I went to Millrose for the first time on Friday. 10 years after my brother, Robert went to Millrose for his first time with his roommate Chris Lear, who would go on to write Running with the Buffaloes and Sub 4. At the time, they wrote an email to a track and field list-serve saying how boring the meet was and it horrified the old guard at trackandfieldnews:
http://www.letsrun.com/2004/rojoandlear.php
They were ripped by the old guard at the time but a lot has changed since then. The success of Lear's book and this website prove in fact they likely knew the public's pulse. Thankfully a slew of changes have occurred both at USATF and in meet management over the last decade.
So with that in mind, but more importantly since the meet promoters and USATF officials definitely read these boards, i think that after every meet we should post a thread on what we liked and did not like about the meet. (We can have a separate thread for tv production).
And although I didn't see the entire meet from the stands as I was typing and intervieing, I saw a good portion of it. So post what you did and did not like as a fan, and what you think the average fan might like to see.
Overall I thought Millrose was a pretty good meet. I saw the Reebok Boston Games last year and liked some of the video stuff they did, and Global Athletics which puts on the Reebok Boston Games, put on Millrose this year.
What I liked:
Most track meets are pretty boring with a lot of dead time. Slowly, meet promoters are instituting measures to make the meet entertaining for the fan. (I went to the Armory for the first time ever for the Heps-Big East challenge last weekend for a few hours and was impressed. They played music loudly during events and had an announcer for all the meets (the same guy who announced the high school races at Millrose I think). Most college meets don't even care if anyone is entertained.
Anyway back to Millrose, I liked the promotion for the shotput. (They announced everyone to much fanfare and called them the "heavy artillery").
* The bald announcer I thought did a pretty good job in trying to get the crowd excited. He's reminded me of a ring announcer in boxing, "Let's get ready to rumble"
*I liked the cartwheel by Reese Hoffa after being introduced.
*I liked them bringing out Lagat and Bekele an hour before the mile was supposed to start to get the crowd excited. I really liked the meet promoters playing the Kenenise Bekele video on the big screen which put the Ethiopian fans into a frenzy
*I liked the Ethiopian fans (the meet promoters should always have a few prominent Ethiopians as it creates a great atmosphere in the stadium. I didn't think they could have an impact in such a big stadium but they did)
*I liked the crowd giving Lagat a standing O during the final laps of the mile.
*I like the Tuxedos of the meet officials. Nice Millrose touch.
*I liked having the pole vault. US vaulters get very few opportunities to compete in America. It should be at more meets. Even in a big stadium, the pole vault is an event that is easy to watch (which can't be said about the long and triple jumps). If your sitting 200 feet from the track you can still watch the vault.
*Although I was often interviewing between events, I liked the fact I saw them asking trivia questions, doing anything just to not have silence betweeen events. That was Rojo's and Lear's main complaint 10 years.
*Lagat vs Bekele. The anticipation was pretty good and these are two of the stars of the sport. The actual race was a let down but there was a great deal of buzz about this race.
What I didn't like:
*Well the delay for the track being put together is totally unacceptable so I'm not sure I really need to mention it.
*I hated the fact they didn't play any music during the introduction of the milers. They dimmed the lights, brought out the spotlights, and then introduced the milers to no music. They should have had the music blaring and the maybe even smoke billowing from the track. Go to an NBA game, a football game, anything, when they are introducing the home team before the game, there are tons of special effects and loud beat pumping music. Track needs more of the same. They really could have had the crowd in a frenzy.
*I think some of the old school announcers, who seem to do every single meet I ever go to, don't view their jobs as trying to get the crowd involved. Announcing is very tough, but some of the non-traditional track announcers see their job as trying to get the crowd invovled.
*They should play music between the events, during introductions, during the distance races, and louder than they did (but maybe not as loud as at the Armory where they seemingly have loud music and announcing at the same time). I think they played some.
*I didn't like the fact that the rabbit running way to fast and killing the head to head competition between lagat and bekele. Rabbits should be used less often as generally rabbits go too fast and turn races into time trials where everyone is in a line. A rabbit should be used for world records or just to set an honest pace, no need for a suicidal pace, but with the 2 studs involved I can see why one was employed.
*I'm not sure about the national anthem right before the last event of the day. Maybe its tradition. Fine, not sure how much it costs but if you're going to do it, get a stud like Ronan Tynan but they probably can't afford him.
I'm sure I'm missing something as I spent half the time typing/interviewing during the meet but those were my first impressions.