no offense, but you sound like a psycho dad.
no offense, but you sound like a psycho dad.
The funny thing is that yes Hall was very humble after the race, as expected. Yet the word on the street is that he was talking smack to Ritz more than once during their duel and supposedly said "how do you like that bitch" when he made his initial move to drop Dathan! If that is true, I don't understand it because Ritz is the last guy I'd want to motivate!
Another observation. I've now witnessed 3 amazing finishes (2 of them I have had the fortune of witnessing in person) that include CU guys. Gouch at the 2000 Oly trials gutting out that 5000 win, the Torres-Cragg duel from NC cross last year, and now Ritz' win. Gotta give it to those Buffaloes they usually know how to close the deal!
Seeing the Ritz-Hall duel in person didn't even compare to the coverage on t.v. so, way to go Fox! Either Hall went to early or Ritz is just about the gutsiest dude there is!
Thanks for such a terrific description of the race and the call of it.
interstate wrote:
The best part of the broadcast was watching Carrie Tollefson, oh, sorry, you mean the race!? Okay, seriously. First off, I was impressed with Ryan Hall, never having seen him run before. He has a very smooth, fluid, efficient running style. He's relatively tall with long legs. Hall led virtually the entire time through the first 6K. Ritz was back in the pack, and by about that 6K mark was right up in the front row. Ritz started to push the pace, and Hall stayed right with him. They had some great video shots of the leaders and the lead pack. At about 8K you could tell it was going to be Hall and Ritz. At about 9K or so Hall started to open up a lead, oh, say about at least 8-10 meters. He was looking smooth. Just past 9K they had a perfect along-side video full-body shot of Hall running like an antelope, stride opened up, well in front of Ritz. The announcer was saying he looked like he was in full flight, and Torres agreed that it looked like it was Hall's race. They both said if it came down to the finish, that Hall had the advantage because of his 1500 speed. Ritz started to look a bit strained. At that point, if you didn't already know the outcome, you would have bet your life that Hall was going to win it. If you've read the articles and the interviews from the race, you know that at that point Ritz said he made up his mind he was not going to lose this race, and on the tape you can probably see right where this was going through his mind. The last 600 meters or so was just the most amazing thing. Torres I think sensed it first, almost before you could see it, but he started to get excited and was almost yelling "Dathan Ritzenhein is starting to push!!, Dathan Ritzenhein is closing the gap!!, Dathan Ritzenhein is pulling even with Hall!!, and a couple other yells of Dathan Ritzenhein is doing this or that or something or other. Unbelievably, Ritz was beginning to sprint, and he pulled even with Hall, and then kept right on going past him. I don't know where Ritz was pulling his strength from, he must have been drawing from something I don't even know if he knew he had. His face was in agony, but he was looking straight ahead, perfect form, continuing to inch ahead of Hall to maybe 3-4 meters. He held that lead for a little bit, his legs just pumping away like that cyborg-morphed-into-cop on one of those Terminator movies. Hall made a move, maybe gained a step, but then the gap just stayed the same and Ritz held him off. It was as exciting as all-get-out. Ritz probably sprinted the entire last quarter mile, I don't know how, I think he must have simply willed himself to win. I don't know how he could have held that sprint for so long. Anyway, both Hall and Ritz are going to continue to improve, and I wish them both the best of success. And thanks to FOX for doing the broadcast. As for Torres being an announcer, obviously he's just a 23-year old kid with no broadcast experience, and a bias towards Ritz. I suppose he was picked for this event long before anyone knew that Ritz would be in that position, so his "cheering" for Ritz doesn't bother me much. A great race to watch, that showed a lot of guts and determination from Hall and Ritz.
Did the "quote" from Hall come from other runners or from spectators?
Was the "quote" from Hall from other runners or from spectators?
It probably came from people just wanted to "talk". Hall is a dyehard christian from what I have read in most in his interviews, so i dont think he would be calling Ritz a bitch. On spikers website, I guess they went to church together the next day? So I doubt it. Gosh I feel like a loser knowing that much information. lol. Too much Information about thier personal lifes.
all you jorge-haters need to get real. jorge calling the last 600 meters was the best part of that whole broadcast. if you want smooth delivery watch olympic f***ing ice skating.