NCAA XC Apathy...is LetsRun dying or are you all apathetic about NCAA cross?

I think this post sums up many of my thoughts as well. I disagree with the points made that aging demographics is creating apathy. I was a college runner that followed NCAA Cross more casually for a number of years, but now as a parent of an NCAA runner I follow the sport more closely than ever.

Lot's of folks complaining about Flotrack and the idea that less access to streaming/tv of races hurts interest in the event. That does make sense. It would be interesting to compare viewership this year as put on by Flotrack vs. previous years to see the change.

I guess I feel a tiny bit better given the number of reponses on here. There is still real interest, but with a bunch of barriers that need to be addressed.

I disagree with the recommendation to move women to 8K. I notice women's teams running more races than the men and I'm sure a big reason is the 6K distance allows them to race more. That would change if women moved to 8K.

One of the things which interested me in running was attending the NCAA XC championship in the 70's in Bloomington, Indiana while I was in middle school (quite a drive for my mother). The race gave me a vision of the top level of the sport, watching Nick Rose running away from the field, and seeing the Oregon guys go 4,5, and 6 to win the team race. I ended up having an OK high school career - 4:08 in the mile - and found that running was, like most pursuits, a good way to express myself, and drew inspiration from seeing races such as the one in Bloomington. I don't see the environment as the same today. Too few races (we used to race ourselves into shape), XC coverage lost in a sea of other sports coverage, and an online service which in my opinion has poor production quality and immature and ill disciplined announcing. All of this makes the sport one mostly for local interest - meaning the high school state meet is the big attraction - with little to look forward to thereafter.

apathy on the boards wrote:

So I went on LR tonight to catch up on NCAA cross discussions in the the college message boards. After all it is 5 days before NCAA nationals so I expected to see a bunch of activity but no, the boards are practically dead..... crickets.....

What is the reason for this? Is Letsrun dying a slow death or is NCAA cross dying? Why the apathy? Discuss.

Traffic is really good on the site. I think the messageboard may seem like it's down as we do more on the homepage. It used to be that you had to get the info on the messageboard. Now we are destroying our own business by covering stuff on the front page.

Plus all these 18 year olds are too busy snap chatting their privates to post on a messageboard.

;)

apathy on the boards wrote:

So I went on LR tonight to catch up on NCAA cross discussions in the the college message boards. After all it is 5 days before NCAA nationals so I expected to see a bunch of activity but no, the boards are practically dead..... crickets.....

What is the reason for this? Is Letsrun dying a slow death or is NCAA cross dying? Why the apathy? Discuss.

you could have started your own thread about this but you chose to start this one instead.

Others have said the same thing but just to reiterate: I don't care as much about NCAAs XC because I don't get to watch it anymore. I read about it after it happens. So to me, it's not as interesting. It's not intentional, I just feel less connected to it.

brogan1 wrote:

Swaglord wrote:

Idk I feel like maybe letsrun's average age is increasing over time? I'm 25 and I don't care at all about NCAA XC. They look like they're little kids. Pro track is where it's at.

+1

I stopped caring about NCAA within a few years after graduating. I just pay attention to the pros. Maybe college athletes don't visit the boards like we used to. I would watch a free stream if it was available. I am just not going to spend a lot of time reading and discussing it.

Agreed. I think I paid attention to DIII (where I went to school) a year after graduation. Maybe looked up results of a race 2 years out. DI, same thing. Once I stopped knowing people, I stopped caring.

I won't lie either. Running is a rather boring sport to watch if you don't know anybody. I mean, I can appreciate fast times, but going to local HS or College meets.... Idk. It's not all that fun to watch. Seeing a 4-flat mile is cool and all, but doesn't look all that different than the 4:15's or so I used to see every meet in college. DI gets even worse because the distance events have a significant number of foreigners in them. I'm already not a fan of the WACP program on the professional level.

How am I supposed to get excited when a decent amount of the top competition is a bunch of foreigners:

LRC loses a LOT of traffic to Grindr too.

apathy on the boards wrote:

is LetsRun dying or are you all apathetic about NCAA cross?

LetsRun is dead, buddy.

LetsRelate is thriving

LetsInsult is alive and well

LetsHate is thriving beyond our wildest dreams

LetsRun? RIP

I cant watch the race unless I pay $30, so why bother. I'll see a few Tweets and that will be it.

rojo wrote:

apathy on the boards wrote:

So I went on LR tonight to catch up on NCAA cross discussions in the the college message boards. After all it is 5 days before NCAA nationals so I expected to see a bunch of activity but no, the boards are practically dead..... crickets.....

