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Olympic Marathon Trials are in Three Days
It’s time to start the selection process for the U.S. Olympic Team. First stop, Houston and the Marathon Trials, which astonishingly will be the first time that the men and women’s teams will be selected at the same time! The storyline that everyone was looking forward to with this race was the anticipated first ever marathon of Galen Rupp – American Record Holder in the 10,000 meters. That will now be a non-story as Rupp has withdrawn from the Trials, having decided to put all of his eggs into his 10,000 meter basket. His withdrawal has taken away much of the mystery from the men’s race, which should be dominated…
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NBC Has a New Sports Channel
I sat down a little bit ago to put together my thoughts on this weekend’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. While I was going through the event website I was struck by the fact that there will be no coverage of the Trials – no television, no internet streaming. I found that very disappointing. Especially given that there is a new sports channel that would seem to be perfect for running/track and field. That’s because as of the beginning of this year the old “Versus” sports programming station is now owned by NBC and has been renamed NBC Sports Network. A perfect fit it would seem for track and field since…
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Batman & Robin – The Jamaican Sequel
I’ve seen this movie several times before during the professional era of the sport. A top level coach gets a sprinter to the top. Then others join the camp in hopes of having the same success. Soon another sprinter emerges from the group, and now two of the best sprinters in the world are training together daily. They try to coexist as 1a and 1b, but at some point they must meet outside of practice and 1a and 1b become Batman and Robin, as the dominant Alpha Male finally emerges. You see, while it sounds good to say “1a & 1b”, there’s no such thing in the egomaniacal world of…
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Don’t Overlook the Kids
When we start looking ahead at who may be participating in the Olympics, our thoughts usually turn to proven commodities like Usain Bolt, Allyson Felix, Dayron Robles and Sally Pearson – athletes that have already put down excellent marks, and won medals in big time competition. What we often forget is that before they were household names (at least in households with track fans) they were “nobodies”, just some young kids hoping to someday be in the spotlight. Of course those kids were very talented and gave indication at an early age that big time success just might be in their destinies. And when we watch the Games in August,…
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Potential 2012 Match Ups to Watch For
Things should start heating up pretty quickly now. The U.S. Marathon Trials are in less than two weeks, and the indoor season will be going strong by the end of the month. So we’ll be full gear into the buildup for London in just a few weeks. Of course one of the big questions in any Olympic year is: who will the major players. It might be a bit early to start identifying major players, but here are some matchups that I think bear looking for this year, that should have a major effect on medal distribution in London. Usain Bolt v Tyson Gay v Yohan Blake (Sprints) These…
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Finally, The Olympic Year has Arrived
At midnight all over the globe the world celebrated the dawning of another New Year. The dropping of the ball in Times Square didn’t usher in just another year however. For those of us that love sport, especially track and field, this will be a special year. Because come August we’ll be tuned in to London, and the Olympic Games – that once every four year gathering of THE best athletes in the world. And if you’re like me, it’s been a very long wait! I know that the World Championships were just a few months ago, but somehow it just wasn’t that satisfying this time around. There were too…