Alan Webb not running US Champs

The curse of the HS phenom continues...(except for Marty Liquori I suppose)

Jim Ryun gets beaten by Kip at 1968 olympics after setting WR. Never the same again.

Tim Danielson murders wife and tries to kill himself

Alan Webb after one good year in 2007 has disappeared into mediocrity. And inconsistent years prior to 2007 as well.

Gerry Lindgren -- after showing great potential in the 60s ...no where to be seen in the olympics of 64 or 68. Eventually disappearing altogether and resurfacing in Hawaii.

German...bad luck and mediocrity. Has been swallowed by the curse.

Jeff Nelson...a bright flame extinguished, in Eugene no less.

Pre....died in car accident before realizing full potential.

Julia Stamps...actually I don't know what happened to her.

Obea Moore...what a damn shame.

Lukas Verzbikas...what will happen to him?

Truth Sayer wrote:

The curse of the HS phenom continues...(except for Marty Liquori I suppose)

Jim Ryun gets beaten by Kip at 1968 olympics after setting WR. Never the same again.

Tim Danielson murders wife and tries to kill himself

Alan Webb after one good year in 2007 has disappeared into mediocrity. And inconsistent years prior to 2007 as well.

Gerry Lindgren -- after showing great potential in the 60s ...no where to be seen in the olympics of 64 or 68. Eventually disappearing altogether and resurfacing in Hawaii.

German...bad luck and mediocrity. Has been swallowed by the curse.

Jeff Nelson...a bright flame extinguished, in Eugene no less.

Pre....died in car accident before realizing full potential.

Julia Stamps...actually I don't know what happened to her.

Obea Moore...what a damn shame.

Lukas Verzbikas...what will happen to him?

THen you have guys like Bob Schul who can dominate the world in his mid to late 20's that had very average to almost mediocre HS and college careers.

Seems like the coaches and handlers of these big boys are screwing them up. Schul did all his stuff on his own.

Webb's career is a tale of what might have been, had he gotten a real coach early on. Sad. Then again, he has a cute wife and will probably be a good suburban family guy.

Lots of trophies on the wall and such.

I'm not caving yet on German Fernandez. Lets just let him get out of Ok. State and get with a professional training group in a more conducive environment. For some, the college environment just doesn't work...ask Mr. Webb ha?

Could Webb be a an overpronator that does not absorb shock efficiently when striking the ground. Does this explain the injuries and lack of consistency?

Truth Sayer wrote:

The curse of the HS phenom continues...(except for Marty Liquori I suppose)

Jim Ryun gets beaten by Kip at 1968 olympics after setting WR. Never the same again.

Tim Danielson murders wife and tries to kill himself

Alan Webb after one good year in 2007 has disappeared into mediocrity. And inconsistent years prior to 2007 as well.

Gerry Lindgren -- after showing great potential in the 60s ...no where to be seen in the olympics of 64 or 68. Eventually disappearing altogether and resurfacing in Hawaii.

German...bad luck and mediocrity. Has been swallowed by the curse.

Jeff Nelson...a bright flame extinguished, in Eugene no less.

Pre....died in car accident before realizing full potential.

Julia Stamps...actually I don't know what happened to her.

Obea Moore...what a damn shame.

Lukas Verzbikas...what will happen to him?

Ryun - ran 3:52.8 (then the 3rd fastest mile in history) in 1972 a few weeks before the games and won the olympic trials 1500

Webb - on the upswing

Lindgren - was a favorite to win gold in 64 but sprained his ankle, set a world record at 6 miles the next year and has an amazing NCAA career

German - He needs to get out of OSU and he will be back

clearing the bs up wrote:

Webb - on the upswing

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

OK. I'm good now.

cynic wrote:

Does anyone know if Alan Webb have a new shoe contract?

If not, I bet he's not racing until he gets a new one. He can't afford a sub-par race if he's trying to get a long-term deal.