What is the reason for this? Is Letsrun dying a slow death or is NCAA cross dying? Why the apathy? Discuss.

Traffic is really good on the site. I think the messageboard may seem like it's down as we do more on the homepage. It used to be that you had to get the info on the messageboard. Now we are destroying our own business by covering stuff on the front page.

Plus all these 18 year olds are too busy snap chatting their privates to post on a messageboard.

;)

It is true that there is more on the front page. Also true that snap chat and instagram are king among the HS and college crowd these days.

As a 40+ fellow I really don't care about NCAA anything. If you think about it logically, it's nothing more than an age group race, and one that you'd have to pay $30 to see (and I guarantee it'll be filmed poorly).

Maybe if there was XC in the Olympics some fringe people might see it as a more legitimate sport. Same with Ultra running.

I'd be more interested if the races through the season and the finals were on the free internet.

But they aren't, so there's nothing to watch.

We're left with mundane results, or checking the play by plays.

This is not all bad. It's better than the coverage in the 1960's, but not what it could or should be.

As a college freshman, I have to agree that a outdated forum that's been around almost my whole life isn't quite as exciting as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. But I read LetsRun every day and follow NCAAs very closely. I'm a terrible runner, so I don't have many quality opinions about running, but I like to read what the experienced runners have to say. Although I'm disappointed that I can't watch it for free, one of my friends has FloTrack so I'm gonna watch it with him.

Oh Please wrote:

If you think about it logically, it's nothing more than an age group race

yeah youre the only one with that logic

Data Point of Me wrote:

I've noticed the decline in chatter about the XC championships and regret the loss. I've twice traveled far to watch the XC nationals out of excitement to see in person the runners I've read about on LetsRun. The transformation of the boards into a forum friendly to pro-Trumpsters, white-nationalists, gun-and-violence nuts, alt-Right fanatics, and the like has really soured me though. It's hard not for me to think that LetsRun channels the true voice and concerns of college XC athletes and that college teams are now filled with such people.

This is a humorous perspective. When libs confront opinions that might differ from their own they freak out. So, if the Trump folks are always fighting here at LR, then who exactly are they fighting with? Yes, they are fighting with hypocritical lib retards like yourself who are doing the exact same thing as the people on the right are doing. Look at your post above for evidence: "white-nationalists, gun-and-violence nuts, alt-Right fanatics". Yes, those of the words of refined and reasonable person. Nothing like a fanatic. Such a hypocrite!

yawning yawner wrote:

I cant watch the race unless I pay $30, so why bother. I'll see a few Tweets and that will be it.

That is a lot of money to watch two races, and I would probably pay to watch if the announcers were not those Flotrack clowns. The woman's race looks to be very exciting.

We shall se.

Our coach basically told us to stay off the boards because of all the garbage spewed here. This was over 10 years ago. I imagine even more coaches have instituted similar policies since then. I mean, look at this place. It's a cesspool.

brogan1 wrote:

Swaglord wrote:

Idk I feel like maybe letsrun's average age is increasing over time? I'm 25 and I don't care at all about NCAA XC. They look like they're little kids. Pro track is where it's at.

+1

I stopped caring about NCAA within a few years after graduating. I just pay attention to the pros. Maybe college athletes don't visit the boards like we used to. I would watch a free stream if it was available. I am just not going to spend a lot of time reading and discussing it.

After watching my child (now young adult) suffer 3 stress fractures in the past 4 or so years (some during high school and some during collegiate running) I became downhearted. I found that following the sport just made me think of what could have been for my child and the other runners that I followed who have also struggled with injuries so I stopped following the XC at the high school and collegiate level. I stop reading most forum discussions here. I read this one due to the title. I now put more time into my own running and follow the professional runners at the bigger competitions. I treat my former interest in running at the high school and college level as an addiction that I am better off avoiding for now. I never knew why some teams had so many distance runners on their roster that were talented in high school. Now I know it is because so many are injured at any given time and many may never have more than a few races that are faster than their best high school times. I still have some hope for a healthy and faster season but but have discarded any expectations I may have had even after the first stress fracture. It amazes me that that athletes will continue putting in 3 hours of more of training per day while injured even after several injuries. I now think the most important facility feature a runner needs at the collegiate level is a good pool to do laps in when they are injured.

I have access to Flowtrack but have not accessed any of their premium contact nor Milesplit's this season and don't plan to watch the XC Championship.

Foreigners are a threat to sport and to the CCC. I have no desire to hurt anyone coming over but we can't lose sight that this is for American college students. It shouldnever be regarded as just another foreign meet.