To the Ritzenhein-Fanclub

First 5k was 13.59 and second 13.11 :)

ritz and abdi are they running the stanford 10k this week? does anyone have the start list for that meet?

mr.superexpert wrote:

Martin Irungu Mathathi recently ran 27:10 for 10k with a 57 lap in the middle and a 56 lap at the end, this is world class distance running.

What does that have to do with the cost of tea in China?

Ritz just ran a 61 in the middle of a 5K racing against US college boys. Clearly, "challenged one", the point is that Ritz will not be able to hang when the heat gets turned up. Nothing more, nothing less.

Who cares about freakin' Stanford 10K - sorry guys, but the real races are not in the US!

Ritz may run a fast time in a Stanford setup "time trial" where here runs 25 evenly paced laps, but he does not have the wheels to run at the world level in a race. You dolts still don't get this, running a fast pace for 25 laps is not the same as racing.

Monkey Spanker wrote:

Ritz just ran a 61 in the middle of a 5K racing against US college boys. Clearly, "challenged one", the point is that Ritz will not be able to hang when the heat gets turned up. Nothing more, nothing less.

Come on, he ran world-record pace for one lap! He just needs to learn to throw in a couple more of those and he'll be the best!!

Your right he should just be like you and quit the sport telling everyone that there is no way americans can compete at the world class level and there's no sense even trying.

So what? Unless your name is Kenenisa Bekele, there is always going to be someone faster than you at 5000 and 10000 meters. That's no reason to not go out there and do your best.

Earl, you list the only argument that you retards on here have when someone compares Americans to the best. No one is saying that Ritz should hang it up and quit the sport. Any intelligent person on here can see that Ritz has run some very good times. But its directed to you morons who are swinging from his nuts and saying he'll be the best and dominate on the world scene against the top runners. Ritz is very good, but until he mixes it up and beats the best, he is just a very very good US runner. No one in the Golden League meets will care what is potential and talent indicates he can run. They only know that he is a 13:20's 5k guy that will get his ass handed to him in a real race on the track in Europe if he runs that there.

He needs to find a new coach and should have listened to Wetmore. Wetmore hounded him about working on 1500m speed and Ritz chose to run the 5 and 10. Ultimately, Ritz settled the debate by choosing a "coach" who would yield to his wishes. Unless he changes, he has to move up in distance (1/2 marathon +) or he will have a career in Europe as a rabbit, pacing everyone through some number of perfectly paced laps only to be outgunned in the last 800m.

Doogie wrote:

But its directed to you morons who are swinging from his nuts and saying he'll be the best and dominate on the world scene against the top runners.

I wish Ritz the best, but I don't recall anyone ever saying that he will be the best.

Yeah, I believe "the very best" were the words used.

Ritz Fan wrote:

So what? Unless your name is Kenenisa Bekele, there is always going to be someone faster than you at 5000 and 10000 meters. That's no reason to not go out there and do your best.

Damn straight brother!

I'm with you. Somehow it makes people feel better about themselves by coming on thse boards and ripping the kid. He's out there trying to get to the world class level, has had a few set backs but he keeps trying.

Monkey Spanker wrote:

Ritz just ran a 61 in the middle of a 5K racing against US college boys. Clearly, "challenged one", the point is that Ritz will not be able to hang when the heat gets turned up. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dude, I get what the Ritz slammer was TRYING to get at, but his point is useless (except other than to show what a jerk he is for slamming a still young kid who is one of American's best).

Just because SOMEONE else is running what this joker considers to be "world class", doesn't have anything to do with Ritz. So what that Ritz's times aren't yet considered world class. So what if he never ever gets to be world class (which I think he will be), and in some ways (albeit a stretch), he really already is. People can be a fan of whomever they want for any reason they want.

For myself, I don't consider myself a Ritz fan. I'm just a distance running fan and can clearly see that no one is more talented than Ritz is in the US. (Read that last sentence carefully so I don't have to properly explain it again)

This guy says 27:10 is world-class running -- well, Ritz will be there as early as this season. Maybe he will discount it because Ritz doesn't throw in a 56 second 400. I prefer to look at the final time -- not at how it was arrived.

