Terrible cross country race. No mud. No Whoop do doos.
And the worst part is that the 4 regional winners finished 1 2 3 4 in the national finals.
Stupid race. Not real cross country. The best runners actually performed as expected. This is not at all like they do it at worlds.
I bet all these guys wish they had run at Nike. This race is finished - total joke.
have you ever been there? to be a Footlocker finalist is to cement your place in history, no matter how you fare in the after-HS-life. You clowns sit on the sideline and judge, and you have never coached a kid for whom this event means the world. I'm not trying to be a jerk. but this is a big deal for these young runners and you try and diminish their accomplishments with armchair punditry? did you run this fast in high school? or ever?
Van...acquaint yourself with the term sarcasm.
^ this.
Gobstopper wrote:
Van...acquaint yourself with the term sarcasm.
Van is not alone. Most runners have Asperger's Disorder.
or an otherwise chemically imbalanced brain
Great post.
10/10
IMMA DO ONE MORE
Van, how did you not pick up on that? I would've back in the 7th grade. Excellent satire, made a good point. The whole culture of running reminds me of Van, just a lame person who probably is a robotic reactionary apsberger type of person. Being a runner why do i hate 90 percent of my own crowd...rigid,humorless,white bread type of personalities. "Uhh, excuse me sir, uhh, the whoop de whoops make it cross country and its muddy, we runners are tough!" sigh...no, the race is terrible, and i could care less about footlocker. If the results are that which contenders are coming in the 60s-80s, there is a problem, along with the point that it is also a combination of they stop caring after the first mile and just coast it in. NNX has been around for years already its not young, even though the course makes it inherently tougher for runners to duplicate results from their regionals like in a normal post season(ie a runner from their state who does good in regionals, does good in state), I believe it is still further away acounting for the hard demand of the course.
So in the end, a runner coming into the race thinks this:"ok, 90% of the nations HS runners are here, footlocker is still the best individual race, but nike is trying to change that. It is still not taken as seriously as footlocker because everybody in the running culture(msg boards,coaches,culture) still holds FL in a higher regard. If i start out and am not doing as good as I like, and I qualified for FL and I am good, I can coast it in,not get injured on a dangerous course, and do good next week" NXN is for the people who came in 11-30 at FL to have a 2nd chance at "the best" competition in the post season.
I was disappointed by the lack of hay bales.
aspbergerrunner69 wrote:
Van, how did you not pick up on that? I would've back in the 7th grade. Excellent satire, made a good point. The whole culture of running reminds me of Van, just a lame person who probably is a robotic reactionary apsberger type of person. Being a runner why do i hate 90 percent of my own crowd...rigid,humorless,white bread type of personalities. "Uhh, excuse me sir, uhh, the whoop de whoops make it cross country and its muddy, we runners are tough!" sigh...no, the race is terrible, and i could care less about footlocker. If the results are that which contenders are coming in the 60s-80s, there is a problem, along with the point that it is also a combination of they stop caring after the first mile and just coast it in. NNX has been around for years already its not young, even though the course makes it inherently tougher for runners to duplicate results from their regionals like in a normal post season(ie a runner from their state who does good in regionals, does good in state), I believe it is still further away acounting for the hard demand of the course.
So in the end, a runner coming into the race thinks this:"ok, 90% of the nations HS runners are here, footlocker is still the best individual race, but nike is trying to change that. It is still not taken as seriously as footlocker because everybody in the running culture(msg boards,coaches,culture) still holds FL in a higher regard. If i start out and am not doing as good as I like, and I qualified for FL and I am good, I can coast it in,not get injured on a dangerous course, and do good next week" NXN is for the people who came in 11-30 at FL to have a 2nd chance at "the best" competition in the post season.
are you missing something? dropped on your head at birth?
Baxter and Cain went the NXN route, that is a slap in the face to the FL crowd.
You are right about one thing, FL is the best individuals over all, because it is only individuals. Cross Country is a team sport, and if you are a coach you try to get your athletes to buy into that aspect.
FL is the last time that any of these kids will ever run a race with only 40 runners in it. Will never happen at NCAA's or NCAA regionals, never happen at world XC. FL is a showcase race and that is all it is, about as unrealistic an an experience as they will ever have in xc running. As a coach I will continue to promote the team first attitude and whatever happens to FL is OK with me. I've been there 4 times with my athletes, the first time was great. after that it was ho hum.
aspbergerrunner69 wrote:
Van, how did you not pick up on that? I would've back in the 7th grade.
