[Posted from Albany, Oregon…Monday a.m.]
Track Quiz: Name the world record holders in the following:
1) Men’s 200 meters. 2) Men’s 400 meters. 3) Men’s 1500
meters. 4) Women’s 100 meters. 5) Women’s 200 meters.
Answers below.
Track Town, U.S.A.
Some last thoughts as I prepare to head home Monday. How
good a time did I have these past ten days, eight of which were at
the Trials? Eugene was awarded the 2012 Olympic Trials again
and I would seriously consider coming back, that’s how much I
liked it. Yes, you obviously have to start out liking the sport to
really get into it, and it helps to have a decent knowledge of the
history, but there are so many different human dramas taking
place in front of you, recognizing that swim fans could say the
same of their sport these past two weeks as well.
So to tie up some loose ends, in no particular order as I scramble
to complete this before 2:00 a.m. (ahem), Hayward Field is
named after Bill Hayward, who directed the Ducks’ track and
field program at Oregon from 1904 to 1947, and, as I noted
earlier, he coached six U.S. Olympic programs up to 1936.
Bill Bowerman, co-founder of Nike, coached for 24 years at
Oregon, from 1948 to 1972 and led the Ducks to four NCAA
team championships, coached 33 Olympians, 16 sub-four-minute
milers and 64 All-Americans. Bowerman is certainly one of the
two or three greatest track coaches of all time.
Lane County, where Eugene is, was where the classic “Five Easy
Pieces” was filmed, with the most famous scene at a Denny’s on
I-5 (but not the one I’ve mentioned next to my hotel, which is in
a different county).
But the Univ. of Oregon itself is best known in the film business
for “Animal House.” Delta House has been demolished and
renovations to Erb Memorial Union Fishbowl have altered the
scene of the famous food-fight, but other sites are familiar, such
as the quad and Johnson Hall, site of Dean Wormer’s office
where John Belushi imported a horse. The parade scene takes
place just outside Eugene, on Cottage Grove’s Main Street
(which I didn’t get to).
The Olympic Trials returned to Eugene for the first time since
1980, which is quite startling, but they say Historic Hayward
Field was in need of renovations and Nike gladly kicked in.
Everyone has commented on the sound system, for example, as
being the best they’ve ever heard anywhere. The entire field was
ripped up as part of the $8 million project and the fiber-optic
cables are below. The two big video screens are also as clear as
can be. Plus, I haven’t said much about the festival area
surrounding the track, with a cushy artificial surface for fans who
don’t have tickets, with two big video screens of their own.
That’s where I’ve been hanging out before entering the stadium,
as it’s also the place to get beer and food. [There are no
concession stands once you go thru the gates, but you can keep
leaving and re-entering very quickly. In other words, I’m trying
to sell the experience so you think of coming here yourself in
2012.]
Anyway, back in 1980, you had the Soviet invasion of
Afghanistan so Jimmy Carter opted to have the U.S. boycott the
Moscow Games. The Trials were held anyway at Eugene and
they showed a video of the performances and what a scene it
was. For our athletes, the Trials were their Olympics. Carter
wrote a letter for the official program which included this
paragraph:
“Those of you selected for the United States Olympic team will
not have the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games
this year. I know this is a very hard blow, and I will work with
Congress and the American people to assure that your personal
sacrifice in the interest of world peace and human rights gets the
recognition it deserves.”
Talk about small consolation. The Eugene community, just one
month after Mount St. Helens had blown its top, nonetheless
made the best of a bad situation.
OK…back to the action of the last few days.
16-year-old, 98-lb. Jordan Hasay, a junior in high school out of
San Luis Obispo, electrified us on Friday night with a national
high school mark of 4:14 in the 1500 to qualify for the finals,
where, alas, she finished 10th. Needless to say, everyone in
Eugene wants her to attend Oregon now. But in the finals, a
Jersey girl, Erin Donohue, now 25, finished a strong 2nd to
Shannon Rowbury to qualify for Beijing. I remember all the
press Erin got when she was at Haddonfield High School and I
just forgot about her the last seven years. [Turns out she was at
UNC most of that time.]
On Saturday, it was all about Tyson Gay and his spectacular
flameout in the 200 quarterfinals as he just sprang up and
collapsed like a racehorse. Everyone thought his year was over;
that he had torn a hammy, but it turns out it was a severe cramp.
Nonetheless, he’s out of Beijing for the event, though they say
he’ll be fine for the 100. In any other country they probably
would have placed Gay on the 200 squad, assuming he could
prove he’s healthy in two weeks, but the beauty of the Olympic
Trials, for both track and field, and swimming, is that no one gets
a free pass. That’s democracy at its finest. [The selection
process for gymnastics, though, is a joke.]
