Fist fights and running spikes

What makes you want to order the Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight?

Maybe you order it. Maybe you don't. Maybe you're like a lot of people and you just think about it. But why?

Because they hate each other. Or they say they do. There's actual, publicized dislike between the two.

OK, that's enough free publicity for De La Hoya-Mayweather.

The front page of the dyestatcal.com Web site, the state's leading source for high school track and field information (it deserves the publicity), highlighted a figurative fight of its own this week.

In between photos of nationally reknowned Mission Prep sophomore Jordan Hasay and Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills senior Alex Kosinski, who will face off in the 1,600-meter race at Saturday's Sacramento Meet of Champions, was a graphic of a pair of boxing gloves.

The race is a high-profile showdown, and dyestatcal.com did well to promote it, but here's what I know from my expereince: Runners don't seem to hate each other in that way.

In the past, Hasay's only had the nicest things to say about her competitors.

Don't get me wrong, she wants to win perhaps more than anybody I've ever met. Try conducting an interview with Hasay after suggeting there might be the slightest outside chance that one out of 1 billion people thinks she might not win a race. Her past history, including state and national titles, commands ultimate respect.

But it's not like she wants to eat anyone's kids or gets into fistfights on the podium. It's not like she's likely to get intentionally tripped by a rival on the way to the finish line.

The race previews read about how one runner is close in time to another. They're not about how A-Rod charged the mound against Schilling. Or how T.O. spit in someone's face.

When runners don't win, they're more likely to blame themselves than point the finger at an opponent or an official.

High school runners don't hate each other. Nor should they. But that's also why it's not on pay-per-view.