The Issue With Rupp

Why don't you just come out and say you hate Rupp. And you hate him just for the sake that you want somebody to hate. Its pretty clear now that nothing that Rupp does will make Rupp haters happy. And there is nothing really wrong with that. Sports always tends to sort itself out into Davids and Goliaths. And as Wilt Chamberlain once complained. Nobody ever roots for Goliath. Rupp is apparently taking on that role. And I hope he embraces is it. Just beware that Rupp is entertaining you a lot and will be making a lot of other runners money by taking on that role.

Rupp is simply not personable. He's young, still too brash. It's something he might overcome with age, or maybe it won't.

Rupp can be whatever he wants. He should automatically expect everyone to like him, regardless of what he does.

Shouldn't automatically expect...

I'm posting on an internet forum, if I hated rupp I would have just changed my name, slammed him, and not explained my reasoning. In any case I'm not criticizing him, I'm saying his handlers are screwing him. I think that a big part of the issue is that he has people making decisions for him and hyping him up. You always want to under promise and over deliver. Rupp is letting people promise things he can deliver but that makes it boring to the average fan. If Bekele came out before every race and said "I am going to run xx:xx and win" would it be exciting if he did just that?

He isn't brash, if he was brash he would be popular. He's young and shy.

I actually liked that he basically ignored solinsky today rather than walk up and give the obligatory ass kiss. I hope he is pissed with himself, embarassed, and ready to do some damage the next time he races. You don't see the runners up in the world series or superbowl shaking the winners hand, why should it be different on the biggest stage in distance running?

The OP is actually making a pretty good point. I like to think I'm a pretty self-aware guy, and, accordingly, I have no trouble admitting I'm not a Rupp fan at all. I obviously don't "hate him," because that would be ridiculous. All I mean to say is I don't really get excited watching him accomplish the things that he does, and I've witnessed quite a few of his headline feats - both from the stands, and from within the same race (getting my ass stomped, obviously. I've also gotten my ass stomped by Solinsky, lest you think therein lies the rub).

Unless you are Rupp's grandma or something, can you honestly say you would have been as excited at the finish of this race if Rupp was in Solinsky's place? I don't care who you are, my money is on haiiillll no. That's where I think the OP is on to something - NOBODY realistically expected this, it was all supposed to be about Rupp, and the way the tension built throughout the race, the way we all gradually became aware that "wait a second... this is shaping up to be something really exciting," the fact that Solinsky flew across that line in 26:59, arms to the sky, with a look on his face like he was the most shocked of all the thousands of people watching the clock, that's what made this awesome.

Everybody loves an underdog story. And, I guess, that's where poster 2 is right, as well... Rupp's camp has spent years deliberately trying to make him into Goliath; you bet your ass the world is gonna cheer when he goes down to somebody whose camp is more humble and low profile.

I mean, we've all really been drinking the kool-aid, too. Why are people on this board treating it like a foregone conclusion that Rupp is "more talented" than Solinsky??

Because that's how the in-sport media treats Galen Rupp.

The facts sure don't line up. The two have nearly identical 5k and 1500 PRs. Rupp's been gunning for THIS RACE for years, and Solinsky bends him over in his debut? If somebody asked me "which one is nature, and which one is nurture?" I think the answer is pretty clear.

Rupp doesn't have to be Goliath, his camp has made him into Goliath. Rupp probably shouldn't be Goliath, when there are a good half dozen distance runners in the US who could mop him up over nearly any distance this summer if they put their minds to it. I appreciate the drama the guy adds to the sport - its GREAT for picturesque moments like Solinsky's 10k win - but I don't feel sorry for him at all.

Geb actually has a lot of threads on Letsrun about him racing a little dirty, clipping people's shoes off, cherry picking races, making excuses, etc.

Wouldn't know it from Letsrun, where the same type of people who hate on Rupp, fixate upon Hall's Christianity.

Oh, you mean like Adam Goucher, McDougal (4 years though), etc.? With over aged foreigners like Chelanga around, it is hard for an American to win until your senior year. How many American XC champs have their been since B. Kennedy?

Anyway, Rupp it help to remember that for highschool and freshman year of college, he was just one of three, with everyone having their favorite to be best of the class: Withrow, Rupp, McDougal. Withrow fell away, and it became narrowed down to two, McDougal (Christian "fanatic" running for "cultish" Liberty U.) and Rupp ("spoiled" at Nike U.).

Chelanga was the favorite, of course he pushed the pace. It was a big deal when Rupp won, only biased jerks wanted the Kenyan to win.

Brashy Rupp wrote:

I doubt Solinsky would have treated Rupp the same way, of Rupp ran sub 27 and Solinsky 27:10.

Solinsky has said, in an interview, that he literally pisses excellence. This was before he had run his big 5k times too. Does that sound like someone who would be personable and congratulatory after a race?

To the OP: It's tough to do anything quietly when the whole nation is watching what you do. Do you think Alberto et. al. are approaching the media and trying to get this stuff hyped up? The media approaches them, not the other way around.

themanontherun wrote:

Solinsky has said, in an interview, that he literally pisses excellence. This was before he had run his big 5k times too. Does that sound like someone who would be personable and congratulatory after a race?

