Seventeen days and counting. I got my Olympic Trials tickets in the mail today.
They are bright, shiny, colorful and artistic. They are also literally irreplaceable because the meet has sold out. For a brief moment I thought about going to the bank and putting them in the safe deposit box. Then I decided that would be a bit too much … or would it?
The ticket package, among other things, told me what could and could not be brought in to Hayward Field. You wouldn’t think they’d have to say that prohibited items include illegal drugs, explosives and guns, but I guess we do live in a litigious society. Absent from both the “OK” and “Not OK” lists were computers. What’s an online journalist to do?
Read the rest of this entry »
With all of the triple-digit thermometer readings all over the country this week, it’s hard to believe that Cross-Country season is right around the corner. If you haven’t been building your base all summer, it might be too late for you to challenge the best runners in your area for the lead in those upcoming early-season races (they’ve been at it all summer long); but – as long as you begin training immediately – it might not be too late for you to be competitive in those end-of-season district races.
If you need some training tips and inspiration, perhaps the best book ever written about high school cross country – not only for coaches, but for runners and fans, too – is Coaching Cross Country Successfully by Joe Newton with Joe Henderson. Newton is a legendary cross country coach from Elmhurst, Illinois, where he led the long green line from York High School to 20 national and 25 state cross country titles. Whether you’re a middle school or high school coach or runner, this book is the blueprint for coaching, and running on, a winning cross country team.
For more information about Coach Newton: [Sports Illustrated]
You can buy the book here: [Amazon]
The 2007 AT&T USA Outdoor Track& Field Championships last month in Indianapolis were among the most successful in recent history.
The excitement of close finishes in the middle-distances, a packed house that provided loud encouragement to the athletes, and the fastest 100-200 double in history by Tyson Gay tell a compelling story. Television ratings, Website traffic and merchandise sales all saw significant rises over 2006. These were just a few of countless highlights.
In hard numbers, the meet measures up impressively:
0 - Number of stadium evacuations due to weather.
1 - The number of American records set (Breaux Greer, men’s javelin, 91.29m/299-6).
2 - Number of Visa Champions crowned (Tyson Gay and Tiffany Williams)
4 - Number of national television broadcasts of the meet (2 on NBC, 2 on ESPN2). NBC’s live coverage from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, June 24, won its time slot and was the #2 sports program of the day on network television. In aggregate, TV ratings for the meet saw a 144 percent increase over 2006.
Read the rest of this entry »
© 2006-2008 The Final Sprint, LLC | Privacy Policy | Design by The Blog Studio
The Final Sprint, LLC is owned and operated by Adam Jacobs
The Final Sprint