Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

fini fini fini wrote:

it is over

there will be no DQ

no one is looking through their digital photos from the race to see if they have an incriminating photo

no one has come forth to say they saw anything untoward

amazing the effort to get this guy who is a hobby jogger vs. Jeptoo or Shobukhova, i think it must have something to do with most LRCers identifying more as amateurs and perceiving that it is worse to violate the rules as an amateur for 'glory' than as a pro for money

the article should be about why this took off with such zeal but people just aren't interested in Jeptoo etc.

maybe people are more interested in Jeptoo than I think and sense

The earlier post in question by abingtonrunner was a play in the infamous Animal House movie starring the late John Belushi. Specifically, it was in response to fini fini fini's "it is over" comment. John Belushi responds in kind with it is not over until we say it over. It was a rallying cry of sorts. In addition, some other nitwit didn't get or hadn't seen the movie and the reference of the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor is also a line from said movie. Most importantly, there was no implied or direct threat intended and no one of sound mind would ever interpret it as such. In fact, yesterday the Supreme Court overturned a conviction of PA man who made much more heinous and direct threats to his estranged wife and the FBI agent who investigated it on Facebook. This didn't even come close to what that guy wrote either directly or in spirit.

Moreover, all this talk about offering to help this website defend itself is also unnecessary. Websites such as this, including the infamous 4chan are protected from opinions expressed by users. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (a common name for Title V of the Telecommunications Act of 1996) is a landmark piece of Internet legislation in the United States, codified at 47 U.S.C. § 230. Section 230(c)(1) provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an "interactive computer service" who publish information provided by others.

Finally, the owners of this website have now shown who their loyalty is to. It is no wonder that an article was never released because Rossi has them in his pocket. In essence, Rossi has won since he is now has editorial control of this site. What a shame and blow to free thought and speech. As long as one focuses solely on Rossi's own posting of his past race and training times, and your interpretation of them and the interpretation of him being the only racer out of 2,500 participants without a photo, and don't make personal attacks, there is no cause of action of libel or slander.

Apologies for reposting this but as we know Mike is definitely reading this thread, and then contacting his lawyer as he sees fit, I would like to make sure he sees this, hence the bold type:

Mike, I hope you read this post and feel good about yourself singlehandedly taking "7-$10,000 a year out of a worthwhile charity's hands".

Animal House or Animal Farm wrote:

Finally, the owners of this website have now shown who their loyalty is to. It is no wonder that an article was never released because Rossi has them in his pocket. In essence, Rossi has won since he is now has editorial control of this site. What a shame and blow to free thought and speech.

And he's won with Lehigh Valley Marathon cos he's now a ligit 3:11 marathon runner and Boston Marathon finisher and he's got a lawyer to argue his case. And it appears he may have also silenced Sara B, Hal Higdon and who knows who else, so who's getting the last laugh?

Can't you all see what is going on?

Mike's lawyer contacted letsrun. Letsrun intentionally went over the top in their response, by copying the deleted post - and went over the top in the absurdity of saying they'll contact the authorities and LVM. Their post served two purposes - To comply with the lawyer's request, and to show the lengths of what Mike is doing. If they were really fearful this thread would be gone.

I am actually writing an article for my blog - and while I will stick to the facts and clearly identify my opinion as such.

I would welcome a lawsuit - letsrun should too.

Because if Mike goes to court, he will have to prove by a preponderance of the evidence, that he did run the marathon. He will need to show that those stating that he cheated lied. The only way to do that is to show some evidence that he ran it that aoutweighs the evidence that he did not.

Since he will not be able to prove this (in my opinion), there is no way he takes this to court.

http://marathoncheat.blogspot.com/

Clearly not MIke if he's still calling in his lawyer to fight his battles every time his delicate ego gets bruised. And have Sara B etc been silenced? Sara lives in the UK - is Mike gonna sue her over there? Please. What a hack. He's still thinking he's the toughest guy on the block. Like none of us here are lawyers, have lawyers, are married to lawyers, have family who are lawyers. Please: this is narcissism run amok.

Who's getting the last laugh wrote:

Animal House or Animal Farm wrote:

Finally, the owners of this website have now shown who their loyalty is to. It is no wonder that an article was never released because Rossi has them in his pocket. In essence, Rossi has won since he is now has editorial control of this site. What a shame and blow to free thought and speech.

And he's won with Lehigh Valley Marathon cos he's now a ligit 3:11 marathon runner and Boston Marathon finisher and he's got a lawyer to argue his case. And it appears he may have also silenced Sara B, Hal Higdon and who knows who else, so who's getting the last laugh?

[quote]NowFindJimmyHoffa wrote:

And have Sara B etc been silenced?

