RW Newswire wrote:
Interesting to read the comments also, not much love for Mike.
http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/letsruncom-offers-massive-reward-to-viral-boston-marathon-dad
My fav:
Peter Finley · Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Affairs/Associate Professor at Nova Southeastern University, Huizenga Business School
I will draw the reader's attention to a few things.
First, since the accusations were made, Mike Rossi has never released a statement in which he claims to have run the marathon in its entirety. He has said that he, "achieved a qualifying time," but never that he ran the entire race. Nor has he described the race experience, discussed people he ran alongside, detailed his splits, or made any other comment that substantiates his presence on the course. Ask yourself, if you ran a marathon and thousands of people said you didn't, wouldn't you have stories to tell about the experience beyond "I took a selfie at the start and was photographed at the finish"?
Second, he claims that it is anonymous posters who accuse him of cheating. This is not entirely true. While there are many who choose to remain anonymous, there are also people like me who have and will continue to openly call Mike Rossi a cheater. As a professor of sport and recreation management (I teach Sport Law and Sport Ethics and write about sports scandals), I am disturbed by this entire episode. We should all be troubled by Mike Rossi cheating and claiming an honor he did not earn. Taking the starting line in Boston should be reserved for those qualify fairly, as reward for the incredible work it takes for most people to get there. But the mismanagement of this situation by the race officials is also a tremendous let down. They have a responsibility to the participants, their sponsors, and to the Boston Marathon to handle situations like this appropriately. They were given a mountain of evidence that is beyond conclusive. The conclusion they reached is untenable. I am not anonymous. I am putting my name to these comments, as I have before.
In addition, I have and continue to welcome a defamation lawsuit from Mike Rossi and we can let a jury decide whether he ran the marathon.
I will share with you a post on a FanBuzz story about Mike Rossi and the viral letter to the principal. And like this post, there's nothing anonymous about this. I wrote...
Mike Rossi cheated his way into the Boston Marathon.
He posted a qualifying time at the Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon. He took a selfie at the start line, reappeared at the finish line, but was never photographed on the course at any of the photo checkpoints in between. Every runner was photographed multiple times (generally as many as a dozen times at varied locations) but Rossi was never photographed. Time stamps on the photos show that pictures were generally being taken at a rate of one every 1.25 seconds as the runners went past and you can often see the runners in frame and everything for 100 yards behind them. Rossi never showed up along the race route. The odds of him running the marathon and not being photographed have been calculated at close to one in 600,000. At one point, about six miles into the race, 199 of the top 200 runners are clearly photographed. You can guess who was missing and should have been right in the middle of the stream of runners. Lehigh is not a big marathon. Just a few miles into the race the runners have stretched out and getting photographs of everyone (to be sold to the runners later) is very easy. Everyone who ran across that bridge was photographed. Mike Rossi wasn't because he was in a car on the highway at the time.
In addition, Rossi's race history does not support that he has the ability to run a 3:11 marathon. All his previous races indicated he should run between 3:40 and 4:00 (he claims he never tried in ANY race, EVER, until his miracle perfomance at Lehigh). Rossi ran a predictable 4:01 at Boston, where security measures are in place to prevent cheating. Rossi's bragging posts on Twitter and Facebook about previous races do not support that he NEVER tried in ANY previous race.
The race management team at Lehigh declined to disqualify Rossi but left the door open to consider further evidence, should it be made available. It seems they don't believe that his complete absence from photos or his obvious inability to run 3:11 are conclusive. They probably want a witness who saw him leave the course after his "chip" crossed the start line or saw him jump back in just prior to the finish. The running community is angered by this, as it essentially means that a runner is allowed to cheat, provided they are good at it. The race management team did NOT, however, exonerate Mike Rossi. They wrote, "the Marathon committee concluded that while there is data from Rossi’s participation in other racing events indicating that Rossi’s time may not be accurate, there is not conclusive evidence..." and continued, "Therefore the LVHN Via Marathon Committee concluded that Rossi will not be disqualified unless additional conclusive information arises in the future." They also promised "the course will have a minimum of six timing mats - at the start, finish line and four additional on-course locations. In addition, there will be video surveillance of the course at several locations which Via will archive annually." In other words, they don't want to get "Rossied" again.
If you would care to watch the video of Mike Rossi NOT qualifying for the Boston Marathon, you can do so here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGilRGr2GlIOr just watch Rossi NOT cross the bridge within the top 200 runners (he finished 114th), here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxKfEiOfGmYWhether you like the letter to the principal or not, Mike Rossi cheated his way into the Boston Marathon.