This would be consistent with Webb's preference to race only at peak fitness, but he's not going to win a big shoe contract by stating (once again) that he can't get into shape due to injury.

What can I say...shin happens.

F***in' Webb... what a damn loser.

Gets married to a nobody.

Loses shoe contract.

Fires a world-class coach.

Makes excuses for every sub-par race.

This guy is the bottom of the toilet bowl, man.

Truth Sayer wrote:

The curse of the HS phenom continues...(except for Marty Liquori I suppose)

Jim Ryun gets beaten by Kip at 1968 olympics after setting WR. Never the same again.

Tim Danielson murders wife and tries to kill himself

Alan Webb after one good year in 2007 has disappeared into mediocrity. And inconsistent years prior to 2007 as well.

Gerry Lindgren -- after showing great potential in the 60s ...no where to be seen in the olympics of 64 or 68. Eventually disappearing altogether and resurfacing in Hawaii.

German...bad luck and mediocrity. Has been swallowed by the curse.

Jeff Nelson...a bright flame extinguished, in Eugene no less.

Pre....died in car accident before realizing full potential.

Julia Stamps...actually I don't know what happened to her.

Obea Moore...what a damn shame.

Lukas Verzbikas...what will happen to him?

The concept has been explained before (why this whole curse thing isn't true): if you have, say, 10 HS phenoms and 2 become legends, it seems like most of them failed. Well, that's a 20% "have an extraordinary career rate". Now take all of the HS runners that weren't phenoms. Let's say there's 10,000. And 4 of them become legends. That's only a .04% "have an extraordinary career rate".

If you are a T&F field fan at this time though, and there's 6 really extraordinary athletes competing for your country, and the majority (67%) weren't HS phenoms, you might say "man, non-HS phenoms do much better later on than HS phenoms". But in reality 20% of the phenoms became great whereas only .04% of the non-phenoms became great.

You infer that Marty Liquori had a better career than Jim Ryun. Ryun set a WR and has an Olympic medal. Marty had an AR and a World Cup medal. Further, what would satisfy you for a HS phenom to be considered successful? Does he have to have a Geb-like career? If he has a Tergat-like record would that not be enough?Julie Stamps had a very decent NCAA career, came to NYC and decided to forgo a pro running life.This is the U.S. not the old USSR or East Germany, we have freedom of choice as to how to live our life and what to persue.I hope Webb, German and the other 'phenoms' reach their potential.Ritz - Successful or not?

Truth Sayer wrote:

The curse of the HS phenom continues...(except for Marty Liquori I suppose)

Jim Ryun gets beaten by Kip at 1968 olympics after setting WR. Never the same again.

Tim Danielson murders wife and tries to kill himself

Alan Webb after one good year in 2007 has disappeared into mediocrity. And inconsistent years prior to 2007 as well.

Gerry Lindgren -- after showing great potential in the 60s ...no where to be seen in the olympics of 64 or 68. Eventually disappearing altogether and resurfacing in Hawaii.

German...bad luck and mediocrity. Has been swallowed by the curse.

Jeff Nelson...a bright flame extinguished, in Eugene no less.

Pre....died in car accident before realizing full potential.

Julia Stamps...actually I don't know what happened to her.

Obea Moore...what a damn shame.

Lukas Verzbikas...what will happen to him?

Feng Suey wrote:

F***in' Webb... what a damn loser.

Gets married to a nobody.

Incorrect.

He did not get married to you.

On the high school stars:

Jim Ryun: World Records, multiple Olympic Games appearances, Silver Medal at Mexico City at high altitude (where altitude raised distance runners dominated and note there has not been a Summer Games at altitude since and likely never will).

Gerry Lindgren: 1964 Olympic Games, legendary NCAA career with multiple titles.

Alan Webb: American Record in mile.

Prefontaine: NCAA titles, American records, incredible 5000m at Munich Olympics (still one of the most exciting of all time) with multiple surges.

