"the bowerman award"--they cant be serious?

Galen Rupp won the award because he was clearly the best athlete in the NCAA this year. Indoors, he won the 3k, 5k and then outkicked Dorian Ulrey in the DMR....are you kidding me? Then in outdoor he won the 5k and the 10k. He probably could've gotten top 3 in the 1500 as well. Nobody in the NCAA had that type of range. He also won NCAA cross along with a team title. Who else should of deserved the award?? and Ashton Eaton is an incredible athlete. He absolutely dominated the Decathalon. Oregon had 2 of the 3 best athletes in the NCAA this year. It was just a coincidence.

Go back to your hole and plot how to overthrow the Nike Oregon World Domination Conspiracy.

The whole oregon/nike poisoning the minds of the NCAA act is getting a tad old.

peruvian,

please re-read my post and debate the overarching argument--not a peripheral one and following that with unnecessary insults.

my main point here is that the recent creation of the track and field's heisman award is suspiciously and strongly associated with the university of oregon. typically such awards have "sterile" names that establish them as an objective, unbiased awards. however, naming this award the "bowerman award" seems to be closer to the "the home depot center" than the "heisman award."

and that, i'm sorry, is not an ethical decision. the fact that two oregonians were finalists only strengthens the main point--it isnt the main point itself.

chuck s wrote:

this also makes one wonder just how close the ncaa and oregon/nike is. in my humble opinion, i like the names heisman award (football) and herman award (soccer) because they are objective titles that are not affiliated with any school, business, or corporation.

Obviously you didn't do your homework.

On John Heisman

His most impressive coaching reign was with Georgia Tech (1904-1919) where his Golden Tornado were a scoring powerhouse with an astounding 33 straight wins.

On Hermann

Robert Hermann is as associated with St. Louis as you can possibly get. There is a major stadium there named after him.

Naming the Track award after Bowerman is no more or less arbitrary or influnced than the Hermann or Heisman. He was a great and influencial figure in modern US Collegiate track. Just as Hermann and Heisman were in their sports.

At least try and do some reserach before you post your half cooked conspiracy theories. Both Rupp and Eaton decisively won their events and also made the World Championship team for the U.S. and did well. Name me two more deserving athletes to be nominated.

Your bias and hatred have greatly clouded your judgement.

I bet most HS recruits haven't the foggiest idea who Bill Bowerman is, let alone what he did.

Greg wrote:

I bet most HS recruits haven't the foggiest idea who Bill Bowerman is, let alone what he did.

HS snot nosed punks worship pre, they know who Bowerman was.

C'mon man,

Clearly you looked that up, cut, and pasted it from Wikipedia, which means that you, the average athlete, had no idea the origins/history/associations of these names.

They are safe, sterile, and, for the most part, innocuous.

OBVIOUSLY these two awards were named after people associated with other teams in the past. Obviously. Yet, little to no people know the history behind them...in fact, I'd be willing to bet you didn't even know the Herman Award existed for soccer. I know I wouldn't have if I didn't spend one year playing on a Division I soccer team.

However, the running community will ALWAYS be able to associate "Bowerman" with "University of Oregon" thanks to the marketing Nike does, from its shoe line to its posters.

I'm just asking for a little critical thinking here, LetsRun.

Here are some questions to consider:

1. Who was on the panel to make this decision to call it "The Bowerman Award" ?

2. Who appointed these people to this decision-making panel?

3. Whose ideas was it to create this award anyway? The NCAA? Oregon? Nike? How do we NOT KNOW Phil Knight went to the NCAA and said, "Hey, we gotta great idea here."

3. What level of transparency existed during this process of creating, naming, and establishing this award? While I'm not on this site daily, today was the first I've ever heard of this award.

Bottom line is this: no one knows "Herman" or "Heisman" from Adam or Eve. Even the guy making this counter argument clearly didn't just pull it from his memory; instead, he looked it up and pasted it in his thread. Yet, everyone in track KNOWS who Bowerman is, knows his association with Oregon, and this thus perpetuates this developing cycle of Oregon positioning themselves in strategic ways that only helps them sell more Bowerman shoes and t-shirts from their bookstore.

