Sorry Rupp fans, Black Cactus is about to bring you back to reality!

Did Rupp already sign with Nike... offically?

nope.

expect something in a few weeks.

i hope the kid gets a massive contract and a massive signing bonus, pays off the 100k his parents borrowed and loaned him, buys them a new house, a house for himself, a nice car, a condo for his girlfriend, and whatever else he wants.

he's a class act.

a good dude.

and an excellent runner looking to greatness!

not yet.... wrote:

nope.

expect something in a few weeks.

i hope the kid gets a massive contract and a massive signing bonus, pays off the 100k his parents borrowed and loaned him, buys them a new house, a house for himself, a nice car, a condo for his girlfriend, and whatever else he wants.

he's a class act.

a good dude.

and an excellent runner looking to greatness!

When Rupp signs that bad boy there are going to be a lot of haters who get sick for a week knowing that in 3-4 years he will be debt free and have more invested and in the bank than the majority of them will amass in half their lifetimes. He'll deserve his reward and they'll deserve their misery because they just can't get over it.

This isn't a Rupp ass kissing thread. Let's get back to the Abdi talk here.

There is a question mark on how tired Rupp will be. He has done a lot of racing and if the pace is quick, he may have dead legs at the end. You see it with a lot of college distance guys at the USATF championships. Also, he may not be able to close as quickly off a faster pace 27:30 compared to 28:40, it will be interesting to see.

Overall, I still think Rupp is the favorite. Another person who may be in the mix is Meb. He has been silent since London and if he is training for this and healthy, can get into the 27:30s

Black Cactus Super Fan wrote:

This isn't a Rupp ass kissing thread. Let's get back to the Abdi talk here.

Haha, fair enough. How do you see this race shaking down?

If I were Nelson and Torres I'd try to make it honest and hope that Abdi isn't feeling it. When Abdi is off, he's off, but when he smells blood in the form of victory he's tough to beat.

If nobody pushes it it goes hugely to Rupps favor, so Rupp has no motivation to lead it. He wants his first US championship title the same way he wanted his first NCAA title. I don't think anyone in that field has run 1:49, 3:39 or closed any race in a :52 or a 2:25 jogging in.

Abdi probably wants it fast to hopefull sap Rupp, and Torres and Nelson probably want it fast to sap Abdi, Goucher, Meb and Rohatinsky.

To me, and I can't believe he wasn't mentioned on this thread but the biggest threat might be Ritz. He's kind of a wild card because now that he's spit with Hudson he may run better thinking that he's doing what he needs to, or run worse if he doesn't have a good plan to follow. Either way he seems fairly serious about this race and probably wants to prove himself.

I say Ritz and Abdi are up there baging it out with Rupp in the mix and maybe trading leads just to keep it fast and keep guys like Torres out of it. If this happens I think a 27:30 pace race is very capable with Rupp closing it out the fastest and taking it down to 27:22-27:25 at the end.

Rupp is gonna let Abdi's skinny ass lead the way and then he is going to dust the cactus in the last 1200 while the adoring home crowd gives him a standing ovation almost as loud as the Oly 800 meter final.

Count on it.

I expect guys like Meb, Abdi, and Ritz to share the lead and push the pace. This could be one epic race.

karma policia wrote:

not yet.... wrote:

nope.

expect something in a few weeks.

i hope the kid gets a massive contract and a massive signing bonus, pays off the 100k his parents borrowed and loaned him, buys them a new house, a house for himself, a nice car, a condo for his girlfriend, and whatever else he wants.

he's a class act.

a good dude.

and an excellent runner looking to greatness!

When Rupp signs that bad boy there are going to be a lot of haters who get sick for a week knowing that in 3-4 years he will be debt free and have more invested and in the bank than the majority of them will amass in half their lifetimes. He'll deserve his reward and they'll deserve their misery because they just can't get over it.

It is not going to take Rupp 3-4 years to be debt free, he'll be debt free in about 3-4 WEEKS.

Nike is going to reward this kid, BIGTIME.

Unlike NFL contracts we may never hear a "number."

But, my bet is it will be larger than Walter Dix got, and 4 times what Webb got.

The kid has been to an Olympics, won 6 NCAA titles, and he's got like...ties to the tradition.

It is a dream scenario for everyone all around.

They can't write him a big enough check.

He deserves it.

I hope it is massive, I hope they do release a number, and it can then be rubbed in the noses of all the nutheaded haters here the last 5 years.

From The Stands wrote:

There is a question mark on how tired Rupp will be. He has done a lot of racing and if the pace is quick, he may have dead legs at the end. You see it with a lot of college distance guys at the USATF championships.

There is that possibility. There is also the possibility that emotionally he's a little flat after what he had to do at NCAA's, which I think is the biggest reason college guys are flat at USA's. However Rupp is insanely meticulous about preparation and energy conservation (both physical and emotional) and my imaginary money is on him having all the goods to deliver. But if he's off just a hair that could cost him the title. I do think it would take at least a sub 27:20 effort by someone to take the title over him though.

Man, I feel like it's been so long since the Black Cactus has done something even though it really hasn't. Go get 'em Abdi!! Run it like you did at the trials and celebrate like you can homie!!

Rupp is FIT. As much as Abdi has done.. I think Rupp wins this one.

Havent read the whole thread. I may not be saying anything new. But Galen is wearing the Oregon Jersy to get the Collegiate Record. He will run on Abdi and force him to run fast, then with 1200 left he'll drop a 2:58 to finish the race and whoop Abdi in a beatdown final sprint.

Rupp is now better than abdi. I hate to say it because rupp is a complete tool. Rupp will beat him now and then again in berlin. Whatever he is doing has allowed him to make a huge jump this year.

I can't believe it took so long for someone to mention Ritz this thread either. I was thinking it the whole time like I was going to be making a breakthrough but someone got to it first. Remember, he's got marathon strength, that Galen does not, he's got a similar 5k pr, that 8:11 two mile is better than Galen has run for a similar race, and while he hasn't done it, you'd be to think he can't run 3:39. Also last year he ran basically 28:00 with three or four weeks of marathon training under his belt, with no focus on the 10k.

I'm not saying he will win, and I know last time (to my recollection) they raced at 10k Rupp beat him, and Rupp is certainly a much different runner now than he was then. And Dathan is a little bit of a wild card coming off a coaching change. Just saying, how can you count out Ritz in a big race like this?

So...Slower PR + Slower closing speed + Mediocre recent results (13:30+ 5k) + No track PRs in the last year = Ritz is the big threat to beat Rupp and Abdi?

Black Cactus Super Fan wrote:

Unlike Rupp, Abdi wasn't racing for 10th.

So you're saying Abdi threw the race when he realized he wasn't going to medal?

Also, I really hope they release a number when Rupp signs his contract. It makes our sport seem like such a two-bit operation when they don't release the figures.

Yeah I gotta think Ritz is in 27:3X shape now in a fast race and overall his tools seem very comparable to Meb, Abdi and Rupp, with both Ritz and Rupp capable of more on the short end. Meb would be a huge surprise for me since he just doesn't seem to have run anything fast on the track in a really long time and I'm not sure where he trains really helps him for it.

I think the 2007 worlds 10K team will remain the same, but with Rupp as the fastest and hopefully all 3 ready to break 27:20 come worlds.

Yes.

The Rabble Rouser wrote:

So...Slower PR + Slower closing speed + Mediocre recent results (13:30+ 5k) + No track PRs in the last year = Ritz is the big threat to beat Rupp and Abdi?