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WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24 - SEPTEMBER
30, 2002
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RUN NIKE ON THURSDAYS
[9/30/02] From Jonathan Cane: "Central Park
Track Club team members are invited to stop by the Nike truck
the next two Thursday nights before and/or after the CPTC road
workouts. We're
parked outside Equinox on Amsterdam
between 76th and 77th and we have a variety of gear
that anyone is welcome to sample during the CPTC workouts.
We have shoes (mostly Althea, Skylon
and Shox) as well as heart rate
monitors, speed/distance monitors and watches available. We
just need some form of ID from the runners. We've
also got PowerAde, water and Clif
bars at the truck. The
truck is there by 5:30
and stays until 8:15
or so (or until the runners get back with the loaners)."
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REACH THE BEACH RELAY UPDATES
[9/30/02]
(1) The results page now contains the splits for the Central
Park Track Club Masters and Orange Crush. Please be tolerant
about the listed distances, which are not totally accurate.
(2) We reported that "our sick and injured get to
stay home, drink a lot of milk and chicken soup and wonder what
is happening." That is not completely correct, because
an injured person managed to drag herself to accompany the team
on one foot and will therefore be acknowledged here. Her
adventures will continue on Monday when she celebrates her birthday
at a dinner where she will get to drink a lot of milk (upon
her doctor's orders) and jealously watch other people drink
other kinds of beverages.
(3) The final roster for the first-place men's supermaster
(40+) team consists of 11 men and one woman (Alayne Adams).
No Equal Rights Amendment was required --- it was the consensus
choice.
(4) The open question is, "2001, Hood To Coast. 2002,
Reach The Beach. What is left for Tom Phillips
to plan for next year?"
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TERRY
FOX 5K RUN [9/30/02] This Central Park race
is organized by the Canadian
Club of New York to raise funds for cancer research.
The date is October 19th, the time is 9:30am and the place is
Tavern On The Green in Central Park. Bagels, coffee and
plenty to eat before and after the race.
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OUR GOOGLE.COM LEADERS
[9/29/02] Surprise, surprise, surprise! We now have
a tie at the top of the table, with Audrey Kingsley and
Alan Ruben tied with 197 citations within our website.
Former leader Stacy Creamer is still within striking
distance at 191 citations.
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NAOMI
REYNOLDS GETS ANOTHER WIN [9/29/02] This time,
it is the PSAL Invitational cross country meet at Van Cortlandt
Park on Saturday, with a winning margin of 34 seconds over 2.5
miles.
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REACH
THE BEACH RELAY QUICK REPORT [9/29/02] From Alan
Ruben:
"Quickly, the CPTC Men's Masters won it's
division and were 2nd overall (to the Bucknell open team). We
beat the Bucknell Masters team (featuring Hank Berkowitz)
by over 30 minutes - this meant we eventually overtook them
with one leg remaining (they started at 4:00pm, we started at
4:30pm).
Orange Crush won the mixed open division and
were 4th team overall (with the exact same time as the Bucknell
Masters team!).
Clockwork Orange battled bravely with 11 people,
but the late start meant they had to miss 3 legs so that the
volunteers could go home and get out of the rain.
The weather was heavy rain at night, but there was glorious
sunshine in the morning."
"We are sooooooooo tired!"
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REACH THE BEACH RELAY TEAM
ROSTERS [9/29/02] While we do not have the
results yet, we know the following people were listed on the
team rosters:
Central Park Track Club masters (men's super masters
(40+) division): Tom Phillips (captain), Peter Allen,
Tim Evans, Alan Ruben, Graeme Reid, Victor Osayi, Noel Comess,
Alayne Adams, Stuart Calderwood, John Kenney, Tony Ruiz, David
Walsh
Orange Crush (mixed open): Erk Goetze (captain),
Stacy Creamer, Lauren Eckhart, Ali Rosenthal, Stephanie Gould,
Steven Paddock, Richie Borrero, Margaret Angell, James Siegel,
Kevin Arlyck, Audrey Kingsley, Michael Rymer, Danny Campos
Clockwork Orange (men's open): Sarah Gross (captain),
Paul Sinclair, Rich Hollander, Chris Price, Joe Tumbarello,
Jesse Lansner, Joseph Kozusko, Rich Piccirillo, Phil Vasquez,
Shula Sarner, Noah Lansner, Maria Chale. The official
race entry list does not permit the listing of a co-captain,
but we need to acknowledge that Paul Sinclair gave his
heart and soul to form this team.
Please note that these are the listed rosters, and we know for
sure that several people have been knocked out by injuries/illnesses
at the last minute and were replaced (e.g. Margaret Angell
by Stefani Jackenthal). Instead, our sick and
injured get to stay home, drink a lot of milk and chicken soup
and wonder what is happening.
We also note that these so-called men's teams include women.
Besides being fast, the ebullient Alayne Adams is also
an inspiration to the rest of her teammates.
In addition, Bola Awofeso and David Bosch are
running on a Warren Street team. This is not so unusual,
as this is not a USATF club race. For example Danny
Campos on the Orange Crush team runs regularly for the West
Side Runners locally. P.S. Hank Berkowitz was running
for the Bucknell Alumni Fossils.
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BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL
[9/29/02] Now that Steven Paddock's farewell brunch
is over and done with, we can tell this story. How do
you tell everyone that we want to get together and give him
a present? Post a message on the website? Or use
the Central Park Track Club cool list? But then Steven
would see it.
Instead, Toby Tanser described his project: "Last
night till 0200 AM, I cut and pasted the entire CPTC
email list into the AOL 'send to'. I was told to remove
commas and names, so I ran through the list with the arrow key
deleting all the appropriate bits... eventually (after the 2nd
midnight candle had scorched the table) I hit send. ERROR:
Too many addresses... I hit the back button and all the names
have disappeared! Ouch - Fate ... I give up."
We just thought that this effort merits some praise ...
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COLOMBIAN RADIO SIGNALS
[9/29/02] To his astonishment, Jeff Wilson received
this email from us: "If you run the cross tab of audience
against the frequency question, there is some scaling
but very small (e.g. average audience was 0.2% and the frequency
question breaks them down into 0.4%, 0.3%, 0.2%, 0.1% and 0.05%.
that's nice, but it is nothing like the 99%, 75%, 50%, 25% and
1% that I would see if the question was asked properly.
The consequence of the small scaling is that reach builds very
slowly. Just think, what is the likelihood of reaching
someone with a five-day schedule. With 99% at the top
scale, it is with near certainty. With 0.4% at the top
scale, it is just 1-(1-0.004)**5 which is nearer to zero than
1. This is therefore an unacceptable solution."
Jeff replied: "Just guessing but I think this message was
intended for someone else. Otherwise I'm flattered at
what you consider my range of interests." Ergo, when
you receive some incomprehensive email from us sent out at 3am,
you were probably not the intended recepient.
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FIFTH
AVENUE MILE WRAP UP [9/28/02] To the jaded
veteran of many previous Fifth Avenue Miles, this one was muted
and lightly watched. There were no mega-stars like Regina
Jacobs, Suzy Favor Hamilton, Paula Radcliffe
or the like, and no mega-sponsors like Donald Trump (and
his daughter Ivanka). But for the first-timers,
this was exciting with the deceptive terrain, swirling winds,
the burning lungs and the rubbery legs.
This year, our team's presence was affected by the fact that
we have 38 runners at the Reach The Beach Relay in New Hampshire.
At 730am, one of those runners called his wife to report on
their progress. So far, our three teams are actually seeing
each other on the road more often than they thought they would.
