosts.
It almost goes without saying that the two teams must be on similar competitive levels. Back when I ran at Bowling Green, we had a dual meet with Eastern Michigan every year, and we just hated them. But we were never going to beat them, so they didn't care about us any more than any other MAC team.
More importantly, the teams have to meet every year. This might be silly to point out, but stay with me. Of course any teams in the same conference run each other on an annual basis at the conference meet, but unless they're head a shoulders above the rest then no rivalry can develop, because each team's attention is diffused among the whole conference. I see a rivalry growing between the women's teams at Texas and Texas A&M, but unless they meet face-to-face it won't get anywhere. So a dual meet series is necessary.
Another thing about possible track rivalries is that they're gender-specific. That possible Texas-Texas A&M thing just wouldn't work on the men's side unless A&M got a whole lot better. The opposite would hold true for a logical SEC pairing of Arkansas and LSU; both of their men's programs are very good but on the women's side LSU would dominate in an uninteresting fashion. You may notice that the OSU-UM series is men-only; the same matchup between women's teams would be a joke.
Besides the two matchups I've already mentioned, I think the best candidate is Florida-Florida State. There's proximity, history, and both teams are very good. It wouldn't be hard for them to schedule an early-season dual meet, maybe even as a warmup to the Florida Relays.
Ohio State's campus newspaper reported the athletes were ready to take the meet a bit more seriously. The Buckeyes did avoid major errors (unlike at the indoor meet) and their horizontal jumpers did much better. Other than that, the biggest differences were beyond the athletes' control. The addition of the long throws and the 4x100 helped Ohio State, and the absence of Lex Williams seriously hurt Michigan.
Ohio State took efforts to make this meet a good experience for the fans. Besides a good meet on a relatively tight timeframe, they brought out the cheerleaders, Brutus Buckeye, and the Best Damn Band in the Land.
All the publicity for this meet refers to Ohio State-Michigan as the greatest rivalry in college sports. But it's only a big rivalry for football, as it's not a particularly big deal when the basketball, baseball or hockey teams meet (and if track were a big rivalry, the meet wouldn't have disappeared for 15 years). You'd have to say that college rivalries are sport-specific; Duke-North Carolina is bloodsport in men's basketball but gets no attention for anything else.
So what are the big rivalries in college track? At the D-I level, probably USC-UCLA and that's it. For years it was the only dual meet between major-conference schools. There's also Stanford-Cal, Arizona-Arizona State, and Washington-Washington State, but none of those get headlines. We need more rivalries.
What do rivalries do? They elevate the profile of both teams involved. I mean, would you otherwise care about a game between two usual bottom-dwellers (Army and Navy) or two schools that otherwise never even get national mention (Lehigh and Lafayette)? They give each program a championship of sorts to shoot for; Minnesota rarely has a shot at winning the Big Ten but always has a chance to win the Paul Bunyan Axe.
So what is necessary to build a rivalry? Geographical proximity is important, but that doesn't guarantee anything by itself. The teams need to either be among the best in their conference or have a long tradition of hating each other. But obviously college track rivalries need additional boosts.
It almost goes without saying that the two teams must be on similar competitive levels. Back when I ran at Bowling Green, we had a dual meet with Eastern Michigan every year, and we just hated them. But we were never going to beat them, so they didn't care about us any more than any other MAC team.
More importantly, the teams have to meet every year. This might be silly to point out, but stay with me. Of course any teams in the same conference run each other on an annual basis at the conference meet, but unless they're head a shoulders above the rest then no rivalry can develop, because each team's attention is diffused among the whole conference. I see a rivalry growing between the women's teams at Texas and Texas A&M, but unless they meet face-to-face it won't get anywhere. So a dual meet series is necessary.
Another thing about possible track rivalries is that they're gender-specific. That possible Texas-Texas A&M thing just wouldn't work on the men's side unless A&M got a whole lot better. The opposite would hold true for a logical SEC pairing of Arkansas and LSU; both of their men's programs are very good but on the women's side LSU would dominate in an uninteresting fashion. You may notice that the OSU-UM series is men-only; the same matchup between women's teams would be a joke.
Besides the two matchups I've already mentioned, I think the best candidate is Florida-Florida State. There's proximity, history, and both teams are very good. It wouldn't be hard for them to schedule an early-season dual meet, maybe even as a warmup to the Florida Relays.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Track on the Web
I spend a good deal of time scanning the internets looking not only for track on TV but webcasts as well. An good partion of the bigger universities have live web coverage of their teams, but none of the obvious candidates listed any track meets as upcoming webcasts.
So I was rather shocked to see that the Texas Relays are on the Longhorns' website. Live. Right now. They didn't list this until relatively recently!
So I was rather shocked to see that the Texas Relays are on the Longhorns' website. Live. Right now. They didn't list this until relatively recently!
Sportswriting
For the Utne Reader, blogger Michael Rowe decries the state of sportswriting today. The criticisms are well founded, but not unique to the world of sports--were this same kind of stupidity scarce across all kinds of news reporting, neither Jon Stewart nor Stephen Colbert would have steady jobs.
As they say, news is whatever they don't want you to know. Everything else is just publicity.
As they say, news is whatever they don't want you to know. Everything else is just publicity.
Colbert Report on Beijing
On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert took on the Olympics and the boycott talk.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
World Championships in the USA?
Don't start getting too excited just yet--we're talking the World Cross Country Championships. Still, it would be a big deal; the USA has only ever hosted three Worlds of any kind ('87 indoors, '84 and '92 cross).
