----- Original Message -----
From: "Dalton Foster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 1:10 AM
Subject: Re: t-and-f: Why is Mike so Afraid?
> The man has won when it counts. Said what he was going to do and did it.
If his
> peers cant respect that then they have a rather skewed vision of what
track
> immortality demands. Winning on the biggest stages. He set his sight on
the 200
> WR in Atlanta accomplished that, focuses on the 400m WR in Seville does
that ,
> focuses on the 300m WR accomplishes that. Had intentions of repeating the
> double in Sydney in Atlanta and probably would have. Just because over the
> year, he has changes his focus to other track goals in my mind does not
> indicate to me that he lacks the capacity to run a 19.32 again, which is
your
> logic.
> D
You continue to speculate on what you THINK or feel in your heart he can do
.. All I have done is state what he HAS done to date .. Logic has nothing to
do with it .. The closest he has come is 19.71 (and that with the aid of
altitude and 1.8mps wind) .. There is no logic, just a reporting of fact ..
And the fact is that no one, including Michael, has been able to approach
the mark .. And to say that he hasn't felt like it yet is being specious at
best .. Everyone was SURE that Carl Lewis was going to get the 200 record
after he ran 19.75 in Indianapolis with his arms held high .. It never
happened .. He never again got close .. His long fouls at that and other
meets made everyone feel SURE that the Long Jump Record was HIS for the
asking .. He never got it .. As a matter of fact he was beaten to it by
someone who everyone said was NOT in his league .. But of course whether he
was in his league or not, the record books say that Mike Powell is the WR
holder at 29'4.5" .. And NOT Carl Lewis who was supposed to get that record
"whenever he felt like it" .. Mike Marsh is another who "eased up" and
missed the 200 record by .01.. But running with all his might in the years
since has not come close again to the mark .. Every athlete has that one or
two times in their career when everything clicks .. When they enter that
"zone" .. And they do marvelous things .. Jonathan Edwards was there when he
jumped 60' .. Jurgen Schult was there when he threw the disc 243" .. But
even the athlete himself doesn't know when that "zone" is going to come ..
We wonder at what they would have done if they hadn't relaxed, or eased up,
or shut it off .. And we assume that because they were there once that they
can return whenever they "feel" like it .. But the historical facts are that
it rarely happens a second time .. All you have to do is look at the al time
lists, they will tell you ..
And you are right .. MJ has since 1996 focused his efforts on one or two
races a year .. Taking a whole year to get ready to do that one thing .. And
he has been extremely successful at that .. And that is great .. Yes he has
been great at setting records .. But track and field is about more than just
setting records .. And seasons are made of more than 1 or 2 competitions ..
So while Michael has had his annual forays in search of his holy grails
others have stepped forward and become the top athletes/competitors in the
event .. Check your annual Track and Field News on that one ..
And as far as Sydney, again that is speculation .. First of all he didn't
finish the race in Sacramento .. So he has no shot at the double in Sydney
.. And should he have finished and qualified there is no guarantee that he
wouldn't have been injured in Europe, or the games .. His muscles were
hurting before he pulled in Sacramento and could have continued hurting
during training .. Anything could have happened including HELLO he could
have flat out got beat .. I know, blasphemy to MJ fans .. Heresy some would
say .. But it wouldn't have been the first nor last time for it to happen ..
In 1988 Carl Lewis stepped on the track in the 200 as the most heralded
sprinter of our generation .. Having run a windy 9.78 and dominating the
Trials in the 100 and just being beaten out in the 200 in the Trials by his
training partner .. But this was the Olympics and everyone knew that the
Olympics belonged to Carl Lewis .. He would step up when it mattered .. And
when Ben was stripped of his medal for steroids it only served to fuel that
only something extraordinary (cheating) could deprive Carl of a gold medal
.. But then one Joe DeLoach stepped up and ran the race of his life ..
During the same games, Edwin Moses stepped on the track for the final of the
400 hurdles .. He of the 100+ winning streak .. He who won gold in 76, was
denied through boycott in 80 and had returned to win it again in 84 .. The
world record holder .. The innovator of the event .. But something happened
on the way to the finish line .. Andre Phillips (who had spent an entire
career in the wake of Edwin Moses) ran the race of his life to run 47.19 and
win the gold medal .. My point here being two fold .. First on any given day
ANYONE can run the race of their life .. It's not reserved for the elite,
the record holders, the number one rankers .. ANYONE can come through on any
given day .. They can get in that "zone" and do great things .. The "zone"
is reserved for no one .. ON any given day anyone can win and anyone can
lose .. That's why they lace em up and compete .. My second point is that
even though Carl and Edwin lost, that did not diminish their greatness nor
their place in history .. Nor was it ignorant, blasphemous, ludicrous, silly
or any other similar adjective that one would care to conjure up to think
before hand that it was possible for the to lose .. That is the nature of
sport .. For anyone to believe otherwise is very shortsighted at best ...
Conway Hill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
