Dr Wright's telling remark: Athletes are our future

[Willi]

Bad bull inna pen, Carifta waan come get buck?

LoL

[Willi]

Excellent Spanish? Who Bush (Dubya)???

Yuh must mean Jeb!

[Mosiah]

case in point! heh heh!

[Karl]

I understand your points and considered them when thinking about the quotation.

I believe the quote is a Freudian Slip.... not to be taken literally to mean that athletes & athletics are THE future of the country...but...given all the outsized hoopla over our sporting accomplishments.... even sensible people's thinking can become irrational leading to statements like this. Problem is .... ACTIONS or lack thereof are informed by such sentiments.

We demand & expect high...even world class standards from our student-athletes. Conversely we easily accept mediocre standards from our students in academics ..... a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That's a national failing.

I do not see why it is necessary to 'colour' the thought process by statements that are not facts.

You make great points...however you slip off the rails in your last paragraph. We demand and expect high...even world class standards from our "national student athletes"...I would even give the additional "...and our "top high school athletes".

We are certainly not into, as a nation, demanding high standards of our average or worse...athletes.

...and yes, we also demand high ...even world class standards from our top academics.

[ReggaeMike]

That is true but the fact is in America in my opinion is similar value system. We do have those that command english as well but as Mdmex rightly said we have dropped standard.

A similar value system but not the same. In America they love their sports. But (until recently anyway) the Wall Street culture was lionized. Notice how the Dow Jones Index and other stock market indicies would (and still) makes headline news even though technically they are reflective of the top companies from 10-20 years ago and the great majority of Americans do not own stocks in any of the companies? Why should that be? Well I would guess it is because they view it as an indicator of the economy. When was the last time the JSE index made the front page?

[Karl]

But little Barry has excellent command of English! W. didn't, but at least had excellent command of Spanish so he he could speak one language well.

Good one!

[Karl]

Is it the matter of Champs and Carifta being so near in time to each other...or is to that some athletes are overworked at Champs?

[ReggaeMike]

Is it the matter of Champs and Carifta being so near in time to each other...or is to that some athletes are overworked at Champs?

It seems for some people it is the former and for others it is the latter.

But is this really a problem? I can't recall this happening that often before, so who knows, it probably won't happen again. It may have just happened as a result of a perfect storm of scheduled events.

[Assasin]

How many Americans you think even know what is economics?

How many people you think stay up to watch the game last night.

Majority of Americans don't follow wall st, other than they have 401k invested.

You give them too much credit.

[ReggaeMike]

How many Americans you think even know what is economics?

How many people you think stay up to watch the game last night.

Majority of Americans don't follow wall st, other than they have 401k invested.

You give them too much credit.

Yes, more Americans followed the game last night than follow economics. However that some would even know what a 401k is at all shows that they place a bit more value on economics than we do. There is nothing remotely comparable here.

Over there, when the Dow reaches a milestone it is news. Out here the JSE index never makes the front page.

[Karl]

It seems for some people it is the former and for others it is the latter.

But is this really a problem? I can't recall this happening that often before, so who knows, it probably won't happen again. It may have just happened as a result of a perfect storm of scheduled events.

Having been through not Champs and Carifta...but seeing my brother go through Champs and a meet with the Trinidadians (this latter held at Cornwall Colleges school grounds) in the 60s (I think it was 1965)...some athletes appeared tired. Some did not.

Were there alfter Champs celebration and other activities? Where some well managed after Champs and soem where not? I have not a clue...but I do know if you are ready - (have peaked for Champs) - the extra work at Carifta should be nothing. It is merely doing work to hold form for a few more weeks.

[Don1]

We are certainly not into, as a nation, demanding high standards of our average or worse...athletes.

...and yes, we also demand high ...even world class standards from our top academics.

[Historian]

It Has Happened Before

It seems for some people it is the former and for others it is the latter.

But is this really a problem? I can't recall this happening that often before, so who knows, it probably won't happen again. It may have just happened as a result of a perfect storm of scheduled events.

Mike, this whole matter of athletes being exhausted from a too close schedule with Champs and Carifta has been discussed at some length in the past. In fact, I’m surprised that Karl didn’t comment in a bit more detail, as this topic has, in years past, been discussed on the Caribbean Track and Field Forum.

I can recall, for example, that year in the not too distant past when our athletes returned home with a surprisingly low (low, that is, for Jamaica) 55 medals, this was the main reason advanced. (I can’t recall if it was the 2005 Carifta Games in Trinidad & Tobago.)

[ReggaeMike]

Mike, this whole matter of athletes being exhausted from a too close schedule with Champs and Carifta has been discussed at some length in the past. In fact, I’m surprised that Karl didn’t comment in a bit more detail, as this topic has, in years past, been discussed on the Caribbean Track and Field Forum.

I can recall, for example, that year in the not too distant past when our athletes returned home with a surprisingly low (low, that is, for Jamaica) 55 medals, this was the main reason advanced. (I can’t recall if it was the 2005 Carifta Games in Trinidad & Tobago.)

But might it not be just an artifact of long-term scheduling of many, many events? You know, like when you plan double round-robins for say 6 teams over a period of time and you might end up with 2 teams facing each other twice in a very short period of time?

If it happened in 2005 and 2010 then it would seem to be a fairly predictable occurrence and something that might occur as a result of the need to plan for many other events which run on different time scales (annually, biannually, every four years, etc).

[ReggaeMike]

Excellent Spanish? Who Bush (Dubya)???

Yuh must mean Jeb!

Nah man! Dubya! Bush spoke Spanish. In fact I'm sure he spoke Spanish better than he spoke English (maybe he didn't trill his "r"s properly), but given that Spanish is phonetically simpler (you pronounce everything except that "h" is silent and "j" is pronounced like "h") it would suit him.