Guns and Photos 4/20/10

On page 2 of Tuesday's sports section there was a picture of the women's winner of the Boston Marathon, Teyba Erkesso of Ethiopia, receiving the traditional olive wreath given to winners of that race. She is holding her hands to her face, and appears to be in, or near, tears. She covered the 26.2 miles in 2hours, 26min., and 11seconds. That would make her average pace about 5min., and 35sec., per mile- which she did under her own power. She had no mechanical engine, and no chassis- other than her own body.

Denny Hamlin's picture was also on page 2. In his post-race photo, he is seen at a podium holding two pistols skyward. Whether he was given those guns as a prize, or waved them at his competitors in rage during the contest, is not known. What we do know is that he won a 500-mile race in Texas on Monday, with the benefit of a high-powered stock car, and a pit crew. He emerged the winner after 334 laps, despite an injured knee that he said left him feeling about "60 percent." How amazingly brave- to drive 500 miles with a bad knee! The impact on that joint when working the clutch must have been tremendous.

It is extremely unlikely that Ms. Erkesso would have performed as she did, had one of her knees been as injured as Mr. Hamlin's. And I doubt that she is as handy with a Colt .45 as he is. Perhaps her nearest competitor would have been more than 3 seconds behind her, if she had sported a sidearm while running.

That car racing is considered a sport on a level with long-distance running doesn't bother me anymore. It can't possibly be- since comparing the endurance of a vehicle, and the endurance of a runner is not a fair. It's like judging the steam engine superior to John Henry. But people would seem to prefer watching men and women whose faces they can't even see, drive cars around in an oval for hours, than watch real live human beings that they could see, run around a track, or through the streets of one of America's greatest cities, and all my bitching is not going to change that.

But what really irritated me about the two stories, was that Mr. Hamlin was lauded for being courageous and tough, when his knee had to bear no weight, just be strong enough to push in the clutch. While no mention was made of the strength and determination it takes just to RUN 26 miles, let alone to do it at the pace which Ms. Erkesso did. If she'd had an injured knee, she would never have even been able to toe the line, so great would the demands of the race been upon it, and we would not have been so fortunate as to see her, completely disarmed, in her moment of triumph.

Hell, the Boston Marathon wasn't even on local TV here, but the NASCAR race was. I guess the airwaves were just too crowded at 11a.m. on a Monday for two grueling tests of human endurance.

Thanks for reading.