David Ribich goes home devastated

To the people saying he’s a good teammate, etc, sure, idk how he behaves in practice. But it 100% rubbed me the wrong way how he had Danny on his pod and they were talking trash on Spencer Brown, former teammate. Say what you will about spencer but if you have a platform like a podcast you shouldn’t be doing that to your former teammate

Id like a link to that if you have it! I want more insight into the whole situation. Spence shows it like he gave it his all but just didn’t have the talent to make it as an 8/15 guy on the pro scene, but I think there’s more to it than that.

Maybe Jerry Schumacher hired him.

I super disagree that the US is in a slump right now. 2022 was a super weak year, but that's because 2/3 of the top guys weren't healthy for USAs. '23/'24 have a good shot at being the hardest 1500m teams to make ever. The top trio of Hocker/Teare/Nuguse is gonna be harder to beat than almost any other top 3 that we've had before. I'm kinda expecting ~3:30 from all of them next year. Hocker doesn't need to make a big drop, Teare is training with the best 5k/10 group in the country, well known for their time trial prowess, and Nuguse is training with the best 1500m group in the world. There's a big gap between the top 3 and the next ~10 guys, but it's conceivable that a super-talent like Kessler or Hunter can close that gap.

What were they saying about Spencer?

Basically that they didn't like that Spencer got what they felt was an underserved initial contract from Brooks based on his media presence rather than for his running alone. It definitely was critical but IMO fair; Spencer was trash that year- totally out of his depth. However, it was clear that they were so brutal (but fair) because they didn't really like him (or, actually more likely, didn't really think of him at all). If they were bros he wouldn't have gotten that kind of heat no doubt.

what is he devastated by? Does he work at the mine and his salary is not enough to cover the house and feed the family? oh god you got yourself in trouble

Ribich is the one runner who I absolutely could not understand how he got a professional contract. There's heaps of college kids running his times who will never compete again after graduating. Even from a social media/influence point of view, he was also so awkward on their podcast and made it hard to listen to.
Gotta respect the grift if nothing else.

Why does any single event need more than 30 sponsored pros competing in it at the national level? There's nine track events, if each has 30 men and 30 women competing at the professional level in the US, that's 540 pros in a single country. A small time sport like track and field can't sustain that. Tennis and golf are much richer sports and neither could sustain the careers of nearly 600 pros in a single country.

So yeah, a circuit of 30 male professional 1500m runners within the US seems perfectly reasonable to sustain healthy competition. It's probably even a little excessive, especially if you think that college runners add to the numbers. And even more excessive when you consider that absolutely none of them has run 3:30 or better. It's a global sport and no US 1500 runners were running globally competitive times in 2022

Damn, now you got me thinking about what 4 NBA teams would look like tho

If a Brand, mixed bag on Ribich -

Hasn't improved over 800m since 2018 (4+ years)

Ran his 1500m PR of 3:35.51 in 2022, but well off Olympic/World Qualifying standard of 3:33.50.

Went backwards in this yearly 5000m test, running 13:44.

Not sure he has the gift for 3:33.50 and is definitely not moving up to the 5000m or down to the 800m any more.

I'd support him, but with proper investment (<$35k).

worldathletics.org

David RIBICH | Profile | World Athletics

Open link

The bell tolls for thee Ribich, what goes around comes around

Who?

Meh, that money has to come from somewhere. And to be fair, if you're an investor trying to figure out how you're going to get your ROI on an athlete contract, social media followers are a pretty good proxy for understanding the type of reach an athlete is going to get you and your brand.

On the one hand, Spesh did suck while with the Beasts, and his channel was probably annoying them. On the other hand, it's a low blow to make fun of him, especially on a public podcast. What goes around comes around!

What episode was this?

Honestly the Brooks Beast brand is so cringey that I ran in Brooks for ~8 years but partly switched to Nike shoes because I just could not stand the brand anymore. Brooks is 100% a hobby jogging brand, which Ribich now is, like all of us. Outside of Kerr has anyone on that team been a global factor in years? I don’t understand why Ribich would have slandered Spencer on his podcast, his times are marginally better at best and I highly doubt he would be top 3 in any event at NCAAs the past few years.

Ribich didn't even make the USATF 1500m final. He placed 8th out of 12 in his section.

He should get a real job.

David Ribich is relevant enough for the brand that this is the 40th post. People care.