But the 'fast guys' are leading by more than 3 hours in the
staggered starts.
Here is a tip from Peter Gambaccini on how to read the
result postings at the finish area: "Ah ... the slowest
time was 17:21. Good! Now I know that I would not
have finished last if I were in the race ... at least I think
I can still run a mile faster than 17 minutes."
Frank Handelman said, "Dave Blackstone is
no longer my coach. Devon Sargent is now my coach.
I read her advice on the website. I really held back for
the first quarter. I ran 74 seconds. I could have
easily done 68 seconds, but I would have ended up with a slower
time in the end."
There were several records falling today. The George Sheehan
Mile Men 60-69 record was broken by Chicago's Vic Heckler,
who ran 4:58 (previous record 5:04). Our club founders
told us that Vic was a Central Park Track Club runner before
he moved out there. The George Sheehan Mile Women 60-69
record was broken by Stony Brook's Marie-Louise Michelsohn,
who ran 5:52 (previous record 6:04). It so happens that
Stony Brook is our third hometown (residence terms: New York
City 22 years; Hong Kong 18 years; Stony Brook 8 years; Sydney
4 years; Memphis 2 months; Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco,
Los Angeles, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogota, San Salvador,
Lima, Singapore, Taipei, ... wow, those years pile up
...).
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STEALWARE/PARASITE-WARE
[9/27/02] Quite often, people tell us that they just bought
something on our Amazon.com
and yet we never see this reflected in our records. Our
original doubt tended to be directed towards Amazon.com for
not crediting all purchases. But according to this New
York Times article, there is now a significant amount of
information highway hijacking conducted by the music sites (that
is, Morpheus, Kazaa, LimeWire). When you visit these music
sites, you downloard their software which performs an intercept
to any purchase by substitute their own affiliate number so
that they get the referral fees instead. As we said, this
is information highway hijacking. One excuse was that
it was an unintentional software flaw, which was nevertheless
quite intricately constructed (that is, the diversting software
program remains even after the original music sharing software
is removed). Another justification was, "While I
agree that this is realy a bit of a scam, it is a way for us
to pay salaries while not adversely affecting our users."
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THURSDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT
REPORT [9/27/02] Suppose we want to make a prediction
about tonight's attendance. What factors do we know of?
(1) We have thirty-seven people entered into the Reach
The Beach Relay, and two others had to drop out due to injury/illness
(2) The premier road mile race of the year --- the Fifth
Avenue Mile --- will take place on Saturday morning
(3) And it has been raining steady and hard since midday
The correct answer is twenty-eight, of which the following breakdown
can be made:
(1) Rain-conditioned Brit: In his last road
workout with us, Steven Paddock said, "There are
only two people on the team who likes to run in cold rain ---
Alan Ruben and I. This is just like home for us,
where it is like this every single day. When it rains
like this, we usually finish at least 30 seconds ahead of the
rest of the pack."
(2) Cold-conditioned Canadians: Craig Chilton
and Kevan Huston. Honorable mention to Paul
Bendich: "When you go to school in Ohio, you have to
run even if there is a foot of ice out there. It's just
that your normal 6 minute/mile pace becomes 8 minute/mile even
though you are exerting more effort."
(3) Warm-blooded Puerto Rican coach: Nowhere
to be seen. Probably will claim that his old and bruised
body needs to rest for the relay. Instead, Audrey Kingsley
served as the substitute coach tonight. Audrey Kingsley?
Isn't she on the relay team? Yes, but she honestly did
not overtrain tonight. She started the groups out at 72nd
Street. After the first loop, she was seen across Bethesda
Fountain. After the second loop, she was seen at East
68th Street. Then she accompanied the last runner to East
72nd Street, whereupon she points to the pedestrian crossing
and said, "I cannot pass this white line. If I pass
the line, I have to keep running another loop. So I will
turn back and head home right now."
(4) Triathletes who can swim faster than they run:
Olivier Baillet, Zeb Nelessen
(5) Workout reporter: Of course, we were
going to be there. These are the moments when we discover
who the true Central Park Track Club runners are. Based
upon tonight's attendance, we know they are --- John Gleason,
Andrea Costella, Patrick Cowden, Laura Ford, Kate Franch, Kira
Morser, Yumi Ogita, Ana Echeverri, Brad Weiss, Dion Mulvihill,
Mary Diver, Yves-Marc Courtines, Harry Morales, Rick
Shaver, ... And then there was a new runner who picked
this night for her first run with the team. So where were
the rest of you?
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SAFETY FIRST, PLEASE!
[9/27/02] For the teams that will be running in the Reach
The Beach Relay this weekend, this is a 200-mile-plus race that
will take many hours to complete, include some hours in darkness.
There are also the long drives up to New Hampshire and back.
You know you should run and drive safely and, like your nagging
mom, we are going to emphasize this again to you. Best
of luck!
P.S. The first winning shot goes to the young upstarts:
"The old guys have a boring name --- The Central Park Track
Club Masters --- whereas we are the Orange Crush and the Clockwork
Orange."
As a side comment, our favorite quote has always been from Clockwork
Orange's author Anthony Burgess about the missing
Chapter 21 in the American edition: "Life is, of course,
terrible." It is probable that the members of the
Clockwork Orange team have seen Stanley Kubrick's movie, but
they probably have not read the novel. After all, Burgess
said, "The ideal reader of my novels is a lapsed Catholic
and failed musician, short-sighted, color-blind, auditorily
biased, who has read the books that I have read" and we
don't see that many people who fit the description ...
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JOANIE AND JOHN [9/27/02]
In the November 2002 issue of Running Times:
In the same magaine issue, to the left of this photo, there
was a correction to the New Jersey Shore Marathon, where Bill
Haskins has now been correctly credited with a third-place
finish in 2:50:33.
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NYRR ELECTION RESULTS ---
TOBY TANSER IS ELECTED [9/26/02] From the NYRR
website: "The Annual Meeting of Members of NYRR on Monday,
September 23, 2002, resulted in the election of the following
people to three-year terms on the Board: Bernard Cooper,
Chairman; Julie Geisler, Nina Kuscsik, Norbert
Sander and Toby Tanser." In case you spent
the last month in Mongolia, we ran an active campaign for Toby
Tanser and we are certainly happy to see him being elected.
Although we might have made some people aware of this election,
we have only one vote ourselves and it was you would cast all
those votes.
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BABYSITTER AVAILABLE
[9/26/02] Laura Ford: "I
love kids and have lots of experience with them -
I taught kids gymnastics for four years, have done lots of babysitting,
and currently volunteer with kids in the city from time to time.
I'm also familiar with
taking care of a wide range of ages. I'm free Mondays,
Wednesdays, and sometimes on weekends - not Tuesdays or Thursdays,
of course, since that is when we meet to run. Call daytime
212-572-2297
or cellphone 917-750-4622."
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FIFTH
AVENUE MILE [9/26/02] Saturday, September 28th.
