If he is so influential than how many of the 54000+finishers entered because they were influenced by him? If that number is 5 I would be shocked. If people like him and pappis are so influential than how come on the 2 hour highlight show Sunday afternoon (which was 1:50 of just feel good stories)they were not included or mentioned at all?
I would 100% agree with this IF this was his first time. He did the exact same stunt before. He did the bib thing too. Now he has 'learned' because he is literally banned from doing it again. A strange fellow. What was his game plan in this? That nobody will notice the shirtless guy with his brother on a electric bike? The same guy who wants so much attention. I'm beginning to wonder if his bro shtick is for real. He is just thick headed.
he didn't apologize because of the ban/DQ, he did it because he's already losing sponsor dollars. If sponsors stuck with him, he probably would've leaned into the ban/DQ for clicks. People canceling their Runna accounts (which they should do for reasons other than Matt Choi) are what prompted his apology
Considering he posted an apology to answer for it and got a lifetime ban from NYRR, I think we can stop complaining about this now. I know fitness influencers can be pretty insufferable and conceited and all that, and that fires people up, but clearly the complaints worked. He did a fkd up thing, got called out, got punished, and apologized. With how social media works he will still have a big following and no amount of complaining is going to change that - it's the world we live in.
We all know he isn't going to be punished any further than what he got already. Anyone still crying for more now is just making the running community look soft.
This negative shouldn't overshadow all the great things that happened in NYC on Sunday.
Agree. No need to send the guy to Gitmo.😂
Let’s turn the page and focus on Elizabeth Clor who is wearing a red white and blue running outfit in honor of election day. 🇺🇸
What do people see in this guy or in any influencer? Alexi pappas is so embarrassing. Frolicking around like that is so stupid and cringe. She brings joy to no one and just serves as a massive distraction. Matt Choi needs to be disqualified. He blatantly broke the rules and put other people in danger.
how is it not crystal clear to everyone that people like these are using the sport and the people in it for their own personal profit? matt doesn’t care about growing the sport, or his followers, he nearly mowed them down with bikes. Alexi doesn’t care about spreading joy or promoting the sport she cares about staying relevant and receiving attention. Because if either of them actually cared about the sport they would be respectful to their competitors and fellow runners understanding that people prepared for this day. Theyd take it seriously.
When I saw her, around mile 9, still well ahead of the masses, frantically weaving from side to side, I did not see joy on her face. I saw sadness. This year's performance was even more desperate than last year's. It's time for NYRR/Mastercard to end this pathetic spectacle.
Coming after the sponsors has had an effect it sounds like
“To be clear, this 100 percent on me”… wow much profound.
The video and the text below it reveals how shallow this dude really is. I have thankfully never encountered him before. The apology, in my mind, is unbelievably inauthentic and made in desperation not out of actual contrition because, ultimately, his behaviour is inline with goals of the “runfluencer” crowd.
His behaviour might as well be an avatar for all the “runfluencers” hustling the internet. They are all about image (money) over anything resembling a love of the sport or putting in an honest effort. While some of the pros might use PEDs or act terribly themselves, I have no idea why running companies (shoe, nutrition, gear etc) would entertain using one of these tools over even a mid tier pro or a straight product reviewer like DCRainmaker.
Even better, pick a “normal” runner who has a real job and running is their passion. Give them some cash or products and ask them to review it or use it on their journey towards PBs and big races. I would trust their “influence” a lot more than one of these cretans who have no concept of authenticity or even an interest in maximizing their athletic excellence. Find some post collegiate athlete who wants to push themselves to have a crack at Olympic trials or a mother trying to make an elite field entry into a major anything but this type of inauthentic cringe af influencer like this guy clearly is.
Hopefully, this will be the end of this dude’s “career” as a runfluencer. I do hope he lands on his feet doing an honest job but having learned some kind of contrition. I also hope this may throw many buckets of cold water on the “runfluencer” crowd and maybe on their sponsors as well.
Coming after the sponsors has had an effect it sounds like
“To be clear, this 100 percent on me”… wow much profound.
The video and the text below it reveals how shallow this dude really is. I have thankfully never encountered him before. The apology, in my mind, is unbelievably inauthentic and made in desperation not out of actual contrition because, ultimately, his behaviour is inline with goals of the “runfluencer” crowd.
His behaviour might as well be an avatar for all the “runfluencers” hustling the internet. They are all about image (money) over anything resembling a love of the sport or putting in an honest effort. While some of the pros might use PEDs or act terribly themselves, I have no idea why running companies (shoe, nutrition, gear etc) would entertain using one of these tools over even a mid tier pro or a straight product reviewer like DCRainmaker.
Even better, pick a “normal” runner who has a real job and running is their passion. Give them some cash or products and ask them to review it or use it on their journey towards PBs and big races. I would trust their “influence” a lot more than one of these cretans who have no concept of authenticity or even an interest in maximizing their athletic excellence. Find some post collegiate athlete who wants to push themselves to have a crack at Olympic trials or a mother trying to make an elite field entry into a major anything but this type of inauthentic cringe af influencer like this guy clearly is.
Hopefully, this will be the end of this dude’s “career” as a runfluencer. I do hope he lands on his feet doing an honest job but having learned some kind of contrition. I also hope this may throw many buckets of cold water on the “runfluencer” crowd and maybe on their sponsors as well.
"I have no idea why running companies (shoe, nutrition, gear etc) would entertain using one of these tools over even a mid tier pro or a straight product reviewer like DCRainmaker."
DCRainmaker is completely awesome. But your average mid-tier pro posts once a month or less and is very boring. You can only influence people if you actually show up on their social media feeds.
