Pat Henry thinks destroying the Penn and Drake Relays is good for the sport - what say you?

Haven't you realized yet that Pat Henry and several others in the SEC care nothing about the sport. Nothing! They have an agenda that kills the best meets that track has remaining. Those dinosaurs need to go so that track will have a chance.

??!! wrote:

Haven't you realized yet that Pat Henry and several others in the SEC care nothing about the sport. Nothing! They have an agenda that kills the best meets that track has remaining. Those dinosaurs need to go so that track will have a chance.

penn and drake are the dinosaurs; overbuilt monstrosities living on high school relays and a few side shows like The Used to be v the World's margninals

They already cannibalize each other by holding their events on the same weekend.

At least Oregon is at the Penn Relays. Go Ducks! Boo SEC!

On the other hand this is the kind of stuff that goes on in a west coast state like Oregon

http://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2017/04/newport_police_issue_warning_t.html

??!! wrote:

Haven't you realized yet that Pat Henry and several others in the SEC care nothing about the sport. Nothing! They have an agenda that kills the best meets that track has remaining. Those dinosaurs need to go so that track will have a chance.

There are many diehard track and field fans who couldn't care less about the Penn and Drake Relays. We......Don't.....Care...!!!!

Long after the SEC relays are buried the Penn Relays will still be a major showcase for thousands of athletes.

CHRIS SCHRADER wrote:

Long after the SEC relays are buried the Penn Relays will still be a major showcase for thousands of athletes.

I would certainly rather watch the nation's best collegians than sit through four hours of slow high school 4x400 heats.

The final day at Penn is pretty exciting (when weather cooperates). The other days are tedious.

I've been following track since 1996. I have never once watched, researched, or followed the Penn relays. Just don't care.

"Penn may not be ideal for running fast but it's an event like the Belmont Stakes or Kentucky Derby."

When there's gambling, booze, bands playing in the infield, and chicks flashing, then it'll be an event.

I think this could be great for the sport.

As others have noted, the only people who really care about Penn and Drake are people who are either hardcore fans of the relays or track in general. Why would a non-fan in Texas care about a meet in Iowa? Even if his preferred school was competing the meet is so distant and obscure there's no reason to get invested. On the other hand, put his school in a meet against rival schools in his own backyard or close to it and now there's more emotional attachment.

I went to an UGA; if I see some guys from my alma mater compete at Penn or Drake my response is "hm, good for them." But if I see that my team is competing in a scored meet against Florida, Alabama, and Auburn I'm all in.

We complain about the lack of team-scored meets; well exploiting conference rivalries is a great way to deliver and it could actually draw non-fans. That said, non-fans will be more interested in the rivalries rather than the sport itself, but if the meet organizers deliver a great experience the SEC Relays could become a real "event," something people actually go out of their way to attend or follow.

- Agree

- You'll get faster times as well ... Philly & Iowa weather have proved fickle.

- Hopefully they'll run it similar to Penn where their is little "wait time" between races to keep the fans/TV involved instead of a "All-Day Gig." It would also be great if they did some type of "Football 40" where the high-viz football players come out to race.

- Finally, I think they should have some "Triplathon Events" as well ....where individuals can prove their all-around throwing, jumping, etc skills.

* Shot-Discus-Hammer Throwers

* High-Long-Triple Jump

Football 40 would be cool and could be a draw for locals since its the time of year that schools do their spring scrimmage games anyway.

Here's some events that I think would provide fun entertainment for a two-day 3 hour/day meet:

Mens and Womens:

4x100

4x400

SMR

DMR

1 mile elimination like in Nitro Athletics or just a normal mile (This is the longest distance that a non-fan will pay attention to. Elimination format is interesting but at the end its just two people going head-head. Maybe watching a normal mile with 1 person per school would be more entertaining?)

Big Boy/Girl 4x100 Relay (set minimum weight at 270 for men and 170 for women, recruit from either throwers or football)

Mixed Relays:

mixed SMR

mixed 4x400 or the mixed 2x3 minute challenge from Nitro Athletics

Field Events:

-There need to be modified rules to speed up the competition. I like Nitro's PV rules but maybe that's not the best way to go.

Street Pole Vault

Street Shot

Street Long jump

Have live music for the street events, you could have a small stage at each event. Either do them all simultaneously or have them finish in sequence and then shift the live music to the next stage/event which would encourage the audience to watch all the events.

A "test your strength" challenge where spectators can throw shot. Use middle school weight for men and women. Allow people to use any technique, give them 3 throws and allow them to change technique in between throws. ( Maybe have a coach or thrower give advice so people don't hurt themselves) At the end of the comp whoever threw the furthest wins something, idk what.

I think its important to schedule the meet so that events overlap as little as possible. Something like this:

Day 1:

Street Shot Put and Long Jump

1 MILE

SMR

DMR

Football 40

4x400

Day 2:

Street Pole Vault and spectator strength challenge

Mixed SMR

Mixed 4x400/ 3 minute challenge

Big Boy 4x100

4x100

Award some sort of trophy to the winning team, something unique that will rotate to each winner every year.

What do yall think? Too many events? Not enough? One day 4/5-hour meet or two day 3 hour/day meet? How to schedule events? How could organizers speed up field events to make them more spectator-friendly?

*And street food, of course.

You should ask him why the hell A&M needs an indoor track. Watching NCAA indoors when it was in the 70's outside was crazy.

The SEC Relays won't last. I'll give it five years maximum.

Henry says "a few" SEC teams are skipping it. Try more than 1/3 of the conference.

It's being held at LSU. Free entry and they still have to bribe students to come. It's not on the SEC Network and not even being webcast. It's probably going to be a fun meet but maybe a few hundred people are going to see it. Obviously neither LSU nor the SEC gives a shit about this meet.

As soon as the rest of the SEC decides they're at a competitive disadvantage to the teams that do go to Penn (where do you think they make their Jamaican connections?) they'll all come back.

I think schools like to open the outdoor season at concurrent meets at the April/Spring potpourri of Southern California meets (Mt Sac, Lond Beach, Bryan Clay, Triton, etc.) and then one or two of the local relays such as SEC/Penn/Drake/Texas/Kansas/Stanford. A&M was at the UCLA Jim Bush meet a few weeks ago.

Schwab wrote:

There are many diehard track and field fans who couldn't care less about the Penn and Drake Relays. We......Don't.....Care...!!!!

Fair enough. Do you care about the SEC Relays?

I like the way you think - you have some creative ideas - but am a bit confused. HOw do you have a meet in two locations on the same day? Do you expect the fans to go from the street stuff to the regular stuff? THat doesn't seem to work logisitically.

Upfront I will say I am likely biased having grown up in NJ. But if you are looking at this from a branding perspective, as a sport we should be protecting both Drake and Penn. As many have mentioned on this thread there are those who don't care about either meet but there are more that do care than just about any other two meets in the US.

Building equity takes time, why throw that away by weakening two of our most history laden events. If you are part of the group that does not care, take a look through Penn's Program (and Drake's I am sure as well) it reads like a history of track and field.

Everybody complains that track gets no coverage - Penn has gotten its own pull out section in the Inquirer (Philly major paper) what track meet gets that in a major city?

So I agree that Pat Henry's thinking is selfish (from a sport perspective) and short sighted but he knows who signs his paycheck, so on one level I can understand. I just hope it fizzles.