The next Captain America film is being shot in Cleveland (partially at least). A lawyer friend of mine who works in Cleveland just sent this via Facebook:
Capt America filming in Cleveland. Scarlett Johansson stunt double. Kiosk changed to read Washington DC. DC apartment guide box swapped in. But statue of Jesse Owens remains.
Whoops! Owens’ lower body is in the center at the top of the photo:
(Photo by Judge Mike Astrab.)
Saturday’s live coverage of the NCAA Championships may have seen the worst announcing of all time. I do not believe I am engaging in hyperbole here. The list of errors and their egregiousness is unbelievable.
I’ll admit I’m going off memory here. I watched it live and didn’t record it, so I’ll have to wait for the ESPN3.com rebroadcast to be sure on all of these. But it was awful. The two errors that most require highlighting were so bad that my brother called me up and asked me if he had heard correctly what Dwight Stones and Larry Rawson had just said.
At the finish of the women’s 1500 meters, where Oregon needed major points to have a chance at the team title, Stones said that both Oregon runners scored. He didn’t see Becca Friday in last place for the last 100 meters or so, and even worse, he didn’t see Anne Kesselring stumble and fall on the homestretch. The Duck runners were, in fact, last and second to last.
That was bad. But the last was worse, far worse. Texas A&M led the team competition going into the 4×400 but dropped the baton and came up last. Noting the drop, Stones said that if Arkansas won the relay, they’d win the meet. Except that they wouldn’t, because they were 13½ points behind. But Florida would win the meet if they won the 4×400, which they did.
There are only two reasonable conclusions to draw: either Dwight Stones can’t add, or he can’t read. I suppose there might be a third conclusion, that he had no idea what was going on and didn’t take the effort to remedy that fact, but that doesn’t seem reasonable for someone employed by The Worldwide Leader In Sports.
There were a litany of other wrongdoings. Kansas clinched the women’s title after Oregon’s 1500 meter fiasco, but the announcing crew appeared completely unaware of that fact. They failed to understand the down-the-line implications in the men’s 5000 meters, as the door was left open by Texas A&M when Henry Lelei dropped off the pace and failed to score scored just one point, and Arkansas failed to take advantage of it due to a late fade by Kemoy Campbell. Rawson even said that Emma Coburn chose to go to Oregon for college and no one else corrected his error because they don’t listen to him if they can at all avoid it.
All of these things require a) doing their homework, which they obviously didn’t do, and b) Larry Rawson’s larynx having some function besides entertaining Larry Rawson, which hasn’t been the case for more than a decade.
It’s just shocking that people ESPN pays to announce a national championship simply didn’t know who won the meet.
No phones, no lights, no motor car, not a single luxury.
Like Robinson Crusoe, it’s primitive as can be.
–”Gilligan’s Island” theme song
WARNING: VACATION PHOTOS AHEAD!
I spent this past weekend on Pelee Island, a somewhat remote Canadian island in the middle of Lake Erie. I went with a purpose: the first ever Pelee Island Winery Half Marathon.
Continue reading
Yesterday I posted my women’s power rankings for the events contested at this weekend’s Prefontaine Classic. Now it’s time for the men’s events. Those in bold are entered at the Pre Classic.
1. Tyson Gay (USA)
2. Justin Gatlin (USA)
3. Mike Rodgers (USA)
4. Nesta Carter (JAM)
5. Ryan Bailey (USA)
Disabled list: Usain Bolt (JAM), Yohan Blake (JAM), Doc Patton (USA), Asafa Powell (JAM)
Gay is head and shoulders above the rest right now, winning by massive margins. Gatlin is the only other athlete with a pair of major wins (Doha Diamond League, Beijing World Challenge).
1. Warren Weir (JAM)
2. Nickel Ashmeade (JAM)
3. Jason Young (JAM)
4. Tyson Gay (USA)
5. Justin Gatlin (USA)
Disabled list: Usain Bolt (JAM), Yohan Blake (JAM), Wallace Spearmon (USA)
Weir has a pair of Diamond League wins in Shanghai and New York. Ashmeade beat Weir at the early May World Challenge meet in Kingston.
