I'd like to know why people with green cards can participate in Club Track but not cross country. Is this legally enforceable.
I'd like to know why people with green cards can participate in Club Track but not cross country. Is this legally enforceable.
I've heard that Omaha sucks.
A friend of ours qualified in the 100 free for swimming trials, and we were thinking of making the road trip to watch, and to find out what Omaha was like.
He had been there before, and told us not to bother coming, because there was ZERO of any interest there.
Just one opinion, I know--but an opinion I valued.
And no, he didn't make the team.
"This Sunday it was 105 at 5PM. Freaking hot. Last week it was averaging about 97, higher this week5. Two weeks ago, low 90s. It is NEVER in the 70s in the summer during the day. Sometimes about 75 at 9PM. Rare."
If this is true, it sounds like utopia!
Why doesn't USATF just acknowledge that in the 10k and 5k there is a significant potential deleterious effect due to heat, and either hold those 2 events somewhere other than everything else, or hold them either later at night after it has cooled down?
As I'm not a distance guy I don't know, but good conditions seem to be completely different for distance events from all other t&f events. I've run 10k in the extreme heat many times, and have been just fine, but I know that there is a heat-related effect that will affect different athletes differently. Fair enough, hold them elsewhere, and everybody will be happy, except for the occasional narcissistic coach who has an athlete in the 5k and a different athlete in the 1500, and wants to be with them both.
Does anybody effectively double the 1500 and 5k? Even if they did, the trials could be held not only at different venues, but maybe a week or two apart, to give somebody who can, a chance to double.
Herbert P Bear, Esq. wrote:
Will probably did a very solid job with the Club Nats. You can't blame him for the USATF sucking as bad as it does. He is just trying to make lemons out of lemonade. He does an excellent job with his races and has a zealous passion for the sport. He does a good job of resourcing post-collegiate runners and providing them opportunities to develop.
Nobody locally takes him seriously as a runner, nor should they. His marathon in 2011 was a 4:15 and he quit after the halfway point in a recent marathon with perfect conditions. He boasts about his training (40 x 400, best shape of his life, 15 twenty milers or longer) and then doesn't deliver on race day. He speaks loudly and carries a small stick.
He is an odd man and his blog is bizarre. He calls out local runners and clubs and belittles them. His sees himself taking this Quixotic journey save the running community from itself whilst he and everybody else would be better off if he just minded his own business and specialized on his own little segment of the running world.
"quixotic" is lowercase
Hey Sprintgeezer....
So, you made an opinion of Omaha based on someone else's opinion, having not visited there yourself? Nice work. Omaha has so many things of no interest that they hosted an NCAA basketball tournament first/second round, will host the College World Series for the next 25 years, and have hosted two Olympic Swim Trials in the past 4 years. Yeah, there really must not be anything to do in Omaha for the town to get those bids.
Why do you think listing sporting events that have been held in Omaha somehow counters the belief that there is nothing to do there? They are irrelevant and the fact that you are listing them, rather than things to actually do, leads me to believe that there is in fact nothing to do. That actually makes perfect sense. It's a meaningless town in the midwest with a completely boring natural environment. At least in Eugene if you think that the bars/lounges/restaurants suck, you always can go for a hike or walk and see some beautiful parts of the US.
INS Agent wrote:
I'd like to know why people with green cards can participate in Club Track but not cross country. Is this legally enforceable.
The reason is that the track club championships is relatively recent and began as a "club" championships allowing green cards but the XC is old and is still technically THE national XC champs for only US citizens and technically there is no equivalent club XC championships—not even the winter XC that picks the team for the world XC. The national rules meeting has to vote to change so maybe eventually we will have a club XC that any club member and USATF member can run separate from the national championship.
Tom
Derderian wrote:
INS Agent wrote:I'd like to know why people with green cards can participate in Club Track but not cross country. Is this legally enforceable.
The reason is that the track club championships is relatively recent and began as a "club" championships allowing green cards but the XC is old and is still technically THE national XC champs for only US citizens and technically there is no equivalent club XC championships—not even the winter XC that picks the team for the world XC. The national rules meeting has to vote to change so maybe eventually we will have a club XC that any club member and USATF member can run separate from the national championship.
Tom
The real reason is that at least one of the clubs that goes to club track champs (you can figure that out fairly easily) has foreigners and has pushed through the rule that foreigners can compete in the United States club champs. You are correct in thinking that it is wrong and completely ridiculous.
Tom, are you aware that your rambling post above makes absolutely no sense in attempting to avoid dealing with the real reason?
Part of the bidding process for NCAA events (except track) is having attractions for spectators. That's how it works. Thanks for playing.
Terre Haute has so many attractions for spectators. That's the only reason why it wins NCs. Right. Thanks for playing and get a clue. I hope you enjoy eating at Applebee's and TGIFs in Omaha. Many others do not.
