The court of public option has spoken, Blair Cullen you're a loser.

Why don't you pick on someone you're own size? Ill be your Huckelberry and you'd better pack a lunch.

You're a 50 year old woman who uses the phrase "pwned"?

I cracked up at that.

I just learned a lot about how the culture of triathlon, PR's, power, measurement really manifest itself in people, humans. Not sure I saw that before for what it is.
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But as I posted in an earlier post, if this happened on the swim, would we even bat an eye? Would we talk down to the offended athlete as needing to grow up and be more aggressive in the swim? The RD even mentioned this, as we seemingly have justified piss poor racing action in swimming? As if it's a badge of honor, that anything goes in the swim essentially. Why is that? I think if the actions are as bad as they are portrayed and acknowledged, it's inexcuseable. What I sorta question is why dont we as a sport hold that true to all our actions in the entirity of the race.

So why is it that we are outraged at an event like this, but seeminly accept that the same type of action in the swim is ok/justified/never questioned? I think that shows just as nasty an "all about me, screw you" attitude as this event.

Is it because it's not out in the public eye? Because we cant get officials in the swim, so it's essentially the wild wild west (similar to what happens when no draft marshalls and athletes basically cheat at all costs? Do we just not care and accept it (this seems to be the reasoning from the RD's response to the swim comment?

Again, I'm not talking about the occassional contact (arm hitting you, getting kicked), but more just swimming over/through people that I hear about happening on like every race.

It sorta reminds me of the drafting debate. Just debating the draft/non-draft format, and I'll hear the reasoning"drafting on the bike takes away from individual effort", yet I ask about the draft they get and use in the swim. So it's as if some allowable "help" is ok,but just not too much help.[/quote]

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

I got a pretty good chuckle out of this exchange. Next thing we'll find out she uses the term swag

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When all is said and done. More is usually said than done
Ba Ba Booey

teenage sons

How nice. You get on the internet to flame and denigrate and then use your teenage sons as the inspiration/knowledge base for that?

That's...swell.

It is silly to argue that is it is possible to avoid contacting someone 100% of the time, there are plenty of stupid things other people could do that are unavoidable.

Rich,

Thanks for coming to the forum and providing the facts of the situation. Blair being on the wrong side of the course makes it all his fault that this happened and he reacted in an inappropriate manner.

It's pretty funny to me to see people still defending the guy's actions. You've had the RD come out and say that what the dude did was unconscionable after reviewing the video and speaking to eyewitnesses. Yet STILL some posters won't admit that the dude was a punk a$$ for his actions. The need to be "right" or at least not "wrong" has so distorted people's thinkings that they defend the indefensible. Dude wacks girl in the head (hard enough to leave a bruise) I really don't give a sh+t whether it was closed handed or open handed that is so f'd up. I'm sorry but if that were my wife, they would literally have to pry me off his body as I taught him a lesson.

And on a side note, I liked that a 50 y.o. used the "pwnd" idiom correctly. It means that she is in touch with the common vernacular. And to use her diction as an ad hominem attack rather than rebutting the actual argument reveals the logical fallacy in her opponent.

And OJ's not a killer......

common vernacular? ad hominem attack? logical fallacy? I bet you like to hear yourself talk.

4nd n0. pw3nd 15nt c0mm0n v3rn4cu14r. n00b

not as much as you like to pick on 50 year old woman byatch...

Her use of the word "pwned" was fallacious in and of itself. As was her initial agreement with a post containing its own ad hominems.

Might want to brush up on your fallacies if you intend on calling them into play and then figure out which posts came first.

+1. Still want to see this. Then the debate will be over and we can put all of our focus into calling each other names.

Ummm....the debate IS over. The RD, the only guy whose opinion really matters, has settled it.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

 
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Years ago,a friend of mine was racing in Ironman Canada and was running back fro the turn around at about mile 14.He came across a competitor who was on the ground totally out of it just as an ambulance arrived.He stopped and went back to make sure that competitor was okay before continuing on with his run.The thing is,the guy who collapsed was in the lead at the time and my friend Tom was in second.Even though he had taken over the lead of the race he still had the decency to see if Dave was okay before continuing on to win the race.

I guess I learned a lot about priorities when I saw the footage of that incident but sadly it would seem that the times and peoples sense of compassion for fellow athletes have changed a lot since those days.


I suggest you read the post below from the race director of the event in question and let us know if you still think that this was an acceptable behaviour to have when "racing"...

