By Stephen Kersh
October 25, 2017
Earlier today, Shalane Flanagan posted a photo of the Bowerman Track Club. It’s a very fun photo for a few reasons.
- I have no idea who two of these people are.
- One of the guys I recognize but I recognize him as Uncle Joey from Full House so that is a theory worth investigating.
- Evan Jager steals the show. This isn’t newsworthy at all, but it’s the most constant thing in my life and it’s worth celebrating it was happening even in 1989 or whenever this is from.
- Shalane Flanagan is perfect.
- Chris Solinsky.
Here I go. I’m about to write some stuff about each reason. This is about to get very, very dumb.
Observation No. 1
The unknown identities of the man getting curbstomped (more on this later) by Evan Jager and the slight man in the green shirt remain UNKNOWN. I believe the man (Boy? He looks young. More on this now.) lying down, getting clowned on by Simon Bairu, is an intern. It is an Intern named Dave. He was spending his summer at NIKE after his sophomore year at the University of Oregon. He loves the Ducks and he is from Seattle.
The second man whose identity is unknown is Josh Rohatinsky on the far right. I know this because Chris Chavez told me so. It’s great to keep people smarter than you or people who have followed track and field longer than 2012 to tell you things.
Observation No. 2
Uncle Joey (né Joey Gladstone) is a big bumbling dumbass who lives in San Francisco but seems to crash most of the time at his friend Danny’s house. He is the consummate mooch and I have no idea HOW or WHY he is in this photo.
Please enjoy this blurb from his Full House Wiki:
“Joey initially slept in the alcove of Danny’s living room. However, after complaining of not being able to find privacy, Danny reconstructs his basement garage into a bedroom for him. In college, Joey got a degree in education. This way if being a comedian didn’t work out he had a solid career to fall back on.”
Chris also just told me that’s Dan Lincoln.
Observation No. 3
Once again, Evan Jager is the main attraction. Sandwiched between Uncle Joey and Shalane while pwning the intern, this guy can do it all. He also is wearing a backward flatbrim in the midst of PEAK backward flatbrim years.
You couldn’t hold Jager back then, and you sure as hell can’t now.
Observation No. 4
I’m certain Shalane could kick the ass of all of these guys. Except the intern.
Observation No. 5
Chris Solinsky looks like the kind of guy you could just walk up to ask if he knew the rules to Dungeons and Dragons and he definitely would.
Stephen Kersh
Former collegiate runner for University of Portland and Georgetown, currently a professional runner weighing sponsorship offers from no one. Enjoys using the internet to message Scott Olberding and Paul Snyder about bad story ideas. Does not assume he will work at Citius much longer due to the bad story ideas. He once gave a TED Talk titled "Twitter: How We Are All Just Shouting into a Vacuum" to his best friend and his girlfriend on the beaches of Connecticut.