"the bowerman award"--they cant be serious?

It only dilutes the sport and marginalizes the accomplishments of athletes and coaches when they allow corrupution of this magnitude at this level. We've already lost millions of athletes, coaches, and fans to soccer, UFC/MMA, steroid bicycle racing, volleyball, X-games, Hot Dog Eating, throwing telephone poles, etc. Now our own people are spitting in our face, and daring us to be the next to leave the sport.

At DIII Nationals, I was told not to cover my asics logo with my shoulder number. Does asics own NCAA as well?

That being said, I think McDonnell was hands-down a more successful coach than Bowerman. I think if McDonnell was American, the award would be named after him.

craigmac4h wrote:

At DIII Nationals, I was told not to cover my asics logo with my shoulder number. Does asics own NCAA as well?

Only the NCAA nursery.

I don't know the specifics of the Bowerman award, but the name of the award is typically the choice of those funding the award. The people putting up the money chose to name it after Bowerman. I honestly don't know who made the decision, but it isn't an award given by the NCAA. Because of the Nike connection people outside of our sport may actually know who Bowerman is, is that really a bad thing for our sport? And as far as the Nike connection, name me 2 people more deserving of an award such as this other than Eaton and Rupp? They were nominated because they were 2 of the top 3 track athletes in the nation, not because they went to Oregon.

Your Nike hatred is clouding your judgment. I'm not saying there aren't some valid reasons to hate Nike, but you should really listen to yourself for a minute.

You haven't said who you'd suggest instead. What name would be sufficiently neutral to suit you?

The Bob Giegengack award? The Timmons trophy? John McDonnell? Sam Bell? All worthy, certainly.

Now convince me that any of them should have been obviously, clearly chosen ahead of Bowerman, if only it hadn't been for this horrible conspiracy out of Beaverton.

How are any of them more worthy or less worthy than Bowerman? Any could have been a logical choice for whom a solid case could be made. As is Bowerman.

Find something else to get worked up about. Did you know, George Bush and Dick Cheney haven't been tried for war crimes yet?

I would like to know other athletes, and make a case for them, that deserve the award more (or at least as much) as Rupp, Eaton, and Fernandez. Maybe, if you could make a case that Rupp didn't deserve it, you would have an argument.

you sir are an idiot. the award is not even given by the ncaa, it's given by the coaches association.

I will ask these questions again, as way too many people are blindly defending peripheral and/or mainstream points. Can anyone answer the following questions?

1. Who was on the panel to make this decision to call it "The Bowerman Award" ?

2. Who appointed these people to this decision-making panel?

3. Whose ideas was it to create this award anyway? (and do not say "the coaches' association"--someone had the idea and started pitching it around)

4. What level of transparency existed during this process of creating, naming, and establishing this award? In other words, what is the explanation for LetsRun folks NOT knowing any details of this?

Until these questions are answered, the critical thinker will see this award as highly suspect. Indeed, this is just another way Nike and Oregon are slowly bringing more and more chips to their corner of the table, pushing out other colleges and shoe companies like Wal-Mart.

This is no different than their recent monopoly of hosting the Oly Games, NCAA's, and USATF's. It wasn't like this before Vin and the Nike cash came along.

And look--I've been to Eugene numerous times. Yes, they run great meets. But...there is a reason one country doesn't host the Olympics every four years. However, Eugene hosts now thanks to American capitalism, where the Oregon Nike dollar wins out.

Except this year. New Mexico wins. Yay! But conveniently, this is the least important year--no WC, no Olympics, so...this was the best year Nike could make a pass and discourage any anti-trust laws from surfacing...

To repeat myself: there is a reason why the Olympics are hosted by a different country every year. It's about equity...not capitalism.

So Glenn Beck is now posting on LetsRun I see.

c'mon man your pulling a 100% Beck style arguments, ask questions that no one can answer with 100% certainty and then claim because no one can answer the questions your outlandish suspicions must be true.

I'm not a fan of the naming of the award, I would've gone with McDonnel, its a coaches award and his coaching accomplishments are far greater. But I'm not gonna claim a great conspiracy because two of the six (yes six there were three female finalists none of which were Ducks) were from Oregeon. Rupp and Eaton were clearly two of the three most accomplished athletes last year.

the problem is our sport is being ruined by stupid marketers. athletes and fans are being absorbed by a black hole in the state of oregon. volleyball, x-games, ufc/mma are taking our fabs. it's like if ford started closing dealerships nationwide and only sold cars in detroit. we're losing our sport to stupid people.

close all the dealerships wrote:

the problem is our sport is being ruined by stupid marketers. athletes and fans are being absorbed by a black hole in the state of oregon. volleyball, x-games, ufc/mma are taking our fabs. it's like if ford started closing dealerships nationwide and only sold cars in detroit. we're losing our sport to stupid people.

Marketing is ruining our sport??? That makes no sense. The fact that Nike markets running like crazy has dramatically increased the "cool-factor" of running. Putting on NXN, NIN and NON, driving around the Nike truck and bring Nike athletes to meets, that stuff gets people excited about running. Yeah, they dominate the market and use their power and money to get their way, but they do way more for publicizing our sport than adidas, brooks, asics, etc. combined.

(never think for a second that nike is our sport. nike is just one shanghai owned company with a u.s. shadow.) our sport is sinking into oblivion. anytime retail stores shut down and advertising efforts cancelled that's indicative of a dying business. like malls across the country, meets are shutting down, tv coverage is being cancelled, attendance is at an all time low, tv ratings have tanked. the depression is the main reason. our sport has terrible marketing.

I agree with sink hole. Nike is not improving our sport by marketing it like crazy. It is simply running everyone out of business, including Footlocker XC Championships, National Scholastic Indoor and Outdoor Championships, etc. By throwing around their weight around as much as they do, it makes it almost impossible for everyone else to get a piece of the pie.

I also agree that Oregon should not be granted the chance to host so many meets. It hardly seems fair to everyone else.

sink hole agreed wrote:

I also agree that Oregon should not be granted the chance to host so many meets. It hardly seems fair to everyone else.

How many other locations in the US can handle the type of crowds and have high-quality facilities? Sure, Drake University and Mt SAC can hold them since they hold their relays every year, but who else? Can the other NCAA Regional sites hold those kinds of crowds?

In my opinion, if universities were willing to spend more money to get the land, construction, and helpers needed to expand and improve the existing track facilities and host these meets, then there would be more options.

at the elite level our sport has become fractured. the top elite meets in the u.s. are all closing or have been diluted with h.s. filler races (mill, penn, bi). the pre fans are all brainless 60s hippies, the reebok fans have all vanished but the rabid jamaicans. u.s. wc/oly/major medalists have concentrated in southern california. i'd love to spend my money here in the u.s., but because of the lack of u.s. elite meets, the only elite meets i have scheduled now are the IAAF Outdoor WCs and Summer Olympics. i might go to the Euro Outdoors this year in spain.

The big mall and surrounding shop ctrs closed here in KC. Only McD, Wendys, gas stn remain open. Even the Chinese buffet I used to take my family go on weekends and the banks with human tellers closed. You know what that means for jobs and spending for the folks around here. It's a depression. 1/2 the kids have left our high school for the South and West. 1/2 the homes are boarded up. The same happens when you shut down meets. People move on to other sports that want them and are more popular. Consequently our sport is being hollowed out nationwide faster than ever before.

The preseason watch lists for the 2010 Bowerman are out. They are 80% non-distance, 85% non-Oregon.

Beauty pageant awards are nice but no there is no substitute for an IAAF WC or Olympic medal.

I think NCAA's should be at Penn