Letters to the Editor
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How condescending and anti-good health!
That article guaranteed I will never click on McClelland's links again. What an insult and waste of time, and what a gratuitous abusive use of a black female icon's name to get attention to such self-serving antagonistic drivel! "Dragging her flab"?! Have you been feeling up her ample body, pray tell?
Oprah ain't flabby, honey, she's just no marathon-runner or good at any sports. Should we all just kill ourselves so we don't offend your sensibilities if we're not sports jocks or jockettes?
Oprah gets thousands of women who'd die of a stroke or heart attack, off the couch and into gyms and to tracks to run. Good for her! Every little kid who raises money for a school with marathons - smack those little worthless amateurs off the track too? Geez, what vitriol!
I think Mr. McClelland should get his liver checked; it seems very filled with bile. Not hydrating enough?
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Penguin is the tortoise; McClelland is the hare
Salon is my favorite online mag--but who decided to make this the lead article? This guy stopped being able to compete in marathons because of a bum knee--and it never occurred to him that he might have ruined his knee by pushing his body too hard training for that 4-hour-goal. Another poster pointed out the (subtle? not so subtle) racism and sexism of the Oprah flab quote. I doubt McClelland even realizes how revealing his own words are. A (shudder) middle-aged woman hauling her flab? Not a thin young male Yalie? Shudder! And in the District of Columbia, no less! (Which happens to be black urban area. Hmm.)
I think long-term sports-related injuries are just as much of a scourge as obesity, and just as unnecessary in many cases. The anti-obesity obsession in this country is just our nation's latent Puritanism rearing its head. I think Penguin's attitude is far healthier than McClelland. Penguin may not be fast, but he's still in the game. McClelland is not.
I've never done the marathon; I've done the 5-boro Bike Tour. The organizers were quick to remind us that it was not a race. So some marathoners have that attitude. More power to them.
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Which does not belong?
This is the most pathetically wrong headed article I have ever read in Salon, and that includes all the Sullivan screeds of times gone by. Am I supposed to care more about world class runners than masses of people enjoying and challenging themselves? Sorry, ain't gonna happen. This article would have fit better in New Republic or National Review.
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So by this logic
Popularity has ruined baseball, basketball, football, soccer, volleyball and cheering (among others).
This was possibly the single most inane, eltist, mean-spirited article Salon has ever posted.
The thought that Salon actually paid McCelland money for this snobbish drivel is a tad bit nauseating.
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where are they?
Running ultramarathons, doofus!
A dinky marathon would just be a warm-up. Serious marathoners have gone on to harder challenges: triathalon and ultramarathon.
I'd be happy to finish a 5K!
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Have you been to McDonald's lately?
I think our competitive spirit was wrecked a long time ago by our culture of absolute laziness, where we can't even be bothered to step out of our cars to pick up our double cheeseburgers, chicken McNuggets, french fries, and soda. America's lucky if it can waddle across the finish line.
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Shameful
You know, I'm not a huge Oprah fan, to say the least, but it is extremely insulting to talk about her 'flab' etc. and not at all relevant to any kind of a logical argument.
It makes no sense to say that amateurs "ruined" the sport. There's simply no way to even prove such an extraordinary claim. AND worse, it's very reminiscent of a talking point from the conservative parties of this country. It can't be an accident that you've picked a woman--and a black one at that and that you're somehow HORRIFIED that the those (non-white! oh noes!) non-Americans are winning now.
You may not think of yourself as a racist, sir, but I think there's a pretty good possibility that you've got a little racist nationalist hiding in your running shoes, buddy. I can't say for sure, of course, but your desire to see the sport return into the hands of a few enthusiasts seems, at the very least, a country club snobbism that I'd like to see eradicated from this country with as much enthusiasm as you'd like to see it return. Yuck.
By the way, it's extremely classy to include in your rant an organization that works to raise money for cancer. Niiiice. I guess those with cancer don't actually count either. They must be in the same league with middle-aged women with flab--not human enough, not athletic enough to acknowledge to be included as strong, brave people who want to better themselves and in the case of those with cancer or their families with cancer, work toward a cure, and you know, LIVE.
Joan, I expected better from you on the Salon articles here. I get this one will increase page hits, but it's substandard rush to proof is ironically amateur at best. And it's mean-spirited and cruel to boot. Please don't become Fox News in order to get page hits, okay?
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Oh and ...
whoops, I forgot to add sexist, classist, and elitist.
Unlike you, I can't rush to proof and say you are any of these things for sure, but you sure covered all of the possibilities in your article. You're certainly not an amateur at working the 'ists' of this world, whether you're revealing some not-so-flattering things about your inner self or not.
So, you know, good luck with that.
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Full of shit.
This article is the kind of ridiculous controversy starter I expect to see (complete with misleading headline) at Slate, not at Salon. Grow up. God, this guy sounds someone whose favorite indie band got successful. Absolutely ridiculous. Shouldn't we be encouraging everybody to exercise and try to run marathons?
--Lucas
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Did salon pay for this crap?
What a weak article.
Oprah Ruined the Marathon! Well, if she did, she ruined it for you, but only because you're basically a petulant little 4 year old.
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Am I the only one who got it?
People often accuse me of being an idiot, but after reading all these posts, I realize I'm the only one who understood this article. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the New York City Marathon. This article advertises that fact, plus offers some background about how the sport has changed over the past 40 years. The Oprah comment in the headline is what's known in journalism as a hook. The cranky pants attitude that things were better in the old days is what's known as a point of view. If you read the article, you'll learn enough to chat with somebody about the New York City Marathon, which is generally all Salon is -- fodder for the chatting classes.