John Gill out of Prison

I think we are all interested in seeing how he does. If he does horrible he will be the laughing stock. right now just the people on this board are ready to pounce on his failure. At the same time, he could be a hero if he lives up to his mouth

Time will tell.

ttc wrote:

Brown has coached seven Olympians, in the last 5 Olympic games. He now visits the prison yard once a month to mentor Gill.

Who has Dick Brown coached who wasn't a ready-made star before he coached them? Who ever stayed with Dick Brown as coach? Inquiring minds want to know?

We all are a little disturbed at how easy this guy thinks it is to run 3:34, and his arrogance towards it. However, this is one thing that could put the olympic trials (if he makes it)on prime time tv. This is a story that could generate national interest and at least people will know a little about running.

Listen, having this goal is better than drinking and robbing pizza parlors, but its kind of sad. We just want the dude to sober up, get married, and not stick up any more pizza joints.

Can just see it now at the Pre meet intros next spring:

"and in lane 3, a 6 year inmate at Oregon Correctional, former 4:17 miler and ESPN star, Jonny "Stick Em Up" Gill".

The early odds of 34 yr. old ex-4:17 miler qualifying for the Trials: .07%

Mark Spitz where are you?

I would just have to say that guy looked slow on tv!

yeah, you would think they would show him running at speed instead of jogging. I guess they didn't want anyone picking apart the world-class stride. But the thing I noticed was the tree-trunk legs. They are not at all like a 1500m runner. McMullen doesn't even look like that.

He may be able to whip the pain, but can he close in 52?

I would be more impressed if the guy had reasonably realistic goals (the 1500 @ 34 without a recent race history, c'mon) and wanted to get a job and not freeload off of his coach.

Uh, don't you think the coach having an ex-con moving in with him is an interesting call? Sounds kind of "tender" to me.

Not on my list of things to do for the summer.

If you don't believe that John Gill has REAL Ultimate Power you better get a life right now or he will chop your head off!!! It's an easy choice, if you ask me.

John Gill is sooooooooooo sweet that I want to crap my pants. I can't believe it sometimes, but I feel it inside my heart. This guy is totally awesome and that's a fact. He is fast, smooth, cool, strong, powerful, and sweet. I can't wait to start yoga next year. I love John Gill with all of my body (including my pee pee).

I hope Jonothan Gill gets his act together and stays off the booze and away from the drugs and doesn't try to any more botched pizza joint robberies. I hope the guy doesn't become another recidivism statistic.

However, the fact that he is getting press in periodicals like Outside magazine when there are hundreds of individuals with FAR better credentials busting their humps, traing/racing, taking care of themselves (and families in many cases) and most importantly, not robbing pizza joints, is an absolute crime in and of itself. What in the hell has this dude done to warrant anything more than someone wishing him luck in his pursuits now that he is out of the joint....NOTHING!

There are millions of talented people who pissed about their abilities for one reason or the other. It is tragic that this is more of a human interest story than those folks who have Olympic aspirations, realistic or otherwise, and don't have the track record (or criminal record) of Jonothan Gill.

this guy is my hero.

i just robbed my local hole-in-the-wall pub. i'm waiting for the cops to arrive while i pound a bottle of beam (i cried the day those 800,000 gallons went up in flames...).

i'll be on the prison track in no time, unless johnny cochran takes my case pro pono. coach brown, coach green, coach pink...it doesn't matter, i'm the shit.

i ran 9:10 in high school, but once i get off the bottle in the slammer, i'm really gonna start some training, i tell ya. that prefontaine guy was a lightweight, and lindgren was a low-mileage pussy. you'll see, i'm gonna be the baddest rapper that ever could be.

2008, 13:05 in my first race, win the OT, menage a troi the olson twins (gotta wait till they're legal, can't jeopardize my running career).

it's a wonderful life, and...uh-oh, they're heee-eerrre!

inmate 237-561

boog wrote:

But the thing I noticed was the tree-trunk legs. They are not at all like a 1500m runner. McMullen doesn't even look like that.

This was in the original article in June:

"...and pumps iron in a tiny weight room from 7:30 to 8:30. Finally, he jumps up and down on an 18-inch-high wooden box for an hour to strengthen his hip flexors, which aid in lifting a runner's legs."

The fact that this guy even gets 15 minutes on ESPN is offensive to me , as it must be to legit STARS like Malmo amd others who ran not only faster but trained in a world where today's story of the day was not as well rewarded as this was:

Come on..as interesting as it is..there are guys training two and three times a day in HS who would whack him daily..tell it like it is..Bobby Curtis, Vazquez, or Magenss would run this guy down out of a drive by..end of story

Thank you

king99 wrote:

The fact that this guy even gets 15 minutes on ESPN is offensive to me , as it must be to legit STARS like Malmo amd others who ran not only faster but trained in a world where today's story of the day was not as well rewarded as this was:

Come on..as interesting as it is..there are guys training two and three times a day in HS who would whack him daily..tell it like it is..Bobby Curtis, Vazquez, or Magenss would run this guy down out of a drive by..end of story

Thank you

It is not fair that someone gets press because of his criminal background...but I will admit that until Gill proves otherwise, I will follow any news on him, as will others on here.

BTW, before writing him off to decisively, his 90mpw and challenging plyometrics (including jumping up/down an 18 inch platform) is pretty impressive at this point. Not everyone, even good runners, can do that. It means that he is likely fit. But being fit is not the full scope of being an elite runner.

ttc wrote:

The guy is working hard at something, so he really should be applauded for it.

I work hard at stuff; nobody is applauding me for it. Maybe I need to be a felon first. Everybody applauds the drunk that gives up alcohol. What about everyone else who chose to be responsible people in the first place?

I predict he will max out at something like 3:57 in the 1500 next spring. ESPN will be so embarrassed that they won't even report it.

Your best bet to follow Gill might be to head out to Eugene next spring after the Pre meet and monitor the local frequencies on your police scanner.

ttc wrote:

This was in the original article in June:

"...and pumps iron in a tiny weight room from 7:30 to 8:30. Finally, he jumps up and down on an 18-inch-high wooden box for an hour to strengthen his hip flexors, which aid in lifting a runner's legs."

Where do you find that article.

Hey, maybe he can get an endorsement gig from Dr Scholls,....

"Are you Gellin?"

"Like a Felon"

Should the coach be surprised to come home one day and find all of his stuff gone?

Should anyone be surprise when this guy starts explaining his mediocre performance with "injuries" that "hold him back" and "how frustrated" he is? The folks in Eugene must be thrilled to have him hanging around?