Our agency had the second and third-place finishers at the USATF Half Marathon Championships yesterday, Carrie Ellwood and Annie Rodenfels, respectively. I am gutted for the athletes impacted by the on-course mishap and for the Atlanta Track Club team. I also understand the precarious position this places USATF, given their published selection criteria for the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen this September.
The USATF selection procedures state that the top three finishers at the National Championships will earn automatic selection to the World Championships, with one additional at-large spot going to the top-ranked athlete in the World Athletics global rankings (full criteria below). Should any athlete on the podium decline, USATF will then fill those spots by order of finish, up to the fifth position.
Earlier today, I had conversations with both Carrie and Annie. Both athletes prefer that the rightful team of Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley, and Ednah Kurgat be named to the team representing the Stars & Stripes, as it was a foregone conclusion that they had the team spots locked up, given their lead and proximity to the finish.
I’ve had conversations with USATF today as well and understand by selecting those three they would be going against their selection criteria, as Jess (ninth), Emma (twelfth), and Ednah (thirteenth) finished outside the top-five designation.
There is the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. The spirit of the selection criteria is to send the strongest possible team to the global championships, that spirit should win out here. Doing the right thing matters, and as a former athlete who has been on both sides of lead vehicle snafus—as the beneficiary (New Haven, 2000), and as the punished (Air Force Marathon 13.1, 2011)—I understand what the athletes are going through now. This is an opportunity for USATF to name Jess, Emma, and Ednah to Team USA. Should any of them decline, Carrie and Annie would happily step in, be ready roll, and do our country proud. 🇺🇸
I want to thank USATF for making this such a priority at this time. They're working hard on a solution, and I'm sure we’ll have one in short order. (Photo: Annie and Carrie in a gratuitous post-race doping control shot #CleanSport)
My dad is 92 years old.
We call him Big Clint.
He's 5'9" on a good day.
I'm named after him. And there are no Hurdle-isms without him.
Sixty-two years ago, he walked out to the backyard with two gloves and two baseballs and asked me a question.
"Son, you want to play catch?"
I said, "Catch what?"
He said, "A baseball."
My life has never been the same since.
He gave me my work ethic. He gave me my love for the game. He gave me the thing that has held the center through over 50 seasons of professional baseball, through the wins, the losses, the letting go and the starting over.
But here's the thing about my dad: he came from a generation where men didn't say I love you out loud. They worked hard. They showed up. They gave you everything, except maybe the words.
So one day, I decided to say it first.
I looked at him and said, "Dad, I love you."
He looked back at me and said, "Me too."
That was the beginning.
We worked at it. Both of us. Slowly, the words got easier. The hugs got real. Now whenever I see him, I give him a hug, kiss him on the cheek, and tell him I love him. And he looks me in the eyes and says, "I love you too, son."
Doesn't get much better than that.
Happy Father's Day, Dad. You started something in that backyard that I'm still passing on today.
I love you.
@athomas262 I'm so sorry, man. I want to say it goes away and gets better, but it doesn't. The void remains. The best way to honor our dads is to love on our kids and live life to the fullest. 🙏
Happy Father’s Day! No greater honor in my life than being the dad of our four. Carrie had two miscarriages before our first, and we weren't sure if kids were in the cards. But by God’s grace, and after eight pregnancies, we have a full house, and I can't imagine my life without them.
Remembering my dad today, Donald Thomas Cox, October 22, 1946-July 23, 2006. If yours is still around, call him, see him, forgive him—if that's what's needed, tell him you love him.
Just left the funeral of a friend that took his own life this week. He was one of the nicest, kindest, most selfless people ever always helping others. He would do anything to make someone smile that needed it so it made me think of one of my favorite quotes from the late Robin Williams.
"I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy because they know what it's like to feel absolutely worthless and they don't want anyone else to feel like that."
#MensMentalHealth
@AcezUp@Super70sSports Great call out. The biggest dome in MLB recorded history is worth a place in the Hall. FWIW, back in the day they had players vote on the greatest at each position, manager included, and Boch had his image in the Home Plate Club at Petco Park.
If you told me in 1987 that Jose Canseco, Eric Davis, Mark McGwire, Darryl Strawberry, Don Mattingly, and Dwight Gooden wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame but the Padres’ shitty catcher I was getting in every other pack was going to make it one day I’d have thought you were insane.
An all-time pitching performance by Jacob Misiorowski. He threw a one-hit Maddux and punched 15. The most in a >99-pitch shutout before was Tarik Skubal's 13. This is Miz finding out in real time what he can be. The velocity is mind-bending. All of it is.
I’ve never had an issue paying players- above or under the table. It is what is. But you can’t bet on your own sport & team as a CFB player. That sets a very dangerous precedent. No other way to say it. I’m not saying he can’t have an NFL career but there has to be some meaningful punishment here.
I loved Ryan. Legend. And no Cy Youngs, which boggles the mind.
He was runner-up in 1973 when he went 21-16 with a 2.87 ERA and a modern-era record 383 strikeouts for the Angels (but lost to Jim Palmer 88-62; Palmer was 22-9 with a 2.40 ERA for a stronger O’s team).
Third in both 1974 and 1977, fourth in 1981, and tied for fifth in 1987—when at age 40 he led the NL in ERA and strikeouts but went just 8-16 because of abysmal run support. Voters back then placed too much value on the win/loss record.