Clueless writing about our sport

[br]

Check out who's the men's 100m world record holder at the Texas Relays Men's 100m Invitational.

http://results.flotrack.org/2015/03-25-TexasRelays/Web/Track.php?EN=10&RN=1&D=4

Record	Athletes	Affiliation	Time	Date
World Record (!)	Tim Montgomery	USA	9.78	2002
American Record ($)	Tyson Gay	USA	9.69	2009
Collegiate Record (%)	Ato Boldon	UCLA	9.92	1996
Myers Std Record (S)	Richard Thompson	LSU	10.00	2008

[tandfman]

OMG!!!!!!!!

(Extra exclamation marks added because a mere OMG! would not have met the minimum size requirements for a message.)

[aaronk]

Okay, so this falls better under the thread about wanting to abolish the 1600 and 3200 in US HS's.
But seeing it sent quivers of RAGE through my ageing bod!

In a write-up about the Kansas Relays (see front page article), they talk about their Dream Mile.

"....the Dream MILE competitions...which will be 1600 meter races...."

(The ALL CAPS was mine!)

Um, guys or gals, you can NOT call 1600 meters a MILE!!

[lonewolf]

Maybe the will back em up 10 yards.. or whatever.

[tandfman]

Sometimes, the cluelessness just has to do with writing style. Here's an article from the website of the U. of Georgia school newspaper:

http://www.redandblack.com/sports/georgia-track-and-field-impresses-in-california-atlanta/article_3f717922-e6c3-11e4-a8b1-d7807eb79a5b.html

It includes these interesting verbs:

>>Graduate student Jenna Wargo began day two of the Mt. SAC Relays in style. She competed in the women’s javelin event and acquired a distance of 161-feet, 1-inch in her final attempt.<<

Acquired? Did she go out and buy that distance?


>>Senior Nick Vena helped take the men’s side to a fourth place finish in the shot put Invitational. He received a toss of 62-9.25.<<

Received? Did he catch it?


>> Kisean Smith earned himself a season-best time in the 800-meter event at the Mt. SAC Relays and senior Charles Grethen protruded a second place finish and season-best with a time of 1:49.48.<<

Protruded? No further comment needed.

[lonewolf]

pathetic....but funny

[aaronk]

Can I offer an audio example?
In Flotrack's coverage of Jenna Prandini's 22.42 200, Flotrack's announcer---don't know his name---called it as TWENTY forty-two!!
He said her time was the fastest in the world....TWENTY.42.
But the worst part was....
he said it TWICE!!
He said "it's a very good time".
Well, yes, I'd say a 20.42 (sic) IS a "very good time"!

[tandfman]

Another audio example. About a mile after the start of the women's race in Boston this morning, one of the announcers on the webcast (http://watchlive.baa.org/) identified Lisa Nemec as a citizen of Romania. She is, in fact, a citizen of Croatia.

[tandfman]

Another announcer just got it right.

[tandfman]

This gem is from a Nigerian newspaper. The subject is the Rio Olympic qualifying standards.

>>For the jumps, 1.94m (men) and 2.29m (women) are required to qualify while 6.70m (men) and 8.15m (women) are the standards for the long jump. For the triple jump, it is 14.20m (men) and 16.90m (women). Other events are discus at 61.00m and 65.00m (men and women), javelin at 61.00m and 82.00m, shot put at 17.75m and 20.45m and hammer throw at 70.00m and 76.00m for the men and women respectively. <<

http://www.punchng.com/sports/many-nigerian-athletes-cant-make-rio-2016-yusuf/

[Mr. Bowie]

I blame it all on TV, which has ruined just about everything in society and done more to kill the written word than anything I can think of.

[tandfman]

Here's someone who doesn't know the difference between a discus and a shot:

>>On the women’s side, senior Emily Morris will compete in the discus after winning the event at the Georgia Tech Invitational with a 15.15-meter throw. Turner said he hopes she will get even closer to 16.03 meters, her personal best and school-record mark set during the indoor season.<<

http://ndsmcobserver.com/2015/04/irish-travel-des-moines-drake-relays/

[Atticus]

Here's someone who doesn't know the difference between a discus and a shot

To be fair, there are many IN our sport who think we are throwing the discuss and throwing the shot put. I'd believe that many non-throwers don't realize that one "puts the shot".

[dukehjsteve]

And how many of us, when we see or pick up that round sphere, call it a " shot put " rather than a "shot."

[Tuariki]

Does today's top headline qualify?

Cal's Thomas Joyce Runs 3:38.69 Mile At Home Meet