Kurt Bray wrote:
<<<<<<<
Garry is right. The more inaccessible and arcane we make the sport, the
fewer people we will have following it. It's as simple as that.
>>>>>>>
While I certainly appreciate the reasons that the sport at the highest
levels is conducted and followed in metric units ... and I understand the
rest of the world's impatience with us "stupid Americans" who can't seem to
get with it, there are other reasons for sticking with imperial conversions
for the average fan:
1) There are many, many more distance milestones for field events with
imperial measure. Simply put there are more barriers with FEET than with
METERS. While this is NOT an imperative for Americans to relate to the
action ... it IS VERY HELPFUL. For example: I have never competed at a high
level in any sprints or field events, but I know that a 7 foot high jump is
a very good mark for a high schooler or collegian (male), and an 8 footer is
the holy grail. Meters are just too broad of a graduation to "mean"
anything to us. A two-meter HJ is ho-hum and a 3-meter is impossible.
Would it be possible for me to "get used to" thinking in terms of 2.13
meters to 2.44 meters? NO ... but why should I?
If a man sees a high jump on TV and the jumper clears 7'7" the American
intuitively knows roughly how difficult that is just by considering how high
that is over his head. He has no clue whether 2.28 meters is a good mark.
Don't think it's true? Tell me how tall you are in centimeters without
doing any math (in your head or on paper). I am a smart guy, and I still
don't know how tall I am in metric ( I thought I was 1.83 meters). I know
how to convert it, though.
Ditto for the pole vault. Men's and Women's. Try to get the average
American to appreciate the tremendous challenge of a 6.00 meter pole vault.
I know that Bubka has done it, but I am not the one track is trying to
attract. Again, a 5-meter vault is ho-hum, and a 6-meter is pretty rare.
But, most Americans can relate to the 18-foot barrier, the 19-foot height,
and double the height of a basketball rim: the 20-footer.
Again, with the long jump and the shot. A 70-foot shot? damn good. 21.3
meters ... Uhh, just how far is that?
If reporting and converting results into metric doesn't hurt the
competitors, and doesn't harm the competition then keep converting.
2) On keeping some races imperial for entertainment value: Keep 'em! What
is the harm in so many indoor miles? Is it detrimental for the athletes to
race 1609 meters instead of 1500? Or 3218 instead of 3000m? I don't think
so. The physiological requirements are (practically) identical, and the
strategy is the same. The imperial races (which are now ONLY the mile and
rarely the 2-mile) are great for giving the middle distance runners an extra
distance to race at and set a new PR in, but they are fundamentally the same
as the 1500/3000.
Sub-3:50 indoor miles are still very rare. The races are almost all
completed between 3:52 and 4:02 at the highest levels, hence there is still
magic in the Four-minute-mile. Try to get an American excited about a
sub-3:40 1500m. They don't get it.
The Europeans contest the 1500 and 3000 almost exclusively ... and God Bless
Them! I love watching those events too. The 1500 just always seems more
serious, and more "official" somehow. But not everyone is a track nut like
me.
3) In the words of a former AR holder, "Try to relate to a one-hour run at
3:35/km pace."
If it doesn't hurt the competition and it keeps the fans, what else would
you do?
-Brian McEwen
-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt Bray [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 10:24 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: t-and-f: Imperialist Throwing (Long)
Darrell said:
>Look at this conversation, we as track people make the conversions
>constantly, but we feel as though the casual fan cannot, or will not be
>able
>to do the same. Mallarkie!
But why do we have to make the fans do conversions at all? Why not just
speak their language to them in the first place? Can you think of another
half-way popular sport that requires fans to to do mathematical conversions
to render the score or mark into a form they can understand? I can't.
The fact that we die-hard fanatics are willing to put up with conversions is
no indication that casual fans will. Garry is right. The more inaccessible
and arcane we make the sport, the fewer people we will have following it.
It's as simple as that.
Kurt Bray
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
