Update on Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman Dropping Out of Olympic Marathon

Satan ate my knob wrote:

I don't mind religious people.

It's the proselytizers I have a problem with.

The rather obvious problem here is that the beliefs of those "religious people", who you claim not to mind, includes the teaching, and therefore belief, that they should proselytize. Clearly, you mind them very much.

The real question is why not all, not all Christians anyway, evangelize.

Serious For Once wrote:

I despise these holy rollers that think they are chosen by God and are therefore better than others.

This is pretty interesting as well.

I don't think it's an unwarranted assumption that, if someone is chosen by God, that they are "better" than others. If you can prove that these "holy rollers" aren't chosen by God, then you can probably be assured that they are no better than the next guy.

The funny thing is, Hall would tell you himself that he is no better than anyone. Why don't you ask him? I promise you that's what he'll say. And if you just say, "Well, of course that's what he'd say. Nobody would admit they think they're better than everyone else", well you pretty much convict yourself by the same objection. It is you and others here that expect your "words" to be taken at face value, i.e. "I don't have a problem with his religion . . ." and then go on to explain in precise detail the problem you have with his religion.

Beautiful display here, hypocrites.

burgerkinggeneration wrote:

The rather obvious problem here is that the beliefs of those "religious people", who you claim not to mind, includes the teaching, and therefore belief, that they should proselytize. Clearly, you mind them very much.

And what happened to "hate the sin, not the sinner"? Oh, but that sort of double standard is fine when it serves the purpose of making the bible thumpers look slightly less judgmental and angry.

But it's not OK for someone to say, "I don't care what people believe but people who evangelize their religion annoy me"? And you're calling people hypocrites? Nice.

I have not advocated any double standard if that's what you are implying. And I don't know who you are referring to that doesn't just hate the sin, but the sinner also. Did you see Ryan condemning people somewhere? I very much doubt it.

And I didn't say it's not OK to say what you said. You're completely free of course. I'm simply pointing out that it's illogical. If you don't care what Christians believe, and a fundamental part of that belief is that they should evangelize, then there is simply a disconnect in your thinking, or perhaps it's just the way you are communicating it. If you are sticking with your statements thus far, as worded, however, I think you are definitely being hypocritical though.

Penn gets it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCdCVto2MN8

On another thread Rojo posted that he interviewed Hall for 30+ mins the same weekend that that NYT article came out. Hall never said anything about God. The NYT article got reposted around the internet and was on numerous LRC threads. he doesn't mouth off about it. He's not trying to convert you.

Satan ate my knob wrote:

Actually, all of that would be fine too if he didn't feel the need to mouth off about it in interviews.

Anyway that's how I feel. I don't mind religious people. It bothers me when they're all batshit delusional but it's still none of my business, as sad as it is. It's the proselytizers I have a problem with. And Ryan Hall has chosen to abuse his athletic celebrity to promote his crazy delusions. He's the one putting it out there for people to bash and that makes it fair game.

I know that as of 24 July 2012 USATF was still adding people to the team roster as evidenced by their press releases. Davila's injuries were well known by then. I don't know if the guys had experienced much discomfort by then or not.

I would be a hypocrite if I said what I said and then at the same time went out in public to "evangelize" an alternative faith. But that's not the case.

All I'm saying is that I have no respect for people who evangelize religion and I reserve the right to criticize and ridicule them for it. I'm being very consistent in that I feel the same way about all religions. You may find that offensive but it is in no way hypocritical.

Next to Frank Shorter, Meb is the second best at champioship racing. He has proved it! Hall, simply has not done anything on Meb's level....

Satan ate my knob wrote:

I would be a hypocrite if I said what I said and then at the same time went out in public to "evangelize" an alternative faith. But that's not the case.

All I'm saying is that I have no respect for people who evangelize religion and I reserve the right to criticize and ridicule them for it. I'm being very consistent in that I feel the same way about all religions. You may find that offensive but it is in no way hypocritical.

Well, that is one type of hypocrite. What I was referring to that seemed hypocritical was that you said you didn't mind Hall's religion, but then that you very much did mind his religion (by virtue of the fact his religion entails something that you obviously think worthy of not only criticism, but ridicule). That is another type of hypocrisy.

It seems now you are just going to stick with saying you don't respect people who evangelize. Fine. Don't respect them; criticize and ridicule if you wish. I do respectfully ask you to do so considerately, however. And I mean considerately in the literal sense. Please take some time to think about it and know thoroughly and coherently why you do it so you can share that with others; people like me who would seriously like to understand why. I respect Penn not because he agrees with me (in a sense), but that he obviously put real consideration into his position.

Who would have guessed that Ethiopia would have zero runners finish in the top 15 and Brazil would have 3. Brazil to the marathon podium in Rio?

SFbayRunner wrote:

Who would have guessed that Ethiopia would have zero runners finish in the top 15

Ethiopia had zero finishers, period.