I’m pumped big time after the last session at the track…but I’ll tell you why down below. Just understand this column is kind of written piecemeal and if you don’t like track, well, go bake some yams or somethin’ of that ilk.
Track and Field Quiz: 1) Usain Bolt holds the world records in both the 100 and 200 meters. What are the times? [Every good sports fan should know these.] 2) Who holds the men’s world record in the 400? [An American] 3) Who holds the men’s world record in both the 1,500 and mile? [Hint: from Morocco] 4) Who is the women’s world record holder in both the 100 and 200 meters? [An American] Answers below.
Trial Bits
This kinds of sums up the first few days here, as reported by Curtis Anderson of the Register-Guard (Eugene…solid local paper)
“For Ashton Eaton, the future is now.
“The 24-year-old Oregon Track Club Elite athlete came into the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials as America’s next great hope in the decathlon.
“On Saturday, before an adoring crowd of 21,795 at Hayward Field – who wildly cheered his every move over two days of grueling competition staged in horrible weather conditions – he left as the world record-holder with a stunning 9,039 points.
“Eaton, the former prep star at Mountain View High School in Bend, and five-time NCAA champion at Oregon, is the second decathlete in history to score more than 9,000 points. He broke the previous mark of 9,026 set by Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic in 2001.”
Understand that the first two days of the Trials are always dominated by the decathlon but you’d have to be at the track as a spectator first thing in the morning each day to catch it all and that’s way too much for me, let alone I have other things to do, so I showed up Friday and Saturday in the afternoon, with two or three of the five events each day already completed. But you still get a great sense of what decathletes have to go through and the crowd was indeed pumped for anything Ashton Eaton did.
But when I arrived on Saturday, it was after the seventh of the ten events and I hit the beer tent, where they have monitors all around (and where you can get out of the rain) and it was then I saw the standings…2008 Olympic gold medalist Brian Clay, who was third after day one, was suddenly last. “What happened?” I asked a fellow beer drinker. “He screwed up in the hurdles and then failed to get a good attempt in in the discus,” came the reply.
It was that simple. Here Sports Illustrated had just run a piece on how the U.S. had a legitimate shot at sweeping the decathlon, with Eaton, Clay and Trey Hardee, but score another one for the SI jinx.
Anyway, the decathlon always ends with the 1,500 and it’s a terrific celebration of the athletes as the crowd stands for the four laps. Normally it doesn’t mean too much in the standings but this time was different. We were told beforehand (the public address announcer is simply the best in the business of keeping the crowd informed of all aspects of the competition) that Eaton needed a 4:16.37 to beat the world record and dramatically he came in at 4:14.48. What was so cool is that we had also been told that one of the lesser participants, Curtis Beach (of Duke), specialized in the 1,500 and sure enough he set a terrific pace. And then he did this.
“In his left hand, Curtis Beach delicately clutched a sheet of paper, a printout of the final results in the decathlon. Scrawled in blue ink atop the page:
“Sure, Beach intends to frame the autograph. But we should all freeze the memory of Beach’s moment of grace, in the last few steps of the 1,500 meters.
“He had set a torrid pace in the decathlon’s final event, helping pull Eaton along. In the homestretch, Eaton caught up.
“ ‘I just thought it would be better,’ Beach said, ‘for Ashton to win as he broke the world record.’”
Talk about class. It’s why some of us like track and field as much as we do, and compare Beach’s move to some of the garbage we see in other sports. The mind flashes to Ron Artest, for example, aka Metta World Peace, aka primo dirtball.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. In virtually every other event the competitors want to beat the hell out of each other, especially with so little money available for these folks. [More on this later in the week.] But it’s sport at its purest.
It was also very cool that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the decathlon as an Olympic event and organizers brilliantly assembled Rafer Johnson, Milt Campbell, Bill Toomey, Bruce Jenner and Dan O’Brien, all previous U.S. gold medal decathletes, to greet Eaton at the finish. I’m sorry I missed the opportunity to shake Rafer Johnson’s hand. He’s the man.
[Hey, Phil W. Bruce Jenner was doing his segment for NBC about ten feet from me, just like Atlanta. Didn’t get a chance to ask about his step-daughters.]
Reminder…the events of the decathlon…
100 meters
Long jump
Shot put
High jump
400 meters
110-meter hurdles
Discus
Pole vault
Javelin
1,500 meters
One last thing. There is a terrific photo of the decathlon finish in the 1,500 in the Register-Guard that must be online…registerguard.com/track…showing the pure joy Beach and the third place finisher in the race, Joe Detmer, have for Eaton breaking the world record. Again, total class. [And nice commercial for Duke.]
