He hated the AAU and would have loved to be paid/sponsored.
He hated the AAU and would have loved to be paid/sponsored.
I wish there was a weekly Lasse Viren thread to match the weekly Pre thread.
Frankly, I think Prefontaine, were he alive today, would be a fat 60-year-old ex-runner (long retired). I think "Gaston Roelants" syndrome would be well advanced.
I don't think you know what a yuppie is.
pre would not be young if he were still alive today, therefore precluded from being a yuppie.
When was the last time the AAU was a factor? 1979?
Your point is?
I still <3 Pre wrote:
He hated the AAU and would have loved to be paid/sponsored.
In another world... wrote:
I wish there was...
*I wish there were
He fought for athletes' rights when they didn't have any. Other runners were getting paid, Americans weren't. Other runners chose where to race, Americans couldn't.
He was no yuppie, but he'd find a platform. I imagine now it would be the evil right wing trying to turn us into a two class society- Patricians and Plebians.
This is a really great thread.
If Pre were alive he would be a very bitter man. He probably would have lost yet again to Viren in 1976. He probably then would have tried to train through the likely physical problems created by his massive over training (in terms of quality not volume) when he was young for years. His back (sciatic nerve problems) which were evident in the latter years of his life would probably make it difficult for sustained high level training. He would be bitter at the 1980 boycott, even though he would not have made the team. He would probably have gotten screwed by Phil Knight and Nike, at least he would not have an ownership stake in Nike and thus the big dollars would have eluded him in that regard. By the time track really opened up professionally after the 1980 Olympic Games he would have been done as a competitive runner. He probably would have ended up coaching track and cross country at some D III in the middle of nowhere where he treated his far less naturally gifted athletes with some with his trademark arrogance. And, he would have continued drinking, probably drinking and driving. Eventually one of those terrible mug shot photos would be printed in the paper after arrested for DUI.
dikhed wrote:
In another world... wrote:I wish there was...
*I wish there were
Thanks. The bold is an especially nice touch.
The Pre would have won the 5000 in 1976, and then, in the early 80s would have been the first under 13 minutes - it would have been one of those low-key all-comers meets in Oregon, and he would have out-kicked Henry Rono, 12:55-12:56 in an epic race, before moving up to the marathon for 1984 and taking down Carlos Lopes in front of the home crowd in LA.
Pre wouldn't even have gotten a medal, he'd have ran a fools race, 5 seconds ahead of the field until the last 500 and lost in similar fashion as his first miserable loss.
Pre was a great 10K runner, he was never any match for the likes of Viren or Yifter in the 70s.
o.O wrote:
Pre wouldn't even have gotten a medal, he'd have ran a fools race, 5 seconds ahead of the field until the last 500 and lost in similar fashion as his first miserable loss.
Pre was a great 10K runner, he was never any match for the likes of Viren or Yifter in the 70s.
Yeah, no way he could kick with those guys . . . I mean, it's not like he ran 3:54 for the mile or anything.
Grammar appreciated wrote:
dikhed wrote:*I wish there were
Thanks. The bold is an especially nice touch.
I agree.
a female POV wrote:
pre would not be young if he were still alive today, therefore precluded from being a yuppie.
I think I am falling in love...
Daniel Komen ran a 3:29/3:46 and he was outkicked a lot.
I gurantee that his mustache would have been gray and there would not have been any movies about him.
He would have ended up coaching either Portland or Adams State and would have driven a Ford Focus.
Pre's life beyond his death will never be known...that's what makes what he did in his short life even that more special. The times he ran, the accomplishments he acheived, and the people he touch all by the age of 24 is astounding. What makes him so special and remembered is that he was so special and it end so abruptly. He easily could have went on to win a gold medal, break more records, and create more history or he could have fizzled out like so many of our heroes. We'll never know...but we'll never forget what he did when he was alive!