Have you forgotten that years ago, in his comeback meet, even Usain Bolt had to sit because of a false start?
If we want a traditional technicality switched because fans want to see a favorite, then we may as well run track like.figure skating and gymnastics, where regardless of qualifying, USATF and/or the Diamond League can just hand pick an all-star squad to race so that it's only fan favorites.
Then, take it further. No surprises. No Bryce Hoppel. No Bob Kempainen in the marathon. No Kostas Kenteris or Wayde Van Niekerk.
Only the traditional favorites people know.
How crappy!
I agree that for championships, the false start rule makes sense. I'm old enough to remember the days when everyone got one false start and it was annoying as hell. But for a regular meet with 9 lanes and no qualification? Just take away the prize money and nothing is lost
But is the WR, if set, unratifiable ad infinitum because of the DQ?
My focus on Bromell is chiefly, if not exclusively, because this thread is treating Trayvon Bromell as if a rule change is needed because he was wronged especially since this push for a slippery slope did not exist in this quantity of vehemence for any other athlete.
To keep the integrity of a sport, the core standards have to be draconian. In baseball, a balk is a balk. In football, if you are drawn offsides, you go back 5 yards anyway. Helmet to helmet contact is automatically an ejection. Move the golf ball or don't sign your card? You're disqualified.
Hit a tennis ball at or threaten a chair umpire? DQ from tournament.
throw a Surya Bonaly backflip during competition? DQ.
These aren't kids. They were blessed with the talent, drive and proper coaching to be elite.
These are already exceptions enough where they don't need a coddling rule change...not at this level.
Bromell’s dq was not the only one in that race and in both cases the race was poorer for the absence of the athletes. Yes, the rules must be followed, but the rules can be changed, just as this rule was changed in 2010. I’m just saying I don’t think this is a good rule. You do. Comparing this rule to threatening an ump or helmet to helmet contact seems silly. I’d like to see a poll of athletes and coaches. Let’s start with an LRC poll.
Rules sucks. That's why I've never'd join/belonged to any clubs. I'm a "Live Free Or Die" kind of guy. I have done a lot of volunteer work over the years because I wanted to, not because I felt obliged to.
Bromell’s dq was not the only one in that race and in both cases the race was poorer for the absence of the athletes. Yes, the rules must be followed, but the rules can be changed, just as this rule was changed in 2010. I’m just saying I don’t think this is a good rule. You do. Comparing this rule to threatening an ump or helmet to helmet contact seems silly. I’d like to see a poll of athletes and coaches. Let’s start with an LRC poll.
Rules sucks. That's why I've never'd join/belonged to any clubs. I'm a "Live Free Or Die" kind of guy. I have done a lot of volunteer work over the years because I wanted to, not because I felt obliged to.
There are many rules governing what volunteers can or can't do.
Let me pay you a million for your service.
Wait...i can't because of the rules.
I can tell you are a renegade aka " live free or die " because "Rules sucks" automatically outs you as old and dumb.
Don't try to look good.
Those of us on the front lines of community are good.
If he was that good, he should have had better control and not false started! It was his fault. He should feel like crap for the letting the fans down and repay the fans track entry fees. His false start was blatant and even my wife, who knows very little about saw his false start. He was probably doped to the gills and didn’t want to be tested if he won the race.
He should not have been allowed to run. The rules must be followed. He tried to cheat by starting early and there must be consequences for cheating.
While I agree that he (Bromell, but also Hughes) should not have been allowed to run because the rules must be followed (although I think the rules should be changed), I vehemently disagree with your wording that Bromell "tried to cheat". NO, NOT CHEAT. He was competing and trying his best to run fast, and he obviously jumped. But it wasn't cheating. Who the heck would try to cheat in a way which so obviously would lead to disqualification? WRONG CHOICE OF WORDS.
Of course they should allow them to run. Fans pay money and travel to a meet just to see their favorite athlete get kicked out? That's not fan friendly. And you can't grow the sport if it's not fan friendly.
Agree 100%. A DL race is first and foremost entertainment. So bad for the fans and even his co competitors that he's taken off. Let him run, but yes, make him ineligible for the prize money. No, not saying at nationals or WCs, Olympics that he should be allowed to race, but in the DL, sure.
Yes, this would be the best solution. Like in the UFC, fighters that miss weight get their pay deducted and if it's a championship fight, can't win the belt.
Deduct their pay and no DL points.
Then again, people are forgetting how tedious it used to be when there would be 4 or 5 false starts before a100m race that lasts 10 seconds.
Agree 100%. A DL race is first and foremost entertainment. So bad for the fans and even his co competitors that he's taken off. Let him run, but yes, make him ineligible for the prize money. No, not saying at nationals or WCs, Olympics that he should be allowed to race, but in the DL, sure.
Yes, this would be the best solution. Like in the UFC, fighters that miss weight get their pay deducted and if it's a championship fight, can't win the belt.
Deduct their pay and no DL points.