As for the rest, there is such a thing as reversion towards the mean. There is no "curse". There is merely the difficulty of maintaining extraordinary achievement. There is also the question of "will". Just because one has demonstrated great talent at a relatively early age it does not immediately follow that one will have the interest in nurturing that talent to some greatness.

dumpsterbaby wrote:

he should become a sport psycologist

And you, a speller.

And everybody dies...Should I list them?

Truth Sayer wrote:

The curse of the HS phenom continues...(except for Marty Liquori I suppose)

Jim Ryun gets beaten by Kip at 1968 olympics after setting WR. Never the same again.

Tim Danielson murders wife and tries to kill himself

Alan Webb after one good year in 2007 has disappeared into mediocrity. And inconsistent years prior to 2007 as well.

Gerry Lindgren -- after showing great potential in the 60s ...no where to be seen in the olympics of 64 or 68. Eventually disappearing altogether and resurfacing in Hawaii.

German...bad luck and mediocrity. Has been swallowed by the curse.

Jeff Nelson...a bright flame extinguished, in Eugene no less.

Pre....died in car accident before realizing full potential.

Julia Stamps...actually I don't know what happened to her.

Obea Moore...what a damn shame.

Lukas Verzbikas...what will happen to him?

Feng Suey wrote:

F***in' Webb... what a damn loser.

Gets married to a nobody.

Loses shoe contract.

Fires a world-class coach.

Makes excuses for every sub-par race.

This guy is the bottom of the toilet bowl, man.

I don't really understand what getting married had to do with any of this... I've met Julia quite a few times while she was in college and think she's a pretty cool chick.

The rest of it, well... when you're trying to run at the level he is, you're going to have to accept setbacks. Running 3:46 is simply the result of training that rides the edge of constant injury and winning a gold medal... I think it's evident that his talent is still there.

Alan Webb's out of shape is still running 3:37... that's something most of these guys out there strive for and it's what he can do off of a few months of training. He's no different than Teg, Adam Goucher, Ritz, Tim Broe...etc... in that regard... once you've run that fast, it's pretty hard to accept having to go through the process again... trials of miles, miles of trials, and when you skip steps, you usually slip and fall back down the stairs. It's not easy in a "show me results now" running world.

As far as his attitude, well, I think it's clear the only thing that gets in Alan's way is Alan. Most of us have a job, and it's pretty hard to take a pay cut, especially when you go from 6 figures to "maybe" mid 5's... but perhaps not having a contract will put things into perspective for him. In the end, if you don't love what your doing, its never going to work out for you... and it just seems like he hasn't loved running the past 2 years...

If he never runs another step, he's had as good of career as any other American and he can be proud of that... but I bet we'll see him back in the mix sooner than later.

gonchar wrote:

Webb's career is a tale of what might have been, had he gotten a real coach early on. Sad. Then again, he has a cute wife and will probably be a good suburban family guy.

Lots of trophies on the wall and such.

I'm not caving yet on German Fernandez. Lets just let him get out of Ok. State and get with a professional training group in a more conducive environment. For some, the college environment just doesn't work...ask Mr. Webb ha?

Webb did have a real coach early, Warhurst, the coach of Willis, silver medalist. As for the college environment not working for some, and asking Mr. Webb, Webb refused to stay in college and learn to race like Willis did under Warhurst in college, and look at their careers now.

On the Contrary wrote:

Warhurst, the coach of Willis, silver medalist.

I forgot to add: Brian Diemer, bronze medalist.

This pisses me off so much, what a pussy. "Ohhh, I'm scared I'm gonna lose cause I'm not in amazing shape." You're qualified for the national championship and passing it up, not because you are hurt, but because you're out of shape from an injury you have healed.

Just run the race and give it a shot. Who cares if he gets back into shape a little faster towards the middle/end of the season if he doesn't even try to make the team for worlds.

I'm sick of (some) runners being such tremendous little b****es.