Think that track and cross country are fake? Take a look in the mirror, poser.
I am so sick and tired of hearing all you haters saying that track and cross country aren’t “real” sports. Have you ever done it? Chances are, probably not. You are probably a football or baseball player who uses the argument, “there is no ball involved.” Ever heard of shot put? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. To all you ex-PE kids or even worse, you “independent PE athletes,” you have no right to judge. At least us runners are in a sport. When PE kids complain about running a mile I can’t help but laugh, not to be condescending, it’s just that our warm-up is a mile.
As a track and cross country runner you don’t get much praise or recognition, which is fine. But when you start saying our sport isn’t one, that’s when you cross the line, like how I cross the line when I finish a race. Last time I checked, track was in the Olympics, unlike the praised almighty football. I mean, not to take away from football being a sport or anything, it’s just a fact and goes to show that track is in fact a sport. You think the running back position has a lot of running involved? Tell me about it sister. Running is my sport, and let me tell you a little something about running: It consists of running more than 100 yards. A LOT more. Same for you baseball. You have to run to 3 bases? Cry me a river, I have to race 3 miles. Next time any of you dim wits say that we “don’t even do that much” or “there isn’t any effort involved,” think again.
Not only are we a real sport but as a team we are good at it. The girls and boys, JV and varsity, have continuously won league, show numerous athletes every year at CIF, and last year the boys were CIF-SS track and field champions. CHAMPIONS. So it’s safe to say that not only are we a real sport, but we’re pretty good at it too.
Now I get it, running, throwing, and jumping isn’t the most interesting thing to watch. I mean even I can get kind of bored watching cross country or track races. You can only cheer so long before they run past again. But there is no need to go hating on track/cross country and saying that it’s “easy.” How do you know? Did PE teach you that? Track and cross country are the opposites of “easy.” Senior Horace Johnson agrees, “I think it takes a special type of person to want to run for fun. I respect track and cross country runners because that stuff is no joke.” Johnson was apart of the track team his freshman year and understands that it’s “no joke.”
At the end of the day, track and cross country, although not the most exciting, are very “real”. We practice just as much, if not more than other sports, face the struggle of constant physical demands, encounter injuries, and have our “game days” that in the running world we call meets. To set the record straight, no we do not “play” track and cross country, we RUN track and cross country. We are just as much a sport as any other sport on this campus, so the next time you say “cross country and track aren’t even sports, all they do is run,” think again because it is so much more than “just running.”
