A few weeks back, we noted the selection of M50 racquetball king Ruben Gonzalez as GeezerJock of the Year. At the time, I wondered how much his Web site contributed to his selection — since he urged visitors to “Vote for Ruben.” Turns out it helped — a little. GJ magazine editor Sean Callahan writes: “The sheer number of email votes didn’t have an outsized influence on his selection. (We noticed that a number of athletes nominated for Michelob ULTRA GeezerJock of the Year mobilized their friends, family, etc., to vote for them. We took that into account). But what did have an influence was the passion of those who voted for Ruben. Many of them told stories about him: about his honesty on the court, about mentoring two no. 1 players, about his inspiring run in the nationals, and about his art.”
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December 19, 2006
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Well, a former NFL player coaching in San Diego got the head football job at Stanford. But it wasn’t our friend James Lofton. It was Jim Harbaugh, currently the coach at the red-hot University of San Diego, a private Catholic school. As
December 18, 2006
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Jeff Davison, an M45 hurdler in Orange County, California, is a master aggregator. What’s an aggregator? It’s someone with a special interest in some obscure subject who gathers links to every known facet of that subject. Such is Jeff’s new results page. Although track results from high schools and colleges may dominate this list, it’s a great place to find masters competing with the kids. Starting in April, especially, many 30-49 types enter open and collegiate meets. These results rarely show up in National Masters News, but masters know no limits. Trackshark, a collegiate-centric site run by Tom Borish, is a gold mine of masters results, since many college invitationals allow masters, especially in the sprints and distances. Great aggregating, Jeff!
December 17, 2006
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Once upon a time (like in January 1999), Illinois masters sprint star Gerry Krainik noticed an online service called Egroups. The service made it easy for communities of interest (like masters tracksters) to start a mailing list, or listserve. So he launched the masterstf mailing list. Later, Yahoo! bought Egroups. And the list grew and grew — to 790 at last count. Thousands of messages — funny and newsy, informative and outraged — were posted. All were archived. But then some weeks back, all went silent. The list went comatose.
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December 16, 2006
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USATF masters nationals remain an all-comers meet, but in other countries only the best need enter. That’s my impression after seeing a list of mindestleistungen, or “minimum performances,” set for the German masters indoor nationals Feb. 24-25, 2007, in Dusseldorf. The marks appear to be qualifying standards. But my German is poor, so they also might be medal standards — marks you have to attain to collect a medal in your event and age group. Guess this takes care of lots of heats and throwing sections in Germany. (But if you’re a hurdler, no problems! No minimums for the 60 highs.) These standards are pretty stiff. My thanks to Annette and Robert Koop for first posting this information.
December 15, 2006
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Don DeNoon, down in Clermont, Florida, says his national masters meet in 2009 will do its best to beat the heat. He writes: “One cannot predict the weather. Note the all-time high temperature for Orono, Maine, in August is 103 while Orlando is 101. I am willing to put this event on to the specs of the (Games) Committee. If they want morning and night sessions . . . . then so be it. We have control of the track and can provide the meet schedule to their desires.” Don, head honcho of the National Training Center where the meet will take place, also addresses lodging and other issues in a quick Q&A (below).
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December 14, 2006
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USATF reported today that Gail Devers, who just turned 40, plans to compete this coming season. Didn’t say where or when. But the same news release gave details on the 100th Millrose Games in New York coming up. Maybe she’ll show up there. The other news: Gail, a new mom, will also take on coaching and agenting duties as well down in Georgia.
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December 14, 2006
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The “lasted updated” date stamp on our outdoor and indoor USATF records pages isn’t the fault of our masters czar, Sandy Pashkin, it turns out. All the USATF records files — Open, Racewalk, LDR — carry that silly typo (Dec. 14 update: The USATF webmaster fixed the problem today.) But Sandy still has to account for the records themselves. And many legit marks — with documentation and age proof — are still missing from the mix. Even though 53 indoor and almost 80 masters outdoor age-group records are new for 2006, my old gripes still hold. (Where is W35 Gail Devers? She still holds American OPEN records post age-35!)
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December 13, 2006
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The International Association of Athletics Federations today announced that it’s making available about 14 years’ worth of its New Studies in Athletics articles online, publicly, for the first time. (The last two years will be available only through subscription.) Still, this is big news for coaches and athletes. Masters too. Although I like to remind people how our training differs, there’s still a lot to learn from elite-level sources. And sound technique applies to all age groups. IAAF sez: “The NSA Archive is a growing resource of information. In its initial stage articles from 1986 to 1999 are accessible. Articles from 2000 to 2004 will be available early 2007.” Good for IAAF! and good for us! An early Christmas gift.
December 13, 2006
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Meet organizer Don DeDoon today sent me this PowerPoint file outlining Clermont’s bid for the 2009 USATF National Masters Outdoor Championships. (It was shown at Indy.) The Florida home of the National Training Center beat a SoCal bid in voting a few weeks ago. The presentation file is a monster — 3.7 megabites — so don’t bother downloading if you’re on a dial-up connection. The most obvious thing from the slide show is: BYOS — bring your own shade. There ain’t none. No trees in sight. I’ve sent Don some quickie questions on how the meet will handle the heat, and he’ll get back to me when time allows. (We’re all swamped at this time of year.) Just hope they don’t swamp 2009 entrants the way they did at Charlotte.
December 12, 2006
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