The "angle" for Running Brave was that Mills was part Indian. The "angle" for the Prefontaine movies was the tragic end. I just don't see a movie in the works if he wins a gold medal and finishes his career getting slower. But it's all speculation.
The "angle" for Running Brave was that Mills was part Indian. The "angle" for the Prefontaine movies was the tragic end. I just don't see a movie in the works if he wins a gold medal and finishes his career getting slower. But it's all speculation.
The angle for a gold medalist Pre movie would be his rise to winning gold followed by whatever would have happened after that. Imagine what his life might have been like if he came home from Montreal with gold (or even two!). Think about his celebrity status and what might have come with it. Consider what would have been his continued advocacy for athletes to earn money. Envision his reaction to the 1980 boycott. Lots of potentially interesting material for a movie. At the very least, there would have been an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about him.
Yes, I think people are discounting Pre a bit here because his career got cut short.
So he is a James Dean type hero because he died young before his prime.
But had he had a "prime" perhaps he would have been famous for having his prime.
Probably would have taken him dominating the 5000 for a good span and winning the gold in Montreal.
It also would have been interesting to see how Pre would have managed road racing because those really started up about the time he died.
Don't you think if he had a "prime" and he did get a gold he would be treated the same as all other great runners of the time. He'd be like Bob Schul or Billy Mills.
People would appreciate what he did. But, he wouldn't be PRE the legend.
I don't know... Because he didn't have that opportunity.
All I know is that Schul or Mills or any other distance runner was never compared to the Beatles on world wide TV...
So Pre had that going for him when he was alive.
I'm not necessarily discounting your point but simply pointing out that he would have done more had he lived. He would have been in the public eye for a longer period of time. People are acting like that wouldn't have mattered in this equation. It would have.
Would it have mattered as much as dying before his prime. Probably not. But it has to be taken into account.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Yes, I think people are discounting Pre a bit here because his career got cut short.
So he is a James Dean type hero because he died young before his prime.
But had he had a "prime" perhaps he would have been famous for having his prime.
Probably would have taken him dominating the 5000 for a good span and winning the gold in Montreal.
It also would have been interesting to see how Pre would have managed road racing because those really started up about the time he died.
Don't you think if he had a "prime" and he did get a gold he would be treated the same as all other great runners of the time. He'd be like Bob Schul or Billy Mills.
People would appreciate what he did. But, he wouldn't be PRE the legend.
He was a legend before he died. Those of us who lived in those days can all remember where we were and how we heard when he died
Don't you think if he had a "prime" and he did get a gold he would be treated the same as all other great runners of the time. He'd be like Bob Schul or Billy Mills.
People would appreciate what he did. But, he wouldn't be PRE the legend.
He was a legend before he died. Those of us who lived in those days can all remember where we were and how we heard when he died
Yes. It is actually kind of funny that people are comparing him to Schul or Mills simply because those guys were kind of "flash in the pan" gold medalists. Weren't really well known before they won their golds... and then pretty much disappeared afterwards.
For those that weren't around... In a way... Pre was sort of like a pro golfer... he had kind of an army of fans who thought he was cool. And he got his SI cover as a college freshman... which made run of the mile sports fans aware of who he was at an early age.
That is another thing that people don't realize these days. How being on the cover of SI gave you instant fame in the sports world in those days.
I didn't prove your point. I just said that I can't think of any races that Shorter beat Pre in. This thread is about whose better, Pre or Shorter? I gave the correct answer, they're both better in different ways. Are you disputing that?
I'm the OP. The thread is not about who is better Pre or Shorter. The thread is about whether Pre would be the legend that he is had he not died in a car crash.
I only brought Shorter up as an example of a runner that ran at the same time as Pre that achieved more than Pre.
So no you didn't give the correct answer.
At least you to the opportunity to stroke your own ego. That's what's most important.
sorry, the Shorter dispute became much more interesting than your obvious question.
1970 USA Championships 3 mile, Shorter 1st, Pre 5th.
Pretty easy to find.