Continue reading
Who are the world’s best athletes right now? Here’s a rundown for the women’s events contested at this weekend’s big Nike Prefontaine Classic. Athletes slated to compete in Eugene are in bold.
1. Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
2. Blessing Okagbare (NIG)
3. Kelly-Ann Baptiste (TRI)
4. Barbara Pierre (USA)
5. Tianna Madison (USA)
Disabled list: Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM), Carmelita Jeter (USA)
Fraser-Pryce is on the current start list, but the rules of my power rankings are that any athlete who withdraws from a race citing injury stays on the disabled list until a return to racing. Campbell-Brown won her lone 100 meter race this year (Kingston in May), and Okagbare was second to Fraser-Pryce at the Diamond League opener in Shanghai.
1. Amantle Montsho (BOT)
2. Christine Ohuruogu (GBR)
3. Allyson Felix (USA)
4. Stephanie McPherson (JAM)
5. Novlene Williams-Mills (JAM)
Disabled list: Sanya Richards-Ross (USA)
The Prefontaine start list has yet to be released. Montsho has not been seriously challenged in either of her Diamond League wins. New Jamaican find McPherson won the World Challenge meet in Kingston in early May but hasn’t done much else since.
Continue reading
Yesterday I gave you my women’s power rankings for the events contested at this Saturday’s Adidas Grand Prix. Here are the current men’s power rankings for the events being held there. Names in bold are slated to compete.
1. Justin Gatlin (USA)
2. Tyson Gay (USA)
3. Mike Rodgers (USA)
4. Nesta Carter (JAM)
5. Ryan Bailey (USA)
Disabled list: Usain Bolt (JAM), Yohan Blake (JAM), Doc Patton (USA), Asafa Powell (JAM)
Gatlin has two major victories (in Doha and Beijing) to Gay’s one (in Kingston) and has run nearly as fast. Rodgers was second to Gatlin in each of those victories while Carter was second to Gay in Jamaica. This is Bailey’s first serious race of the year. A massive number of sprinters have come up hurt recently.
1. Nickel Ashmeade (JAM)
2. Warren Weir (JAM)
3. Jason Young (JAM)
4. Tyson Gay (USA)
5. Justin Gatlin (USA)
Disabled list: Usain Bolt (JAM), Yohan Blake (JAM), Wallace Spearmon (USA)
Ashmeade beat Weir at the World Challenge meet in Kingston, and Weir won the Diamond League meet in Shanghai. Gay ran a vary fast time, albeit wind-aided, but in an obscure meet that amounted to little more than a time trial.
Continue reading
Who are the world’s best athletes in each event?
It’s not necessarily the same ranking as on the world lists for each event (although there is quite a bit of crossover). We don’t have win-loss standings, and the Diamond League standings in each event aren’t always descriptive either, especially this early in the season.
It’s something that most fans more or less keep in their head–and if they don’t, then they lack the proper perspective when watching a race. They have no idea whether the result went to form, or there was an upset, and who moved up and down in this theoretical ranking.
So here I am to enlighten you. These rankings are based on a lot of things, including last year’s results. The more high-level competitions an event has seen in 2013, the more the ranking is based on this year.
Today I’m listing women’s events, and just the ones that will be part of Saturday’s Adidas Grand Prix in New York.
1. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
2. Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
3. Blessing Okagbare (NIG)
4. Kelly-Ann Baptiste (TRI)
5. Barbara Pierre (USA)
disabled list: Carmelita Jeter (USA)
No start lists are available yet for the Adidas Grand Prix in this event. Fraser-Pryce won the Diamond League opener in Shanghai and Cambell-Brown won the major early race of the World Challenge circuit in Kingston. The others have all taken runner-up spots in major races.
1. Allyson Felix (USA)
2. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM)
3. Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM)
4. Sanya Richards-Ross (USA)
5. Kimberlyn Duncan (USA)
disabled list: Carmelita Jeter (USA)
The top two, Felix and Fraser-Pryce, will face off in 150 meter street race on Sunday in Manchester’s Great City Games, and Campbell-Brown will run in New York. As is common in the 200 meters, there hasn’t been much high-level competition between top sprinters.