Start: 82nd Street. Finish: 62nd Street.
| Open Categories: |
| 11:05 |
Men and women over 8:30-minute mile |
| 11:20 |
Men and women 7:30 to 8:30-minute mile |
| 11:35 |
Men 6:30- to 7:30-minute mile |
| 11:50 |
Women under 7:30-minute mile |
| 12:05 p.m. |
Men 5:45- to 6:30-minute mile |
| 12:20 |
Men under 5:45-minute mile |
| Invitational Categories |
| 12:30 |
Masters women, ages 40-59 |
| 12:45 |
Masters men, ages 40-59 |
| 1:00 |
George Sheehan Memorial Mile, ages 60-69 |
| 1:15 |
George Sheehan Memorial Mile, ages 70+ |
| 1:35 |
Open women |
| 1:50 |
Open men |
From coach Devon Sargent:
FIFTH AVENUE MILE COURSE:
0--400m slight downhill
400--800m slight uphill
800--1200m almost flat
1200--1600m almost flat
Because the 1st 400m is DOWNHILL,
you must be careful not go out too fast. Better to go
out too slow for the 1st 400m, then too fast. Inexperienced
runners will go out like rabbits, don't get sucked in! You know
your mile pace! Stick to it for the 1st 400m.
OVERALL STRATEGY:
0--400m
Get out, RELAX, let the rabbits go!
Run your own race for the 1st 400m.
(Don't worry about your position, it's the same distance from
the middle of the road or the side of the road).
400--800m
Now it's time to work!
ATTACK the hill!
Start looking at your competition.
800--1200m
Forget the clock, it's time to compete!
COMPETE, COMPETE, COMPETE!
Start picking off runners one by one!
Every runner counts.
1200--1600m
Find another gear by competing. Remember those 200s & 300s
you have been doing on the track?
Go after that runner in front of you!
Don't stop before the finish line---Run "through the line"
(i.e., pretend the finish line is 10m farther)
Frequently Asked Question: What should I do if I run the 1st
400m too fast?
Do NOT slow down (slowing down doesn't work in the mile)
You've committed yourself to that pace, stick to it.
Don't panic. You still may run a PR.
Don't fight the pain---Run through it.
Only way to run through the pain is to compete, compete, compete.
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THE
MOST VALUABLE FOOT ON THE TEAM [9/26/02] This
is not the x-ray of our most valuable foot, but that is what
it would look like right now. The doctor's orders are,
"Drink a lot of milk, because calcium will help the bone
heal."
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FRED LEBOW CROSS COUNTRY
RACE RESULTS [9/25/02] The results are in:
--- open men, 2nd place
--- masters men, 1st place
--- veteran men, did not show
--- open women, 1st place
--- masters women, 2nd place
--- veteran women, 2nd place
We have said almost everything already in the earlier wrap-up.
Here, we want to give some praise to the masters women.
So far, this year, we have been somewhat inconsistent in fielding
enough people at races, with the result that we were just as
capable as winning as getting zero points for not having enough
finishers. In this race, we have (1) Alayne Adams,
the overall winner and therefore a big point scorer; (2)
Maria Chale, who has proven to be very durable and able
to cover all distances from ultra-marathons down; and (3) Mary
V. Rosado who will run all the short distance races (although
we remember that she received doctor's orders to run a marathon
--- yes, her doctor told her that running a marathon would do
her good!). Good job!
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USA
WOMEN WIN GOLD [9/25/02] At the World Basketball
Championship, USA beat Russia 79-74 in the final game.
The final game was a lot closer than those 30+ point blow-outs
in the preliminary rounds and was not settled until the final
minutes. In the classification games, Australia beat South
Korea to place third and Brazil beat France to place seventh.
This tournament took place in a number of medium-sized cities
in China, and never got near the three largest cities (Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou). In the first round, we didn't
even know the names of those cities (note: we spend a large
part of our childhood memorizing maps of China and we should
know). In the second round, there were some rather drab
cities up the population scale plus one city (Suzhou) that is
supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in China.
We wish that we were there for that one. The final rounds
took place in Nanjing and Zhenjiang, two characterless cities
that had some historical significance.
For an analogy, please imagine the following venues for a hypothetical
world basketball championship held in the USA:
Round 1 --- Jacksonville, Florida; Albany, New York; Youngstown,
Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisanna
Round 2 --- Lincoln, Nebraska; Bar Harbor, Maine
Final rounds --- Milwaukee, Wisconsin; San Antonio, Texas
But the locale and the live audience are no longer relevant
in the age of television. The mass audiences to these
games are global in scope.
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30th ANNIVERSARY PARTY
[9/25/02] November 16th is the date and St. Peter's Church
is the place. Details appear on the home page. You
should have received an invitation in the mail by now.
If not, please let us know and we will send you one. Since
the big thirty is a major milestone, we want to see all past
and present members there, no matter whether you are active
or not.
As is our tradition, we will have awards for the best performers
this year. Looking back to the year 1986, the Most Outstanding
Athlete award went to an entity known as the men's open team,
with these honorable mentions: Tim Archibald, Curtis
Fletcher, Nick Frankovich, Peter Gambaccini,
John Kenney, Fred Kolthay, Herb Medina, Bob
Meighan, Jose Montolio, Eugene O'Keefe,
Tom Phillips, Graydon Pihlaja, Eldon Reynoso,
Tony Ruiz, Rick Shaver, Jan Stouber, Phil
Top, George Wisniewski and Roger Yergeau.
Within this group, the first confirmed attendee that we know
of is ... Herbie Medina! We now know that the party
will be lively ...
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WHERE IS THE STRAND?
[9/25/02] It is not "The dog ate my travel directions"
but ...
"Sorry, Steven, for missing your farewell brunch.
I went to 96th Street, but I could not find the diner."
"Yes, me too. I was there too and I couldn't find
the place ..."
To validate these excuses, we attempted a Google.com search
on these keywords: "New York City" Strand
diner 96th Street --- in order to see how obscure the place
is. After all, The Strand Diner was advertised to us as
the 2001 New York City Diner Of The Year.
Of the top five entries, one was for the writer Ginger Strand
who wrote about New York City for the Mississipi Review, and
the other four entries referred to The Strand Bookstore downtown.
To our astonishment, the sixth entry was ... The Central
Park Track Club Journal Page, which announced the time
and place for Steven Paddock's farewell brunch.
Google.com had indexed this page on September 23rd, saved the
information and gave it a high importance weight!
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TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT REPORT
[9/24/02} Long live the rugby players! Being duly
granted a permit to practice on the field, the rugby players
called in the park rangers to eject the permit-less soccer players.
Yes, we love the rugby players! The only problem is that
they are playing the wrong game --- the correct game is Rugby
League, not Rugby Union! Real men play rugby league, and
only Frenchmen, Scotsmen and Welshmen play rugby union.
O, Balmain!
Tiger, tiger, burning bright!
This is the first day of fall, and it feels like fall.
Overnight, the temperature dropped from hot to cool and the
skies were cloudless blue. We counted forty-eight people
at our workout. We will have thirty-eight runners at the
Reach To Beach Relay this weekend, consisting of three full
12-person teams as well as two persons running with another
team (Warren Street). The other big race of the weekend
will be the Fifth Avenue Mile, which was enough to draw Karel
Matousek to fly in from Prague to run. Back on the
track today right after last Sunday's race were our two scorers
Margaret Schotte and Ali Rosenthal. That
race was Margaret's best race for the team in memory, and our
Canadian national high school champion showed her true colors
--- she ran strong and she ran aggressively!
Running around the track taking photo was Steven Paddock,
who wanted to start his own private album collection.
This was his last track workout, as he will fly out to England
next Monday. Since he had to be in the picture himself,
he had to recruit all sorts of amateur wannabes to take photos
of him with Sid Howard as well as the A team (Craig
Chilton, Adam Manewell, Erik Goetze and Alan
Ruben).
