Inspired cane fan

Except for the Yankees, who are from which I hail, when it comes to professional sports, I root for the Dolphins & Heat in particular & join the bandwagon for the Marlins (#2) & the Panthers. In terms of college athletics, I go for the Hurricanes, especially the football team. However, the title is a bit deceiving because I wasn't referring to the college teams.

The title is in reference to my dad, Jasper Sr. Because of him, I was inspired to run over fifteen years ago. He & my mom decided they were going to run the now defunct Metro-Dade Marathon about 3 or 4 months prior to the event. They did not go the gym like I did religiously back then. Naturally, I laughed at the notion & went about my merry way, exercising my legs with equipment rather than by training. At the conclusion of the marathon, my parents showed me their medals & even a gigantic poster of themselves crossing the finish line. This was the catalyst for my inspiration to run.

Now encouraged with the idea of doing something I hated since I was a child- running- I begged my dad to get me into a race. Before agreeing, I was required to train with him. I assumed that my youth & dedication to the gym would make this an easy task; boy, was I wrong! I tired quickly, perhaps within 200 meters & struggled to keep up with my dad, who is about 23 years older. After consistent & persistent training, this would later change.

My first race, also no longer held, was the Doral fore miler. I again made a rookie mistake & thought my youth, gym & now some training was enough to blow by all women and any guy that was older than me; not! Although I got past my dad, we both were decimated by the world renowned Silvia Weiner, holocaust survivor & consistent age group winner, recently featured in a Miami Herald newspaper article. Since then, I learned that age is just a number. One must never overlook a person's training nor race conditions & your interaction with them.

My dad still runs at 63, 15 years after his first race, which happens to be the ultimate- a marathon. He is well known for using canes to assist him with the heavy rigors of that distance. Many may criticize, but few can or have accomplished what he has done. This running season (Sept 2005 through August 2006), he has already completed six marathons, two of which were part of a challenge (Disney's goofy & Gasparilla's P.T. cruiser) and three halves.

So, being a fan of my dad, that makes me.... an inspired cane fan!

WWE & multirace.com

I am a wrestling fan & always love to watch smackdown on friday nights, among other events. The WWE, short for World Wrestling Entertainment is the brain child of Vincent "Vince" K. McMahon. It has become the monopoly for most wrestling events, especially since forcing its rivals to fold. The two other powerhouses, Time Warner's WCW (World Championship Wrestling & Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), both of which i used to watch in addition to then WWF (World Wrestling Federation) could not compete against the WWE empire. It seems that if you want to compete with any chance for success you must go through the WWE. Sure, there are other organizations, but few knows of them & those organizations don't have the capital to compete well enough to draw the public's attention.

It's well known that, "anything can happen in the WWE". I always get a kick at how the outcome of a match can change at a moments notice. Sometimes this is determined by the WWE chairman himself. He takes pride in how he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants because he IS the boss.

Over the last few years, Multirace.com, brainchild of Rob & Mercedes Childers, has become a monopoly much like the WWE, only in the world of multisport (duathlon & triathlon). Many organizations folded or transferred their races to this organization, especially since multirace uses the AMB-IT timing system. They time their own events as well as for others. I know because I have done many an event & they usually time well. If you look at the multisport calendar for south florida, their name appears for about 90 percent of all the events.

As of April 23, 2006, they (Multirace.com), also took on the entertainment characteristics of the WWE. My co-ed relay team discovered the hard way that anything can happen in multirace.com's triathlon series. When we signed up for the season, there were three relay categories: male, female & co-ed (a team consisting of at least one female). The outcome of the race on this day, like a wrestling match, changed (categories eliminated upon conclusion of event). When results were first posted, we won our category (co-ed) & the team we beat had the name of the title sponsor. When I went back to show friends, all of a sudden no relay teams were posted until after the awards ceremony began. We were wondering what happened until team names were called. A mysterious all male team that may not have even started with all the relays (the last wave was reserved for all women & relays; only one man was present (acknowledged verbally) at roll call & we beat that team) was announced the winner. We had to settle for second. The team we beat changed their name to disguise the fact that they were the title sponsor team & the all female team fell from first (female relay) to worst (last relay team). You know, its a lot more fun to watch the WWE matches than to become a victim yourself.

Oh, I almost forgot-their website had been edited within minutes on April 23, 2006 to reflect this change immediately after implementing this new modification so don't bother looking for the categories. Note that all female teams don't stand chance & co-ed's (mixed) will not likely take first since it is widely known that in just about any given sport, the best woman cannot beat the best man. Just look at their results to confirm this.

The dilemma

On Sat, April 22, I actually encountered the situation I posed as a question to some friends of mine after watching a Prefontaine movie/documentary. If you were at the Olympics, would you have done what the coach (Bill Bower) advised or would have done what Prefontaine did?

I went to the Stampede 5k, where the top 3 overall & top 3 overall masters were recognized. 3rd place, either category, had the smallest trophy & 1st, naturally, the largest. Also, 1st got a $50 gift certificate. I assumed that the three fastest runners in the race would be rewarded the greatest. I forgot about the old adage of what happens when you assume.

Like Pre (Steve Prefontaine), I gave my all and missed 2nd overall by 9 seconds, thus placing third overall. By doing that, I received the smallest trophy & no prize.

As a master runner, if I followed the coach (Bill Bower), I would have slowed down to place 4th overall as strategy to be placed as 1st master. This effort would have been rewarded with the largest trophy & the $50 gift certificate!

I informed the race director that the incentive procedure discourages runners from doing their best but he was so dumbfounded as to what I was trying to say, I wound up just leaving with the sour taste of victory & a still perplexing situation.

Now I pose to you, if you were in my shoes, what would you have done, go pre (time) or coach (incentives)?

Bell Jr's Motto

Have fun first, all else second. This means that before you can succeed, you must first be motivated. Never rely on someone else as sole means of motivation; it must come from within. Remember: the minute I stop having fun, I will quit; I have been enjoying what I do for over fifteen years & still having fun!