"The Boston Marathon Was Fixed" thread.

Yes, you're right. The U.S. Government can use its massive power and resources to keep secret a government program. But in the case of the Manhattan Project, the stakes were rather high, don't you think? If the program's secrecy was not maintained, the United States might lose a war, and literally hundreds of millions of people around the world could lose their lives.

Now, compare the stakes (and the U.S. government's motivation) concerning the Manhattan Project to the stakes and motivation concerning the identity of the winner of the Boston marathon. Can you honestly not see the absurdity of your analogy? Can you really not see why some might feel inclined to mock you for claiming that this analogy "cancel[s] the incredulity" of those skeptical of the absurd idea that there was a conspiracy to make Meb Keflezighi the winner of today's race?

Sorry.....although I believe you are sincere, I'm not going to lighten up on this nonsense. You deserve ridicule. A guy worked hard and won a race. The letsrun community responded with xenephobia, along with conspiracy "theories" that are unmoored from any plausible reality. The fact that you're making analogies to the Manhattan Project shows how unhinged your thinking is.

So have any of the delusionals offered any answers to these questions yet?

wow, at first I thought this thread was ridiculous, but after watching the replay on Universal I think the OP is on to something. I found it really ridiculous how over the last 2 miles the second place guy "couldn't catch Meb" despite being within 10 seconds of him...FOR 2 MILES?

Meb was all by himself for half the marathon, then two guys surge, catch him in no time but they stay behind him for 10 seconds over the last 2 miles? Usually when someone surges from the back they continue and pass the leader. They don't just surge to stay a consistent 10 seconds behind the leader for the last 2 miles of a race.

There is definitely room for a conspiracy. Could this race be a set up by the media to create that "romantic ending" where an "American" wins to show the world how "Boston Strong" we are and how we won't be taken down by "terrorists"? Then we can all hold hands and sing the Star Spangle Banner while the American flag is raised and Meb sheds tears on top of the podium? hmmmmm story book ending huh? I don't buy it. Fraud.

Don't you think maybe...MAYBE the 14:29 5k segment just MIGHT have wiped out 2nd place?

Perhaps what happened was more of a noble gesture rather than a planned conspiracy.

- Meb was running well today.

- The competitors spontaneously decided to let him go out of a gesture of humanity.

- They caught up with him at the end to make the race more believable and exciting, but then clearly then had to back off at the end again to make certain that Meb won.

Is this so hard to believe? Last year's winner gave his medal back to Boston.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/05/26/boston-marathon-winner-return-medal-gesture-solidarity-with-bombing-victims/qPvx74946WoJzzahwDTiEI/story.html

So letting Meb win is a similar sentiment. Like giving the win back to Boston. They would feel lame if they took that away from Boston at the very end. It would be sort of embarrassing.

Unlike Americans, East Africans have a little thing known as "honor" and "humanity". To them it's not all about the dollars.

the skeptic wrote:

Is this so hard to believe? Last year's winner gave his medal back to Boston.

Did last year's winner also give his prize money back? Because that's the sacrifice you're suggesting happened this year.

I will say, though, that the spontaneous sacrifice of a single runner is a lot easier to believe then a coordinated conspiracy involving the U.S. government, foreign banks, and the agents of dozens of elite marathoners. I'm not saying I think that's what happened today, but at least one can believe it without being literally insane.

Trollie McSockpuppet wrote:

I'm not saying I think that's what happened today, but at least one can believe it without being literally insane.

Excellent. Excellent.

[Test(alpha.goliad)subject X89534U:progress-segmental(i>0.02)]

Personal Log: My mind control device appears to be functional. Test subject X89534U has accepted node-protocol transmission and...oh...

Ummm...nevermind that. Glad you are starting to see it my way.

So somebody paid people off to tank on purpose?

So the money had to be negotiated ahead of time and many runners promised boatloads of money to tank. And of course we need an American winner or all that money goes to waste. So what happens if Meb pulls a hamstring, developes a cramp, gets sick, or one of the million things that can happen to a runner so he cant run a 2:08.

