rojo wrote:
My thoughts?
This is disgusting and what's wrong with modern society. Honestly, that's what I'm thinking now. Admittedly that's an uninformed view.
When I first saw it, I was like, "Is this a joke?"
A 1:47 guy goes pro. Why? Why wouldn't you want to go to college - it's the best 4 years of your life? Why would adidas want to sponsor a 1:47 guy?
I've never believed that the NCAA is bad for athletes whether it's football, basketball or track. College gives you reasonable goals. Now this guy can get his head beat in until he runs 1:44 and is relevant.
The only thing that makes me think this isn't the dumbest thing ever is he's got Terrence Mahon as a coach and Wetmore as an agent. I respect both of those guys. But the idea that the shoe companies need to pay people to go pro early pisses me off. I love college track. Let them be good there, develop a brand and then go pro.
And I also think 800 guys can be some of the hardest to develop. Now he's decent at xc right (just looked it up 7th fastest at PA state xc meet) so he's probably not a pure speed guy which is good. Actually, I just did some more research and he ran a 4:11 mile as a sophomore. Won Millrose mile this year. Ok, I'm feeling better than I initially was. If a pure 800 1:47 guy went pro, I'd be going crazy. I still don't like it. I just dont' think the point of modern society should be to maximize earnings and don't think we should be having guys go pro for a WNBA salary.
You're letting your emotions do the talking.
"This is disgusting and what's wrong with modern society. "
Why? Its a reason elite athletes doesn't follow the same competition schedule that NCAA athletes have. NCAA is not optimal if you wont to be a professional athlete. For those aspiring to be that, truly aspiring and showing a talent for the sport, going outside NCAA and train/compete as a professional from a younger age is better.
For most runners in college though, its the best option.
Its a reason Henrik Ingebrigtsen gave up on NCAA and Jakob never has considered it.