Moving along, the men’s and women’s 10,000 were terrific on Friday night, though with the rain (and not having purchased a poncho at that point), I watched them both from the beer tent. Local boy Galen Rupp finished first as expected in Olympic Trials record time, 27:25 (I kept imagining my own 10K abilities as I watched these guys crank out their laps).
But the great story was third-place finisher Dathan Ritzenheim, who some of you will remember finished a heart-breaking fourth in the U.S. marathon trials earlier in the year, just missing out on making the team, having done so in Beijing.
So he had to finish in the top three in the 10,000, but also needed to do it in 27:45 to achieve the Olympic qualifying ‘A’ standard. Ritzenheim turned in a 27:36. How awesome is that? The guy had two surgeries to repair a torn Achilles tendon last year and didn’t run a lick for six months, plus it was more than a year between competitive races.
And in the women’s 10,000, the fourth-place finisher in the women’s marathon trials, Amy Hastings, won the 10,000! How clutch was that as well?! My girl Shalane Flanagan (apologies to Mr. Flanagan…just a fan, sir…nothing to worry about) finished third but she’s not running the event in London, preferring to focus on the marathon after winning the Trials. The 10,000 was a good warm-up. I love her attitude.
“I was here to get in a fun race and celebrate the amazing country we have and the Olympics.”
In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, it was all about Lolo Jones. My seat is down low, near the starting line for the sprints and hurdles, and I love watching everyone’s routine and focus at the blocks. I saw Jones on Friday night in a prelim and she didn’t look good at all, plus Track & Field News (the bible for the sport) had her finishing fourth. This event was also said to be loaded, the best in the entire meet, with current defending U.S. champ Kellie Wells and 2008 Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper in the field, plus 2004 gold medalist Joanna Hayes and others.
Jones, who was favored in Beijing but stumbled and finished 7th, had an unreal amount of pressure on her, what with all her interviews and public statements the past year, including on her virginity, let alone she had a very tough upbringing as some of you know, living in poverty.
So at the start of the finals, I’m totally glued to her and she visibly flinched a millisecond before the gun went off…not a foul…and as they took off I thought she’s finished…her mind will be whirring ‘I just screwed up big time.’ But she gathered herself to grab the last spot, along with Wells and Harper.
Yup, the crowd loves Lolo, and she milks it (it helps she’s smokin’ hot), but she also backed it up. Now the U.S. should get two medals out of this event in London, maybe three.
Then on Saturday we had the women’s 100 final, pitting the outrageously sexy, and talented, Allyson Felix vs. her long-time rival, Carmelita Jeter, who is ripped like no other female athlete I’ve seen. [Plus she’s very cute and vivacious.]
Ahhh…sorry, female readers. The editor of this column just really happens to be into girls who run track. You, in turn, should be into Ashton Eaton; just know he’s engaged.
Felix at one point was contemplating running not only the 100 and 200 in London, but also the 400, but before the Trials she backed off and said she would focus on the first two. Felix, 26, is a two-time Olympic silver medalist in the 200 but has no golds.
Sports Illustrated’s Tim Layden recently wrote of her, “It’s all about winning that one Olympic gold medal that has eluded Felix, one of the most accomplished (and classy and generous) U.S. track and field athletes in history, with a gaping hole in her resume.” [She does have three golds in the Worlds in the 200.]
So the race is run and Alysson finishes fourth! Behind Jeter, Tianna Madison and Jeneba Tarmoh. Tarmoh grabbed the third slot by one/one-thousandth of a second. Oh nooo!
I go back to my hotel, all despondent, and hit the Pioneer Saloon (I’m already sick of this place, incidentally).
But then I see online that the judges had ruled 30 minutes after the race, and after Tarmoh thought she was going to London, that it was a dead heat for third!
Here’s the bottom line. U.S.A. Track and Field has no rules for deciding the third spot to make an Olympic team. So later in the week, after both have run the 200, the two, plus USATF, will decide what to do. It will either be a coin toss or a run-off. I’ll explain it all in Thursday’s chat.
[A sidebar: One girl to watch in the 100 for 2016 is Oregon sophomore English Gardner, who’s also hot, but I’m getting in way too much trouble with these comments and I’ve just been warned by USATF that I face suspension…something about excessive testosterone. “Geezuz, I’m 54!” I tried to explain.]
