The Lost London column
Note: This was originally supposed to appear on CSN's weekly "Email Blast," but it was decided something about hockey would be better for the subscribers of the mailing. Since I don't really follow hockey other than to listen to Keith Jones tell me about it, hockey guy Al Morganti was chosen to pen this week's offering. I say it's a good choice. I do nuance, emotion, culture and baseball. Al has more hockey knowledge in the nail of his pinky than I will ever hope to obtain in my entire life.
I can tell some stories, though. Just ask Keith. Anyway, here it is:
Knowledge, as they say, is power. It starts revolutions, movements and empowers lives. Here at Comcast SportsNet, a little bit of knowledge is an amusing thing, because it starts good-natured arguments – some which even find the way to television.
And that’s one of the best things about working for Comcast SportsNet. Within our office on the south side of the Wachovia Center, there is someone who is an expert on something. Need to know if Fred McGriff is a Hall of Famer? Someone can break it down for you. How about the latest on the ATP tour or the European soccer leagues? Find Matt Howley and he’ll get scientific.
The intricacies of the salary cap or anything related to the NFL? Ron Burke, Lance Crawford, Derrick Gunn and Rob Kuestner are the go-to guys.
International marathon racing? Well... I guess that’s me.
See, we have it all covered.
Anyway, with the NHL playoffs and NFL draft looming, as well as the baseball season in full swing, it’s not to difficult to be unaware of what’s shaping up to be a historic (in a sports sense) day at next Sunday’s London Marathon. That’s too bad, because for as “boring” as running can seem watching on television or the Internet, this race could be full of drama from the very first stride.
Why? The runners in this year’s race are the greatest collection of athletes in one event. Of the seven men who own the top 10 fastest marathon times in history, four of them are set to go in London. Two of the runners – Kenyan Paul Tergat and American Khalid Khannouchi – have run four of the top five fastest races ever.
In addition to Tergat, the greatest cross-country runner ever and the world record holder (a mind-numbing 2:05:55 at the Berlin Marathon in 2003), and Khannouchi, the naturalized New Yorker with all of the top American records, including a claim to the title of the greatest marathoner ever based on his times (three races in the top seven), the race features Stefano Baldini, the 2004 Olympic champion, as well as Moroccan Jaouad Gharib, the World Champion in 2003 and 2005.
Kenyan Evans Rutto, who ran a 2:05:50 in Chicago in 2003, and Felix Limo, a 2:06 runner, join the field with defending London champ Martin Lel.
If this race were a boxing match, it would be like putting Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson and Gene Tunney in the ring at the same time.
That’s a pretty impressive field right there, but it wasn’t enough for the directors of the London race. Oh no. They pulled out all the stops and passed out appearance money like those guys in Vegas who hand out those leaflets on the sidewalk. The real coup de gras is Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic champion and four-time World Champion, who Disney has made movie about, and is Africa’s Michael Jordan. He's going to show up in London next Sunday.
Regarded by some as the greatest distance runner ever, Gebrselassie has run two marathons, but started 2006 by demolishing – not shattering – three world records in distances and times that predict that it will likely take another record time to beat him on the pancake-flat London course.
Home for the summer
In past years, it always seemed as if all the local teams found a way to get into the playoffs. Winning the playoffs? Well, that’s another story, but from the Flyers to the Sixers, to the Kixx, Phantoms, and Wings, the post-season was a given.
But this season, it appears as if the Phillies won’t be the only local club left out of the mix. Now that the 76ers have officially been eliminated from post-season action for the second time in the past three seasons, they join the Phantoms, Kixx, and Wings at home.
Piquing the interest away from pre-season football and the baseball season are the Flyers, who head to a probable first-round matchup against the Rangers next week.
Meanwhile, the next few weeks should be interesting for the 76ers as they decide on a plan of attack to get back the glory days. The biggest question, of course, is whether or not Allen Iverson’s future in the NBA will be in Philadelphia or somewhere else. That’s the story to keep everyone talking.
I can tell some stories, though. Just ask Keith. Anyway, here it is:
Knowledge, as they say, is power. It starts revolutions, movements and empowers lives. Here at Comcast SportsNet, a little bit of knowledge is an amusing thing, because it starts good-natured arguments – some which even find the way to television.
And that’s one of the best things about working for Comcast SportsNet. Within our office on the south side of the Wachovia Center, there is someone who is an expert on something. Need to know if Fred McGriff is a Hall of Famer? Someone can break it down for you. How about the latest on the ATP tour or the European soccer leagues? Find Matt Howley and he’ll get scientific.
The intricacies of the salary cap or anything related to the NFL? Ron Burke, Lance Crawford, Derrick Gunn and Rob Kuestner are the go-to guys.
International marathon racing? Well... I guess that’s me.
See, we have it all covered.
Anyway, with the NHL playoffs and NFL draft looming, as well as the baseball season in full swing, it’s not to difficult to be unaware of what’s shaping up to be a historic (in a sports sense) day at next Sunday’s London Marathon. That’s too bad, because for as “boring” as running can seem watching on television or the Internet, this race could be full of drama from the very first stride.
Why? The runners in this year’s race are the greatest collection of athletes in one event. Of the seven men who own the top 10 fastest marathon times in history, four of them are set to go in London. Two of the runners – Kenyan Paul Tergat and American Khalid Khannouchi – have run four of the top five fastest races ever.
In addition to Tergat, the greatest cross-country runner ever and the world record holder (a mind-numbing 2:05:55 at the Berlin Marathon in 2003), and Khannouchi, the naturalized New Yorker with all of the top American records, including a claim to the title of the greatest marathoner ever based on his times (three races in the top seven), the race features Stefano Baldini, the 2004 Olympic champion, as well as Moroccan Jaouad Gharib, the World Champion in 2003 and 2005.
Kenyan Evans Rutto, who ran a 2:05:50 in Chicago in 2003, and Felix Limo, a 2:06 runner, join the field with defending London champ Martin Lel.
If this race were a boxing match, it would be like putting Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson and Gene Tunney in the ring at the same time.
That’s a pretty impressive field right there, but it wasn’t enough for the directors of the London race. Oh no. They pulled out all the stops and passed out appearance money like those guys in Vegas who hand out those leaflets on the sidewalk. The real coup de gras is Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic champion and four-time World Champion, who Disney has made movie about, and is Africa’s Michael Jordan. He's going to show up in London next Sunday.
Regarded by some as the greatest distance runner ever, Gebrselassie has run two marathons, but started 2006 by demolishing – not shattering – three world records in distances and times that predict that it will likely take another record time to beat him on the pancake-flat London course.
Home for the summer
In past years, it always seemed as if all the local teams found a way to get into the playoffs. Winning the playoffs? Well, that’s another story, but from the Flyers to the Sixers, to the Kixx, Phantoms, and Wings, the post-season was a given.
But this season, it appears as if the Phillies won’t be the only local club left out of the mix. Now that the 76ers have officially been eliminated from post-season action for the second time in the past three seasons, they join the Phantoms, Kixx, and Wings at home.
Piquing the interest away from pre-season football and the baseball season are the Flyers, who head to a probable first-round matchup against the Rangers next week.
Meanwhile, the next few weeks should be interesting for the 76ers as they decide on a plan of attack to get back the glory days. The biggest question, of course, is whether or not Allen Iverson’s future in the NBA will be in Philadelphia or somewhere else. That’s the story to keep everyone talking.
posted by Motorboat Jones at 5:20 PM
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