LOMONG PUTS UP THE #1 AFTER WINNING THE SEMI, DO WE HAVE TO HATE HIM TOO?

After getting throttled in the 8 thats the only thing that he could put up. He seems like a dick. Hopefully he doesn't make the team in the 15.

Seems like a dick? You obviously have never met him. I met him several times and he has been nothing but fun and a super nice guy. He is confident and I guess that a lot of you insecure little distance geeks hate a confident guy. Keep hatin on the net and wishing you were a decent athlete!

Booger wrote:

I don't know what's worst the fact that the collar is flipped up or that he is wearing a pink shirt.

I don't know what is worse. The fact that you judge a person by his collar or the color of his shirt.

clubber lang wrote:

After getting throttled in the 8 thats the only thing that he could put up. He seems like a dick. Hopefully he doesn't make the team in the 15.

He handed me my ass in a 3200 in HS once. Once I realized how relaxed he was running, I knew to get a good time I would have to push the pace. I led through the mile, then he just took off. I tried to pace off of him as much as I could, but he just opened a gap up so fast. He came up to me after the race, shook my hand with a huge grin, and said, "that was a very smart move at the start. You are a good racer." Then he asked to run a few minutes of my cool down with me. Very nice guy, very complimentary of his competition, and he clearly viewed running in a pure way; it was a game to him, it was fun, it brought him joy.

After beating Solinsky in the 3k or Manzano in the 1500 at NCAA champs (I forget which) he reportedly was heard saying "I love this game!" He isn't here for glory, he just wants a fair slice, and I think he just felt he got a bad break (which I think he did, though not as bad as people make it out to be). Ask anyone with any personal experience with him (other than Solinsky and Manzano haha) and they'll tell you; he is as far from "being a dick" as you can be.

The difference between the two is Rupp threw up a #1 for an event he wasn't planning to run the final in. What did the #1 sign mean? He certainly wasn't implying he's #1 in the event overall. It didn't really have any purpose. Lomong on the other hand was probably throwing it up because he thinks he's going to be the guy to beat or at the very least wants people to think he's the guy to beat. Regardless how you feel about throwing up a 'I'm number one' during qualifiers, that's the difference between the two.

BTW as for the popped pink shirt, all y'all are just culturally biased to associate pink shirts and popped collars with frosted tipped, puka shell necklace wearing, Heineken swilling frat boys. We're talking the Lomong here and he looks badass.

Maybe Rupp wasn't suggesting that he was number one, but that the fans are number one.

Maybe :p