Ready-made focus group: any of you plan to watch Olympics on TV? Absolutely not

Ready-made focus group: any of you plan to watch Olympics on TV? Absolutely not

Michael Phelps will be back to call swimming at the Paris Games, NBC announced Friday, in maybe the least-unexpected pre-Paris Games news ever, and good for Michael.

Disclosure: 16 years ago, after his eight-for-eight at the Beijing Games, I worked with Michael on writing his best-selling book, No Limits. Here is to nothing but success and, more importantly, joy and sweetness for Michael, Nicole and their four boys.

In Tokyo three years ago, I had a perch in the row behind Michael, Dan Hicks, Rowdy Gaines and Elisabeth Beisel, and – department of the obvious – Michael 1/ is a star, 2/ knows swimming and 3/ isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind. That’s a recipe for good TV.

Now, to the matter of the moment: is Michael going to draw 18-to-34-year-olds?

How to understand the Chinese swim drama in light of the Erriyon Knighton 'no fault' case

How to understand the Chinese swim drama in light of the Erriyon Knighton 'no fault' case

Erriyon Knighton, second in the men’s 200 meters at last year’s Budapest world championships, had not run since March 30. Odd for an Olympic year. On Wednesday, it was made clear why: he had been provisionally suspended April 12 after testing positive for the steroid trenbolone.

Cattle ranchers use the stuff to make animals bigger, and on Wednesday an arbitrator cleared Knighton of doping, ruling he had ingested contaminated meat. Knighton is now free to run in the 200 at the U.S. Trials in Eugene, the heats beginning next Thursday.

 At first blush, it is tempting to lump Knighton in with a bunch of other American track and field athletes who also got off, and, if you were the Chinese authorities, or for that matter, following the situation from anywhere, looking at what’s what in the United States and saying, WTF – is there one set of rules for 🇺🇸 and another set of rules for everyone else?

Holy hell, but Thomas Bach is really out to get Seb Coe

Holy hell, but Thomas Bach is really out to get Seb Coe

Holy hell, but Thomas Bach really is out to get Seb Coe.

Anywhere and everywhere you go in Olympic circles these days, it’s the talk, and what transpired Friday – calling 911, Bach all but sticking a figurative knife into Coe in broad daylight, anointing Hugh Robertson, head of the British Olympic Association, an individual IOC member – was just the latest as the wheel of IOC presidential succession politics turns.

For months, Bach has sought to downplay the what-comes-next phase for International Olympic Committee leadership. His term, in theory, ends in June 2025. An election is purportedly set for sometime next year. If there is an election.

When four years for an anti-doping rule violation is correct but not -- right

When four years for an anti-doping rule violation is correct but not -- right

U.S. swimmer Kensey McMahon just got four years for an anti-doping rule violation, and it’s not right.

To be clear, under the rules, the four-year ban she got is – correct.

But there can be a difference between correct, and right, and this is one of those times, and perhaps the case of Kensey McMahon can, maybe sooner than later, effect a course correction in the anti-doping rules because this matter underscores the disconnect between the rules as they’re supposed to be and the way they work, when applied, as written, with no wiggle room, in real life.

Her friends say, oh, ‘Legally Blonde’ passed the Bar! It’s British steeplechaser Lizzie Bird

Her friends say, oh, ‘Legally Blonde’ passed the Bar! It’s British steeplechaser Lizzie Bird

ROME – Which is better, running in the Olympics for the British team, or passing the Colorado Bar Exam?

Running in the Olympics for the first time – or the second?

Running in the Olympics with no fans – or having your family there to cheer for you?

All in all, it’s very interesting being 29-year-old Lizzie Bird, who late Sunday night here at the European track and field championships all but assured herself of a second Games when, by a margin of roughly four-plus seconds after 3000 meters – about 1.86 miles – she finished third in the steeplechase, in 9 minutes, 18.39 seconds.

Damn straight this Israeli team raced for the hostages: 'we are here, we are strong'

Damn straight this Israeli team raced for the hostages: 'we are here, we are strong'

ROME – All of the useful idiots who maintain Israelis are colonial oppressors would do well to take a look at the happy impromptu team pictures after the men’s half-marathon here Sunday at the European track and field championships.

The Israelis sent six runners. All six are Ethiopian Jews. Translation: they are black. Complete translation: they are fully, completely, thoroughly Israeli. Three finished in the top 10, led by Budapest 2023 world championship marathon silver medalist Maru Teferi, who on Sunday finished fourth.

That earned Israel the team silver medal in the men’s half. And to the obvious question: yes, the four hostages freed Saturday in Gaza were on their minds and, yes, damn straight they were racing for them.

When it comes to track and field, he's the - one and only - rock of Gibraltar

When it comes to track and field, he's the - one and only - rock of Gibraltar

ROME – The gun went off in the third of three heats here Friday night in the men’s 100 at the European track and field championships and, as expected, Craig Gill fell behind early and finished last.

 It’s not just that Gill finished last in his heat. Twenty-four guys lined up in the three heats. One was DQ’d. That means 23 finished. Gill’s time ended up being 23rd of 23, 11.17 seconds. The guy who was 22nd, Francesco Sansovini, of San Marino, was a full 62-hundredths better, in 10.55. There’s a phrase in track for guys like Craig Gill, observed with affection: DFL.

 All good. For real.

Res ipsa loquitur: from the Kersee files

Res ipsa loquitur: from the Kersee files

Speaking generally, track and field needs — almost everyone rooting for the sport to do better agrees on this — to matter more, especially among the key 18- to 34-year-old demographic. The May 25 Prefontaine Classic, the biggest one-day meet in the United States, drew 1.17 million viewers overall but only 73,000 in the 18-34 category. An early ESPN SportsCenter that same Saturday morning drew 77,000. 

The sport has a hard time making the case that it should matter more than a weekend a.m. SportsCenter or, for that matter, the May 25 Indiana-Vegas WNBA game — 73k on NBA TV, 18-34 demo — when track and field’s biggest stars do not race as often as they — pick your word here — should, could, might. 

Is that because of Injury? Yes. Is it because of a slew of other issues? Yes. Is it because of money, of which there is not enough in track and field? The question answers itself. 

Scattergories bordering on idiocy: too many track meets, and in 2024, only two matter

Scattergories bordering on idiocy: too many track meets, and in 2024, only two matter

Attention, track and field nerds. This past weekend featured:

1/ the LA Grand Prix, on Friday and Saturday, at UCLA

2/ another Continental Tour Gold meet, in Tokyo, Sunday

3/ a Diamond League meet in Marrakesh, Sunday

4/ the Atlanta City Games, Saturday

5/ World Athletics Combined Events Tour (decathlon, heptathlon) in Götzis, Austria, Sunday

6/ and for the true specialists, World Athletics Race Walk Tour Gold meet in La Coruna, Spain, Saturday

The purist may say, look at the robust nature of the sport.

Anyone else says, this is scattergories bordering on idiocy.

The message the Olympic world needs to hear: Pay the athletes. Especially on the podium

The message the Olympic world needs to hear: Pay the athletes. Especially on the podium

Change or be changed, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach says.

Seb Coe, the head of World Athletics, must feel right now as if he’s living in parallel worlds.

He’s got his athletes telling him he’s, like, the greatest — amid a plan to pay $50,000 to winners at the Paris Games. That’s change. Big change.

Then he’s got critics. Lots of critics. Including institutional critics within the Olympic world.