Anyone else totally disgusted by Dathan Ritzenhein's comments about world cross country?

Perhaps it's a self-fulfilling prophecy, wherein the event has been downgraded because the best non-Africans don't run any more, and the best non-Africans don't run any more because the event has been downgraded, but I believe it's true that WXC isn't regarded very highly any more. As he states, if it's being awarded to the hinterlands of China at an altitude site, that's because no one in the Western world, where XC used to be popular, bid for it.

Is Eurosport even broadcasting WXC this year?

As a fan, I'd love to see him run, and it'd be awesome if the U.S. won a medal, but you can't deny that the event has lost much of its significance.

Not running world cross...but DID run USAXC. Why is this a big deal? He is training hard and running track, which doesn't pay a lot of $ relative to road races either. I think people on here are both silly and blind to that.

Also, if you haven't been to Asia or some developing nation, how can you really talk about crowd/feeling of racing there? He has been to world cross before and it probably using previous experience to get a sense of what he expects it to be like in these different venues. Sorry...I not only agree with Ritz, I think most people here are probably speaking from complete ignorance about what it is like abroad.

This seems less of an issue about $ and more about wanting to run races he is enthusiastic about. How many of the people here go to races they are completely dis-insterested or unenthusiastic about?

how can you disagree with him? he's a professional athlete, that's what professionals do, whatever it takes to get paid.

he aint no charity.

"totally disgusted".

Haha. Yeah, man.

NYC Half is basically a bigger race at this point than World XC, pays way more, and is on home turf.

World XC is a cool race, but some of the people on LR over inflate it waay too much. "Disgusted" seems a bit much, even filtering out usual internet hyperbole.

To the old guys who have great nostalgic memories of what the race used to be, and the high school runners for whom XC is the highlight of their year: World XC ain't the big shit anymore. Sorry.

rojo wrote:

The original poster was pretty clear about what he was doing but if you came to the thread from the messageboard directly and not the Homepage without seeing the actual quote of the day, we understand how you might be confused.

Also, you should know that we at Letsrun.com are all about misrepresenting the news and the people in the spot of running. We basically don't care if some anonymous moron posts something stupid, puts it in quotation marks and attributes it to a well-known source who never uttered those words. That's just how the Internet works and we're all for it. In fact, you're more than welcome to write up your own diatribe and pass it off as a rojo quote.

OK, so I guess it works both ways. Well, as long as we're clear.

Would it have been better if Ritz didn't run USA XC? If he didn't, no one would be giving him crap for skipping WXC.

I don't see anyone ripping on Jerry's guys for running a 5000 the night before only 4 guys line up at the US Indoor Champs. What's more important, a meet in Poland that no one will be able to see, or our own National Championships on Universal Sports?

Cross Country is dead and has been for years. It was fun in college but even our DI team trained through cross in prep for making NCAA All American outdoors and continuing through USATF.

I consider myself a running fan and I glance at the results if they are posted. The whole splitting it into short and long races and and all the drama and crappy locations killed it.

Graeme McDowell wrote:

I am a huge Ritz fan and agree that he needs to make wise financial decisions as a father and a husband. However, I do think calling world cross insignificant is an insult to those who are going and competing. It's a very tough race and I can see not wanting to make the long trip just to get 30th place and very little money. That's fine but don't insult the events and it's competitors.

This!

The IAAF, in its infinite wisdom awarded the WC to Bydgoszcz, Poland. For those of you keeping track, this is over 300 km from Warsaw and even 170 from Gdansk (in case one is interested in ship building). It is in the middle of nowhere. Traveling from Portland, it requires at minimum three planes and 21 hours. Does anyone think a single major newspaper will be covering this? How about live streaming? The next WC has been awarded to Guiyang, China. This is not even in the middle of nowhere. It is over 2000 km from Beijing, over 1800 km from Shanghai, and closer to Hanoi than either of those places. The IAAF is awarding the WC out of existence. I think Ritz is making a sane choice, and his comments make sense. Moreover, he is following the lead of the Kenyan athletes, as this story suggests:

http://www.runnersworld.com/races/kenyan-stars-increasingly-skip-world-cross-country

Oops wrong thread

almost an ex dathan fan wrote:

Did you guys see the QOD today? If not, check it out below.

I've added in a few things in bold to clarify what he was really trying to say. I think the initial statement slightly missed a few things as he may have been talking kind of fast and the reporter probably had trouble writing it all down.

On a semi-related note, I am an idiot and have never had to work for anything in my life. Also, I prefer men sexually.

Fixed.

I'm not impressed is one extra race going to kill you

"With out a doubt, the biggest disconnect between fans and U.S. elite distance runners is the way we view World Cross."

Is that a joke? Do you think "fans" care so much about World Cross? Ask them where it is.

The average "fan" would rather see Ritz in NYC.

How many of you great lovers of cross country were planning to fly to Bydgoszcz to cheer Dathan on?

I didn't think so.

Pizzaguy wrote:

Oops wrong thread

10/10 - POTD

Sadly, he's right. He's a pro and has to make a living. He's not going back to his teaching or his job at the insurance company like in the old days.

Ritz is saying it like it is. He'd love to see World XC make a comeback and become huge again, that's where we first met him, that's where he makes his money (not literally, figuratively and relatively speaking). He's upset it's not as big as it is, because if it was even marginally bigger, he would go, since he loves cross.

Weird thread.

So someone alters Ritz's quote to make him say things he didn't really say and then there is a discussion about it. Did I miss anything?