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Let The Games Begin!
The Trials were just over, yet here we are with the Games literally days to count down! These Games already feel different. Maybe it’s the fact that venues are STILL under construction. Maybe it’s the Zika virus that has so many afraid to go. Perhaps even the status of injured athletes like Christian Taylor, Allyson Felix, and Usain Bolt – what level will they be ready for in a few short weeks? Whatever it is, somehow CHANGE seems to be in the air! Expect the unexpected. Youth will be served. I feel it. I smell it in the air.That said, this sport at its best is about match ups. So…
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Prefontaine was HOT!
Once again Pre was as good a meet as any on the planet. Which begs the question, why can’t we do this more often? It’s a rhetorical question of course, because the simple answer is MONEY! It takes a boat load of money to put on a quality meet these days, and who has that kind of money laying around? Yes, Eugene touts itself as "Track Town USA", but let’s be real – it’s in Nike’s back yard! Nuff said. I’ve said for years that the answer to track and field’s "issues" with attendance is not tied to street races, concerts, or pole vaulting in the parking lot. The answer…
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It’s July Where Are We?
This has been a very interesting year so far. Lots of transition going on throughout the sport. Rising athletes. Injured athletes. Athletes returning from injury. More transition than usual in the year following the Games it seems. Then of course there are the usual off the track issues such as drugs, which never seem to go away. So many things that I don’t know where to begin, so rather than say a lot about one thing, today I’m going to take a stab at saying a little about a lot of things – starting with the Diamond League which gives us a Fourth of July meet in Lausanne in two…
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The Top Performances of 2012
It’s time to start looking back on what turned out to be a pretty awesome season. I figure the best place to start reviewing is with the top performances, since that will certainly lead into discussion about the top athletes. This year there was no dearth of outstanding performances, even more than usual in an Olympic year. We can start with the fact that there were five WR’s this year – three individual and two relays – as an indication of just how good the performances were in 2012. I separate them out as individual and relay, because the relays sort of skew the conversation a bit since they are…