A staple under most Christmas trees are good old clothes. Sweaters, pajamas, socks, and scarves will be opened up on Christmas morning in homes around the world. On my list this year, I’m asking Track Santa to put some clothing underneath the USATF Christmas tree, because I think it’s time that our national squad got some new uniforms. Since the Barcelona Olympics back in 1992, blue has been the primary color of our national uniforms. While we have had our share of success in “blue” uniforms, the past couple of Majors we seem to have been a bit “snake bit” with dropped batons, injured athletes and the like. The blue…

If Track Santa is kind enough to give me some exciting matchups this coming season, I’d love to be able to actually watch them as they occur. Don’t get me wrong, I love YouTube – because everything ends up on YouTube sooner or later. But there is something to be said for watching something happen when it happens, as opposed to reading about it first and then watching it. Some things are just more exciting LIVE – especially track and field. Besides most track meets are televised now. We don’t get to see them here in the US, but most meets are televised “locally” in Europe, Asia and elsewhere. Since…

As I stated previously, one of the things that has been missing from the sport are high level rivalries. We have some of the best athletes the sport has ever seen, but getting them to compete against each other with anything remotely resembling regularity seems to be nearly impossible as issues such as contract disputes, injuries, and simply not enough money to go around, leaves us with many meets where the field consists of a star vs. supporting cast. That’s unfortunate because rivalries have been a very important part of the history of track and field. Typically, high level rivalries have brought a lot of attention to the sport. Even…

This is the time of year when you submit your wish list to Santa Claus in hopes that come Christmas morning you will find something special beneath the tree. While that list has already been sent off, I do have another list that I’m hoping the “Santa” of track and field will fill. And that list is headed by the establishment of some real hot rivalries in the sport. Every year we are promised some exciting head to head action in track – the kind of competition that once made this sport exciting and great. Something similar to what we had this past year with Chaunte Howard Lowe and Blanka…

Within the past fourteen months we’ve seen the U.S. defeated in two bids for major global competitions. Last year losing out to Rio in the bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, and this past week losing out to Qatar in the bid for the 2022 FIFA Soccer World Cup. And track and field sits in the stands without even submitting bids for the World Championships. Sadly for America’s sporting community, these things are announced in the media and seemingly quickly forgotten. As America seems to have lost it’s appetite for “Olympic oriented” sports with the NBA, NFL, and MLB filling their sporting plates – not to mention huge sides of…

As discussion has shown, selecting the “Greatest Of All Time” is a rather daunting task. This sport has been blessed to have a plethora of outstanding athletes – and sorting out their careers is difficult at best. As I went through the process there were four areas that I deemed as important. 1) Head to head competition against one’s peers. Especially those who were also at the top during their era of competition. 2) Major championships, because in this sport it is the only guaranteed location where one will encounter the absolute “best” athletes in competition. 3) World records – not so much in terms of “how many” but in…

This week, the Diamond League released it’s schedule of events for 2011. Once again featuring a series of “half” meets. A regular occurrence in the sport of track and field – and one that has become a pet peeve of mine. A recent Track and Field News editorial on the inaugural season of the Diamond League discusses the editor’s reasoning as to why he feels it is difficult to contest full meets in today’s sport. While there is merit to the rational that is put forth – a shortage of dollars with which to pay top level athletes in every discipline prohibits loading up every event with stars – I…

The recent retirement, then retractment, by Haile Gebrselassie got me thinking about who the greatest athlete has been in this sport. Primarily because that could be Haile himself – if nothing else, he is probably the greatest distance runner of all time. Of course, track and field has a very long and storied history, so trying to determine the Greatest Of All Time is really a rather daunting task – especially given the various changes/stages that the sport has gone through. Because while individual PR’s are important, world records and all time lists will always get faster, farther, higher. What becomes important in trying to evaluate “The Best”, whether it…

I’ve talked before about what I feel is the need for the United States to be host to a World Championships. The sport’s biggest event has been around since 1983 and not once has the United States served as host. A travesty IMHO that the world’s greatest power in the sport has yet to host a Worlds. The next World Championships will be held in Daegu, South Korea in 2011 – a country that, outside of the marathon, has almost no presence in the sport. Berlin will host the 2013 version of the meet, and Beijing was just awarded the 2015 edition this past weekend – after just hosting the…

Once upon a time, when the Olympics were all there was, athletes’ lives revolved around the Olympic cycle. And, in general, athletes had roughly two cycles to accomplish their goals or leave the sport. That’s because prior to the 1980’s and “professionalism”, when track and field was truly an amateur sport, money was a scarce commodity in track and field. Yes, the best athletes were able to make money by getting paid “under the table”, but for most room and board and some travel expenses were as good as it got. So, many athletes had to find “real” jobs to supplement their participation in the sport – with training revolving…