Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Fantasy Track!


Most of you might already be aware of this, but the fossils wise elders over at USATF are actually doing something specifically geared toward track fans. This might be Visa's idea (in fact I'm sure it is) but USATF, in their infinite generosity, actually allowed it!

Track fans can now play fantasy track in a way similiar (but very different) to fantasy football or baseball. They also ran this for indoor, apparently. I wasn't informed. While the Visa Championship Series fantasy track is still in its most basic stage, meaning it is not nearly as "in-depth" and "fun" as your typical fantasy sports league, I like the idea a lot.



You can pick your team here. It's FREE! And you might win stuff too, but that's not the point really, now is it?

As it works now, you simply pick who you think will win in each event, men's and women's, at the next Visa championship series meet (Adidas Track Classic is this Sunday). After you pick your team, throw your team name and/or picks in the comments section below and we'll see who knows best (hint: According to many women, I'm great at "living in a fantasy world, you idiot" so I'm thinking this might be the perfect game for me).

It would be great if they ranked athletes (say 1-10 points, 10 being the top ranked in each event) and you could only use so many points to choose your team (say 75). Clearly, they are trying to make this as basic as possible so that they can get as many people to play as possible. Not a bad thing, I suppose.

Without further ado, my picks:

Team Name: LessThanOurBest.com (free pub aimed at anyone who looks toward the bottom of the leader board)

Men's Events
100m - Walace Spearmon (Gay is entered in 200m too, so I figure he'll scratch the 100)
200m - Tyson Gay
400m - Jeremy Wariner
800m - David Krummenaker (haven't decided yet if they accidentally put up a starting list from 2004)
1500m - Bernard Lagat
3000m - Jorge Torres
5000m - Markos Geneti
110m hurdles - Allen Johnson
400m hurdles - Bershawn Jackson (Bershawn is a great name isn't it)
Shot Put - Adam Nelson

Women's Events
100m - Lauryn Williams
200m - Allyson Felix
400m - Dee Dee Trotter
800m - Alice Schmidt
1500m - Shannon Rowbury (the mac of the minute right now)
3000m - Kara Goucher
100m hurdles - LoLo Jones
High Jump - Amy Acuff (hellooooo playboy)
Pole Vault - Jenn Stuczynski (she's Russian right? they always win the women's pole vault)

**Overall a pretty conservative list. Allen Johnson and Amy Acuff could be considered two lazy picks as they might be "old" (but they both had good seasons last year). Krummenacker is risky too, of course. But I really want Krummenacker to make a comeback, so that counts for something right? (no, it doesn't).

11 comments:

katie said...

Alright, I'll throw this out there, to have my picks (and therefore, ego) torn apart by all the half-rabid (is that possible?) LTOB die-hards out there. Team name: Four Toes .

Jeremy said...

The site isn't letting me check against other picks yet, but based on your team name, I'm just going to assume that you'll end up a little below average. But after the meet once the scores are up, if we beat you, we'll be sure to come back on here and mock you. If you beat us, we'll be sure to come back on here and make excuses.

As for me, I picked Destinee Hooker in the High Jump because... how could I not?

J-Bird said...

My picks are in. I'll post them sometime, but not right now. I did this for the indoor season. I was in the top 60 but never won any of the weekly prizes.

Anonymous said...

Team Optimal Training:

Men's Events
100m - Darvis Patton (Darvis is almost as good a name as Bershawn)
200m - Tyson Gay
400m - Jeremy Wariner
800m - Sam Burley
1500m - Nick Willis
3000m - Jonathan Riley
5000m - Ali Abdosh
110m hurdles - Terrence Trammell
400m hurdles - Bershawn Jackson
Shot Put - Christian Cantwell

Women's Events
100m - Lisa Barber (I hope I picked the right twin!)
200m - Allyson Felix
400m - Monique Henderson
800m - Diane Cummins
1500m - Christin Wurth-Thomas
3000m - Jen Rhines
100m hurdles - LoLo Jones
High Jump - Chaunte Howard
Pole Vault - Jenn Stuczynski

Since I saw your team first, and because I prefer to go big or go home, I was a little less conservative. But just a little.

Jeremy said...

My picks: "Giving Less"

And because we like fair play, I'd call your attention to the fact that competitors have been added to the Men's 800, LoLo Jones apparently will not contest the 100h, and Discus Throw and Long Jump competitions have been added.

Adjust accordingly: I may not be so magnanimous next time...

Anonymous said...

My team is called "predicted winners." Isn't that a creative name?

Anonymous said...

Very magnanimous of you. I was actually coming here to tell you about LoLo Jones. Looks like I was a bit late...but I have updated my team:

Women's 100h: Jenny Adams (gorgeous...form)
Women's LJ: Akiba McKinney (the Bershawn of the ladies meet)
Discus: John Godina (still a beast)

J-Bird said...

My team is Sulphur Springs.

Andrew said...

Team:
Running Down a Dream

Anonymous said...

I see you caught me in the act this morning, collusively collaborating with my colleague in cooperation, LoLo. Well, you've no one but yourself to blame. It wouldn't have come to this had you just given your best.

How could I ever handle the defeat if you beat me when I knew you were giving no less than less than your best?

Chad said...

My team name is Simon Says