NCAA XC Apathy...is LetsRun dying or are you all apathetic about NCAA cross?

the letter why wrote:

I used to discus running on letsrun. The Trump trolls pretty much keep me away now though.

see my handle

zxcvzxcvzxcv wrote:

but it is a question which of the two Canadian-born athletes will win.

trust some moron to try and say Grant is Canadian lmao

YEAH BUDDY wrote:

Couldn't care less about NCAA XC and that's the cold hard truth

I can't believe you got the expression grammatically correct.

I've noticed the decline in chatter about the XC championships and regret the loss. I've twice traveled far to watch the XC nationals out of excitement to see in person the runners I've read about on LetsRun. The transformation of the boards into a forum friendly to pro-Trumpsters, white-nationalists, gun-and-violence nuts, alt-Right fanatics, and the like has really soured me though. It's hard not for me to think that LetsRun channels the true voice and concerns of college XC athletes and that college teams are now filled with such people.

Swaglord wrote:

Idk I feel like maybe letsrun's average age is increasing over time? I'm 25 and I don't care at all about NCAA XC. They look like they're little kids. Pro track is where it's at.

+1

I stopped caring about NCAA within a few years after graduating. I just pay attention to the pros. Maybe college athletes don't visit the boards like we used to. I would watch a free stream if it was available. I am just not going to spend a lot of time reading and discussing it.

Not hard wrote:

I'm not going to see it because I'm not going to pay 30$ to watch it. Why talk about it? I'll check the results when they become available, and have no sense of what happened during the race.

This is how I feel, too. The HS team that I coach has a championship meet that day, so I won't be watching the meet. If it were broadcast, I would record it and watch it afterwards, but it isn't, so I won't see it. If I won't be watching it, it takes a lot away from the drama, so I don't really care. I'll look up results afterwards and that will be enough for me.

I agree. It seems programs run fewer and fewer races. What is there to get excited about? They need to race more and perhaps the 5k distance sprinkled during the season is the answer.

vivalarepublica wrote:

One of the problems, in my view, is that excitement over college XC is dampened by the sheer lack of full strength, all out runs by the most competitive teams. XC team schedules are pretty watered down these days.

Another excitement killing factor is the Flotrack-NCAA deal that leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

On the other hand, I’m only two hours for Louisville, so I might head down there this weekend.

The major teams don't take cross season seriously running their best guys in only 1 or 2 races. Why should we care?

I'm excited!!! This year seems like there are a lot of contenders for team titles in both races. I'll follow the live updates here.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I'm apathetic. Not sure why, but this season just seems less interesting/engaging than most years.

Because no King Ches?

Some good suggestions there.

-Not sure about shortening men to 8k, but I think 8k is a must for the women’s side. The 6k seems to always come down to a sprint finish among 1500m runners, which isn’t the point of a long distance XC race.

-Mix up the races during the reason and have some fun. Team relays, Hokum Karem, class races (fresh-soph, jr-sr divisions), maybe even an Ekiden style race. Make it fun and exciting again. Imagine BYU and NAU top two guys during it out in a hokum karem. Wouldn’t that be fun to watch and race? I’m sure the traditionalists will hate this, but those will always hate Any type of change.

-the Friday races are stupid. Just stop.

-Two weeks between regionals and nationals. This two 10Ks in 8 days crap is just stupid.

-Football and track probably get more numbers, but XC might be third.

But the NCAA doesn’t seem to seriously care about anything but football, basketball, and Title IX.