I think most of us just got simply burnt out not silenced... Mike Rossi can do a lot of things but silencing me or running a 3:11 marathon are pretty lofty goals for a douche nozzle like him. My offer of a Garmin running watch of his choice if he runs a sub-3:20 marathon by June 1st, 2016. Any other previous offer from me is null and void.

doubler, you summarized exactly what I was trying to say. I will be speaking with my attorneys (yes, plural and of one of the largest firms in the country) tomorrow on several issues raised here. I am drafting an email to certain parties responsible for this fiasco as well as an article that will be picked up nationally and I will be adding to that article a new section detainling the draconian silencing and cow-towing that took place late this afternoon. This board is becoming no better than the LVM committee that released their spineless statement the other which contain a flawed conclusion and logic. I guess the absence of pictures among 18,000 + is not worth a thousand words.

You go.

I would love to know if that school principal is aware of this thread and is sitting back laughing and drinking a beer while she watches Mike Rossi's life go down the tubes.

It seems the Philadelphia Magazine article, among others, come up when you Google Rossi's name or the VIA Marathon. I wonder how many times we'd have to mention East Coast Event Group before it started showing up in that search result.

Brojos,

If some attorney was threatening a lawsuit to keep you from owning a gun, you would fight him tooth and nail. Dammit, it is your First Amendment right to publish that article. Rossi can't sue you for writing something unflattering.

Call a First Amendment attorney if you must (the ACLU - wouldn't that be the irony of all ironies). You may not be Woodward and Bernstein, and this isn't Watergate, but intimidating you into not writing this article is pathetic, disgusting, and simply un-American. Yes Mike, I said un-American, because we all know your fondness for portraying yourself as some kind of patriot. You couldn't be further from it, and that goes for your lawyer, too.

doubler wrote:

Can't you all see what is going on?

Mike's lawyer contacted letsrun. Letsrun intentionally went over the top in their response, by copying the deleted post - and went over the top in the absurdity of saying they'll contact the authorities and LVM. Their post served two purposes - To comply with the lawyer's request, and to show the lengths of what Mike is doing. If they were really fearful this thread would be gone.

Not sure that I'm buying what you're selling here, unless the part about banning the poster's IP was a lie. What a joke if he was actually banished for that comment! Racist and sexist posts are routinely left alone, while a completely non-threatening play on a popular movie script gets you banned from the site completely?

Come on!

Brojos - please respond. We would all like to know what's going on with the article you promised and Rossi's lawyer.

No lie, IP addresses are being banned and posts are being deleted by lets-not-run and Mr. Rossi. Also seems to be quite a delay before posts are actually being posted which means now "they" are likely reviewing each post before they become public.

Doubler - Additionally, the brojos can't be held liable for what WE post on their site but they can be held liable for what THEY or their employees post on this thread or in their article. This was the one loophole that led to Grooveshark being shut down. They have to be careful in order to not incur another "frivous" lawsuit, even though I believe we've got their back, if Rossi stupidly wants to waste even more of his money. In this case, since Rossi actually has money, unlike the last lawsuit, I wonder whether letsrun could counter-sue for legal fees when they invariably win the dispute.

Are they really reviewing posts before they are posted?

No doesnt look like they are

Animal House or Animal Farm wrote:

not overly optimistic wrote:

Not sure that I'm buying what you're selling here, unless the part about banning the poster's IP was a lie. What a joke if he was actually banished for that comment! Racist and sexist posts are routinely left alone, while a completely non-threatening play on a popular movie script gets you banned from the site completely?

Come on!

Brojos - please respond. We would all like to know what's going on with the article you promised and Rossi's lawyer.

No lie, IP addresses are being banned and posts are being deleted by lets-not-run and Mr. Rossi. Also seems to be quite a delay before posts are actually being posted which means now "they" are likely reviewing each post before they become public.

Posted at 10:42 EDT.

There will be no shortage of top notch lawyers who would volunteer their services to defend any lawsuit that Mr. Rossi might foolishly bring and they would bring to the table the considerable resources of their firms. No need to "crowd fund" a defense. What fun it would be for a skilled trial lawyer to put Rossi under oath (as well as family and friends) and get full discovery of his Garmin and computer and phone records and training logs and any other evidence that would support a defense of truth. Truly a defense lawyer's dream and Rossi's nightmare.

Just think how differently things would be if MR had just come clean. His existence now primarily consists of jumping from page to page looking for comments he can sic his lawyer on. The financial impact is probably going to start getting to him, and the psychological effect has to be severe. Talk about bunker mentality. The saddest part is he is doing this all in defense of a massive lie and cover up. All he had to do was say, 'listen, I screwed up.' Many would have had some sympathy and the matter would have faded away. Instead, this guy is continuing to throw gasoline soaked logs on the fire.

Jdprobono wrote:

There will be no shortage of top notch lawyers who would volunteer their services to defend any lawsuit that Mr. Rossi might foolishly bring and they would bring to the table the considerable resources of their firms. No need to "crowd fund" a defense. What fun it would be for a skilled trial lawyer to put Rossi under oath (as well as family and friends) and get full discovery of his Garmin and computer and phone records and training logs and any other evidence that would support a defense of truth. Truly a defense lawyer's dream and Rossi's nightmare.

True. There would also more than likely be media interest in the trial and its outcome, which would also benefit the lawyers involved. It definitely wouldn't be beneficial for cheater: Mike Rossi though.