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

therealSmokingGunner wrote:

Can we all agree that Mike didn't fcking run 5000m or 5k or 3.1 miles or whatever in that time?

I actually can't agree to that.

Judging by Mikey's picture in those super tight white pants of his, it's not like the guy is Ken's long-lost twin. He looks to be in decent shape for a guy his age.

So what's so hard to believe about him rattling off 5k (or 5,000 meters - whichever comes first!) in 20:47? I'm roughly the same age as Mikey, I'm definitely what most on LRC would consider a "hobby jogger", and I could run a 20:47 5k easily, 7 times in 7 days.

Brojos screwed up by putting the 5k challenge in front of Mikey. Sub-20 shouldn't really be that big of a deal, if Mikey is motivated enough - and I'm guessing he is motivated enough.

My prediction? Mikey trains his ass off, rattles off a sub-20 somewhere in November when the temperatures are perfect, and officially declares his retirement from running.

My second prediction? He takes up crossfit. I think he was born to do crossfit.

Lenny Leonard wrote:

You guys are holding Mike Rossi to too high of a standard on the semantics of 5000m/5K. He's not trying to be sly, he's just an idiot.

I did love the bit about 250 seconds per km. Were they checking their splits at 800m saying: "We're at 202 seconds, better pick it up a little!"

I am going to personally suggest that Rossi runs his big $10,000 sub-20 at the Pennsylvania District 1 XC Champs in Bethlehem, PA in October. If he can finish in the top-70 in the girl's AAA race, he could have a shot.

1. He'd have similar competition, you know, 14-18 year old girls, needed to hit his goal time.

2. It'd generate a ton of press, which he loves

3. He'd get paid and would get to rub it in the #haters' faces.

Win-win-win

To break 20 on a XC course you need to be well under 20 min shape. No chance Mike can do this. Win-Win-Win-Win

Contact me privately and I will explain how a well respected reporter does her job.

LMR wrote:

Contact me privately and I will explain how a well respected reporter does her job.

Thanks for the offer, Ken, but I already have raccoons going through my trash every night.

Why so afraid to answer a few simple questions?

Does a well-respected reporter really have someone else contact potential sources of information for her? I'm assuming you have no journalistic experience whatsoever, so why would she use you as her minion?

Mike running a 20:47 last Friday afternoon on a training run is hard to believe not because it is a good time (it isn't) but because it would be a minute faster than his PR after a 12 week break of no running. And if you don't believe Mike took 12 weeks off running then why do you believe he ran 20:47? He has presented zero proof of doing so, just like LVM because he didn't actually run either.

Smartrunnr is using the typical troll tactic of making up specific details (it was on a track, they watched splits whenever) to make you think it is a real story. It isn't. Smartrunnr doesn't know Mike and Mike did not run 20:47 for 5K, ever.

Please stop debating the semantics as if that is the key proof the story is BS.

elephino wrote:

Wut? I have been an athlete and fan of track for 40 years and a track 5000 is called a "5k" many times, maybe most of the time. You obviously are not in the US and English is not your native language, but I've also lived in other countries and they call it a "5k" also.

English is very much my first language and I repeat, 5K implies road.

I think what made Kip interesting was the intrigue, the how he did it. With Mike there is no doubt he cheated, it isn't even hard to figure out how he did it. People were taken by Kip's silence and with Mike, well the brojos were right calling his online behavior as juvenile.

I used to be really angery about this whole story. But as this has gone on and on, now I just feel sorry for Mike Rossi. He had to cheat to get a BQ. That is so sad. He should take a lesson from that tagline on his medals because he took Boston. He didn't earn it. He wasn't even given it as a charity runner (and I am sure he could have raised a ton of money). He took it. That is theft. Put enough Mike Rossi's in the field and you can skew the entry times. I think Boston should have DQ'd Mike. It would send a message... maybe. But they took the limp view just like LV did.

But the real victims in all this is his wife and kids. This whole thing will haunt them too. I really feel sorry for them. Mike put this on them, all because he thought some principal had outted him a cheat for sending a form letter. He just couldn't take that with his ego.

So sad.

If Mike Rossi by some chance reads this, there is another Churchill quote "never never never give up" You gave up by cheating. You probably can run 3:25, but you took the cheaters way instead of the way of hard work, persistence and determination. Enjoy your Boston memories, they are just as fake as that unicorn on the medal you took.

Which brings us to:The 5 Stages of LRC Cheater OutrageDenial: Cannot believe the nincompoop RD did not DQ the cheat. Will do so given more time and revisiting evidence based on logical and physical data. Anger: Why the hell was the cheater not DQed?Bargaining: Tell cheater to confess and all will be forgiven, the cheater can make this a positive.Depression: How the hell can the RD not DQ the obvious cheater!Acceptance: NFW, you are going down Rossi.

UnregisteredUsername wrote:

LMR wrote:

Contact me privately and I will explain how a well respected reporter does her job.

Thanks for the offer, Ken, but I already have raccoons going through my trash every night.

Why so afraid to answer a few simple questions?

Does a well-respected reporter really have someone else contact potential sources of information for her? I'm assuming you have no journalistic experience whatsoever, so why would she use you as her minion?

