Disappointed NYC marathoners run in aid of Sandy victims – Yahoo! News

Disappointed NYC marathoners run in aid of Sandy victims – Yahoo! News.

Earlier this week I was really critical of the plan running of the ING NYC Marathon- and I applaud the decision to cancel the race.

I know that many of the 40k runners are very disappointed that the event they trained for was canceled.  But I love this story I found on Yahoo! that shows us why the community of runners is great.

I’m not sure if you realize but the running community is a huge fundraiser- almost every race I see directly supports a cause- or a runner is raising money for a charity.  So I am not surprised that instead of pouting, over a 1,000 runner met at what would be the finished line to collect donations for victims in the outer borough of Staten Island.

So instead of running for glory- they are carrying needed water, food, and supplies for a community that really could use a boost.

And it doesn’t hurt the running community’s PR either.

 

 

Four Unbeaten Teams Lead the Way this Saturday

Will Alabama remain king of the hill after this weekend? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Well its time to start thinking about which college football games to view tomorrow. Since my Wahoos are going to be in Raleigh losing to NCST (yes I have given up all hope and really wish I was wrong) I will be home and able to catch some of the big match ups. Here are the ones I’m really looking forward to.

The Irish Welcome Pittsburgh

Since Notre Dame needs to be unbeaten to get invited to the National Championship game every game matters for them. After a great road victory in Oklahoma, the Irish head back to South Bend to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers.

On paper this should be an easy game for the Irish- who are second in the nation for scoring defense largely to the Heisman quality Manti Te’o creating amazing plays facing an offense who is the 77^th for rushing scoring. Plus Notre Dame has only allowed one rushing touchdown all season- that’s incredible.

Yet, this is what many would consider a trap game because before the Oklahoma game how many people really thought this Irish defense was for real? Now fans are dusting off their gear and the Fighting Irish nation is awakening from a long slumber of mediocrity and underperforming teams.

So will the ND faithful be rewarded with a win. I hope so since I married an Irish fan. If Notre Dame continues it strong defense philosophy and QB Everett Golson continues the growth we saw last week then they should come up with a big victory.

Oklahoma St Tries to Stop the Wildcats (Irish Fans You Say Go Cowboys)

Another unbeaten team, and the second ranked in the BCS polls, Kansas St welcomes Big 12 foe Oklahoma State to their house.

If there was a game that could stop the Wildcats national championship hopes this is it because of Joseph Randle and Wes Lunt. The Cowbows are averaging 239 yards rushing per game this season and only allow 128 yards on the ground for their opponents. But Oklahoma St has lost big games including Texas and Arizona.

I’m thinking that Kansas St is going to pull out a win.

The Ducks Fly Into Sparta (Yes Irish Fans You Say Go Trojans- I know its Painful, but necessary)

First question what will the Ducks wear against USC? They are the fashion show of the college football universe. Thank goodness for Nike and their endless amounts of neon green gear.

That being said this is likely the preview for the Pac12 Championship which we will probably see these teams play in again.

The question to ask is can USC’s defense keep up with Chip Kelly‘s offense? No one seems to have the secret yet to stopping it- and I don’t think its USC. This is a team that seems to beat itself despite having a ton of talent on the field. They are third worse in the PAC 12 for turnovers- only Washington State and Colorado (arguably the worse college football team in the nation) have more. And QB Matt Barkley- once a Heisman candidate has through eight interceptions so far.

You can’t make those type of mistakes against Oregon- because Oregon wants and has the staff to win- big.

Finally the game of the week Alabama Goes Tiger Hunting

If you live under a rock it may come as a surprise to you that this is the game of the season.

Yes season, because in the college universe everything begins with the SEC and the SEC is centered around these two teams. In fact it is such a big game all of ESPN seems to have left Bristol to attend- of course they could be escaping from the aftermath of Sandy but everything should be hunky dory after all they are hosting the NYC marathon (I wish you could see my eye roll right now).

Both of these teams are matched up beautifully- they are both in the top 25 for rushing offenses. Both rely heavily on defense.

But the real reason this is an amazing game- drama, good old fashion we don’t like you. You see Nick Saban, the most famous Tide coach after Bear Bryant himself, used to be the head coach for LSU- and brought a National Championship to Baton Rouge. Then Saban leaves for the NFL and bombs- big. And where does he return to – LSU’s rival Alabama.

Juicy! And you Gals thought sports was boring. This game is not going to be the touchdown fest like Oregon and USC- instead expect a low scoring game with a ton of defense.

Related articles

• Wojciechowski: Saturday will bring calm or chaos to BCS title race (espn.go.com)
• Stewart Mandel: Breaking down potential BCS title race developments; more Mailbag (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• You: Envisioning the 2012 BCS Apocalypse, or What Happens If Everybody Has 1 Loss? (bleacherreport.com)

It’s Too Soon to Run the NYC Marathon

On Wednesday Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the ING New York City Marathon that is scheduled for Sunday will go on as planned.

Yeah I’m not so sure this is the best idea after a hurricane which devastated the NY and NJ areas.

From the NYC marathon webpage they did recognize that this could be a potential PR nightmare by emphasizing that the planning of the event will not affect any of the relief efforts. They are canceling the opening ceremony for the marathon and the 5k event they were going to host on Saturday. The organizers also revised their cancellation policy realizing that a good portion of people who signed up for the race would not be able to make it into the city.

Still I’m not sure holding the event less than a week after a major storm is beneficial.

The last major disaster for the NYC area was of course 9-11 and everything in the city basically shut down. Understandably, but for a major sports town it was the start of baseball and football that started to bring life back into the city. Mike Vaccaro from the New York Post wrote that after 9-11 he questioned the purpose of games, so many of us did. Ten days after the attacks the Mets catcher Mike Piazza hit a homer in Shea and Liza Minelli sang New York, New York during the seventh inning stretch. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Twelve days after the attack the New York Giants had a great road win against the Chiefs and the Chiefs fans cheered the NY Giants. The Yankees playoffs run deep into October almost winning the World Series- these events helped the city and really a nation healed.

But these events happened weeks after the event itself- giving the city time to get itself right again. The city wants to host an international competition only days after the worse storm to hit the region in a decade.

There will be a basketball game in Madison Square Garden and I question that too- but it is in a one location building that is self contained. Not a 23 mile race through five boroughs one of whom just found the bodies of two boys that were swept from their mother’s arms during the storm.

It’s too soon to run this race.

Yes, It will bring much needed cash to this region and recognition and reminders of the devastation.

It’s too soon to run this race.

The safety of the participants and spectators- with wires, trees, and water damage can the city realistically say it is ready for crowds. Can the city have its first responders focused on keep the racers safe while also dealing with the aftermath of Sandy?

The race can wait a week- it will be okay. I realize that many people fly in from around the world and that the NYC marathon is the Super Bowl of marathons. But this year it should be delayed to give NYC a chance to take a breath and find its center again.