Assault Charge Brought Against Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius -- aka The Blade Runner -- has been accused of assaulting a young woman attending a party thrown by the South African athlete. (Pistorius claims the 19-year-old woman injured herself by kicking a door.) If the accusations prove to be true, I can only hope things didn't go down like this:

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Best Spike Ever?

Bernard Lagat's spikes made (one presumes) specially for him by Nike at the 2009 World Championships. Via @Lagat1500.




NAILED IT!

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If You Want to Run Fast and Jump Over Stuff Good, Come to Ohio

There are eighteen spots on the US National Team in events that involve hurdling. This past weekend, four of the spots on the Berlin 2009 team went to athletes whose formative years -- HS and/or college -- were spent in the great state of Ohio. Olympic Silver Medalist David Payne won the 110H, while Bridget Franek took third in the Women's Steeplechase. On the men's side, Josh McAdams and Dan Huling went 1-2. If there was an Old Timey Equestrian Steeplechase, I'm sure horses from Ohio would have cleaned up as well.

Other Top Three finishes were collected by Jessica Beard (3rd, 400m); Angela Bizzarri (3rd, 5000m); Katie McGregor (3rd, 10000m); AG Kruger (1st, Hammer); Dan Taylor (2nd, Shot); and, Kim Kreiner (3rd, Javelin), thus proving once again that Ohio is better than everyone else at everything.

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More "Boston Prep" Saucony Videos...

More Boston-themed tomfoolery from the KIMbia guys, after the jump...

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LTOB-Spawned Web Promos Dropping on Saucony.com, KIMbia.net

Hey, so guess what: we have been involved in a series of web videos produced in conjunction with Saucony and KIMbia Athletics, detailing the KIMbia guys' preparations for Boston -- which, if you didn't know, is this Monday. The videos are posting to KIMbia.net each day between now and Monday, and should drop as a block on the Saucony site sometime tomorrow. (Hint: if you're torn, go to the Saucony site so they think "Oh wow, a lot of people are coming to look at these videos. We should give these guys more money to make more videos for us!") Video #1 after the jump.

Think of that first video as the 30-second iTunes preview of your favorite James Blunt song: it's just a taste. So, don't forget to check out Saucony.com (or KIMbia.net) for the rest of the videos!

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Who Needs a Chuckle?

Promise there'll be new stuff going up here in the near future, but for now, I think my partner in eleemosynary crime deserves a little hat-tip for yesterday's entry in The Meat Grinder, over at Track ala Shark.com -- it's staggeringly good and you can read it here.

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Welcome to the Meat Grinder

Apparently there is this thing called NCAA Cross Country going on. Funny how it -- and anything else that happened post-Olympics -- seemed to have slipped under our radar. Especially given that it. Is. Awesome. I defy you to find a more thrilling race than NCAAs, with individual and team honors to be won and 200+ people on one starting line to duke it out. It's like Braveheart meets Any Given Sunday meets Rocky meets Rambo meets Must Love Dogs. (Only a dash of the last one, though.)

Which, all in all, really makes it inexcusable that there's been nothing written here on that, the greatest of all sports. Literally, there are no excuses. Except for the fact that Ben actually HAS been writing about this cross season religiously -- just, as an interloper.

Yes, ladies and germs, Trackshark has been exploiting ben's word-smithry like a lonely high school kid and his slightly heavy (read as: grateful) but still respectable (read as: cute face) female friend. Which is to say, everybody's pretty much OK with the situation -- at least until a better offer comes along for either. Check out previous editions of his column -- called The Meat Grinder -- for an Introduction, Season Preview, Team Rankings - 1st Ed., Individual Rankings - 1st Ed., 1st Week Preview (Iona) and Recap, 2nd Week Preview (Griak) and Recap, and most recently, 3rd Week Preview (Notre Dame).

So once you've caught up, bookmark it here:

http://trackshark.com/features/ben/

It's tres bien. And I'm not just saying that because he bought me ice cream. That treat was just because he's a good friend. And heck -- while we're at it, I've tried to be not completely worthless to running fans the past few weeks, hitting up the 5th Ave Mile with Chris Lukezic and Chris Solinsky.

Ok, now that I look at those, yeah I was pretty worthless.

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Kara Goucher's Comin' to Town

News released today that one half of LTOB's favorite(-to-write-about) running couple will be gracing the city of New York with her lovably bubbly footfalls. Kara Goucher is running the NYC marathon.

No word yet as to where Kara will be staying in the days leading up to the race, but my new apartment in Brooklyn has a very spacious 7 square feet available, perfect size for an air mattress (air mattress not provided).

