Pacman a Blackman?

If you read Politico.com or AOL’s homepage you might have heard that Mr. Imus could be in a bit of racial trouble again. Even the esteemed New York Times ran a small story about it.

Based on that story, here’s the pertinent information:

When told by the program’s sportscaster, Warner Wolf, that [Adam “Pacman”] Jones no longer wished to be called by his nickname — so that people might forget his record of multiple arrests in recent years — Mr. Imus asked, “What color is he?’’

“He’s African-American,’’ Mr. Wolf responded.

“Well, there you go,’’ Mr. Imus said. “Now we know.’’

Oh my G-d. I-man is a racist!!!! Let’s lynch him now!!!

Wait just a cotton-picking (racist) minute. Lets rewind the show tape for a minute and hear the exchange between Imus and Wolf 30 seconds before the one above. Wolf reported on a golf reporter commenting that Rocco Mediate looked “Like he should be cleaning Tiger Wood’s pool.” Mr. Imus then chirped in and said, “What color is he?”

You get it people…it’s a joke now. And as predicted Fat Al (Sharpton this time…not Wynn) released a statement:

"It has been reported to me that statements were made by Mr. Imus this morning and National Action Network has monitored his show since his return. I find the inference of his remark disturbing because it plays into stereotypes. Any use of stereotypes is always counterproductive. We will determine in the next day or so whether or not his remark warrants direct action on our part as we did in April of last year."

Fat Al wrote that? Yeah, somehow I don’t think so. This man is so inarticulate that he makes Don King look like Maya Angelou. If you are going to judge Imus on his previous record (Nappy headed Hos) then as I’ve argued before we should judge the critics on theirs.

Al Sharpton:

• Dropped out of Brooklyn College after only two years because he says he “hates whites.”
• Tawana Brawley
• Crown Heights Riots
• Freddie’s Fashion Mart
• Duke Lacrosse Players Rape Case

Using Sharpton’s judging system any of those should be enough to disqualify Fat Al as being an authoritative source on anything other then inciting race riots and racial tensions. He furthers those tensions for his own gain and notoriety instead of helping to bring all people together. Of course if you use his system to judge me then I'm going to jail for a long, long time. Maybe me and Fat Al will get together and play a nice game of bloody knuckles, or maybe pinochle, whichever comes first.

Once Twice Three Times a NO and 4-way Stops!

Ahhhhhh!!!! The numbers wont’ leave me alone. They always are there…oh wait that’s Hurley. Fhewwww….I feel much better now.

But seriously numbers are haunting me again. This time the numbers 2, 3, and 4 are bugging me and here’s why.

2 and 3 go together, as in November 2, 2008 and 3 consecutive times turned down from entry into the New York City Marathon (the former being the date of the race.) Come on people. Yes I know I didn’t have a good showing in 2005 but that was my first race after injuring my knee…I’m allowed one bad check every few years right (see the counterfeiting post from a while back)? Well I don’t know how they do this lottery but I was really looking forward to going up to NYC and running it this year. On the bright side, the other folks who I know who entered also didn’t get in so they have next year too. Speaking of next year…I guarantee my entry into the race.

Wha, wha, what??? How can you do that?

Simple. The New York Road Runner rule book says:

Those who have applied but been denied entry for the last three years in a row and who haven't secured entry through alternative methods are guaranteed race entry.

Lets see…that means 2006 (no), 2007 (no), and now 2008 (no)! YEAH! I’m in for 2009 and going to whoop the llama’s ass (or the emu’s donkey…whichever comes first)!

So Elliot, Eric, and any of you other yahoos that want to run this bad mutha with me…saddle up, 'cause we’re going to Disneyland….err…Central Park in November of 2009!

Wait….you forgot the number 4.

Oh yeah you’re right…thanks for reminding me. 4 is for 4-way stop, as in what you are supposed to do when driving your car and coming onto an intersection where the lights are down due to power outages. Didn’t they teach that on your driving test? Evidently most of the folks on Connecticut Ave and 355 couldn’t handle that master level driving technique yesterday afternoon. Yes, I understand that a strong storm(s) hit and knocked out the power, and yes, I understand that you were confused and a little scared, but the rains were gone and you could see clearly now…

Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? The guy in the minivan next to me over by White Flint (on 355) was honking because the cars in front of us were stopping to be courteous. He was actually upset that he was being delayed. I tried to calm him but there was no sedating the man. Ah he’s a fat ass anyway who will probably have a heart attack behind the wheel and kill himself in a fiery late night wreck. As for me…I pulled off and got one of the Whoa! That’s Low! shakes. Yummo! (2 comes up again. As in 2 posts in a row I’ve used Yummo! Get Rachel Ray out of my head!!!)

4 hours….we don’t need no stinking four hours!

In fact take those four hours and return 25 seconds of them back to their original owners. That’s how confident I feel about this transaction.

Yeah confident….sore but confident as I not only set a PR on a course I had no business PR’ing on but also managed to see something that I never thought I’d see in my running “career”. As I crossed the finish line at the 2008 Frederick Marathon, my watch read 3hr, 59 min, and 35 sec. So not only did I break my PR set last month in DC by about 5 min but I broke through the 4 hour marathon window (barely!).

The course was very tough, especially the back end. If you care to look, here’s the elevation chart and my version of the course from Gmap Pedometer. The front half of the race is fairly flat and scenic, rolling through small neighborhoods and historic homes before coming back to the Fairgrounds. The second half however went out to the more industrial section of town and then down a long stretch of highway where we hit the two “Monster” hills before returning back to a newer neighborhood up on the ridge.

The people were great but none greater then the mighty Boigs who came out to support me (even if they missed me at 15), feed me the night before, and even give me a lift home. Thanks for the support. And thanks to Mrs. Bloggerman for getting stuck in CA and not being able to attend. For those of you keeping score at home, she’s missed the last 2 marathons and I’ve set PR’s at each!

I think I’m taking the summer “off” and just running for fun until the fall comes around. We have Baltimore in October and will hear about entry in to NYC (November) in mid June. If I don’t get in there I may do Marine Corps (late October), San Antonio (November) or Las Vegas (early December) as my fourth this year….we’ll see.

How Fast Was I Going Officer?

No, it's not a speeding ticket but I did run a fast 10k race (for me anyway) on Turkey Day in Georgia. As I was adding it to my running log I wanted to see if it was a personal best/record (PR) for me. Problem is, I don't keep that kind of list and I'm actually getting frustrated trying to remember the times from all of my races. So last night I built me a little chart of my top times across several different distances. Now you get to enjoy it too. Judge me not by my speed but how good I look while running!