Ringsonhisfingers wrote:
themanontherun wrote:I get that he is taking away a spot from someone who earned it,...
No he isn't.
They have a set number of qualifier slots every year based on a very clearly delineated system. They don't add or subtract based on invitational/sponsor entries.
A lot of folks who actually qualify at other races don't go to Kona. If you've ever been to a post-IM-race roll down ceremony you might know that. An athlete can place several spots away from a guaranteed slot and still get to Kona if folks who finish above him/her don't want to go.
When you and the other haters hear become the race director or sponsor of an Ironman race or the World Championship, then you can decide who gets to take part.
The original poster in this thread must be a small-minded person to get so worked up to feel the need to call something (or someone) "So f'n stupid" based on what Hines Ward did.
I understand a lot of the grief that tri-geeks get here, some of it is well-deserved, and a lot of it is funny.
But Hines Ward should not be an object of scorn; he's accomplished things that nearly everyone who posts here will never come remotely close to doing.
On one hand I think it is fine for him to put that tattoo on; it is his own baby.
But it is also kind of douchebaggy to do so.
Also, who cares about him? Just an athlete. He will have done things that the vast majority of us won't have done, yes. Playing in big stadiums. But will he have helped create a new suspension for the Honda Civic, designed new cars as the head engineer, defended a person that was wrongly accused of a crime, conducted laparascopic surgery using an advanced robot costing two million dollars? Probably not.
It's just a f--in game.