Down goes Merritt! Down goes Merritt!

athletes do get injured from time to time

Sprintgeezer wrote:

So now, in possible difficulty, we have, in no particular order:

Bolt

Blake

Merritt

Jeter

Powell

Clarke

It has been very interesting. I wonder if drug testing has improved and they know it, though one of those names has been chronically injured lately so may or may not be injured for the same reasons.

I wish I had your enthusiasm for the sport.

randomcoach--

Right. Powell has problems, he has for some time.

However, look at that list, with Pearson added.

What it represents is a bunch of WR-holders (Bolt, Merritt, Powell), a guy who would be a WR-holder if he hadn't missed a gun (Blake), 2 woman who are incredibly close to massively-questionable WR's (Jeter and Pearson), and a guy who might well have had an indoor CR had it not been for bad acoustics in Istanbul.

Dismissed as coincidence.

So...is your theory that the testing is so good now that athletes actually have avoid competition for part of the year to avoid getting caught? What about out-of-competition testing?

It's May.

If you followed the sport, you'd know the season hasn't really even begun.

These early meets are just a means for a little extra money for those involved.

"A little extra money" is what it's all about. That's what gets you past all your expenses.

I know the season is still early, which is why I suggest that you will still see blazing times from the likes of Bolt, Blake, etc.

But this early season has been terrific. Look at the 200m times, for instance--Gay leads in an adjusted 19.9, the next closest is 20-flat. Those are human times, not like guys going 19.8 and faster, early season. Consider Weir, Young, and Ashmeade. They can each reasonably be expected to improve to maybe 19.8 on the year, maybe a bit faster--again, human times. Ditto Lemaitre, Martina, etc.

The good folks down in Clermont finally got their wind gauge working, too, and we have realistic adjusted times, not like the bogus times that were put up in Gay's 9.79 of a couple of years ago, which race also had bogus times for other competitors, like Daniel Bailey IIRC.

Combine that with some good stuff coming out of Japan and China, and we have ourselves an interesting season, even though it's early.

Merritt is scheduled to start in New York this weekend, we'll see what happens. Maybe home turf will be more friendly.

cutty wrote:

I wish I had your enthusiasm for the sport.

I've never seen such a regular poster who hates the sport as much as he does

Same, boring routine, Sprintgeezer. You need some new material, and also to get out of your parents' basement once in a while.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Track is having the most awesome year ever.

Merritt lines up in the 100mH in Shanghai, and doesn't make it over the first hurdle, bailing from the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH1StB7S5Lg

He apparently claims "tightness" on his facebook page, although I haven't seen it.

Whatever.

Down goes Merritt!

So now, in possible difficulty, we have, in no particular order:

Bolt

Blake

Merritt

Jeter

Powell

Clarke

What a GREAT season so far. 4 of the most disgusting "athletes" of the past few years--Bolt, Blake, Merritt, and Jeter--all ailing.

And we also have...cue next thread...

homerTime wrote:

I've never seen such a regular poster who hates the sport as much as he does

He's enthusiastic about his hate though. I'm pretty apathetic about the good and the bad of track & field.

homerTime--

Hate the sport?

I was the guy who admitted to having cried when Eaton broke the deca WR. I love the sport more than you could ever understand.

And I hate cheaters, more than you could ever understand.

You just don't have sufficient depth of humanity yet to experience what I do. You're probably one of those dorks who stands around while a nutjob basketball coach beats on you.

Wake up and start living.

printgeezer is still butthurt that paula radcliffe rejected him

Sprintgeezer wrote:

randomcoach--

Right. Powell has problems, he has for some time.

However, look at that list, with Pearson added.

What it represents is a bunch of WR-holders (Bolt, Merritt, Powell), a guy who would be a WR-holder if he hadn't missed a gun (Blake), 2 woman who are incredibly close to massively-questionable WR's (Jeter and Pearson), and a guy who might well have had an indoor CR had it not been for bad acoustics in Istanbul.

Dismissed as coincidence.

How is that dismissed as coincidence? Runners get injured all the time. And not just the fast ones. It just seems like you have selective vision and want every top-ranked sprinter to be a drug cheat.

I'll admit I got teary watching Rudisha break the WR, and even on repeat viewings. Great depth in the 200 atm, Gay, Weir, Ashmeade, Martina, Young, Lemaitre, Spearmon still going, Dix if he can recover; Bolt & Blake will have the medals down though I imagine come WCs. And Gatlin will probably storm the party once again.

I don't "want" any of them to be drug cheats, it just so happens that some are egregiously cheating.

It's great when they go down, preferably in a heap. Injury to roid-monkeys is even regular fodder for comedy routines.

Why? Because it's really enjoyable to see cheaters fail, preferably massively. They deserve all the failure, and all the derision, they get.

How great would it have been to have seen Alptekin or Makhloufi go down in a heap in a heat, and not have tainted the Olympic 1500m finals.

You should just Gillooly the ones who are cheating.