On to the men’s 100 meters. It’s all about Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay. Gatlin, 30, is the 2004 gold medalist who suffered through a four-year doping ban (which started in 2006) but he has served notice he’s back. Gatlin always claimed he was innocent but his coach at the time, Trevor Graham, was caught up in the BALCO scandal with Marion Jones, another Graham client.
During his suspension, Gatlin worked out with football players to build his upper-body strength. His weight soared, but now he’s back to the same weight (182) he was when he won gold in Athens.
Gatlin entered the Trials with the top time by an American this season, 9.87; just off his PR of 9.85 which he ran in 2004. He then ran a 9.90 on Saturday in a pre-lim.
The other main dude, Tyson Gay, was the heartbreak act of 2008 when I was here in Eugene. In 2007 he won 3 golds at the Worlds, but he pulled a hammy in the 200 at the ’08 Trials in what was a most gruesome incident as I was watching from close by, though he returned in 2009 to run a U.S.-record 9.69.
But then Gay had to have hip surgery and he just started running again this past March. He was looking good entering the Trials, though, and he ran a 10.00 in his pre-lim.
So after they both went through separate semis early Saturday afternoon (and after your editor had drunk two Deschutes’ beers), Gatlin and Gay squared off in the final and they both came through. One of the highlights thus far. Gatlin ran a 9.80 and Gay a 9.86.
Here’s why I’m pumped, big time. You see, the Jamaicans have Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, with Blake totally capable of upsetting Bolt in the 100, or the 200. Blake be bad, kids.
But with Gatlin and Gay back in top form (assuming neither blows himself out in this week’s 200), these two will battle it out for bronze, or silver, in the 100 in London.
More importantly, I’m here to tell you that aside from the two races Bolt runs in, these Olympic Games will be defined by the 4 X 100 relay, U.S.A. vs. Jamaica…but we only have a chance because both Gay and Gatlin made the team.
Yeah, I know many of you are like, so what…but mark my word…this has the potential to be the real highlight of these Games. Plus it’s normally like the last or next to last event of the entire shebang.
Just a few other notes on Sunday’s action…In the women’s 400 final, we had Sanya Richards–Ross (she being married to football’s Aaron Ross, ex-Giant and now of the Jaguars). Sanya finished a disappointing third in Beijing (I remember that performance vividly…she just tightened up down the stretch). But she’s a five-time world champion in the 200 and 400, yet doesn’t have Olympic gold. [Like Alysson.]
Well Sanya came through and won the 400 with a super time and I’m liking her new hairdo. She’s another woman with pure class.
I wish every American schoolgirl, especially the inner-city ones, really came to appreciate the likes of Felix, Jeter and Richards-Ross. These are outstanding role models.
In the men’s 400…you had the story of LaShawn Merritt, the winner in Beijing who between October 2009 and January 2010 tested positive three times for steroids, or rather a derivative called DHEA. And oh what a story it is.
“Except – and this is a big exception – the substances were not intended to enhance athletic performance. They were contained instead in a male-enhancement product called ExtenZe, bought over the counter from a convenience store….
“The knock on the door came at 6 or 7 in the morning. Drug testers. This was October 2009. The track season was over. Merritt was taking his first real break in two years. He was home asleep.
“He won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics at age 22, defeating his chief rival, the 2004 champion Jeremy Wariner of the United States….
“When the drug testers awakened him for a urine sample…Merritt took it as another routine disruption. Olympic-level track athletes must make their whereabouts known at all times. Random, unannounced testing is considered the only effective way to counter doping. Tests given at competitions are easily subverted. They are dismissively considered I.Q. tests as much as drug tests.
“Five months later, in March 2010, Merritt received a shock. He had tested positive three times for DHEA and pregnenolone. They are banned testosterone precursors, or prohormones, that assist in muscle-building. Complexities in the testing process had delayed notification by antidoping officials. Merritt said he had no idea what these drugs were or how he had ingested them….
“Then it dawned on Merritt. Maybe the culprit was the male-enhancement pills he had been purchasing from 7-Eleven. He bought another packet and read the label. The illicit substances were clearly labeled. A ban from competition was inevitable. His heart sank.”
So Merritt had a choice. Either accept the two-year ban and be labeled a drug cheat, or tell the truth and be humiliated.