As for picking a normal runner with a real job and a passion for runner, I do think this describes many mid-tier influencers not making a living from the influencing. But influencing is time consuming. People these days are making all these edited videos of their running. It's hard to do that well in your spare time after your full-time job and especially if you have kids. So that's why a lot of influencers are SAHMs or people not working full-time.
“To be clear, this 100 percent on me”… wow much profound.
The video and the text below it reveals how shallow this dude really is. I have thankfully never encountered him before. The apology, in my mind, is unbelievably inauthentic and made in desperation not out of actual contrition because, ultimately, his behaviour is inline with goals of the “runfluencer” crowd.
His behaviour might as well be an avatar for all the “runfluencers” hustling the internet. They are all about image (money) over anything resembling a love of the sport or putting in an honest effort. While some of the pros might use PEDs or act terribly themselves, I have no idea why running companies (shoe, nutrition, gear etc) would entertain using one of these tools over even a mid tier pro or a straight product reviewer like DCRainmaker.
Even better, pick a “normal” runner who has a real job and running is their passion. Give them some cash or products and ask them to review it or use it on their journey towards PBs and big races. I would trust their “influence” a lot more than one of these cretans who have no concept of authenticity or even an interest in maximizing their athletic excellence. Find some post collegiate athlete who wants to push themselves to have a crack at Olympic trials or a mother trying to make an elite field entry into a major anything but this type of inauthentic cringe af influencer like this guy clearly is.
Hopefully, this will be the end of this dude’s “career” as a runfluencer. I do hope he lands on his feet doing an honest job but having learned some kind of contrition. I also hope this may throw many buckets of cold water on the “runfluencer” crowd and maybe on their sponsors as well.
"I have no idea why running companies (shoe, nutrition, gear etc) would entertain using one of these tools over even a mid tier pro or a straight product reviewer like DCRainmaker."
DCRainmaker is completely awesome. But your average mid-tier pro posts once a month or less and is very boring. You can only influence people if you actually show up on their social media feeds.
As for picking a normal runner with a real job and a passion for runner, I do think this describes many mid-tier influencers not making a living from the influencing. But influencing is time consuming. People these days are making all these edited videos of their running. It's hard to do that well in your spare time after your full-time job and especially if you have kids. So that's why a lot of influencers are SAHMs or people not working full-time.
It's the look at me culture. They're reflection of him. I actually saw one guy recording himself on the phone while his supporters/friends cheering and recording him. The marathon has become a circus show. Under trained people testing the limits of humanity. It's not a race. It's a parade.
You are motoring along at the ragged edge of your fitness when you are bumped by a bike and you fall awkwardly. During that fall, you hit your head on the pavement or on a piece of steel crowd control barrier. Now you are concussed, possibly bleeding heavily, and your heart rate and blood pressure are spiked. Sadly, it’s going to take EMTs some time to get to you as they attempt to navigate their ambulance through thousands of runners and spectators.
Now do you get it? The danger is quite real and deadly consequences are very plausible.
Exactly, this Choi character is basically a murdering thug. The authorities need to take action before he kills again.
I think the problem is that influencing is a slippery slope and kind of encourages crappy behavior (up to a point). You give money to the up and coming guy trying to make it pro, he eventually finds that the "look at me" behavior is rewarded by the algorythm, keeps pushing the envelope to chase those views, and ultimately winds up with a fleet of e-bikes chasing him on the marathon course (kind of kidding, but you get the gist). Ultimately they get cancelled, and then the cycle begins again. But hopefully this Matt Choi thing is a wake up call to some degree and we figure out a better way.
That said - we've beat this dead horse. The guy exercised extremely poor judgment in an effort to chase the "likes". He got his punishment. We have to wait and see if it resonated and whether he (and the industry) can bring some positivity out of this. If he (and others) keeps acting selfishly and making bad decisions that impact others he deserves all the backlash and implications that comes with it. But until then, its kind of the end of the chapter.
The moral of the story is not to reward the attention seeking behavior when it is harmful to the sport and brings negativity to others (as it did in this case). I didn't see Matt Choi on the course, but there were a lot of other influencers acting like morons all over the place and hopefully this is a wake up call to all of them.
I think the problem is that influencing is a slippery slope and kind of encourages crappy behavior (up to a point). You give money to the up and coming guy trying to make it pro, he eventually finds that the "look at me" behavior is rewarded by the algorythm, keeps pushing the envelope to chase those views, and ultimately winds up with a fleet of e-bikes chasing him on the marathon course (kind of kidding, but you get the gist). Ultimately they get cancelled, and then the cycle begins again. But hopefully this Matt Choi thing is a wake up call to some degree and we figure out a better way.
That said - we've beat this dead horse. The guy exercised extremely poor judgment in an effort to chase the "likes". He got his punishment. We have to wait and see if it resonated and whether he (and the industry) can bring some positivity out of this. If he (and others) keeps acting selfishly and making bad decisions that impact others he deserves all the backlash and implications that comes with it. But until then, its kind of the end of the chapter.
The moral of the story is not to reward the attention seeking behavior when it is harmful to the sport and brings negativity to others (as it did in this case). I didn't see Matt Choi on the course, but there were a lot of other influencers acting like morons all over the place and hopefully this is a wake up call to all of them.
There’s always been people trying too hard to get attention, running the race in a banana costume etc., but I was in wave one and I didn’t see anybody acting stupid. It’s just a few knuckleheads.
The mustache crew was in full force in the 2:40 group. Darting all over the place for their photogs in Williamsburg, getting chased with cameras, modeling for the new Bandit catalog.
now that Choi is banned, he should run the race on EPO, GO2 max, pre workout, and MOG the crap out of everyone as an unattached runner with the Chad tattooed on his chest