Runnerville Weekly #2
Only 98 more episodes before we reach triple digits! Look out Jaffe Juice.
In this episode:
Toni Reavis wants to set the mood.
Scott Bush feeds the Boston/New York rivalry.
Amby Burfoot reviews Spirit of the Marathon.
Jay Johnson thinks running can be cool.
Jeremy Mosher pits Lopez Lomong (wearing a green singlet) against Chris Lukezic (wearing a blue and red singlet) at halftime of an Eagles v Giants game.
Chris Lear hopes Millrose can return to this:
Matt Taylor hands out his winners and losers.
What do you think? Are we on the right path? Way off? How long before The Daily Show comes looking for Jeremy Mosher? Let us know by leaving a comment below or calling the comment line: +1 206-888-0346. Don’t be afraid.
[Music by Millis Pride, now Autumn Hollow]
Last 5 posts by Matt Taylor- The Toni & Matt Show #17 - Vin Lananna - July 9th, 2008
- LetsRun.com Eugene '08 - June 30th, 2008
- The Toni & Matt Show #16 - June 17th, 2008
- USOC to USATF: Change Now! - June 14th, 2008
- The Toni & Matt Show #15 - June 11th, 2008
January 29th, 2008 at 12:17 pm |
Very funny
Good luck and welcome to the Revolution!
Joe
January 29th, 2008 at 9:57 pm |
Great episode. I no longer care that the WGA is on strike, just give us more Jeremy Mosher.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:25 am |
That race (the ‘83 Millrose HS Mile) is something else., and it also is a contrast to some of the comments made on the site so far. It has no fancy lighting, no fancy announcing, nothing showy at all really, but the people there watching that night (most of whom likely came to watch a different race) and the rest of us, more than 2 decades later, can still watch and get excited by the race.
Perhaps that is part of the reason that meet directors avoid the drama and the pomp & circumstance: because when running in its simplest form can be that enticing, the extra to-do can only take away from it.
I agree with Mosher, that some stunts could be a good thing, and with Reavis, that some drama could help from time to time. But not at the cost of this sort of no-frills, first rate, head-to-head(-to-head) competition and entertainment.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:54 am |
Katie,
Remember that Millrose is run in Madison Square Garden. And in 1983 the place was jammed to the rafters. Indoor track was in the final throes of its glory years then, and didn’t need any bells and whistles to attract an audience. Back then meets in San Diego, L.A., Toronto, Cleveland, etc. were contested in the top arenas like MSG. Those days have passed. When they tore down the old Boston Garden for Fleet Center (or whatever it’s called these days), architects were approached to build the place with space for an indoor track. That idea was scuttled, so Boston lost a major arena in which to stage meets. It was replaced first with Harvard’s 200m indoor oval, fast, but with very few seats, and horrible acoustics. Next they build the Reggie Lewis Center with room for 4000, but again built for multiple uses, not for professional presentations.
That is why I suggest we need to do something to re-attract a new audience. If you can draw a crowd with just straight up track and fiedl, I’m all for it. But when the audience walks, you have to bang the drum and shoot off some fireworks to get them to take another look. After that it comes back to the excellence on display on the track, and how good the fan experience is.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:30 am |
My gosh, I have been out of it for a while - if it werent for dang SCHOOL!
February 1st, 2008 at 1:12 am |
http://usatf.sportnet.com/ near the end.
The 1 mile: Said Ahmed was disqualified last year for interfering with Nick Willis in a similar fashion, moving
out into lane 2 and drifting further. What can you say about this that the folks on the audio obviously don’t know?
We would like some expert opinions.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:54 am |
dear Toni,
putting indoor track on a ’stage’ like in ordinary theaters will have the side effect that the broadcast by tv will be heavily effected. With less light in the building the images from the track will be lost in the dark. Without TV, less sponsors, less money, less world class athletes, no tv, les sponsors, etc…
For the indoor-crowds (just 4000 to the tenthousands watching at home) the attention to the stars should be attracted by good announcers. By the fact that as a paying visitor I should be awarded with clear view, not dark surroundings with spotlights.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:05 am |
Tony wrote, “Remember that Millrose is run in Madison Square Garden. And in 1983 the place was jammed to the rafters. Indoor track was in the final throes of its glory years then, and didn’t need any bells and whistles to attract an audience. Back then meets in San Diego, L.A., Toronto, Cleveland, etc. were contested in the top arenas like MSG. Those days have passed.”
I don’t know that I agree with that. In 1983, indoor track was barely recognized in Europe. There were few indoor venues across the pond, much less many professional indoor track meets. There were no Indoor Track world championships.
I will be the first to admit that I have no idea how or why MSG was packed to the gills for this meet in ‘83 and is empty now. Back in the glory days of Eamonn Coughlan (and Mike Stahr)? What about Lagat? We have the same situation - a well known international (turned national) running hero stringing together a bundle of impressive victories, turning down whatever first-rate competition the meet organizers can put together to face him.
Yes, public interest has waned. Not for lack of bells and whistles, though, and not for want of quality or intriguing races.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:13 pm |
Bart,
I didn’express myself well regarding the lighting for indoor games. I don’t propose a spotlight on the leader of a race and everything else in the dark. The whole track is lit. Think of big-time boxing and its surrounding crowd. The lighting is particular to the entire track with a few rows of spectators also visible on the edges. A spotlight could be put on a pole vautler or long jumper as he/she is announced to the crowd and preps to jump, but the runway and landing pit would also be lit. Lighting as a focusing element, for the crowd and TV, that’s the point.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:26 pm |
Katie,
Indoor track was unknown in Europe in 1983, because they had no history of it over there. Not until the IAAF introduced the World Indoor Championships in 1991 did Europe begin constructing indoor 200m ovals. In that sense the entire world of indoor track was centered in North America for decades. At the same time when competion sprung up in Europe, our meets didn’t compete very well with newly energized European meet promoters.
At the same time we also were just beginning to lose touch with our glory years when track was still looked upon as a significant sport in America with athletes like Coghlan (though Irsh, a Villanova man), Dwight Stones, Pre, Shorter, etc. who were seen on Wide World of Sports, CBS Sports Spectacular, and Sports Illustrated on a regular basis. Without that mainstream support, the general sports fan began drifting away from trackside. What we have in MSG now is the hard-core, not the general sports fan. We took our popularity for granted, did nothing to maintain and grow it against the increasing competition from sports actively promoting and marketing themselves, and accordingly lost our position. This is another consequence of being lead by a body designed in an amateur world having to compete in a professional one.
February 17th, 2008 at 11:41 am |
This a great website and great podcast; as a running fan I am very excited that you guys are doing what you are doing for our sport.
For Amby; we met at Furman through Bill and Don Pierce/Scott Murr. I am active duty and am currently running my miles in Iraq. There are several avid runners here; I would like to figure out a way to get the Spirit of the Marthaon movie over here so we can see it.
Thanks for any help.