Returning to Friday night, as I scramble the old brain, there were
stirring finals in the women’s 5000 (won by Kara Goucher) and
the men’s 10000, won by Somali turned American Abdi
Abdirahman, with local favorite Galen Rupp second. Rupp,
unlike 800 meter runner Andrew Wheating, is not universally
loved, even though Rupp has been attending Oregon. You see,
some are jealous that Rupp is getting special treatment from his
relationship with coach Alberto Salazar. Rupp gets to train using
underwater treadmills, courtesy of Nike, for example, and he
sleeps in lower-oxygen environments to stimulate living at high
altitude. Rupp set U.S. high school records in the 3000 and
5000, but in big meets, like Friday’s, all too often he’s second.
Saturday was a light day, but what a cool event the men’s 3000
meter steeplechase final turned out to be as Long Island’s
Anthony Famiglietti led from start to finish in a performance that
had us all psyched. I’ve been sitting among some real track
experts from New York, two high school kids in particular, one
of whom, Luke A., is my new advisor. [As are Mr. and Mrs. A.
Very sweet folks. Let’s face it. A track crowd is far from what
you’d see at a Jets game, the latter being the lowest form of
humanity, it goes without saying. Actually, on the All-Species
List, Jets fans are about 20 rungs below wildebeest, but I
digress.]
Where was I? Oh yeah…Famiglietti, “Fam,” said after his race
that he had been channeling Steve Prefontaine. Anyone who
does that is my new hero.
Back to the women, both Shalane Flanagan, winner of the 10000
and bronze in the 5000, and Kara Goucher, winner in the 5000
and second in the 10000, represent America’s best hopes in a
long time for medals at these distances.
But I do have to note the 4th place finisher in Friday night’s 5000,
Lauren Fleshman. On Sunday, she appeared on the stage at the
festival next to the stadium and the MC said Lauren just wanted
to prove that those who miss out on a trip to Beijing can move on
with their lives. It was really neat that she then addressed us all
in this fashion, and when she left the stage I sought her out, told
her how much I appreciated her comments, and gave Lauren a
fist bump. To which Lauren told me, “Hey, man. That’s really
cool!” Ah, the little things in life that can make your day.
Hopefully she’s back in four years to give it another shot. [I was
doing fist bumps long before Barack and Michelle, incidentally.]
Not everyone among the performers is perfect, though. I still
want him to win gold in Beijing, but 400 meter world champion
Jeremy Wariner (the white guy, for those of you not totally up on
the sport) was more than a bit classless after losing in the finals
to new rival LaShawn Merritt, opting not to do a victory lap
(which the top three take in each event) and blowing off the post-
race press conference. It’s one thing to be upset you lost, but it’s
another not to also remember just how lucky you are to still be
going to Beijing representing this country.
Two classy champions on the women’s side, on the other hand,
are the 200 meter winner Alysson Felix and 400 winner Sanya
Richards (whose fiancée is the Giants’ Aaron Ross). Both
wanted to compete against each in both the 200 and 400 in
Beijing, but the schedule of the events is such that doing a double
is impossible. Felix may still be selected for Richards’ 4X400
relay team.
And as I wrap up some final thoughts. On Saturday, American
record-holder Dominique Arnold of 110m hurdles fame was
disqualified in a prelim. That’s the other side of the Olympic
Trials, like with 4th-place finisher Dwight Phillips in the long
jump. Both were in an absolute state of shock afterwards and as
both were right in front of me, I just focused on them, trying to
get inside their heads. Oh, the agony of defeat.
Defeat was also in the air as the last event rolled by, the men’s
1500 meter where three naturalized citizens, Bernard Lagat
(Kenya), my man Lopez Lomong (Sudan) and Leonel Manzano
(Mexico) qualified to represent us in Beijing, while three-time
national champion and a feature of Bar Chat since 2001, Alan
Webb, came in a highly disappointing fifth. He’s still young,
just 25, but what a long, long four years it will be for him before
he gets another shot.
But then on Sunday you had women’s pole-vaulter Jean
Stuczynski, the American record holder.
Jean passed all the way up to 15’ 1 ¼”, where she entered the
competition with only two others left at this point. She then
proceeded to miss her first two attempts, as we all murmured,
‘What the hell is she doing? Why didn’t she start a little lower
just to get a number?!’ After all, if she missed on her third
attempt, the best vaulter in America, and one of the top two in
the world these days, would not have qualified for Beijing!
Talk about pressure, as the PA announcer droned on about what
her next attempt meant. Jean then cleared it with like a foot to
spare and went on to best her own record. That’s what these
Trials were all about.