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Nick, I've read the post that you mentioned, as well as some of the RD's other comments. Again, I'm not disputing the DQ or that the guy bears some blame. Again, I did not say that this was "acceptable behavior" either. My thoughts on the RD's statement are more or less summed up by the poster "Burnt Toast" (see post #321 and earlier one), so I won't repeat it. I'll add though, that I had to raise an eyebrow at the RD referring to the rough-housing that happens on the swim portion as "folklore". I actually agree with something you said in a different post, that people's reactions reflect a difference in what we think of as "acceptable". An offshoot of that, I think is that people can and do pick and choose what they want to be "outraged" about.

Since we're talking about acceptable behavior though, tell me, do you think it is acceptable behavior to call people you've never met bitches and assholes?

Many people seem to think that caring too much about your PR when you aren't in contention for the win is lame, whereas I think that people who aren't competitive and don't put their all into races are lame. I also think self righteous whiners (like the woman in this incident) are lame. These are all just opinions though, and I don't personally see the need to resort to name calling over such disagreements.

I never said that this Blair guy isn't lame, but from what I can tell, you interpret the fact that I can somewhat relate to 'making a bad decision because you care so much about your PR' and the fact that I think the woman in the story is really cringe-worthy to mean that I condone Blair's actions. I didn't say that. I just said that it was surprising how few people here seem to share my two opinions (in the paragraph above), it is just very different from the message boards I normally read.

The story that you share is very nice, and people like that are still out there. But there are always going to be Blairs too, and personally I just think that there are so many REALLY bad things that happen in the world that I just can't relate to the sheer amount of outrage and denigration expressed towards this individual. I don't think that this makes me a terrible, uncompassionate human being, but oh well.

I wish Richard would just post it on youtube, but he forwarded to me and asked me to. I don't have an account and would like someone that I personally know to post it (I don't want to just forward it to anonymous folks that I don't know). Well if nothing else Richard and I made a pact to push each other hard (as in running hard not a physical battle) at our next race together.

I hope someone that we all know can come forward and offer to post it.

[/quote]

I can't believe no one ran out and tackled this guy or worse after hitting a woman. He should have never crossed the finish line. Two wrongs don't make a right but I don't care what this poor lady did. No one should be punched on a tri course, especially a woman being hit by a man. And the fact that anyone is taking focus off of what this guy did and some how even mentioning the lady's "mistake" is ridiculous. She did nothing wrong in my eyes. Wonder if this guy punches cars that get in his way on open courses. This guy is a loser.

On a 2nd note - Maybe something in the water - The day before at Toughkids I literally saw a 45 to 50 year old dad yelling loudly at 12 year girls calling them cheaters while they were running out of T1. Apparently he thought they did the swim incorrectly after the organizers changed the swim course mid event. I had some words with him - just letting him know you can't yell at kids calling them cheaters. I had no idea who the guy or girls where. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! What's going on!!!

If you have a Gmail account, I believe you can easily set a youtube account up. Even if you created a new one it's only a minute or two. Be the hero that ST deserves.

AARRRGGGHHHHH.... women are not frail and defenseless, particularly fit athlete women. When people talk about "distorted thinking" THIS IS IT. People see a woman get hurt and they automatically freak out. As a woman, this is really condescending and annoying. If we're getting mugged or raped, yes defend us, as we will probably lose in a mano a mano struggle... but in terms of the shit that happens on a race course, good grief, we can handle ourselves. I'll bet there are tons of male athletes that get shoved and hit in a race and it doesn't make the message boards...

Also, retaliatory violence, though glorified, is NOT RIGHT. It should be "human beings should not hit other human beings". Maybe it IS worse if the victim is a small child or an elderly person, as they stand to get hurt a lot worse than your average male or female adult... but seriously. These people who condone bodily harm to be done to the guy in this scenario, do you really think you sound like decent, sane individuals?

Fast guys aren't always at the front in the swim when it's wave starts. Those fast guys have to swim through waves of athletes. Besides I'm not saying it's fast or slow athletes, if what happened to this woman happened in the swim, where athlete just swims right through her, it would be no harm, no foul (and swimmers swim off course all the time). It's like the sport has an acceptance of it because it's some tradition or something, or maybe it just can't be policed, and politeness for other athletes just doesn't belong on the swim portion of a tri.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

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Dev,I'm thinking that if the people involved didn't want it made public for reasons that were stated earlier then it should be laid to rest..If Richard and the guys at USAT who saw it and deemed the guys actions reprehensible and worthy of a DQ but still elected not to make it public then it should be laid to rest..If you aren't willing to be the one to make it public then I guess it is a little "too hot a potato" for you to want to be the one to make it public for ST amusement...Like Power13 said,the RD has made the call and that is all that really matters..Of course , many folks here are not really interested in the consequences of posting that video publicly,they just want some more entertainment.

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Maybe, but I'll take a video over any one person's word.

It'd still be interesting.

Zing, zing. People get all rowdy on the interwebz when defending their moral high roads....

Good call.