I'll Show You How Great I Am

Photo of Louisville, Kentucky native Yared Nuguse by Adrian Umpierrez

I’ll Show You How Great I Am

I’m experienced now, professional.

Words Jeff Merrill

When the lights go on in Kingston on Friday night, we will finally get to see what Grand Slam Track looks like.

We know what a track meet looks like. We know the oval and white lines, the stands, big or small, metal, wood or concrete, with rows of bleachers or colorful plastic cupped seats. We know what racing looks like, spread out chasing and bunched tightly, in coiled anticipation and in full flight.

We know victory, we know defeat. We know the joyous gaze up into the crowd and the head hung low searching for answers.

Since Grand Slam Track was announced, it has promised to be something different, something that we have never seen before- a game-changing gift to athletes and fans of the sport.

We know the reason for its existence and the stated goal. The expectations could not be higher, and they’ve been made that way by the brash purveyors of Grand Slam Track, themselves, who have made their intentions for mainstream appeal known throughout the past year.

We know all of the parts of the ambitious league- the info shared by the team has been constant and they’ve made it a point to go big and champion their decisions. We know the hot hired guns that have been announced with each onboarding like the rockstars they are in their fields of expertise. They come from track, and other parts of the sports and entertainment world.

The 4-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holding commissioner. The staff of qualified professionals who have brought events to life, marketed and produced the NFL, WWE, MLB, the Premier League, Cycling’s Grand Tour teams, Paramount Studios, Viacom and NBC.

We know of the riches poured into the endeavor, unmatched by any investment in the history of the sport for an undertaking of this scale, and the commitment to the prize purse, at a level never before seen.

We know the athletes. We have seen them in meets big and small, in the same place in championships where the stakes are as high as they get, and separated out in smaller venues where they play headliner to quainter shows.

Where will GST fall on this spectrum? The question can only be answered by the fans, new and legacy.

The goal is to reach new people, to expand out of the known track bubble and intrigue new audiences. But, to ensure that this is done in a lasting way requires a strict attention to detail- to attempt to broaden the reach without losing the soul, because if it is successful like every other thing that is successful, it can easily be replaced. A sport, an athlete, a person, a rock band must dig into what makes them unique in order to stand out.

People who want success for the sport want it to be different than it is, but with careful self-examination, they’ll find that they don’t want the core of it to be different, what they want is the expression of it to be different. Can the roots of track racing with the right care and cultivation blossom true flowers that are different, and not like every other beautiful flower of every other popular sport or game show, concert or reality series? Can the mechanisms used to express the known acts be unique and captivating enough that people who have never known the soul of the roots will finally understand their worth?

It’s been my experience that when you find a way to reach the crowd in a new form, and key in on expressive elements that elevate the aura of a race, it fires up the athletes to match the moment, and catapults the combined scene to an other-worldly place where near supernatural feats are possible. Feats that become legend and continue to grow through time.

There is a special relationship between performer and fan. That’s where the planning should always start. Every piece around the experience, from the formatting, to the music, production, lighting, setting, decor, tech, storyboarding is tied closely, in service to the sacred connection. Using elements and mechanisms that enhance and do not distract, that pique interest and show familiar acts and movements in new ways. A turn of phrase for all senses. The groove of doing things this way permits the doers to be brash and unapologetic, like a swaggering prize fighter.

How do you know you’ve done it? The result of a job well done is summed up in one succinct response:

“What the f$%# did I just see?”

After all the talking, that’s what Grand Slam Track will hope to hear from all corners of the globe in dozens of different languages… but especially the United States.

All eyes on Kingston. We hope.

“I’m better now than I was when you saw that 22-year-old undeveloped kid running from Sonny Liston.

I’m experienced now, professional.

Jaw’s been broke, been lost.

Knocked down a coupla times.

Bad!

Been choppin’ trees, I dun sumpn’ new for this fight!

I wrestled with an alligator.

I dun tussled with a whale.

I dun handcuffed lightnin’.

Put thunder in jail.

Throw thunder in jail.

That’s bad.

Only last week I murdered a rock.

Injured a stone.

Hospitalized a brick.

I’m so mean I make medicine sick.

Bad. Fast. Fast! FAST!

Last night I cut the light out in my bedroom, hit the switch, was in bed before the room was dark.

FAST!

All of you chumps are gonna bow when I whoop ‘im.

All of ya. I know you got him picked.

But the man’s in trouble!

I’LL SHOW YOU HOW GREAT I AM!