We had a surplus of timers today, which is never a good sign
because this tends to be the graveyard of injured (and otherwise
non-performing) runners. Today's new recruits to the injured
list were Margaret Angell and Zeb Nelessen, who
had trouble calling out split times in between crying their
eyes out about not being able to run. The sun went down
in the latter portion of the workout. It does not affect
the runners because the track was illuminated by the floodlights
in the four corners of the field. The darkness was a bigger
problem for the timers who had to stand in the middle of the
field and identify the runners in their group in the sea of
humanity.
Complaint Department: "In a photo taken at
the Fred Lebow Cross Country race, you cropped my wife
from the photo. I told my wife that maybe you thought
that she was my girlfriend ..." That was very, very
true as "DISCRETION" is our middle name. (But
Adam Manewell does not concur ...)
Tech Support Department: Fred Trilli: "Thanks
for pointing out the photo in which I did not look like I was
dying as much as I usually do. I printed that photo out,
and then the computer monitor went black. What should
I do?" There are any number of reasons and actions,
but we know this for sure --- we will not accept any liability
here! In case you are interested, this is the photo
(WARNING: Printing this photo may damage your computer
monitor).
No News Department: Official results for the Fred
Lebow Cross Country race are not available yet. Neither
are the election results for the board of directors of the New
York Road Runners. So don't ask us as if we would know
anything more than you do ...
Don't Do It Department:
(1) Based upon his performance at jumping the fence at the dog
run at Van Cortlandt Park, we advise our star 400m/800m runner
not to try the pole vault event. It can be dangerous to
his health!
(2) In spite of her obvious 'affinity' for soccer balls, we
advise our favorite red-hair middle-distance runner to stay
with football, the All-American sport! It is less dangerous
to her health!
Transportation Department: Sid Howard's
call for "All on board!" is a welcome sound to tired
runners, but we had to pass tonight because we need to get home
soon. Like, some time soon. The problem is that
Sid has to talk to everyone and their grandmothers before he
leaves ...
Meanwhile, Paul Bendich looked as if he seriously needed
transportation home, because he looked totally exhausted.
Was it the workout? "No, I had to defend the honor
of the club against a young punk. I beat him in a 200m
sprint after the workout"
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OUR WATER GIRL [9/24/02]
What is the center of attention in this photo? It is our
'water girl,' personally delivering water to our runners on
this very hot day. What other team in the tri-state area
can claim this type of personal service?
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DOUBLE HEARTBREAK
[9/24/02] At the Women's World Basketball Championship,
it was South Korea 71, Brazil 70 and then China 81, Brazil 80
so that Brazil will finish no better than 7th place. Elsewhere,
it was USA 71, Australia 56 so that the Aussies will have to
play for third place.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 17 - SEPTEMBER
23, 2002
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CASTING CALL [9/23/02]
From Mary-Anne Driscoll ( research@strickman-ripps.com;
phone 212.966.3211; fax 212.966.4455): "We are a casting
company in NYC and we are working on a commercial length film
that will be a part of the bid to bring the 2012 Olympic Games
to New York City. This project is being done in conjunction
with Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki and will be used in
the City's presentation to the Olympic Committee in November.
Several films are being produced - we are working on one that
will represent the opening ceremonies and the 'Olympic Torch
Run'. We are looking to cast runners to be filmed running the
torch through various locations around the city. Approximately
30 runners will be cast in the short film - we are looking for
all ages (above 18 years) and all ethnicities. All of
the companies involved in the project are working pro bono.
This would extend to the runners as well. We are unable to offer
compensation for appearing in the spot. If they are booked,
the film would shoot October 4-7 (they would be booked for one
or part of one of those days). We will be casting this
week. If you think any of your members might be interested,
or for more information, please call us at the number below
and we can arrange to meet with them."
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SOLIDARITY PACT?
[9/23/02] History has told us that desperate people will
group together and act in concert to fight for their collective
survival. But here we are talking about an ignoble cause.
Upon information and belief, on the weekend before last, a group
of Central Park Track Club people went up to run a ten mile
race in South Nyack. Since none of them were happy with
their times on the hilly course, they made a pact not to whisper
a word to the website. Unfortunately, given that this
item has appeared here, that famed orange wall of silence is
showing a crack ...
-
USA
WOMEN WINS OVER SPAIN [9/23/02] At the World Basketball
Championships, USA beat Spain by a score of 95-55. Next
up for Team USA is our home team, The Opals of Australia, led
by Lauren Jackson, Jae Kingi and Penny Taylor.
At the World Championships, Australia has a lifetime record
of 0-7 versus Team USA, so our prospects are bleak. But
of course we always root from the heart and not by the numbers.
Even if Australia loses, we will get another shot with our sponsoring
country, Brazil [Acknowledgement: This website is sponsored
since its inception by funds and human resources contributed
by IBOPE].
-
EL TAPÓN: Recently,
we received a cultural lesson when we learned that bumper-to-bumper
traffic in Puerto Rico is called 'el tapón,' which means something
completely different elsewhere (e.g. 'baby bottle' in Mexico-American
Spanish, a 'bottle cork' in Mexico, etc). Ah, we digress
(by a lot) because we really want to draw attention that once
again our photo coverage of the Fred
Lebow Cross Country Race drew over 700 visits to our
home page. In other words, el tapón esta malo.
Given the delay due to the slow hand tabulation of the official
results, we may be the only website to find out about this race
immediately. Beyond home page visitors, our hits are undoubtedly
increased by our intentionally elliptical remarks (such as the
caption to the first photo:
Mary V. Rosado: "I'm doing my pre-race warm-ups.
So far, dozens of people have been killed already and I'm really
getting into it ..." How are you going to sleep tonight
if you don't click to see the photo?)
Alternately, this traffic may solely be due to the many friends
of relatives of Steven
Paddock.
-
WHERE IS NAOMI? [9/22/02]
After winning a bunch of Van Cortlandt Park races this summer,
Naomi Reynolds was not at our most important cross country
scoring race of the year. Where is she? Well, it
is high school cross country reason now and on Saturday she
won the PSAL
Group Run (2.5 miles) in 16:26.37 by a margin of 88
seconds. She ran in the Junior Division, but her time
was minutes faster than all the other class winners.
Unfortunately for us, her many high school races do not figure
in our victory totals
since they are not open to all.
-
THE TRIPLE CROWN [9/22/02]
Earlier this week, we suggested that it is possible to run a
triple: the New York City Biathlon at 730am in Central Park,
the Race to Deliver at 10am in Central Park and the Fred Lebow
Cross Country 5K at 1130am in Van Cortlandt Park. Marty
Levine did the first and third leg to claim second place.
The winner is Jonathan Cane, who excused us for having
inspired bad behavior: "I was thinking about doing it before
you said anything. But once I saw the post, I knew that
I had to do it."
-
FRED LEBOW CROSS COUNTRY
5K WRAP-UP [9/22/02] This scoring race was held
on Sunday in hot, sunny weather. We thought that cross
country races are supposed to be damp and cold to be run over
mud puddles, but we were quite wrong this time. Well,
to get the real cross country atmosphere, you'all have to come
back for the Peter McArdle 15K in late November.
This being a cross country race that is scored by hand and not
by Champion chips, it means that the official results will not
be posted for a few days. We don't know our men's final
team positions, but our team was led by Armando Oliveira
who said before the race, "I am going to go out as
fast as I can and just hold on as best I could."
Armando was seventh overall in the race and first for the team.
Somewhere further down in the top 20 or thereabouts was a swarm
of our runners in a big pack including Craig Chilton,
Erik Goetze, Alan Ruben, Kevan Huston,
Michael Rymer, Adam Manewell, etc.
