UCLA vs Oregon Dual Meet

Berry was pretty sensational. He totally blew away the UCLA anchor and did it in front of a couple dozen Oregon fans and a couple parents of UCLA athletes. Great performance by Berry...predictable pathetic performance by non-existent LA track and field fans. Mt Sac wasn't much better. A lot of great athletes showed up to watch each other, as the So Cal folks either forgot about the meet or don't care (I suspect the latter).

Jesus Christ you whiners. The Los Angeles track & field community are coaching youths / high schoolers and competing every weekend like my wife and I versus sitting it the stands watching others. We came up with the Jets, Cheetahs, etc. because of our coaches. Now we must give back what we got from our coaches. UCLA T&F home meets have become time trials and training opportunities for WCE and HSI. No problem since UCLA, USC, and the Los Angeles track and field community bring home the medals like we supposed to to honor our history.

Our Legacy wrote:

Jesus Christ you whiners. The Los Angeles track & field community are coaching youths / high schoolers and competing every weekend like my wife and I versus sitting it the stands watching others. We came up with the Jets, Cheetahs, etc. because of our coaches. Now we must give back what we got from our coaches. UCLA T&F home meets have become time trials and training opportunities for WCE and HSI. No problem since UCLA, USC, and the Los Angeles track and field community bring home the medals like we supposed to to honor our history.

STFUB.

In 1977 the stands woulda been full.

This commentary is not an affront on you; it is a commentary on the lazy-boy, costco sizing of American sports fans.

Just remember the L.A. T&F community helps out everyone. 5-time Olympic/Worlds Gold Medalist Kerron Clement and former UCLA athlete Nicole Leach rabbited the 800 at Mt Sac on Saturday.

You retard. This isn't 1977 and L.A. is not the rest of the world. We in L.A. train, coach, compete, and bring home the medals. You sit, watch, whine, and bring home nothing.

This commentary is not an affront on you; it is a commentary on the lazy-boy, costco sizing of American sports fans.

how many t&f medals have been won by athletes from north of california at recent wc/oly ? answer: 2 (kara goucher and brad walker). how many from california ? answer: 30.

The whole point of this dual meet was to create a fan friendly competition - and that was achieved. However, this is not normal for track an field. If UCLA and USC schedule more dual meets like this, sell the rivalry aspect, then more people will start showing up. It is not going to magically happen. Track fans are more used to snooze fests like Mt. Sac that go the entire day and have multiple heats of each event. The UCLA vs. Oregon dual was a totally different type of track meet than Mt. Sac; and, in my opinion, the type of track meet that will draw fans if the concept is nurtured.

Track needs more duel meets. Way more entertaining than mindless time trials at Mt. Sac IMO.

Tri This wrote:

The whole point of this dual meet was to create a fan friendly competition - and that was achieved. However, this is not normal for track an field. If UCLA and USC schedule more dual meets like this, sell the rivalry aspect, then more people will start showing up. It is not going to magically happen. Track fans are more used to snooze fests like Mt. Sac that go the entire day and have multiple heats of each event. The UCLA vs. Oregon dual was a totally different type of track meet than Mt. Sac; and, in my opinion, the type of track meet that will draw fans if the concept is nurtured.

You mean USC and UCLA should schedule a dual meet against each other? The one they have every year?

Tell Mike that L.A. is not Boise, Idaho. The typical parent of a UCLA T&F athlete runs 9 miles in flats in the morning before work, coach a youth team on weekday nights, was at Mt Sac/APU/Cerritos this past weekend, Sunday mornings are for their long run.

what does the dual meet stand for? Outside of bragging rights, there's no true motivation for winning the meet.

I was at a collegiate dual on Saturday. The SCIAC (so-cal intercollegiate athletic conference) has been using dual meets for years now, and there's a value attached to it. Conference wins factor in the overall conference championship.

You know what I saw in the 100 degree heat of the CMS-La Verne Dual? An afternoon of lead changing of 2-3 points, where EVERY event counted. The steeple started off with La Verne upsetting CMS for 4 points, and CMS came back and embarrassed La Verne with a 1-4 placing in the 1500m. It was intense. Next thing you know, vaulters, jumpers, sprinters are getting into it. It wasn't just a distance thing.

The men's 5k opened up in 32" for the opening 200m. How fast did Mt SAC open? A 67 for Aaron Braun in ideal conditions? Obviously, Braun finished 2 minutes faster than the CMS kid in the 5k, but man, you would not have believed the gutsy racing.

