Netters, I've experience the good ole boy system way too many times. I must say the U.S. coaching staff for World's looks like one of the best ever. Coaching staffs should have nothing to do with coaching, with the possible exception of the relay teams. My experience from the previous administration included, not being able to find a coach to get my number the night before my race at the Olympics, being declared in the wrong event at '95 World's, to having to wake up the coaches before our race in Atlanta. I believe this staff selection is a direct result of the athletes taking a stronger position and role in the coaching staff selections. Thank you Athletics Weekly for recognizing the best male athlete of the year! 10k running times from walkers is pretty irrelevent. I think more of the walkers I know would be inclined to run the 800 or 1,500. Michelle Rohl and Debbie Lawrence were/are very good mid-distance athletes. I won most of my 800/1500 races in my youth career before taking walking more seriously. Even last summer with no running and walking maybe 15 miles/wk, I ran a 4:49 mile and a 2:06 -800m within an hour. Not great times, but also not bad from a semi-retire guy at 36. Walking involves a tremendous amount of leg speed, upwards to 230 strides per minute for the best walkers. Try drumming your fingers on a table 230 times in a minute and think about doing that for 80 minutes or almost 4 hours. Allen James
