That may well be his strategy, but the sports world is littered with the human wreckage of athletes who "grabbed the chance" while they could but in the end couldn't cut it, or got injured, or otherwise failed at the pro level and ended up a few years down the road with neither the money nor the college degree.
It's certainly true that his worth to shoe companies will sharply drop if he keeps coming in 9th in his college races. But it seems to me that, especially in view of last weekend's performance, any shoe company with half a brain willing to sign him now will likely have the contract laced with all kinds of performance clauses that will deny him much of the money should he continue to bomb. And even if he doesn't mind throwing away the educational opportunity, it still might be a good idea in terms of maturing as a runner to get the upper hand with college boys first before diving into even deeper waters. And besides, IMHO, "NCAA Champion" is a worthy title unto itself - not something to be thrown away lightly Kurt Bray >Kurt, maybe he is thinking he should grab the chance to get a shoe contract >before his profitability declines after a bad performance or two. One race >may not effect his worth... but what if he "bombs" a couple more times... >he >is still riding on 3:53... he SHOULD take the loot. He can still train in >Michigan, go to school, etc... but instead of peaking for NCAAs he would be >peaking for WCs and European races. Bernard Lagat goes to grad school... >doesn't seem to be hurting him. Wislon Kipketer was a grad student in >Denmark when he set the WR in the 800. Marrius Bakken goes to college and >has run about 13:08. He can do everything he is doing now, with less of a >course load at school, get a degree (in 5 or 6 years), and train with his >current teammates. He just can't race at NCs. Big deal. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
