Argument against Houston trials shows US elites are wussies

jjjjjjj,

I don't see a January marathon hurting someone. Those athletes can run a spring marathon in '11, the Trials in January of '12 and then a fall marathon in '12. That's 3 marathons instead of 4 (assuming both a spring and fall marathon would be typically planned) during that time period. It shouldn't be a big deal, perhaps even a better opportunity to spread out the races and be well prepared for all 3.

Strawman. Weak sauce.

cripes sake wrote:

Right. Like Khannouchi getting on Letterman after his 2:05. Man, remember that? That was dope! Running news was everywhere!

Great point! Remember how we had to wait almost a month to hear about Hall's AR half-marathon debut? Granted, it was only three weeks to wait for news coverage of Flanagan's half-marathon debut this year and maybe for the OT they'll be able to afford steroids for the carrier pigeons, so hopefully we'll get the news a week or two earlier. I don't know how the growth of the sport will ever recover from such a crushing blow, however. If only Paris or Tokyo or Hong Kong had bid for the USA OT marathons.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

But for the growth of the sport, you want to have it in a high profile location. How much coverage nationally was there of the recent Houston marathon? How much of Meb's victory at New York?

I don't think I've seen 1 valid argument here for not having the marathon in Houston. Again, and I don't know why people don't understand this, the primary factor in selecting Houston is money. That money gets distributed to the athletes in a very generous prize package. Some of them, making a nice pay day there would not get anywhere near that money in a fall or spring marathon.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

Tell me one thing about Houston that makes it good. The Olympics are in London. How does Houston help prepare them for that?

The course is on the wrong side of the road.

No one remembers the Olympic qualifiers, except track geeks. Everyone remembers Olympic medalists. Ryan Hall has never won a marathon, but he gets paid pretty good cash to be on Nissan print adds. Just think of the cash he would make if he won gold at the Olympics. Same for Kara Goucher. If that means risking a guaranteed pay day, then the risk is 100% worth it.

No one remembers Frank Shorter for winning Fukuoka four times.

John Smallberries wrote:

No one remembers the Olympic qualifiers, except track geeks. Everyone remembers Olympic medalists. Ryan Hall has never won a marathon, but he gets paid pretty good cash to be on Nissan print adds. Just think of the cash he would make if he won gold at the Olympics. Same for Kara Goucher. If that means risking a guaranteed pay day, then the risk is 100% worth it.

No one remembers Frank Shorter for winning Fukuoka four times.

Exactly. Where would Meb be without his O medal? I would like to see the sponsorship money the he and Deena got strictly for winning an Olympic medal. I am sure it was well worth skipping a marathon if they had to.

To follow the critics' logic fully, there shouldn't even be any OT marathons since the top runners could be running another marathon for more money instead. Might as well just select names from a performance list as it stands at the end of the track OT, right? Or, better yet, have a committee select the teams.

All the previous US success in Olympic marathons came with OTs in spring. Why now should that change?

And there is no money in running. So if a few people can make some money, they should. They should make as much as they can because the only way sponsors will spend money is if they think runners cost money.

How did Houston get both trials for 1.7 million?

Meb, Hall, Ritz, K Goucher, Kastor and Flanagan all are currently receiving 200k in appearance fees and time bonuses alone. Probably average 50k each in prize money. That is 1.5 million without getting to anyone else. The next wave can bring in 30k-50k each. Lewy and Blake Russell, Davila, Torres, Abdi, Lehmkuhle, A Goucher, Gotcher. That is another 300k which puts us over 1.8 million without getting to the 10k crew. Higgins, Moody, Arcinaga, Vega, Smythe, McGregor, White, Asmeron, Cox, Paulson, Browne, DeReuck..........you get the point. I think that NYRR got a bargain in 2007 and wanted it again on the cheap.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

Sixth, Boston and New York, because of their history and location relative to national media, would have guaranteed a big stage once again for each trials. Houston, by contrast, will be a blip in the news.

No Marathon in the world gets any sports media coverage period. Even Meb didn't get much press except on L.A. where he is from. The US Mara trials get no press as well. There are so many maras every week it's not news anymore except locally. call it Marathon saturation. Fans want to see lanced sports like UFC/MMA/NFL/UCI/MLB with phony athletes. They could care less about RR, mara, T&F. Houston will be a blip on the last pg just like Ber, Bos, Ny, etc. maras.

Abbrevs, much?

Adam Goucher is worried mommy won't have enough money to give him his allowance.

Off the Grid wrote:

All the previous US success in Olympic marathons came with OTs in spring. Why now should that change?

Wrong. Frank Shorter's trials were held in July and late May.

Meb's trials were held in the first week of February, lending credence to the argument that the Houston trials are perfectly timed for peak performance at the Olympics.

jjjjjjjjj wrote:

The Olympics are in London. How does Houston help prepare them for that?

In terms of course and weather the 2012 Trials will be a better match for the Olympics than they have for quite some time. For example, 2004 in Birmingham and 2007 in NYC weren't close to the conditions of the Olympics.

Ray wrote:

I don't think I've seen 1 valid argument here for not having the marathon in Houston. Again, and I don't know why people don't understand this, the primary factor in selecting Houston is money. That money gets distributed to the athletes in a very generous prize package. Some of them, making a nice pay day there would not get anywhere near that money in a fall or spring marathon.

Bingo. Mediocre at the trials will pay more than winning Richmond or Vermont City, etc.

John Smallberries wrote:

Money lost running a fall or spring marathon would be made up with the sponsorship money that would pour in with an Olympic medal.

You mean all they have to do to make up for the lost income of a huge appearance fee is win an Olympic medal? Why didn't Deriba Merga think of that? Or Magda Lewy, or Paula or Blake Russell think of that? All they had to do was win an Olympic medal.

on the runs wrote:

John Smallberries wrote:

Money lost running a fall or spring marathon would be made up with the sponsorship money that would pour in with an Olympic medal.

You mean all they have to do to make up for the lost income of a huge appearance fee is win an Olympic medal? Why didn't Deriba Merga think of that? Or Magda Lewy, or Paula or Blake Russell think of that? All they had to do was win an Olympic medal.

I mean that US athletes need to be prepared to make sacrifices if they want to win a medal. And if they do win a medal, the rewards will easily eclipse the lost fees from both a spring and fall marathon. If they just want the surefire income from the spring and fall marathon season, then bag the olympics and bag your chance at making history to come in 7th in Boston.

what part of "how much" did you not understand? Hall's performance was certainly not national news.