Those American Thighs wrote:
Bystander101 wrote:
Haha- thank you. I try.
That being said-David Melly from Tracksmith looks SO petty with his Instagram story + tweet saying, "Gold medals can't buy you class." I wish he would also stop.
Yeah, Melly isn't even on that walk-on's level and just comes off as the peanut gallery mouth-breather gossiping hen. Yes, I see the irony in what I just did here.
Haha so well put.
This is the last thing I’m going to say on this post—
People may have various opinions on Centro, but if he retired tomorrow, he’d still have HS & NCAA titles, US Championships, 3 World Medals (2 outdoor, 1 gold from indoor), and an Olympic title (+ a 13:00 5k PR, and tons of upside in that event). I remember after he won the Olympics, Alan Webb wrote an article talking about how Centro proved that the “system worked.” You can be good in high school, go to college, and then win the Olympics. He’s also very real (maybe too real) on social media, and what you see is what you get, which I **thought** would be inspiring to the next gen of guys.
The problem is that the class of guys of Cooper Teare, Noah Affolder, DJ Principe, Finn Gessner, etc (I’d even throw Rachel McArthur in there on the girls side) have ALWAYS thought they’re the sh*t, and it has carried over into college. I see exactly what Centro was saying- Cooper has yet to win an NCAA title (now he didn’t have indoor/outdoor last year, to be fair), but he acts like he’s already “arrived,” so to speak. He made comments about Centro on podcasts after Centro won the 2nd fastest heat over Hocker in December, and he said he was “cocky” when he came around when Andy was coaching (which I think is rich). If he was smart, he would’ve acknowledged that Centro was coming off an injury and that’s why he ran the slower heat, but instead he was like, “Centro had no business being in that heat, so it’s a win for Hocker.” ... very bold for a 21 year old. I remember one year Courtney Okolo took down her fellow Texas alum, Sanya Richards-Ross, at an early season meet, and she said to Flotrack, “I don’t consider it a win over Sanya. I respect her, and we’re in different parts of our season.” ... and good on her- SRR was still the Olympic champ at the end of the day.
Ever since that race, all his little chronies (Evert Silva, Ben Crawford, Carter 4:14 guy) have been commenting crap on Centro’s posts trying to ignite sh*t, and they got what they wanted. Would I have fired back at them? No, but as Eric Jenkins said recently, “Centro is the Olympic Champ and he could be way cockier about it if he wanted to be, but he’s a team player. I’d be slinging that gold medal around everywhere.”
The problem is this next gen doesn’t care. They’re all about clout, which sucks and I hope it changes because Cooper Teare is MASSIVELY talented and I’d probably respect him more if I didn’t hear the stories I’ve heard or see his comments online in terms of his cockiness. I remember when Craig Engels won USAs over Centro, I saw high school kids making the case of “why Craig is a better runner then Centro.” It absolutely blew my mind. Education has gone out the window when it comes to track and field, and a big part is thanks to social media/YouTube. Centro is right- it would be like him winning USAs in 2011 and this his friends commenting at Galen “your move” as if to say they’re now suddenly better.