Pat Butcher, one of the most important writers in our sport, has established his blog, http://www.globerunner.org/. I think his blog is a must read and we will link to upcoming stories in the future! I review the site below.
Pat Butcher has done all the things that one should do with a blog: nice design, easy to navigate, and well designed with great pictures plus smart type faces.
Most importantly, as the Nostradamus of media culture, Marshal McLuhan said, the medium is the message. Butcher makes his writing the most important part of the blog. The mission of the blog seems to be to showcase Butcher’s obvious talents at writing, his keen skills as a student and observer of the sport, and his amazing ability to make on infuriated, laugh and consider his thought process all in one blog.
Take, for example his two pieces on Athletics Kenya, the problematic at best sports Federation in Kenya. In a series of two pieces (http://www.globerunner.org/blog/?p=24
and
http://www.globerunner.org/blog/?p=26). What is fascinating is the response from his readers. Kenyan athletes, both active and retired comment on Butcher’s comments, both showing the concern that Kenyan athletes have been virtually
destroyed by running race after race in Europe. One writer cited Eliud Kipchoge, the 2003 world champion, who the writer claimed had been destroyed racing too much in Europe. Unlike most blogs, on Butchers, the actual responses are wonderful–and the
repartee is part of the value of his blog.
Butcher has made his living from his observations on the sport since the mid seventies and you get a good picture of Pat and his enviable skills. This blog should be on your must read list, and having seen Pat at work at various marathons around the world, I give him a thumbs up as one of the few in the business who can generate media interest in marathons that are quite esoteric or not so esoteric.
Don’t miss his column today on Oscar Pistorius! Again, Butcher gives the reader the background on the Blade Runner moniker, something that ads to his commentary and gives the reader a new appreciation for the sport,
http://www.globerunner.org/blog/?p=32
I give GlobeRunner.org (http://www.globerunner.org) four out of a possible four pints of your favorite adult beverage. If you do not quaff pints, then we will give it four out of four javelins.