Kara moving up in distance for this fall's NYC marathon makes perfect sense since: One, she's mentioned it numerous times before. Two, she ran a fast half marathon last year. And, three, Mary Wittenberg Gets. What. She. Wants. Period. And she wanted Goucher.

Goucher is by far the most marketable American distance runner right now. She is like the 1986 Michael Jackson of distance running. And Wittenberg got her!

It's only a matter of time before Wittenberg gets her hands on running's Golden Boy, Usain Bolt, too. That would be like the 80's Don King and Mike Tyson of the 2008 running world. If you got all three of them together, that would be one crazy trio wouldn't it...

I finally got to use this picture! Cha-CHING!

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Appointment Viewing If There Ever Was Some

Belgium: most overrated of all European nations? Until recently, I would have voted a strong Yes. Tulips? Chocolate? You can get those items at your local supermarket. (Availability of the girl pictured to the left depends on the job market where you live.)

If we're rating international flavor, let's talk exotic hand-woven rugs made entirely of harvested moth fur (Sri Lanka) or delicious potato jelly (Ireland) or prostitutes who do this thing where they dislocate their hips (also Ireland) and, in some locales, proceed to smear delicious potato jelly all over their bodies (that last detail is unique to Rhodesia, believe it or not).

But now, Belgium totally redeems itself by serving up a steamy, swiltering scoop of sprinting. Friday. Bolt. Powell. Gay.

That shit's on ESPN Classic (delayed 11pm) and ESPN2 (totally delayed, Sunday at 3:30pm), which is pretty significant for a post-Olympics Golden League Meet, and, I think, goes to show what a splash the Lightning Bolt made in Beijing. For diehards, though (meaning, virtually anyone reading this) you can watch the meet live here.

(NB: Gay is already making hamstring-related excuses so don't be shocked if Gay pulls out. But that'd still leave 9.69 and 9.72 going head to head -- not to mention TravPadge and Churandy Martina.)

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Live Blog Beer Bash: Olympic Marathon

****This is a spoiler free live blog. We are (grudgingly) waiting for the NBC broadcast of already completed events such as the men's 5000 and women's 1500. So if you know what happens, DON'T TELL ANYONE. DUMB JERK!

Enjoy the shenanigans below and don't be afraid to chime in if you have an insightful comment or a fart joke. Starts promptly at 7ish pm EST****

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On the Disappearance of the NBC Sidebar

We have standards here. They are low. But they are there.

The real-time results were not much fun for those tape-delay watchers among us. The red trim totally clashed with the rest of our layout. But those were the less egregious of the trespasses. Lookie here:









OK, look closer.








Are you serious? There are some places even we won't go.

But: to see how low we will go, tune in to our live blog tonight.

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Hungry? Have a Live Blog

Yeah, I know we're pimping this LIVE BLOG BEER BASH pretty hard. But, that's just how we do things around here: All out. Win or go home. Balls to the wall. Another sports buzz phrase. 110%.

In addition to the marathon, it looks like NBC will be cramming a number of other tape-delayed, spliced up, poorly commentated track finals into the broadcast, including the women's 1500 and the men's 5000. Two events that, as I'm sure you know, have HUGE potential for American flag waving (Jeremy says he's not going to look at results, I won't be able to help myself. I never can.).

We'll be here discussing the races, sharing libations, playing truth or dare, and otherwise doing things my Grandma should never ever ever know about. Join us!

So let this be your last reminder. Tomorrow night is going to be totally rad and I'm super excited. How excited? This excited:




That's right Zack! I "really are taking drugs." Caffeinated drugs. Since Wednesday. You should be too.

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IT'S THE END OF DAYS

Maybe you missed the memo, but US track and field is scheduled to be disbanded sometime in the next day or two. After drops in the 4 x 100m, it's all doom and gloom, from all sides. But basically, what it comes down to is this: the big-name American favorites who were getting their balls fondled by the USATF, NBC and domestic media, didn't produce. If the shot-putters go 1-2-3 (or probably, even 1-2 or 1-3), and if Tyson Gay doesn't get hurt and gets two silvers behind WR times... are we wailing and gnashing our teeth? Bear in mind, that's a royal "we" because ben and I certainly are doing neither of the above. At least not for track-related reasons.

