Frank McCourt, owner of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, issued the following release late yesterday afternoon regarding inquiries about his interest in the Los Angeles Marathon.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (August 25, 2008)-

“I am prepared to provide financial backing to Going the Distance, a group formed by Los Angeles business executives Russ Pillar and David Kingsdale, to acquire the rights to the Los Angeles Marathon from Chicago‐based Devine Racing Management affiliated entities so long as necessary terms can be worked out with Devine Racing Management affiliated entities and the City of Los Angeles. It’s no secret that the rights to the race are for sale. The Los Angeles Marathon is an important civic asset that has the potential to have an even greater positive impact on the City of Los Angeles. Because of its great potential, I am evaluating the opportunity together with Going the Distance. Read more…

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USA Track & Field has written President Bush to express our concern at Marion Jones’ application for pardon or commutation of her conviction for making false statements to federal investigators. Make your own voice heard and join USATF in writing to President Bush. For more information on how to write the White House, click here.   Below is the text of USATF’s letter. Read more…

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July 18th, 2008

Logan Steps Out

New USATF CEO Doug Logan held his first teleconference today as he was introduced by USATF President Bill Roe, who has been serving as acting CEO since Craig Masback’s resignation in January.  Logan will assume his new job on Monday morning when he arrives in Indianapolis from his current residence in south Florida.

“I’m delighted to be in this position,” the 64 year-old former Major League Soccer CEO told the teleconference.  “As the staff will learn, I keep a picture on my desk from 1980 of me dressed in clown makeup.  It’s a reminder not to take myself too seriously.”

Yet he takes over an organization with serious problems and challenges, including a mandate by the USOC to fundamentally change its governance model and streamline its bloated board of directors. Read more…

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July 15th, 2008

Olympic Dream Fulfilled

In May of 1999 I hit the Olympic A standard in the 10,000 meter.  This earned me a trip to the World Championships in Seville, Spain that summer.  Fortunately, my time carried over to the following year, so I had the A standard going in to the 2000 Olympic Trials.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make the team that year.  I remember watching Meb, Culpepper and Abdi pull away from me with 5K to go.  I tried to stay with them as long as I could, but I just couldn’t keep up.  There probably isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about that moment and how bad I wanted to be an Olympian. 

It was the summer of 1984 when my Olympic dream began.  I just turned 13.

With the Games already in full force in Los Angeles, my father made the impulse decision to load the family in the beat up station wagon and drive the 700 plus miles from Ashland, Oregon down to southern California in order to soak up the Olympic experience.  We certainly didn’t have event tickets, nor could we possibly afford them. My dad figured we could just find a spot on the street, along the end of the marathon course, and watch the women’s marathon enter the stadium. 

Once we arrived in LA, I remember getting up extra early and driving towards the stadium on a hot summer day to catch a glimpse of the race.  We found a parking spot which seemed like ten miles a way and trudged towards where the marathon course met the stadium entrance.  As we got closer and closer we could hear the stadium speakers blaring that Joan Benoit (now Benoit Samuelson) was opening up a huge lead over the field.  Our excitement grew and we walked faster hoping to get a good spot on the street.  By the time we reached the course, the streets were so crowded that there was no chance that my dad and his three boys could ever find an open spot to watch the runners go by.  The speakers from the stadium continued to scream that Benoit was still leading with just a few miles to go.  We could now here the crowd inside the stadium chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A…”

At that moment my dad told my oldest brother, Bob, to stay with me and Tim.  He said that he would be right back and for us not to move.  I saw my dad disappear into the huge crowd.  Ten minutes later my dad emerged with a huge smile on his face.  He had three tickets in his hand.  He gave them to us and told us to run as fast as we could to the stadium.  We looked at him and asked him why he wasn’t coming.  He just kept on smiling and told us to run, FAST!  As the three of us raced towards the stadium with tickets in hand, I turned around and saw my dad standing there laughing.  I later learned that my dad found a scalper and bought three tickets that were being sold for an outrageous price.  He had just enough money for three tickets.  It was probably all the money he had for our entire trip to California.

The three of us boys entered the stadium.  The ushers pointed us towards the Olympic Flame and told us our seats were at the very top row, right under the Flame.  We climbed the hundreds of steps and found our seats moments before Benoit entered the stadium.  It was the most thrilling experience I have ever had.  Over 100,000 people screaming “U-S-A, U-S-A” were in complete hysterics as Benoit came charging in with her silver uniform and white cap in hand.   At that very moment I wanted to become an Olympian and I spent the next 20 years doing everything I could to become one.  It was not to be. 

However, this blog isn’t about an Olympic dream unfulfilled.  I would, in fact, argue the opposite.  After all, I learned how to chase something with reckless abandon.  I learned how to believe in myself and not some statistic.  I learned how to risk it all.  I learned that I am capable of wrestling the wolves until I am spent.  Perhaps this is what the Olympic dream is really about.  Thanks, Dad. 

PJ 

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 With the mortgage crisis continuing to ripple out into the general American economy, the possibility exists that two of the only positive impacts may come in the area of childhood obesity and the fortunes of future American distance running.  What with the price of oil soaring near $150 per barrel, Montgomery County, Maryland announced that more children may have to walk to school next year to save money on bus fuel.  Read more…

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June 14th, 2008

USOC to USATF: Change Now!

