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

total bull sh*t wrote:

Whoa, Bro! wrote:

This thread ceased being about a guy cheating long ago. Now it is about just 3-5 posters trying to ruin a someone's life whom they don't even know (except for Stillman). Cyberbullying at it's worst.

This is such crap. Trying to turn the cheater into the victim. There is only one person who cares about Mike and his life, and that is Ken. There are trolls, and then every other poster just wants to see him DQ'd or admit he cheated. There is no mob, there is not witch hunt. Mike Rossi cheated, everyone knows he cheated, he's been offered $100,000 to prove he can run the 3:11 marathon he insists he can run - but he keeps egging people on. This thread absolutely keeps going on and is about a guy who cheated because Mike Rossi keep actively denying it all while refusing to say anything of substance or to directly address the evidence against him.

Also, where were you when that poor school principal and her family were actually having their lives ruined? All because she sent out a form letter required of her job. Now you're concerned about cyber-bullying? Totally disingenuous.

Why don't you get this? wrote:

total bull sh*t wrote:

This is such crap. Trying to turn the cheater into the victim. There is only one person who cares about Mike and his life, and that is Ken. There are trolls, and then every other poster just wants to see him DQ'd or admit he cheated. There is no mob, there is not witch hunt. Mike Rossi cheated, everyone knows he cheated, he's been offered $100,000 to prove he can run the 3:11 marathon he insists he can run - but he keeps egging people on. This thread absolutely keeps going on and is about a guy who cheated because Mike Rossi keep actively denying it all while refusing to say anything of substance or to directly address the evidence against him.

Also, where were you when that poor school principal and her family were actually having their lives ruined? All because she sent out a form letter required of her job. Now you're concerned about cyber-bullying? Totally disingenuous.

FFS, why is it so hard for you people to comprehend - the death threats and other crap were because there were idiots and losers who read a harmless letter and went loony with it?

Do you blame Jodi Foster for Reagan getting shot?

Right on, bro wrote:

Runners vs hobbyists wrote:

Apparently he really does not care what you or some semi-celebrity news woman cares about him . All the posts about him and his pictures with his kids at ball games and Dave & Busters etc , is aggravating you further because he is showing you he is having a fun summer , this is not affecting him at all .

I participated in the probably the first 30 pages or so of this thread and really haven't much attention until the brojos article came out.

The above quote is the crux of the issue for most of the posters on here. Rossi is living his life and it irritates the sh*t out of them.

"Look, he posted a picture of him out with his wife and kids having fun. What a b@stard. He should be in his house worrying about people calling him a cheat."

"Look, he changed his profile picture again. He did it just to thumb his nose at us."

"Look, he went to a baseball game. He should be worried about explaining to us what he didn't show up in any pictures."

"Look, he's smiling in that picture. He should be reading LRC and not smiling."

I find it entertaining that posters can't see how idiotic their lives look when an issue like this affects them so much.

Carry on, gents. However, take time to pause and look in the mirror. Is it really worth the time you have spent here?

Mike, answer the Professor. wrote:

Telling it like it is wrote:

The cheater and liar Mike Rossi did not triumph because many good men and women exposed him. I am glad I contributed to that cause in my own small way.

Professor Peter Finley put it well:

"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."

Here is his full comment from the Runners World article

http://www.runnersworld.com/general-interest/letsruncom-offers-massive-reward-to-viral-boston-marathon-dad

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 Rossis participation in other racing events indicating that Rossis 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=vGilRGr2GlI

Or just watch Rossi NOT cross the bridge within the top 200 runners (he finished 114th), here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxKfEiOfGmY

Whether you like the letter to the principal or not, Mike Rossi cheated his way into the Boston Marathon.

Read more:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6479539&page=611#ixzz3gkuONDIp