Let's review:

-- sweep in the Men's 400H
-- sweep in the Men's 400
-- 2-3 in Men's 110H, behind the WR holder
-- gold in the Women's 110H (nearly 1-2)
-- surprise gold in the Women's Discus
-- bronze in Women's 10,000, behind the (essentially) #1 and #2 10k performances, all-time
-- 3-4-5 in the Men's 200 (essentially), behind the WR holder
-- silver in the Women's pole vault, behind the WR holder

But OH GOD! We lost to a freak of nature in the 100 & 200 with our best runner coming back from injury! We didn't win the 4 x 100s! Well, here's a little truth-bomb that I'm borrowing from ben's caché: the US men haven't won the 4 x 100m in consecutive Olympics since 1976, and the women haven't won it period since 1996. So it's not exactly like we've had a stranglehold on the event. Should we win the 4 x 100 most years? With our depth, Yes. Absolutely. Does losing it this year perhaps bespeak some laziness or a lack of preparation, especially when it feels like we always blow it in the Olympics? Sure.

But choking in the 4 x 1 hardly indicates that our athletes are no longer top notch, since that particular gold medal has never been a given, even in our best years. To wit: in 2004 we were talking about Athens being our most dominating showing in athletics, ever, despite getting beaten by Britain (men) and -- gasp! -- Jamaica (women) in the 400m relay. This time around, a couple key athletes falter individually -- while other unknowns step-up, mind you -- and we lose THE SAME RELAYS WE LOST IN GREECE and suddenly we're in the shitter. Right.

We've got women medaling in distance races. In the short stuff, we were beaten by world record holders in Bolt and Robles. If ANYTHING should be a cause for concern, its that we got totally housed in the Women's 100m, and had no one in the 800 or 1500 finals, on the men's side. But the latter is a product of a brutal Trials system which saw top talent in each event (Webb and Khadevis) get left at home. And the former, well, shit. Sometimes it just happens. Since 1992, US Women have won exactly FOUR of a possible 15 medals in the 100m, just two of them gold. Not like we've been laying waste to the rest of the world.

Why the sudden consternation? Because, after great showings at Worlds, Tyson Gay and Allyson Felix and Reese Hoffa and Jeremy Wariner have been getting pimped around for months now, and in Beijing they have 3 medals between them, none gold. (Felix & Wariner should each pick one up yet, in the 4 x 400s.) Statistically, this has been a pretty darn good showing, overall, for the American team, so don't blame the athletes. It just feels like a let-down. And for that, blame the marketing people at NBC, at the USATF, at Visa, at Nike, at adidas.

Guess what: surprises are what makes the Olympics the Olympics. One shot. Sometimes it doesn't work out.

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Win Free Stuff

We dropped the ball by not having any sort of contest for the Olympics, so here -- we'll piggyback off of someone else's contest (again).

If you do the Facebook -- and I know you do -- you can join the group set up for the chasingBOLT video project, and, once you're in (like buttah) you can send Usain some well-wishes via photo message. The best messages will win special, Limited Edition Gold Medal/WR T-shirts, which will be sweet. I have full confidence of this, because Ben suffered the ignominy of getting caught wearing the shirt Puma made after Bolt's 9.72, whole HOURS after it was rendered obsolete by that 9.69 clocking -- and that design was the balls.

And meantime, take a look at some of the other existing submissions. If you can't beat them, you ain't trying. In fact, whoever can come up with the best re-captioning/Photoshop-job of someone else's entry, we'll give you something for nothing. Something mysterious. Something cool. Something that's cool because it's mysterious.

Hey - looks like we officially have a contest, after all.

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We Got A Live Blog

Unlike NBC, LTOB is really excited to bring some LIVE action to our viewer(s) this weekend. This Saturday, we invite you to sit down with us and our LIVE BLOG BEER BASH and enjoy all that is the Olympic Men's Marathon.

We can be together for all the highs (Ryan Hall winning Gold) and the lows (NBC identifying Martin Lel as Rashid Ramzi), for all the cheers and the jeers, the laughter and the tears (so what, I cry every Saturday night when I'm drunk and texting my ex-girlfriend begging her to give me another chance, sue me!). It will be a time to get pumped for the marathon together and to look back on the Olympics as a whole. But most of all, it will be a time to make fun of as much crap as possible.

So join us, we'll be cracking open our first Budweiser tall boy at 7pm EST sharp on Saturday night and we promise we won't pass out or leave to "go get some chicks" at the bar like your other friends. At least not until I gather the courage.

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The Gouchers: Drama, Drama, Drama

LTOB, being the internet's, and thus the world's, number one source of breaking news and juicy juicy gossip surrounding all that is "The Gouchers," is very ashamed to say some big Goucher news slipped past us the last few days. (The blogging veterans at Lets-Krong had us beat by 2 whole days. Unacceptable.)