The big question was how well Steven Paddock would do
in his final scoring race for the team. The question is
no longer one of breaking into the 15 minute 5,000m mark, since
he just had a hernia operation last week. He did make
this promise before the race, "I have been running 16 minutes
5K's and I have never ever run a 17 minute 5K. So if I
am going to run bad, it will be an 18:09." His time
today: 18:09. In fact, he was running so slow that the
NYRR official at the bridge warned him, "If you are pacing
someone in this race, I'm going to disqualify you! And
I mean it!" This is the classicial case of 'heaping
insult upon injury.'
Stuart Calderwood made the special trip up to Van Cortlandt
Park in order to ... look after Joey and Sammy Ruben
while their dad run. When he got there, he saw that there
was likely to be only two of our regular masters scorers ---
Alan Ruben and Tom Phillips. So Stuart put
down the $3 race entry fee, and the kids became the responsibilty
of our photographer Bola Awofeso. As a result,
there were fewer photos for the men's race than there might
have been otherwise, as Bola even had to spend money at the
ice cream truck to pacify the kids. As his reward, Stuart
picked up a third-place medal for third M40-44, which he had
not expected until he realized that his two teammates are in
the 45-49 category.
And now to the best piece of news: our women's open team
won their race with a 1-2-5 finish. They were in first
place coming into this race, and this should increase their
lead to at least 10 points. First overall was Alayne
Adams, all the more remarkable for being a masters to win
an open race. In second place overall was Margaret
Schotte, who ran despite all the scrapes on her elbow and
leg after taking a spill because ... she was training for a
DUATHLON! In fifth place overall was Ali Rosenthal.
Our fourth finisher was Audrey Kingsley (good insurance
in case someone forgot to put down the team code). We
should also congratulate Maria Chale and Andrea Ostrowski
for finishing their first Van Cortlandt Park cross country
race. Fun, wasn't it? When will you be back?
We note that Margaret Angell did not run due to an injury,
otherwise we would have likely swept 1-2-3 in the race.
The good/bad thing about this cross country race is that much
of the action takes place in the backhills. The lack of
visual action is made up by the increase in suspense. On the
first time across the bridge, we saw Margaret Schotte
fighting for second place and Alayne Adams further back.
Then we moved down the straightaway in front of the finish line
and we were all looking towards the far end for the lead runner
to appear. All of a sudden, we heard Stuart Calderwood
cry out, "Oh, my God, Alayne is going to win this race!"
Then we pointed our camera to take this short film clip.
The voices in the background belong to Stuart Calderwood
and Devon Sargent. After the race, Alayne gave
credit for this win to the team equipment manager (aka "The
Beast of Burden") who held her singlet when she decided
that it would be too hot --- "That extra one ounce made
all the difference today!" Or at least that is what
our team equipment manager would like to believe ...
-
WORLD RECORD PROGRESSION
[9/21/02] At the Berlin meet, Tim Montgomery
shaved 0.01 second off the 100m sprint world record. How
much further can these track & field records go? At
the extreme end, for the track events at least, there is a physical
barrier. For example, by definition, no one is going to
be ever able to cover 100 meters in less than 0 seconds.
In fact, the boundary is probably quite a bit further up, beginning
with the 0.10 quickest reaction time to the gun. Currently,
anyone who gets out of the blocks in less than 0.10 seconds
gets an automatic false start charged to them. Physiologists
and sports specialists may also be able to come up with higher
bounds based upon physiology and biomechanics. Of course,
these experts have been wrong before, as in the mistaken belief
about women's inability to run the longer distances and then
along came Ann Trason ... But assuming that we
still somewhere far beyond those theoretical bounds, what do
we think is the rate at which the world records should progress?
As it turns out, this is a favorite subject in 'lite' academic
research. By 'lite', we mean the kinds of articles that
would appear in a publication such as Chance for students
in statistics. Very typically, someone would collect a
time series of the records that were set over time, fit a statistical
model and then extrapolate towards the future. To our
minds, this is hideously wrong because it ignores certain human
realities.
First case in point: we may choose to think that a particular
athletic performance as being the convergence of multiple elements
--- genetics, nutrition, upbringing, training, equipment, technique,
injury, coaching, competition, rest, food, environment, weather
and so on. Differences in these conditions (such as a
long sleepless night before a race) may cause different levels
of performance on a particular day. Then, on one particular
occasion, someone gets everything right and gets a truly magnificent
performance. Such is the long jump record by Bob Beamon.
Whereas all previous world records may have been set incrementally
by fractions of an inch, this one perfect attempt may be so
much better that it may take many, many years before it can
be broken again. Thus, all the previous statistical records
will not permit the explanation of this one perfect occasion.
Second case in point: let us remember that sports are about
$MONEY$. So we are reading the book Mathematics and
Sports about a simple linear regression model to predict
the world record in the pole vault based upon data from 1957
on. The assumption that the progression of world records
should follow a linear trend over time is a dubious one since
it ignores the physical bounds that we discussed at the outset.
In any case, the problem with the dataset is that Sergei
Bubka set the world pole vault record 17 times between 1984
and 1994, often just by a single centimeter because he was obviously
incentivized to set records by meet directors. When he
does that, everybody is pleased --- he gets a big paycheck,
the meet gets the press headlines and the fans get to watch
a world record live. According to this model, the 'predicted'
record height is 6.16m in 1990, 6.36m in 1995 and 6.56m in 2000.
In truth, the world record of 6.14m was set in 1994 and has
never been bettered since by anyone.
If you are really obsessed with numbers, here are the lower
bounds on the world bests at various distances given in F. Péronnet
and G. Thibault, "Mathematical analysis of running performance
and world running records'', Journal of Applied Physiology,
v.67, pp. 453-465 (1989).
| |
Men |
Women |
| 100m |
9.37s |
10.15s |
| 200m |
18.32s |
20.25s |
| 400m |
39.60s |
44.71s |
| 800m |
1:30.86 |
1:42.71 |
| 1500m |
3:04.27 |
3:26.95 |
| Mile |
3:18.87 |
3:43.24 |
| 3000m |
6:24.81 |
7:11.42 |
| 5000m |
11:11.61 |
12:33.36 |
| 10000m |
23:36.89 |
26:19.48 |
| Marathon |
1:48:25 |
2:00:33 |
-
NYRR ANNUAL MEETING
[9/21/02] All NYRR members are invited to the Annual
Meeting of New York Road Runners on Monday, September 23, 2002
at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will take place in the P.S. 6
Auditorium (81st Street and Madison Avenue).
-
CROSS COUNTRY RACE ALERTS
[9/21/02] For those of you going to Van Cortlandt
Park on Sunday for the team scoring cross country race, please
make note of the following.
Registration will begin at 10:30
The men's start will begin at 11:30
The women's start will begin at 12:00
ALERT ON #1 TRAIN [9/20/02] This alert was
picked up by Marty Levine. So please make sure
that you give yourself a little bit of extra time. It
would be a most frustrating experience when you are on a bus
that is inching along while you know the race is going to start
any minute ...
-
MASTERS
TRACK WORLD RECORDS [9/20/02] Today's RunnersWorld
has a story that points to this page of world best times for
masters. Here is one gender comparison that is striking
--- Erik Oostweegel at 10.84 and Merlene Ottey
at 10.99.
-
USA
WOMEN CONTINUE TO ROLL [9/20/02] In the second
round games of the World Basketball Championships, they went
87-44 over Cuba, 91-53 over South Korea and 101-68 over France.
