Serious Satch/ not dead yet

[satch400]

U.S. Track & Field not DYING!
1) MEDIA
More meets on TV with increased air time & better coverage. Cable a big help; Olympics in Athens should make track "bloom." Newspaper coverage could improve but at least not getting worse. Still has significant exposure in Sports Illustrated.
2) INTERNET
I think amazing amount of websites worldwide is helping to promote our sport. Congrats to T&F News for theirs & to Satch who tries to make message board not just for crabby old guys & stat geeks.
3) OTHER SPORTS IN SLUMP
a) Baseball boring & definitely on decline;
b) Golf down until Tiger ends his own slump;
c) Pro football less interesting each year, at least in my area - games way too expensive for average fan;
d) College sports always big due to regional interest but has lots of problems which are getting worse; i.e., Colorado & St. John's sex scandals;
e) Pro basketball - no Jordan - only white guys are from overseas with names you can't spell or pronounce. Players worst role models & crybabies in all of major sports. Also, Satch is tiring of watching huge guys like Shaq dunking or shooting foul shots.
4) CONCLUSION
Hey man, I miss the old days of track, too, but the future is cautiously "O.K."

[basehead617]

Re: Serious Satch/ not dead yet

> Congrats to T&F News for theirs & to Satch who
>tries to make message board not just for crabby
>old guys & stat geeks.

you guys are failing miserably!!

[satch400]

Re: Serious Satch/ not dead yet

guess this thread died, so much for trying to be white.

[Pego]

Re: Serious Satch/ not dead yet

Not much to argue about except that there are more pale American born NBA players than you allow. I hope you are right in your conclusions.

[marknhj]

Re: Serious Satch/ not dead yet

Frankly satch I think everyone was too shocked to see your name attached to a post like this, so shocked they couldn't respond. Or, because it was so untypical, people suspected a set-up so didn't respond...

[mike renfro]

Re: Serious Satch/ not dead yet

I pretty much agree with Satch on this post. I suspect the lack of response (although it is only a few hours old) is that most people agree. No controversy, no response.

The print media (general) is not too interested in our sport. In today's SF Chron, front page on possible Marion scenerios, nothing new, just keeping the shit alive. On the Stanford meet, about one fourth the verbage (which is probably about right for the meet, but still...). The error that Teter ran a world leader (as announced at the meet) was repeated, even though Multola's time was in the sums, and was certainly earlier, give the time difference. In the sums, Hengelo, top two only, Stanford, three. SI does a bit.

TV is spotty at best. I was hoping that the BBC channel would have some athletics coverage, but alas.

On other sports, baseball does suck, I never had a lot of interest in golf pre Tiger, and even then, I never watched a full telecast. NFL is a bit pricey for the fun. I had 49er season tickets since '72. Every once in a while, my wife finds an old ticket in some disused garmet (eg, $8). Our per game ticket prices long outstripped our first Super Bowl tix ($40), and after the sterling 7-9 season, with no clue as to drafting in the front office, no willingness to open the purse from the owner's box, they decided to jack the prices again. Auf wiedersehn! Somehow "cap relief by '07" just isn't much of a rallying cry.

[vacationsteve]

Re: Serious Satch/ not dead yet

I'll respond. Satch's comments are right in the money. Good post.