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London 2012 – Track and Field is Here
Finally, the wait is over, track and field starts tomorrow – or later today depending on your point of view. Either way, things get crackin in a big way as some of the biggest names in the sport take center stage during this opening weekend. Take a look at this weekend’s line up of finals: Friday, finals in the men’s shot and women’s 10,000 Saturday, finals in the 20k race walk, women’s discus, heptathlon, men’s long jump, men’s 10,000, and women’s 100 Sunday, finals in women’s triple jump, men’s hammer, women’s 400, men’s steeple, and men’s 100 We’re talking Jeter, Felix, Gay, Gatlin, Bolt, Blake, Campbell Brown, Fraser Pryce…
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Televising the Games – #NBCFail
The Olympic Games, the ultimate sporting event. Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger. The Games are about the athletes, and the people of the world sharing in their attempt at the ultimate in achievements. Or at least that was the original intent of the Olympic Games – to be a global gathering of the world to celebrate peace through athletics. That was the intent. That’s how it started. Ah, but the best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry – and so it’s been with the Olympic Games. As I’ve become convinced through the first week of these Games that they are no longer about the athletes,…
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Must See London Events
The Games are well under way, and I’m bored out of my mind! With the time difference between here (West Coast) and London, there is nothing going on after early afternoon West Coast time. Plenty of time to review the day’s activities and get ready for action on "the big screen". Except that in spite of having a full day to prepare, the Prime Time package that’s been put together by NBC so far has been less than inspiring. I can only hope that the events of track and field are exciting enough on their own to translate better to the screen than have Olympic staples swimming and gymnastics have…
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London 2012 Has Arrived – The Athletes Games
The Games of the Thirtieth Olympiad have arrived and something tells me that this is going to be the athlete’s Olympics when all is said and done. Not that the British and the city of London haven’t already had their moment in the sun. As the opening ceremony was, well very British. British literature, British music, British history, British stars, and very well done. Just some things may have been missed for those that aren’t anglophiles. And there was sunshine – so the opening ceremony was quite literally Britain’s moment in the sun. With that, the Games were officially open with competition beginning Saturday morning – and almost immediately began…
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News Ahead of the Start of the Games
I’ve been very very busy outside of track and field the past couple of days. Doctor’s appointment; kids to the fair; trying to catch up on non track work/stuff. Have to clear my plate so I can focus on the Games with the opening ceremonies TOMORROW! Yet as I step away for a couple of days, the news/happenings of the sport seem to increase in volume. And so many things I’m compelled to comment on. Usually I prefer to give items individual attention – and I may do that later on with a few topics – but trying to keep pace with what is certainly going to be an exciting…
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Pre Games Thoughts – The Sprints
My predictions are out there, and I knew that there would be some disagreement. But then a wise man once said, "if everyone is thinking alike, someone isn’t thinking". So for those not understanding why we’re not thinking the same thing, I thought I would give a little insight into how I came to my conclusions. Between now and the start of track and field in London, I’ll try to cover the sprints, middle distances/distances, hurdles, and field. Before I get started let me say again that IMHO this is going to be an upset fest before all is said and done. We have a large number of top level…
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Will the Men’s 100 Live Up to the Hype?
The men’s 100 meters. Perhaps THE marquee event of the Olympic Games. Most of the world will remember who won the 100 long after the Games are over. Jesse Owens, Jim Hines, Hasely Crawford, Valery Borzov, Carl Lewis, Donovan Bailey, Linford Christie, Maurice Greene. Names that resonate still long after retirement, because they won 100 meter gold at the Olympics. Usain Bolt went from "who" to the face of the sport with his victory in Beijing, and would like to become the first man to repeat as champion. However, the fact that he would be the first to do so underscores just how difficult a task that is in light…
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Olympic Predictions – London 2012
OK, it’s time to do this. I’ve procrastinated long enough. I kept hoping that the “next meet” would clear things up, but even Monaco yesterday just made things harder. As a matter of fact you will see some changes even from my US medal hopes of a couple of days ago – things are that fluid in my opinion. Clearly this is going to be a meet with a lot of potential “upsets”, and I would expect that we will see a few new stars emerge. Frankly that’s a good thing, because the sport can never have enough stars – if only we would learn to maximize the marketing potential…
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Sanya Richards-Ross and the Money Tweets
Now to paraphrase Mrs. Ross, she wants the athletes to get paid much more than they are currently earning. She would love to have sponsorship opportunities such as using your uniforms/warm ups, a la NASCAR. And she would like to get paid for her Olympic participation. Before I give my personal opinion on the matter, I have to say that the reason I feel the need to respond is that she was taking a lot of flack from her followers for her opinions on the subject. She was called greedy, and that was the nicest word that I can repeat. Frankly the name calling was truly out of line. Needless…
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American Medal Hopes
Ok, it’s time to climb out on that limb and stick my neck out. I’m sure by the time I’m done there will be several whacks taken at it. So I’m going out gingerly by starting with my list of American athletes that I think have medal potential. I’m sure the first comment will be that we will never win thirty eight medals! And I agree, all of those names will not translate into medals. Let’s be real, no one is going to the Games to roll over and hand over medals – to us or anyone else. At the end of the day they must be won. So in…