You obviously haven't been to Omaha, so your opinion is invalid. No one cares about track by the way. I'm talking about NCAA basketball, NCAA baseball, you know the sports that actually bring in craptons of money. Until you've been to Omaha, get a clue and don't share your opinion. Clueless Joe.
Nobody cares about Club track anywhere! Not even most clubs and even less athletes.
You are correct that I never have been to Omaha but I don't have to step foot there to know that it is a cultural vacuum with horrible dining/nightlife options. Just because it is near and dear to your heart doesn't change that.
For someone who likes to tell others to get a clue, it would behoove you to get a clue yourself. The NCAA couldn't give a hoot about spectator entertainment options when picking NCAAT sites. Let's look at where the first 2 rounds were played this year:
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Portland
Albuquerque
Nashville
Columbus
Greensboro
Omaha
Could the NCAA have picked a more underwhelming list of sites based on spectator entertainment? What happened to New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, DC, SF and Miami if "[p]art of the bidding process for NCAA events (except track) is having attractions for spectators"? I'll help you get a clue: IT IS IRRELEVANT.
Get back to your Bojangles special in a strip mall.
buffet rules not wrote:
You are correct that I never have been to Omaha but I don't have to step foot there to know that it is a cultural vacuum with horrible dining/nightlife options. Just because it is near and dear to your heart doesn't change that.
Omaha has a lot to do, it has the world biggest zoo, a beautiful down town, lots of parks and an excellent trail network to get runs in on. I don't know about you but if you are trying to be a decent runner having good clubs and bars shouldn't appeal to you. Those are distractions that take you away from training. I have been in Omaha for a summer job this summer and have been able to see/do something new and interesting every weekend I have been here. If you can't accept the "Mid-western" or "Nebraskan" cultural perspective you are just culturally ignorant. I am not saying its the best place to live, but every corner of the world allows you to gain perspective.
I've spent an extensive amount of time abroad and probably have been to more countries than the number of counties you have been to. Culturally ignorant I am not but I do recognize that most of America is a complete cultural wasteland, Omaha included. You might want to expand your horizons a little bit and see what else is out there in this world to better understand how awful places like Omaha are.
Considering that I eat 3 meals a day, food is important to me. Omaha has awful food but a great array of fast food and restaurants in strip malls. Would you please point me to which restaurant on this recent list of the top 101 restaurants in the US is the Omaha one:
http://www.thedailymeal.com/101-best-restaurants-america/
It's also not like I need a French Laundry on every block but TGIFs shouldn't be one of the better options.
Regarding your "distractions," we are talking about what a site offers competitors who show up for a few days, compete and then go home. How is having good restaurants and a good nightlife for your last night in a city in any way going to take away from one's training?
I think part of the problem with this thread is that we have a bunch of myopic people from Omaha on here who have absolutely no idea how awful their city/town is and refuse to even acknowledge that that may be the case. You do have a good zoo though.
woah, you really hate omaha. we get it.
I think I (if not no offense) have you beat on year abroad given that I lived in Ireland until I was 14 (now 21). I have seen some of Europe but in no way would consider myself traveled or cultured. I haven't seen much of the world but I have seen what I consider one of the least cultured place in the world in rural South Dakota.
To me Omaha has the typical Midwestern vibe to it, but that is not all of Omaha. The people that are gonna spend money in Omaha are of a less cultured or culture seeking breed and will frequent the downtown area and tourist locations.
But if you look into the history of Omaha and the racial and cultural divides that exist to this day you will see Omaha change radically from block to block.
I would suggest you go to South Omaha and see Q st and how you won't see a word of English on store fronts for a mile or two.
There is a lot to see and do in most places you go in the world. It may take some looking to find them, if you don't like the Mid-west and that culture by all means spend your money to go somewhere you will enjoy. I don't want to debate you or convince you to try it out again or for the first time. I just feel that everyone has a few on culture and it isn't societies perspective of culture that matters but rather your own and what you have seen to compare to what you are seeing at the moment. For some Omaha could be this amazing big city, for others like yourself it could just be a couple of hick towns that kinda became a city
Agreed woah. For whatever reason the dude has something against Omaha (can't get laid there?). Clearly he's never been there. We get it. You're cultured and have an extremely negative opinion to a place you've never visited. Awesome.
And he's seen pictures of the zoo. Congrats. Good use of Google.
Let's face this fact:
The bidding system doesn't work. If anyone can bid, and there was only one bid this year for club nats, then anyone can win. Do we really want anyone to win?
The USATF should be courting great locations, great clubs, and great leaders of these clubs.
Instead, they are being lazy: the "you come to us approach." That results in having club nats in Omaha, with three women on the steeple and two men's 4x40 teams.
Cant be both good and lazy...it just doesn't work.