Solinsky has gotten away with saying stuff like that because he was second tier, nobody cared. Now, if he fails to meet expectations, his words, his fashion choices, his sexuality, every decision will be questioned and thrown back in his face.

Dang troll. Not trolls in this case.

themanontherun = Under the Microscope

troll meets troll wrote:

Dang troll. Not trolls in this case.

themanontherun = Under the Microscope

Feel free to IP check it, if you feel motivated enough.

Regardless, I don't think it is trolling to state the fact that Letsrun can turn on Solinsky, almost more of matter of when and how than if.

History Review wrote:

lohalloran wrote:

[quote]lohalloran wrote:

He won cross and no one cared because they were more excited about a guy like chelanga who has personality and pushed the pace like crazy than rupp who sat on him and raced smart.

Chelanga was the favorite, of course he pushed the pace. It was a big deal when Rupp won, only biased jerks wanted the Kenyan to win.

Add to that that Rupp had a short cross season because he ran in the olympics in the summer when every other runner was ramping up base Rupp was tapering and then taking a break. Add to that, that Chelanga went out like a rocket, not rupps fault. Rupp was stomping the field, it just got overlooked because Chelanga was out further trying to sneak away. Add to that, when Galen caught him he did make attempts to lead and Sam went (seemingly litterally) crazy and bursted ahead.

The year before he comes of a short season from summer worlds and gets nipped by McDougal (the best and last good race of his life) and you think Rupp is supposed to run like a madman after someone running like a madman? He was there to win his title and get his one point for the team dunce. Mission accomplished, team title and individual titles in hand, race perfectly executed because that's what that was, a race, not a record attempt.

Under the Microscope wrote:

troll meets troll wrote:

Dang troll. Not trolls in this case.

themanontherun = Under the Microscope

Feel free to IP check it, if you feel motivated enough.

Regardless, I don't think it is trolling to state the fact that Letsrun can turn on Solinsky, almost more of matter of when and how than if.

For example, if he maintains he is a 5K guy and fails to make the world team or makes it but can't make the final next summer or blows out like in the past.

Now the expectations of the mob are high and it's pretty unlikely that he can live up to them unless he has just consistently underachieved for the past 5 years and he is just now hitting his potential.

I seem to remember some guys attacking him for sitting on Fam at Mt. Sac last year for the whole race while Fam hammered a nice pace and Solinsky never took a lap, just kicked him down to 13:18 (incidentally his fastest mark of the year). Maybe those guys converted over, maybe they'll be back.

I'm actually a fan of all, but I wouldn't mind if a guy of his caliber could take a lap in a meaningless race where guys are obviously just trying to race fast which benefits all of U.S. distance running and then would revert to survival of the meanest tactics for Europe and Championship races. That's why despite his great efforts I never really liked Geb, and always hoped Tergat or Komen would stick it to him and cheered when they did.

I don't see Solinsky as Geb, because he's obviously not as dominant on the domestic scale even, but if he were to keep this tactic up moving forward in similar circumstance races I think I'd lose some interest in his success.

Ryan Foreman wrote:

Why don't you just come out and say you hate Rupp. And you hate him just for the sake that you want somebody to hate. Its pretty clear now that nothing that Rupp does will make Rupp haters happy. And there is nothing really wrong with that. Sports always tends to sort itself out into Davids and Goliaths. And as Wilt Chamberlain once complained. Nobody ever roots for Goliath. Rupp is apparently taking on that role. And I hope he embraces is it. Just beware that Rupp is entertaining you a lot and will be making a lot of other runners money by taking on that role.

Geezus, this is sublime genius and too real for this board.

Okay. Rupp sits on Chelanga for the better part of 10K before blowing by him in the home straight and that's an example of perfect execution. Chelanga sits on Rupp for the better part of 10K before blowing by him in the last 200, and that's an example of Rupp's bravery and a tribute to him because he made the race for everyone else there on the night, and now, Chelanga is somehow a wuss.

Did I get that right, or are you saying that the fact that one was a championships and the other was not somehow changes all the thinking somehow?

Go back and watch the 2003 World Champs 10k. Geb took just about every lap past 4k. Even the great Bekele sat and waited until the very end to kick and win.

Playing sit and kick with someone in a championship race versus a race for time are two different things.

lohalloran wrote:

Ritz has long been the next big thing but he made it exciting by breaking the 5k AR after everyone had him pegged as a marathoner/10ker who had lost his speed.

Everyone? Puh-leez, a lot of people may have thought that but only idiots thought that.

I don't get it. The kid pretty much ran the exact pace and splits he planned on, broke the old AR, and PR'd by like 20 seconds and somehow it isn't enough.

People complain that he has had all these advantages -- yet it isn't like he has squandered them. He seems to be as hard working and as dedicated as it gets.

His number one goal in this particular race was to keep on pace the whole time. It just turns out that meeting that goal put him in a poor position to actually win it. A tactical mistake and he lost the race because of it, but for this particular race if he was solely focused on winning, everyone would have run 15-20 seconds slower.

He is more talented, dedicated, and tougher than EVERY person posting on these boards.