{"id":28583,"date":"2005-03-01T16:54:46","date_gmt":"2005-03-02T00:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/?p=28583"},"modified":"2019-03-27T17:07:09","modified_gmt":"2019-03-28T00:07:09","slug":"from-the-editor-february-2005-meets-tend-to-be-unkind-towards-those-who-think-of-the-sport-as-field-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/from-the-editor-february-2005-meets-tend-to-be-unkind-towards-those-who-think-of-the-sport-as-field-track\/","title":{"rendered":"From The Editor \u2014 February 2005: Meets tend to be unkind towards those who think of the sport as field & track"},"content":{"rendered":"

IF YOU\u2019RE LIKE MOST FANS, YOU LIKE TRACK MORE THAN FIELD.<\/strong> I tend to be of the opposite persuasion, but the way \u201cathletics\u201d is presented, it\u2019s certainly a lot easier to be enamored of running competitions. It\u2019s simple to appreciate a race\u2014any race\u2014because it really doesn\u2019t matter how far it is or how fast the people are running. Just watching them go head-to-head, running from point A to point B as fast as they can, is about as good as it gets in sporting entertainment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And you can tune into the action in the middle of a race and still instantly know enough of what\u2019s going on. Would that appreciating jumping and throwing were so easy.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine watching any of the popular ball sports without a scoreboard? No indication of the score, no idea how much time is left in the game? Anybody who tried to sell a sport with that kind of spectator aid would be laughed off the planet.<\/p>\n

Yet that\u2019s just what happens with field events, which not only make up about half the disciplines in the sport, but also dominate the landscape in terms of time of competition. But walk into a track meet at any level\u2014even the World Championships or Olympic Games\u2014and your chance of finding out what\u2019s going on in any of the jumps or throws is almost impossible. Even with all the marvels of modern electronics.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re lucky enough to be at a high-end meet, there will be high-tech indicators, yes, but they will tell you only what position the current performer is in before giving you the latest mark. So if your attention has been focused on the 1500 final for the previous 5:00 and you turn to the triple jump you\u2019ll be thrilled to see that the guy currently in 9th is on the runway. No clue as to who is the leader, let alone who\u2019s in the medal positions.<\/p>\n

The announcer, no matter how good he is, probably won\u2019t have the time to recap the whole event for you (although the good ones try). The scoreboard? It\u2019s usually too busy with pictures to\u2014heaven forbid!\u2014put up something like field event results until the event is over.<\/p>\n

Not to pick on Stanford, but it provides the best example of how the sport has gotten off-track (no pun intended) in the field-event presentation department. The school has a cutting-edge million-dollar scoreboard that produces fabulous images and has greatly enhanced the average fan\u2019s viewing pleasure, to be sure. But nowhere can you find ongoing field-event results. Yet 50 years ago (!) at the same school, you could. Just look at the photo.<\/p>\n

I can understand that your everyday meet can\u2019t have that kind of aid, but how can the IAAF and USATF run the sport at the international and national championship level without ensuring that the fans know what is going on at all times in all events on the program?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IF YOU\u2019RE LIKE MOST FANS, YOU LIKE TRACK MORE THAN FIELD. I tend to be of the opposite persuasion, but… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom The Editor \u2014 February 2005: Meets tend to be unkind towards those who think of the sport as field & track - Track & Field News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trackandfieldnews.com\/from-the-editor-february-2005-meets-tend-to-be-unkind-towards-those-who-think-of-the-sport-as-field-track\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From The Editor \u2014 February 2005: Meets tend to be unkind towards those who think of the sport as field & track - Track & Field News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IF YOU\u2019RE LIKE MOST FANS, YOU LIKE TRACK MORE THAN FIELD. 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