Does anyone even know what I'm talking about?

9/2/2007 3:52:59 PM

go panthers

9/2/2007 3:53:39 PM

That's Pathers to you!

9/2/2007 4:00:31 PM

9/2/2007 5:43:37 PM

Wariner doesn't realize he's white.

9/2/2007 7:22:38 PM

aha

9/2/2007 7:24:25 PM

haha, gold shoes, haha

foreshadowing?

9/2/2007 10:27:00 PM

It's already over. Individual and relay gold. Also a PR. Getting closer to the world record.

9/2/2007 10:34:31 PM

i was gonna ask "what happened to Webb", but seeing as places 2-8 was a 0.7s spread, i guess he just didn't have a good kick
http://osaka2007.iaaf.org/results/gender=M/discipline=1500/combCode=hash/roundCode=f/result.html

9/3/2007 12:24:37 AM

They had the coverage on NBC yesterday afternoon. I watched a ton of it. In the 1.5k, the pace was real slow for the first part, then with more than 300m to go, I think it was Boukensa started to really push the pace. Webb was right off his shoulder until they hit the final straight at which point he slowly started to fade. Meanwhile, about midway through the turn Lagat started his kick (was in about 5th at this point) and about 20m into the straight had passed everyone. It was a good race.

9/3/2007 8:23:02 AM

I really don't get the strategy in these supposedly elite distance races. They handed that race to Lagat. Tactical races can be pretty interesting, but I'd rather see people push the pace and really see what everyone is made of. If I want to see who has the best closing kick, I can watch a 400.

9/3/2007 6:52:50 PM

I assume there wasn't a rabbit? or are they not allowed at WCs? I guess not, because they probably only allow people who qualify to actually race. At big races where there's no rabbit and you have to qualify to get to the finals, nobody wants to put their balls out on the line at the risk of running out of steam. If you push the pace early, you're not likely going to be the one to win, so unless someone is willing to sacrifice his race for a teammate, then everybody will want to conserve.

9/3/2007 10:24:38 PM

You're also probably not going to win running a conservative race unless you have the fastest kick in the field. You're on the world stage. Grow a damn pair.

9/5/2007 12:01:04 AM

yeah... that's hard though.

reminds me of back in High School.... 1998 NC 4A State track meet, 3200m. I only had one guy as main competition, and he was the best kicker in the state. He would have been content to run two 5:30 miles and out-kick the rest of the field in the last 200m.
So the only defense was a good offense, and since I was the only one that had a chance to beat him, I led the whole damned race, trying to break him early and make him tired for the kick. 4:34 first mile. Still leading at 600m to go I knew he was about to make a move, so I surged, and sure enough, 550m to go he came by me and I tried to jump on his heels. But some dude who managed to hang that long came around me as well, and promptly lost contact with the leader. I almost tripped over him trying to get around, but by that point, the leader had already gained 20m+, so I had to spend the last 450 chasing.... pulled it back down to 2s in the end....
at least that's the way I remember it. no telling how much cognitive dissonance has crept in over the past 9 years

9/5/2007 1:13:07 AM

Well, as you said, that was the only chance to beat him, so congratulations for having the guts to try it and making him work instead of gift-wrapping the race for him.

9/7/2007 1:16:00 PM