How Oprah ruined the marathon

Must not be that hard, then.

 

: Typical BYH
Always tries to run away from the truth. Kind of like how he ran away when he said the Saints would be terrible with Reggie Bush in the backfield as a starter.

 

Well, W is obviously a pretty good athlete -- I think he's done more than one -- and I believe Gore's time was about as slow as Oprah's.

 

Oh little Chuckie. You make it too easy.

Speaking of truths and facts and shit that fucking little boys can't stand...here are the stats from the Saints' four-game winning streak.

Reggie Bush game-by-game:
vs. Seattle: 19 rush/97 yds; 6 catches/44 yds; long run 22 yds, long catch 17 yds
vs. Atlanta: 17 rush/54 yds; 5 catches/19 yds/1 TD; long run 9 yds, long catch 8 yds
vs. San Fran: 10 rush/64 yds; 7 catches/49 yds; long run 20 yds, long catch 25 yds
vs. Jax: 17 rush/72 yds/1 TD; 7 catches/43 yds/1 TD; long run 12 yards, long catch 18 yds
TOTALS: 63 rush/287 yds/1 TD; 25 catches/155 yds/2 TDs
AVERAGES: 4.6 YPC; 6.2 yds per catch
ON PACE FOR OVER A 16-GAME SEASON: 252 rushes/1148 yds/4 TDs; 100 catches/620 yds/8 TDs

OHHHHH. Wow, he's fucking revolutionizing the game. Over this four-game winning streak, he's yet to carry the ball 20 times...the bare minimum for a "workhorse" back. He's averaging 6.2 yds per catch and that's WITHOUT subtracting his "long" from the equation. So basically, he catches the ball and goes down. And if you subtract his long gain on the ground from each game, he's averaging less than four yards per carry in two fo the four games.

Big fucking deal little Chuckie. He's barely Larry fucking Centers. You know why the Saints are winning? This is why:

Brees: 25-36/246/2 TDs
Brees: 22-34/219/2 TDs/1 INT
Brees: 31-39/336/4 TDs
Brees: 35-49/445/3 TDs

BREES IN FOUR GAMES: 113-158/1,246 yds/11 TDs/1 INT

that's why the Saints are winning. Not because of your fucking boyband crush Reggie Bush. Because he's a barely complementary piece to Drew Brees ripping the shit up.

Go ahead and run from the truth now. Flash a pic of someone yelling THAT'S RACIST or prattle on about how baseball rules and Joe Morgan is great, which is your usual defense when I dismantle your hero worship bullshit. Know-nothing little boy.

 

1. When did I say he was revolutionizing the game? In fact, I remember made a whole thread about how he never was doing that.
2. Over 1,148 while only being the starter for 13 games is pretty good.
3. You said the season would be over with im as their running back. They came back. I'm right. You're wrong. Period, end of story.

P.S. My god you're a fraud. You just can't stick to the subject because you know you can't make a point. Bringing up baseball and "that's racist" for no reason : Just admit that you were wrong and move on with your life for god sakes.

 

My own thoughts on the article:
This seems to be another one of those fashionable pieces bemoaning the "trophies for everybody" mentality that has taken over society. Most of the people who bemoan that mentality have a point, that when we celebrate mediocrity, it devalues excellence.
I think authors such as this one tend to swing the pendulum a little too far in the other direction, however. In a society where obesity and other physical ailments are as big a problem as they are, anything that can motivate people to get off the couch is a good thing. People should not be discouraged from participating in recreational sports just because they cannot meet certain arbitrary standards.
Say what you will about distance running, but it is one of the most accessible recreational sports out there. One of the sport's charms is that different people do it for different reasons and it is welcoming of people of all abilities and Average Joe can compete with world class athletes on the same course at the same time.
A few weeks ago, I talked to a masters swimmer who was once a race director for the San Diego Marathon and he told me "If you train for performance, you're an athlete, no matter how slow you are."
I have some experience with marathons myself and am one of those people the author would probably look down upon.
In June of 2005, I completed the Kona Marathon as a fundraiser for a charity. Notice I didn't say "ran." In all honesty, I walked most of it (my time is a closely guarded secret. Let's just say Oprah and Katie Holmes would have kicked my ass). That was not my original plan, but my knees would not cooperate. I had just lost 85 pounds and in hindsight, it was probably too much, too soon.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did it. I trained to accomplish the goal of finishing and I finished. I got to travel to a place I would not have otherwise gone, I met some great people and I raised money for a cause that means a lot to me.
I don't know if I'll do another marathon again. My fitness and athletic interests are more in the direction of strength and power sports now. The fundraising was very tough and I'm not sure if I'm up to going through that again.
If I do another marathon, I plan on doing it the old-fashioned way, getting a few years of running under my belt, working my way up from 5ks to 10ks to half-marathons, then, finally, the marathon, running it, maybe taking a walk break here and there (Jeff Galloway has trained people with walking breaks who have run in the 3 1/2-hour range), but definitely running as much of it as possible.
I think the next marathon, if I do it that way, will be a much more rewarding experience.

 

Hey fraud, you're the one who can't stick to shit. You're the one who tried to end NBA arguments with JOE MORGAN RULES WHOOO YANKEES-RED SOX WOOOO shit.

The saints turned their season around because Drew Brees got his shit together. Reggie has had very little to do with it.

And the yardage was prorated over a 16-game season. You fail at even the most basic of reading comprehension. How did you get into college? You're so very, very dim. You fail at life.

 

I wonder if Danny Ocean would cry upon hearing this or watching this :-X

 

To say that Oprah has ruined marathons because she ran near 4 1/2 hours and that encouraged many to slowly complete the distance is crazy. He pairs this with the lack of U.S. success in elite marathoning.

That's like saying that the growing number of people participating in adult basketball leagues is the reason that the U.S. can't win the men's basketball gold medal.

What the hell does one have to do with the other? You're somehow pairing the recreational athlete with the elite athlete simply because the both complete the same distance. It's total BS. Yes, the average marathon time has gone way down because of the phenomenon. Has the average time for elite U.S. marathoners gone down? Even if it has, what does that have to do with what recreational marathoners do?

If we want to blame Oprah for couch potatoes getting off the their butts and running marathons, then do that. That would be credit as far as I'm concerned.

I've met John Bingham. He's a nice guy and he's got a good gig going. I don't object to his thinking at all and if that will bring more people into marathoning, that's great. I just don't have the patience to be out there five hours!

Another thing Oprah should get credit for. Weathering a damn tough day. Her one marathon -- the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington -- also was the first of my 22. It rained the whole time and poured very hard during periods. Everybody had to deal with that. But Oprah had to deal with having to run with a National Enquirer reporter and photographer and a reporter from some other tabloid rag. That would have pissed me off!

You want motivation? I kept seeing this one guy throughout the race who would say, "you're still ahead of Oprah!"

 

Allow Oprah to continue ruining marathongs. Or marathons, either or.

If she EVER says anything negative in an attempt to ruin Steak and Blowjob then her and I have an issue.

 

Oprah may have ruined marathons, but the solution is simple: Cattle prods for anyone falling behind a 3 1/2-hour pace.

If that doesn't put use back on the fast track to marathon prominence, I'll eat my spandex shorts.