TRACK AND FIELD QUOTES
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OSAKA, Japan – Breaux Greer busted out while many who attended a recent press conference featuring the American record-holder in the javelin busted up in response to his resurgent verbal antics.
It was a refreshing vision at the adidas store in downtown Osaka on Friday morning, watching Greer transition from a subdued dude after the U.S. outdoor championships back to a funny fellow in Japan.
Greer, who has a reputation for loose-tongued humor, apologized at the U.S. press conference for not being funny while reflecting on his eighth consecutive national title.
When asked in Japan about the camaraderie between him and his buddy, 2004 Olympic javelin champion Andreas Thorkildsen, who sat to Greer's left, the American delivered the perfect setup line for his first joke of impact.
"Over time we've become really good friends," he said. "The best part about me and Andreas is we're on the field and we have no ego about it. We're there to support each other, believe it or not. If he blows out a shoe, loses some spikes, I've got him covered. That's a comfort level we have out there. It's almost like we're a team out there in a weird way."
He paused for dramatic effect.
"Girls, too, you know," he said. Greer then looked at Thorkildsen, who raised his eyebrows, smirked and extended his hand toward Greer, perhaps saying, "yes, go on," as if he's seen this time and time before.
"He brings them home and I take over after that," Greer said, prompting hearty laughter from Thorkildsen and the throng of media.
"That's what we do," he said, smiling now. "It's a team. We're a good team. Tell all your friends."
Thorkildsen, the straight man, sat back in his chair and chuckled.
A few minutes later, Greer was asked if he feels like a star in the United States.
"I do track in the U.S.," he said with sarcasm. "I'm not anybody. My next-door neighbor has no idea who I am. They just see me bringing in spears. They say, 'What the hell is this guy doing?'"
He then appeared bored with the questions.
"But aside from that, we've got some good looking dudes up here. Look at this."
Greer cracks his signature sly smile, looks at Thorkildsen and then right to Derrick Atkins, a sprinter from Barbados also at the news conference. "I just want you to know that."
Later, Greer was asked why he apologized for not bringing his humor A game at the U.S. championships news conference. Was his humor subpar due to the sparse media crowd in attendance? Does he need a large audience to perform more profoundly? No. It was by design.
"They told me to tone it down, so I was just kind of being a lame ass out there," he said. "That's just not me. So I'm glad to be able to speak my mind. Even though I'll be the first to admit I'm not the greatest role model. I'm not the greatest guy behind a microphone because things just come and I've got a bad mouth."
Saying that could be compared calling the whistling tea pot hot.
What bred Greer's juvenile jocularity? Perhaps it was a way to tolerate the trials of his youth. He grew up amid tough conditions near Monroe, La.. Those conditions included an absent father. After the group news conference, he talked more somberly about drug deals gone badly and suicides in his youthful environment. More than a dozen have died from a rough life on the streets.
"I now what's important, my family and friends," he said. "If I throw the javelin far, who cares? There's much more to life than what we're doing here. It's just a fun thing to do in the meanwhile."
Greer escaped in part by competing in athletics. Gifted with a 96-mph fastball, he was drafted by Major League Baseball as a pitcher out of high school. Greer tried out for the track team during his senior year to take a break from baseball. He tried the pole vault, but only cleared 10 feet and thought it was stupid. He saw a member of the team throw the javelin and gave it a try. Two weeks later he received a track scholarship at Northeast Louisiana University.
He's finished 12th in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Injury and inexperience have prevented him from advancing to a world championship final in his two previous chances in 2003 and 2005. He says he's endured about a dozen surgeries. He was one of the favorites entering the 2004 games in Greece.
"When you're kind of expected to win, you have everything in your corner," he said. "Somebody's dangling a gold medal in front of you. That was rough. It was the worst thing that in my life that could happen, at the same time it was the best. So now everything's a bonus. So I don't stress out about anything."
Greer is one of the more veteran athletes on the U.S. world championship team, but he is clearly the most public king of the team's comedic court. It's refreshing to see Greer infuse humor into press conferences that sometimes attempt to follow a certain protocol.
"I've been through the struggle, a lot of injury problems, a lot of surgeries," he said.
"The struggle to get here has helped me I've sent he worst of the worst. I've got my friends, my family and god. And that's what's kept me going."
Along with his sophomoric, but refreshing, sense of humor.
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