|
|
The Party Scene In Eugene
by Scott Anderson
(Don't Know Scott? Read
more about him here.)
Robert and Weldon determined that their site had lost some
of its edge of late, so they decided to do some offbeat features.
Hence the article on Chris Gansen (which
was a joke for all of you people who believed it),and now they've
asked me to write an article on the party scene in Eugene during
the GMC Envoy US Championships.
The highlights of the USA national meet every year may be
on the track, but a close second is the party scene. So I've
decided to do a brief recap of what went on in Eugene:
Day 1: Thursday night:
Pre-party:
At close to midnight, Matt Holthaus (teammate 1500 meter runner),
Brendan Rogers (another teammate and 1500 meter runner) and I
head out to the Johnson brothers, at the Doubletree. Though
still recovering from his 3 hour long drug test (thanks to having
run the 10k in 80+ degree heat), Weldon should be ready to celebrate
his incredible 10k performance. We walk into the room
- looks like a whirlwind hit it. Newspapers, computer
cables, USATF literature and unopened packages (from the sponsors
wooing Weldon) litter the floor. Such is the life of an internet
entrepreneur. Usually eager to capitalize on his status
as Weldon's twin, Robert shows surprising restraint and dedication
to the website by volunteering to stay in to upload pictures,
knowing that the East-coast LetsRun readers will be logged on
well past 4 am anxiously awaiting these brilliant shots of Alan
Webb leaning against a fence, sitting down stretching, and posing
in any other position you can imagine. Our fellow 1500m
runner, Drew Griffin from the ATL, (who by the way, closed that
first heat just as fast as Downin and Webb, but was a second
back at the gun and ended up a close 4th) calls and gives us
the update on the party situation. Jamie Harris (who else?)
has told him that a group is gathering at some bar (name??) near
the campus. Weldon impatiently gives Robert detailed instructions
on how to use the Photoshop software, and then we hit the town
in our Ford Escort rental car (yeah, we travel in style).
We arrive at the bar and discover the following:
Male/Ratio: 30/2 (The coincidence of several factors conspired
to produce this abysmal ratio:
- The trials
of the women's steeplechase is the only female event that has
been completed.
- Most
female athletes are either married or in serious relationships
(why elite male athletes are so much more likely to be single
is the topic of much debate. The most plausible theory
(though hardly politically correct and hardly without exceptions),
I think, is that female runners need control, discipline
and stability in their lives to succeed: a relationship provides
this. For guys, the motivation to succeed and desire to
show off are more important determinants of success than a stable
lifestyle.)
- There
are no female track fans.
Fastest person in attendance: Rod DeHaven (2000 Olympic
Marathoner)
Most applauded person in attendance: Ryan Shea (recent
Notre Dame grad who won the 10k at NCAAs and was the recipient
of multiple toasts from Chris Benet (Farm Teamer from CBA and
UNC).
True Champion award: The guys from Sporthill, who bought
pitchers for anyone claiming to know Ryan Shea.
Lowlight #2 for me (lowlight #1 for me was my trial
race, in which I failed to make the finals): One of two aforementioned
females turns down my offer of a beer (maybe she knew I had taken
it from the Sporthill pitcher).
Highlight #2 for Weldon (highlight #1 for Weldon was
his race, obviously): The same female who turned down my beer
offer approached Weldon and asked him, "Are you Weldon Johnson?
I saw you in Running Times."
Overall rating: C-. Guess things have to start off slow
- this party atmosphere was a little too low key for those of
us who were either frustrated or looking to celebrate.