As it turns out, Kara has been writing journal entries for her hometown paper in Duluth, MN about her experiences in Beijing. And oohh baby have they been experiences.

The main thing I gleaned from reading her entry on August 10 is, I guess, something any fool would realize: Dudes love hitting on Kara Goucher. And not just any old dudes. In the first two days Kara was in Beijing she was hit on by:

1. A former President of the United States
2. A current President of the United States
3. An undisclosed NBA player
4. The entire United States men's volleyball team
5. The entire United States men's soccer team.

Whhooo! That's a lotta hollerin' headed in Kara's direction.

I have no doubt, of course, that her husband Adam has nothing to worry about. Kara's one of those wholesome types. Plus, I'm sure male athletes are spraying it in all directions while they're in Beijing, I know I would be. It is just this kind of thing that lends to Kara's girl-next-door, jee-golly vibe and makes her all the more deliciously appealing. To fans, that is (get your head out of the gutter, this is a family blog).

To keep up this image, I'm just going to ignore this part of the August 10th journal entry. Kara writes:

When I got to my room earlier, there was someone there and I lost it! She is a pole vaulter and very, very nice and she is leaving tomorrow morning :).

I know what she means, this afternoon I caught someone in my office eating the bologna and ketchup sandwich I left in the fridge. He was very very nice and he ended up without a left eye ;)

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The Relative Fun and importance of Rhythmically Chanting U-S-A

There is no reason to tell you, dear reader, how special the Olympics are. You know they are great. And not just the track, the everything. But especially the track.

I like the Olympics mainly because they include sports and I am a sports fan. More specifically, I like being a fan of sports teams. Being a fan of a sports team you truly care about is fun as hell. Especially this time of year when I get to look forward to NFL Sundays with wings and wing sauce stained Bengals jerseys, and yelling at a television in a bar full of less enthusiastic post-church brunch-eaters. At this point I'm even looking forward to college basketball starting and the inevitable ebb and flow of hope and despair, and depression, and crushing losses and unhealthy coping mechanisms. All the emotions that accompany every Cincinnati Bearcats basketball season for me. I love being a fan!

Every four summers, though, the Olympics represent an event that is like our American sports experience jam packed into 16 days of a nation's rapt attention. It is special. It's 16 days of sports ALL THE TIME. Like the entire 16 week Bengals season in 16 days. Like the entire Big East basketball season on 16 straight nights. My team is playing every night, and that gets me pumped.

I am a huge homer and always have been. I cannot fill out an NCAA tournament bracket without having Cincinnati win the whole thing. I can't play a fantasy player for the weekend if he has a game against the Bengals. Quite frankly, I'm lukewarm about sports in general if there is not an extreme emotion that hinges on whether one team/athlete wins or loses. In these unemotional cases, I'd usually rather watch Office DVDs.

Because I'm a huge homer, I want the USA to win/dominate/set world records every time (Beware of whoever doesn't want this. They are Communists). Naturally, this makes every event interesting to me (full disclosure: I have been having strong Usain Bolt feelings the last few months, but I know my Gay feelings will come to the surface soon. Wait, that came out wrong. I have my strongest feelings for Brazilian Beach Volleyball. That's right, I'm ALL MAN).

Being a fan creates scenarios where I get to cheer not only for my country but against an "other." I know that when the "other" loses, we, as a collective fan base, have proven that we are more bad ass than the "other." Albeit in competitions like fencing, footraces, and ping pong (rarely), but a win is a win. And no one had to die!

In the Olympics, of course, this comes across as "patriotism" or "pride in country" but mainly I want to prove that my guys are better than your guys. We all know the USA has a lot of faults and so do other countries, but for these competitions we get to trivialize those faults and use the games as a release of all the built up aggression, rather than the other way around. To me, that needs to happen. Boycotting an Olympics, for instance, is the last thing that will help relations with another nation. One country gets to actually say "we are the best at this" and pound their chest, which is something that humans really really like to do. It gets it out of our system so we can focus on those faults when the games are over. Plus, it's fun!

So, as track competition looms on the horizon, dear reader, you have been enjoying some gymnastics and some swimming and getting your Michael Phelps fanboy on. But, now is the time to hitch up your pants and get serious about this 2008 Beijing Olympiad. Be a fan out there, I know I will. Get drunk, punch a wall, let off some steam, throw out some good-natured stereotypes (don't forget to include America, you arrogant, prudish, wasteful cowboy you) and don't hold back when you yell at Matt Tegenkamp to "Kick, gahdammit. Go. GO. KICK!!" Because that shit is fun. And healthy.