I will say this: there is most certainly a reason why the "Heisman Award" is not called "The Knute Rockne Award."

I rest my case.

what should they have called it instead?

DId you ever think that just maybe its not some huge conspiracy and they named the award after someone that changed the sport of track and field and is a historical figure in track and field? But other than that do you realize that NCAA Football also has named many other awards after other great athletes, such as the Doak Walker Award, the Fred Bednarik award, the Davey O'Brien award, etc. The point is that so many awards are awarded to people that were relevant to their sport. And before you say you I had to look all of that stuff up, your right I did look some of it up but I already knew all those awards were named after significant people.

Also did you ever think that it is possible that the average track fan would not no who Bowerman was, just like me the average football fan knows little about those people like Doak Walker and Fred Bednarik.

It is Chuck Bednarik, and Fred Bilenikoff. Also there is an award called the Vince Lombardi award that goes to the best defensive lineman, and you can't tell me Lombardi does not go directly with Green Bay Packers. Its the same idea

Bottom line is this: no one knows "Herman" or "Heisman" from Adam or Eve. Even the guy making this counter argument clearly didn't just pull it from his memory; instead, he looked it up and pasted it in his thread. Yet, everyone in track KNOWS who Bowerman is, knows his association with Oregon, and this thus perpetuates this developing cycle of Oregon positioning themselves in strategic ways that only helps them sell more Bowerman shoes and t-shirts from their bookstore.

I will say this: there is most certainly a reason why the "Heisman Award" is not called "The Knute Rockne Award."

I rest my case.

I never played football competitively (except 7th grade before I found running) and I know who John Heisman is and why they named the award after him. I bet EVERY serious college football player knows at least that much. I wonder if they are skeptical of an undercover evil scheme as well?!

Did I mention it was an evil scheme?

I did?

ok good.

EEEEEEVVVVVIIIIIILLLLLL

chuck s wrote:

C'mon man, Yet, everyone in track KNOWS who Bowerman is

That's exactly why it's named after him.

chuck s wrote:

OBVIOUSLY these two awards were named after people associated with other teams in the past. Obviously. Yet, little to no people know the history behind them...in fact, I'd be willing to bet you didn't even know the Herman Award existed for soccer. I know I wouldn't have if I didn't spend one year playing on a Division I soccer team.

However, the running community will ALWAYS be able to associate "Bowerman" with "University of Oregon" thanks to the marketing Nike does, from its shoe line to its posters.

I'm just asking for a little critical thinking here, LetsRun.

During the period of time when the Hermann, Heisman, Lombardi, etc. awards were inaugurated, people widely knew the history of the leaders they were named after. The very intent of choosing the name of all the awards is to honor and memorialize its namesake. People will respect and value such awards if is widely recognized to be representative of of the ideals it is claimed to embody, so a primere award is never named after the obscure or ineffective. It's only through habit and use and being born into the current culture that the Heisman now seems "neutral" and therefore somehow inherently ethical to you, but at its inauguration there were people jealous of Heisman too.

So please consider doing some additional critical thinking of your own. Or at the least, I'd expect you to be agitating for the end of all these sports awards, as well as the Nobel prize.

Bowerman, Miss America, Heisman, Americam Idol, Miss Universe, BCS Champion are beauty pageants. There are judges that make subjective choices. It's not sports. So don't worry about it.

chuck s wrote:

did anyone else see this?

so the ncaa has a "heisman award" equivalent now; it's conveniently called "the bowerman award."

Since when is the Heisman not awarded to an NCAA athlete?

How about the mcdonnel award? How an people be soignorant? Bowerman can't touch his accomplishments!

Gosh, Chuck S, you may have rested your case. But you have no case. Getting bent out of shape because the award is named after Bowerman? Kinda silly.

Yanqui wrote:

Gosh, Chuck S, you may have rested your case. But you have no case. Getting bent out of shape because the award is named after Bowerman? Kinda silly.

You're missing his main point, which is that Nike is taking over the sport ans raping his mother.

Is it true what they say about him that Bowerman was the biggest user steroids and blood doping and was the idol of the East German and Russian teams.