Well, that’s it from here. I’m going to comment a bit more on
the overall experience later in the week for that other column I
do, but what an awesome time. You know how pumped I was
for it and yet the Trials exceeded my already high expectations in
every way. From what I’ve read, anyone attending the
swimming trials in Omaha I’m sure would tell you the same
thing of their own experience there.
Stuff
–On Sunday morning, before I headed to the Trials, I was
working on part of this column while watching the men’s finals
at Wimbledon, but I had to leave with the score 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-
7, 2-2.
Well, you know the result, the first crown for Rafael Nadal and
already his fifth Grand Slam overall in what I read later was
called the greatest match ever by John McEnroe. As for Roger
Federer, he remains stuck on 12 big ones. Next up, the U.S.
Open.
–In playing each other for the Wimbledon title, Venus and
Serena combined to win $2.5 million. Winners:
2008- Venus
2007 – Venus
2006 – Amelie Mauresmo
2005 – Venus
2004 – Maria Sharapova
2003 – Serena
2002 – Serena
2001 – Venus
2000 – Venus
–So being here for the track and field trials, I’ve missed the
coverage of the swimming over in Omaha. For the archives, I
just have to note along with everyone else in the country what a
great story it is to have 41-year-old mother Dara Torres qualify
for her fifth team. And Michael Phelps, winner of six golds and
two bronze in Athens will once again take a shot at besting Mark
Spitz’s record seven gold medals from 1972 in Munich as Phelps
will race in another eight events in Beijing.
–I forgot to mention when I hit the Oregon coast last Tuesday, I
went to a super aquarium in Newport [the Oregon Coast
Aquarium.] It’s not the biggest, but has everything you’d want
to see except a sperm whale. Actually, you won’t find any sperm
whales in an aquarium anywhere in the world as it wouldn’t be
too fair to the whale to be placed in a tank twice its width, if you
know what I’m saying.
Anyway, there was this octopus exhibit and I learned that the
female lays 80,000 eggs, which she tends in her cave, but only
two normally reach adulthood, then she dies…which kind of
sucks. A lot of work for little reward, you might say.
But this also points out why you don’t see any mass octopi
invasions anywhere in the world because you all know that 2.1 is
the required replacement level just to maintain a population of
anything, so as I work this out on a beer coaster, one wonders
how the octopus base will ever grow. I’m thinking maybe
octopus farming, like we already have with salmon, could be the
solution.
–In a story in the Sunday New York Times by Joe Brescia, 82-
year-old hurler Ralph Branca has some thoughts on booing and
taunting of players, Branca being a regular attendee at Mets
games: unplug the rap and metal music and plug in the organ.
He wants more baseball standards and the fans to sing, too.
“That’s nonsense they play now,” Branca said. “They’re
catering to a certain element. The majority of people go to watch
the game, not to hear that noise. I don’t want to hear a lot of
noise. I don’t want to hear Metallica and rap. I don’t want to
hear the announcer say, ‘Let’s make noise.’
“I want to go watch the game and have a sing-along. They can
play songs like ‘Talkin’ Baseball,’ which is a great song. There
are other songs that they can play that are relative to baseball and
get the crowd involved and make a friendlier atmosphere.”
You tell ‘em, Ralphie. Years ago, on a related topic, I took my
father to see Shaq play the Nets and the other day, my dad was
still talking about how loud the music was (it was awful)…and
how unimpressed he was by Shaq, too. [Of course Dad was
more a George Mikan man, while I was a Dave DeBusschere/
Jerry Lucas guy.]
–A-Rod’s second daughter was born April 21 and we now learn
he not only was ten minutes late for the delivery, he spent just
about ten minutes with C-Rod before heading back to New York
and an immediate visit with Madonna, 17 years his senior. C-
Rod has told friends that Alex has changed. “Today he’s very
cold and calculating,” she says. Yoh, Cynthia, he’s been this
way since he was three. A-Rod’s long-time trainer and godfather
to the couple’s two girls has left the Yankee slugger, saying
“He’s totally brainwashed” by Madonna, who’s pushing her
Kabbalah faith.
[And as I go to post, a little after midnight here on the West
Coast, I see that C-Rod could be filing the divorce papers on
Monday. Frankly………….we love this stuff!!!!!]
–Not for nothing, folks, but I predicted the exact number of
wieners that Joey Chestnut would consume in the Nathan’s
Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest….64. Yes, it was really 59 in
regulation, but then he ate another five in a wiener eat-off after
tying Japan’s Kobayashi.
But, if you think my claiming to be dead on with the 64 isn’t
legit, understand the contest was reduced from 12 minutes to 10,
because officials had dug up the fact the original Nathan’s affair
was indeed only 10 minutes.
So I’m claiming victory. After all, to me it’s the perfect resume
stuffer.
