Don't forget international darts!

There was something else I saw on tv I couldn't believe but I just can't think of it.

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USAT Level II- Ironman U Certified Coach

Curling?

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Nascar?

Drone racing? Competitive video game playing? Bowling?

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Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

Lots of Canadians on this board - don't poke the bear :)

Full disclosure: I curl

At least with curling you can hit the other guys stuff. In golf they don't allow that.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Does tri get credit for "battle frog"? Espn went to college tri teams for a spartan like race for a few years. When I was college coach, 5 of my athletes got all expense paid trip for the "race". 90% of the racers were college triathletes.

Of course it was so triathlon like for tv. Espn filmed race in nov I believe and broadcast following summer! I wonder if it's tv broadcast was up for an Emmy!!!

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I was flipping the other day and there was a "corn hole" tournament on. The guys were the best I've seen but... corn hole?

I barely watch TV and have my DirectTV set up to record anything triathlon.

Their programming isn't by mistake though, there is an audience and I'm sure people are watching.... just not "us" I guess.

You're on the wrong forum then- kidding.

Bass fishing, cutting trees down in Alaska, looking for gold in Alaska... to name a few more. Okay these aren't sports but you can click on any made up reality tv show and there is always some dramatic breakdown in equipment that's replayed through an entire episode.

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USAT Level II- Ironman U Certified Coach

Don't forget about Spartan races. I haven't noticed it much recently but last few years there were entire race seasons broadcast. They do background stories on the pros or elites (not sure what they are called) and some of the general field for interest stories. What I took away from watching it was why couldn't this be done for sprint or even oly racing ? With the right format it would be really cool to watch and I'd think at least garner some interest in viewership. Spartan racing is not something I am into. But it still captured my attention enough that I watched a few of them when they were on.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

This is my issue atleast how I see it. It will be a US biased so take it for what it's worth. To me the bigger issue is that because triathlon is so "participant" dependent that it's IM or bust. Anything even short of an 70.3 you are scoffed almost. And here in US, it's so participant driven that imo even triathletes don't care about elite racing. so there is like 8% support of that type of racing.

Germany and France they have summer pro series that from what I've been told are greatly attended. Now I also gather it's because they are easy races to get to. Hope on train for 2 hours and your at next race. Here in US, fans won't attend a race in Texas and then 2 weeks later in NY or San Fran. It's just too massive of a country to actually garner full on race series support.

Add on top of that, 1 hour racing is the tv money maker. You figure it out but it's setup for sprints and of course there is a large population that are completely turned off by sprint/dl/elite racing. Which is fine, no problem.

It's almost like if our own sport can't have fans amongst themselves how the hell do we draw casual viewer. That's my take. Elite racing doesn't stand out enough. It's more or less simply another "race category" for it to make it own it's own.

ETA: and I don't know in many sports where the "participants" have such a ambivalence feeling towards "pros" like there is in tri. And again not that it's a problem, just seems to be the culture of "I just wanna be able to swim bike and run and race when I want and what I want....I don't care about the next guy", so to speak. Maybe it's like that in marathon running or curling or downhill skiing and I just don't see it or look for it.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Simply put, the longer the race the more boring it becomes.(unless you have some castle/scenery porn in the background) As the distance increases, the pace slows down, the athletes get smaller/skinnier, etc. Just not as exciting for the average Joe to watch. Someone else posted about the 1 hour limit/time slot. Tri should set itself up like Motocross. Super sprints/sprints with heats into a final. Say, 2 heats and a final. Fit those into an hour. Then you fit those hours into a weekly season. Mix up the discipline rotation and distances depending on the terrain so that there is some unpredictability and forced drama. Some weeks the run is shorter and the bike is longer or the swim is the longest. Some weeks you start out with the bike and finish with the swim. You have to keep it fresh. You will still get the same 8-10 contenders going for the win.

I've said this before in other threads. If you want to take Tri to the masses you must change the model. WTC and Ironman are making it worse. Right now tri is a pay for play vacation sport. It always has been except for Kona. If you have the money and time you can race any race you want to. Here's what should be done.

One uniform organization that all of the races belong to. Maybe it is USA(insert your country here) Tri. Maybe it is another org. Your yearly fee to that org should get you a uniform ranking system that travels from locality to locality, state to state, country to country, etc. Much like a golf handicap. Within that ranking system there should be different levels of abilities with automatic regulation up or down based on performance. Let's make it Pro>Elite>A through F with F being the BOP such as myself. All of the races should be organized together into local-regional-state-country region-national-world for series/playoffs at each level. You can race anywhere you want because of the ranking system, but your focus should be on your local races. So you complete your local series, or race wherever you decide. Depending on your performance, maybe you then qualify for your regional playoff/race. Maybe you do well enough there to go to whichever race is your regional or state championship. Maybe you keep doing well enough to go to the next level. I live in VA, so maybe my next level would be something like "The East Coast Championship" in a place like Virginia/Myrtle Beach or Florida. Maybe then I catch lightning in a bottle and advance to Worlds in some place like Kona! (That's never going to happen, BTW. I am BOP at the local level) But, the dream and pathway are there.

Obviously, that is a dream/vision at best. But I think that is where Tri needs to go.