We've received a few emails regarding the piece so I figured I'd start a thread to discuss it. Here is the article in case you haven't seen it:
And here's the text of an email we got :
http://www.letsrun.com/2006/bostonrecap.php
I found your editorial on this last Boston marathon to be interesting but a little too positive. If we are talking about times that Americans ran in the early eighties than, yes, we are approaching those times again - with the caveat that what were world leading times in the early eighties are simply second tier, national class times now. Can we move up to the 2:05 -2:08 range? Probably not with the current players. Will this encourage young potential Americans to move up and exceed our expectations? Let's hope so. I see a lot of potential out there if they set high enough goals. The comments by runners on your forum regarding Culpepper are telling.
But Boston is not being completely altruistic when they suddenly start fawning over the Americans. It was more like a self-serving rescue effort as you subtly pointed out. And there is nothing wrong with that - "who else they gonna turn to" if they don't have the money to bring in the best"?
But we are ignoring the bear in the woods when we laud the American runners and their performance at Boston. And that bear is the superior African distance runners. American television and casual runner viewing interest in professional distance running dropped steadily as the Africans continued to show up in increasing numbers and then started dominating the races. The major networks subsequently dropped live marathon coverage supposedly due to a drop in viewers.
And this doesn't even begin to address issues like Michael Johnson refusing to run in the U.S. because of the money game. And he has the gall now to run around and complain about American support of track and field. I well remember New Orleans and his refusal to run there and how, after it was announced he wouldn't run, the stands emptied. It ruined the Meet. I see his client Jeremy Warnier is doing the "million dollar" circuit in Europe. Good for him but how many Meets will Jeremy Warnier run in this U.S. this season?
The Gasparilla Distance Classic was/is the perfect example. When Americans/Brits/Aussies were winning it all, there was prime time, live local TV coverage, banner headlines in the papers, pages of background stories on the runners-you name it. World records were being set in Tampa -the prize money was good for that period in time and the running community here supported the race one hundred percent. Then the Africans moved in and, in a few short years, completely dominated the race. Television and newspaper coverage disappeared, for all practical purposes, and then the charities were able to wrest control of the race away from the original organizers and thus prize money disappeared and it was turned into a "local" race. Now they give token prize money to locals. When Poe and Associates established this race, it was the stated intent to establish a world class race by bringing in the best runners in the world. Well, apparently the current regime doesn't believe that includes Africans.
You are criticizing the wrong group when you attack the prize money given the wheelies. That is like beating up Mother Theresa. Let that one go:-) It has no importance in the overall scheme of things.
So, can we bring the Americans up to world class standards? Let's give the youngsters ten years and see. I believe we can. Boston's sponsorship of national class is a needed step, but only a step. It won't endure if we can't go beyond that. And the television public has shown decisively that they have no interest in supporting races dominated by foreigners. Can that be changed?
Thanks for your editorial. Oh, and when you said "they run for the win" I hope you didn't mean that Americans don't and all that implies.
Do more editorials and start interviewing the "players" in our sport. Obviously, we don't want a lot of sugar-coating but you have to walk a careful line on this. No one is going to consent to being interviewed if they know that Letsrun operates in an "attack" mode.. On the other hand, the suck-up approach Larry King uses is just disgusting.
Oh, and one last comment, don't take disagreement with your editorials personally. No one has all the answers. But you guys are as close as anyone.