From the Department of Legends & Memories
Written by the very first intern
In the early 2000’s, the Nike marketing team put together a plan to rebrand the University of Oregon football team. The program was historically not a powerhouse. It had history, but built around stories regionally held. It was not a national brand like the midwestern and southeastern programs, whose provincial legends reached national recognition and dominated the airwaves. The Nike brains decided they couldn’t compete with history and it’s tough to divert love, so they set out to make Oregon every college football fan’s second favorite team. And they would do this with flash, bright lights, shiny objects and eye-catching threads every freakin’ time the team hit the lawn.
Track and Field meets are a tough thing to take root. New meets emerge and perish each year, rising with a bang and withering away in silence. The business of propping up hundred thousand dollar events and sustaining them is a fickle one, for any industry. It is tiresome, uncertain and dependent on heavy lifts on shaky ground. If you come in with a splash, you better have the stamina to maintain it year after year and wade through the middle years before nostalgia kicks in for the legendary feats of performances past, on the same hallowed boards, under the same banners.
The most beloved ballparks in the United States are the ones built 100 years ago- the Fenways, the Wrigleys. The parks built in the 70’s committed to flash and didn’t survive the fight that might have pushed them into beloved landmark phase. Maybe they lacked the original character? The ornamentation from which to hang vivid memories. Maybe they were more flash than substance?
It’s hard to hold the flash. Love, respect and adoration comes from lasting. From consistently delivering at a high level. From putting quality first over and over and over. From wading through the swampy middleground of eras until you have something that grandparents loved as children and the worn patina holds the memory of every performer whoever might have brushed it.
The Millrose Games has this. It has navigated rough waters and venue changes and television time slots, and come through, carrying the standard of excellence over 115 years.
As the maligned Francis J Underwood said: “Money is the McMansion in Sarasota that starts falling apart after 10 years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries.”
Frank’s lizard brain was bent on power, but love, love is the old stone building that stands for centuries, with ivy and flowers and moss emerging from its cracking bricks. Love the detail and cherish the performances that make the Games great.
Enjoy the show on Saturday.
Athletes’ performances are piqued to the highest pitch when there is meaning.
Soul over polish.
The 115th Millrose Games
NBC 4-6pm ET
Saturday, Feb 11th
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