Track visionaries have been saying it for years: the sport of track & field is stale and requires massive change to elevate its status to that of other professional sports. Those who voiced such opinions, pleading for change, ran up against brick walls. Then proceeded to bang their heads against said brick walls. Years of banging resulted in severe apathy - track is track; it is what it is. Except among a select few who kept the movement alive and inspired the next generation. So here we are today, witnessing a perfect storm of BALCO, the internet, world-class U.S. performances, a second running boom, and the chronic underperformance of our governing bodies. Finally someone has taken notice.

In a stern letter from Jim Scherr, USOC chief executive, to Bill Roe, USATF President and our guest on The Toni & Matt Show #13, track’s governing body was given an ultimatum: change your structure or else risk sanctions and possible decertification. USATF has until June 24 to submit a plan. If the USOC chooses decertification, it will actually take over USATF until a new federation can be formed. Although rare, it has happened in modern pentathlon, team handball, and taekwondo. (click “read full article” for the rest of this story) Read more…

Toni as host of and Matt as featured presenter at the first annual Running Film Festival.

(hat tip to Katie at RunningTimes.com)

Matt will be presenting this subject matter (but not this video)…

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Cathy Griffin of The Griffin Network joins us this week on the Toni & Matt Show to discuss the search for USATF’s next CEO. Griffin’s executive search firm has been tasked with finding a replacement for Craig Masback, who left the organization at the end of last year. We’ll learn more about the search process and find out what type of candidate will lead the organization.

Think you could do a good job? Check out the USATF CEO Fact Sheet to find out.

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May 17th, 2008

Like Sex and Chocolate

Wii FitTwo of my favorite things are video games and running. (There, I said it.) Actually, that’s not entirely true; sometimes I loathe running and, despite a recent attempt to re-ignite my love affair with the gaming world, I haven’t played video games “seriously” since college. But boy did I have an obsession for both a decade ago. True story: in college I developed tendentious in both thumbs from playing video games. I had to wear splints. But the rewards were well worth the consequences - I beat Mike Tyson, I completed GoldenEye 007 on all three levels in two weeks, I ran Bo Jackson for 894 yards in one game of Tecmo Bowl, and I absolutely killed it on Parappa the Rappa. My running accomplishments weren’t as exceptional nor rewarding, but as a sub-9:00 steeplechaser I wasn’t a slouch. So it was with both lust and dismay that I read Nintendo’s announcement of the Wii Fit. Read more…

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May 7th, 2008

The Toni & Matt Show #10

 
 The Toni & Matt Show #10 [78:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Welcome to our 10th episode, a small milestone and definite turning point for the show. We’d like to count the first 9 episodes as practice - our time to learn the medium and find our voice. We’ve received great feedback from you; please keep it coming by emailing us at comments (at) runnerville (dot) com. But don’t just email us - join the community, join the discussion. Send us your audio comments by calling 206-888-0346. That’s the only way we’ll make the influencers and decision makers of the sport take notice - with many voices.

Okay, on to today’s show:

    [3:55 - 21:15] The Big Story - The Payton Jordan Invitational at Stanford University.
    Shalane Flanagan and Kim Smith save the night with their epic duel over 10,000 meters, both setting national records in the process (30:34.49 for Flanagan to 30:35.54 for Smith). Without that race the meet would have been a let-down. Expectations were so high going into the weekend, but fast times did not materialize, especially at 800m and 1500m. Of course there were some impressive results, but the winning times were not as anticipated. Other stories included: Brent Vaughn, Scotty Bauhs, Shannon Rowbury impress, Fasil Bizuneh just misses the A standard, no Rupp or Gouchers, and why in the world would they split the 1500m into two “equal” heats? Not what the fans want . . .

    [21:15 - 1:05:45] Nate Jenkins joins us in the “studio” from Lowell, Massachusetts, home to Toni’s first radio gig. Nate finished 7th at last year’s US Olympic Marathon Trials in NYC, setting his PR of 2:14:56. We asked Nate to be on the show after receiving a great, if not long, audio comment. His comment had some constructive criticism for the show, some positive feedback, and some great ideas to improve the sport. Instead of playing his comment on the show, we thought it would be better to open up the conversation and invite him on the show. What a guest! We discuss the complexity of our sport, the sad state of television coverage, USATF’s lack of financial support, and uniform rules. We ask Nate if the athletes should unionize. And Toni unveils our newest segment - The Hot House - to incubate ideas for the sport. He presents his first Hot House idea to Nate - making a half-marathon series with teams - who’s a big fan.

    [1:07:22 - 1:18:00] Listener comment from Kevin referencing an Tim Layden article in the May 5 edition of sports illustrated titled: Once They Were Giants - After years of drug scandals, track faces its future as a minor Olympic sport. A sad look at the decline of track’s position on the Olympic stage. This year swimming and gymnastics will take center stage. A real eye-opener for the powers that be. Layden’s best point: the danger for our sport is not outrage, it’s apathy. Amen!

Listen in next week for Episode #11. We’ll be joined by Matt Tegenkamp and we have audio call ins from Dan Lilot and funny-man Jeremy Mosher. You can add your voice to the conversation by calling us at 206-888-0346 - just leave your comment after the beep.

[Music is “Same Old Drag” by Apples in Stereo.]