Crossfit Games to award guns to first-place finishers

If the New York Times ran an op-ed today headlined, "Why the Dallas and Baton Rouge shooters did the right thing," I would have no problem calling that an imprudent exercise of the First Amendment.

 

A case could be made the Crossfit dude made a straw purchase of those pistols, since he bought them with the full intention of giving them to somebody else to use.

 

It looks like Reebok, one of the major sponsors, is not happy about it.

 

They don't care at all. They just don't want to get caught in the figurative PR crossfire. Same with ESPN.

From Reebok: “As the title sponsor of the Games, we unfortunately do not have input regarding other partners or promotions. While we understand CrossFit’s foundations are tied to military and first responders, we do not agree with this decision, particularly in light of current events in the United States.”

ESPN: “ESPN televises CrossFit but has no involvement with running the competition or the prizing,” an ESPN spokesperson told USA Today. “We also make no mention of prizes in our telecasts.”

Also, as someone else noted upthread, this is not tone deaf. It's a political statement, which Crossfit is free to make.

 

As an ex-Marine, was Gavin Long an avid Crossfitter?

 

Oh, yeah. This isn't some mistake that Crossfit made. I didn't realize the extent to which Crossfit indoctrinates people about cops, firefighters, and veterans, but it makes sense now. The biggest Crossfitters on my Facebook feed are also the most ardent #BlueLivesMatter folks.

 

I'm curious what the broader reaction has been at CrossFit gyms across the country. Several of my friends who do CrossFit canceled their memberships immediately and moved, as a group, to a similar type of high-intensity gym nearby. One who owns a box, or whatever they call it, openly questioned on Facebook whether he will remain an owner.

Given that I haven't read about CrossFit canceling the prize, I'm assuming it's mostly been met with a positive reaction among its members.

 

Precious snowflakes.

 

I don't know what that means.

 

Are we sure they're talking about real guns and not these? (I mean, it IS CrossFit.)

 

I'm not sure what his argument is. He doesn't like that I said that handing out glocks wasn't a prudent exercise of the Second Amendment. He thought it was a "gotcha" moment. But, again, I don't think, for example, that John Rocker prudently exercised his First Amendment rights. Constitutional rights don't mean do whatever the fuck you want within the right and no one can criticize you. That's the Sarah Palin version.

 

Their programming is not big on curls.