The children are the tiny Ed McMahons of the race, warming up the audience before the main pitch.
Keane is known to want to stay and fight for his place at the club but increasingly it would appear that Benitez is prepared to use him as a bargaining chip to bolster his squad as the title race warms up.
Alone with their thoughts and their nerves, the runners spent the last hour or more before the race warming up, being stretched out by the medical personnel on hand, going over their mental strategies and fitfully counting the minutes until the start.
What kind of music do you like, and do you have a pre-race warm up jam?
That year Webber's Mercedes CLR took off in qualifying at Indianapolis and in the pre-race warm-up on the Mulsanne straight and was withdrawn due to fears of a design flaw.
To go out and ride a race, and also through the pre-race warm-up, and not have pain [means that] mentally I feel a lot more clear than I did for the last five years when I was riding competitively.
Today, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., qualifying car racing; 9 a.m. to noon, practice racing; tomorrow, 9 a.m. to noon, practice racing followed by racing, 1 to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., swap meet; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., car show; Monday, racing warm-up, 9 to 11 a.m., followed by racing, 12 30 to 4 30 p.m. (800) 722-3577; limerock.com.com
Wiggins is favourite to win the race but is wary of the threat posed by defending champion Ryder Hesjedal and Italy's Vincenzo Nibali, who won the traditional pre-race warm-up, the Giro del Trentino.
On Sunday morning, a pre-race warm-up session took place at 09 30 local time, and lasted for 30 minutes.
As the seven sleek yachts that remain in the race ride warm southerly winds past Cape Cod this weekend, they will have to make their way around yet another obstacle, a whale sanctuary, before gliding into Boston Harbor.
