S.I. ignores white americans at helsinki

[Guest]

i don't agree 100% with castefootball.us but there is no doubt that some degree of discrimination against white american athletes exists.

the current issue of sports illustrated has a story on the historic medal winnings of the american team in helsinki and of course, it includes very, very little discussion of the white athletes that helped make it happen. adam nelson did not even appear in the article, and wariner and rock were relegated to a single paragraph at the end of the article. far more space was used on the 4x100 relays that dropped their batons than wariner and rock making america go 1-2 in the 400 and winning the 4x400. i'm surprised they even mentioned wariner is the fastest 400 runner in 10 years. why spend so much space on allyson felix, a great, but by no means historic 200 runner?

 

[nordic_miler]

Did they mention Alan Webb in the 1500? Even though he placed 9th, he made the final, being the only American to do so in awhile. He made a very ballsy move from 700 out and he carried the mantle for USA distance running.

 

[nordic_miler]

Forgot to mention, I can't believe they didnt give Andrew Rock much.....freakin' Silver Medalist at the World Championships!!! He is a poster boy for America and for the hundreds of thousands of white rural kids in the midwest growing up just like he did.

 

[White_Savage]

i don't agree 100% with castefootball.us but there is no doubt that some degree of discrimination against white american athletes exists.

There is no one monolithic "caste football position" so what do you disagree with?

 

[Guest]

they didn't write anything about alan webb, which seems fair to me. he didn't win. the truth is though, he'll never win the 1500 at a big meet, so there's no reason to complain if he never gets any coverage. no american will win that race again.

 

[Poacher]

"no american will win that race again."



Not true Jody. An "American" will win this race again...only it will be a Kenyan born immigrant.



I don't know about Webb. If he can't get under 3:50 he won't win a major meet. I still like watching him though.

 

[white lightning]

Allan Webb can do it but it will take another 3-5 years of intensive training.The question will be if he can stay healthy.I also think he needs to get that killer mentality that guys like Prefontaine had.Webb will medal and hopefully it will be at 2008 in the Olympics.

 

[nordic_miler]

Webb has already run under 3:50..he ran a 3:48.92 a couple weeks before the World Games.

As for Kenyan born turned American Bernard Lagat, by the time the next Olympics rolls around, he will be too old for miling and Webb will be in his prime.

Who will break the American mile record first? Both Webb and Lagat are a second off.

GO WEBB!!!

 

[white lightning]

How about today in England.Craig Mottram won the 2 mile race in a new national record.Also,Michael East of England
won the 1500 meters.It was a good day for distance stars.Kenya & some of the other countries are finally getting some runners that are pushing them and beating them
more frequently.Webb will be right there when it counts.Tim
Benjamin of England finished 2nd in the 400 meters.He has quite a break through year.Congrats to him & the other guys.

 

[Colonel Callan]

No surprise from SI. If Wariner and Rock were black, they'd have received
decent coverage no doubt. To be honest, I actuallly believe Wariner and
Rock are an embarrassment to the powers that be. But guys like these
two are actually an eventuality of the system. With so much negativity
tossed at whites, some will rebel - or just not care. Just because that's
the way most adolescents react. You can only hold back instinct for so
long. Anyway, this 'subconscious" rebellion may be partly what's beind
white sprinters showing up at the 400. First there was Steele, then
Potter... The same thing will happen in the 200 then the 100. I have no
doubt whatsoever. Mottram will eventually have the same effect over the
distances. As an aside, he needs to work on his tactics. He waits too
long, then has to react and try to reel people in. His 12:56 5k this season
- if he had tried to jump Bekele (talk about doped) instead of waiting, he
may have won the race. But Mottram shows it can be done. For all the
'studies', nothing has shown that people who aren't E. Africans can't run
well in the distances - or sprints either, for that matter. The Moroccans
and Algerians are not from altitude, generally. They have done quite well
aqainst the Kenyans and Ethiopians.

As for Webb, give him time. We don't need to hear about Kenyan milers.
How many Kenyans have held the record in the mile or 1500? Go ahead,
look it up. The 1500 / mile was not a strong point for Kenyans until Rosa
took his, eh, methods to E. Africa in late '86, Kip Keino notwithstanding
(his 1500 gold due to the altitude in Mexico City, period). Of course, we
have to endure the stories of poverty, civil war, etc. to cover the sudden
improvement amongst the fun loving sun people of E. Africa, and ignore
Rosa, Hermens, Dr. Woldemeskel Kostre (the other fine fella helping out
in Ethiopia - a former E. Bloc champion of drug use) and other less than
honest folks running the show. Again, this crap rivals the pampering
given black sprinters for decades. Sprinters like Carl Lewis, who
apparently was doped to the eyeballs for almost two decades. It's a game
bigger than all of sports - but they are doing their best to apply it to all
sports.

Back to SI, galling but not surprising. Reminds me of Tiger being the
"Sportsman Of The Year" before he had done ANYTHING. Organized pro
sports like the NFL are damn near impossible to crack in terms of the
caste system at the moment. They have their gatekeepers controlling
very narrow gates. Track, while a 'victim' of the caste system and under
the same propaganda blanket, does have a few side entrances that
someone can stumble across. Apparently guys like Rock are doing just
that.

 

[Guest]

if you look at the results from helsinki, webb ran

3:36 heats
3:36 semi
3:41 final

the winner in the final went 3:37. so it seems like webb can run fast enough to win. men who run the 1500 peak in their 30s and webb is in his 20s. so you guys might be right that he can win in his prime.

track & field has disappeared from the american media in general. but you have to wonder about wariner getting zero coverage.

by the way i ran 400 and 800 in high school.

 

[white lightning]

Welcome to the board jody.I agree with you on the S.I. issue.I read it and was very disapointed.No pictures of either Wariner or Rock and only two sentences even mentioning it.It was a 1-2 sweep by the best two 400 meter runners in our country & the world.They happen to be white and we all know that is the reason.It's very discouraging.
People don't realize how bad white athletes are treated these days.The respect from the media,fans,coaches,scouts,and owners is minimal.We can only hope that someday in the future this changes.That is why this is such an important site.

 

[Colonel Callan]

The more I think about SI and their coverage of the WCs, the more
irritated I get, although I should know better. It wasn't surprising. ALL of
the pics focused on blacks - no Rock, Wariner, Nelson (he won the shot)
etc. It was as bad as the "25" young baseball players to watch out for in
the same issue. ALL of the pics are blacks/latins, one white thrown in as
an afterthought.

 

[White Shogun]

I brought it up before but the threads didn't get much attention.

White men dominate ultra marathon running. We're talking 100 MILES.

And don't leave out the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico, either.

Its not ALL about the Kenyans and Ethiopans, its about who gets the most pub.

I think marathons get the most attention because a lot of everyday people, not just athletes, compete in marathons so more people can identify with it. Not very many people, however, can run 100 miles, which leaves it out of the mainstream news reports.

Lest anyone think the 200 and 400 don't deserve more news, recall how much publicity those races received when Michael Johnson was running in them. Yes, I know, he set WR in Atlanta, but still..

 

[white lightning]

Very good points White Shogun.First off,the ultra marathon runners are simply amazing.They along with the triatheltes are some of the best physically fit people in the world.They should get alot more coverage.As for Wariner,
it is a complete joke that S.I. ignorred him,Rock and some of the others.It won't matter because he will eventually break the world record and then they will have to talk about him regardless!