Continue reading
Pre vs UCLA in April '70, his first college meet at Hayward Field
A year ago I argued that dual meets were a huge part of why Prefontaine became the bigger-than-life Pre, the hero of Duck fans. All he did was win.
So many of his dual meet exploits require the word epic. There were crazy doubles, like a 3:56/13:06 mile/3-mile double. There were fast times, like his 13:29.6 American Record. But one race stands out above them all, possibly the greatest race ever held in a dual meet. It was against Oregon State on May 6, 1972. From the following day’s Eugene Register-Guard:
Pre during his epic 3:56/13:06 double in '73
In a race that those who saw will never forget — and in five years 100,000 people will say they were there — Steve Prefontaine reached back for more intestines than one man’s stomach should hold in repelling the inspired 1,500 meter challenge of Oregon State’s Hailu Saturday at Hayward Field.Bill Bowerman called it one of the greatest races he has ever seen. It will forever overshadow Oregon’s obliteration of OSU in the dual meet…
The results say that Prefontaine won in 3:39.8 … and that Hailu was three strides back in 3:40.4.
As Pre said later, “I wanted the race to be a question of who had the most guts, not who had the most speed.”
…
The 800 meter lead went to Pre in 1:57 and he had it at three laps when Haile made his move.The crowd [of more than 9,000] sensed the time had come for Pre to be tested. For a moment or two, as they battled stride for stride down the back stretch, there was a lingering doubt whether Pre could repel the challenge of the quicker African.
Pre used his superior experience, moving gradually over on the track as the two moved in front of the east grandstand. He forced Hailu to move wider than he wanted and the Ethiopian could never forge ahead.
Slowly, Pre pulled away around the turn and, although he wobbled the last 30 yards from sheer exhaustion, he hung on to win.
In his biography of the man, Pre!, Tom Jordan called it “the quintessential Prefontaine race”, and Eugene Register-Guard sportswriter Ron Bellamy listed it among the best races he ever saw.
Here is Pre’s complete record in collegiate dual meets.
| 3/21/70 | at Fresno St w/ Stanford | 1st 2-mile 8:40.0 |
| 3/28/70 | at UTEP | 1st 3-mile 13:48.8 |
| 4/4/70 | at Washington | 1st 1-mile 4:03.2 1st 2-mile 8:51.6 |
| 4/11/70 | at Cal | 1st 3-mile 13:30.6 |
| 4/18/70 | vs UCLA | 1st (tie) 1-mile 4:05.3 1st 2-mile 8:46.4 |
| 4/25/70 | vs Washington St | 1st 3-mile 13:12.8 |
| 5/2/70 | vs Oregon State | 1st 1-mile 4:00.4 |
| 3/20/71 | home quadrangular | 1st 2-mile 8:33.2 |
| 3/27/71 | at San Diego State | 1st 1-mile 4:00.2 |
| 4/3/71 | vs Stanford | 1st 3-mile 13:01.6 dual meet record |
| 4/10/71 | vs Washington | 1st 1-mile 4:02.6 1st 8:36.2 |
| 4/17/71 | vs Cal | 1st 3-mile 13:34.0 |
| 4/24/71 | at UCLA | 1st 1-mile 3:59.4 |
| 5/8/71 | at Oregon State | 1st 2-mile 8:42.4 |
| 3/18/72 | at Fresno State | 1st 2-mile 8:55.4 |
| 4/8/72 | at Washington | 1st 1-mile 4:07.3 |
| 4/15/72 | at Nebraska | 1st 2-mile 8:35.2 |
| 4/29/72 | vs Washington St | 1st 5000m 13:29.6 American Record |
| 5/6/72 | vs Oregon State | 1st 1500m 3:39.8 dual meet record |
| 4/7/73 | vs Washington | 1st 1-mile 4:03.2 1st 2-mile 8:51.6 |
| 4/14/73 | home quadrangular | 1st 1-mile 3:56.8 dual meet record 1st 3-mile 13:06.4 |
| 5/5/73 | at Oregon State | 1st 3-mile 13:27.2 |
The second-to-last athlete honored in the spring 2013 class of the Dual Meet Hall of Fame is Cal long/triple jumper Sheila Hudson.
