Why aren't more track & field athletes also fans?

[tafnut]

Re: What happens

"We might have been similarly ignorant 30 years ago, but somehow I doubt it. At least, I think, we had a general respect for history and a sense that it MATTERED. Now, I feel, relatively few young people are genuinely curious about history and consider it a significant part of their lives."

As a teacher and coach, I could not DISAGREE more. My students are more more responsible and aware of the big picture than my generation (Stanford '73) ever was. They are better informed, have more sophisticated critical thinking skills, are more tolerant, less bigoted, more politically aware, more into conservation and community service; in general, they are superior to my generation in every regard. We did all right as a generation and this one will surpass us easily. This generation of students is keenly aware of what will be necessary to succeed and they are striving to arm themselves with the requisite skills. That's why teaching is the best career I could have taken up after 20 years in the Navy. I get to see the future every day and I gotta wear shades, it's so bright.

[Guest]

Re: What happens

Wow. I hope you're right.

[Guest]

Re: What happens

>Wow. I hope you're right.<

I do to. But my own observations of the current generation of teenagers are closer to yours than his.

[Guest]

Re: Good point

one they have heard of coach is steve prefontaine.
www.prefontaine-run.com

call anytime for shirts//posters.
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look at it this way coach,olympic year,national market created,posters/hats,,ect.

mike

[Guest]

Re: What happens

>>Wow. I hope you're right.<

I do to. But my own observations of the current generation of teenagers are closer to yours than his.<

I do to? Did I say that? My God, I'm one of the morons I'm always complaining about.

Sorry 'bout that.

[Guest]

I agree too.."the kids are alright"

In the overall scheme of things, but if the question is merely why aren't track and field participants ...fans

The answer is that most young participants that I know, would really be somewhere else. They laugh when i bring up the esoteric stuff like the history of the sport and all that.
Yet they gobble up information about baseball and basketball.
I had two freshman twins who knew the complete rotation of the Cubs pitching staff, their ERA's and wins and losses, but had never worn spikes and did not know how far 5 kilometers was and didn't know what a singlet was.

And they aren't bad distance runners.

[Guest]

Re: I agree too..

To Half Empty: We all have our moronic moments...which is why we are (despite all appearances!) reluctant to dogmatically assert our own superiority... Most of us have MUCH to be modest about....%) That said, I wish I could be as cheery as our correspondent above about the state of our youth...

[michael lewis]

Re: I agree too..

"Not one runner on our high school team where I am an assistant coach, had ever heard of Jim Ryun, Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter or Buddy Edelen."

Did you tell them about them? Were they interested in a prep running Ryun's times, and how many years have gone by while next to nobody runs as fast? I like Bijan Bayne's comments on another thread about how he shows his math class Beamon's WR, and their reaction. I did something very similar with a team I coached when I taught in BC - measured off JJK's best for the guys I was coaching, and they BLUSHED!

[gm]

Re: What happens

I have to disagree with you, unless you are teaching at a "privileged" school.

Most of the youngsters I come into contact with have very little, if any, regard for history. They also have poor reasoning skills and find it difficult to relate to anything that isn't electronic.

At some point, Chicken Little is gonna be able to say, "I told y'all so."

[michael lewis]

Re: What happens

"Most of the youngsters I come into contact with have very little, if any, regard for history. They also have poor reasoning skills and find it difficult to relate to anything that isn't electronic."

Yes this is, sadly, too often the case - see last weekend's NYTimes Mag cover on how video games are set to supplant MOVIES as the primo form of entertainment in our [shared North American] culture. If you're not hearing others talking about LAN parties and game titles, you're (like me), probably "too old". At 43.

[Guest]

Re: What happens

Why aren't they fans? Same reason that star pianists, violinists, etc., might not attend others' concerts. In two letters, OD......

[Guest]

Re: Good point

If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem!
While running up a cobblestone hill with a local sub 3:00 woman marathoner the other day, I was relating to her how I always thought of Abebe Bekila (sp?) winning his first gold medal barefoot in Rome, with some parts on cobblestones. And waving off the blanket at the finish to do jumping jacks. Then coming back 4 years later to win again in shoes, and die at too early of an age of complications from being bound to a wheelchair after an automobile accident.
She had never heard of him- but may never feel the same again running up cobblestone hills.
Teach your children well! And give some of them credit for using their brains and being interested.

[Guest]

Re: Good point

Bikila's jumping jacks were after the Tokyo race (w/shoes).

[Guest]

Re: Good point

A baseball fan that is offered tickets to the World Series and travels to the game is a "true fan". I go to the World Track Champs and I am a geek. I don't get it.

[michael lewis]

Re: Good point

"Teach your children well! And give some of them credit for using their brains and being interested."

That about says it all. Give me your group of uninterested athletes and they will be fans of the sport. I've had to make fractions fascinating for 7 year olds and classical music interesting for 14 year olds - you think that is easy? Yes and no. If you know your subject, you make it relevant to your students' lives. So if you're coaching track and field, how can you connect fascinating historical figures and races to modernity? The answer lies in looking at what is common to both athletes then and now -
everyone can relate to things like overcoming adversity (Owens, Rudolph), national pride, intense and bitter rivalries. For starters.