Footlocker over NXN Schumacher

You need help dude.

lkj wrote:

Why can't both organizations get together and have one big national meet?

The year before the first NXN I was at FL Northeast.

I asked one of the race officials (FL Guy) why they don't add a team competition.

He said that Nike asked them to, but they like it the way it is.

The next year, Nike has the team only race, then adds individuals.

FL made a mistake.

I've said this in these discussion before:

In the regions where you can't do both, the top individuals who are also on a top team will NOT do FL.

Example this year- look at all the "significant" New Yorkers who ran FL NE- the answer is- NONE.

FL is ultra competitive but it will never be a true national championship because:

1. They exclude certain kids (rather the kids exclude themselves)

2. They have no team competition- XC is a team sport.

Like many people involved with the administrative sides of cross country people simply get stuck in their ways and fraternize.

â—‹ State Associations get stuck in their ways. Display blatant favoritism.

â—‹ Event Managers get stuck in their ways. Take care of their own.

â—‹ Coaches get stuck in their ways. Scratch each others backs.

The unfortunate part is that as fraternization takes place this means the best people for the jobs at hand aren't promoted. Who loses? Not the better candidates. Not the managers and coaches. The kids and the sanctity of the sport.

Footlocker said no at the wrong time and inadvertently watered down their own event. Now we have a tale of two nationals making cross country even weirder to explain to the non-running bystander.

As a placeholder for a non-runner in the following made up conversation, we'll use a teacher at a school of an NXN and Footlocker qualifier.

Shortly after the school bell rings on Monday and the PA announcements are over...

teacher:Congratulations [insert name] on qualifying for nationals, but didn't you just qualify last week too?

qualifier:Thank you. Yes, I qualified for Nike nationals last week and I qualified for Footlocker nationals this time.

teacher:So there are two nationals? What is the difference? I have no idea how cross country works.

qualifier:One is meant for teams and individuals. The other for just the top forty individuals.

teacher:Oh... I get it, I think. Why don't they just have one national meet instead of two?

qualifier:The Nike people tried to approach Footlocker people about 15 years ago to try and do just that. When Footlocker didn't, Nike stopped sponsoring the meet and started their own meet.

class members:[thinking to themselves] Wow cross country is confusing and seems like a lot of work. I could never do that...

lkj wrote:

Why can't both organizations get together and have one big national meet?

Commie