The USATF needs a new department that comes up with nicknames for all track and field athletes, U.S. or other wise. This would bring a ton of excitement to the sport-that isn't just a dude out kicking another guy, that's the motherf***ing "dragonstrider" taking it to the "kickmeister". How awesome would that be? Once you get a name, you cannot change it unless the committee apporoves the new name. Have a bad race and the committee can change your name temporarily to something bad...like if a marathoner runs a 10000 and gets out kicked, they could get a name like Tom "can't kick to save his life" Jones. Or Alan "chunkster" Webb if he runs over 3:50. Some runners already have nicknames like Hicham "The king" El Guerrouj, Haile "the emperor" Geb, abdi "the black cactus" etc.
I think hyping our athletes is the best way to better present our sport. Get an announcer that has done fights before and have him announce all the contestants in a loud, dramatic voice that gets people pumped. Just saying a guys name and his number won't do shit. People want to cheer, but we aren't giving them enough reason to. Get the environment of a big title fight and the crowd will respond.
Some examples:
Brian "Lionheart" Sell
Ryan "The Prodigy" Hall
Alan "The record muncher" Webb
Shalane "Greensaver" Flanagan
Tirunesh "The Babyfaced Destroyer" Dibaba
Bernard "The smooth strider" Lagat
Craig "Large Ones" Mottram
Leonel "The Man" Manzano
Chris "The forgotten one" Lukezic
Mebrahtom "The revived" Keflezighi
Adam "Mr. Kara" Goucher
Tyson "The human muscle" Gay
Anthony "The big apple" Famiglietti
Matt "10k champ" Tegenkamp
Nick "Beachboy" Symmonds
Chris "lean and mean" Solinsky
Galen "The Nike Science Experiment" Rupp
Kara "The Oregonian Destroyer" Goucher
Nick "The kiwi machine" Willis
Kenenisa "The invincible one" Bekele
Anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?