Henderson's Theorem of Big Cities: Any city that's not big enough to have a marathon and a football game on the same day is not a big city. It most certainly is not world-class.

Dennis Archer before him, and Kwame Kilpatrick now, talk about Detroit as a world-class city. Those of us who own houses there and wonder where the streetlights went, or have to hire private security patrols and private snow removal for their neighborhoods, and know that if they see a car being stolen across the street the cops won't get there until about the time the car has already been chopped into parts and sent out of state, know the folly of describing this as world-class.

But, still, it is our town and we're entitled to love it despite its foibles, to appreciate such communities within the city as Palmer Park or East English Village, where blacks and whites DO get along, and stately old houses are well maintained under majestic old trees towering overhead. Entitled to love Belle Isle and its unkempt, unruly beauty. Entitled to enjoy watching life come back to a once-ghost-town downtown and its now-bustling Friday nights in the summer. But forget that world-class stuff, will you?

Item: The National Football League releases its schedule in March. The Lions, it is announced, will play a home game at their new Ford Field downtown on Sunday, Oct. 20. Not their first home game in their new field, just a home game, one of eight this season. And a month later, the Free Press announces that because of the football game, it will have to move the marathon up two weeks, from its scheduled date on the 20th to a new date Oct. 6.

London is a world-class city. Paris is world-class. Rome is world-class. Can you imagine their marathons being rescheduled because race officials found out there was going to be a soccer game that day, too? "Arsenal's got a home game, so we jolly well have to change the marathon, eh, what?" Not in a million years.

Does the Chicago Marathon wait until the Bears' schedule comes out to pick a day for its race? In the spring, does the Flying Pig marathon in Cincinnati work around the Reds' schedule, or the Pittsburgh Marathon wait to see if the Pirates are playing a home game near the finish line?

Only in Detroit would even runners accept it as fitting and natural to hold off on picking a day for the marathon until you knew whether the football team is playing a game five hours after your marathon begins.

I understand the dynamics. The marathon would like to finish near Comerica Park and Ford Field. The city's budget is taxed enough by the cops needed to police the streets for a football game, much less the added burden of patrolling 26.2 miles of intersections all over town. The fact I understand that Detroit is a small town doesn't make it just a bit sad for someone who was born in the city in 1948 and spent his early years in the city when it was one of the most important, bustling cities on earth.

In 1984, it was still a big city. Marathon day that year was also a home game for the Tigers in the World Series against San Diego. No one suggested, or even thought, that you couldn't have a marathon the same day as a World Series game. And that's the World Series and all its attendant hoopla and out-of-town visitors, not just one of eight regular-season home games.

And I remember running the Chicago Marathon a year or two later and on my way back to my hotel going past the crowds heading into Soldier Field for a Bears game. I asked runners to comment about the Freep change in a note to those on the statewide runners' mail list (mirunlist@umich.edu) and got back these comments.

No. 1, from one of the top masters runners in the state: "Does the City of New York think one of their team's home games is bigger than the NYC Marathon? Of course not. Does Chicago think the Bears game is a bigger event than the Chicago Marathon? Doubtful. Does Detroit think the Freep is bigger than ANYTHING around here? No chance. I think that if there was a church picnic along the route that the race would interfere with, they'd change the freaking course.

"It's ridiculous. Either the city gets behind its marathon, or it doesn't stand a chance. Period. Minneapolis, Chicago, NYC, London, LA, Columbus, Boston, Marine Corps, etc., etc., etc. ... Getting the city's support is the only way. Is the marathon seen as a suburban sport/event? Is it perceived as all these suburbanites coming into the city to take over or interrupt the downtown? I get that feeling sometimes, and if that's true, it will always be an adversarial relationship, us vs. them."

No. 2, from Terry Elsey, who used to be one of the top masters in the state: "I'm glad the Freep is two weeks earlier this year. I'm tired of freezing to death every year. You and I both run slow enough that with an 8 a.m. start, we will be just passing Ford Field for kick-off."

