Mo Farah gets his first World Record - 8:03.40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My post was not in defense of Andy. I do not believe his comment regarding the field or Mo's races was so incorrect, personal, or offensive (in fact, I thought it was clear that they came from the perspective of being a fan of a runner who wanted to see a race, which is not offensive in my opinion), but that is really beside the point. I am not British and have enough lower tier US runners - Ryan Hill, Bumbi, True, in particular - to spend any on a British runner I'm only vaguely aware of. Mo, though, is currently the greatest runner in the world.

I don't think athletes owe us anything. They don't have to be role models. They are people with the regular span of human emotions. They are flawed. But we, as fans, are also flawed and emotional and don't owe athletes anything.

In my opinion, Mo's responses were a huge, unsettling overreaction like you'd see from an insecure middle schooler responding to harmless trash talk in basketball by pointing out all the friend's real flaws in a malicious manner. i do not think Mo is a bad person, but this indicated to me that Mo has an ugly, juvenile side that is rather not cheer for me. No, I don't think that Mo cares if he loses an anonymous, meaningless fan in the U.S., nor does he need to. Just my 2 cents, even if they weren't asked for.

Nobody who is honest and has any dignity would say Andy V's tweet was from the perspective of being a fan. You don't have a valid opinion, you are just a troll.

Andy Vermin wrote:

Dope is amazing

C'mon , dude, just because Sal coach's him. Wait, I take that back. Never mind.

So, are anger management issues a result training under A. Sal?

Mrr822,you honestly read my post and concluded, "You don't have a valid opinion, you ae just a troll."?? And because you disagree with my opinion, you are calling me dishonest and undignified? And yet I'm the troll? Please note that I am choosing not to lash out in frustration, unlike you and Mo. Here is Andy's initial tweet:

@AndyVernonGB: Another stellar field against @Mo_Farah on home turf this weekend at Birmingham. #joke

Please explain your interpretation of this tweet. I will provide mine, even though I am unconvinced you will rise above the level of mudslinging. My tangential point was that his tweet reflected frustration with not seeing Mo race against the other elite athletes. I share the same frustration. I would like to see him racing the top runners more than once a year. Many participate in a rigorous DL circuit. I understand Mo's reasons for not doing so, and, as I said in my "troll" post, I don't believe Mo owes us anything. He has little to gain from putting himself out there; we as fans would gain a lot, but he stands only to lose (if he, you know, loses). He owes Nike whatever is in the terms of his contract and nothing more. I get that he prioritizes the major meets and has done as well as you possibly could in those meets. BUT, as a fan, I would like to see him race the other big dogs rather than win big against lesser runners. The world record was certainly exciting. When Andy tweeted what he did, I don't think he knew Mo was gunning for the world record. However, it is still also an indoor 2-mile world record. It's hard to get too excited about that. That is my take as a fan of the sport. I interpreted Andy's initial tweet to be a reflection of his similar view/frustration. Furthermore, his Twitter banner was at the time and still is a picture of him with Mo, which would further indicate that he at least was a fan.

Look, Mrr82, I know you've posted here throughout the years with a consistent name and I applaud you for that. Presumably, based on your consistent, lengthy presence and scornful use of the term, "troll," you are displeased with the trolling that makes up a large proportion of Letsrun posts. Given those assumptions, let me tell you some things that I would have hoped you'd know by now: 1) When you level ad hominem attacks against the opposition (e.g. labeling me a troll) instead of responding with rational points, you not only sacrifice your credibility, but you also reduce a debate to an exchange of insults; 2) Posts that attempt to explain the espoused viewpoint - even if you disagree with the viewpoint - are almost never "troll" posts, as one of the primary characteristics of a troll post is a baseless, outrageous post provided with the intent to get a rise out of people; 3) Responding to a post that clearly took some time and thought and does not contain any inflammatory material (did I call Mo names? did I call him a bad guy? or did I in fact explicitly NOT do that, but merely said I found it hard to cheer for him after his essentially trolllike post?) by calling said poster an undignified, dishonest troll makes you, yourself a troll; 4) And again I'm assuming you do not like the prevalance of troll posts, but contributing troll posts to Letsrun.com is certainly no way to help reverse the sad ration of troll posts to honest and relevant posts.

Agreed with Sluggers.

I really don't see what was so alarming from Andy's comment on the field. I did find Mo's insecure reaction, however, hand in hand with someone that has compensation issues.

I also don't believe Andy outright bashed Mo in a seriously manner regarding Mo's nationality, nor was that meant to be taken serious.

Some advice for you, Mo. The dude that blocks anyone that has a simple opinion he doesn't agree with on social media, "He who angers you, defeats you, therefore, GROW UP."

Keep it real, Andy. It's alright to give your two cents.

