EARTH TO NBC, ANDREW WHEATING WAS RUNNING..

Wheating was fifth in a race that was missing many of the best milers in the world. We didn't focus too much on the 5th place finishers who weren't competing for the victory in any event. The kid did run a heck of a race.

heard it here first wrote:

I was at the meet and you did not want to hear Wheating speak. He came off as an idiot. He was asked "Now that you will no longer be wearing the Oregon Uniform, will you still race from behind, like you did today"

Whaeating responded with. " As long as I keep winning, I guess there is no reason to change anything"

KEEP WINNING???? He just finished 5th.

Look at his record over the last 3 years, he's won like 90% of his races overall.

He'll change...and run from the back of the lead pack next time, not the back of all the packs!

trialswatcher wrote:

Hmmmmm????

Again you are not helping yourself here.

Of course everyone knows how Wheating races, that said he was NOT a factor in this race whatsoever.

Now is he recognizable, hell yes, is he a story and should it have been mentioned after he ran the time? Yes and maybe during the race? Yes, but he was barely in the frame at times, you have to CALL the race that is before you as an announcer, not say a bunch of flowery shit about a guy those watching already know tons about.

You are missing the point, great run , yes, great time yes. Big story , yeah I guess.

He was not a factor in this race at all, that just is.Was it worth more than the 3 minutes they spent on NH PV'ing? For sure.

I think you are missing the point, you don't have to be a contendor or favorite to win to be a major story. You just have to be a story, and the better you run the better that story gets. That was Wheating.

Jesus, again, olypian as a sophomore, 3rd year of track. First guy to win 800/1500 in 25 years. Last time it was the great Cruz, also and Oregon runner. Home town runner, home town hero. There was plenty of story here, they blew it.

Get Real Real wrote:

heard it here first wrote:

I was at the meet and you did not want to hear Wheating speak. He came off as an idiot. He was asked "Now that you will no longer be wearing the Oregon Uniform, will you still race from behind, like you did today"

Whaeating responded with. " As long as I keep winning, I guess there is no reason to change anything"

KEEP WINNING???? He just finished 5th.

Look at his record over the last 3 years, he's won like 90% of his races overall.

He'll change...and run from the back of the lead pack next time, not the back of all the packs!

Hopefully Wheating learns NOT to race like it's the NCAA. That was often the problem with Sullivan (who never broke 1.47 for 800m), who toiled at the back, then was dropped when the pace increased in the 3rd lap (thanks to EL G mostly). Lagat was always in the hunt (maybe that's the kenyan mindset) so could cover moves after a km.

I don't see Wheating as a player in the 800m, or Andrews either (but he has time on his side, coming off a freshman year), but as shown yesterday he could be a factor in the 1500m for 2012 - but he will have to get involved with the race at the front.

I wouldn't have talked about him either.

He's still on low mileage and last year had stress fracture(s), muscle tear and mono.

A lot of upside for him.

He may go under 1:44 in the 800 this summer.

I didn't read 5 pages of posts so sorry if this has been mentioned. USATF admitted a few years ago that they were following the NBA model of marketing a few specific stars, not stories or races. This is why a few athletes seem to be pushed down viewers throats and no mention of those off the lead pace, unless it is one of the stars.

Based on your incessant whining about Wheating, you'd better be a family member. Otherwise go have a good cry.

I wasn't sure if the PRE "coverage" started at 3:00 or 3:30 so I ended up tuning in to NBC a little early. In my area they had on some Motor Cross coverage... and I was actually impressed...they mentiond many of the riders and ALL of their current rankings for the season and how they placed in that day's televised event. They also interviewed the top three fiishers, the interviewer was easy on the eyes and seemed to ask decent questions.

Then came the big let down with the PRE Meet... What really bothers me is I have to get online after watching 90 minutes of poor coverage to see how most competitors did.

How hard would it be to keep the camera on the finish line with the clock running!??! How about once all the finishers are in - put up a graphic with ALL the finishers place/time/distance, and have this graphic over the super exciting coverage of the winner jogging a victory lap???

The answer is simple. Drop the ridiculous "American" coverage. Soccer fans had the same cry as track fans for many years... ESPN finally wised up and hired BBC announcers for this World Cup and the coverage has been great (other than the one American left - Harkes). The Tour de France is the ultimate example - could you imagine Tom Hammond calling the Tour? Awful.

Time to either hire some British track announcers or just cut right to the British coverage. The difference between NBC and the online Golden League coverage is absolutely incredible. It's time...

kibble & bits wrote:

Hopefully Wheating learns NOT to race like it's the NCAA. That was often the problem with Sullivan (who never broke 1.47 for 800m), who toiled at the back, then was dropped when the pace increased in the 3rd lap (thanks to EL G mostly).

Wheating ran a classic Sully race yesterday. At the back and then slowly picked them off.

Let's keep in mind that it was his first race at this distance at this level.