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What They Didn't Tell You: Olympics 1.0

Is it track time yet? For serious. I already feel like the Olympics have been going on for a week and yet we're FIVE WHOLE DAYS AWAY from seeing any athletics. There is literally nothing running-related to tell you about this weekend because it was all swimming and gymnastics and volleyball and stabbing. (Oh, and Meb was 2nd at Falmouth, whatever that is.) So in the meantime, with nothing else to talk about, enjoy a little eye-candy after the jump.

Ladies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and gentlemen . . .

Personally, I don't get it with Phelps -- he may be the first person with an underbite worse than mine -- but I keep hearing females call him "hot" and "so hot" and "I wish I had the unbridled lascivious vocabulary of a man because all I can keep coming up with is 'hot'." Now, on the other hand I can think of a lot of adjectives that could be used in conjunction with Ms. Alicia Sacramone, here (she's on the women's gymnastics team, and don't worry -- she's 20 years old). Lotta verbs for that matter. But I will refrain. Afterall, she's someone's daughter.

And, I trust a bunch of you will be more than capable of picking up the slack in the comments.

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Opening Ceremonies Drinking Game

So, no doubt you are as completely over-saturated by excited for the Olympics as we are. What better way to celebrate their commencement, than to punish your liver with a drinking game? Find the rules, after the jump.

And remember, the beauty of the drinking game is that, no matter what, you will win -- and you won't have to dedicate your entire life to the pursuit of it. Though, at 270 minutes, watching this telecast will certainly feel that way.

A new country enters the stadium - take 1 drink
New batch of fireworks set-off - 1 drink
Exterior shot of the Birds Nest - 1 drink
Shot of the Great Wall - 1 drink
Bob Costas appears on-screen - 1 drink
Commercial pimping The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - 1 drink
Commercial pimping Season 2 of Heroes - 1 drink
Broadcaster mentions Michael Phelps - 1 drink, poke self in eye
Broadcaster mentions heat, humidity, or pollution/smog and potentially adverse effects on competition - vomit, take 1 drink after clean-up

Exterior shot of The Cube (Aquatics Center) - take 2 drinks
Close-up of athlete with camcorder - 2 drinks
Close-up of Chinese administrator and/or high ranking political figure - 2 drinks
Discussion of US' inability to adhere to the basic rules of basketball win International basketball medal - 2 drinks
Performers perform any sort of Cirque du Soleil-style acrobatics - 2 drinks
Inappropriate racial/cultural generaliztion crosses your mind - take 2 drinks, chuckle to self
Bob Costas says "Ni Hao" - 2 drinks
Feature/mention/close-up of breathing masks offered by foreign Olympic Committees to their athletes - 2 drinks
Broadcaster mentions Tibet - 2 drinks (self-immolation optional)

Close up on a "delegation" of a single athlete (think Seychelles) - take 3 drinks
Close up on Chinese celebrity that looks -- to you -- like any other Chinese person - 3 drinks
Feature on Tiananmen Square and/or past political unrest in China - 3 drinks
In-Studio "Interview"/Promo with cast-member of The Mummy 3 - 3 drinks
Bob Costas uses some form of the world "inspire" in setting up an athlete feature - 3 drinks
Broadcaster mentions Darfur and/or the Sudan - take 3 drinks, pour 1 for Lost Boys
Mention of Ryan Hall and his chances at a marathon medal - take 3 drinks -- of juice, or tea, or water.

Inevitable mention/close-up/update on Eric "the Eel" Moussambani - drink until he finishes his race.

In-studio segment with Bob Costas learning martial arts moves from Mummy 3 star, Jet Li - 5 drinks

Feature on Carl Lewis - Finish drink
Airing of the inspired Carl Lewis music video - Finish 2 drinks
Feature on 1996 Gymnastics Team Gold Medal - Finish drink
Airing of the related -- and utterly inspired -- SNL Weekend Update Bit - Finish six-pack
Animated on-screen promo for The Mummy 3 featuring a warrior yeti performing Olympic sports - Finish six-pack

Anything involving the Olympic rings and a shirtless Brendan Fraser - Kill self

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A Handy Guide for Tonight's Opening Ceremonies

The fine folk(s) at Lets-Krong first linked to this, but I'll repost it here because it's pretty brilliant: The Big Lead breaks down each of the countries competing in Beijing. (Here's Part Two)

Some personal favorites:

American Samoa - Just won gold over Thinmintistan.
Kyrgyzstan - Would like to buy a vowel, please.
Afghanistan - Has a chance to medal this year, because the US will be too focused on beating Iraq.

Hey-o!

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