Sports — remember those?

Screens in the age of coronavirus are full of games and sports shows from yesteryear, but during World War II, people kept up with sports primarily through newspapers and radio. Sports were a terrific distraction then, just as they would be today.

On April 17, 1942, the Coeur d’Alene Press sports page featured a delightful article about a 1920s star miler predicting nobody would ever run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Lloyd Hahn guessed that the best time possible for any athlete would be 4:03 or 4:04.

Two things:

One, look closely at the photo of two great milers, Gregory Rice and Paavo Nurmi. Notice how there are actually two photos, with the runners’ arms overlapping in between. Who knew The Press had a Photoshop program in 1942?

The other thing: The world record for the mile is 3:43.13. Breaking 4 minutes might not be exactly routine — no woman has done it yet — but it’s not a headline-generating feat.

So instead of being bored and watching TV, maybe you can dust off your running shoes today and show Lloyd Hahn how it’s done.