Stop hiding behind your screen name. What will Mike dig up on you that you don't want everyone to know? Many of us have nothing to hide. But you do.

Ken,

Please, please, please take the advice of some pretty normal people (as runners go) and leave this board. We all know Mike cheated at the 2014 LVM and that he acts like a petty man-child online.

You on the other hand need to channel your energy somewhere else.

Please do as I told you 300 pages ago and eat right, start exercising and stay off Letsrun.com

SmartRunnr wrote:

Whyamihere wrote:

[quote]SmartRunnr wrote:

Isn't it do one of them and get the cash? I.E. 5k OR 10 miler OR ....

The wording seems quite clear: the $100,000 offer is independent of the offers, but Mike can't get $20,000 for running the 5k and the 10M:

"So we’ll also give him $10,000 if by the end of 2015 he breaks 70:00 in a standard 10-mile course or 20:00 for 5k."

This is going to be so much fun!

So could he admit he cheated AND collect the 100k by running 3:11:45?

Because it's obvious he cheated.

LMR wrote:

Stop hiding behind your screen name. What will Mike dig up on you that you don't want everyone to know? Many of us have nothing to hide. But you do.

Says the guy who was posting here anonymously until someone guessed he was Ken Stillman.

gatorade&vodka wrote:

LMR wrote:

Stop hiding behind your screen name. What will Mike dig up on you that you don't want everyone to know? Many of us have nothing to hide. But you do.

Says the guy who was posting here anonymously until someone guessed he was Ken Stillman.

I posted on the Philly Magazine article and Facebook under my real name. I posted anonymously for about a week because nobody know here was sure that Mike was posting. I TROLLED him and got him to post things that only he and I would know to prove he was here.

And I was the one who saw the pattern of all his DJ buddies posting and disappearing at certain times when they would be working a wedding.

And from what I can tell I seem to be the only person actually working towards getting a DQ. Everyone else just wants to sit here and call Mike a cheater and douchebag. If anybody is interested in helping me contact runners to prove that there was no investigation by Barb you can contact me via Facebook.

Oh Ken. You are just like that guy from A Beautiful Mind, except he was actually good at something.

You didn't notice a pattern of Mike's DJ buddies disappearing at certain times.

You noticed that most people here have actual lives and families, so they don't waste their time on an amusing little running website at nights and on weekends.

So once again, I must ask:

Why are you contacting runners? You have already identified a well-respected member of the media who is doing a story on either the LVM not conducting an investigation or the LVM refusing to hear new evidence. Why isn't this well-respected member of the media doing her own work?

Did the Brojo's look through all those photos before they wrote their article?

No. Runners on here did the work first and presented it to them. A reporter reports facts that are given to them. This isn't Watergate. My connection isn't going to spend days contacting runners for this story. That's why I am doing it. But you could help if you'd like.

This is the how a news story gets written.

Here endth the lesson.

Ken, let me save you some time. We have already done this work. The race committee did not contact any runners. Not a single one. They relied on the fact that nobody filed a complaint on race day as proof that nobody saw anything. They said they would contact runners and at the time they said it, they probably thought they would. But they never did. You will not find a single runner who was contacted as part of an investigation (unless they contact one after today to prove me wrong).

We aren't going to help you do work that we already did.

And we have already told them that we know they didn't contact anyone. Sadly, they don't seem to care.

Just because we aren't broadcasting what we are doing on here does not mean we aren't doing anything.

I will contact you on FB, Ken.

Maybe if I tell you to leave this matter alone using a FB message you will be more reasonable.

YAWN.

LMR wrote:

Did the Brojo's look through all those photos before they wrote their article?

No. Runners on here did the work first and presented it to them. A reporter reports facts that are given to them. This isn't Watergate. My connection isn't going to spend days contacting runners for this story. That's why I am doing it. But you could help if you'd like.

This is the how a news story gets written.

Here endth the lesson.

Well, no. It's not anything like how an actual news story get written. Your version would only allow the"reporter" to be able to quote you, assuming that you are viewed as a reliable source of information (which I would say you aren't). So, the story would be:

"Ken Stillman advises me that he personally contacted 100 people by phone and email (or however many), people that Ken Stillman advises us ran the 2014 VIA marathon, and Ken Stillman advises us that all of them told him that none of them were ever contacted by the marathon to ask if they knew if Mike Rossi cheating cheated."

Great story, Ken. Great story. Yeah. Can see how that will take off and cause a lot of problems for the race organizers and Mike Rossi. Devastating stuff. Should be front page of most well respected newspapers for sure.

LMR wrote:

reports facts that are given to them. This isn't Watergate. My connection isn't going to spend days contacting runners for this story. That's why I am doing it. But you could help if you'd like.

This is the how a news story gets written.

Here endth the lesson.

So, just to clarify (because that's what I do):

the professional journalist is going to write the story based upon information provided by an admittedly biased source with a clear agenda. Is said journalist going to vet the source?

Maybe the journalist isn't going to "spend days contacting runners" because there is no story worthy of the effort..

Maybe the journalist isn't going to "spend days contacting runners" because said journalist isn't much of a journalist.

Maybe you should listen to yourself as you have not, by your behavior, earned the right here to use such condescending language toward the posters on this thread.