most popular sports do their own internal testing. avg fan doesn't care if athletes are using peds considering the avg fan is also using meds of some sort. they just want to be entertained.
It’s the only real coed sport. Imagine if baseball games were 18 innings where men’s and women’s teams alternated innings. Imagine watching the Masters and having to watch women play from the women’s tee every other drive. Same for NFL or NBA.
if the sport was separated into male and female events, it would be 1000x more watchable and popular.
Agreed. Even 'boring' sports like baseball have plenty of exciting moments and drama. I personally think distance running is exciting, but watching people run in the same circle repeatedly just doesn't do it for most people.
Agreed. Even 'boring' sports like baseball have plenty of exciting moments and drama. I personally think distance running is exciting, but watching people run in the same circle repeatedly just doesn't do it for most people.
We need to know who won. At the end of a golf tournament or baseball game there is a winner. In a track and field meet there are too many races, no team score, some athletes seem happy even if they lost while others who won may be disappointed. Its yoo confusing.
Try explaining that the 4th place qualifier is going to the world champs while the 2nd place runner isn't because of previoys qualifying times. You expect Americsns to understand this.
There a teams you can root for and hang out with your piers in a stadium. Track and Field is just a bunch of individuals doing different things.
There is no WE feel. It just some random athletes doing stuff.
This Is a good point. On top of that, internationally, baseball, volleyball, basketball, etc have one national team.
They are centralized by one manager or head coach and a team of other coaches.
Track athletes are all so privatized by their team and coach that there's no true alliance or even sharing of methods from team to team.
As a part of the San Diego Track club in 2008, I volunteered to help out twice at 2 meets at CSUSM because Coach Steve Scott asked for volunteer help.
I didn't like the feel of the meets at all. In high school meets there's a loose camaraderie among athletes. Beyond that, the tension is pea soup thick. And fans can sense this
A relevant comparison is F1. Have you watched? Most on the grid have no chance to win, none, there is little passing, a race goes on for over 2 hours, you can’t see the athletes faces, but this sport is a global phenomenon. Is it just the possibility of the crashes? Hundreds of thousands of tickets to the F1 race in Miami sold out in seconds. So, if F1 can be a mega sport, so can T&F. Motor sports are boring innately. It’s marketing. T&F should be able to better figure it out. Bring on Cade Flatt…we need some energy. I’ll tune in to root against him.
A relevant comparison is F1. Have you watched? Most on the grid have no chance to win, none, there is little passing, a race goes on for over 2 hours, you can’t see the athletes faces, but this sport is a global phenomenon. Is it just the possibility of the crashes? Hundreds of thousands of tickets to the F1 race in Miami sold out in seconds. So, if F1 can be a mega sport, so can T&F. Motor sports are boring innately. It’s marketing. T&F should be able to better figure it out. Bring on Cade Flatt…we need some energy. I’ll tune in to root against him.
So maybe it's really the affinity for speed. Like F1 and NASCAR, Usain and Johan and Justin and Tyson and Christian are fast!
To the average Joe? Even Kipchoge's 4:33 paced marathon isn't seen as fast.
The average Joe will run a 19 second 100m and say he's faster than Kipchoge.
No different than someone shooting a basket and saying "Kobe!"
Because our country can not dominate. Hard to be on the bandwagon.
As others have mentioned, the tribal/team element is low at pretty much all levels.
A lot of people had a favorite sport as a kid that they did pretty good at or enjoyed doing.
Most people hate running or are very aware of how bad they are at it and don't relate to throwing things. Even in the throws and jumps, a casual fan has to wait until the commentator explains why it was good. When a walk-off home run goes over the fence, or a guy is on his way to 20 strikeouts, you know it.
Because our country can not dominate. Hard to be on the bandwagon.
As others have mentioned, the tribal/team element is low at pretty much all levels.
A lot of people had a favorite sport as a kid that they did pretty good at or enjoyed doing.
Most people hate running or are very aware of how bad they are at it and don't relate to throwing things. Even in the throws and jumps, a casual fan has to wait until the commentator explains why it was good. When a walk-off home run goes over the fence, or a guy is on his way to 20 strikeouts, you know it.
True.
When Usain Bolt was DQed during the 2011 WC, track fans gasped.
When Jim Joyce blew the call taking away what could have been the third perfect game in one month courtesy of Armando Galarraga, the world was incensed at Joyce
Because our country can not dominate. Hard to be on the bandwagon.
As others have mentioned, the tribal/team element is low at pretty much all levels.
A lot of people had a favorite sport as a kid that they did pretty good at or enjoyed doing.
Most people hate running or are very aware of how bad they are at it and don't relate to throwing things. Even in the throws and jumps, a casual fan has to wait until the commentator explains why it was good. When a walk-off home run goes over the fence, or a guy is on his way to 20 strikeouts, you know it.
True.
When Usain Bolt was DQed during the 2011 WC, track fans gasped.
When Jim Joyce blew the call taking away what could have been the third perfect game in one month courtesy of Armando Galarraga, the world was incensed at Joyce
That wasn’t my take. The umpire was apologetic, Galarraga was a good sport about it and everyone moved on.
There a teams you can root for and hang out with your piers in a stadium. Track and Field is just a bunch of individuals doing different things.
There is no WE feel. It just some random athletes doing stuff.
Great post. Not only are there teams, there are geographic associations. You root for the “home team”, which is part of the city and/or state culture and identity. There are also predefined seasons and leagues. Every team plays their starters, and competes for the same title. Track has sprints, middle distance, road races, jumping, throwing… etc. And not everyone shows up for every meet, so very few individual rivalries.
When Usain Bolt was DQed during the 2011 WC, track fans gasped.
When Jim Joyce blew the call taking away what could have been the third perfect game in one month courtesy of Armando Galarraga, the world was incensed at Joyce
That wasn’t my take. The umpire was apologetic, Galarraga was a good sport about it and everyone moved on.
This one is a no brainer: it's because baseball and golf are fat guy sports. Most guys in the US are fat. Way more relatable for Americans to watch and participate in sports where you can not only be fat but also drunk.
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