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

You left reality long ago wrote:

Do you humps really think that a bride looking to book a DJ is going to click on links to a running page talking about a guy who cheated on a marathon?

My wife googled and looked into every single company and person she hired for the wedding. And specifically, yes, she looked at our DJ's facebook page etc., not just her professional one, but her personal one.

It's an important day for her. When inviting strangers to the wedding she wanted to know who they were and make sure everything went "perfect".

With the internet these days, everyone googles everyone. Even outside something as important as a wedding, I would think most people who hire a company would google them first. Due diligence.

Think about just going to dinner - I haven't been to a new restaurant in a long time where we haven't first googled and read the reviews.

Fraud/cheat at LVM marathon equation:

+ no show of MR in any 2014 LVM photos taken on marathon course after start or before finish

+ failure of MR to disclose GPS watch results of 2014 LVM

+ prior race results of MR, especially not breaking 22min for 5K, not equivalent to running a 3:11 marathon

+ training regimen of 15 mile p/w and LVM race day weather not conducive to produce a 3:11

+lack of elation and notification of achieving a BQ time through social networking based on past social networking activity regarding running/races leading up to the 2014 LVM

= fraud/cheat

Ha!

Too true.

not on first page for me wrote:

For me it's numbers 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16.

Google Results are very localized. They do that so when you are looking up pizza place you don't end up with incredibly popular pizza place in New York or somewhere nowhere near you.

So his Google results, especially for his company, are going to vary according to the IP address you are searching from. Which is bad for Rossi. The people in his immediate community will eventually sheets name at #1 - forever as a cheater.

I don't need more evidence that the race director is completely inept, but here is some anyway: There are now two posts on the marathon Facebook page asking whether the marathon is still a Boston qualifier. There's no response.

How do you not respond to this?:

Can you confirm that Boston will still accept you as a qualifier?

That is pretty easy and important question to answer. And that was posted a week ago. A competent race director has to have that question answered immediately. But to let that sit for a week, with people responding to it (right up to a few minutes ago) to make fun of your race and question your integrity...on your own Facebook page...? Unreal.

LoserMikeRossi wrote:

not on first page for me wrote:

For me it's numbers 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16.

Google Results are very localized. They do that so when you are looking up pizza place you don't end up with incredibly popular pizza place in New York or somewhere nowhere near you.

So his Google results, especially for his company, are going to vary according to the IP address you are searching from. Which is bad for Rossi. The people in his immediate community will eventually sheets name at #1 - forever as a cheater.

Yeah, I figured. I'm posting from a different country and thousands of kilometers away. More interesting, I thought, was that there were 5 links in a row to the exact same thread. Pretty soon they will be on the first page; even for me.

Mike Rossi Cheater

Mike Rossi Cheater

Mike Rossi Cheater

BeLikePre wrote:

+ prior race results of MR, especially not breaking 22min for 5K, not equivalent to running a 3:11 marathon

What?! You mean it's not common place for people to run faster than their 10K pace for entire marathons?

Why are we still pushing this witch hunt? At this point it's only 2 or 3 of you fighting a pointless battle. Verdict was not guilty so let's move on. He's already had to pay without committing the crime.

eaglesfan wrote:

Why are we still pushing this witch hunt? At this point it's only 2 or 3 of you fighting a pointless battle. Verdict was not guilty so let's move on. He's already had to pay without committing the crime.

Without committing the crime? For many of us, it is not a witch hunt, but rather a push for truth/integrity in the sport we love.

HeCheated wrote:

I don't need more evidence that the race director is completely inept, but here is some anyway: There are now two posts on the marathon Facebook page asking whether the marathon is still a Boston qualifier. There's no response.

How do you not respond to this?:

Can you confirm that Boston will still accept you as a qualifier?

That is pretty easy and important question to answer. And that was posted a week ago. A competent race director has to have that question answered immediately. But to let that sit for a week, with people responding to it (right up to a few minutes ago) to make fun of your race and question your integrity...on your own Facebook page...? Unreal.

They already said in their statement that they are Boston qualifier, so the question is unnecessary. I'm guessing they are intentionally ignoring everything until this blows over. I do agree they should answer the question though since it is in their best interest to shut down any false rumors.

