Come On!! Why is the NCAA XC Championships held on a Monday, and in Terre Haute? This is BAD for the sport.

I agree. They could make it much more spectator friendly. For some reason though, I don't think they are worried about that. I know I'll be watching.

So you can skip a day of school, dude!

There's alot of stupid people in cross country. The NCAA XC office is not exactly the place where the best people work. The stupidest people are at Nike which has NXN in Portland in December. What a bunch of idiots. No wonder nobody ever shows up.

They do a great job at the meet in Terre Haute, though. It's an A+ course.

With regionals being Nov. 14, the coaches felt that Nov. 21 was too soon. Nov. 22 is a Sunday (out via the BYU rule).

Nov. 23 becomes the first viable competitive day, made more palatible by necessitating only one missed day of classes.

Remembering that Thanksgiving break runs from Nov. 26 on, coaches didn't want to take away that "family time" from the athletes by having them either miss Thanksgiving at home or compete after spending that time at home. It was also felt that travel during Thanksgiving season could become unpredictable and problematic for the runners just prior to nationals.

Other coaches felt that shortening the season would be a disservice to 90% of the athletes, as they don't get to the championships.

they should move it year to year to each regional course. I would love to see NCAAs in VCP

I don't know if this is a factor, but the race probably does get more media attention being on a Monday, and not lost in the weekend's football games. That said, it still doesn't get much media attention.

There's alot of stupid people in cross country. The NCAA XC office is not exactly the place where the best people work. The stupidest people are at Nike which has NXN in Portland in December. What a bunch of idiots. No wonder nobody ever shows up.[/quote]

THE NXN is held in Portland because NIKE takes the atheltes/coaches to the NIKE campus. The only stupid one here is you.

The NCAA has it on Monday because thats what the COACHES voted for. Again the only stupid one here is you.

Think about this stuff before to post PLEASE! You make yourself look STUPID. [quote]Lotta Stupidity wrote:

perspective wrote:

They do a great job at the meet in Terre Haute, though. It's an A+ course.

With regionals being Nov. 14, the coaches felt that Nov. 21 was too soon. Nov. 22 is a Sunday (out via the BYU rule).

Nov. 23 becomes the first viable competitive day, made more palatible by necessitating only one missed day of classes.

The obvious solution would be to move the date of the REGIONALS back two days. Hold it on a Thursday. Then, have your big event on a Saturday.

I'm guessing the geniuses are too smart for that one.

I don't mind it being on Monday but it really should be somewhere a little further south. The weather in Indiana at the end of November is not so great. I went to the last championship meet they had in Waterloo (prior to Terre Haute) and it was about 20 degrees and windy... absolutely horrible!

Son of Dad wrote:

The obvious solution would be to move the date of the REGIONALS back two days. Hold it on a Thursday. Then, have your big event on a Saturday.

I'm guessing the geniuses are too smart for that one.

I think the problem that the NCAA would find with this is that it puts over 10x's the amount of STUDENT athletes out of school than the way it is with nationals on a Monday. Also, I think having it on a Monday does get it out of the was of the much bigger sport of college football where many members of the media are more likely go and more people would more likely watch.

From what I've heard and experienced, Indiana State does a tremendous job with putting the meet on. But, a better location might help with better coverage and awareness. Moving through regional courses every year would be sweet, but regional courses change every couple years. Having a solid location at a more populated location that is easier to access would add a more iconic figure to the sport. I love the history behind the bowl games in college football. The average sports fan could tell you exactly where the bowl games are played. This should be the same for cross, in which it almost already is. It just seems as though ISU is way too small for a national meet. Honestly, I don't have any suggestions because it seems as though most of the best courses I have been to are at similar po-dunk towns (Chili Pepper, OSU Jamboree, etc.) It would be sweet to have it at Central Park because of the location, but I'm not sure the condition of the park or anything else about it. Anyways, that is my two cents.

WHY IS THE BOSTON MARATHON ON A MONDAY!!! THIS IS BAD FOR THE SPORT!!!

WHY IS ING NYC THE DAY AFTER HALLOWEEN!!! THIS IS BAD FOR THE SPORT!!

ATTENTION PUSSIES (not the poster who this is technically a reply to, because i agree w/ you):

clearly you just realized in the last week or so that this is when NCAAs are. observe the nature of ncaa's for a few years, and then comment.

pardon my use of an improper apostrophe.

No problem with the Terre Haute venue (it's an excellent course for both participants and spectators), but the "Monday problem" could be solved simply by moving up the date. I understand this would require moving up all the other race dates as well, but would it really be that difficult?

Let's face it, most XC teams run only 5 or 6 races per season these days (if that many), and they probably send their "A" teams to only half of those. With these thread-bare schedules, teams could race nearly each weekend through mid-October and then have Regionals and Nationals knocked out by early November.

I'm sure my idea has holes in it, but I still think it has merit.

already sub 15 wrote:

they should move it year to year to each regional course. I would love to see NCAAs in VCP

I don't suppose the fact you'd need a local organizing committee willing and able to take on the task of running such a meet affects your thinking as to where the championships should be held?

Um, yeah wrote:

already sub 15 wrote:

they should move it year to year to each regional course. I would love to see NCAAs in VCP

I don't suppose the fact you'd need a local organizing committee willing and able to take on the task of running such a meet affects your thinking as to where the championships should be held?

Agreed. I don't think people realize how many individuals are needed to host a meet of this magnitude. It's not just the folks on the course, either.

More importantly: why doesn't the chocolate milk mile get more coverage?

Move it up wrote:

No problem with the Terre Haute venue (it's an excellent course for both participants and spectators), but the "Monday problem" could be solved simply by moving up the date.

As someone already pointed out, it is an advantage - not a disadvantage - to hold the meet on a Monday rather than a Saturday in terms of media coverage. There's no way NCAA xc could compete against college football and build-up to NFL games. The problem is that the meet is always in places that are a major pain in the ass to get to, both for spectators and the media. If the meet was in NYC or Boston (or somewhere else within a moderate drive of NYC), you'd have a lot more press there and the increase of spectators would make the atmosphere a lot more exciting. It's fairly simple if media coverage is the priority, but something tells me that's not a major objective of the NCAA or coaches.

Hooman Leeg wrote:

Agreed. I don't think people realize how many individuals are needed to host a meet of this magnitude. It's not just the folks on the course, either.

Which brings up the question, just how many locations (ie groups/universities) actually have any desire to bid on hosting this meet?

Are there really any other universities demanding that they be allowed to host instead of having it in Terre Haute?

quikchik wrote:

I don't mind it being on Monday but it really should be somewhere a little further south. The weather in Indiana at the end of November is not so great. I went to the last championship meet they had in Waterloo (prior to Terre Haute) and it was about 20 degrees and windy... absolutely horrible!

I remember going to watch that race. It was the day after my first marathon. Absolutely miserable.