“I’m human,” he said. “I made a mistake. The truth is what it is. I just had to take it as it came.”
At first many dismissed Merritt’s claim. As much as many of these athletes are to be greatly admired, some also lie under oath.
But at a hearing in July 2010, a clerk at the 7-Eleven store where he bought ExtenZe from behind the counter told of how she didn’t know Merritt, or know of his athletic accomplishments, but she did come to know his regular purchasing habits and she recalled being amused at how he would always come in, buy juice and a lottery ticket, leave and then return to buy condoms and the male-enhancement pills four or five times between December 2009 and January 2010.
The clerk’s testimony was “devastatingly convincing” to the three-member panel of the American Arbitration Association. The panel added that it was “confident that enhancing his sports performance was the last thing on Mr. Merritt’s mind when he purchased ExtenZe.”
The United States Anti-Doping Agency then concluded that Merritt still showed negligence by not reading the label and he could have learned from a myriad of sources the substances contained in ExtenZe were prohibited, but they gave him ‘only’ a 21-month ban from competition, backdated to October 2009, which made him eligible to hit the track again in earnest last July.
And he has returned in a big way, having blown away the competition in Sunday’s final. He’ll win gold in London. It’s the Bar Chat Guarantee!
As for Jeremy Wariner, he finished seventh in the final and it’s over for him (unless out of nowhere they pick him for the 4 X 400 relay based off his experience). What’s amazing is that he’s only a second behind Merritt, but that’s a huge margin in this race.
Back to Ashton Eaton. How good is the guy? His long jump of 27 not only bettered the Olympic ‘A’ standard for the regular high jumpers, it missed by 3/4s of an inch being the best by an American this year prior to the long jump finals, where two of the guys hit 27 as well.
Finally, I just want to thank the 1,800 volunteers who work the Trials. They do a great job. And they put up with me.
–Alright…I suppose I have to comment on LeBron and Co. winning their first NBA title (this crew), Thursday, as the Heat scorched the Thunder, 121-106 to take the series in five. LeBron did his MVP thing in getting another playoff triple-double, 26 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.
Yes, LeBron played spectacularly well throughout the playoffs, and yes he is the best basketball player on the planet.
And yes, Lebron has improved his game off the court and has showed some real humility this past year after the trials of his first season in Miami after dissing Cleveland.
But that doesn’t mean I have to like the guy! So to all the sportswriters of America, stop telling us non-Heat fans that we should adore LeBron!
Yes, I love seeing great athletes perform at a high level (look where I’m writing this from), but I hate (using the term in a loose sense) LeBron because I am a New York Knicks fan!!! I never loved Michael Jordan, especially when the Knicks were up against the Bulls. I hated the Celtics (sorry Pete, Dave and George) when they were facing off against my Knicks.
It’s what being a fan is all about. Do I respect LeBron? Of course. Do I also want the Knicks to be good enough next year to at least compete with Miami? Of course. I hope the Knicks beat their brains in (not to the point of a concussion, mind you…like have the brain bounce back to its usual shape a minute later…like a Nerf ball).
No, I do not like LeBron James. I really can’t stand Dwyane Wade. I’m ambivalent about the other guy, though I have to admit as an observer I appreciate how he’s accepted his role.
I’ve also learned this postseason that I really despise Mario Chalmers. What a tool.
As for the Thunder, Oklahoma City can be proud but I don’t really like them either. Kevin Durant, though, is a good guy. He is to be celebrated. He’s also allowed to beat the Knicks’ brains in once a year, as long as we can return the favor.
—Arizona won game one of the College World Series finals against South Carolina, 5-1, with the Gamecocks going for a third straight Series title. Game two on ESPN, Monday, at 8 p.m. ET.
–I’ll catch up on major league baseball next time. Wasn’t happy the Mets lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees, as R.A. Dickey’s bubble was burst Sunday night in allowing 5 earned runs.
[And to the Mets fans out there…no, I’m not wasting space on the “Little Jerry Seinfeld” chicken story. It’s like Justin Turner’s stupid cream pies in the face…it’s already old.]
I do have to note that on Saturday, the Phillies’ Jim Thome, in hitting a walk-off homer, No. 609, became the all-time leader in walk-off home runs with 13, surpassing a rather illustrious group at 12…Ruth, Foxx, Mantle, Musial and F-Robby.
