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Fans’ Perspective: (Day 2)
On Being A Track Fan

Posted June 29th, 2008 at 10:00 AM by Jesse Squire

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

hayward field olympic trials 2008 I was going to write up a post explaining what makes a track fan (and a road running and cross country fan) but Bob Welch of the Eugene Register-Guard beat me to it and did a much better job than I ever could.

I would only add a couple of things. First, most fans have competed in some version of the sport at some time in their life, and track/field/cross/road is set up in such a way that it’s difficult to be anything but friendly to your competitors. Your close physical proximity with each other and reliance on self rather than teammates allows us to realize the Latin root of the word compete: “to seek together”. So this bleeds over into watching the sport. Even back in the early 60s it was hard for a lot of track fans to hate the Soviet athletes, which is markedly different than how college football fans are. For example, wearing a Michigan football outfit in Columbus might be more dangerous than wearing Crips colors on Bloods turf.

But also, I simply don’t believe that the group from Ann Arbor sittting in front of me doesn’t know who Kermit Ambrose is. He was already older than Moses when I was in high school and barking directions at me and ready to take my head off for standing in the wrong lane. He is to southeast Michigan track & XC as Robert Byrd is to the Senate, except he’s older and been there longer.