How did you not pick up on the fact that Van was being sarcastic? Hook, Line, Sinker. Thank You, come again.
einstein... wrote:
aspbergerrunner69 wrote:Van, how did you not pick up on that? I would've back in the 7th grade. Excellent satire, made a good point. The whole culture of running reminds me of Van, just a lame person who probably is a robotic reactionary apsberger type of person. Being a runner why do i hate 90 percent of my own crowd...rigid,humorless,white bread type of personalities. "Uhh, excuse me sir, uhh, the whoop de whoops make it cross country and its muddy, we runners are tough!" sigh...no, the race is terrible, and i could care less about footlocker. If the results are that which contenders are coming in the 60s-80s, there is a problem, along with the point that it is also a combination of they stop caring after the first mile and just coast it in. NNX has been around for years already its not young, even though the course makes it inherently tougher for runners to duplicate results from their regionals like in a normal post season(ie a runner from their state who does good in regionals, does good in state), I believe it is still further away acounting for the hard demand of the course.
So in the end, a runner coming into the race thinks this:"ok, 90% of the nations HS runners are here, footlocker is still the best individual race, but nike is trying to change that. It is still not taken as seriously as footlocker because everybody in the running culture(msg boards,coaches,culture) still holds FL in a higher regard. If i start out and am not doing as good as I like, and I qualified for FL and I am good, I can coast it in,not get injured on a dangerous course, and do good next week" NXN is for the people who came in 11-30 at FL to have a 2nd chance at "the best" competition in the post season.
are you missing something? dropped on your head at birth?
Baxter and Cain went the NXN route, that is a slap in the face to the FL crowd.
You are right about one thing, FL is the best individuals over all, because it is only individuals. Cross Country is a team sport, and if you are a coach you try to get your athletes to buy into that aspect.
FL is the last time that any of these kids will ever run a race with only 40 runners in it. Will never happen at NCAA's or NCAA regionals, never happen at world XC. FL is a showcase race and that is all it is, about as unrealistic an an experience as they will ever have in xc running. As a coach I will continue to promote the team first attitude and whatever happens to FL is OK with me. I've been there 4 times with my athletes, the first time was great. after that it was ho hum.
FL has a team aspect to it - you are running for the region you represent. FL has hills in it to offset the mud of Portland.
Name the last NCAA X-C meet run in NXN conditions?
Neither FL or NXN is a SANCTIONED national high school championship.
INGRATE - FL promoted youth X-C running long before Nike ever did.
So you Footlocker types are ok with a course that is more like a roadrace, running on a flat hardpack surface nearly the entire distance? No wonder the US can't develop international level XC racers anymore. The Balboa course is an embarrasment to traditional cross country racing.
Codger--You and Van are living in the past.
I just did a search at the New York Times for "Footlocker" and "Cross Country":
Nothing.
Los Angeles Times (which carried the story on Sarah Baxter that everyone here knows about):
Nothing.
So for all practical purposes, FL that was no longer exists. It has become essentially a local invitational. And that is probably why Baxter went to NXN even though her team did not. Bigger stage, not that cross country actually means anything--nobody in the USA makes a living based on what they do in cross country (Wetmore and Dave Smith I guess, but no athletes).
Honestly, my bad, if I missed the irony. Should know better as a writer and English teacher. When you look at the big pic, having both NXN and FL are ultimately good fir the sport because we involve more kids, parents, schools, college coaches, etc. Co-exist, brother and sister.
coach d wrote:
Codger--You and Van are living in the past.
I just did a search at the New York Times for "Footlocker" and "Cross Country":
Nothing.
Los Angeles Times (which carried the story on Sarah Baxter that everyone here knows about):
Nothing.
So for all practical purposes, FL that was no longer exists. It has become essentially a local invitational. And that is probably why Baxter went to NXN even though her team did not. Bigger stage, not that cross country actually means anything--nobody in the USA makes a living based on what they do in cross country (Wetmore and Dave Smith I guess, but no athletes).
Did the NY Times report on NXN and not FLN?
einstein... wrote:
Baxter and Cain went the NXN route, that is a slap in the face to the FL crowd.
You are right about one thing, FL is the best individuals over all, because it is only individuals. Cross Country is a team sport, and if you are a coach you try to get your athletes to buy into that aspect.
XC a team sport? Not if your team stinks except for you, it isn't!
einstein... wrote:
You are right about one thing, FL is the best individuals over all, because it is only individuals. Cross Country is a team sport, and if you are a coach you try to get your athletes to buy into that aspect.
Truly spoken like a crappy runner on a great team.