Next up is Spain. All other favorites are there (Australia,
Brazil, France, China, Russia), but only USA is undefeated so
far.
-
THE GREAT SOCCER WARS
[9/20/02] No, this is the war that El Salvador and Honduras
fought over, as reported in Ryszard Kapuscinski's book.
This is the continuing saga at the East Sixth Street track as
a runner got hit with a soccer ball last night. Believe
it or not, it was the same runner and the same spot as several
weeks ago. No concussion and no ambulance this time.
Do you remember this August photo
that showed the soccer players moving the big goal over the
side behind their little goal as a shield against stray shots
hitting people? Well, we now have a different group of
soccer players, who are less considerate (because they did not
move the big goal) and less skillful (on Tuesday's crowded workout,
we witnessed a shot at goal that reached
over forty feet in the air and landed behind the stands!).
This is the worst possible combination
--- lousy players who disregard safety issues. What did
they have to say after last night's incident? They chanted
the mantra, "S**t happens! S**t happens! S**t
happens! S**t happens!" Well, s**t doesn't
have to happen if you exercise some commonsense!
Meanwhile, we want you to know that the team has not been passively
sitting back and just be someone else's target practice.
Our executive board and our past presidents have been contacting
city agencies, which have been quite responsive. However,
it may be too late to change things for this year as the season
is winding down already. But it looks like we will have
new arrangements for next year. Meanwhile, just keep an
eye for those stray soccer balls when you run on that track.
-
WINNING SURVIVORS
[9/19/02] At the beginning of last week, we told you about
our illustrious history at the Survival of the Shawangunks triathlon.
To this, we can add two more winners from this year:
Olivier Baillet, 1st overall
Stefani Jackenthal, 1st overall
female
Appropriately for runner-types, Olivier was first in the 21
mile run and Stefani was first female in the same run.
-
THURSDAY ROAD WORKOUT REPORT
[9/19/02] Your regular workout reporter was trapped at
the office. The specific issue pertains to 126 persons
by the name of 'Ahins Acille' who live around the country.
There are about ten people in the world who understands this
issue (and that count includes those 126 Ahins Acille's),
and most of them live around Little Rock (Arkansas). In
case anyone of them ever come across this page, it should bring
a smile.
At Tuesday's track workout, which was geared towards strength
and short recovery, it was pointed out that this one workout
will not turn someone into a good cross-country runner.
And if you run today's workout at full pace, you will definitely
NOT be a good cross-country runner on Sunday because you will
have left your best performance up at the reservoir.
The Sunday cross-country race starts at 11:30am in the flats
of Van Cortlandt Park. The easiest subway train is the
IRT #1, as the race is just a few steps north of the last stop
(242nd Street). You can also take the east side trains,
but you may have to do some cross-country fence hopping (even
Bronx Science alumni could not find their way! but take this
hint --- do not even try sprinting across the expressway!).
You are reminded that we are saying farewell to Steven Paddock
after the cross-country race at:
Date: September 22nd (after the NYRR Cross-Country race)
Place: The Strand Diner (96th Street & Broadway;
1/2/3 subway stop), the 2001 Diner Of The Year
Even if you cannot run the race, you can still go to The Strand
and eat some wholesome food. Incidentally, this does not
mean that Steven is heading to the airport right after lunch.
He is due to run in the Reach The Beach Relay next weekend,
after which he leaves.
-
MASTER MALE ATHLETE STUDY
[ 9/19/02] From Patrick Kuznia: "I am currently
searching for male athletes between the ages of 65-80 to participate
in a study for the National Institute of Health. This research
is aimed towards determining if continued exercise can help
reduce intramuscular fat in the elderly. The results of this
study will have an impact on understanding more about the benefits
of exercise in regards to the aging process.
All participants must be in good health and have worked out
for an extended period of at least 20 years. Since the protocol
for this experiment necessitates master athletes, I am contacting
Central Park Track Club in order to look for subjects that may
fit this strict criterion. A variety of tests will be administered
at the body composition unit of St. Luke's hospital at 114th
Street and Amsterdam Avenue. These tests will provide the subjects
with their bone density, whole-body fat, muscle mass, and resting
energy expenditure. In addition to receiving thorough results
of these tests, participants will receive a travel reimbursement
of $150 upon completion.
I look forward to discussing this study and
hopefully meeting with some of the eligible runners. I may be
contacted via email ( pjk13@columbia.edu
) or phone (212-523-2324)."
-
COOLLIST HEADCOUNT
[9/18/02] The self-administered Coollist mailing list
now has 212 members. The list is currently used mostly
(but not exclusively) to distribute the distance runners' workouts
beforehand. Although the workout attendance is good (average
of around fifty people), it is nowhere more than 200.
Here are some plausible explanations for the phenomenon:
(1) Some people have multiple subscriptions (e.g. we have
two registered email addresses there --- one for home and one
for mobile access)
(2) Although the average attendance is around 50 per workout,
it does not mean the same 50 people show up every week.
The most overused question that we hear at workouts is: "Who
are these these people? How come I don't know any of them
...? What has happened to this club!?"
(3) ... and then there are names that are identifiable
people who have clearly nothing to do with this club.
What do they want? We don't know and it does not matter.
This is an open self-administered list. Anyone who wants
to opt in can do so, and they can opt out anytime they want
to.
P.S. The headcount could have been even higher, but for
the fact that certain ISPs (such as AOL.com) and companies (well,
let's not name them) will automatically block out all email
coming from the Coollist.com domain.
-
RAIN ON FIRE ISLAND
[9/18/02] An email came to us: "In the beginning
of August, I was getting off the ferry for Fire Island in a
terrible rain storm. I had my laptop with me and no way
to protect it. I have been talking to a woman previously
on the train about running and triathlons, and when the time
came to 'run' from the ferry to our houses, she gave me her
waterproof poncho to cover my bag and computer. I've never
met her again in Fire Island and I've been trying to find her
running in Central Park. All I know is --- she's a Central
Park Track Club runner, her name is Lynn, she's blonde (average
size), in her 40s and she works for the Rockefeller Foundation.
I'm sure she's known in the club, and I wouldn't feel at peace
with myself until I thank her again and return her the poncho."
Note: The only item that threw us off in the description
is the age but we know that Lynn will be so happy ..
Follow-up: Lynn Blackstone: "I read the website
everyday and the 'Rain On Fire Island' item made my day, my
week...perhaps my year!"
And if you don't know Lynn's age, here is soemthing in
the public records --- she won the Yonkers
Marathon in 1976.
-
TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT REPORT
[9/17/02] Extremely nice day, cloudless, blue skies and
dry. Extremely crowded on the track too. There were
the high school football players in the middle of the field,
with soccer games on each side. And the group of soccer
players did not inspire a lot of confidence (note: we witnessed
a shot at goal that reached over forty feet in the air and landed
behind the stands!) And then the rugby players made their
seasonal debut. Around the track, the runners were going
round and round, two to three wide in an endless stream.
As far as the Reach The Beach Relay intra-mural competition
goes, the Central Park Track Club old guys seemed to have gained
the psychological advantage, as the 'young guys' are only threatening
with 'We'll have more fun that you!' Today, Tony Ruiz
was recounting his experience at last year's Hood To Coast
Relay. Before he began his third and last run, he felt
as if he could barely even walk. A large cup of black
coffee helped. But he said what got him charged up was
the sight of the energetic Alayne Adams charging in.
Oh, yes, now we know what their secret weapon is ...
