This trials has been quite a doozy.  We’ve had highs and lows with friends and foes, cheers and jeers over burgers and beers (that might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever written). Regardless, there is one last thing to take care of before we go: this Live Blog.

This Live Blog is going to be EXTRA special as we will be having two contests.  With PRIZES!!!!  The winner of each contest will receive a special 3000 Miles Eugene08 prize pack.
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Come on now guys, this Goucher thing is getting a little ridiculous.  What is everyone so upset about?  So the guy gets into the 10k with a little home cooking from Nike Oregon Salazar inc.  No biggie.

All of you little guys that are up in arms over the “shady” or “suspicious” nature of the acceptance process need to realize you are “little” guys for a reason, you don’t schmooze.  Salazar schmoozes.  If you don’t schmooze, you lose, and this situation has illustrated that fact perfectly.

Aside from GoucherGate, the two days off have been a good respite from track action but I think everyone is once again ready to turn their attention away from “enjoying each other’s company” and back to the track.  Where you don’t have to worry about saying stuff and listening to things.

The upcoming events of note are thus: M & W 1500, M 10k, M & W Steeple, M & W 400.  There’s other stuff going on, I suppose, but I’m only one man.

The men’s 1500 is going to be the bee’s knees for sure where we all can follow the walking soap opera that is Alan Webb’s career.  Whether he does well or poorly, this trials is going to be a turning point in his career.

Also, the men’s 10k will be scintillating with, presumably, a strong Oregon crowd for the Ruppinator.

–ben

“Hip Hop dance crews” are one of those things in life where, when they are really good, they are super cool and everyone in the “crew” seems like the coolest person around. They make you want to dance and think that, if you practice really really hard, you just might be able to do what they are doing and totally change your image and be the uber cool guy at your next dance party.  But, when a crew is not very good: an absolute car wreck. One of those car wrecks where your not only horrified by the wreckage but you’re also embarrassed for the victim because they are so bad at driving.

There is no in between, either super-cool-life-of-the-party or cover-your-eyes-and-cringe-while-slowly-walking-away.  Dancing is a very risky activity.

The first half of this trials has lived up to the hype.  And there was a LOT of hype.

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The fix is in. It’s official. Tyson Gay just topped his American record of yesterday with a 9.68. 9.68 is special. The wind was illegal and I’m pretty sure he had ‘pocket hercules‘ actually push him out of the blocks, but covering 100 meters in 9.68 is something. Besides, the wind was 4.1, which is strong but certainly no tornado, and ‘pocket hercules’ is like, a hundred years old by now, so Gay deserves a lot of credit.

Unless, you know about the “resurfacing” of Hayward’s track that was happening not very long ago.

You have a perfectly fine track and Vin decides to “repaint” the lines.  I think I counted 97 meters when I walked it yesterday.  HHHHMMMmmmmm…

–ben

On the first day of competition Galen Rupp did something to stir the pot a little. I like that. Throwing up the number one sign in a prelim is a strategy that has rarely worked out. It takes guts. His post race interview showed that he is pumped up right now. The guy is geeking out big time.  I don’t know if that means he will race well in the 5k and/or 10k or not, but he’s acting like this is the most fun thing he’s ever done. I think we can all learn a little something from young Galen.

Some so-called “old school” track fans always get upset about crap like this. “Young whippersnappers don’t have respect and blah and blah.”

First of all, throwing up the “number one” sign is as old school as it gets. There have been some great premature “I’m number one” gestures in history. New England Patriots fans before the Super Bowl, Custer before the Battle of Little Big Horn, Lucifer to the archangel David, to name a few.While Patriots fans are, by and large, huge douches, Custer and Satan?  Talk about bad ass.  And it doesn’t get much more old school than Custer’s mustache.

The 5k final tomorrow is going to be nuts.  We will be live blogging from the Eugene08 Fan Festival outside the stadium where the beer will be cold and the hotties at the Party will be shaking their bodies.   We are finally getting our bearings here in Eugene and I have given my phone number out to every hot chick I have seen, so “business”, as they say, will be picking up soon.

–ben

There are a number of things that make me thankful that I live in New York City. For instance, I know all the best bands months, if not years, before you do. I also can get super drunk all night long and as long as I still possess the dexterity to hold my hand up and slur out the intersection my apartment is on, I can get home safe and sound. No DUI, no picking up cars the next morning, no bitter friends staying sober and, thus, wanting to leave way too early. And, since I live in New York, I get to let you know, at every opportunity, that everything in your city is “lesser than.”

There are also, rare as they may be, reasons I do NOT like living in NYC. Right now, the top reason is that it is so far from Eugene, Oregon. Read the rest of this entry »

So apparently there are kangaroos roaming about in Kansas.  And Kansasans apparently put them to work cleaning up their rest stops.  But only after dubbing them with the least-imaginative name possible:  Parky… the Park-Cleaning Kangaroo.

It’s no wonder Parky has been driven to drink on the job: Read the rest of this entry »