Evolution of a Gooner Fan

Back in my youth, South San Francisco aka South City was full of soccer-kids, jr high and high school soccer was popular. It was taught in PE. And yet, it was like being in a cult-there was no soccer on tv, not even the World Cup, no magazines available locally and the newspapers had very little to offer. The only soccer news we could get was from the month old copies of World Soccer magazine that passed around and coveted. "Just who is this George Best guy anyway?" But, we played. Through school, some pick up games while in the Navy and on some club teams with my mates from Scotland on Sundays while in College. Then came the revolution.

At first, it was just PBS that would show games from Germany or England. Then ESPN was born and all of a sudden, you could watch English League games or even college games. So, I would watch and read the papers. During this time, when my daughters were young, I played defense for a team that consisted of Iranians and me. To say I got an education into Iranian culture is an understatement. Appearing as ordered for a 7:30 practice, I would run laps until 8:30 or 9 when the team would show up, the manager announcing that we had a game at 10. To say my wife, who was at home with two toddlers was not happy would also be an understatement. So ended my playing days on an organized team.

Fast forward to when one of my daughters was in London for University. She lived in North London and by default, became enamored with one Thiery Henry and thus became a casual Arsenal fan. Being a good daughter, she soon sent me some Arsenal Kit and my fandom of the Gunners was born. In the Bay Area I like to go to Maggie's Pub in North Beach to hang out with the Bay Area Gooners.

In New York, I go to the Blind Pig and watch the games with the same daughter who started all of this.

I am so blessed to be a Gooner!  

Into the breach comes Sebastian Coe

Just announced, Sebastian Coe will become the President of the IAAF, the ruling body for Track and Field athletes. His stated goal is to clean up our sport. I sincerely hope he is successful.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/20/sports/international/hard-climb-awaits-sebastian-coe-as-new-president-of-iaaf.html

My sport has always been running. Track, cross-country and more recently, trail running have been my passion since I was in the 5th grade. My first heroes were in fact runners-Jim Ryun-sub 4:00 miler in HIGH SCHOOL, Olympian and Congressman. I also admired and occasional communicate with Gerry Lindgren, the eccentric, but true "phenom" who beat the Russians as a high schooler and is one of the few Americans who beat Steve Prefontaine head to head. None of the above were ever accused of taking performance enhancing drugs.

As I got older and more educated, some would say more cynical, I was curious about the mysterious Lasse Viren and  Waldimar Cierpinski, winners of Olympic Gold medals and little else. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, documents discovered prove without a doubt that Cierpienski was using steroids, cheating Frank Shorter out of getting a 2nd Gold medal in the marathon, something he is still very bitter about.

Other scandals followed: Ben Johnson in the 1988 Games; Regina Jacobs after the 1996 Games; Marion Jones in the 2000 Games and the entire Chinese Distance Running team withdrawing from the 2000 Games for fear of being found to be EPO users. Yes, there are many others and its been a sad history of doping.

The result? Television rarely shows track and field in non-Olympic years for two reasons. First, its just not a popular sport for non-runners. The average American coach potato can't relate at all. Second, the networks and knowledgable viewers can't be sure that the winner of today's event won't be found to be a user a few weeks or months later.

Sebastian Coes mission is clear. Change the image of track from being a dirty sport to one where people can trust the results. How the 1980 Olympian does that will be as interesting as watching a duel between Jim Ryun and Marty Liquori was in the early 70's. Stay tuned track fans!

Why Tom Cruise should be a Trail Runner (if he isn't already)

Let's face it, it is a rare Tom Cruise movie where we don't see him sprinting away from danger or sprinting to jump on an airplane etc. There is even a website dedicated to showing Tom's runs. www.tomcruiserunning.tumblr.com

Still, I think Tom should become a trail runner in real life, here's why:

Privacy

Face it, we trail runners rarely run in crowds if it isn't a race. And, even in most races, you end up running large stretches by yourself. No photographers, no autographs to sign and only the animals-seen and unseen to watch you huff and puff up that steep hill.

Tom is genetically disposed to be a trail runner

For one thing, because of his being a wrestler in high school, his being a rock climber and his "ahem" short stature, Tom has great balance. Perfect for gliding up or down the technical trails. If he falls, he's less likely to be hurt because he knows how to fall.

There are trails everywhere, even in LA

There are well known trails and of course, there are the secret trails that only a select few know about. If Tom flashes his pearly whites at some folks at a running store, he's sure to get a private viewing of some choice single track.

Trail runners are very cool

We won't stare at you at the starting line. We won't laugh if you do a face plant. Hell, we'll probably help you up. And after the race, we'll hand you a beer and laugh about what happened. In short, Tom, we'll treat you like every other trail runner, a special group indeed.

So what do you say Tom, ready to lace em up?

Quick Update

Since my last post, I've had an x--ray and a MRI at my request after the MD's insisted what I had was just a badly sprained ankle. The x-ray found nothing while the MRI found that I had a cyst in the channel that lies between the bottom of the tibia and the actual ankle bone. The MD gave me a choice-take a cortisone shot which wasn't guaranteed to work or have surgery which would mean crutches for 2 weeks and another month in the "boot." I took the shot.

The MD said to take a week off. So, I took the time off, played some golf and then when it was time, took a test run. No pain during the run. The next day, I was worried that the pain would return as it had when I had tried to run the past 3 months. And wonder of wonders, no pain. So I am back to running. Most of the runs have been slow and easy. Today, I took off the training wheels and let it out a bit on a 10K run. Time was 48:00 which was 20 minutes slower than when I was in my 20's, BUT, it was still 7:45 mile pace.

The key now is to be smart and not rush into doing big mileage. But yes, I am indeed on the comeback trail.