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Ashley Jocelyn ENC 1102 Professor Stack Feb 11, 2013 Critical Summary Off to a Blazing Start Critical Summary Tim Layden (rhetor) the author of the Track and Field based article Off to a Blazing Start which was published in the Sports Illustrated Magazine, went into depth on the matters of Andrew Wheatlings performance and accolades. Layden uses a number of ways to seize the readers concentration by keeping them interested in the story of Andrew Wheatling. The article was written for groups of people who are interested in track and field and also to give motivation to fellow track and field runners. The essence of this article was basically to explain to the intended audience that even though Wheatling wasnt running track all his life and isnt as experienced as all the other athletes he still can run with the best of them. He exudes such confidence in himself that he believes that there is no runner that is neither too fast nor too good to run against him. Wheatling who would be categorized as a novice track runner didnt let that title hinder his abilities to be something great. While other track athletes were basically running out the womb Wheatling just began running about six years ago. He knew nothing about the sport and some would even say that it was destiny that led him to become a runner. Layden provides more of ethos throughout the article than anything else. He furnishes the audience with the vast arrays of accolades that Wheatling has acquired throughout his track career. In the summer 2008 Wheatling made the U.S Olympic team in the 800 meter, and before exhausting his college

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eligibility in June he won five NCAA titles, including an electrifying 800-1,500 double this year in front of an Oregon home crowd at Hayward Field in Eugene.Layden went for the more credibility approach when it came to writing this article because the stats and accomplishments of the athlete is what really capture the targeted readers. Sure he uses pathos in his writing; for example, even with all his accomplishments Wheatling didnt let his success overcome who he was inside. Hes goofy. Hes the same guy who would sit in the back of the room in junior high looking up dirty words in the dictionary says a longtime friend John Wallis. This provokes emotion because it shows that Wheatling humbled himself and didnt let the fame and glory get to his head. Layden did use some logos in this article as well. The fact that the times for Wheatling were logical and nothing ridiculous like a two minute mile shows that he was human and the times he was running were reasonable and nothing out of this world. The claim of the article is that track and field isnt just a sport; it isnt just something you can wake up too and be great at. Its a culture, a way of life, you have to love track to be great at it. You have to believe in yourself and have the confidence that you will achieve what you are reaching out to achieve. You have to eat, sleep, and think track and field to be an ultimate runner. Having the drive to be something spectacular is the key to a successful career. The authors exigence for writing this article is to illustrate to the readers that whatever you put your mind to you can achieve it with hard work and confidence. This article was written to give readers out there an inspiration and a role model to look up to, because somewhere someone out there is in the same predicament as Wheatling. Theyve started track later that others or they want to start now but really dont have the confidence to pursue their dreams and think that its too late to be something worth even putting the effort in. And theses self doubts and second guessing of your

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abilities are the major constraints to someone being successful. This article advocates that if you have self-belief and work hard youll go extremely far in life.

This article was exceptionally inspirational to me personally because I too am a track and field athlete and understand the hard work that comes with the territory. Ive experienced the ups and the downs. Ive experienced the happy moments and the dreadfully devastating events too. Sometime I would like to just throw in the towel and say that I can take it anymore, but I can never come to it because I love the sport too much and know that I have an exceptional amount of talent that can later turn into an Olympic champion recognition. A story like Wheatling story written by Layden just gives me that extra dose of confidence that if he can succeed in something he is passionate in, so can I.

All in all Layden uses the credibility of Olympic runner Andrew Wheatling to capture the reader and provoke emotion by relating him to an everyday person who was destined to be great and believed that he would be. He argued that you dont need to have an enormous amount of experience under belt to be automatically victorious. An opportunity, confidence, and hard work will suffice. And the fact that this article was published in Sports Illustrated just s the message that Layden is giving a lot more trustworthiness for the reader and the reassurance that its legit and not just a made up story.

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Work Cited Layden, Tim. Off to a Blazing Start. Sports Illustrated 113.10 (2010):62-64. Academic Search Premier. Wed 7 Feb. 2013 <!Additional information: Persistent link to this record (Permalink) http://ezproxy.lib.ucf.edu/login? URL=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=53739890&site=ehostlive