Ben Blankenship - CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVE EVER? - video of 2015 USATF Championship Mile

how about stopping in the middle of a championship race to pick up a fallen competitor? that would be more in the ballpark.

you guys are crazy! It was AWESOME when Blankenship did this - even Centro was surprised. He mentioned it in his interview, 40 seconds in:

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/252004-USATF-Indoor-Championships-2015/video/762132-Master-tactician-Centro-wins-first-indoor-title#.VPS2BkJV3vM

To me, it came across as Blankensihp knowing he and Centro were the class of the field on that day and it was time to move to the front of the pack and show it. Sure, not the MOST INCREDIBLE AMAZING MOVE OF SPORTSMANSHIP EVER IN THE WORLD EVER WOW but it was still cool, and I respect that big time.

Wow, so Blankenship actually yelled "C'mon!"; clarifies his intent, anyway.

OK, so it's not Landy helping Clarke, but pretty &)*%ing cool.

malmo and rojo are wrong on this one, it is noteworthy, thought the thread header is overblown for sure.

Looked like more of a challenge than anything. Nothing else makes sense.

I am just not sure what you guys are seeing.

Looks like Centro bumps him a bit as hes moving out and Ben reacts in frustration.

Even after Centro referencing it in the interview, I didn't hear him say anything that affirmed Ben was doing a nice guy move. Centro just merely narrated what happened, and I felt like possibly was confused/miffed by it.

Rocky Mt Thigh wrote:

Wow, so Blankenship actually yelled "C'mon!"; clarifies his intent, anyway.

OK, so it's not Landy helping Clarke, but pretty &)*%ing cool.

malmo and rojo are wrong on this one, it is noteworthy, thought the thread header is overblown for sure.

?????

If saying "c'mon" to a competitor during a race is the CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVE EVER, then I have the top 100 MOST CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVES EVER!

Nothing against Blankenship, but this was merely 'chummy' at best and perhaps not even intentional. As for great acts of sportsmanship ... I look to moments like Emil Zatopek giving Ron Clarke one of his gold medals ... or Niyongabo giving up his 1500 spot to Kwizera in the '96 Olympics.

I guess this could be considered classy, though it drove Chris Chataway nuts.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGilE9ECUAEQw9M.jpg

This was clearly a bought title. I bet they paid BB to set that race up. BB stayed glued to Centro. Even when Centro got boxed in he followed centro to the back of the race. Then Blankenship let Centro out of being boxed in. If BB wanted to win he would have attacked from there and left centro stuck in traffic. Blankenship even goes as far as surging back and forth to second place and keeps looking behind him after they take over the lead. Blankenship also never even remotely tries to come up on centro and over take for the lead.

SO either Blankenship is terrible at race tactics (which he's not watch his NCAA and Big Ten races) or OP made themselves a little agreement to get Centro an EASY win.

P.S. Notice the media talking about all that before the race begins.

Would you agree with "noteworthy" instead of A Duck's stupid use of "CLASSIEST...EVER"?

malmo wrote:

?????

If saying "c'mon" to a competitor during a race is the CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVE EVER, then I have the top 100 MOST CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVES EVER!

malmo wrote:

Rocky Mt Thigh wrote:

Wow, so Blankenship actually yelled "C'mon!"; clarifies his intent, anyway.

OK, so it's not Landy helping Clarke, but pretty &)*%ing cool.

malmo and rojo are wrong on this one, it is noteworthy, thought the thread header is overblown for sure.

?????

If saying "c'mon" to a competitor during a race is the CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVE EVER, then I have the top 100 MOST CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVES EVER!

#86 will blow your mind!

The topic title is just how many Millennials speak in average conversation.

I don't know that the OP was seeing either, because that's not what I saw. BB moved and Centro moved almost at same time. I doubt Centro was looking over his shoulder at that point as it was clear the sprint was starting.

BI did the only thing he could, which was not bang into Centro and risk both of them falling, especially at the frantic move for positioning going into bell lap.

Ultimately, BB sat back too long and should have moved into better position before the bell. As it was, he wasted his energy, but by the looks of Centro's last lap, I don't think BB was going to beat him anyway.

Uhhh, do you guys remember this exact meet last year? Blankenship was obviously doing everything in his power to avoid a DQ.

Seemed emotional. He ran a ragged race.

I have raced Ben. He is ragged, ruthless, intense and lives for the fight. Who knows what happened.

He grew uo in a disciplined training system with a coach that controlled everything but his language. Ben is a Super nice guy.

http://www.runnersworld.com/high-school-training/stillwater-system?page=single

What amazes me about Ben is his ability to jump around, surge, grind, just run scrappy/ragged, yet never impede or even touch other runners. He'll even stagger off the curve and almost bite it on the final straight, but never get near a DQ. It' s like he is a skid row bum swinging wildly yet with ninja skills!

c'mon

malmo wrote:

If saying "c'mon" to a competitor during a race is the CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVE EVER, then I have the top 100 MOST CLASSIEST SPORTSMANSHIP MOVES EVER!

...The guy knows how to race, whether you call it "class" or not