thumbs down??usa fans?

"um sprints are kinda boring" I think if u checked the general populus you'd find the opposite opinion.

The general populus isn't tough enough for distance running. I agree on sprints. There is no drama in a 10 second race.

So does sprinting, neither is exactly easy, I t hink a 10 second race can be alot more interesting because there is such little room for error, it leads to drama. PErsonally I think the 400-1500 are the best events in track( including the relays).

Well, maybe sprints has drama for those with technical knowledge of them, but those who don't have that knowledge, the 100m is like, "Oop, there they go. Oop, they're done." Not very exciting. Distance running has the excitement of not really knowing who's going to be able to pull through at the end of the race. For track to gain popularity in America it needs to be something that people can enjoy without vast technical knowledge of the sport.

Yes, I agree, middle distance races are probably the most spectator friendly because the last 5 minutes at longest, but are still long enough to build some excitement.

sorry still have to disagree with you here, I like distance races but i think u're clearly biased. The average fan( with no technical knowledge would stil rather watch a 100 meter than a 10 k just because AMericans are obsessed with speed and the whole concept of "worlds fastest man", i'm sorry u ask 10 non track runners what's they'd rather watch and it'll almost be unanimous.

ps GOd stops what she's doing in heaven to watch every 400m race.

oh, puhleeeeeeez!!!

there is no way that Joe Q. American prefers watching some rail-thin skeletors jog around for 3-24 laps, then all kick in for 150 meters.

sprints, jumps and throws are as American as apple pie - short, powerful and satisfying to short attention spans

take a poll and I'll dang near guarantee you that a majority of Yanks would rather watch a 100 than a 5k any day

Americans enjoy the mile/1500 quite a bit IF the American wins the race and is the best. If an American athlete were the top miler in the world, the way, say Greene has been in the 100 or Johnson in the 400, he would be the most popular athlete in the sport.

If Webb had done what Ryun did - set a world record in his freshman year of college - his noteriety would have been over the moon.

The only reason you guys perfer the distance races is because you're distance runners. The only reason you're distance runners is because you're too slow to be sprinters. As a result, you bad mouth sprinting because it makes you feel good and makes your inadequecies less noticable. Every little kid wants to run faster than everyone else, its only when they realize that they can't that they run distance to find a way to beat those they are slower then.

I think that the sprints are great - very exciting events. The level of sprinting in the U.S. is far higher in terms of world position than the distance runs in the U.S.. Why you think that I'd bad mouth sprinting is beyond me.

At the same time, I'll admit that my favorite events are middle and long distance running. Even at a young age I prefered longer races. The physical and mental challenge were overwhelmingly engrossing. The pain of racing middle and long distance is purifying. It puts you on another plane of being, or let's just say affects your mood.

I can remember racing kids in the neighborhood - always just sprints. But I also remember on a whim trying to run long distances by myself as a challenge. I'd run hard too, and afterwards I'd feel good. There is something satisfying about meeting a long tough challenge that calls you to endure - to call on your will power to keep you going when your body has long told you to stop. There's a feeling that you have put mind over matter - that your spirit has won out over your body. That's a feeling worth running for.

well since we're describing why we love our events, I love sprinting because there's so little room for error. I'm sure we've all watched meets where the elite athletes talk about a part of their race going wrong and we sometimes think of them as excuses but that's what sprinting is to me... an ongoing effort to find the perfect race. ( distance runners arent too bad either they're cool in a strangely sad way)

Sprinting is gun fighting. Don't flinch, but explode. Tremendously exciting when you're into it.

dude, Golden League meet in Paris...Nicole Teter in the last 200 of the 1500...very exciting shit! We were all freaking out! So i disagree that meets are boring. It's just poor PR on whoever's part and the worst time slots in the history of time slots, if they even bother to televise the meet. If you can't be there, u have to set your VCR for 1 am to get any of the good meets...or quit your job so u can watch at one in the afternoon. it's lame. not the meets, but the lack of PR. hmmm...can u buys tapes of this stuff on the internet...like the world cross-country championships? if anyone knows please let me know!

peace peace

velocity

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