Roscoe wrote:
Folks, we have an obesity epidemic in our society, in case you haven't noticed. A lot of obese people don't really try to lose weight because they don't believe they can do it. They've tried diets; they fail. They don't think they can exercise. The Biggest Loser phenomenon convinces them that they can, that they should at least try. What I like about the show is that it puts
exercise, not diet, front and center in this effort. Most of the weight loss philosophies in this country over the last 30 years have been diets, and diets alone are doomed to failure.
So, I support anything that raises the profile of the Biggest Loser contestants and provides them a platform to show overweight Americans that there's no reason they can't get fit--fit enough to compete in some serious endurance events.
Former contestants, especially the ones who keep the weight off, seem to feel a responsibility to spread the "gospel" and I believe they really make an impact in an ongoing way. I know former BL contestant Jay Kruger, who joined our tri club this year. He's constantly making appearances and promoting fitness. Judging by the people who comment on his Facebook posts alone, he inspires a lot of people. I think it would be great if he were given an opportunity to do Kona. Sure, it took him 4:10 to do Boston and he'd probably take 13 or 14 hours to finish Kona. But that is mind-blowing to obese people who can't fathom getting to that point.
(My only beef with the show: they'd probably lose more weight riding a bike for 5 hours a day in zone 1 or 2. But, that makes for far less exciting TV than Jillian Michaels screaming at them to toss a medicine ball until they barf.)
You're right on the money. Shows like the Biggest Loser carry some inspiration with them and for a continent struggling with an obesity epidemic what we need is more channels like that through which people can realize its never too late to turn their life around. Its a show that demonstrates pills and diets and books are no replacement for working your butt off (no pun intended), but it also demonstrates that working your butt off can pay off.
Like Fleck alluded to, sure Macca running up the Queen K is a great story, but NBC knows that Tara from BL will probably speak to a lot more people considering 68% of the US population is overweight and 34% is straight up obese (Reference:
http://www.hivehealthmedia.com/...-obesity-stats-2010/).
This might sound a little altruistic but if Tara taking the 1800th Kona spot and finishing in under 17hrs inspires people to turn their lives around from an abbreviated livelihood of obesity, then far be it for any one of us to say she that doesn't deserve the slot. If this was my year to KQ and I miss it by "one slot" (like thousands of other people), then I'd better just HTFU for next year.
Bad929: I know its a "World Championship", and I know having BOPers theoretically takes away from that. But if it wasn't for the human interest stories the Kona coverage would be a one hour recap broadcast on OLN, and advertisers and sponsors would walk away. KSwiss was all over this year's Kona sponsorship, but do you think KSwiss would be offering up a million bucks to the Raelert bros if they didn't think triathlon was a sport that ultimately had mass market appeal? Triathlon is a sport where "anything is possible" and every day people rightfully believe they can do something great. Take away everyday success stories and you take away mass market appeal. Take away mass market appeal, and the money for the pros, and the money for product development will dry up pretty quickly. Thats why the sport needs the human interest stories as badly as it needs its champions, and why the NBC Kona coverage is so split between the two. Simple as that.
Raf
http://www.shutuplegs.org