What if Meb came up lame and could only muster a 2:15 or 2:20 does that mean that all the paid-off runners would have to slow down to a crawl to let Meb win? The Kenyans can only run a 2:20?

Or better yet Meb twists his ankle or some other injury and he has to stop completely. Does that mean all the other paid-off runners would all have to fake injuries and DNF? Hell, in that case EVERY runner out there would have to be paid-off and all have to fake injuries. Then we would have NO male winners at all at Boston? 20,000 male DNFs!!!!

You people and your logic are so fukked up it's beyond comprehension.

Trollie McSockpuppet wrote:

People need to be more vigilant about the ways in which our government abuses its power. I've read Noam Chomsky. Given our nation's history of abuses, it's quite easy to believe that the U.S. government would fund a covert operation involving the CIA, a corrupt bank, and assassin drones—all in order to ensure that some guy won a road race.

First, they came for the marathoners.......

That's not all I've had it on cast iron authority that the mafia were also involved, along the lines of the cooperation between them and the CIA with the Bay of Pigs invasion. And now the Boston Marathon...

You're onto something here.

I am embarrassed for the state of the sport in America on all levels - fans(?) management (USATF), MEDIA, and so much more.

Meb earned the victory yesterday. It is that simple. I salute a humble and deserving Champion.

The stock Gurus knew in the first part of February that the winner would be wearing Sketchers, look at the stock price chart for SKX.

Bastille Day at the TDF wrote:

Today was the equivalent of "it's July 14 so the French guy wins it if he earns it." All it took was a handful of athletes to make that decision and to leave town with their appearance fees fresh for their next race. And with their second and third place prize money.

This is what I'm choosing to believe.

I think that the race unfolded in a pretty unexpected manner and the tactics of the elite field were out of the ordinary. I realize that these guys are prize fighters and need to win to feed their families but I also believe that many people have a strong sense of honor and character.

Also, check out the results of last year's women's race at NYC. Jeptoo was about 3 minutes behind at the halfway point. The leaders went out hard on bridges and headwind and died as Jeptoo caught them.

Warmish, sunny day on a hilly course. A 38-yr old runner goes out at PR pace (who happened to blow-up at NYC doing the same thing and finished at 2:23). Would make sense for top runners to hold back. Stuff like this happens all the time. See also 2008 Bejing Marathon. Dita moved early and was forgotten about (she was in her upper 30's) and she won.

Here's what happened.

The whole fix was for Ryan Hall to win.

He said he was in great shape and would look good to have him win.

London got all of the big names that were in shape.

Boston paid some high level name athletes that would attract attention and make the field look good, but they weren't in shape.

They even researched their race prep training.

It's a win-win. You get pre-race attention for big names.

And post-race attention for the American win.

Fortunately for Boston, they had a back-up in Meb when Hall failed to perform.

webfoot wrote:

Let it be known that Letsrun world famous message board jumped the shark on April 21, 2014.

The continued existence of this thread, while any threads criticizing racist trolling are deleted, is certainly telling.

Lunatics are running the asylum.

It's a conspiracy. Involving the Queen, the Pope and the Colonel. He with his wee little beady eyes. Before he went tits up.

I would have cost an additional $85k to throw the race.

Suppose you tell them that as long as an American wins, 2nd gets $150k +$10k - more than the posted winning prize money. So all these guys will race their asses off and make it look like a real race, but be very happy to be in second.

As to compliance, most Kenyans are not , "on the ball" guys, so they rely on their agents, and follow their instructions. A bad reference for one agent is death, so it is much easier to use the agents to get compliance.

As long as 2nd place earns more than 1rst, and the people most likely to contend for 1rst know the deal, you will get this outcome. An American - Hall, Meb, Abdi...Arciniaga..anybody who looks good enough to legitimately win, you let him go.

If they could fix Berlin, fixing Boston is a weekend project.

Why? To what end? You really think so much time and money was spent to fix a race that, outside of Boston and running nerds, no one really gives a shit about? This win by Meb is a blip on the news cycle. It will be forgotten in 10 days.