Then again, people are forgetting how tedious it used to be when there would be 4 or 5 false starts before a100m race that lasts 10 seconds.
Why are we suddenly caring about what the fans want?
The fans aren't racing.
What irks me is that when some of you were competing, you knew the rules were the rules.
Now that you are spectators, you want to see exclusively who and what you want and to control the rules to have what you want to see.
To have someone still run after a clearly disqualifying infraction just to placate fans as if you matter in the schema of the sport is utterly ridiculous.
Then again, people are forgetting how tedious it used to be when there would be 4 or 5 false starts before a100m race that lasts 10 seconds.
I believe this is the reason they moved to the 'one false start and you are out' rule.
I was watching the Birmingham DL meet and 18 minutes of coverage had passed and they had not completed the first event. That event was the shortest running event, the 100m. This was also with a one false start rule in effect. I can remember those major championships with 4-5 false starts and me, a big fan of the sport, shouting "just get on with it - move it along."
I know everything about the sport cannot be to gain popularity or add fans, but false start after false start can turn even purists sour.
No, they shouldn't have allowed him to run. If you let him run in this race, where does it end? Would officials be prohibited from dismissing someone after a false start in an Olympics final?
It's the same kind of logic that "oh it's only shoplifting, it's not worth the effort to prosecute." We see what's happened with that slippery slope.
2
1
So many many names can belong to a registered account
It could have been just another race where someone won, easily forgotten within a day by all spectators.This way, it will remain as curiosity for a much longer time. It brought much more tension and excitement than "ordinary" race.
- Crowd wants to see hero win, but also to see him fail.
It could have been just another race where someone won, easily forgotten within a day by all spectators.This way, it will remain as curiosity for a much longer time. It brought much more tension and excitement than "ordinary" race.
- Crowd wants to see hero win, but also to see him fail.
- One man's hero is another man's villain.
Sure...and people will always wonder if Tyson could have beaten Ali.
But Diamond League is about a pay day.
Nobody who gets disqualified should be able to affect someone's income.
I think there should be room for discretion when there isn’t advancement in heats and/or a real title of some kind at stake. Let the fans see the whole field race unless some guy is blatantly doing the thing where they false start to screw with the other guys’ minds. Knowing the rules, though, I’d feel awfully silly if I flew overseas to run a 10-second race and then didn’t get to run it because I false started. Gotta hold those nerves in the blocks!
No
You seem to think that false starts are random acts of god.
They aren't. They're a sprinters lack discipline.
Reacting to the gun is a skill in the sprints. Bromell is a professional sprinter who screwed up. That's on him.
You joggers can start anytime and it won't make a difference.
I think they’re a random act of God even though I said “gotta hold those nerves in the blocks”? Do people just not read entire posts anymore? Is it like, two sentences max before people figure they’re ready to respond?
They lost the #1 sprinter in the race and as I’m typing this Zharnell Hughes, the #1 Brit got dqd, would it be better for the fans if they just let them run? even if they don’t count in standings.
or allow 1 false start for field at meet promotors discretion or something? Keep strict false start rule for Championship races.
Yes and no. Yes- the track meet is a production with stars not a high school dual meet with 50 kids in the 100 and you want to get them home so they could do their homework.
Yes- the rule is stupid at the pro level. Do it the way swimming does- period, end of discussion.
I think there should be room for discretion when there isn’t advancement in heats and/or a real title of some kind at stake. Let the fans see the whole field race unless some guy is blatantly doing the thing where they false start to screw with the other guys’ minds. Knowing the rules, though, I’d feel awfully silly if I flew overseas to run a 10-second race and then didn’t get to run it because I false started. Gotta hold those nerves in the blocks!
The real title is a decent chunk of prize money. Do you think those other guys weren't thinking how each of them may have just moved up a spot when they gave him the red card?
They lost the #1 sprinter in the race and as I’m typing this Zharnell Hughes, the #1 Brit got dqd, would it be better for the fans if they just let them run? even if they don’t count in standings.
or allow 1 false start for field at meet promotors discretion or something? Keep strict false start rule for Championship races.
Yes and no. Yes- the track meet is a production with stars not a high school dual meet with 50 kids in the 100 and you want to get them home so they could do their homework.
Yes- the rule is stupid at the pro level. Do it the way swimming does- period, end of discussion.
No- it's the rule as it is written.
But change the freaking rule.
So many of you are throwing deference to the DL athletes as if they are royalty.
They are professional athletes.
They know the rules and know the stakes.
The rules more than likely should be relaxed for the dual meet.
In Diamond League, it's not a production. It's working for a pretty hefty paycheck and a bigger one if you are the leader at the end of the series.
Bromell (and Hughes) were not wronged here.
The rule is not stupid at any level. Plus, it's a rule. Why wait to question it for an athlete you like rather than every athlete.
Your take is far too selfish individualist American for me. Rules are collectivist...for the good of the whole.
This rule is good for the good of the whole...it keeps athletes honest.