When I first heard about the schedule conflict, I hoped it would be excuse to route us marathoners back to a finish inside Tiger Stadium, again. Wouldn't that have been cool?

Does this mean the race will never be able to set a date until March or April? Isn't that a little late for all the national running calendars, such as those printed in Runner's World and Running Times? Or it will never again have its own weekend on the fall marathon calendar, moving from week to week as football dictates?

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The last issue of Michigan Runner, the one with Michigan track coach Ron Warhurst and some of his star runners, hadn't yet come off the presses when the word hit the Runner's World website and USA Today: Alan Webb, Warhurst's star freshman and the high school phenom who had broken Jim Ryun's prep record for the mile with a 3:53 and change, they said, was about to quit school, turn pro and run on the international circuit.

Will he or won't he? As this issue goes to press, no one yet knows. I wrote the Warhurst cover story, chatted a couple of times with Webb and watched him at several workouts, but I don't presume to have the least bit of inside knowledge.

I do have an opinion: I hope Webb stays in school. He got frustrated by an injury, and he didn't run faster his freshman year of college than he'd run in high school -- didn't get anywhere near going under 3:50, which was the plan -- but still, it wasn't a bad year by anyone's standards, except maybe his.

Webb won the Big Ten cross-country title as a freshman and made All American at the NCAAs. And in May, he won the outdoor Big Ten title at 1,500 meters, in 3:49.27, pretty impressive for a freshman. The week before the Big Ten meet, he ran 3:41.46 at another meet, the fifth-fastest time in the NCAA this year.

You only get one chance in life to be a college kid and do college-kid things. Hal Higdon wrote last year that Webb would be nuts to go to college, that it had nothing to offer him, that he should turn pro. I disagreed then and disagree now.

Webb is wrapped pretty tightly, as anyone watching him do a workout can quickly tell. He's intense. He gets angry. You probably don't run 3:53 in high school without world-class intensity. I think running with college kids for three more years will be better for him emotionally than going head-to-head with all those sub-3:50 milers on the international circuit. There's plenty of time for that.

Plus I like Ron Warhurst and would hate to see him lose the best recruit he ever signed; no insult meant to Kevin Sullivan or any of the other great runners he's had over the years.

As for Nate Brannen, the other sub-4-minute prep miler on the U-M team: After a stress fracture kayoed much of his outdoor season, Brannen ran 1:48:39 to finish third in the 800 meters at the Big Ten meet, and he qualified for the NCAAs, too.

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A lot of moaning started this column. How about some words-of-thanks to end it? One -- Thanks to the folks in Leelanau wine country for the new and improved Harvest Stompede this coming Sept. 14. I ran the inaugural race last year and it was one of my favorite runs of that or any other year. The location and views were incredible, starting high up in the Ciccone Vineyards, with a course that meandered over trails and through three vineyards and finished with a leap into a pile of grapes. This year, the 10K has been expanded to seven miles, with a 5K run and walk added. Call (231) 938-3247 for information or go to http://www.lpwines.com.

Two -- Thank you, Randy Step, for adding another trail run to your growing list of cool races. Nothing beats the Potawatomi Trail Runs in April, except maybe the Dances with Dirt ultras in September. June marked the debut of another winner, the Legend 10-mile and the Ichabod 5-mile trail runs in Sleepy Hollow State Park north of Lansing. As usual, the flyer for the new run was a winner, too. "Flat, fast, accurate single-loop courses. Just kidding!" it said. Also, "There are some low areas that will be muddy and wet, even if it does not rain. Would you want it any other way?" Three -- While we're on the subject of trails, thanks, again, to Jeff Crumbaugh for his amazing Keweenaw Trail Festival in the Upper Peninsula on July 13-14. Donna Swanson of Northville sent an email about last year's festival, which she did with her husband, John: "It was one of our favorites for both a tourist destination and for tough courses. Doing all three races in two days provides a unique challenge ...We combined the festival of races with a side trip to Isle Royale, which was wonderful to visit. Not sure I've ever been anywhere so REMOTE! The UP in general is a great vacation destination." For information, contact Jeff at runskikayak@hotmail.com.