From The Editor — December 2002: More bang for your T&FN buck!

REMEMBER WHEN YOUR MOTHER TOLD YOU, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is”? That was in the same set of lessons as, “Make sure you have clean underwear on—what if you break your leg and they have to take you to the hospital?” and “If you keep making that face it’s going to stick that way” and “Never bring a knife to a gunfight.”

Stay true to the last three choices, but note that in this instance, T&FN actually has a deal that while it sounds too good to be true, actually is true!

We’re about to give you, dear reader, something for nothing. Something of real significance. We’re going to give you—no strings attached—free access to the best source of processed elite-meet results on the planet.

That’s right, I’m talking about our famous Track Newsletter, which since ’56 has been the best print source available if you’re interested in marks, marks, more marks, and then even more marks. I’m not talking about the old snail-mail version of TN however. This is the electronic version, eTN.

In ’03, in 42 weeks of the year (including every week from the middle of January through the middle of September, when track is at its hottest, both domestically and internationally) you’ll get an e-mail version of the newsletter. This means you’re going to get huge improvements in two major areas:

•Speed—With a monthly magazine, by the time you factor in the preparation, printing and mailing aspects, it can take 6 weeks for results from the first weekend in the cycle to get into your hands in T&FN. That’s obviously not acceptable in the modern world. Now you’ll never have to wait more than a few days.

•Depth—TN has always provided far deeper results than the magazine pages can carry. And with far more splits and field-event series. As an example, here’s the hot men’s 4 x Mile from this year’s Penn Relays. First, the magazine version.

And here’s what the Newsletter reported:

4 x Mile: 1. Arkansas 16:09.84 (WL, CL) (10 W, 4 C) (Taylor 4:05.5, Lincoln 3:58.2, Mulvaney’ 4:01.9, Cragg’ 4:04.2); 2. Stanford 16:17.05 (AL) (7 A) (Sage 4:05.9, Robison 3:57.9, Riley 4:03.4, Jennings 4:09.9); 3. Villanova 16:20.83 (Jabaut 4:07.0, Parlapiano 4:01.7, Hayden’ 4:04.7, Blincoe’ 4:07.4’); 4. Abilene Christian 16:38.30 (Ndikumana’ 4:09.2, Okello’ 4:13.2, Manirakiza’ 4:09.0, Kemboi’ 4:06.9); 5. Iona 16:39.38 (Riley’ 4:06.9, Kovalsky 4:11.3, Connolly’ 4:11.8, Reid’ 4:09.4); 6. Brown 16:39.83 (Buechel 4:11.8, O’Keefe 4:08.4, Tarpy 4:09.9, Johnson’ 4:09.7); 7. American 16:39.86 (Duffy 4:09.3, Malpigli 4:16.6, Seymour 4:08.1, O’Brien 4:05.9); 8. Oklahoma State 16:42.24; 9. Navy 16:43.22; 10. Providence 16:46.19; 11. La Salle 16:49.47; 12. Texas A&M 16:53.77; 13. Georgetown 17:07.33; 14. Loyola/Chicago 17:09.47; 15. Michigan State 17:17.86.

Yes, you will be able to go to websites and get meet results faster than we can get them to you, and get them in more depth than even eTN will provide. In fact, with each major meet we list we’ll even provide the necessary URL for you to do so. But what you won’t get at the original sites is the marks put in a consistent order in an easy-to-read fashion, and with T&FN’s extras—splits, positions on all-time lists, etc.—added. And with eTN you’ll be able to create your own electronic library of results.

Surely, you ask, there must be a catch somewhere? Well, sort of. You have to own a computer with e-mail capacity (and our surveys tell us that almost all of you do). And you need to be able to download PDF files with Acrobat Reader. Virtually every computer sold today comes with this software in place—if your machine doesn’t have it, you can download it for free. And you must be a paid-up subscriber to Track & Field News.

Whether you’re intrigued or even just mildly interested at this point, the next step is yours. Please go to p. 52 and find the simple sign-up instructions.

(background music for this column sorta provided by Dire Straits—money for nothin’, cheques for free)