I just watched day 1 of the USA Swimming Trials: USATF SUCKS

I am sure you are right but can you give some examples I did not watch any of the swim meet

Swimming was amazing, apparently 20-30k people were there, and they were cheering and screaming, EVEN FOR PRELIMS AND SEMIS.

And it was absolute pandemonium for Walsh’s WR…in a semi!

Holy crap does USATF ever SUCK in comparison!

I mean… holy crap

Ok, so how do we go about doing that exactly? Fans complain mostly by not attending their functions. So far, that's not working. Ill be sitting in my usual seats next week. Nobody is going to listen to me. USATF was selling 1980 retro uniforms and warmups at USATF meet in DesMoines one year as an anniversary nod but I was totally disgusted and told them so. They blew me off. Then I went down to the track and asked a personal friend of mine who made the 80 team what he thought and he said he was going to puke on the track in disgust. So again, how do we the fans have any impact on any decisions USATF makes other than just not show up at their meets? I want to support the athletes and they just want to get paid. FU for caring though is all we seem to get.

Personally, I just thnk track fans, wrestling, gymnastics, swimming etc...are totally different classes of people. Think about what grass roots programs each have, the kind of money it takes to develop the core of the future and how it gets paid for and the level of parental committment to make sure the bridge is in place between grass roots and elites. Are the governi g bodies all corrupt or nust track? Track is treated like second class in comparison by their own because its a relatively low cost affair and I dont think the sport has the same committment by athletes or parents overall. However, this is one case for supershoes that have allowed the sport to be revolutionized in a fair way. Gone are the days of 60-80k fans in the stands. Can you imagine if todays athletes had that kind of support? OMG, that would be absolutely thrilling! Ive been to many D1 fb games in the SEC and Big 10. Rocky Top, the Big House etc... It used to be like that for track. S M-L, Fred Kerley, Ryan Crouser, Athing Mu, Noah Lyles etc...deserve the same!

I ditched my USATF membership back during the John Chaplin affair, and have never looked back.

Walk away, and it will show.

I mean, the difference…you ever go to a real swim meet? They all feel like the friggin’ Olympics.

USATF sucks, Eugene sucks. Seriously. A bunch of prancing primadonnas and jack-off’s, and it shows.

I have already begun the switch to swimming. My wife was right all along. Water: the equalizer.

One thing, though: they always advance the top 8 times, so everybody goes hard even in the semi’s. I don’t agree with that, I like top 3 each heat plus next 2 fastest times. But whatever, it makes for fantastic racing.

Did you see the Kenyan athletics trials? Raggedy stadium, zero fans, laughable video presentation.

Plus, on the developmental hs-youth level, track's too scattered.

Case in point- how many track championships this weekend? Too many!

So not even the parents are fans? Great.

And how about having meets in places where fans/parents actually live?

There are about 1,000 competitors at swimming trials, how many at track trials?

And the money thing: we used to have chaos at track meets, there were thousands of people even for elementary school champs. And 95% were poor, took the bus, and packed their own food and drinks.

The only reason money is a barrier is because USATF makes it so, to serve their own convenience. Screw them.

A couple swimming field events please and Im all in! Drag something heavy off the bottom for time, some kind of barriers to go over in lanes etc... I've been in Omaha and Iowa City for wrestling. Different kind of people. My daughter swam for years with hs trials qualifiers and I grew up in the center of the wrestling universe.

Our sport just ain’t that sexy. We can’t do a zillion prelims, we won’t ever be as hunky.

what’s our shortest event? Over in 10 seconds. In swimming? Over in 20 seconds. The average swim event is what, maybe 2-3 minutes, diff strokes add variety, and there are more rounds.

there’s just more going on with swimming that you can visually latch onto. Underwaters, dives, etc

We agree. Thats why I said they are interested in their own promotion over the sport. They cant handle what it would take to make it great. I know many people that would do it for much less and get much better results.

I say hang a $1000 bill over the finish line every lap of a steeple, 5k and 10k at USATF. Some people know they wont win but theyll keep the pace honest for several laps. Either that or jus start shooting the last guy each lap. You're out!

Yes! My wife’s uncle was one of the national wrestling coaches. Tremendous atmosphere there. Their trials were held at Penn State this year.

Turn up the sound on that YT vid and listen to the crowd.

Progression seems to imply obvious doping. How many Kenyan swimmers tested positive this year so far ? Any burrito excuses ?

Lol at this point, I agree with that sentiment. I’m pretty sure the Roman Colosseums and Hippodromes were full😁

Well it doesn't help that track fans are tye biggest cheapskates in the world.

IF that’s true, then recognize it and make it cheaper and accessible. They’re like the government, completely ignoring the supply-and-demand relationship.

(And maybe they aren’t cheap, maybe it’s just not good value.).

Or maybe both things, combined.

But whatever. The way it is now, it’s lame as F, and not just compared to swimming.

I’d like the USATF like US Swimming did for their Olympic Trials: change a NFL football stadium into their swimming venue. That took creativity, money, and balls! Maybe the USATF could figure out alternative trials to hold the trials in the middle of the country and the track fans could attend the trials.