"I prefer to look at the final time -- not at how it was arrived." Flagpole Willy Quote

Flagy flagy flagy. Why can't you see? If ritz runs a perfectly paced 10000 in 2710 it does not equal a 10000 where someone runs 13:59 and 13:11. It's comments like these that show everyone what a dumbass you are. I kinda feel like you back Ritz up so much right now so that if by chance he does get awesome you will just be able to gloat and say how much you were the only guy supporting him and have all these threads to prove it.

Flagpole Willy wrote:

I prefer to look at the final time -- not at how it was arrived.

This is total and utter bullshize. In another seperate thread you are predicting all these sub 13 5k and sub 27 10k times based on past races and how he "looked" relaxed and easy. Lets disregard the fact that you have never personally SEEN the kid run that 13:25 with your own eyes and were taking someone elses commentary on the race as proof, but thats exactly what you do. You claim that Ritz has all this potential and talent based on how you think Ritz runs mediocre times. If you only cared about final times, you would be lauding, Goucher, Webb, Hall, even Ian freaking Dobson, who all have better final times than Ritz. You want to suck Ritz's balls, thats fine, don't use one type of evidence for your argument and then blast someone else, using the same evidence in an argument against you. This just further proves how little you know.

quarters wrote:

"I prefer to look at the final time -- not at how it was arrived." Flagpole Willy Quote

Flagy flagy flagy. Why can't you see? If ritz runs a perfectly paced 10000 in 2710 it does not equal a 10000 where someone runs 13:59 and 13:11. It's comments like these that show everyone what a dumbass you are. I kinda feel like you back Ritz up so much right now so that if by chance he does get awesome you will just be able to gloat and say how much you were the only guy supporting him and have all these threads to prove it.

Dude,

Some things for you:

1) Of course someone who ran a 13:11 after a 13:59 shows serious talent. They also show something else -- that they could have run that 10K MUCH faster. When Ritz runs a 27:10 (and faster) he will likely not rip off a 13:11 at the end. So what? 27:10 is 27:10.

2) There is no by chance about it (Ritz becoming awesome that is). For one thing, he already is. For another thing, when Ritz runs these times I say he will, it will not be "by chance". I'm not saying these things about Solinsky or Dobson or Broe. I'm saying it about Ritz. He's got something the others don't. He's flat out better, and it's just a matter of time before the times actually prove what I've been saying. I feel the same way about Webb, but he's already proven what I said a long time ago he would, so there's no need to rehash that -- although I could look up some threads where I was defending him when others said his high school mile PR would be his career PR.

3) There would be no reason for me to gloat when Ritz eventually does do what I say (faster PRs than the current AR in the 5,000 and 10,000) if everyone and their brother wouldn't keep calling me a dumbass. You'll notice I never say that about all of you. I just tell you you're wrong and tell you why. As it is, when Ritz does rip off a serious 10,000 (like a 27:08 in the next 24 months), I'm going to seriously tell you all how wrong you were. And even though I don't normally get so much joy out of being SO right (like when I correctly predicted a 2:19 for Aish in the Chicago Marathon a few years ago while others were calling me a dumbass and saying he'd run 2:12), I will be very joyful on this ocassion -- for one, it will be funny that you were all so wrong, and for another reason, it just furthers American distance running which I love to see.

First of all dude, nice language. How about you grow up and learn to use other than 8th grade put down vocabulary?

Secondly, my reference to time was not that I look at times posted by different runners, but by a time posted by a single runner. If Ritz runs 27:10 someday, then he does. A time is a time; it doesn't matter how HE achieved it. Right now Hall and Dobson have a faster time than Ritz does in the 5,000. They however are still not better than he is. You make a statement based on current times (showing your great vision). I make a statement based on the eventuality of all of them (which will turn out to be true). One day as runners are talking about how great Ritz's career was, one person in a hundred will say, "who was that blonde-haired guy from Stanford...Ball...Nall...something like that. He was pretty good for a while there."

By the way, you'll never find a posting of mine where I say Ritz "looked relaxed and easy". Make an argument out of things that are true -- that's my second piece of advice for you...the first being your 8th grade language problem.