Going beyond the triple, there are actually two possible quadruples
on Sunday --- the three races and then lunch with Steven
Paddock, or the three races and then listen to Sid Howard
speak. Alas, the lunch and the speech occur in different
states at the same time so there will be no quintuple (without
videoconferencing).
On an unrelated subject, on the way to the workout, someone
told us that they posted a job opening for an adminstrative
assistant and got more than 2,000 resumés over the weekend.
Yes, it is a very tough job market out there right now ...
-
A PHILADELPHIA DISTANCE RACER
[9/17/02] Here is an alert in the email: "I don't
know if you noticed but in the Philadelphia Half Marathon
results, the 10th place finisher from Morocco in 1:07:12 was
listed at 99 years old." Yes, Sid Howard had
better watch out!
Three things might have happened:
[1] The age and the time are accurate. In the record
books, the most astonishing marathon age-group time supposedly
goes to Ed Whitlock, who ran a 2:51:22 marathon at age
69 in Columbus, and then also 3:00:24 at age 70 at London (ON)
in 2001. Whitlock is, as Craig Chilton reminds
us, Canadian.
His time of 2:51:22 was so good that it is also the Canadian
age-group record for 20 miles (that is, he did not have an official
intermediate 20 mile split, but his full marathon time was still
faster than the previous 20 mile record!). If the Philadelphia
information is correct, then it is a much more significant breakthrough
as it equivalent to a sub-2:20 marathon time.
[2] More likely, this is a problem of missing data entry.
An elite runner probably entered at the last minute, and not
all the personal information was obtained. The typical
defaults for missing data are blank (which causes a problem
in sorting), or zero (which also causes a problem in sorting),
or the largest two-digit number (99).
[3] Of course, it is also possible for the information
to be wrong in the other direction! The person can in
fact be older than 99 years, but his age was rounded down because
the data entry system permits only two digits. The
Philadelphia race result database shows eleven people with age
99 and the next oldest person was 'only' 83 years old.
The second hypothesis is therefore the most likely one.
The name of the runner is Mostafa Damaoui, and there
is someone with that name whose 2002 Rock And Roll Marathon
biography listed him at age 30 with this resumé: "Winner
of the 2000 Canadian International Marathon in Toronto in 2:15:17,
Damaoui ran 14th at the 1999 IAAF World Championships in Seville,
Spain. A powerful runner, he recently finished a strong 3rd
at the 2nd Country Music Marathon in Nashville. In 2001
he won the silver medal at the Francophone Games Marathon in
Vancouver in July, then silver again at the Mediterranean Championships
Marathon in September. He lives in Rabat."
Yes, this was a nice little research project ..
-
DROPPING
LOGOS [9/17/02] A
New York Times article
talks about the recent trends in which brands names have
disappeared from the products along the Gold Coast on Madison
Avenue. Chanel products no longer have the CC's, Gucci
products no longer have the G's, Louis Vuitton's products no
longer have the LV's and so on. The reasons range from
"a backlash against conspicuous consumption to a return
to individuality in fashion, from the erosion of brand names
through cheap knockoffs to, as some suggest, a reaction to last
year's terrorist attacks." Is this the end of the
brand logos?
Meanwhile, a letter to the editor in the October issue of Fast
Company read: "NIKE: ONE SIZE DOES FIT ALL: Oh
my goodness! Not again. When will companies actually
ask us women what we want? I don't see here anything different
in Nike's new stance (August 2002 issue). It still sounds
like agreessive marketing at me, not true customer service.
I work in an all-woman organization, and those of us who are
willing to pay more than $80 for a pair of sport shoes predominantly
wear New Balance. Why? I guarantee you that it's
not because those shoes coordinate with our outfits or because
the retail outlet has fresh-cut flowers. It's because
the sneakers come in multiple widths, half-sizes, and neutral
colors, and they are sold in stores where the staff members
have real skills and actually listen to what we say we need.
Yo, Nike: Head's up! What women really want is service,
selection, and performance." Is this the end of the
brand known as Nike and the logo identified as the swoosh?
But before we wrote Nike off, we opened up the latest East
Bay catalog to see what is happening. The new
Nike Zook Waffle iD spikes are customizable --- you choose
your plate and then, you choose the colors of your shoe lace,
embroidery, mesh upper, rand, swoosh and personal ID colors
from any of 14 different choices. (Note: That personal
ID should be immensely helpful when you need to figure whose
shoes you have just taken home by mistake). Did someone
say individuality? Meanwhile, we also saw that the Nike
road running shoes (such as the Nike Air Pegasus 2002)
are now being offered in NARROW and WIDE sizes. Did someone
say selection and performance? So Nike would seem to be
very much in the running ...
Post-script: Marty Levine
tells us to 'get with it':
"(1) I was wearing the customized NIKES in January at the
Armory. Caveat emptor: I was given misinformation bt Nike
customer service and the spikes wound up being 1.5 sizes too
big. This second humongous pair is now floating around
somewhere in Arusha with the letters MD Levine stitched
into the side.
(2) Bola Awofeso now proudly sports the blue-and-orange
spikes with CPTC NYC stitched into the side."
-
NEW
HAVEN 20K PHOTO [9/17/02] This fast-woman.com
photo shows our once teammate Erica Merrill with rippling
leg muscles, with our current teammate Patrick Cowden
behind her.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 10-SEPTEMBER
16, 2002
-
US WOMEN RULE [9/16/02]
Mary Spera reminds us of this pieces of sport news from
the other side of the globe. Whereas the male NBA Dream
Team millionaires bowed out ignominiously at the World Basketball
Championship in Indianapolis, the WNBA women are still full
of zest and passion. In faraway China, the U.S. women
rolled through the first three games of the World Basketball
Championship by wide margins (89-55 vs. Russia, 89-39 vs. China
(Taipei) and 105-48 vs. Lithuania). In the second round,
they will face Cuba, South Korea and France. Their most
formidable challenge will probably come from Brazil, which has
seven WNBA players.
-
RAT POISON IN FOOD
[9/16/02] The big news
item in China right now is about the death of several
hundred people (plus numerous others being hospitalized) in
the Chinese city of Nanjing after they ate at a restaurant.
Rat poison was believed to be the cause, especially since the
people began keeling over moments after they ingested the food.
Here is the Chinese-language report in which it was confirmed
that a powerful rat poison was used.
There exists an urban legend in China that there are restaurants
which serve not rat poison, but poppy-based derivatives in their
food. Like opium-smokers and heroin-users, the restaurant
patrons develop withdrawal symptoms unless they get their regular
daily meal of noodles at the restaurant. This is a lurid
story, but it is hard to determine whether it is true since
poppy-derivatives are usually inhaled or injected and not ingested.
As well, it seems a heavy financial investment just to get someone
to buy some noodles.
-
GOOD LOSERS & BAD WINNERS
[9/16/02] We were reading our hometown newspaper and found
this article
about how soccer kids (and, more importantly, their parents)
learn to adjust to the experience of a losing season.
Now the Central Park Track Club is almost 30 years old.
During this time, we have great winning seasons and we have
also had some years when ... euphemistically ... things were
not as great. To endure, we have to be prepared to accept
those losing years with grace and humor.
Or, at least that was the party line that we have always paraded.
But we will now confess that we were bad winners once upon a
time. A long time ago, before we ever bought a pair of
running shoes, we played soccer, from elementary school through
college. Some years after college, we entered into a local
soccer tournament in Chinatown. We had not played soccer
in a couple of years and were terribly out of shape. But
since someone else was paying for the trip, our thoughts were
more on the meal than the soccer. So we got out there
and played against a group of young and fit professional-looking
players who had us pinned in our half of the field for almost
the entire game. Some time before half time, a diagonal
cross-field pass freed our right winger into the open.