Here is an illustration of a troll post:

(quote)Nobody who is honest and has any dignity would say Andy V's tweet was from the perspective of being a fan. You don't have a valid opinion(bold);(/bold) you are just a troll.[/quote]

You guys are so bright!

Dope police wrote:

Okay dude wrote:

You just did.

Ha, I was thinking the same thing.

Dejen at 3:27/7:18/12:32-33, you've just jumped the shark. 12:46 was worth 12:32. This is the stupidest thing you've ever said, and that is saying something. Sometimes your stuff makes some sense. 12:32! What a joke.

You might want to do a little more research. This didn't start with an Andy Vernon tweet the other day. It goes deeper and there's more to the reason he set off Farah with his jerkish tweet.

Mo put on a show in front of his home country. He broke a WR. He's an Olympic and world champ. The level of comp in this meet is irrelevant and good for Mo for doing it at home.

That said I apologize, I still think your misguided and not taking in the whole picture, but the rest was unnecessary to say.

Mrr82 wrote:

That said I apologize, I still think you're misguided and not taking in the whole picture, but the rest was unnecessary to say.

Fair enough. Thanks for the retraction. I did hear about the European comment. Look, I think Andy is probably a bit of an @ss. I am neither a fan nor not a fan of his, as I said before, and this exchange has not made me a fan by any means. I am however, as a track fan, emotionally invested in Mo, the greatest current distance runner and one of the most dominant distance runners of all time, the same way I am emotionally invested in Lebron James, Tom Brady, Chris Froome, Usain Bolt, etc. He is the dominant figure in the sport.

I think Mo should be exactly who he is, race who and where he wants, say what he wants on Twitter. And I, in return, reserve the right to be pleased or displeased with his actions. Here's a parallel again: Lebron had every right to go to Miami and broadcast it in The Decision, but I, like many, found it distasteful and did not personally cheer for him a while (I have since become a fan again). In regard to Mo, I am not a fan of his response, regardless of the back story. If he'd talked to Andy mano a mano after the European incident and responded to Andy's tweet with an explanation - "Hey mate, I'm going for a world record in front of my home fans," or whatever - I would still be a fan. Again, I'm not saying he owes it to me or anyone else to behave any certain way or that he would care what my opinion is. I also do not think he's a bad guy, merely perhaps a little juvenile, arrogant (#ComeBackWhenYouWinSomethingDecent?), and hotheaded. I think he came across very poorly in the exchange. It is not a zero-sum situation. Andy ultimately came across poorly himself, although he at least tried to pacify the situation by congratulating Mo, even if that was only under pressure from basically being accused of racism. Anyways, I don't really care about Andy. I do, however, care about Mo. And I find myself hoping that someone rises to the challenge and beats him.

From the very beginning they are talking about Kenenisa Bekele's record. The conclusion that this might be Bekele's world indoor best for 2 Miles seems to be beyond you. Also: "They are definitelly right on world record pace here". You really seem to have a different copy.

There are two versions. Flotracks version shown live and recorded never talk about the WR. Cram's video does.

Versioncontrol wrote:

various copies wrote:

From the very beginning they are talking about Kenenisa Bekele's record. The conclusion that this might be Bekele's world indoor best for 2 Miles seems to be beyond you. Also: "They are definitelly right on world record pace here". You really seem to have a different copy.

There are two versions. Flotracks version shown live and recorded never talk about the WR. Cram's video does.

Glad I watched the BBC version thanks to my VPN.

mo ran great .

World record.

All of you parsing nut jobs need to find a freaking balance .

do you like been lied to...

again and again more convoluted stories.

vernon has every reason to hate his guts

any dirty cheat should be treated the

same they treat others.

at least keep quiet.

people here seem to have no bother

with lagat when so obvious doper

not just now but any case where could.

would treat exact same

What are iaaf going to do about all

this IGF-1 lr3 use in sport that increasing

no end .

seeing its use alot more in 60m top list compared to any other year .

especially in states where no longer

even remotly a secret.

N

1) Great run by Farah - but it was never set up as a race. As most experienced runners know, records are rarely set in a race between evenly matched opponents because time goes out of the window; winning becomes the sole aim. I know there are exceptions to this but if the field had been loaded Farah would doubtless have sat back and made his customary move with c600m to go. more exciting contest but no record.

2) Being slightly cynical can anyone explain why Ethiopia has replaced Kenya as Farah's altitude training base of choice? Don't we have mountains in Europe? Or the US?

3) This twitter thing; juvenile, pathetic, sad. Lesson for all athletes; just train and compete, that's all we are interested in. Nobody with any degree of intellect "tweets" because they realise that it is a very limited form of communication. Impossible to say anything vaguely intelligent/nuanced within the constraints of this medium.