Day #2 -Friday night:
Pre-party:Post steeple chase trials. We're rolling in the Escort,
once again. As we pull up to the stop light, a booming
bass kick penetrates our closed window. To our right idles
a big Mitsubishi Montero. Isn't this the SUV that just
failed the Consumer Reports safety test? (Yes, I've been
watching way too much TV over the past week.) In the driver
seat sits none other than Maurice Greene. Perhaps
sensing our collective stares, he turns and acknowledges us (as
fans or fellow-athletes, I'm still not sure) with a nod and a
sly smile. Can you say photo op? We roll down the window
and ask him to hold up for a minute while we get the digital
camera ready for a LetsRun.com photo. Angelo Taylor
leans over from the passenger side and tries to get in on the
action. You'd think the novelty of being a celebrity would
wear off for these guys, and that they'd blow us off.
But maybe they want to be p art
of the LetsRun juggernaut. (Or maybe they're feeling a
little desperate for attention after watching the groupies swamp
the high school phenoms Ritz and Webb.) Weldon points
and shoots, and they zoom off. As you can see from looking
at the right, he should have let Robert take the shot
The Rapids Yesterday, as Weldon, Robert and I run towards
Pre's trails, I saw some people hanging out in the relatively
fast flowing Willamette River. For some reason, I always
feel the obligation to go swimming in any reasonably clean body
of water I come across. So when I see Darrin Schearer
(1500 meter competitor), I'm reminded of his taste for adventure
(5 years ago, he took Chris Lear (author of Running With The
Buffaloes and mine and Robert's college roommate) and me
cliff-jumping in some stone quarries north of Boston).
I pull over and ask him if he wants to go swimming in the River.
He's already done it of course, but he likes company
and is game to try it again. You know how with some accomplished
people, you become self-conscious about your own mediocrity,
which just exacerbates your own defiency? If I'm around
a real good joke-teller or an articulate type, I subconsciously
compare myself to her and act shyer and more tongue-tied than
I really am. So if I'm around a real risk-taker like Darrin,
I might feel even more like a wimp than I really am. But
with Darrin, it's different. Something about Darrin inspires
confidence. Rather than making me self-conscious about
how unspontaneous and adventure-deficient I am (another accomplishment
on his adventure resume is his getting a speeding ticket rollerblading
down a mountain this, on his first day rollerblading), Darrin's
attitude is contagious. Maybe it's the fact that he doesn't make
a big deal about his feats. He tells us to keep our feet
out in front so that we don't knock ourselves out on any of the
submerged rocks. He walks a bit upstream from us so that
he can float the section of rapids, and, without hesitation,
jumps in. As he approaches us, he tells us to jump in
and, like lemmings, we obey. I sink immediately, but
Darrin ably pulls me to the surface and the three of us Darrin
disciples holler with glee as we cruise by amazed spectators.
The next time, we all throw caution to the wind and enter above
the rapids. We're hooked. This is the way to kick off
our Friday evening.
Dinner at Track-house pizza. John Clemens (steeplechaser)
joins us and we reminisce about the Heps glory days. Darrin
and I toast to retirement. We talk about moving on with
our lives after this frustrating season. I'm going to
the University of Chicago next year for b-school and he's entered
the engineering school at University of Florida. What
a place to be as a married man - his wife Diedre studies psychology
there. I remember going there spring break my sophomore
year for the Florida Relays. Chris Lear's buddy Mike Mykotok
(a former USATF 10k champ himself) from Jersey had just graduated
and was hosting the naked relays party (which Lear, Alex Hastings,
Jack Walter and I won possibly by default, as I don't know
if anyone else put together a full team). Twelve kegs
and enough people in attendance to finish them. I distinctly
remember standing in the middle of this party seven years ago
with my teammates Lear and Alex Kolovyansky. We simultaneously
looked up at each other, all thinking the same thing.
Kolo spoke for all of us when he asked, "Why do we go to
school in New Jersey?
Next stop, a party near campus, hosted by the hospitable Ken
(???). Good times hanging out with the running community,
but I'm not feeling the party-vibe. Maybe I'm going through
Chris Greer (Scott's Enclave teammate and fellow 1500 meter runner)
withdrawal, as he decided to head back East after failing to
get the qualifying time for USATF in Sacramento last weekend.
