Another Track and Field let down...

Updates!
I have finally got caught back up again so please see the updates if you have not yet.
April 22nd: Earth Day
April 23rd: McDonalds gets a fashion McMakeover
April 24th: Conservation Reserve Program
April 25th: Money is time, Time is Money
April 26th: "Signs of Health (This is a good one!)
April 27th: Power Outage Fun
April 28th: Spider Man, Spider Man

Now on to today...

Asafa Powell out till June
Another track and field let down for the short term. World 100m record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica will miss most of this summers early races because of a pulled pectoral muscle. Sprinters are an interesting group, and you can see my take on it here, in which I talk about the retirement of Maurice Greene. Asafa Powell has been plagued with injuries of late, but has had a couple of really great runs.

Powell first lowered the world record to 9.77 seconds a few years back and last year broke it again at 9.74. However in the world championships he had his rear handed to him by U.S. Sprinter Tyson Gay. Marquee races between the two have not happened since Osaka last summer and it appears that both Gay and Powell are making sure that Beijing has a great 100m build up. There is no doubt that NBC will broadcast Gay's and Powell's every move up to the point of the pair getting into the blocks in the finals, and in a piece of made-for-tv greatness, the action will break to a commercial. The worlds shortest spectacle gets the greatest amount of coverage of track and field.

If Americans can watch 300 laps of NASCAR, surely coverage of a distance event like steeplechase is of equal value. Just as most of those who watch NASCAR to see wrecks, much more painful wrecks have occurred recently in the steeplechase. See picture at right...

Remember as life hands you hurdles be sure to jump, its not nearly as painful as running into them;-)


Asafa Powell Breaking World 100m Record


You seriously have to love foreign announcers. I have NO clue what the guy in the video is saying but I'm excited. For what...I don't know but man, such passion.