It's funny how life works now, in this 24/7 era of sports talk, news talk, Twitter, Facebook, etc., etc., etc. From my perhaps old-school perspective, here is my take on it. When there is a controversial decision, announcement, action, or when someone famous (or not famous) does something wrong or says something foolish ... the initial reaction may be of mild outrage. But then, like a tidal wave and a crescendo, it builds. And it builds. And it builds. And it BUILDS. And then the dam breaks, emotions rule and a dramatic and radical change or reversal occurs.
Not sure if I am making sense, but let me give you an example from the somewhat recent past. Don Imus used to be the wildly popular host of the Imus in the Morning show on my favorite sports talk outlet, WFAN. He still has his show now, a few numbers down the dial. But back a few years ago, he and his cohorts said some really repulsive things about a group of African-American student-athletes. You probably remember and know what I am talking about. I did not hear it live, but when I heard the tape of it, I thought to myself, "more insensitive nonsense from Imus and Crew.'' And thought nothing more of it. In fact, I can recall far more tasteless and questionable things said on the air in his show in the past.
But talkies got hold of it. This was before the Twitter explosion even. Talkies, news shows, you name it. Big, Important People started calling for Imus' head. And before long, they had it, and he lost his job. Now, what he said and what he did certainly was reprehensible. But why was that moment and that time highlighted and brought on his (albeit temporary) demise? Call it the sqeaky wheel theory. You know the saying. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.
I think I was very clear on my stance that the NYC Marathon should have been postponed or canceled. I was in the middle of writing a long and impassioned post at around 5 p.m. Friday, about how and why I was pulling out of my participation in the marathon. And then, the marathon was canceled, rendering that post irrelevant. Should the marathon have been canceled? Again, from my perspective, the answer is yes. Many people that I know, respect and love disagree with this. Marist Running Alum Timmy Keegan sent me a text that really sums it up best: Right decision, wrong time.
In my opinion, the wrong decision was made initially. But by the time they got to late Friday afternoon, what exactly had changed from when they made their initial decision? Nothing, other than the relentless drumbeat of negativity surrounding the decision. The squeaky wheel. I'll admit to feeling relief at the decision as it "took me off the hook" with my choice of bailing on the race.
But at the same time, my heart goes out to the men and women who trained so hard for so many months for marathon day. In particular, my thoughts are with members of the Marist Running Family -- Brian Townsend, Zak Smetana, Chris Gould, others -- who were really looking forward to nailing a fast time down there. I know that all of them had mixed feelings about the race's going forward. But once Bloomberg and the others decided to plow forward with it, so too did their motivation and enthusiasm for completing the task at hand; something they had worked months on achieving.
The marathon should never have been held under these circumstances. They could have (and may?) postponed it to a later date. They should have decided it early in the week and spare us all of this melodrama. Right decision. Wrong time.
3 comments:
Hey Pete -
I seem to be close to alone in my opinion but I thought the marathon should have gone on. Or rather, I think that the people who were calling for it to be canceled hadn't really thought through their opposition and were being reactionary. Below is a letter I wrote to another website which fills out my opinion some more.
"I seem to be in a very small minority here but I think canceling the NYC marathon was a stupid idea. Or, more accurately, people wanting to cancel the marathon are misinformed and mal-intentioned. It's hard to blame Bloomberg and the people who put the marathon on since the growing protests more or less forced their hands.
The marathon brings a $340 million dollar economic boost to the area. Considering that this storm is estimated to cost us $50 billion $, I think it's quite shortsighted to turn that down. Some of the biggest beneficiaries from this marathon windfall are restaurants, which are some of the hardest hit businesses from the storm. The marathon pays the city $1.6 million to put on the marathon. Will this telethon that is on right now even raise that much?
Logistically, the marathon is doable. We have 35,000 police officers. Having 500-1000 of them spend six hours directing traffic to reap a nice economic boom for the area is not a misapplication of resources. Furthermore, these resources (water, generators, volunteers, hotel rooms) are not zero-sum. Cancelling the marathon is not going to make them magically help with the recovery. Those generators that were to power the finish line area weren't pulled away from powering homes in Staten Island.
