Garry Hill has some interesting ideas to make the field events more popular. Should the shot and long jump be run like the HJ?

As though Rojo could care less about Gary Hill's opinion or the field events. I find this very funny.

I prefer the elimination idea of the 2 but neither would make me any more interested in throws.

I doubt that you can have a laser that anyone will be able see from 50' away much less be able to tell 3" differences in jumps....

Progression would be sort odd. Think about how weird it would be for the winner of the event to have a 21m throw while the person in 3rd place through 23m in an early round. Cutdowns would make consistancy more important than max performance as otherwise your odds of getting eliminated early would just be too high.

Heck lets keep going. How about 16 guys who all go head to head for 2 throws. Farthest advances...

Shot put doge ball. Six throwers on each side, no one is allowed to move. If you get hit, you're out (and probably out cold or dead). If you move, you are eliminated and must spend the rest of the day as a javelin catcher.

Seriously, I hate this idea. I've officiated throwing events at many NCAA meets over the years and for me, the possibility that ANY throw at ANY time can win the whole damn meet is what makes it exciting. Can you imagine someone breaking the world record on their first attempt and then fouling on attempt #2 and getting eliminated? You get the world record and don't even place. Terrible idea.

How about the last person on each successive lap of a 5k or 10k is eliminated has to leave the track? Set it up so the last lap has just two athletes sprinting it out to the finish.

Sounds pretty dumb, eh? That’s what these proposals sound like to field event athletes and enthusiasts.

Any idea that gives the athletes fewer attempts is harmful to the sport, not helpful.

I don't know who Gary Hill is, but he clearly doesn't understand our sport.

fast runner 8 wrote:

Any idea that gives the athletes fewer attempts is harmful to the sport, not helpful.

I don't know who Gary Hill is, but he clearly doesn't understand our sport.

I might be with you in your first sentence. But agree with him or not, I fond it hard to believe that a guy who has been editor of Track and Field News for God knows how long now, some number od decades, doesn't understand our sport.

Why would you think he understands the sport today? He only hears the voice of guys mostly over 70 years old. I think he should go gently into that good night and let others take over the voice of T&F. Who would that be? Probably not here .

Couple ideas I think would sell:

1 shot put . Put 7 or 8 balloons spread out in the landing sector . If a shot pops one there is a big explosion and the shot putter gets a bonus distance . So if the ball is put 67 feet and pops a ballon with a 12 feet bonus you have a world record

2. High jump / other jumpers can stand behind pit and try to distract the jumper

3. Long jump - other jumpers can shoot paint balls when an athlete sprints down the runway

I actually like the idea of a bar in the horizontal jumps where you can instantly tell if they made it over. Just like the HJ/PV. Practically speaking it might be hard to implement. Like you have to have some separation between the bar and the ground so what do you do? Put it up in the air 12 inches or dig the pit below the level of the runway? That's probably fine for big time events. Not so much for you're local high school.

The concept is good for throws too, but seems even more challenging to implement. Honestly I'd be just as happy with some sort of automated tracking that just gave an instant distance and place.

Whatreallyhappened wrote:

Why would you think he understands the sport today? He only hears the voice of guys mostly over 70 years old. I think he should go gently into that good night and let others take over the voice of T&F. Who would that be? Probably not here .

How would you know whose voices Hill hears? Why would you think he doesn't understand the sport today aside from maybe not liking things he writes?

The man's name is E. Garry Hill.

Stuff like this is easy to get right. Professionals do it all the time.

lease wrote:

The man's name is E. Garry Hill.

Stuff like this is easy to get right. Professionals do it all the time.

Roger that.

Many of the people who post here would do well to get a subscription to Track and Field News. You can go purely digital or also print and digital. And...you can get full meet results as well if you get Track Newsletter. This is truly the "Bible of the Sport" and certainly not in any way a dinosaur despite its pedigree. The magazine is now all-color, very glossy, well-worth the price.

That’s a novel theory. HJ and PV are exciting and unique and more digestible for the average spectator because it’s a zero sum game; you either clear the height, or you don’t.

thought meister wrote:

Couple ideas I think would sell:

1 shot put . Put 7 or 8 balloons spread out in the landing sector . If a shot pops one there is a big explosion and the shot putter gets a bonus distance . So if the ball is put 67 feet and pops a ballon with a 12 feet bonus you have a world record

2. High jump / other jumpers can stand behind pit and try to distract the jumper

3. Long jump - other jumpers can shoot paint balls when an athlete sprints down the runway

hello ellen degeneres

Juice Springsteen wrote:

That’s a novel theory. HJ and PV are exciting and unique and more digestible for the average spectator because it’s a zero sum game; you either clear the height, or you don’t.

novel and nonsensical. that's why other posters don't like it and thread got turned into just promo for t&f news

PoisonIvy wrote:

How about the last person on each successive lap of a 5k or 10k is eliminated has to leave the track? Set it up so the last lap has just two athletes sprinting it out to the finish.

Sounds pretty dumb, eh? That’s what these proposals sound like to field event athletes and enthusiasts.

This is actually a type of Cycling race "lose and out" I think it's called, they also have a "win and out".

I think the Shot Put variant could be fun but I wouldn't do it exactly like the pole vault/HH...

How about you use it to narrow it down to 4 guys that way (going up by .25m each throw), and then give the final four two throws for the win. Order them by longest throw of the day and/or misses, so biggest throw or fewest misses gets to go last in the order.

This way the event is easy to follow, but maintains the exciting finish and principle of longest throw wins that we all like.

1600m506pr:-/ wrote:

PoisonIvy wrote:

How about the last person on each successive lap of a 5k or 10k is eliminated has to leave the track? Set it up so the last lap has just two athletes sprinting it out to the finish.

Sounds pretty dumb, eh? That’s what these proposals sound like to field event athletes and enthusiasts.

This is actually a type of Cycling race "lose and out" I think it's called, they also have a "win and out".

Miss and out.

No...

Maybe cut down on the number of throwers in the finals in DL meets. I like the LJ with just the top 3 progressing although I would carry over marks.