The men's 5k solidified their win. La Verne's 4x4 ran strong to crush CMS' effort, but to no avail. The 5 points earned in the relay was enough to cut the lead, but it was a true battle. Coaches were getting into it and everything. It was nuts.

So Oregon vs. UClA? well, with Pac 15 or whatever they are not having a true dual season, the win means nothing. It's just another track meet with no value.

I think it's great that Eugene gets such good attendance at regular-season meets. But for Lananna to expect anything even close anywhere else means he's either clueless to what's happening around the country, or being disingenuous.

Here's the data I was able to collect on attendance at regular-season outdoor college meets in 2010. "e" means estimated attendance. I don't include relay carnivals, because the presence of high school athletes makes attendance much different than what we were looking at yesterday.

6,118 Oregon Twilight Eugene, OR May 8

5,918 Oregon Preview Eugene, OR March 21

5,700e Jesse Owens Classic Columbus, OH May 1

5,321 Pepsi Team Challenge Eugene, OR April 10

5,209 Men of Oregon v. UCLA Eugene, OR April 17

4,904 USC at UCLA Westwood, CA May 1

2,100e Michigan at Ohio State Columbus, OH April 3

850e The Big Meet Berkeley, CA April 10

850e Brutus Hamilton Invitational Berkeley, CA April 24

600e Sea Ray Relays (final day) Knoxville, TN April 10

482 Nebraska at Texas Tech Lubbock, TX May 1

It's very tough to get more than 500 people to come to a college-only track meet, unless it's in Eugene or a dual meet against a truly hated rival.

remember that sports in southern california is about:

* what you train, coach, and compete in

versus the rest of the usa where sports is:

* what you surf for on the internet, watch on tv, or pay to sit in the stands to observe

Is it true that the 2 week Mt Sac/APU/Cerritos relays are larger that Florida, Penn, Drake, Kansas, Stanford Invite, Texas Relays, etc. combined ?

I agree with you that a dual meet that means something is an incredibly exciting, heartwrenching thing to watch. Your meet sounded like it had all the drama and competitiveness of any major sporting event. This is what our sport needs! There has to be more meets like this...this will save track and field! What you are wrong about is that the Oregon-UCLA meet does not mean anything. This is a storied rivalry and one that both schools fought dearly to win. This was a match up of two of the elite programs in the history of track and field and it was an edge-of-the-seat affair the entire meet PLUS there were great performances (times, marks, throws etc) as well. WE NEED MORE MEETS LIKE THIS! Chris Bucknam at Arkansas has it right: it has to be more about team competition and not just several fast individuals. There has to be a final score, the fan must know who wins the meet. As meets like the UCLA-Oregon meet continue to grow, the LA fans will come out and support these meets.

The long run is for Sundays so wake your ass up early hit the road and show up to one of the greatest collegiate track meets held in LA for a long time.

There's no rivalry with OR that I know of. In the PAC the only T&F rivalry is UCLA-USC because of the Olympics and IAAF Outdoor 12 mile freeway rivalry. USC & UCLA T&F athletes spend their lives for decades and decades reliving the Olympics & IAAF Outdoors and not college meets. USC brought sports, football, and the Olympics to Los Angeles. The Rose Bowl, Notre Dame, Olympics, Dodgers, Lakers, Rams, Super Bowl, etc. all came to L.A. because of USC. UCLA knows those facts and hates hearing about it. Hah hah. Too bad for UCLA dweebs ;-)

This was a match up of two of the elite programs in the history of track and field

It was not. UCLA, USC, Texas, Stanford, and Cal are top programs in the NCAA T&F with the most Oly/WC medals.

Your dual meet hype may work in L.A. but I doubt it will. We already have had every weekend for the last 100 years, dozens and dozens of college, masters, high school, youth meets, road races, and marathons. Good luck in adding one more. Nevertheless, the only meet in 2011 that matters to the entire Los Angeles T&F and Running culture including USC and UCLA track and field, is IAAF Daegu World Championships 2011. At IAAF Berlin 2009, ten (10) Los Angeles County T&F athletes were awarded medals. That's what I'm talking about ! That's Los Angeles T&F !

Relays make wrote:

Is it true that the 2 week Mt Sac/APU/Cerritos relays are larger that Florida, Penn, Drake, Kansas, Stanford Invite, Texas Relays, etc. combined ?

Are you saying that those three relays are larger then Florida, Penn, Drake, Kansas, Stanford Invite, Texas Relays combined??? Absolutely not