Nothing But Crap wrote:

How hard would it be to keep the camera on the finish line with the clock running!??! How about once all the finishers are in - put up a graphic with ALL the finishers place/time/distance, and have this graphic over the super exciting coverage of the winner jogging a victory lap???

The did that in the mile...at least long enough for Wheating to cross the line since I picked up the 3:51 just watching the live broadcast.

Ess Gee Ess wrote:

Hmmmmm???? wrote:

I think you are missing the point, you don't have to be a contendor or favorite to win to be a major story. You just have to be a story, and the better you run the better that story gets. That was Wheating.

Jesus, again, olypian as a sophomore, 3rd year of track. First guy to win 800/1500 in 25 years. Last time it was the great Cruz, also and Oregon runner. Home town runner, home town hero. There was plenty of story here, they blew it.

Based on your incessant whining about Wheating, you'd better be a family member. Otherwise go have a good cry.

Pretty much everyone I have talked to (former D1 scholarship runners) thought the coverage was miserable and can't understand why in the world they wouldn't want to build up a story on this. It makes no sense. And we sit around and wonder why track is dying. THIS IS WHY. A great story absolutely missed.

There is no crying needed, just head scratching. You can cry at the fact that wheating is a monster and would whipe the track with you, but the rest of us with our sense of self security in check will simply wonder why the best american, in an american brodcast, on an american track, running for a legendary american running univerisity beating some of the best runners in the world, goes completely unnoticed by those who are supposed to commentate on the sport. Even the dingleberries on this board knew what was happening, but those who represent the sport don't?

But yeah tough guy, I'll go cry and you'll rock on because the sport is flourishing. Ohh wait, it's been on a constant decline, but I'm sure your model of reasoning works.

The 12k attendance they announced for PreClassic is piss poor and embarrassing as hell for USA athletes. The Golden League meets in Rome, Paris, Zurich, Brussels get 40-70k easy every year. Small little shit town GP meets in Monaco, Rieti, Lausuanne, and Padova get 20k-40K attendance. The tried to lie and act like 12k was huge but it only showed what a mickey mouse job that Doug Logan, USATF and NCAATF has done in the US.

did Wheating put on his Pre-stache? :-S

NBC SUCKS SO MUCH WHEN IT COMES TO TRACK AND FIELD. DO THEY EVEN KNOW THEY SUCK? IF NOT WE SHOULD ALL WRITE THEM SOME ANGRY EMAILS.

USATF is following the marketing strategy of the NBA? That's turrible. The NBA marketing machine focuses too often on guys that haven't won a title yet.

I did like the graphics, with lap and 1000m splits, the distance overlay on the long jump. I still think there should be a scrolling bar along the bottom of the screen as an active place marker for the competing athletes, especially in anything from 800 up. In a NASCAR race, they do a great deal to make sure you know which car is which as it speeds around the track. You could do the same for track and field races.

Regarding the commentators - they have to do their research on the field, just like any other announcers, and they don't. Remember last year's meet when Barringer came flying down the homestretch to finish 2nd (almost first), and set a collegiate record. Yeah, they totally missed her until right at the line. Research the field, and spend more time researching american runners, or runners that the audience might be interested in.

And for distance races, we will probably never see the day when an entire 10000 race is shown live without any cut away to a field even. However, they could do a split screen, or maybe an inset so as the long jump/high jump/etc is being shown, you can still see the race a little bit. And when covering those events, focus on what is actually going on, the strategy, the movements, etc.

Another option would be instead of just showing everything on the TV, have the uninterrupted coverage on line. If I were a field event junkie, I'd want to hang myself with the coverage. And you know what, in international competition, Americans do pretty good.

Only 12k wrote:

The 12k attendance they announced for PreClassic is piss poor and embarrassing as hell for USA athletes. The Golden League meets in Rome, Paris, Zurich, Brussels get 40-70k easy every year. Small little shit town GP meets in Monaco, Rieti, Lausuanne, and Padova get 20k-40K attendance. The tried to lie and act like 12k was huge but it only showed what a mickey mouse job that Doug Logan, USATF and NCAATF has done in the US.

If you think that filling the stadium at Hayward Field is bad, you obviously were not watching the USATF Outdoor Nationals in Des Moines . . . there wasn't anyone in the stands!

USATF says that they had about 31,000 during the course of the 4-day event, but I call BS on this! They also said that they had over 9,000 people in the stands on Saturday. Yeah right. There was NO ONE even sitting in the stands along the backstretch. Get real Doug Logan!

Let's face it...

American Track & Field is on it's death bed.

Pull out the IV and turn off the lights when you're done.

Not only did NBC forget to talk about Andrew Wheating in the Bowerman Mile, they also forgot talk abut Chris Solinsky being the American 10K Record Holder before the 5K but they said that Berand Lagat was the American 5K Record Holder before the Bowerman Mile. Also, this was the Pre Classic and Steve Prefontaine was a distance runner but they only showed 3 out of the 7 distance races and I think Steve Prefontaine was rolling in this grave. If a meet is named after a distance runner don't you think that they should show more ditance races than sprinting races and field events