AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > July > 07
Friday, July 7, 2006
Peachtree becomes too professional
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
OK, let’s try again. Maybe I didn’t go about it in good form the first time. That was a few years back and Julia Emmons took the hide off my back. Now she’s retiring and maybe her farewell shot will be only a light volley.
This time I’ve gone to The Man, he who started it all, Dr. Tim Singleton, now somewhat retired and living in Dahlonega. The Peachtree Road Race was his creation, not just to bring out the recreational runner, though all were invited to come along.
“There were,” he said, “in my own mind, some 200 hard-core runners around the South who had no event to participate in, collegiate and high school runners. There were no prizes offered. A little later we did give some of the elite runners expense money. That’s all that was allowed under AAU rules. Another year the first five finishers got little black and white TVs.
“When I began sending out notices and mentioned 10,000 meters, a lot of them scratched their heads and wanted to know how long that was. There were runners from Ireland and New Zealand in college here and some of them were among the early winners. They came running from all around the South, college kids and dedicated runners who’d had no place to go. I can’t recall when official prize money came out, but that changed it all.”
Fifty-five thousand entrants pay $28 apiece for their official runner’s number, and that’s a bunch of money, so the Atlanta Track Club, graduated to the official status of sponsor, has the money to spare. That’s not the point. What prize money has done is turn the Peachtree into two races — the professionals and the serious recreational class. Now, that leaves out the bulk of the 55,000, who are out there just to be there and run for a T-shirt. Fun people. Take a poll of the whole field and no more than 2 percent, if that many, could tell you who won.
That brings up this thought — was this a big story in the Nairobi newspaper Wednesday morning? Was there a headline screaming, “Lel Wins Peachtree Road Race”? Or in Amsterdam, proclaiming the victory of Lornah Kiplagat? Truth is, most of these participants live in the United States and their profession is running.
Another of Singleton’s strokes toward the aggrandizing of the Peachtree was when he approached Jim Kennedy of The Journal and Constitution. “I was leaving for Texas and we needed the papers’ backing, and he came through. The AJC has been the focal sponsor ever since, mainly, I guess, because he believed in the recreational theme. That really pumped some air into it,” Singleton said.
As a matter of fact, he added that the newspapers’ sponsorship actually saved the race and kept the Atlanta Track Club afloat. The AJC actually copyrighted the Peachtree Road Race name.
“Let me tell you how much it meant. After one of the first races, I hand-walked the results into the newspaper office myself and handed them to some fellow at a desk. He took a look and said, ‘Thanks,’ and as I walked out, I saw him throw it in a wastebasket,” Singleton said.
Foreign runners have professionalized an otherwise amateur event. Twelve of the first 20 finishers from Kenya? I don’t care if they’re from New Zealand, Ireland or Iceland. Is this what the Peachtree Road Race was meant to be, or should it be renamed the Kenyan Klassic?
Singleton was on the scene again, but riding this time. “I had to have some surgery done on an old knee injury,” he said. “Not many show up for the awards ceremony. They’re out there enjoying being with their own crowd, celebrating their run.”
Maybe there is no way to turn back. Maybe two separate races is an answer. Maybe removing the purse money is a bit stringent, but there must be some way to make this race on the Fourth of July a celebration of America. In at least one case, it became a celebration of life. It was a few years back and a back-of-the-pack runner from Alabama stood alone drying out. I knew him only by the number on his shirt.
“You came over from Alabama to run in this? Why?”
“To live,” he said. “I was ready to commit suicide when I heard about this race. So I drove over and started running and began to feel like living again.”
No, his name wasn’t Forrest Gump.
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The Spirit boys are out of their leagues
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The reason nobody has written a book, titled, “How to win in professional sports,” is there is no one absolute formula.
You can win with good players and an average coach. You can win with average players and a good coach.
You can win if the roster is healthy. You can win even if the roster has dangling limbs being held together with duct tape for just one more playoff series.
Players can win if they like each other. Or they can win even if they look across the locker room and think, “Dirtbag.”
You can win with a private owner. You can win with a corporate owner.
You just can’t win with a dumb owner.
Which brings us to the Hawks and the Thrashers. Their ownership group calls itself, “Atlanta Spirit.” The thinking was, it’ll look better on letterhead than, “Nice But Clueless, LLC.”
In the latest chapter of sports’ most dumbfounding, confounding and often amusing ownership group, a Maryland judge has ruled the Hawks and Thrashers can’t “initiate the purchase, sale, trade or negotiation” of any player for longer than a year, as long as the group remains fractured and paralyzed in court.
As limitations go, that’s not necessarily the worst directive you can give a general manager. There’s always, “You’re fired.”
It’s July. It’ll be three months before the Hawks and Thrashers play another game. But if this boat takes on any more water, somebody’s going to be spitting out a flounder.
“The good thing for the Thrashers is that we’ve already signed a lot of players, so this isn’t an immediate issue in front of us right now,” Thrashers general manager Don Waddell said. “But hopefully it will get worked out in a short time. If it doesn’t, it could have an affect on us on decisions down the road. If I get a call from a GM and he says, ‘I’ve got a player to trade,’ my first question now is, ‘How many years are left on his contract?’ If he says three, I have to say, ‘Don’t call me back.’ “
Ownership is trying to calm its dwindling fan base. As soon as this Steve Belkin mess is behind them, they say, things will be great.
I’m sorry. Exactly what are we basing this optimism on?
Too many people are painting this as a Good vs. Evil thing (with Belkin the one emanating brimstone). But if Belkin is the bad guy, it doesn’t mean the other guys are visionaries. And if the two sides were battling to make the playoffs, my money would not be on the team that keeps getting hammered in court.
I want to have a beer with some members of Atlanta Spirit. I just don’t want them giving me directions to the pub.
They’re all nice guys. I’m sure they’ve done something right in their professional lives because they have all this money (or used to). But for the life of me I can’t figure out how they got this far in life, given the number of missteps they’ve taken in this venture.
They formed a bad partnership. They retained bad attorneys. They have made bad assumptions about their teams, their employees and certainly about each other. If you think it has been Everybody vs. Belkin on all issues ranging from management to players, you’re deluded.
As owners go, do you look at Atlanta Spirit and think, “The Rooney Family”? Or “The Addams Family”?
Individually, maybe members of the Atlanta Spirit would be great owners. Collectively, they’re out of their leagues. The sum is LESS than the parts.
Don’t worry, they say. The Thrashers’ roster is set, they say. Goalie Kari Lehtonen is unsigned but it’s believed he can be given a multi-year deal because talks had been initiated before the judge’s ruling. The same holds true with the Hawks’ impending signing of Speedy Claxton. And, well, that Al Harrington mess: It’ll work itself out, they say. Trust us.
Try this, Sunshine Boys: About a year ago, Dany Heatley asked the Thrashers for a trade. Waddell moved him to Ottawa for Marian Hossa, who had just signed a three-year contract. Today, that deal wouldn’t be possible.
That was in the summer. What happens during playoff drives (hoped for) before the trading deadline?
Even if the non-Belkins somehow prevail in this matter, they’ve done little to make you feel good about things. It was only in court records that we learned they quietly added a year to Waddell’s contract. The deal had a year left. He’s still looking to make the playoffs. How do you suppose that went over in Billy Knight’s office? And if it’s something to celebrate, why keep it a secret?
There are a lot of ways to win. This isn’t one of them.
Permalink | Comments (41) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