—Terry Bradshaw, on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” said concern over head injuries would cause football to be eclipsed in popularity by soccer and other sports within 10 years. Jay Coakley, sports sociologist at the Univ. of Colorado, said “Football is really on the verge of a turning point here. We may see it in 15 years in pretty much the same place as boxing or ultimate fighting,” especially if more high-profile figures like Bradshaw speak out. It will give parents “cultural permission” to forbid their children to participate.
A compromise is to do what the Ivy League has already done…strictly limit the number of full contract practices.
Randy Cross, former player-turned analyst, has a totally sensible solution at the youth level. Play flag football. Cross argues “children starting late (in terms of contact) are not at a disadvantage as talent is the ultimate determining factor.”
“I think it’s too hard of a game on the body to be played when you’re extremely young,” Cross adds. [Ben Shpigel / New York Times]
This makes total sense. Heck, I loved flag football as a youth. So insist all these Pop Warner leagues go to this form of play until, say, 8th grade…then let the play be physical.
But if you’ve read my past missives on the future of football, I obviously agree with Terry Bradshaw, only I think the timetable could be accelerated. The dark, “deadly” day is coming. To me it’s inevitable.
–The NCAA imposed a one-year postseason ban on UConn’s men’s basketball team as a result of the program’s low Academic Progress Rate (APR) score, the first for a BCS conference to receive a punishment like this. Pretty pathetic. UConn is disputing the ruling, but I’m not sure they have a chance to overturn it. Nine other basketball programs outside BCS conferences got the same one-year penalty, including UNC-Wilmington and Towson.
–Speaking of academic standing, Phil W. passed along that Wake Forest men’s b-ball APR isn’t all that great these days. Phil, I saw in the local paper here that Oregon’s is close to ours. Heck, I think our football score isn’t much better than the Ducks, but they at least give their fans a reason to don Duckwear…quack quack!
–So it’s decided…the BCS commissioners are going to present a playoff scheme for football that university presidents will most likely approve this week. It seems the timetable will be for the 2014 season. Specifics to be laid out later but there will be two semifinals that will be worked into the existing major bowls and the site of the national championship game will be bid out to any city that wants it the way the NFL does with the Super Bowl. The semis would rotate among the major bowls and not be tied to traditional conference relationships, which means the Rose Bowl would be at risk in terms of Pac-12 vs. Big Ten. So Ohio State and Oregon could meet in the Orange Bowl, for example.
It also seems that college football will take a page from college basketball and in terms of determining the four teams for the playoff will use a committee of athletic directors and commissioners.
You can already see that the “selection show” for the final four will be great television for us fanatics. You’d think most years the top three will be pretty clear but the fourth pick will always be controversial.
–So last time I wrote about how much I hate the NBA’s promotion where it shows the players in post-game press conferences with their “rims,” and the New York Post had a piece on this, “Above the Rims: With stylish and collectible glasses, NBA stars and other pro athletes show they’ve got frame.”
Oh brother. At least the Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire has prescription lenses, he being about the first to popularize glasses…but he needs them. Fine…of course there is nothing wrong with that. I just hit the point myself where I can’t go anywhere without reading glasses (for you young folk out there…it’s like a switch is flipped; one day you’re fine, the next you aren’t…you’re old and washed up…it sucks).
LeBron, by the way, wears “Vintage Tura,” $295, while Dwyane Wade wears “Edward Beiner,” which go for about $400.
Carmelo Anthony doesn’t need prescription glasses, but he’s always wearing them. He has “Sodium” in matte oxblood by Silver Lining, $395.
And then you have Russell Westbrook, donning lenseless models. I really learned to dislike this guy, too, during the playoffs.
Actually, it seems the glasses trend started with Jay-Z, but I like him…and thus this is the last I’ll write about this garbage …until next season!
—Michelle Wie finally made an LPGA cut, finishing T-68 and winning $2,600. Including all her expenses, she probably lost money.
“A 52-year-old Clarkston, Mich., man has survived a 500-foot fall on a popular route to the summit of Oregon’s Mount Hood.
“Clackamas County sheriff’s Sgt. Adam Phillips said Gary Morgan suffered a serious injury to a hip and leg. He was at roughly the 10,000-foot level on the 11,239-foot mountain when he fell Thursday.
“Phillips said the man fell and slid 500 to 600 feet, unable to attempt to stop his fall since he lacked an ice axe. He finally flew over a crevasse at the end of his fall, landing in snow on the far side.”
