What's that? It has already been a week since I last updated? Okay, well, lets do this again. I should probably get on a much more frequent update schedule (twice a week maybe...man that would be trying though). Anyway, here we go.
Recently, (two weekends ago now) I was watching the adidas track classic in Carson, CA. During the broadcast they mentioned that this year world championships was going to be held in Berlin, Germany. For the entirety of the broadcast, all that could be mentioned about the World Championships by the American broadcasters was how great Jesse Owens was when he won the 100m dash there in 1939....seventy years ago. Now don't get me wrong, the event was amazing and stood defiantly in the face of bigotry and racism. It was a great moment don't get me wrong on that (I find myself qualifying a lot of my beliefs in this fashion). However, the event happened 70 years ago now and yet they had to ask every American that won their race what Jesse Owens means to them going into the World Championships.
The first thing that really got me in regards to this was how this would never fly in any sport. What would baseball fans think if the league leader in every statistical category was asked after each at bat, or just randomly in the dugout about whether or not this invokes the memory of Jackie Robinson. They would be irked, because it adds nothing to the broadcast and it tells us nothing about the athletes competing, it is just puff to try to branch out to casual viewers who don't know anything. And that is depressing because for someone who knows something about track, I want more flotrack level commentary. I want you to ask Shalane Flanagan if she can maybe run 10000m with Trinuesh Dibaba (She's doing a lot of short races right now and is running the 1500m at the Prefontaine Classic so she is trying to get some speed in for worlds). Or ask her a question about Kara Goucher focusing on the marathon and what this does to the female distance running scene since the United States is now losing a former 5k world championship medal winner. Or how about asking Tyson Gay if anybody on the planet can run with Usain Bolt for 100 to 200m. Instead of pandering to Jenn Stuczynski about how she always gets an American Record at Carson, ask if she can maybe vault with Yelena Isinbayeva at Worlds this year. I mean, the stories are all there, I mean what else do you guys want in terms of drama?
And yet the thing that is especially irksome about this entire situation is that Germany, when it comes to athletics, is a great nation. They support the IAAF and the Golden League so well, that there was a real reason for why the event is being held there. Mainly because they will sell out a 70,000+ stadium with people there to watch track and field. Hey American announcers I can't quite remember attendance numbers in Carson, CA two weekends ago, but I seem to remember there being a lot of empty seats at a professional race. Hell, Hayword Field in, "Track Town USA" only has a capacity of 10,500 (thank you wikipedia). Meanwhile look at the spectator stats from the Berlin Golden League meet:
http://www.istaf.de/content.php?content=zuschauer&lang=en
For those not into track, a Golden League meet is roughly equivalent to a regular season football game, there are some big stars and some decent players, but it is no where near the level of competition of worlds (For a frame of reference last year, Wariner and Jelimo ran along with a couple big name people). If that is what they are pulling in at such a mid season affair, think what they will pull down for the worlds.
And that is what irked me about the large majority of the commentary, is that it gleans over the positive role the nation has played in order to belabor the point about a seventy year old event.
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