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Greene, USATF feud is senseless
EUGENE, Ore. -- It's no secret that the sport of track and field continues to fight doggedly for its place in the crowded sports landscape. It is not always a losing battle: TV ratings are passable, Marion Jones is a genuine celebrity by any measure, and young runners like Alan Webb and Dathan Ritzenhein hold exceptional promise for the future in a place where Americans have long struggled. It ain't the NFL, but track breathes. Then there is a day like Thursday, here at the USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The recipe was simple enough: A setting (Hayward Field) where fans worship the sport and a race involving the world's fastest human, Maurice Greene, who, except for one unfortunate moment following the Olympic 4x100-meter relay in Sydney, has been genuinely popular, accessible and usually dedicated to soldiering on in support of the game. All this, and the moment was badly botched. Capsule version: In midafternoon sunlight, Greene won a first-round heat of the 100 meters in 9.90 seconds, the fastest wind-legal 100 in Hayward history. It was a typically efficient performance. But here's where it gets ugly. Greene won't be in Friday's semifinal or final. He ran the first round only to satisfy USATF's mandate that any athlete wishing to compete in the world championships in Edmonton this August must compete in the nationals, even if that athlete has a wild card into the worlds as a defending champion. (Greene is the defending champion in both the 100 and 200 meters.) At the urging of his coach, John Smith, and manager, Emanuel Hudson, Greene opted to pull out of this meet to protest the USATF mandate. There's plenty of blame to go around. The USATF's rule is idiotic, designed to guarantee attendance at the nationals by its biggest stars but serving only to remove the benefit of winning a world title and to create tension between a hoary bureaucracy and the athletes. "What's the use of a wild card if USATF won't let you use it?" says Hudson. Even USATF CEO Craig Masback allowed Thursday that the rule might be "outmoded." In fact, it was probably designed for athletes from a previous generation ( Carl Lewis comes to mind). But Greene would have run all three rounds of the 100 if he hadn't been forced to. His HSI club scheduled a clinic in Eugene months before the meet, fully intending for Greene to compete. But by running one round and leaving, Greene punishes the fans who bought tickets to see him run -- and try to win a national title -- on Friday, and does nothing to help his own reputation. HSI's childish solution is no better than USATF's mandate. Best case: USATF makes an exception for athletes like Greene, who have served the sport selflessly in the past. Second best: Greene and HSI swallow hard and just run. Collect later on the debt. When Greene doesn't show up to run Friday, it will be a deflating moment. "I know people will be disappointed, and I feel bad about that," Greene said Thursday. "I did what I had to do by running one round." It's a difficult moment for Greene. Had the decision been his alone, he would have run all three rounds of the 100. "Of course," he said. As it is, he left with ice on his left knee, which has been nagged by tendinitis. "My body could use some rest," he said. However, he will run at the Golden Gala meet in Rome next Friday. On Thursday afternoon, he crossed the finish line and heard one throaty fan booing him, anticipating his withdrawal from the meet. An hour after the race, Greene ascended into the stands with a handful of posters and pictures for autographing. The first one went to the fan who booed him. "That's the classiest thing I've ever seen," said the man. Greene spent half an hour signing and talking and posing for pictures. He'll do the same thing Friday. "Just to show there's no hard feelings," he said. It's a nice gesture, but they'd rather see him run. Webb continues to earn praiseOnce again, Webb chewed the scenery. Logjammed in the backstretch of the last lap of a slow 1,500-meter semifinal, Webb clawed his way outside and scorched the final 200 meters in 25 seconds to win the heat and advance to Saturday afternoon's final. "You can bet he learned a lot," said Webb's coach, Scott Raczko. His opponents learned that they don't want to be trumped by a high school runner. Gabe Jennings, a fourth-year junior at Stanford who won the Olympic Trials in this event last year, said, "I don't want to lose to a high school kid. It's a matter of pride. If you're a pro -- even though I'm a collegian, I'm a pro -- and you lose to a high school kid, that's a shame. Alan did a phenomenal job in the last 200 [Thursday]. Very impressive for a high school kid. I consider him my biggest contender. But I'm still going to beat him." Seneca Lassiter, the 24-year-old former Arkansas runner who has been fighting knee tendinitis, was impressed with Webb's semifinal. "He got pushed around a lot, in the pack, getting elbowed, he's not used to that in high school," said Lassiter. "But he's going to get that from now on." Lassiter said he isn't running for pride against the Kid. "It's bigger than that," he said. "He's not a high school runner, he's a grown man, just like me. He looks more developed than me, and I'm 24 years old." Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden covers track and field for the
magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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