In case you haven't heard, BYU will be going independent for football and taking the remainder of its teams out of the Mountain West and putting them into the WAC. In a move to keep the conference alive, the MWC raided Fresno State and Nevada (aka Nevada-Reno) from the WAC.
If, like me, you're primarily interested in college track and cross country and have only limited interest in college football and basketball, does any of this matter? No. Not in the least.
BYU will win any conference that would have them. For many reasons, neither the Pac-10 nor the Big 12 wanted the Cougars, which was the catalyst for this move. And Utah is just a bit too far away from the footprints of the SEC, Big Ten and ACC to even discuss whether they'd be accepted or not. The Cougars are far superior to all teams outside the five major conferences except, at times, for the harriers from Iona (men) and Villanova (women).
As for the others, they don't matter either. Nevada doesn't have a men's track program and their women tied for last at this year's WAC Championships. While the Wolfpack's track is in a 30,000-seat stadium, they haven't hosted a home meet in a very long time. Fresno State has a nice indoor facility, but remember that the Bulldogs' track program was saved from elimination back in 2003 only because head coach Bob Fraley offered to work for free. Since then their competitive level hasn't been particularly high.
What's on the weekend
The Thumer Werfertag, an all-throws meet, takes place today (Friday) in the German city of Thum. That's about all I can tell you because the meet website is German-only.
The Stadionfest takes place today in the German city of Königs Wusterhausen. Alan Webb will be running, for what it's worth. Again, the website is German-only.
The Joensuu Games take place tomorrow in the Finnish city of Joensuu. If you can manage German, try some Finnish. And if you can read that too...well, aren't you special.
The Internationales Stadionfest, better known as ISTAF, takes place on Sunday in Berlin's Olympiastadion. The meet was expected to join the initial Diamond League tour but held out and is instead on the World Challenge circuit.
Meet website / start lists / preview
Viewing options: there will be some, but unknown as of yet
The Athletic Bridge 2010, an EAA Classic meet, takes place on Sunday in the Slovakian city of Dubnica nad Vahom. Hockey fans: special guest will be the Blackhawks' Tomas Kopecky. No word on whether he'll have the Stanley Cup with him.
Meet website / preview
Track on TV
Beijing 2008 -- America's Olympic Glory, 7:35 PM Friday on Showtime Family Zone
Diamond League Zurich rerun, 10 PM Friday on Universal Sports
Diamond League Zurich (tape-delay package), noon Saturday on CBC
Running the Sahara, 5:15 PM Saturday on Showtime Family Zone
Diamond League Zurich (tape-delay package), 2 PM Sunday on NBC
Diamond League Zurich rerun, 3 PM Sunday on Universal Sports
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2 comments:
The Thumer Werfertag only has Discus, Shot Put, and Javelin this year but will have some good fields including mostly Germans like the young de Zordo (Jav), Bartles (Shot Put). Here is the start list: http://www.thumer-werfertag.de/Thum.php?Sprache=de&opener=Home&SessionID=&page=Bericht&BerichtID=Bericht1251267648
UNR has more problems than most track programs.... Wow
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