Traffic could be an issue but most of the subway system will be back up by Sunday. The buses are all back. The ferry is back. The city is getting back to normal. The city makes this marathon work each year in regards to emergency vehicles. Not that emergency vehicles are even a huge issue at the moment - the storm was almost a week ago and it's not like there are a lot of urgent medical issues.
Some people say it's "too soon". When is it not too soon? There [was a Knicks game last night] at Madison Square Garden. How is that not inappropriate at this time? It's also drawing away resources (police, food, etc). Why are we allowing this to go on? Staten Island was hard hit but the Staten Island Mall is open. How is waiting in line at the Apple store for an iPad Mini not more "disrespectful" than running a marathon?
I can understand the frustration, especially in Staten Island. One reader pointed out the anger at the police gathering for the marathon but ignoring looters a few miles away. This is an issue but it's a logistic issue. Furthermore, this issue would exist without the marathon. The NYPD has more than enough officers (35,000, as mentioned above) - it's just a matter of making sure they get where they need to be. That is the issue, not the marathon.
Perhaps I'm biased as a runner, but marathons are about hard work and sacrifice as you work towards an end goal. The values that a marathon represents are the values that NYC needs right now. Even more so, the NYC Marathon is about community and pulling together as a unified five-borough city. This is what we need now. We should have gotten up early on Sunday, cheered the runners on as they went by, and then gone and volunteered the rest of the day. Instead, New Yorkers sat at their computers, bitched about it, and inadvertently gave businesses in the area another kick while they were down."
Pete,
It is a honor to have the post of a blog title.
As evidence by the text I was not in support of having the NYC marathon for a number of reasons.
My friend Pat Regan who I ran with at St. Anthony's and perhaps some blog readers might know, planned on running the NYC marathon this weekend. I've always known Pat as a very hard working, dedicated runner who has never had the benefit of good luck. I remember entering my junior year Pat had a phenomenal summer of training and came into the year looking to make a big impact on the team and for whatever reason it just never happened. He ran some faster times that spring and joined the Loyola cross country team the following fall semester. In some weird twist of fate Pat actually hosted me and Holinko in the same room on our recruiting trip to Loyola. Throughout college whenever he'd get into good shape the injury would bite. He could never get into a race to truly demonstrate his current fitness level. He had finally got in a got block of training and NYC marathon was suppose to be his first and possibly last marathon. His facebook status after the cancellation was "All I wanted to do is be your friend, running. And all you've ever wanted was to **** we me"
He reached a solution last night to run a marathon around central park and all donations made in his honor for running this impromptu marathon would good towards helping those affected by the hurricane. I think its a perfect solution. No aid or resources will be diverted from helping those affected by Sandy for this marathon, money will be raised for those affected and Pat can finish his own "NYC marathon". Below is a link with more information about the decision: http://spotastic.tumblr.com/post/34882762441/i-did-not-have-lemons-i-straight-up-had-lemonade-aka
And the race called benderthon. I will be donating in his honor for the cause and I haven't asked him yet, but maybe others planning on running NYC can jump in this.
Totally agree: Right decision, wrong time.
As a marathoner, I would be devastated to find my race cancelled at the last minute.
However, as a native New Yorker, I can tell you that the devastation in parts of the city supersedes the need to hold the race. I have relatives in Brooklyn and Staten Island whose homes are still full of flood waters, including a cousin who works for the MTA and has been busily working to restore the flooded subway system. My other cousin, who has been working non-stop as an NYPD officer, lost half his roof. They both lost cars to the flood. Clearly NY's emergency workers need a break, not more overtime.
I think the NYRR was thoughtless in thinking this event would not divert resources from the city's recovery. In my opinion the race has been losing its focus in recent years. I ran my third NYC marathon in 2011 along with 47,000 other "runners," many of whom seemed to be walking most of the course. I started in the third wave and spent the entire race weaving through groups of people. A very disappointing experience.
To anyone who had trained for this year's NYC marathon, I am truly sorry that you will not get the opportunity to run the race. I love the idea of running the race in Central Park on Sunday, and hope that the NYRRC takes notice and considers heading back to its roots: a marathon "race" run in NYC rather than a huge, crowded 26.2 mile "event."
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