–By the way, in my humble opinion, the approach from the east into Portland, Oregon’s airport is as scenic as any in the world, especially if you’re on the right-hand side of the plane. You follow the Columbia River, and the gorge, and if the visibility is good you get a spectacular view of Mount St. Helens…and if you’re real lucky, Mt. Rainier. [Then heading back east, I sit on the right side to get an equally gorgeous view of Mount Hood.]
You know what is an underrated river? The Willamette, which goes from Portland all the way down through Eugene. Gorgeous walking and jogging trails in Eugene along it.
In fact Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times) says it has some great moments, especially if you’re willing to suspend belief on some history items. There is a “genuinely thrilling action sequence in which the vampires battle with Lincoln and his friends on top of (a) speeding train…preposterous and yet exciting, using skillful editing and special effects.”
—June 24, 1812…the start of Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia. Of more than half a million soldiers of many nationalities in the army, less than a fifth were to return.
–This is pretty good…from BBC History Magazine… June 29, 1612… “Robert, Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, was hanged at Great Palace Yard, Westminster for arranging the murder of John Turner, an English fencing master who had wounded him in a fencing match eight years earlier.”
–About 45 minutes east of Eugene there is a town called Nimrod. Haven’t been there but tempted to visit. I mean did you know there was a Nimrod? Are the people there really all Nimrods, too? [Note: I’m referring to the modern definition…not the Bible one for you Bibleonians out there.]
–We note the passing of American artist LeRoy Neiman, 91. You know for some of us of a certain age, there are about ten well-known figures who have been part of our life from the beginning, like Muhammad Ali, or Hugh Hefner. Not a sports figure who was in the spotlight for 10 or 15 years, but someone who has always been there in one form or another. In my case being born in 1958, I’m talking about people we became aware of right when the awareness button was first pushed. It’s not a stretch that LeRoy Neiman is such a figure.
Not that I liked the guy’s work. I didn’t dislike it; I’m just partial to other kinds of art.
But no doubt he was an original, and made a fortune being the go-to guy, especially from the 1960s to the 80s. It was Hefner who actually gave Neiman his big break, signing him up to create art for Playboy beginning in the 50s.
–So as I go to post I see that Alex Trebek suffered a “mild heart attack” but is said to be “in good spirits.”
Aren’t you sick of everyone using the term “good spirits” after such an occurrence? I know I wouldn’t be in good spirits after suffering a heart attack. I’m mean it’s not like I’d be….
Top 3 songs for the week 6/28/86: #1 “On My Own” (Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald…passed for #1 back in those days…wouldn’t have been Top 100 in 1966) #2 “There’ll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)” (Billy Ocean…I’m crying because Jeff B. said I had to continue with the 80s until the end of the decade and I’m about to off myself as a result) #3 “Crush On You” (The Jets…pre-Rex Ryan)…and…#4 “Holding Back The Years” (Simply Red…very depressing…this whole era was depressing in music…but we had Ronnie!…and the Mets were rolling in ’86!) #5 “No One Is To Blame” (Howard Jones…everyone is to blame for buying garbage like this) #6 “Who’s Johnny” (El DeBarge…eh …Johnny Carson? Johnny Tremain?) #7 “A Different Corner” (George Michael…excuse he gave police) #8 “Invisible Touch” (Genesis…see George Michael) #9 “Nasty” (Janet Jackson…she looked pretty good back then…kind of nasty) #10 “Sledgehammer” (Peter Gabriel…dreadful… absolutely dreadful)
Track and Field Quiz Answers: 1) Usain Bolt did a 9.58 and 19.19 in the 100 and 200 meters in Berlin at the world championships in 2009. 2) My man Michael Johnson still holds the world record in the 400 at 43.18, having done so in 1999. Some of you know the best single sporting event I ever attended was watching Johnson and those gold shoes win the 200 in Atlanta (1996) at a then world record 19.32. Certainly the most electrifying moment I ever witnessed. Hopefully Bolt gives his fans such a moment in London. 3) Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco still holds the world marks in the 1,500 (3:26.00) and mile (3:43.13), established in 1998 and ’99, respectively. 4) Florence Griffith Joyner holds the world records in the 100 (10.49) and 200 (21.34), set all the way back in 1988. Track & Field News, however, believes the 10.49 was illegally wind aided and thinks Joyner’s 10.61 is the true mark, which she set the next day during the U.S. Olympic Trials.
Next Bar Chat, Thursday….I’ll catch up on Ball Bits at that time.
