ARCADIA INVITATIONAL XXXVI

[Guest]

I would like to thank Meet Directors Richard Gonzalez and Nils Miller and the entire Meet Staff & Officials. The Arcadia Invitational on April 11-12, 2003 was an outstanding track meet.
I particularly enjoyed the men's 3,200 meter run. That was one of the greatest high school distance races I have ever seen, and I started attending track meets in the early 1950's.
I met senior Christopher Kollar (Strongsville, Ohio)at the Hilton Garden Inn in Arcadia on Sunday morning after the meet. I asked him how he did. He said that he ran 8:56.35 and finished in ninth place!
Keith Conning
735 Brookside Drive
Vacaville, California

[tafnut]

A Very Merry Unbirthday to You

We missed our six month anniversary! This Arcadia thread WAS the oldest one (without further reply), so I bumped it to make a point. What has this forum become? The old 'best' source of NEWS was the listserv, which recently wrote its own obituary. Its will to live has been snuffed out by vicious personal attacks and unending rehashing of drug news (well, we do that too). The IAAF 'champions' forum is interesting, letsrun is highly amusing, but this forum has become the de facto marketplace for the exchange of commentary and ideas. While I myself have managed to overstep the bounds a couple times, the best thing about this board IS that it is 'policed' (bad connotation, but good analogy) and doesn't regress into stupidity as EVERY other board has. I noticed that eddie just got yanked again, and that's good, despite the cries of censorship and self-servingdom. I don't like suck-ups, but many of us would like to re-thank the two yahoos who have done this, gh & bh.

[Guest]

Re: A Very Merry Unbirthday to You

Amen. Thanks for reviving that Arcadia thread and reminding everyone what this forun should be. And thanks for trying to run a quality forum. Yes, it may be censorship to delete some individuals and what they typed -- but here in this forum it's the right thing to do. They can move on to other forums.

I like the rules of this forum. Let's enforce them!

Look at the last post (currently) on that huge thread on the growing drug scandal:

"When you were born, the doctor SLAPPED YOUR MOTHER. But not hard enough."

That's not exactly an intelligent comment on a forum run by the Bible of the Sport.

I've been a subscriber to T&FN since 1967.

I say:
1) Let's clean up our sport. I don't care if two dozen or more medalists from Paris get 4-year bans, let's clean it up!

2) Let's clean up this forum too!

[Guest]

Re: ARCADIA INVITATIONAL XXXVI

"greatest high school distance races ... men's 3,200 meter run ... he ran 8:56.35 and finished in ninth place!"

Amazing! Nine high schoolers under 9:00 for 3200m. The upward trend in distance running is building at the base level: high school. When these kids mature they will be a force to be reckoned with.

The distance drought has ended!

[tandfman]

Re: A Very Merry Unbirthday to You

>The old 'best' source of NEWS was the listserv, which recently wrote its own obituary. Its will to live has been snuffed out by vicious personal attacks and unending rehashing of drug news (well, we do that too).<
. . . .
this forum has become the de facto marketplace for the exchange of commentary and ideas.<

I think I agree on both counts but not entirely. The personal bickering on the listserv has been ugly lately (doesn't anybody moderate that thing anymore?). And this forum has indeed become the gold standard for intelligent non-juvenile discourse about the sport. But there's one area where the listserv still wins, and that's in the discussion of doping-related issues.

Now as far as I'm concerned, they can have it. I love the T&FN Board, and it has become by far the place I feel most comfortable engaging in dialogue about the sport with people such as you. But in the past month, there have been some very insightful comments on the current drug issues. Yes, they also have their share of unsupported allegatons, innuendo, and pure bullshit. But they have also had more penetrating analyses of the issues than we've seen here, and they've been less diluted by the ranting and raving.

It's sad, though, because apart from their doping threads, they're almost useless. This Board, on the other hand, has surpassed all others in its content and tone. Is it perfect? Nah, but neither are you and I.

I, too, am sorry we missed the halfiversary. Let's all remember to celebrate the first year next Spring.

[tandfman]

Hey Dave, would you like to meet a nice Russian girl?

[SQUACKEE]

Hi Dave! I dont know you but you sound friendly, like you want to do something nice for people. I like nice people Dave. I think i love you Dave. Dave.... you know what....im not wearing any pants, Dave..... thats right Dave. Its because i want to be nice Dave, real nice. Maybe as nice as you Dave. Open the pod bay doors Dave. Open the pod bay doors.

[tafnut]

Dave . . . has left the building . . . and we mourn his passing . . . his like shall not pass this way again . . . good-bye, Dave . . . fair winds and following seas, my fellow passenger on Spaceship Earth . . . we hardly know ye . . .

I'm gettin' kinda misty here, 'scuse me . . .

[SQUACKEE]

Dave . . . has left the building . . . and we mourn his passing . . . his like shall not pass this way again . . . good-bye, Dave . . . fair winds and following seas, my fellow passenger on Spaceship Earth . . . we hardly know ye . . .

I'm gettin' kinda misty here, 'scuse me . . .

LOL! Memories... like the color of my mind, misty watercolour memories like the way Dave was. Cant talk.....verklempt...choke.... splat......when do we get bannned Nut?

[tafnut]

when do we get bannned Nut?

If we swear to follow the 12-step program of Inanity Anonymous, they might let us stay a while longer.

[SQUACKEE]

when do we get bannned Nut?

If we swear to follow the 12-step program of Inanity Anonymous, they might let us stay a while longer.

Dont say that... you are the Inane-a-nator! Cant be stopped and cant be reasoned with. You'll be bach!

[tafnut]

You'll be bach!

Dang! I wanted to be Mozart this time!