In The Money
- Wade
As a rule, I disagree with a lot of what civil liberties groups have to say, specifically the ACLU. One can argue that because I'm a middle-to-upper class white male I am unable to appreciate the work of the ACLU. In essence, my status, gender, and race guarantees that I will be granted a whole host of civil liberties, most of which (I sense) are undeserved. I'm not whining, mind you; just observing.
But I think the civil liberties folks have something here: if you have time, read this. If not, here's the Cliffs Notes version: The Twin Cities Marathon realizes that it can't compete with some of the top-line marathons in the country, such as Boston, New York, and even Grandma's. So, it decides it'll be the best second-tier marathon option. How does it do that? By only giving prize money to the top finishers that are born in the United States.
For a little while I thought I understood what they are trying to do... but I really don't. Their motivation seems to be to encourage "local" runners (thereby discouraging African runners who generally beat the crap out of their U.S. counterparts.) But what does that accomplish? I suppose some people grumble about people "not even from our country" winning most marathons. So let's try to make sure the top finisher is fishbelly white like me, and with a sensible name, like Gustafson or Bunsen.
To me, that's discrimination. So here's an idea: instead of trying to weed out the people who consistently win, how about trying to get better? Ahh, it's much easier to take shortcuts and hope that the people that train harder don't run in your race.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
