Clueless writing about our sport

[El Toro]

A typical listing is 38:8:25, which is the style he chose. That equals 38-8¼, or 38’8¼”, in standard nomenclature. Makes it difficult to read, and I have no idea where he came up with that.

Some CAD software uses (or used to use) the colon after the foot element to enter data but I thought the inch/partial were then delineated by a period as you would expect.

I'm not sure why he would reuse the colon (or any symbol) because, as you note, it's too easy to get confused. Just be greatful he didn't need to use miles:yards:feet:inchesartial, then you'd really be confused!

[bambam1729]

Recent book I read on the Irish-American Athletic Club – was OK, but the author, who appears to be British / Irish, does not appear to know much about track & field. For the most egregious example, he discusses in the intro how he will list the marks – all from the 1900-1914 era, and all measured Imperially. A typical listing is 38:8:25, which is the style he chose. That equals 38-8¼, or 38’8¼”, in standard nomenclature. Makes it difficult to read, and I have no idea where he came up with that.

[wamego relays champ]

Then I guess Nick Symmonds would qualify too.

The Outsports article posted recently to the front page (and referenced in the another thread about a Semenya-related video) described Symmonds as

Olympic sprinter and renowned LGBTQ ally

[Atticus]

Ummm... I didn't know Montano was a sprinter...

Then you've never seen her first lap in a major meet! It's usually 55. That's haulin'.

[TN1965]

"Sprinter Alysia Montaño criticized the company in another New York Times piece on May 12 for failing to ensure maternity leave or pay athletes during pregnancy."

Ummm... I didn't know Montano was a sprinter...

https://sports.yahoo.com/allyson-felix-denounces-nike-for-failing-to-financially-support-athletes-during-pregnancy-011105472.html

[tandfman]

This is a new one. It's a story in the U. of Florida school newspaper about the men's 4x100 rivalry between the Gators and LSU. The lede sentence reads: Fourteen milliseconds was the difference. He repeatedly thereafter refers to differences of milliseconds between two times. The problem is that milliseconds are thousandths of a second. The actual difference between the times referrred to in the lede sentence is .14, or fourteen hundredths of a second, not thousandths.

https://www.alligator.org/sports/uf-men-s-x-team-narrows-gap-with-lsu/article_542f5c2a-63d9-11e9-9df2-9b94fc0285a3.html

[tandfman]

Another one in the clueless headline writer category. There's a story about 2018 NCAA Heptathlon champion Georgia Ellenwood now linked in the front page headline section. The headline refers to her as George Ellenwood.

[Atticus]

I attended a Middle School meet last weekend. PA announced the winner of the 8th grade boys LJ (18'-6.25") as 18.625 seconds... nobody flinched.

This is very common here:

"Winner of the LJ in 18.6 is . . . "

or

"Winner of the 100 in 11 is . . . "

There is little sense of what these numbers might mean.

[lonewolf]

I attended a Middle School meet last weekend. PA announced the winner of the 8th grade boys LJ (18'-6.25") as 18.625 seconds... nobody flinched.

[tandfman]

This gem is as clueless as it gets:

>>Kord Ferguson won the men’s shot put (199-00.0) by more than 18 feet. Ferguson also won discus with a meet-record mark of 65-04.0.<<

https://www.tidesports.com/alabama-track-closes-invitational-with-eight-wins/

[jeremyp]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/sports/shot-put-ryan-crouser-joe-kovacs.html

"Crouser and Kovacs’s domination of shot-put is one of the lesser known stories in track and field, a sport that does not have to worry about overexposure.
Being the best in the United States these days generally means being the best in the world, whether their fellow Americans notice or not. "
I guess Tom Walsh is chopped liver.

[Powell]

headline in the SF Chronicle this morning: "Hearing For Sprinter Over Hormone Levels"

She runs the 400 as well, so technically it's not wrong.

[gh]

C.., 400-yard dash record-setter Michael Johnson...."

now we know why it took so long for anybody to break his record

[Conor Dary]

Oh dear...

[DrJay]

Colorado Springs Style Magazine--a glossy thing with photos of older men and young trophy wives at black tie galas--had a recent article about the opening-next year US Olympic Museum, with these jewels:

"Every two and four years, we get a thrilling—if fleeting—chance to see the world’s best Olympic and Paralympic athletes in action. Stories of the 1980 USA hockey team, 400-yard dash record-setter Michael Johnson...."