Phil Hersh - Bashing Hall (Again)

Wow. That is very childish. Reminds me of teenage girls or celebrities trying to start a Twitter fight. Phil Hersh is now officially a joke.

I haven't done the math, but didn't Ryan Hall have a higher place in Chicago than Meb did in NYC, and timewise, didn't he finish closer to the Chicago winner Mosop than Meb did to the NYC winner Mutai?

Hersh is skilled, but he's long been known as an extremely nasty character.

And the point is? Hersh sounds like a helicopter sports parent who blames his kid for losing because the other kids try harder.

Meb ran his race, and I love Meb, but he needs a slower race to be in the medal hunt. Ryan Hall is just faster, and needs the chips to fall for him one day (as Meb has had) to have the same success Meb has had.

Phil Hersh can blow it out his pizza-fattened ass.

It's a bad reporter who makes himself part of the story.

And that applies even with the lower standards of journalism that prevail among sports writers.

Luke of the Cool Hand wrote:

I haven't done the math, but didn't Ryan Hall have a higher place in Chicago than Meb did in NYC, and timewise, didn't he finish closer to the Chicago winner Mosop than Meb did to the NYC winner Mutai?

Hersh is skilled, but he's long been known as an extremely nasty character.

Meb did stay with the leaders longer, but yes it seems like a silly comparison. Hersh praises Meb for running a PR. Hall has run faster than Meb's PR 6 times.

And Meb has won a major marathon and an Olympic medal. That's a lot more impressive than a faster PR.

asdgfh wrote:

Meb did stay with the leaders longer, but yes it seems like a silly comparison. Hersh praises Meb for running a PR. Hall has run faster than Meb's PR 6 times.

OnTheBubble wrote:

I guess that comment from Ryan Hall - Post Chicago Marathon really struck a nerve with Phil Hersh the Chicago Sports Tribune writer.

Albeit he is a writer and is allowed to make critical comments about sports and write opinion based articles, just not sure why he decides to keep riding Ryan Hall.

Writeup from Track Focus:

http://trackfocus.com/distance/no-love-lossed-between-ryan-hall-chicago-tribunes-phil-hersh

Phillip Hersh is a huge loser and an bad journalist for challenging Hall IN THAT WAY.

As a journalist, you want the person being interviewed to say newsworthy things, and by saying what Hersh said, that doesn't get Hall to say newsworthy things. When Hall said that about "not many American guys running 2:08", what Hersh should have countered with is "What do you, or what do other American runners need to do to be the best in the world and not just the best in America?" That frees up Hall to say that it can't be done or that it can be done and here's how.

Then, Hersh going on to say that Hall is no Meb...that's just ridiculous. Meb is older and more experienced for one thing, but Hall has the AR in the half marathon and a WAY faster marathon PR than Med does. Meb has proven so far to be a bit more savvy of a racer, but so what? Hall's career isn't over.

Anyway, not a very good journalist there in Hersh.

That's fine if that's the point Hersh was making, but he was praising Meb for his PR. Gonna do that, then you HAVE to look at Hall's times, and on his best days, Hall DESTROYS Meb in the half marathon on up.

hfgdsa wrote:

And Meb has won a major marathon and an Olympic medal. That's a lot more impressive than a faster PR.

asdgfh wrote:

Meb did stay with the leaders longer, but yes it seems like a silly comparison. Hersh praises Meb for running a PR. Hall has run faster than Meb's PR 6 times.

Crazy. Let it go brother.

Phil Hersh is just another sorry excuse for a human being that got caught up in the espn culture of hate, negativity, and greed. That's probably why I never heard of him before this and will never pay attention to him after.

Flagpole wrote:That's fine if that's the point Hersh was making, but he was praising Meb for his PR. Gonna do that, then you HAVE to look at Hall's times, and on his best days, Hall DESTROYS Meb in the half marathon on up.

What's their head-to-head record? I'd be very interested in seeing that.

If you're looking for consistency in standards for praise and/or criticism, I think you're being too generous to Hersh.

Wow....never watched this when it all came out....just saw it and i must say....Hersh is an @$$.....I can understand creating a "story" or "controversy" but that was just pathetic.

I don't expect him to slobber at hall the way many might tend to, but c'mon man, recognize that he ran "even"....he didn't run great, BUT...he didn't run poorly either! it was, for hall, an "even" performance. a crappy performance, sure, go ahead and denigrate it, but his response was lame. loved hall's even temperament up there...i'd been loathe to not get into a nice biting back and forth with hersh.

cheers, dude-

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/240111-Chicago-Marathon-2011-Videos-and-Results/video/509630-Ryan-Hall-snips-back-at-Hersh-after-Chicago-2011

Phil is coming across as an immature amateur. It's hard to believe that he makes a living as a sports 'journalist'. While he praises Meb and bashes Ryan going as far as saying 'The point is: Ryan Hall, you're no Meb Keflizighi'.

He later tweets 'By my quick count, Ryan Hall's Chicago time makes him the 47th fastest marathoner this year. Enough said

I find it funny that a 'journalist' would provide us with Ryan's ranking but not Mebs after comparing the two.

Phil Hersch is no Bob Woodward. He comes across more like a TMZ 'journalist'.

Ryan has DREAMY EYES wrote:

Why does that Jew hate our Euro-Asian hero from Big Bear, Cali ?

Hi Phil. Tell me -- is there an award given for the best sportswriter in the US? Do you win it?

jsquire wrote:

What's their head-to-head record? I'd be very interested in seeing that.

If you're looking for consistency in standards for praise and/or criticism, I think you're being too generous to Hersh.

Head to head record in the marathon: Hall - 2 Meb - 1

If you count Meb dropping out of a race Hall would finish as a loss then Hall has 3 wins to Meb's 1 (albeit that 1 was Meb winning NY, a huge victory)

Hall has never finished worse than 10th in any marathon he has ever run and that was the Olympics. His average place is 5th and aside from the US trials we are talking about World Marathon Majors. With all the crap Hall gets on here you would think the guy sucked and finished well beaten all the time.

Phil has been in the game a long time and has done good for the sport. He has kept running in the press for years and gained respect in the running community for it.

Im not sure as all here why he has it out for Hall , nothing gained for it. Its clear Hall does not meet his expectations of performance and he expects more.

Hall is Hall , he will do it his way and not much else will be done to change it.

Phil if your reading this blog , move on brother, lets talk about how we are going to close the gap the Kenyans are opening up on the rest of the world over the marathon distance.

How the hell is Hersch going to write about closing the gap on the Kenyans? What does he know about it? Has he been a professional runner? Does he coach?

joho wrote:

Phil is coming across as an immature amateur. It's hard to believe that he makes a living as a sports 'journalist'. While he praises Meb and bashes Ryan going as far as saying 'The point is: Ryan Hall, you're no Meb Keflizighi'.

He later tweets 'By my quick count, Ryan Hall's Chicago time makes him the 47th fastest marathoner this year. Enough said

I find it funny that a 'journalist' would provide us with Ryan's ranking but not Mebs after comparing the two.

Phil Hersch is no Bob Woodward. He comes across more like a TMZ 'journalist'.

By my count, his Boston time makes him the 7th fastest this year and the 14th fastest EVER.