Yeah, I haven’t looked up the whole lists of race results in years and don’t feel like doing it at the moment but I think the Shorter-Pre win/loss record is something like;
2 wins Shorter
4 wins Pre
But they may have raced more than that. I would bet to guess not every result with both of them in the same race is necessarily easy to find.
Yall know what "records" are right? Pre had 100% of them, Frank zero. This isnt even an argument. Yall are ignoring who had the fastest times and arguing over AAU meets and turkey trots. After he died, yes Shorter became a god.
Yeah, I haven’t looked up the whole lists of race results in years and don’t feel like doing it at the moment but I think the Shorter-Pre win/loss record is something like;
2 wins Shorter
4 wins Pre
But they may have raced more than that. I would bet to guess not every result with both of them in the same race is necessarily easy to find.
Yall know what "records" are right? Pre had 100% of them, Frank zero. This isnt even an argument. Yall are ignoring who had the fastest times and arguing over AAU meets and turkey trots. After he died, yes Shorter became a god.
Records are temporary. Pre doesn’t have any records now.
Frank Shorter will always have Olympic gold and silver medals.
He was a legend before he died. Those of us who lived in those days can all remember where we were and how we heard when he died
Yes. It is actually kind of funny that people are comparing him to Schul or Mills simply because those guys were kind of "flash in the pan" gold medalists. Weren't really well known before they won their golds... and then pretty much disappeared afterwards.
For those that weren't around... In a way... Pre was sort of like a pro golfer... he had kind of an army of fans who thought he was cool. And he got his SI cover as a college freshman... which made run of the mile sports fans aware of who he was at an early age.
That is another thing that people don't realize these days. How being on the cover of SI gave you instant fame in the sports world in those days.
Schul was no flash in the pan. He had the world record at two miles and was actually the pre race favorite going into Tokyo. Mills was unknown going into Tokyo but got the world record at six miles the year after Tokyo. In those days it was common to have short careers because runners needed to get jobs and often found it too difficult to fit training and racing into their work schedules though there were plenty of exceptions. And remember, even if Schul and Mills were flash in the pan gold medalists they were actual gold medalists as opposed to being fantasy gold medalists.
Yeah, I haven’t looked up the whole lists of race results in years and don’t feel like doing it at the moment but I think the Shorter-Pre win/loss record is something like;
2 wins Shorter
4 wins Pre
But they may have raced more than that. I would bet to guess not every result with both of them in the same race is necessarily easy to find.
Yall know what "records" are right? Pre had 100% of them, Frank zero. This isnt even an argument. Yall are ignoring who had the fastest times and arguing over AAU meets and turkey trots. After he died, yes Shorter became a god.
Shorter had the US record in the marathon so yes, it an argument.
Yeah, I haven’t looked up the whole lists of race results in years and don’t feel like doing it at the moment but I think the Shorter-Pre win/loss record is something like;
2 wins Shorter
4 wins Pre
But they may have raced more than that. I would bet to guess not every result with both of them in the same race is necessarily easy to find.
Yall know what "records" are right? Pre had 100% of them, Frank zero. This isnt even an argument. Yall are ignoring who had the fastest times and arguing over AAU meets and turkey trots. After he died, yes Shorter became a god.
Shorter had the 10,000 AR record twice, and the marathon AR. All of them done in 1972.
Pre had what no one else anyone who he is being compared to had, charisma.
He was bigger than running. Had he not died young it's impossible to know how the rest of his running career and life would have unfolded but chances are he would have still have a longer lasting celebrity than any of the other great runners of that era.
Now, whether he was better or faster than any of them is up for debate.
If you look at how fast Pre improved in college, challenging Lindgren, etc., I have to believe Pre had the potential to be the world's best at 5k, which would mean winning the 5k in Montreal, etc. Could he have beaten a blood-packing Viren and a healthy Quax? That is a good question. History only remembers the winner, not who was the cleanest runner. I believe Pre would have been the strongest and fastest clean runner in Montreal.
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