Mo Farah's new form: here's a sneak peak

What I was saying was I think it's a tad bit misplaced for you to be offended by Alberto Salazar in the big scheme of things for said reasons.

We need more people to be seriously outraged at all sorts of issues in America today: of Corporate greed and conglomeration and corruption of law and order--whether it be in Agriculture, Media, Technology, etc. How about problems in our legal system, like the sorry state of Intellectual Property law? The declining vitality of American media and its implications for a free and informed society? Agency problems and other institutional issues with Academia and Professional business life? Abuse of power in all branches of government and some agencies and instruments? corruption of our legislature and judiciary, etc. in government? Problems with our institutions of higher education?

I have no intend to make a sudden and arbitrary occupation of this thread space with social justice issues. Rather, I think that if you are going to be depressed about the condition of our society, you ought to be tackling bigger issues that get inadequate coverage head on.

But certainly, you are quite sensible in having dismal feelings about society, and certainly there are problems in Professional sporting and distance running culture.

I don't think pushing the limits of training and performance with technology and expertise pertaining to kinesiological/biomechanical and physiological matters is my first choice of what I find offensive in distance running today--like lack of moral consciousness about said matters of institutional injustice; lack of questioning about facets of contemporary culture; and lack of serious art exalting distance running.

A Duck wrote:[/

And yet, rather then dedicate every moment of your life to solving those problems...you find the time to 1st world problems complain about it here...

Listen up A Ducktard,

Than - a method of comparison

Then - a moment in time

Next week, we tackle the tricky world of your / you're.

Form change was how Regina Jacobs ran sub-4 indoors at age 39.

Kipketer - you are right - the effort to tinker with Mo Farah's form is not the worst thing going on in distance running. Not by a long shot. It's just that in an anecdotal way it seems so representative of the failure of capitalism when thoughtlessness reigns and greed is considered good. Here you have this company, Nike, who have accumulated masses of wealth. OK, so far so good. I've got nothing against that per se. But there is only so much wealth and so many resources in the world, and it seems so pathetic that they would pour gobs of it back into another one of Salazar's crackpot schemes. They'd rather do crap like that than pay their workers a decent wage.

This is the company that likes to associate itself with the image of Steve Prefontaine. Which is ironic, because the reality of how they operate could not be further removed than the ideals associated with Pre.

Since when has business ever been moral? Capitalistic systems don't seek to better humanity...they seek a profit motive. Frequently those two things, collide but quite often they do not.

I find it pretty crazy that you have an issue with Salazar flying a cryosauna to Ritz. It's his own money that he has control over...why would he be obligated to use it for a better use?

It's a little like saying every corporation should stop making any sort of profit and cut all major expense, and just donate all the extra money to various charities.

Okay, I just read the post above yours and it clarifies your thoughts/view a little better.

I agree with what you are saying about greed having run amok. That is true in many, many places, and it is an issue; the method and tactics many corporations now frequently use to turn a profit is concerning.

That said, I don't think the issue has anything to do with spending money for Nike paying money for VO2 max testing of Mo Farah's form. I could even see some (albiet unlikely) situations where they discover something about form from those treadmill tests and changes that they can somehow use in a product line. The fact that Nike flys cryosaunas across the country or pays for Farah to have treadmill tests has nothing to do with not paying their workers. They don't not pay them because they can't afford to...they don't pay them because they can get away with it, which cuts costs, turning more profit.

Tree hugger

Lois Peter meg homer wrote:

Tree hugger

Dunno about the tree hugger bit, but I bet definitely a hypocrite.

You guys are correct. I am a hypocrite. Sometimes I'll buy some beers or something, which I don't actually need strictly speaking, and I could have spent that money saving the world. Is that what you're getting at? Then I agree.

However, no matter how worthless I might be doesn't change the truth of what I said. It's still stupid and pathetic that Nike pumps all this money into stupid projects. They hoard the money they accumulate through various unsavory practices such as exploiting labor in less-developed countries, then spend it on Salazar's stupid experiments in pseudoscience. But it's all good, OK, because capitalism rocks! It's not Nike's duty to save the world. It's Nike's duty to be paragons of amorality and serve their shareholders the way they see fit, no matter how stupid or pointless that may be.

Seriously, do you really think there is any real chance that all this form-change crap is going to make any difference?

Gamera wrote:

They hoard the money they accumulate through various unsavory practices such as exploiting labor in less-developed countries, then spend it on Salazar's stupid experiments in pseudoscience.

So who's the hypocrite? Gamera or you guys dissing him but buying Nike products that are produced by what amounts to (almost) slave labor?

I'm with Gamera's views.

Kipketer_Pumpkin_Eater wrote:

I guess world record attempts are out of the picture for good?

Not at all. I have no information, but I wouldn't be suprised to see a 10K attempt later in the year.

And how are you any different from Nike? Are you donating more money to charities than they are? If not, stop attacking them. You could be out there helping these people that you supposedly care about instead of spending time on letsrun.

Gamera wrote:

Seriously, do you really think there is any real chance that all this form-change crap is going to make any difference?

Do you think your pointless rants are going to make any difference?

ksksk wrote:

And how are you any different from Nike? Are you donating more money to charities than they are? If not, stop attacking them. You could be out there helping these people that you supposedly care about instead of spending time on letsrun.

Nike doesn't need to eat.

Hardloper wrote:

Do you think your pointless rants are going to make any difference?

Judgemental much, Hardloper?

Pointless for you, maybe. Not for me.

And no, I am not Gamera.

NCAA cross and track is a bigger waste of money.

Intensive Porcupine wrote:

Gamera wrote:

They hoard the money they accumulate through various unsavory practices such as exploiting labor in less-developed countries, then spend it on Salazar's stupid experiments in pseudoscience.

So who's the hypocrite? Gamera or you guys dissing him but buying Nike products that are produced by what amounts to (almost) slave labor?

I'm with Gamera's views.

"So who's the hypocrite?", that's the whole point, we're all hypocrites. At what level, and for what, does hypocrisy become acceptable and who's going to be the arbiter?

It's not just Nike producing products with "what amounts to (almost) slave labor" and who hasn't bought those other companies products?, including you and Gamera.

where's that guys OG and WC gold medals? oh that's right...

Gimmick wrote:

In the meantime in Kenya:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_S_Z7Psv_OD4/TCbneKZmFiI/AAAAAAAAAOo/tz3ThJSxhec/s640/kenyan+training+ground.bmp

Gamera wrote:

That's the most depressing thing I've heard all day. How absurd has our society become, when half the world is starving and broke, and yet we have people investing all this time, money, resources, and manpower in some kind of weird hybrid of science, pseudoscience, and pointlessness, trying to get some guy to maybe be able to run a few seconds faster in a marathon?

What kind of car do you drive?