Hudson was a four-time NCAA Champion, three times in the triple jump and once in the long jump. In dual meet competition she was a team player, regularly doing double duty in the jumps plus running on the 4×100 relay and sometimes the open 100.
My data on Hudson in dual meet competition is rather sparse, as she competed at a time when they were falling out of favor, but also because the late 80s and early 90s were a tough time for getting this kind of information. What I have shows her undefeated, putting up marks that remain near the top of the all-time dual meet lists.
What I have on her career:
| 4/25/87 | at Oregon w/ BYU | 1st LJ 20′ 6/5w 1st TJ 43′ 10″w 3rd 4×100 |
| 5/2/87 | vs Stanford | 1st LJ 20′ 8.5″w 1st TJ 43′ 1/4″ |
| 4/23/88 | vs Oregon & Fresno State | 3rd 100m 12.08 1st LJ 21′ 8.75″ 1st TJ 43′ 9.25″ 3rd 4×100 |
| 4/30/88 | vs Stanford | results unknown |
| redshirted 1988 | ||
| 4/21/90 | vs Oregon | 1st LJ 21-6.25 1st TJ 45-1 dual meet record |
| 4/28/90 | vs Stanford | 1st LJ 21-7 1st TJ 42-11 |
The next athlete honored in the spring 2013 class of my Dual Meet Hall of Fame is James Randal “Randy” Matson.
Matson was the greatest collegiate thrower of all time. He lost just once in his entire college career at Texas A&M, setting collegiate and world records along the way.
In dual meet competition, he was unworldly. He broke the dual meet record in his very first collegiate shot put competition and broke it four more times in his three years of eligibility (and broke the discus record twice). Of course, going into that first collegiate meet, he was already the Olympic silver medalist.
He finished off his dual meet career with a world record 71′ 5½” throw (21.78 meters). Forty-six years later, it still stands as the dual meet record. Matson owns four of the top ten marks in dual meet history, and ranks #3 in the discus.
In later years, he continued to work with his alma mater in fund-raising and promotional roles, but has now retired.
His complete dual meet career:
| 2/27/65 | vs Baylor | 1st SP 66′ 8½” dual meet record 1st DT 185′ 3½” |
| 3/6/65 | at Rice w/ Texas | 1st SP 65′ 7″ 1st DT 170′ 7½” |
| 3/20/65 | at LSU w/ Rice | 1st SP 63′ 9″ 1st DT 189′ 1″ |
| 4/9/65 | vs Baylor, Texas & SMU | 1st SP 67′ 11¼” dual meet record 1st DT 190′ 7″ |
| 4/14/65 | at Baylor w/ Texas Tech | 1st SP 67′ ¼” 1st DT 201′ 1½” dual meet record |
| 4/30/65 | at Texas w/ Rice | 1st SP 69′ ¾” dual meet record 1st DT 195′ 10½” |
| 3/19/66 | at Rice w/ LSU | 1st SP 62′ ¾” 1st DT 161′ 8″ |
| 4/12/66 | vs Baylor | 1st SP 65′ 10¼” 1st DT 191′ 6½” |
| 2/24/67 | vs Baylor | 1st SP 68′ 8¾” 1st DT |
| 3/3/67 | at Texas w/ Rice | 1st SP 66′ 5½” 1st DT 184′ 6″ |
| 3/18/67 | vs Rice & LSU | 1st DT 200′ 7¾” |
| 4/8/67 | vs Baylor & TCU | 1st SP 70′ 5½” dual meet record 1st DT 213′ 9″ dual meet record |
| 4/12/67 | at Baylor | 1st SP 68′ 7″ 1st DT 189′ 5″ |
| 4/15/67 | at New Mexico w/ Kansas | 1st SP 69′ 2¼ 1st DT 190′ 8½” |
| 4/22/67 | vs Baylor & Texas Tech | 1st SP 71′ 5½” World Record 1st DT 200′ 11″ |