Johnson Favored but No Sure Bet

I think I know who is going to win today’s long-awaited duel at 200 meters between Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene (Johnson). Most other media members think they know who is going to win (Johnson). Most of the athletes and coaches think they know who is going to win (Johnson).

But if you want opinions that really count, you should turn to the people who are willing to put money on them--bettors.

When I called Steve Schorr, the racing and sports book manager at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe on Friday, he said that Johnson was an overwhelming favorite at 7-5.

“It started as a pick-’em,” he said. “But Johnson has been getting excellent play.”

When I called again after Saturday’s first round in the 200 at Cal State Sacramento, Schorr reported that the odds on Johnson had gone to 3-2.

“Is that because of what happened this morning?” I asked.

“Could be,” he said. “What happened this morning?”

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So perhaps not everyone is paying rapt attention to the men’s 200 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

But enough people are that Nevada’s sports books requested a betting line last week from their consultants in Las Vegas and posted it on their boards.

Outside the Olympics, Schorr said the only other track and field event he could remember attracting that kind of interest was the match race three years ago in Toronto between Johnson and Donovan Bailey.

It’s an intriguing enough race that NBC, which would tape delay the end of the world if it could find a time slot for it later, is showing it live on the East Coast. (West Coast viewers, however, will have to wait for “plausibly live” coverage at 8:48 p.m.)

“Michael Johnson-Maurice Greene is the biggest showdown by two American athletes on U.S. soil since 1971, when Marty Liquori and Jim Ryun raced in the Dream Mile at Franklin Field in Philadelphia,” NBC analyst Dwight Stones said in a press release.

I’d like to report that his declaration is sheer network hype. But that wouldn’t be so, a sad commentary on a sport that too seldom requires its best athletes to compete against each other.

The root of this evil is money. Athletes believe they have to protect their Track & Field News rankings, which enable them to collect more money in appearance fees and bonuses. They meet only when they must, such as at the Olympic trials, the Olympics or the world championships.

Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, the great British middle-distance runners, are blamed for devising this strategy of avoidance, which was appropriated by their successors at 1,500 meters and up, Morocco’s Said Aouita and England’s Steve Cram.

As his winning streak in the 400-meter hurdles grew to more than 100, Edwin Moses often was criticized for ducking his most formidable challengers. After the dramatic long jump confrontation in 1991 in Tokyo between Mike Powell and Carl Lewis, in which there were four jumps of more than 29 feet, they met again only six times before retiring years later.

Perhaps the best example occurred in 1987, after Ben Johnson set a world record in beating Lewis in the 100 meters at the Rome world championships.

Johnson, having refused in the weeks to come on the European circuit to grant Lewis a rematch, appeared as if he were finally trapped in Lausanne, Switzerland, one August night.

But, although he had agreed to run a 100 there, he balked upon learning that Lewis was in the same race. The promoter, Jacky Delapierre, suggested separate 100s. Johnson balked at that too, saying he didn’t want his time compared to Lewis’.

Delapierre, afraid that his featured attraction would leave town without running at all, finally offered him a 60-meter race, a seldom-run distance in outdoor meets, without Lewis. Johnson accepted, won and, and when asked afterward by reporters about Lewis, unapologetically responded, “Any time he’s ready, I’m ready.”

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Michael Johnson, the reigning Olympic champion, and Greene, the reigning world champion, have met only twice at 200 meters, Johnson winning in 1997 and Greene in ’98.

They were scheduled to meet twice last year, but Johnson withdrew both times, the first in New York because he had to attend his grandmother’s funeral and the second at the national championships in Eugene, Ore., because he said he wasn’t 100%.

There were suggestions from Greene’s Westwood-based camp that Johnson was avoiding him, which, considering the circumstances in New York, angered Johnson. He hasn’t gotten over it.

After turning the sport into smack and field with their comments since the trials began 10 days ago, they stared each other down on the practice track Saturday, like two boxers before Mills Lane tells them to get it on, and then laughed and went over to Hornet Stadium to win their first-round heats.

Johnson was more impressive, winning the heat in 19.89 seconds, only .03 off Greene’s all-time best. Greene, meantime, ran one of the dumbest rounds I’ve ever seen, starting to coast down the stretch and then having to accelerate again when challenged by Darvis Patton. Greene’s time was 20.29.

Greene, who turns 26 today, has much less experience than Johnson, 32.

Johnson also has six of the 20 fastest times ever, including the 19.32 world record he set in winning the gold medal four years ago in Atlanta.

Greene’s coach, John Smith, contends that Johnson’s time in Atlanta was almost superhuman and that it took his body three years to recover, pointing out that he hasn’t run a 200 faster than his 19.89 here since.

After Saturday’s rounds, Johnson complained of a cramp in his right quad and said he didn’t know for sure whether he would even make it to the line for today’s semifinal--in which he drew the lane next to Greene--or the final.

If he doesn’t, Greene will have plenty more to talk about. If he does, I think Johnson wins. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.

U.S. TRACK TRIALS

Showdown in the men’s 200 today.

TELEVISION: 7 tonight, Channel 4 (delayed)

TODAY’S FINALS

* Men’s high jump

* Men’s triple jump

* Men’s 110 hurdles

* Men’s 200

* Men’s discus

* Men’s 800

* Women’s pole vault

* Women’s 100 hurdles

* Women’s 200

* Women’s 800

CLEARING HURDLE

Angelo Taylor overcomes bout of food poisoning to qualify for Sydney. Page 12