On a different topic... What happens if Rossi were to have been DQ'd from a track and field sanctioned event. Does a policy enforce that he is banned for some period of time from other u.s. track and field sanctioned events? If so, I wonder if that's part of the reluctance to it. Most of us might agree that it would be deserved, but others might view it as a harsh penalty if he weren't allowed to run in any future race (which is a penalty beyond what most of us were hoping for). I'm not saying there's any truth to that as I could be way off, just wondering if any of you know.

He wasn't even close to being found "not guilty." Read the press release again.

"Therefore the LVHN Via Marathon Committee concluded that Rossi will not be disqualified unless additional conclusive information arises in the future."

This is much closer to a prosecutor saying, "We are not going forward to a grand jury at this time but could in the future, should additional evidence arise."

That isn't even in the neighborhood of being found "not guilty."

And he never will be found "not guilty," which I think in this case would have to be the Committee making a statement that they have evidence that he actually did run the race. I will admit that the result, for now, is in his favor as much as he could hope (considering he cheated and everyone knows it), but calling it a "not guilty" finding is a misrepresentation. And for the record, his name wasn't "cleared" either, as some media outlets suggested. Note that the conclusion was that he "will not be disqualified." There is no conclusion that he ran the race.

This gives me some hope that the BAA is taking notice of how their qualifiers are being run. The best thing to come out of this would be some standards (not including a complaint on the day of the race LHVM RD!!) that Boston has for integrity in their qualifying races. It would be good for the Brojos to get on board. I'm sure they wouldn't be sued for that.

HeCheated wrote:

I don't need more evidence that the race director is completely inept, but here is some anyway: There are now two posts on the marathon Facebook page asking whether the marathon is still a Boston qualifier. There's no response.

How do you not respond to this?:

Can you confirm that Boston will still accept you as a qualifier?

That is pretty easy and important question to answer. And that was posted a week ago. A competent race director has to have that question answered immediately. But to let that sit for a week, with people responding to it (right up to a few minutes ago) to make fun of your race and question your integrity...on your own Facebook page...? Unreal.

It Scotland there's a verdict "not proven", which means he/she probably did it but we can't prove it.

Looks like the mods deleted the other two, shorter Rossi threads. I sort of feel like there should be a shorter cliff-notes version of this thread, for people who are curious about the Mike Rossi fiasco but don't want to read 280 pages of 1% substance and 99% filler.

eaglesfan wrote:

Why are we still pushing this witch hunt? At this point it's only 2 or 3 of you fighting a pointless battle. Verdict was not guilty so let's move on. He's already had to pay without committing the crime.

This thread is not a "witch hunt". .

VIA most certainly did not use the phrase "not guilty" to describe Mike. They said that he will not be disqualified, but then went on immediately afterward to add that they are going to add at least 6 timing mats and constant surveillance at several locations. That's a lot of extra "security" if nothing was wrong with little ole Mike's race.

The implication is very clear. They wouldn't spend all this extra money and change how they do things to such a large degree if there was nothing wrong. It's obvious that Mike cheated and they want to make sure nobody else ever cheats again and gets away with it, like Mike did. Which is why they are adding so many timing mats and constant surveillance footage in several locations. You don't make all those changes if Mike could show he was on the course. They clearly never want another Mike Rossi again.

It's like how when a person gets broken into, the next day they get an alarm system installed in their house because they don't want that happening again.

eaglesfan wrote:

Why are we still pushing this witch hunt? At this point it's only 2 or 3 of you fighting a pointless battle. Verdict was not guilty so let's move on. He's already had to pay without committing the crime.

The real crime here is that Rossi took his kids to Boston and skipped going to Salem and learning about the Salam Witch Trials. Now that would have been fun and educational for the kids. Much more so that watching a 50 year old man with a broken hip go back to the hotel room and fall asleep while they watch Spongebob.

+1

Anything come from this, or was it a way to get your email addy? The fact he addressed it to one person vs the board is odd.

abingtonrunner2 wrote:

LoserMikeRossi wrote:

Abington Runner

email me at

cheatingrunner@yahoo.com

We have to talk. There may be a new development.

I responded quite sometime ago, curious what is up?