Too many foreigners dominating the sport

Most of the activity is going to spike the day before and the day of, and it has mostly always been that way. As far as this year's race, I'd like to see Colorado win on the women's side and BYU on the men's side. I think they both have good chances to win one for the USA. As far as the whole NCAA flow track deal, I am not necessarily opposed to the idea as it ensures that people are able to watch it (this historically hasn't always been the case, as there isn't a huge viewing audience, so it is difficult to find a sponsor to cover the cost of streaming the event). So long as the NCAA uses the funds to increase the viability of the sport at the collegiate level. If they are using the revenue simply to enrich the NCAA , then I have a problem.

much less excited now that i can't see it. as many people have said in other threads it isn't really about whether or not i have the money but it comes down to not wanting to waste it.

i gave it a shot last year and used the free trial only for it to be choppy and then cut out on me. the commentary is abysmal and i found it to be a unpleasant experience whereas in the past i have really enjoyed the feed that was put out and the commentary was passable to good. even the year when the winds were really bad and they couldn't use the towers was better than flotrack

being a few years removed from college now you start to lose touch with the name recognition side of things and who will do well beyond the top two or three studs so it just isn't as fun to discuss especially without the reward at the end of getting to watch a good race.

doot doot wrote:

Mr. Obvious wrote:

I'm apathetic. Not sure why, but this season just seems less interesting/engaging than most years.

Because no King Ches?

Not really sure. I would say its a combination. Not being able to watch a lot of meets (not just NCAAs but also during season) lowers my interest. With all respect to BYU and NAU best teams this year aren't some of the bigger names in the sport, no Oregon, Wisconsin, Stanford, etc. and no really compelling individual contenders either. This is probably a vicious cycle, as I would likely find the individuals and teams more compelling if I had watched more in season meets.

I don't object in principle to Flotrack, but it is kind of like putting all boxing on pay-per-view instead of network television.

sadbuttruemaga wrote:

Too many foreigners dominating the sport

probably because coaches don't want whiny little entitled brats who think they should get anything they want because they were born here and suck at running on their team, get better B*tch and stfu

Part of it is that everyone tries makes NCAA XC as unappealing and hard to follow as possible by only running a handful of times, always holding out runners, ditching conference, etc. It's just a bunch of random meets that people may run or not. So when the championship finally rolls around - the one meet that really matters - there's been no build up.

Then they put it behind a paywall for an excessive price. People are reluctant to spend money to see the conclusion of a story that everyone has made as hard as possible to follow during the season. And why should people post about a championship they won't watch?

Bottom line -- if NCAA XC doesn't care about fans, why should fans care about NCAA XC?

Swaglord wrote:

Idk I feel like maybe letsrun's average age is increasing over time? I'm 25 and I don't care at all about NCAA XC. They look like they're little kids. Pro track is where it's at.

I agree. It's possible 10-15 years ago NCAA was a lot more popular on this board because USA pro runners weren't doing much.

Agree with most of your points. However, I disagree with one of your points and I think this years individual title contenders are very compelling.

The top two contenders Knight and Fisher (of course anything can happen - look to last years outcome) are great collegiate runners, have had several head to head races with each picking up wins. They come across in interviews as very nice articulate guys yet very focused, competitive and team oriented when it comes to XC. We are lucky to have young (Fisher is only 20 and Knight is 21 or 22) talent like this to follow. For all the people who are upset about older aged Kenyan's, this year it is two young guns that are the favorites. 10 km is a sport typically dominated by older guys and NAU and BYU have an advantage on paper with that but those two teams don't have a clear favorite to be considered a top 3 contender. Fisher being the youngest American athlete to have won a NCAA 5km championship in several years is pretty cool and compelling to me.

As well, looks like the weather will be rainy and windy. That alone makes for added unpredictability and intrigue.

All of you that are posting, and those that are complaining - you are doing so because you are fans of the sport. Support XC, suggest changes to the current system that would make the sport more appealing to you and others. Saturday's national championships is going to be great to watch. I am going and so too are other people I know. As a tack and XC fan it is wonderful to be able to watch some of the best young runners in the world compete. The energy that is XC nationals is amazing to experience.

Hammer the NCAA to do their part to enable more people to watch for free to boost the appeal of XC. Give the NCAA ideas to make/promote the sport of XC better.