AIfred E Newman wrote:
And just to think, you've been doing this for nearly a year and with nothing to show for it.
Wrong! We have lots to show for all of the posting about Rossi's cheating, lying, bullying and stupidity. Initially, Rossi, being a narcissist, probably got off on the existence of this thread. But, he quickly realized it had the potential to lead to Via DQing him. So, he had his apparently semi-retired AOL attorney fire off a threatening letter to Via. Lucky for Rossi, the Via RD, Barb McKeever, is fat, stupid, incompetent and/or lacks integrity, so she chose to not DQ an obvious cheater, or she went along with the atrocious advice of others to let Rossi's cheating slide. Rossi breathed a big sigh of relief when the non-DQ decision was announced, and he probably figured that the hubbub surrounding his obvious cheating would finally start to die down. Little did he know that McKeever's clusterf*ck served only to pour napalm on an inferno. This thread went supersonic overnight, setting the record for most posts on a LetsRun thread and leading to more dark twists and turns than Donald Drumpf's colon.
If that was all that ever came of all of our sleuthing and posting, it would have been more than worth the time. But, it led to so much more: LRC's front-page challenge, articles in RunnersWorld and other on-line running magazines, numerous mentions in running blogs, Rossi memes, Rossi mats, and FB put-downs of Rossi by local Philly celebrity and avid runner Cicely Tynan, not to mention the on-going, on-line and real-life cage match between Rossi and Ken. Through it all, and because of it all, this crazy thread just kept growing. Like a first erection, none of us knew how big or messy it would get, but we were transfixed by it all the same.
Still, knowledge of the Rossi cheating saga was mostly limited to the running community generally, so Rossi could lie to himself, and probably to his wife, that his cheating would not affect his job or his family. I can hear him now, “Don’t worry, honey, none of our friends or neighbors are ever going to find out what 12 basement trolls on some stupid running website are saying about me.†Au contraire mon frere! As it turns out, philly.com is read by people all over the Philadelphia metro area and beyond, including many of Rossi’s friends and neighbors. And each year, philly.com puts out its year-end lists, including its list of Philly’s Biggest Losers. Lo and behold, when the list of Philly’s Biggest Losers for 2015 was published, Rossi was named the No. 1 Loser in Philly for 2015, with his photo featured prominently smack-dab in the middle of the photo banner at the top of the article. This was a singular and awesome accomplishment for which the "12 trolls," plus the worldwide legions of other posters who contributed to this thread, can and do take pride and satisfaction in.
Now, when Rossi goes to his kids’ school, or shops at the local store, or meets a potential client, he has to wonder, “Do they know I’m a cheater, liar, bully and idiot?†The answer is, yes, Rossi, each one of them probably does know about you. This epic and record-breaking LetsRun thread was bad enough, with it leading to the story of Rossi's cheating, lying, bullying and stupidity to be liked and shared and spread all over the internet, and causing the story to shoot to the first page of any google search of Rossi, but the philly.com article sealed the deal by placing the story in front of all of Rossi's friends and neighbors in the local Philly area.
So, to tie a bow on it, what we all have to show for all of our posting is that Rossi has become known locally and worldwide as the quintessential cowardly douchebag, a man who picked a fight with a woman he knew couldn't defend herself, and not only that, who sucker-punched her by posting his "letter" on his FB page without ever mailing it to her. Furthermore, due to his uncontrollable ego and inability to think of anyone but himself, he has become known to friends, neighbors and strangers alike as a cheater, a liar, a bully, and an idiot.
That’s what we have to show for our time. Well worth it, in my opinion.