–Cheeta, the last of four chimps to play alongside Tarzan in the
movies, is still around, age 76, and living in Palm Springs.
Chimps can live to 60, normally, in captivity and 40 in the wild.
Cheeta doesn’t like to travel anymore, says its handler, but,
suffering from diabetes, willingly raises his arm for his twice
daily insulin shots.
–Kyle Busch won his sixth Sprint Cup race of 2008 at Daytona
on Saturday. As Ronald Reagan would have said, “Not bad…not
bad at all.”
–Lots of press in Oregon because of local resident Kent Couch
and his flying a record 235 miles in a lawn chair as his
contraption, rigged with almost 200 helium-filled balloons, made
it from the Oregon desert to Idaho. It’s really pretty incredible.
Couch used a BB gun to take out individual balloons to keep
from going too high. Otherwise, he said he would have
immediately gone up to 30,000 feet, which I imagine would have
been a little disconcerting, though quite a sight for any jet
travelers that passed him. “Honey, I think I just saw a guy in a
lawn chair.” “George, you’ve been drinking too much….in fact
you’re always drinking too much. I want a divorce.”
[Just thought I’d take the conversation to its logical conclusion.]
–The other day I was sitting in a restaurant here in Albany and
these folks in the booth behind me began chatting about their
fishing experiences. [A huge sport in these parts, it goes without
saying.] I just thought the tale an older woman told was
hilarious.
She’s sitting in her boat, on a lake, with her dog, when she felt a
pull on the line. But then she got distracted by the dog, who got
all excited, and she dropped the rod.
So, there’s this big fish, flopping in and out of the water, trailing
the fishing rod! I almost spit up my Pilsner Urquel upon hearing
this. Turns out within minutes both fish and rod disappeared,
never to be seen again. They suspect when the fish dove, the
rod’s line snagged on some rocks and both met an untimely
death.
–Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants is 10-1 on the
mound while the team is 39-50 overall.
–Nice going Univ. of Georgia. Seven football players have been
arrested since the end of last season.
–You know how I’ve been complaining about the radio stations
here? I finally found one. 920AM / KSHO…for those adult
classics of days of yore. Like the theme for the Marlboro Man,
the full orchestral theme from “The Magnificent Seven.” And
who can forget Ferrante and Teicher doing the theme from
“Exodus”? [I wonder what Ferrante and Teicher made? They
sure did a lot of albums, and my parents seemed to have a few. I
mean I guess they didn’t make NFL first round draft pick money,
but for the 1950s and early 60s, they probably did alright.]
Or how about the Lettermen doing “Shangri-La”?
“And when you hold me…how warm you are!!!…..So spend
your life with me in Shan-gri-Laaaaaaa!” [Never knew it was
that easy.]
But then Roy Clark’s “Yesterday When I Was Young” came on.
Boy, you talk about an underrated tune. Roy Clark, in all
seriousness, is also one of the more underrated entertainers of
any generation.
Top 3 songs for the week of 7/7/79: #1 “Ring My Bell” (Anita
Ward…yikes, just dreadful) #2 “Bad Girls” (Donna Summer…
far from her best) #3 “Hot Stuff” (Donna Summer…ditto)…and
…#4 “Chuck E.’s In Love” (Rickie Lee Jones) #5 “She Believes
In Me” (Kenny Rogers) #6 “The Logical Song” (Supertramp)
#7 “Boogie Wonderland” (Earth, Wind & Fire with The
Emotions…also far from their best) #8 “We Are Family” (Sister
Sledge…only good as anthem for the Pirates that season) #9
“Makin’ It” (David Naughton) #10 “I Want You To Want Me”
(Cheap Trick……yup, sports fans, a lousy week, which is why
we’re going back to the 60s. This was also fall of my senior year
in college and it’s no wonder I barely graduated. The music was
hideous………………………Some of you who knew me at
Wake can stop laughing now. As can my own mother and
father.)
Track Quiz Answers: World record holders: 1) Michael Johnson
has the world record in the 200 meters…19.32 from the Atlanta
Olympics in 1996. 2) Michael Johnson holds the 400m record,
43.18, set in 1999 in Seville, Spain. 3) Hicham El Guerrouj of
Morocco is the record holder in the 1500m at 3:26.00, set in
1998 in Rome. [Guerrouj also holds the mile mark at 3:43.13,
set in 1999 in Rome as well.] 4) Florence Griffith-Joyner holds
the women’s record in the 100m, 10.49, set in Indianapolis in
1988. 5) Flo-Jo also holds the mark in the 200m, 21.34, set at
the Seoul Olympics, 1988.
Next Bar Chat, July 14….I need some time to catch up, but take
a look on July 10 when I’ll post some beer musings I picked up
at a brew pub in Newport, Oregon.