Scott Bush at the US Distance Running blog reports Boulder is bidding on the 2010 World XC, an effort headed up by Pete Julian. Julian put on a terriffic and well-received USATF XC championships in 2007.
Scott Bush at the US Distance Running blog reports Boulder is bidding on the 2010 World XC, an effort headed up by Pete Julian. Julian put on a terriffic and well-received USATF XC championships in 2007.
TV/Web Listings
Don't have WCSN TV? Contact your cable subscriber and tell them "I gotta have WCSN!"
Friday, April 4
Bridges TV, 10:30-11:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Monday, April 7
CBC, 7:30-8:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Wednesday, April 9
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Michigan at Ohio State
(repeats 4/9 at 11 p.m., 4/10 at 2 p.m., 4/11 at 3 p.m., 4/15 at 1 p.m., 4/16 at 4 a.m.)
Saturday, April 12
HDNet Movies, 6:00-8:05 p.m.
Without Limits
(repeats 4/13 at 4:30 a.m.)
Sunday, April 13
WCSN, time TBA
London Marathon
Tuesday, April 15
HDNet Movies, 8:30-10:40 a.m.
Chariots of Fire
Wednesday, April 16
ESPN Classic, 2:00-2:30 a.m.
Cheap Seats: 1978 Superstars
Sunday, April 20
NBCSports.com, time TBA
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Monday, April 21
Versus, 9:30-12:30 a.m.
WCSN, time TBA
Boston Marathon
Saturday, April 26
ESPN, 2:00-4:00 PM
Penn Relays
Sunday, April 27
NBC, Noon-1:00 p.m.
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Thursday, May 8
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Illinois Twilight Meet
Monday, May 12
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Jesse Owens Invitational
Wednesday, May 14
Big Ten Network, 6:00 p.m.
Musco Twilight Invitational
Sunday, May 18
ESPN2, 10:00-midnight
Adidas Track Classic
Thursday, May 22
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Big Ten Championships
Saturday, May 31
ESPN2, 8:00-10:00 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 1
CBS, 1:30-2:30 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 8
NBC, 4:00-6:00 PM
Prefontaine Classic
Saturday, June 28
USA, 12:00-1:00 a.m.
NBC, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, June 29
NBC, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Monday, June 30
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Thursday, July 3
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Friday, July 4
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Saturday, July 5
NBC, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, July 6
NBC, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Friday, April 4
Bridges TV, 10:30-11:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Monday, April 7
CBC, 7:30-8:00 p.m.
Countdown to Beijing
Wednesday, April 9
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Michigan at Ohio State
(repeats 4/9 at 11 p.m., 4/10 at 2 p.m., 4/11 at 3 p.m., 4/15 at 1 p.m., 4/16 at 4 a.m.)
Saturday, April 12
HDNet Movies, 6:00-8:05 p.m.
Without Limits
(repeats 4/13 at 4:30 a.m.)
Sunday, April 13
WCSN, time TBA
London Marathon
Tuesday, April 15
HDNet Movies, 8:30-10:40 a.m.
Chariots of Fire
Wednesday, April 16
ESPN Classic, 2:00-2:30 a.m.
Cheap Seats: 1978 Superstars
Sunday, April 20
NBCSports.com, time TBA
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Monday, April 21
Versus, 9:30-12:30 a.m.
WCSN, time TBA
Boston Marathon
Saturday, April 26
ESPN, 2:00-4:00 PM
Penn Relays
Sunday, April 27
NBC, Noon-1:00 p.m.
Women's Olympic Trials marathon
Thursday, May 8
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Illinois Twilight Meet
Monday, May 12
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Jesse Owens Invitational
Wednesday, May 14
Big Ten Network, 6:00 p.m.
Musco Twilight Invitational
Sunday, May 18
ESPN2, 10:00-midnight
Adidas Track Classic
Thursday, May 22
Big Ten Network, 8:00 p.m.
Big Ten Championships
Saturday, May 31
ESPN2, 8:00-10:00 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 1
CBS, 1:30-2:30 PM
Reebok Grand Prix
Sunday, June 8
NBC, 4:00-6:00 PM
Prefontaine Classic
Saturday, June 28
USA, 12:00-1:00 a.m.
NBC, 8:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, June 29
NBC, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Monday, June 30
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Thursday, July 3
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Friday, July 4
USA, 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
US Olympic Trials
Saturday, July 5
NBC, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Sunday, July 6
NBC, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
US Olympic Trials
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Weekend Update
Let's Run has their weekly report, Athletics Weekly just does the World XC, Runnerville's weekly podcast is up, and WCSN has their Athletics Notes.
Superfan Rankings, Women's 800 meters
73, Yelena Soboleva
38, Maria Mutola
32, Tatyana Petlyuk
30, Tamsyn Lewis
25, Jennifer Meadows
19, Natalya Ignatova
18, Nicole Cook
17, Mayte Martinez
16, Tiffany McWilliams
14, Marilyn Okoro
Soboleva is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. Mutola is the best of the rest; I wasn't impressed with Lewis before the indoor Worlds, and I'm still not.
38, Maria Mutola
32, Tatyana Petlyuk
30, Tamsyn Lewis
25, Jennifer Meadows
19, Natalya Ignatova
18, Nicole Cook
17, Mayte Martinez
16, Tiffany McWilliams
14, Marilyn Okoro
Soboleva is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else. Mutola is the best of the rest; I wasn't impressed with Lewis before the indoor Worlds, and I'm still not.
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