Darkwing is dead. Garry Hill siphoned off the best of you with his attempt to attract more readers to his magazine. A lot of people, apparently, are buying into this forum of large, long, ludicrous and loud dialogue that he now commands. Garry Hill now corners the youth and collegiate email opinion market that orginiated from this chatline in the 1990s.
To support what was a once noble but now crappy magazine. I started on the line looking for a track and field community. Here I found answers and connections. The high school, college, parents and even elite athletes lurked or actively participated. Thanks to Europeans in the 1990s I found Weltklasse, Van Damme, Monaco,and the European Championships. And more. Results. The secret to Corfu. Everything by way of results I fowarded to friends across the globe. I found help and I appreciated reasoned and insightful replies from those people who make track and field their living outside the athleticism...and those athletes who had the courage and graciousness and forgiveness to include us in their lives. When Garry Hill deemed this a statistican's domain, and declared elite track and field as the only topic, the high school and college kids and most of the parents went elsewhere. In my estimation, he knocked the heart and soul out of this t&f chatline. I agree, elite was the charter on which this forum was created. But it became more useful and wonderful without the rigidity of these rules. Now, this chat line is simply tit for tat and boring at best. Track and field is experiencing its highest participation rates among the high school levels in the United States; this fact is continually quoted to me. Where are you all? Who can verify this fact? I live in New York City and I volunteer at the 168th Street Armory Track and Field Center. It is primarily an indoor facility, but in the months between December and March, it hosts almost 90 meets. Tens of thousands of track and field participants from the high school, collegiate and elite levels run here. Imagine one of these kids accessing the chat line, like I did, thanks to G. Tighe in Canada in 1997. This forum is useless. Sign me up for soccer now! Track and field is not basketball and football (European/US)...it is highly individual and formerly noble. The nobility lies in being the best that you can be, against all odds, against everyone...a pursuit of perfection. Kim Spir
