Sorry Philip ... I've been trying to stay out of the conversation, but I
just can't ...
First of all when did any single athlete become the US team in and of him
(or her) self ??? I didn't believe in letting an athlete dictate the running
of a team when Carl Lewis tried it and I don't agree with it now ... If
Michael wants to get his "deserved due" in Edmonton then he needs to earn it
just like every one else who will be lacing up spikes come late summer ...
If you are banking on the public tuning in to see him run one more race then
what the He** do you plan to do for the meet after that ??? And the meet
after that ??? Michael is gone ... Out of here ... HE says he wants to run
no more open races then that is on him ... Why should everyone else fight it
out at national's for spots on the team and he sit on his A** and watch and
then get to run in the WCs ???
Because he is the best ??? Let me remind you that he was supposed to be the
best in '92 then got to the games and choked ... Yes he is capable of doing
that ... He was allowed to compete in the 4x4 (because he was a member of
the relay pool) and was the slowest member of the team ... The others
carried him to his first Olympic gold and first WR even though his
revisionist history says otherwise ... Almost anyone else in THAT pool could
have run the 44.7 he ran ... So there was no gain by having him there ...
If you all want to give Michael a going away party ... Then feel free to do
so ... Rent the nicest hotel you can find in your town and give him the
biggest bash you can afford ... The WCs is no place for freebies ... Medals
and places on teams are to be earned not doled out as rewards for some sort
of life time achievement ... You win what you run for ... And there is no
telling what will happen on any given day ... That is why they run the races
... That is what everyone else is running for ... And that is what he should
be running for ... You want marketing ??? Then do some real creative stuff
... Hire a firm if need be ... Market some people who are GOING TO BE HERE
AFTER EDMONTON IS OVER !!!! Not someone on his way out who wants to
determine his own sense of glory at the expense of others ....
You see, we set a bad precedence with Carl Lewis back in '84 ... It was
decided that ONE athlete was important enough to change the games for ...
Because that ONE person had a dream ... So we wanted to make it easy for him
and rearrange some things ... Since then we have done it for others ... In
the Olympics and the Worlds ... And then we wanted to make it easy for "our
special people" to make it to the WCs so we just passed em on in ... You
don't have to compete, we said ... You've been there before ... Come on back
... But you know what ??? Ben Johnson was right about one thing ... The
Olympics are not Carl Lewis ... Carl is gone and the Olympics continue ...
Michael is almost gone and guess what ??? Everything will continue as it was
before he arrived ... The same will be true when Marion is gone and MO is
gone ... There will always be some else to step in and do what they did and
take it one better ... Coe couldn't be topped but he has been ... Viren was
the best, but pales now ... There was Jesse then there was Carl ... Once
Tommie then Michael ... Koch now Jones ...
We hang on individuals as if they cannot be replaced ... Yet they always are
... It is the sport that is king not the man or the woman ... We forget that
it is the COMPETITION that makes the sport ... And as I have said a thousand
times when we learn to hype the competition and stop depending on the few
heroes that emerge, the sport ... The entire sport ... Will be the better
for it ... Michael is not the World Championships ... You want to give him
something give him a gold watch and send him off on his way ... Give the
relay spots to the guys who show up at Nationals and earn it ....
Conway
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: t-and-f: Michael Johnson On Edmonton 4x400
> With all due respect to Michael Rohl, he and others who object to a
rules
> change for Michael Johnson on the purism-vs.-publicity notion are
rearranging
> deck chairs on the Titanic.
> For the same reason that Carl Lewis should have run the 4 x 1 in
Atlanta,
> Michael should run the 4 x 4 in Edmonton--because the general public might
> tune in. The sport is sinking out of sight in the U.S., and anything that
> generates publicity (within reason, of course) is worth trying. That MJ
ran
> 44.2 at Penn in April -- faster than his Sydney split -- shows he still is
> the brilliant runner he was a year ago.
> Even more, racing in Edmonton means Michael will get his deserved and
> ``real'' final due in North America, rather than at the GW Games, which
will
> get utterly no media coverage in the US.
> Carl's US finale was on a meaningless relay at halftime of a
meaningless
> football game, and US media outside Houston never knew it occurred -- nor
> should any of us have paid attention to an exhibition. The worlds in
August
> would give Michael the attention he deserves in a race with something at
> stake.
> And if Jackie wanted to unretire again, more power to her.
>
>
> Philip Hersh
> Olympic Sports Writer
> Chicago Tribune
>
