Michael Johnson says ‘It’s time to simplify athletics – get rid of events that people don’t watch’

People in USA only watch events that USA people are good at.

run by nature wrote:

What events would get rid of, if any?

What events was he get rid of?

Sounds like Rory McIlroy last year before the Olympics, saying he would only watch "the sports that matter."

This year at the Players Championship I followed Rory during one round. When he screwed up one hole I said loudly at greenside, "Bogeys matter."

Only a few people caught it but Rory was one of them. He glared at me for several seconds while walking back toward his caddie. I stared smack at him.

The walks, obviously. Too many throwing events. Hammer out, discus out. Triple jump gone. 400 hurdles, out. Merge 5000m and 10000m, make it 8000m. Add half marathon.

Anything over 1500m

Michael Johnson was juiced up to his eyeballs. Ok anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, stimulants and epogen products.

F--- him. Goddam hypocrite a-hole.

Yeah, start with the 200m. Then most field events. God, MJ can be stupid sometimes. Bet, as a sprinter, he thinks distance events are boring.

Awsi Dooger wrote:

Sounds like Rory McIlroy

I have always wondered if the golf-loving Japanese hate his name

And here is the common sense revised athletics program:

track:

100m

200m

400m

800m

1600m

3200m

4x100m

4x400m

field:

long jump

high jump

spear throw

football throw

No hurdles, no relics of Napoleonic warfare, no moronic misinterpretations of ancient greek events. Football throw will generate huge interest since every NFL quarterback will compete in their offseason to be the "arm." I wonder what is the farthest anyone has ever threw a football.

Pole vault is a circus act. Throwing should involve big rocks or tires. Add half marathon, obviously. Add 40-60m dash. Gender mixed relays. Replace decathlon wih bad ass obstacle course. Field events in teams. Eliminate the qorst performer like in reality tv.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Football throw will generate huge interest since every NFL quarterback will compete in their offseason to be the "arm." I wonder what is the farthest anyone has ever threw a football.

They used to have this in the off-season NFL skills competition. Of course, not everyone went 100%, due to injury potential. My recollection is that most were in the 70s, a few 80s, and someone (Warren Moon?) threw it 95 yards.

Dan Marino fan wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

Football throw will generate huge interest since every NFL quarterback will compete in their offseason to be the "arm." I wonder what is the farthest anyone has ever threw a football.

They used to have this in the off-season NFL skills competition. Of course, not everyone went 100%, due to injury potential. My recollection is that most were in the 70s, a few 80s, and someone (Warren Moon?) threw it 95 yards.

It was the National Football League Quarterback Challenge, and I think it might have been Randall Cunningham.

Under that criteria, the only events that would remain would be sprints in which there's a possibility of a world record.

Personally, I have no interest in hurdles or any field event. And you have to be mentally deranged to watch a 10,000 on a track.

I read the interview in the paper yesterday, not impressed. No doubt he thinks we should keep all the 'exciting' sprints?

The article including a Twitter rankings list of events at London 2017.

100

200

relay

400

800

hurdles

1500

5000

LJ

JT

10000

chase

HJ

PV

TJ

DT

Shot

HT

But that's the general public not the paying public so don't think that's useful. The marathon doesn't even seem to be on the list - guess that should go then?

Vinny Testaverde wrote:

Dan Marino fan wrote:

They used to have this in the off-season NFL skills competition. Of course, not everyone went 100%, due to injury potential. My recollection is that most were in the 70s, a few 80s, and someone (Warren Moon?) threw it 95 yards.

It was the National Football League Quarterback Challenge, and I think it might have been Randall Cunningham.

Note that the conditions of this change (slightly) from year to year, with run-up and time allowed, wind, air pressure, ... I don't think they've ever done it in a dome (usually a nice sunny island place for the winter), but that would easily add 5 yards or more. There are years where 75 yards has won (which sometimes the college skills competitors also hit nowadays). You are also correct that they made some attempt to phase this out, though not only injury, but also "gaming" the system (throwing it *just* for distance, rather than in a football style) cropped up sometimes.

Sadly, I don't know the record offhand. If anything, I'd guess it was 85, not 95. Cunningham won with 76 yards in 1993, if that's what you are thinking of. Testaverde threw is 80 yards in 1988, somewhat unofficially.

Supposedly, the "in-game" records are claimed to be Don Meredith (83), and some really long one by Favre whose estimation is made more difficult by it being cross-field (Pythagorean theorem).

Randy Wholeway wrote:

Personally, I have no interest in hurdles or any field event. And you have to be mentally deranged to watch a 10,000 on a track.

10,000 should be shortened to 800

In Calgary he once threw a ball 93 yards in the air while fooling around on the day before a game. "The air's kind of thin up there and I had a little breeze behind me," Brock says. "Of course, I was flinging it 75 yards the other way, so I figure that averages out to about 85."

I actually covered the event in Philadelphia, "NFL Challenge". It was a competition involving NFL players. One event was which QB could throw the longest pass. Randy Cunningham won with a throw of 88 yards in the air with an accuracy of 98%. Just 1 yard off the center line in the middle of the field."

run by nature wrote:

What events would get rid of, if any?

What events was he get rid of?

I think he was basically saying nobody outside of Letsrun cared about the US 1-2 in the women's steeple.