College Track Bracketology: The Final Four

Over the last two weeks I’ve been running a virtual college track tournament of sorts.

I started with the bracket for this year’s basketball tournament. Each “game” matches up great track and field athletes in each university’s history, with … Read More

New Bannister Documentary

In advance of this May’s 60th anniversary of the first sub-4:00 mile, a new documentary about the race is in the works. Tentatively titled Bannister: Everest on the Track, the KIMbia Athletics creative team of Tom Ratcliffe and Jeremy Mosher … Read More

The Weekend’s Best Matchups

Mike A. Myers Stadium will be full to the top for the Texas Relays.

Relay season has begun with the massively popular Texas Relays, but that’s far from the only top action on tap this weekend. Here are your top … Read More

Bracketology: Cutting Down to the Elite Eight

Beginning during last week’s NCAA basketball tournament, I came up with a simple idea: what if this matched up great track athletes from each university? I’ve now gone through two rounds and have a sweet sixteen.

This is how it … Read More

Bracketology: Sweet 16 Now Complete

Today the second round of the NCAA Tournament finishes up and the Sweet Sixteen are finalized. The same is happening here with our college track bracket.

A quick reminder of how this works:

We start with the bracket for this … Read More

Bracketology: Second Round Begins

Here we go with the second round of the tournament!

A quick reminder of how this works:

We started with the bracket for this year’s basketball tournament. Each “game” matches up great track and field athletes in each university’s history, … Read More

Bracketology: First Round Finishes Up

This is our third day of “college track bracketology” and the first round is completed today, just like in the NCAA basketball tournament.

A quick reminder of how this works:

We start with the bracket for this year’s basketball … Read More

Bracketology: First Round Kicks Off

The NCAA tournament starts up with its first round today and tomorrow (aka “least productive workdays of the year”). Here at the Daily Relay, we’re doing our own version and we started on Tuesday with the “first four”.

A quick … Read More

Introducing College Track Bracketology

If you’re like me, today’s work mail included a tournament bracket to fill out for your workplace’s pool. And if you’re like me, you figure it would save time to just throw the bracket in the trash and set a … Read More

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

The following is a repost of a story written last year for my former blog, tracksuperfan.com. (Image by WingedFist.org)

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, which makes it a perfect day to celebrate track and field (just like the other 364 days of the year). How so?

From what I read, St. Patrick’s Day really isn’t a major observance in Ireland. Only in the USA is it a big deal as a celebration of Irish culture and heritage, a product of the mass Irish immigration to this country and the efforts they made to maintain their ties to each other and their history.

So what does that have to do with track and field?

In recent decades, the biggest connection between our sport and Irish-American culture has been the pipeline of Irish middle-distance runners in the NCAA, especially Villanova. The Villanova Running blog has ranked the top five Irish/Wildcat runners of all time — four of which were Olympic or World champions.

If we turn back the clock an entire century, though, the connection was obvious. Back then, track clubs dominated the domestic scene, and none more than the Irish-American Athletic Club.
Read More