Devil Dog wrote:
He ran in the heats of the 08 Olympics and had one really fast race in 2010. That's really about it.
Oh, come on, he did a bit more than that. He had a bunch of fast races that year, and he did some cool stuff in college. But that was then; this is now. He hasn't been that guy in a long time.
You are right that not many of us would be loving/hating on him if he hadn't run so fast that one time. Without that, he'd just be another come-from-behind guy who was really, really fun to watch, especially at Hayward Field. They'd go nuts when he could still turn it on at the end and catch people. But with the 3:30 when he was just twenty-three, he seemed to promise so much more.
It's sobering to compare his career to Manzano's. Manzano's run as fast or faster, and has run fast far more consistently. He's made more teams. But nobody is agonizing about whether he's going to make the team. And nobody's calling him "one of the greatest middle-d guys" of his generation.