WHAT KIND OF TRACK FAN ARE YOU? Founding Editor Cordner Nelson, in a fascinating analysis that originally appeared in our pages way back in June of \u201977, posited that our fans fell into 7 categories:<\/p>\n
\u2022Collectors Of Statistics (the numbers can be more important than the meet).<\/p>\n
\u2022Competition Lovers (fast times don\u2019t matter; head-to-head competition reigns).<\/p>\n
\u2022Prognosticators (picking winners ahead of the meet provides the rush).<\/p>\n
\u2022Scouts (who can be first on the block to tab an unknown as a superstar-to-be?).<\/p>\n
\u2022Technique Specialists (enjoying the nuts & bolts of how it\u2019s really done).<\/p>\n
\u2022Special Collectors (one who travels all over the country to see every sub-4:00 mile).<\/p>\n
\u2022Enthusiasts (the broad-based fan, who samples some\/all the other categories).<\/p>\n
Can you spot yourself in there? Certainly any real fan of the sport\u2014you know, the kind who reads T&FN!\u2014probably has at least a little bit of each, because when a subject can hook you on so many levels, you tend to stay hooked.<\/p>\n
Personally, I\u2019ve always been a category-1 kind of fan; a huge numbers guy. Indeed, it was the \u201cstopwatch & slide rule guys\u201d aspect of T&FN\u2014as the great columnist Jim Murray once referred to us\u2014that first attracted me to the magazine those many years ago.<\/p>\n
The nice part about being a numbers guy is that you can enjoy the sport from afar if you have to. While actually getting to see great performances is something to strive for, if time\/money\/geography conspire against you, you can still get all the pleasure you need from reading the results and playing with the facts & figures they generate.<\/p>\n
The downside to being a numbers guy, at least for some, is that you can become too elitist and start to judge a race as somehow unworthy if the times are slow. If the winner \u201cfails\u201d to set a World Record, or doesn\u2019t even make your all-time list you\u2019re disappointed. I was\/is guilty of that so developing a split personality was the easy way out.<\/p>\n
When I\u2019m looking at numbers, give me the monster top-end stuff. When I\u2019m actually at a meet, give me competition. While I\u2019d enjoy seeing a 3:25 mile, if it were one rabbit-aided guy against the clock I\u2019d trade it in for a \u201ctactical\u201d affair where the field went out in 3:10 and it became an Oklahoma Land Rush of 50-flat closing laps.<\/p>\n
Cordner\u2019s conclusion was that if he could be only one of the 7 types he\u2019d be the Enthusiast. You just enjoy the sport \u201cbecause,\u201d and everything else that happens is a bonus.<\/p>\n
In the years since Cordner penned that piece, I\u2019ve actually discovered Fan No. 8, and they\u2019re perhaps the most important fans of all. These are the Contributors. People who love being around the sport enough that they dedicate a lot of their time (and money) to making sure our sport continues to run.<\/p>\n
Most of them are officials, those guys (and guyettes) who stand in the hot sun\/cold rain for days on end and for compensation they get to wear an ugly shirt and eat bad prepackaged sandwiches. Sometimes officials get minor compensation, but it\u2019s never remotely concomitant with the services they provide. So why do they\u2014and all the other invaluable parts of a meet\u2019s often-invisible infrastructure\u2014do what they do? Because they love the sport, and just being part of the action is usually reward enough.<\/p>\n
Whatever kind of fan you are, I salute you, because without you, there wouldn\u2019t be any us. And we kinda like being here. As 2006 draws to a close, all of us here at T&FN wish you the best, and look forward to your enjoying the sport again next year, under whichever hats you choose to wear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"