Anyone else totally disgusted by Dathan Ritzenhein's comments about world cross country?

1st, I don't think your additions are fair. If you are an athlete you prefer to compete in a big event that people care about with cheering crowds - not an obscure footnote in a foreign country. Especially at 30, when he has run all of these races before, I'm sure that the motivation that comes from preparing for a race at a big event in front of an enthusiastic NY crowd is part of what gets him motivated. The NY half also has a great field of competitors.

2nd, if his concern is partly about money, so what? He is a 30 yo professional runner with a wife and family to support. Getting paid for what he spends his life doing is his job and part of being a responsible adult. I admire blue collar runners and the people trying to run professionally while scraping by at running stores, etc., but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with a professional runner trying to maximize his paydays.

This is the truth! There's no money in track/XC. He's got a family and mouths to feed- gotta make the most of it, financially, while he can. The half marathon and marathon are the most competitive events in the world because of the money. It's now easier to make a US/Olympic Team in the 5K/10K/XC than in the marathon.

Dolla dolla bills ya'll.

He thinks people care that he's running a half marathon? GTFO

These comments indicate the end of Mr Ritzenhein's competetive running career. All about getting paid now.

A few road races here and there, probably cherry picked to maximise profit. Get paid. Retire. Good for him.

No ambition to compete with the best.

I pretty much agree with you here. It becomes sort of a self fulfilling prophesy if stars avoid this race it does become less relevant.

Also, what is wrong with a cross country race in interior China?

It's all about the money.

I personally don't see anything wrong with that. Professional running is his job and he does it to make money. If I'm reading between the lines, running cross country to him is personally and commercially a hobby and generally hobbies don't pay.

What if other professional sports figures made no money...would you ever hear about them or care about what they do?

In other words,

Lets say you are a small business owner and you make widgets.

Widget A is simple, pure, hand made from organic materials and only sells to those who have the ability to appreciate its simplicity & purity.

Widget B is made by robots in a factory and when the robots break, child labor is brought in to pick up their slack. Widget B sells by the millions and is the source of 95% of your income.

Which do you focus your time/energy on?

full mile? wrote:

I pretty much agree with you here. It becomes sort of a self fulfilling prophesy if stars avoid this race it does become less relevant.

It's also a self-fulfilling prophecy if YOU decide what's relevant, though. What if I want to see him run Boston? Does him ducking the event I want him to run make him selfish?

(Seriously though, if he only cared about money wouldn't he be running a spring marathon?)

Also, what is wrong with a cross country race in interior China?

I agree with this, though. Probably because China doesn't have strong running (indicating countries with good running don't care enough to host it), but I don't see why it's so bad.

the truth is there wrote:

This is the truth! There's no money in track/XC. He's got a family and mouths to feed- gotta make the most of it, financially, while he can. The half marathon and marathon are the most competitive events in the world because of the money. It's now easier to make a US/Olympic Team in the 5K/10K/XC than in the marathon.

Disagree. I think the US marathon team was much softer than our 5K/10K teams at Beijing. Internationally, the road events might be more competitive but making a US national team, I don't think so.

Ritz is a drama queen. He had no intention of running WXC. Ritz did well as a Junior, but after months of blabbing, he got his a$$ handed to him when he ran with the big boys. Ritz just needs to shut his mouth. He was never kind of gung-ho to do XC.

the truth is there wrote:

This is the truth! There's no money in track/XC.

Then why has he indicated that he is running track?

I didn't decide for dathan to qualify for a berth into world XC. Since he is one of the big stars from one of the beat running countries, his participation in a championship meet (or lack thereof) is a factor here.

I think if he had said that it was at least partly about the money, I would value the honesty, but by his opting out of the championship meet, he is (albeit in a small way) contributing to the demise of XC.

I'm okay with that though since I'm not a huge cc advocate.

XC isn't a pro sport in this country the same way that track and road racing are and I'm okay with that...it is still thriving at the high school and college level and it can stay that way for all i care.

This is another simple situation.

THE NYRR ARE GOOD FOR THEMSELVES AND BAD FOR OUR SPORT.

They have money and will always over pay for athletes in an attempt to keep them from developing as an athlete. The NYRR are smart enough to know that athletes/agents are gready. Offer people enough money and they will do ANYTHING.

I am a huge Ritz fan and agree that he needs to make wise financial decisions as a father and a husband. However, I do think calling world cross insignificant is an insult to those who are going and competing. It's a very tough race and I can see not wanting to make the long trip just to get 30th place and very little money. That's fine but don't insult the events and it's competitors.

Also, I disagree with your point that it's easier to make the US Olympic team in the 5 or 10K than it is in the marathon. Meb will be quite old by 2016, Hall is a big question mark. Ritz ran the best US marathon time in 2012 but he is no lock other. Other than those three who is there? Only 4 US guys ran under 2:11 last year which is about a 27:55 10K or 13:27 5K. No question the marathon team is easier to make.

I totally get the money part and don't fault him for that. But this is the line that bothered me:

The race has become insignificant to white guys like myself who have no chance of winning it."

He has no chance to win because he is not fast enough. It has nothing to do with being white.

His chances of winning would be decent if he his pbs were - oh let's just say 7:30 and 26:48.

For comparison 12 US runners ran sub 13:27 and 11 sub 27:55 in 2012.

Anybody with a career can understand perfectly well what Ritz is saying here. Dumb kids living in their parents' basements can cling to their idealism, but if you're a grown-up with bills to pay and a family to provide for, you make hard choices. Sure I'd like to ditch this middle management job to go start a non-profit that will save the world but nobody's going to pay me $200K a year to do it.

muckraker wrote:

He has no chance to win because he is not fast enough. It has nothing to do with being white.

Ritz didn't say that. OP added the bold parts to what Ritz really said.

muckraker wrote:

He has no chance to win because he is not fast enough. It has nothing to do with being white.

Did he imply causation or just correlation? It's no secret that no white guy is going to win the XC Worlds, is it? Doesn't really matter why.

Ritz has no presence in the global market if Nike wants its moneys worth they have to market him to the American kit buying audience.

Odds on wrote:

Ritz didn't say that. OP added the bold parts to what Ritz really said.

If the OP added the words in bold as opposed to just adding the emphasis, then the OP is a despicable ret\ard and this thread should be deleted immediately.