Who Is Worth Paying To See?

[gh]

Columnist in my paper this morning did a nice bit on which current baseball players he found exciting enough to actually pay to go see (If you wanna see his list, here's that URL)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 5PKSD1.DTL

So, imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, thought I'd canvas you on which track & field stars are worth paying to see. Tough part is assigning a dollar value. Let's start by setting it at the high end.

What single person could show up at an otherwise medicre meet and you'd be willing to plop down 50 bucks (told you I'd start high) to see in action? (With the implicit guarantee that it would be all-out performance.)

[MJD]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

What
>single person could show up at an otherwise medicre meet and you'd be willing
>to plop down 50 bucks (told you I'd start high) to see in action? (With the
>implicit guarantee that it would be all-out performance.)

Henry Rono.

[gh]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

To clarify: who among CURRENT athletes. Trying to assess how today's crop of performers is valued.

[Jon]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

>What
>single person could show up at an otherwise medicre meet and you'd be willing
>to plop down 50 bucks (told you I'd start high) to see in action? (With the
>implicit guarantee that it would be all-out performance.)



Bekele (in 5k against Geb)
Radcliffe (in Marathon)
Kluft (in hept)

[kuha]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

Bekele
Geb
El G
a fit Borzakovsky
a fit Radcliffe (at any distance)
and then....it gets more difficult...

[tafnut]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

$100 to see Dragila vs. Feofanova vs. Isinbayeva - opening height 15', then 15'6, then 16', then 5.00!

[tandfman]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

I know that people do pay to see athletes. It's a fact that I can't argue with. But it's a shame that in both sports and the performing arts, the star system--promoted by those in whose interest it is to promote it--increasingly shapes the minds of the consuming (ticket purchasing) public.

I'd pay to see competition. The better the competition, the better I like it. I'd rather see a close race among a bunch of less-than-superstar athletes than a lopsided victory by one of those big names that some people would pay to see just because they are famous--or even just because they are great athletes.

[trackstar]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

I'd pay $100 to see Geb vs. Bekele at any distance, and/or Dragila vs. Feofanova vs. Isinbayeva.

Come to think of it, I think the kroner that I paid for the straightaway seats at Bislett last year translated to about $80 per seat.

[Per Andersen]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

100$ to see Zelezny back in 90m shape against Makarov.
Holm going for 2.40
El G in full flight paced or not paced, I don't care.
Borzakovsky in a 1.42 race.
Olsson
Isinbayeva & Feofanova and Dragila going for 5m.
Stringfellow in 28ft land.
Allen Johnson.
Bergqvist against Cloete.

[misterp]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

Marion Jones.
The 1988 100m re-run.
Wang Jung-hsia (is she coming back?)
Tergat and Radcliffe.

[EPelle]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

Ritzenhein in his first international 5k competition on European soil.

[Conor Dary]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

Definitely Geb vs. Bekele.

As for: "Ritzenhein in his first international 5k competition on European soil." Epelle must really like movies with car crashes and other disasters waiting to happen.

[ffanin]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

200m: Justin Gatlin, Usain Bolt, John Capel & Darvis Patton.
Since that's a Golden League event this year, a trip to Zurich or Monaco is possible.

[gh]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

Sunday, July 11, Sacto

14:30--men's 100 semis
16:48--men's 100 final

(with men's LJ final and both 400H finals in between)

Lotsa bang for the buck in that sequence.

[79.]

Re: Who Is Worth Paying To See?

Kenenisa BEKELE
Hicham El GUERROUG
Allen JOHNSON
Gail DEVERS
Maurice GREENE
Haile GEBRELASSIE
Wilson KIPKETER
Marion JONES
Jan ZELEZNY
... all are current legends to watch absolutely.