Thomas Gerlach wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
I don't care that there are pros at races that I personally do. In the sense, that when I am racing I am focused on myself. I care that there at pros doing some races when I am at home and there is a triathlon going on elsewhere. At that point what pros do at that race provides some entertainment (for me, I can get off on watching triathlon paint dry for 8-9 hrs).
Every sport needs "some" professional competition if not, it will never be an organized sport. If there is no professional competition at the every top then its just a bunch of people exercising. This is why elliptical training or recumbant stationary biking, or theraband resistance training is not a sport. its just exercise
We don't need professional competition at every event. Just some events where their competition sets some type of a top line bar for the rest of the sport in terms of what is in the realm of possibility for recreational people. Its less important that Kipchoge runs a 2:02 at Berlin than someone runs a 2:02 at the Berlin marathon. 2:02 become a bar of sort and whether you do it in 3:03 or 4:04 or 5:05, it provides some context of what humans are capable of and then from a mass participation it gives context making things a "sport" versus "execise".
I agree with this. The problem is all those little events want to grow into bigger events and hopefully the cities or communities recognize the value as well, and having a professional field does add some value to all those little events in terms of hype. There is a reason a class of pros should exist much like minor league baseball.
I agree that there needs to be multiple tiers of pro athletes in every sport that is a sport, because having a pro competition makes a sport a sport (if not it is exercising) and there is no sport if you just have Lange and Frodo with no one else for them to beat up on at championship events. So you need cannonfodder pros (and this actually ends up including top guys like O'Donnell who have never one Kona....but they have been cannonfodder for Jan to beat up on....sorry if Tim is reading, its kind of reality) and Tim needs cannonfodder pros to beat up at IM Brazil, and then the 4th place guy at IM Brazil needs someone to beat up at the local 70.3 and the guy who comes 5th at the local 70.3 needs someone to beat up on at a regular regional race.
But to me as a fan, at some point, I just marginally care about the guy who was 15th at Kona who may have won an IM in Copenhagen or Barcelona, and I care even less about the 6th place person at Barcelona that he beat up on, and I can even less about that 6th place guy who won a local tri in Sevilla or Tallinn.
But yes, you need all these tiers of pros to have the top of the pyramid, the question are they fast hobbyists, or can they earn some kind of a living. Speaking fairly ruthlessly, age groupers don't care that the lower tier pros can earn a living from triathlon. Top tier pros need low tier pros to beat and low tier pros need to not work 60 hrs per week at Deloitte or as a waiter in a bar to compete with top tier pros.
Edit: I used Tim O'Donnell as an exteme example of someone that Jan needed in the field to defeat but homefully you got the angle there. With no one to beat, there is no competition
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devashish_paul: Dec 2, 20 12:01