by Larry EderI cannot believe it: On the third handoff between Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay, Darvis was unable to get the baton in Tyson’s hand, and the baton dropped to the track, continuing a very special tradition of US sprinters unable to get a baton around the track in an event that they should own….
The rain had been coming down for a few hours, sometimes in torrents. The track was wet and all that was needed was a visual. As Darvis Patton came up on Tyson Gay, Gay took off and held his hand back, but Patton could not either reach him or Gay was too far ahead, either way, what should have been a walk in the park became a disaster for the US team, who has continued to have various issues in Beijing. This just gives NBC fodder for not showing more track & field on TV, or perhaps they will see the artistic value in it.
This has just gotten silly. I feel terrible for the athletes, but there has to be some way to change this strange US tradition about screwing up events that should be owned by the US. The 4 x 100 meter relay and the 4 x 400 meter relay are at least medal possibilities with our sprint crew, so this is just nuts.