Their goalie made a terrible mistake by coming out to meet the
ball and before anyone knew, we were ahead by a goal.
For the second half, we played a totally defensive, time-wasting
game We just kept banging the ball out of play.
We were not in good condition, but our experience allowed us
to play the stall perfectly. We also talked a lot of trash
that day. When the final whistle blew, there was no friendly
handshake. Instead, there was a big rumble. That
was also the last soccer game that we ever played in.
The moral of the lesson --- grace! You win as well as
lose graciously ...
Meanwhile, Fritz Mueller effectively undermined this
moral lesson with , "A good loser is still a loser!"
with the implied contrapositive corollary "A bad winner
is still a winner!"
-
MARK TWAIN WAS THERE FIRST
[9/16/2002] Speaking of Mark Twain, he wrote
in The
Mysterious Stranger: "There has never been a just
one, never an honorable one -- on the part of the instigator
of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will
never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The
loud little handful--as usual--will shout for the war. The pulpit
will--warily and cautiously--object--at first; the great, big,
dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to
make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly
and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is
no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. A
few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against
the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing
and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will
outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin
out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious
thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech
strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts
are still at one with those stoned speakers--as earlier--but
do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation--pulpit and
all--will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and
mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently
such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent
cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked,
and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities,
and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations
of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the
war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys
after this process of grotesque self-deception." (Chapter
9)
Actually, James Madison got there even
before he did in The
Federalist Papers: "If it be true that all
governments rest on opinion, it is no less true that the strength
of opinion in each individual, and its practical influence on
his conduct, depend much on the number which he supposes to
have entertained the same opinion. The reason of man, like man
himself is timid and cautious, when left alone; and acquires
firmness and confidence, in proportion to the number with which
it is associated."
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann got there later in The Spiral
of Silence, now framed in the language of political science:
The Spiral of Silence is a model of why people
are unwilling to publicly express their opinions when they believe
they are in the minority. The model is based on three premises:
- people have a "quasi-statistical organ,"
a sixth-sense if you will, which allows them to know the prevailing
public opinion, even without access to polls,
- people have a fear of isolation and know
what behaviors will increase their likelihood of being socially
isolated, and
- people are reticent to express their minority
views, primarily out of fear of being isolated.
The closer a person believes the opinion held
is similar to the prevailing public opinion, the more they are
willing to openly disclose that opinion in public. Then, if
public sentiment changes, the person will recognize that the
opinion is less in favor and will be less willing to express
that opinion publicly. As the perceived distance between
public opinion and a person's personal opinion grows, the more
unlikely the person is to express their opinion.
-
THE TRIPLE [9/14/2002]
We may be encouraging bad and risky behavior when we point out
that it is theoretically possible to do a triple next Sunday
(9/22):
7:30am (rain or shine): New York City Biathlon, Central Park
10:00am: Race to Deliver (4 miles), Central Park
11:30am: Fred Lebow Cross-Country 5K, Van Cortlandt Park
Among other feats, Tesfaye Bekele was famous for having
won the Race To Deliver-Cross Country 5K double.
We do not know if anyone has ever attempted the triple.
-
ENGLISH III HONORS
[9/14/2002] Here are the teacher's instructions for this
course at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona:
"The person who will not
read is no better off than the person who cannot."
Mark Twain
DESCRIPTION:
English III H is an honors
class in reading, writing, and thinking, using American literature
as its glue. This class is designed to prepare you for
English IV AP. If you are not planning to take AP next
year, you are still expected to fulfill all the requirements
and expectations of this course.
I am aware of my reputation,
and I have no doubt that some of you have been told to get out
of this class immediately. If you choose to follow this
advice, I wish you the best. For those who choose to stay,
you will be rewarded.
CAVEAT 1:
I promise that I will
do everything possible to make this class stimulating and challenging.
Those of you who know me also know that I will push you to excel,
because I believe you are capable and are entitled to nothing
less. Please understand that your GPA is not my first
priority. I believe that if you become a more critical
reader, a more sophisticated thinker, and a clearer and more
insightful writer, then this class will be a good experience
regardless of your grade. I hope you agree.
CAVEAT 2:
My role is facilitator
as much as teacher. I want to learn as well as to teach.
I assume that you will often be far more insightful than I.
Please do not be afraid to say 'Prather, you're missing the
point' or 'Prather, I disagree with your position.' However,
'Hey idiot, your ignorance is embarrassing to the teaching profession'
is probably a bit harsh. Also, this class will often entail
you doing things that have traditionally been the teacher's
job. I expect you to stand on your own, to think for yourself,
and to self-evaluate, all of which you will have ample opportunity
to do in this class and all of which are critical to success
in English IV AP and, ultimately, in life.
OBJECTIVES:
The student will:
- read insightfully, with a
critical and analytical focus
- engage in intelligent discussion
through active listening and participation
- identify and describe literary
elements and techniques used by our authors
- organize, create, and edit
effective essays
- organize, compose, and critique
in-class timed writings
- communicate with clarity,
style and eloquence in both the spoken and written word
- go beyond the obvious
- accept constructive criticism
in the spirit in which it is intended
- be open-minded and respectful
of the opinions and ideas of others
- cultivate a sense of teamwork
and shared responsibility
- demonstrate a sense of personal
and academic responsibility
- be respectful of the opinions
and ideas of others
- be respectful of yourself,
and of the talents and opportunities with which you are blessed
COURSE OUTLINE AND
MAJOR READINGS:
1) Persuasion/Early America
- Sinners
in the Hands of an Angry God
- The
Crucible
- Declaration
of Independence
- Revolutionary
speeches and essays
- Fall
DAP Persuasion
2) Learning about Ourselves/Romanticism
& Transcendentalism
- Tales
by Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville
- Poetry
by Whitman, Dickinson, and Longfellow
- Self-Reliance
- Walden
-
Civil Disobedience
3) Inhumanity of Man/The Civil
War
- Excerpt
from The Red Badge of Courage
- Short
stories by Ambrose Bierce
- Poetry
of the Civil War
- The
slave experience (Fredrick Douglass and others)
4) Regional Literature, American
Humor and Satire
- Humorous
devices
- Regional
humor
- Satirical
techniques
- The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
5) American Realism / The Jazz
Age and the Great Depression
- Poetry
and Prose from the Harlem Renaissance
- The
Great Gatsby
- The
Old Man and the Sea
- Selections
from The Grapes of Wrath
- The
Wasteland
- Spring
DAP Literary analysis
6) America Today/Modern American
Literature
- Twelve
Angry Men
- Death
of a Salesman
- A
Raisin in the Sun
- Novel
projects (novels TBA)
- Multi-cultural
literature
CLASS PROCEDURES:
GRADES
Grades will be based
upon total points, including the writing process, exams, quizzes
on readings, projects, homework and in-class assignments.
There will be very little busy work. Everything in this
class has a purpose.
Grading scale: A = 100%-90% B
= 89%-80% C = 79%-70% D = 69%-60% F = 59% or
less
Grades will not be rounded
up.
SUMMER READING
Not completing the summer
reading and journal requirements will result in a recommendation
that the student be dropped from English III H and placed
into a regular-level English III class. However, as
space in regular English III may not exist, the student may
be required to remain in English III H with a substantial
score of 0 from the summer reading.
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