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

how about having the oly trials, ncaa's, etc. in the bay area or in sacramento again?

That's obvious. Any Pacific or Western state is fine from May thru the end of summer.

I answered your questions below:

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

Answer - Phil Knight, Kenny Moore, Galen Rupp, Jon Bowerman and the ghost of Prefontaine

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

Answer - The Goddess Nike

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)

Answer - It has long been known that the NCAA wanted to create an award for the sole purpose of inspiring anti-Oregon message board threads.

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?

Answer - It was about 45% transparent.

Just as I thought.

The fact is that U.S. elite athletes residing in the State of Oregon have brought home one track and field medal from Osaka 2007, Beijing 2008, and Berlin 2009. During that same peroid, residents of California have brought home nearly 100 medals. My state of Texas has a load too.

Nike has to invent "feel good" awards like the Bow Wow as part of their marketing propaganda to make up for the lack of accomplishments on the track and field.

Obviously wrote:

Nike has to invent "feel good" awards like the Bow Wow as part of their marketing propaganda to make up for the lack of accomplishments on the track and field.

Most of those athletes who medalled in the recent world champs/ Olympics were Nike athletes ... so it's had quite a bit of success.

Then why is everyone cracking up with laughter at the Nike UO & Portland "projects". Those teams have only produced one medal in recent year's top international competitions. Pretty rotten if you ask anyone.

In the no wrote:

I answered your questions below:

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

Answer - Phil Knight, Kenny Moore, Galen Rupp, Jon Bowerman and the ghost of Prefontaine

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

Answer - The Goddess Nike

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)

Answer - It has long been known that the NCAA wanted to create an award for the sole purpose of inspiring anti-Oregon message board threads.

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?

Answer - It was about 45% transparent.

Laughed out load at all 4, excellent post. Used to laugh all the time on Letsrun, don't know what has happened, but I don't much anymore. Maybe I am too old now? Or maybe there are too many posts about girls, and politics and Al Gore and phones and getting laid and shitting your pants and cars and ...

Clearly the Naismith award was engineered by KU's athletics department so that they could give the award to one of their athletes every year. Oh wait, there's more parity in college basketball so a Kansas player has only won once.

chuck s wrote:

Here are some questions to consider:

3. How do we NOT KNOW Phil Knight went to the NCAA and said, "Hey, we gotta great idea here."

How do we NOT KNOW Phil Knight hired aliens to cause the earthquake in Haiti? He could have used his future-vision to know there's a 12 year-old Haitian phenom who would have eventually gone to Texas A&M had Knight not intervened by killing his family.

chuck s wrote:

I will say this: there is most certainly a reason why the "Heisman Award" is not called "The Knute Rockne Award."

Maybe because Heisman actually played college football?

I think chelenga deserved it over galen. He DID beat him at nationals...

not funny

I think David McNeill deserved it over both of them. hes the only true american citizen out of all three

That is lame wrote:

Then why is everyone cracking up with laughter at the Nike UO & Portland "projects". Those teams have only produced one medal in recent year's top international competitions. Pretty rotten if you ask anyone.

No one claimed it would turn them into Bekele. Getting better is a measure of Success. Running 2 of the 3 fastest 5k time ever is success. You are just a f'ing idiot.

Can you win just one WC/Oly medal ?

That is lame wrote:

Then why is everyone cracking up with laughter at the Nike UO & Portland "projects". Those teams have only produced one medal in recent year's top international competitions. Pretty rotten if you ask anyone.

There is more to Nike than distance running, you know?

There is more to Nike than distance running, you know?

I dont buy into the mass conspiracy theory here but since it goes to an athlete why not name it after a great athlete like Jessie Owens, how many records did he set in that one day in college again?

Hmmmmmmmm kind of makes him an amazing college athlete and consequently a good choice.

chuck s wrote:

1. And look--I've been to Eugene numerous times. Yes, they run great meets.

2. 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.

3. 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 (2, again): there is a reason why the Olympics are hosted by a different country every year. It's about equity...not capitalism.

1. And I have several friends who are black.

2. It's not about equity, it's about politics. Big difference, wrap your mind around it. If it was about equity, Kingston, Jamaica, would have hosted the Olympics by now. Ditto places like Tel Aviv, Cairo, Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, New Dehli, and so on. Politics, my man, not equity.

3. Um, New Mexico is hosting indoor nationals for DII. Why even bring that up? The NCAA DI Outdoor championships are in Eugene this year. Make another visit.

Nike paid for and designed the award for the 1st year. Subsiquent awards are to be furnished by the coach's association. So most likely Nike had some say in the naming of the award. Also the designer of the award is a former U of O athlete.

The Bowerman Voters consist of national and regional media personnel, track & field statisticians, NCAA collegiate administrators, and Presidents of affiliated organizations. The Bowerman Voters represent 23 U.S. states and one U.S. territory.

In addition, USTFCCCA members collectively receive one (1) vote in The Bowerman voting. Fans also collectively receive one (1) vote in The Bowerman voting.

Previous winners of the award will receive one (1) vote each in The Bowerman voting.

The independent accounting firm of Malcolm M. Dienes, L.L.C. tabulates The Bowerman ballots.

The Bowerman Advisory Board is comprised of NCAA collegiate administrators, national and regional media personnel, and track & field statisticians. Herman Frazier serves as the Board’s chair, and Alfreeda Goff serves as its vice-chair.

As far as I can tell NEITHER the chair or vice-chair have ties to Nike or Oregon.

The following is how the athlete is chosen:

Ballots: Each male Finalist shall receive 3 points for each “first choice” vote, 2 points for each “second choice” vote, and 1 point for each “third choice” vote.

Fan Voting: The top male vote-getter in the Fan Voting for The Bowerman shall receive 3 points. The second-highest male vote-getter shall receive 2 points, and the third highest male vote-getter shall receive 1 point.

USTFCCCA Member Voting: The top male vote-getter in the USTFCCCA Member Voting for The Bowerman shall receive 3 points. The second-highest male vote-getter shall receive 2 points, and the third highest male vote-getter shall receive 1 point.

DETERMINATION OF THE WINNER

The male Finalist with the highest point total after the tabulation of ballots, fan voting, and USTFCCCA member voting shall be declared the men’s winner of The Bowerman

The process is very corrupt. Bowerman was a founder of Nike. It's a huge conflict of interest to name an award after the founder of a major sponsor. I consider awards like these, corporate advertisement and marketing efforts. These sort of chits do not matter to athletes and coaches since popularity contests are not the goal of competition.

The only true measure of accomplishment are Summer Olympic Medals, IAAF Outdoor World Championships Medals, and top 3 finishes in marathons (includes the 5 majors plus a few others) and key road races.