Both dropped the baton in the prelims. Inexusable.

Track team has had a rough meet.

Maybe Pat should be the coach.

"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish."

Falling on your face on the world stage. Twice.

I wonder if Bubba will be the head coach again?

For all the talk of U.S. failures in T&F, we already have 20 medals with more events remaining. That is twice as many as second place Russia, who has 10 total medals. I believe we only had 25 total from Athens. Despite our struggles, we have still pulled in a large haul.

it's a large haul, but an underachieving haul nonetheless.

The T&F teams were supposed to be our best ever. Looks like classic underachievement to me. Dropping the batons in teh semi's is just flat unexcusable. Tyson Gray is pathetic and very much overrated. I am not placing the blame on him, but Doc put the baton there. Gray just missed it.

Yeah, Bubba needs to appeal to the NCAA for not giving him a better team.

The 4 X 100 and the 4 X 400 are our events. The drops in the 4 X 100 are completely unacceptable. Outlandish. Embarassing. Two drops in our premier event.

I love my family...

they both screwed up the exchange, but the announcing did seem to give Gay a bigger pass than they should have. Doc did slap it into his hand a couple of times but Gay never seemed to attempt to grasp it. It seemed like he was way too focused on his start vs. getting the baton. Doc's biggest mistake was letting go of the damn thing - especially considering Gay hadn't even really made an attempt to grasp it. just sloppy and pathetic.

[This message has been edited by Bob the Enzyte Guy (edited 8/21/2008 8:17p).]

our 4x400 relays better be great

And the women do the same! I just can't stand that we are throwing away two sure medals. I blame USA track for not practicing this simple skill outside 5 minutes before the race.

The hand offs an both relays were technically horrible! Not near enough practice and it was very obvious. As a track coach I was apalled and the poor effort made on the relays concerning the VERY basics.

I guess that's the kind of coaching you get if you attend that school in Austin...

As a guy who anchored the 440 relay (as it was called back in my time) for three years in high school, the technique (if there was any) was pathetic. The inbound guy directs the whole handoff and is supposed to slap the baton into the outbound guy's palm. Tyson Gay was not holding his hand steady and looked back only once and then kinda gave up.
I screamed so loud at the TV the cat ran into our bedroom and hid under the bed.

I love my family...

I think calling Tyson Gay pathetic and overrated is a sign of a 4th year fan (Pay attention in Olympic years). Bolt has obviously burst onto the scene, but last year Gay won the World Championships 100, 200, and was on the winning 4 x 100 team.

He injured himself less than two months ago, and even though he was back in shape, it wasn't his best shape. It's hard to overrate someone who swept the sprint titles at a world championship meet, including defeating the then-world record holder in the 100, Asafa Powell.

As for the handoffs, it seemed to me that Tyson got started late. The other handoffs were okay, and they should have been able to get through this one, but it was just a lack of practice. Putting Tyson on the relay (and on the anchor) with as little practice as I'm guessing he got seemed to be a poor decision. That being said, dropped batons happen. To everyone, even to A&M at the most inopportune of times, even though they have practiced with each other for 1-2 years. Just sucks to have it happen to both teams here.

Not to give them a pass, but it was raining, the track AND the baton had to be mightly slippery.

the men never got close to an exchange, so I can't really blame that one on the conditions. The women got closer, so maybe it was a slight factor. Doubt it though. The whole thing just told me the entire team hadn't practiced it enough.

The coach should be fired. There is no excuse. The technique was flawed. I ran on the 440 relay in HS and College. We were good and never dropped the baton. Our technique and other good teams of the day used a different technique that was fast and minimized mistakes. We did , however practice. The sprinters today are too proud to practice. Horrible.

The technique was horrible. Most successful teams use what is called the "push pass". They were not even close to executing this technique. My team (high school 5a) uses this method and it has been very successful for us. We would have finished 5th in the Big 12 this year. 40.4

[This message has been edited by Agtrack (edited 8/22/2008 9:21p).]

Thank God the 4x400 teams both got the baton around in the prelims

no question to me it was the fault of the passer- he never extended his arm to pass the baton. Gay was reaching back like he was supposed to, but Doc? relaxed for whatever reason and never bothered to slap the baton in his hand.

How anyone can blame Gay for failing to "grab" it is beyond me. He did not start too early- the timing was just fine.

watch the replay again. it gets slapped into his hand at least twice.

no, it doesnt. It grazes his hand once. As Gay said, he felt the baton and then there was nothing there but air. video confirms it.

It is the responsibility of the passer to slap the baton into the palm of the recipient.

That never happened, and the video clearly confirms as much.