The Griff dawg calls a few times to keep me posted on
the developing party scene at Joggers (tonight's designated -
once again, by Jamie Harris - venue, a bar called Joggers).
As I urge the Johnsons to head out with me, I realize I've become
one of those annoying types who spends 90% of their time out
hemming and hawing about where they should go next and who's
supposed to meet them later. Isn't that defeating the
purpose of going out? General inertia and another sighting
of the beatiful woman who said "hi" to Weldon last night at
first conspire to thwart my efforts to rally the troops, but
upon mystery woman's disappearance and hearing that she may have
gone to Joggers, we set sail.
Day 2 Party Location: Jogger's (Bar in Eugene)
Male/Female Ration: 3/2 (Much better than the night before)
Fastest Person in Attendance: Abdi Abdirahman
Biggest Athlete in Attendance: Adam Nelson, Silver Medalist
at 2000 Olympics in Shot Put
Scene: Karaoke Bar. Things were definitely happening
Friday night as the partying got going full swing as more
athletes were done with their events and more spectators were
in town since it was the weekend.
MVP of the evening: Not only is Adam Nelson
the funniest and most athletically accomplished guy at the bar,
but he can converse intelligently about art, foreign affairs,
economics, and he's taking acting classes. Can you say
Renaissance man? And as if that weren't enough, he had
by far the best karaoke performance of the evening (can anyone
name the song he two-stepped to?)
Other highlights: Weldon Johnson finds out the
name of dream-woman.
Boldest moments: Jason Gibbons (steeplechaser),
surprisingly melodic (and appropriate) solo rendition of Beck's
loser.
Prior to a lovely karaoke duet of super freak with Abdi Abdirahman,
Andre Williams (5k runner who happens to be African American)
takes the mike and declares his appreciation of Eugene and of
white women.
Lowlights: $10 all you can drink beer special ended
before most people got there.
- Unnamed 2000 Olympian dropping his pants and showing off
his bare ass to bar patrons leaving at the end of the night.
- Concussions suffered by various future Farm Teamers, who were
victims of their future teammate Jason Gibbons, affectionate
headbutts.
- Rojo tries to hit on a woman who is clearly infatuated with
Weldon (sorry Robert, you're not in college anymore.)
Overall Rating: B+. Things were definitely happening...
Day 3: Saturday night: Club
Diablo
Location: near the Hilton
Male/Female Ration: 3:1
Fastest Person in Attendance: Andy Downin fresh off
his upset victory in the 1500
Others in Attendance: the Loyola Chicago track team girls, Jamie
Harris, Mark Anderson (my brother), Rebecca Ruff.
Scene: Dance club.....
Highlights: Deena Drossin double-fisting Irish carbombs.
Chris Benet lecturing a certain LetsRun contributor on why
he should continued devoting himself to running and shouldn't
go to Chicago next year for b-school.
Lowlights:
- a certain Olympian walking in and within 5 minutes ruining
Jon John Clemens, 2 hours time investment. Was it the
charm or the 3:35, or are they one and the same?
- The Johnsons showing up about fifteen minutes before the
bar closes (of course, their unfashionably late entrance had
nothing to do with their executive website responsibilities;
rather, they were having trouble escaping the groupies that had
finally found out what hotel they were staying at), and then
spend their entire time watching strangers play pool because
they are too cheap to put up $3 each to join the dance-party
downstairs.
To recap the entire party scene, Friday night definitely was
the highlight. Things could scarcely have been better other than
the fact that I shouldn't have even been out that night as I
ideally would have qualified for Saturday's finals. I think in
the future USATF should schedule all of the distance events on
he same day and make them all a straight final, that way other
athletes like myself won't be tempted to get eliminated early
to enjoy the party scene.
Tell a friend about this article.
Enter email addresses, separated by a comma.
Enter your name:
Back to Main Front Page
Questions, comments or suggestions?Please email
the LetsRun.com staff at [email protected]
|