Personalities needed to make T&F more popular!

[SoCal45]

T&F has most attractive men and women of all races participants IMO (2nd to volleyball IMO). Look at YouTube and you can see the number of hits when someone posts Italian or Spanish LJ or PV championship. So, market is there but can the casual fan relate to records and winning championships or even more important different running, jumping, and throwing events? Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTYPPnKGPPE , 31,615,312 views

Most important question: Should T&F sell out the sport to get a cheap publicity or get larger slice of market to survive as professional sport?

Compromise: Bring more events to streets/people such as LJ, PV, HJ, 60m, 60H (make it 50m, 50H). What do we have to lose?

31 million views...and how many of those "views" were people interested in the sport of Track and Field? My guess is a very small percentage...put up a video of men pole vaulting (including the great Mondo) and see how many views you get. Let's be honest: the folks "viewing the pole vaulters" were viewing the female pole vaulter's anatomy. And you are right, there are loads of these videos on You Tube and if you read the comments you see what I mean; especially the ones featuring the Ukranian women high jumpers.

[El Toro]

I'd say the stuffed shirt aspect probably sucks more life out of the sport than any showboating or disparagement.

Yeah, it reminds me of the attitudes from the old amateurism days.

[lonewolf]

I understand gh's reservation about commenting on the comparative physical attractiveness of athletes but it is inevitable whether or not commented on. Here, as elsewhere, there are differences of opinion on relative pulchritude so it is probably just as well to ignore the obvious and make it verboten, as we do for sex, religion, and politics.
Still, as others have accurately noted, it is pictures of attractive women that draw the clicks from people who may be ignorant of their athletic prowess.

[aaronk]

One way of measuring the popularity of women vs men has been done already!
Look back at when the NCAA OUTdoor had separate days for men and women (except for multis!).
Was the crowd larger & TV ratings higher for the women.....or the men?

[Fortius19]

I would like some input from the under-50 crowd... 😁

Well, I won't be 50 for the next 15 minutes or so...

I like it somewhere in the middle. Not too modest, and not too arrogant.

[The Klingon]

Well, there is no pleasing every one no matter what you do.

[lonewolf]

Well, there is no pleasing everyone no matter what you do.

And, sometimes there is no pleasing anyone.,

[user4]

I understand gh's reservation about commenting on the comparative physical attractiveness of athletes but it is inevitable whether or not commented on. Here, as elsewhere, there are differences of opinion on relative pulchritude so it is probably just as well to ignore the obvious and make it verboten, as we do for sex, religion, and politics.
Still, as others have accurately noted, it is pictures of attractive women that draw the clicks from people who may be ignorant of their athletic prowess.

I think what you are saying, whether anyone ever mentions attractive or not can not change the beauty and grace and completeness that is Allyson Felix. In fact we could use all manner of irrelevant words or opposites about her, but those words once written in a paragraph about Felix would only communicate to the reader beauty and charm and grace. There is simply no getting around it, she should be the eternal ambassador of the sport.

[Tuariki]

I think what you are saying, whether anyone ever mentions attractive or not can not change the beauty and grace and completeness that is Allyson Felix. In fact we could use all manner of irrelevant words or opposites about her, but those words once written in a paragraph about Felix would only communicate to the reader beauty and charm and grace. There is simply no getting around it, she should be the eternal ambassador of the sport.

Might work to some degree for the USA but no where else.

[mungo man]

T&F has most attractive men and women of all races participants IMO (2nd to volleyball IMO). Look at YouTube and you can see the number of hits when someone posts Italian or Spanish LJ or PV championship. So, market is there but can the casual fan relate to records and winning championships or even more important different running, jumping, and throwing events? Ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTYPPnKGPPE , 31,615,312 views

Most important question: Should T&F sell out the sport to get a cheap publicity or get larger slice of market to survive as professional sport?

Compromise: Bring more events to streets/people such as LJ, PV, HJ, 60m, 60H (make it 50m, 50H). What do we have to lose?

This !
WA has concluded that the sport needs more Michelle Jenneke types.

[Tuariki]

This !
WA has concluded that the sport needs more Michelle Jenneke types.

But it will only work if she/he has the competitive record of Allyson Felix.

[KevinR]

Even at his peak, Ali made his boastfulness lighthearted. Bolt and Lyles have the same approach, which is what makes it resonate with fans.

[user4]

Even at his peak, Ali made his boastfulness lighthearted. Bolt and Lyles have the same approach, which is what makes it resonate with fans.

That is some kind of revisionism. I guess you could say later in life Ali made his boastfulness light hearted but not during his competitive years. In fact he was nothing like Bolt and Lyles.

[gh]

I see no revisionist thinking. KevinR's take on the early Ali is spot-on as I remember it at the time.

[J Rorick]

I remember he used to denigrate his upcoming opponents (Sonny Liston was "the big ugly bear"; Ernie Terrell, Floyd Patterson & Joe Frazier were Uncle Toms). He was one of the first trash-talkers in mainstream sports, though he was copying what wrestlers had been doing for quite awhile. His prediction of the ending round was generally light-hearted, but some of the trash talking was anything but and made Ali a villain to many boxing fans who weren't used to it. He finally won most of them over after the Frazier fights.