Millrose talk

[gh]

Scary part isn't that Millrose's attendance has fallen from 18,000 to 11,000.... it's that in the old days, some 30,000 people wanted those 18,000 tickets, so the "attendance" is down to about a third.

This year's crowd did have a decent feel to it though and provided good background vibe.

[Halfmiler2]

If he did not do the actual report, he at least was doing previews the last couple years.

For what it is worth, I heard from a journalist today that attendance was announced at 11,000. I think it had bottomed out at 10,800 about three or four years ago, and then gone up a bit, so this is a step back.

[tandfman]

The Times had a mediocre article in later editions. It did not help that Frank Litsky is recovering from knee surgery and missed the meet.

Litsky didn't write the Times's Millrose story last year, either. Or the year before that.

[Halfmiler2]

Nothing, zero, nil in Saturday's New York Times. I thought that since the ESPN2 telecast was over by 8:30 E.S.T. "time constraints" couldn't be the answer. Nothing. zero, nil in Sunday's New York Times (though there was a half page picture of some football player's tatoos!).
Sunday's NBC broadcast starts out with some drivel about the Millrose being the opening lead-in to 2012, as if everything is just a warm-up for and doesn't count except for the Olympics. I mean, does every baseball game start off with a reminder from the broadcasters that it is the lead-in to the World Series?
Sunday's NBC broadcast ends with telling the viewers that Lagat's victory in the mile was the performance of the meet. I guess NBC never learned about Hooker's 6.01.
There is something depressingly moribund about USA Track & Field's promoting of the sport.

The Times had a mediocre article in later editions. It did not help that Frank Litsky is recovering from knee surgery and missed the meet. In any event, I do not think you can blame USATF for the press coverage. The newspapers are in crisis mode and cutting staff and space right and left, making it tougher than ever to get decent coverage of our sport. Nor does USATF control what NBC says.

[tandfman]

Sometimes, those decisions are as much financial as political. The meet seemed to have a limited budget and the choice of one athlete over another could have been just a matter of cost saving. I doubt that they brought that Norwegian vaulter over from Norway.

[polevaultpower]

Aside from Derek Miles, where were the other top American vaulters? I think Walker is sitting out the indoor season, but what about Stevenson, Skipper, Mack... Are those guys injured or skipping the indoor season?

Didn't Skipper win this last year?

I think Toby and Tommy are skipping indoors as well. Tim Mack has jumped 5.49 so far indoors, I don't know why he wasn't there.

Picking those fields is so political. How the heck did a Norwegian girl with a 4.30 PR and a 4.15 this year get in over Lacy Janson and Chelsea Johnson who both have 4.60+ PRs and have jumped 4.45 this year?

[encino]

Visa Atjlete of the Meet

For TV purposes, the Visa Athlete of the Meet has to go to the athlete competing as a member of Team USA. Hence, Bernard Lagat.

[tandfman]

They should both hang on to those Waterford bowls. They may become collectors items.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28503632/

I wonder what they'll give the winners next year.

[dkny]

Kip was at the awards table to get the Wanamaker Mile Trophy. This year it was a crystal bowl. Looked like a smaller version of the Waterford (outstanding athlete award).

[gh]

I've no idea what NBC said or did, but there is an official outstanding performer award at Millrose, and it was given to Hooker.

I had gone off-mike (Garden variety, not NBC) when awards time came, but they def. had Lagat down at the awards table before they got to Hooker; somebody may have misread what was actually going on. Hooker was def. the winner of the big chunk of Waterford.

[Dave]

Aside from Derek Miles, where were the other top American vaulters? I think Walker is sitting out the indoor season, but what about Stevenson, Skipper, Mack... Are those guys injured or skipping the indoor season?

Didn't Skipper win this last year?

[AS]

Summary of Hooker effort from Aths Australia site:

"Returning to competition for the first time since that remarkable night at the Bird’s Nest in August, Hooker’s winning clearance of 6.01m was the equal sixth highest jump of all time, the highest ever indoors in the United States and the best indoors in the world for seven years.
The leap is also a new Australian indoor record,"

The site also mentions that

"Olympic silver medallist Sally McLellan clocked 7.96 seconds in the 60m hurdles on her indoor debut,"

What they don't mention is that McLellan's time is also an Australian indoor record, thumping the previous records (by an Olympic champion no less) by 0.24 seconds...

http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/380 ... lrose_2009

[tandfman]

I've no idea what NBC said or did, but there is an official outstanding performer award at Millrose, and it was given to Hooker.

[marknhj]

Sunday's NBC broadcast ends with telling the viewers that Lagat's victory in the mile was the performance of the meet. I guess NBC never learned about Hooker's 6.01.
There is something depressingly moribund about USA Track & Field's promoting of the sport.

Yes, a 3:58 mile against a very weak field besting 6.01 and a good attempt at 6.18, really shows the lows NBC will go.

It is amazing the attention these silly win streaks get. Fred Lebow understood this. Why spend money on the women's marathon fields? Just bring Grete Waitz in every year and ignore the rest.

My sentiments exactly. It's such a shame that Millrose has turned into a mickey mouse meet. And the ongoing promotion of a meaningless and very average mile race only confirms the depths it's sunk too and the lack of imagination of those responsible and NBC.

Positioning a 3:58 mile as the performance of the meet vs. a 6.01m? Jesus H. Christ...

[kuha]

[quote=Conor Dary]

There is no way there is going to be first 2 and then....The stars would all skip the trials or the equivalent, not take them very seriously.

As sacrilegious as this may sound, and as much as I want EVERYONE at the Trials trying their best . . . .

There is nothing sacred about the OTs except as a cash cow. There is no way, USATF can put on a 10 day meet and not have the big stars there. If Logan implies anything else he is talking out of his hat.[/quote:4dxykkqd]

I agree with both Marlow's sentiment (there should be a "better" way) AND with Conor's flat-out realism (taken first-hand from the ed. of the Bible of the Sport).