Retraction Reaction

Just when I thought that poorly thought out, unfounded displays of ignorance in regard to Meb Keflezighi’s victory at the New York City Marathon on Sunday were limited to the letsrun message board, Darren Rovell — at one time a well-respected and credible journalist — comes out with this crap yesterday.

Rovell’s retraction this morning doesn’t do much to make up for his uninformed article that has been at the center of controversy since it was posted on CNBC’s website yesterday. The New York Times, in a slightly more balanced manner, ran this article by Gina Kolata on their website this morning. The piece explores the question of whether or not Meb’s first-place finish on Sunday should count as an “American” win.

The answer is: of course it should. The bottom line is that the winner of the race was an American and deserves to be recognized as such. As journalists, I believe it’s our job to present both sides of a story, as well as offer our own opinions on a matter when it’s necessary. In regard to Keflezighi ending a 27-year American drought at New York on Sunday, however, there should be no debate.

Contrary to Rovell’s claim that Keflezighi is “like a ringer who you hire to work a couple hours at your office so that you can win the executive softball league,” Meb was not “imported” here from Eritrea to win medals in the marathon. This isn’t a case of Qatar buying its athletes from Kenya. Keflezighi came here as a 12-year-old, much like my own father did, because his parents wanted to provide him the chance to take advantage of opportunities he otherwise never would have had. Just because he wasn’t born on native soil doesn’t make Meb any less American than the son of a soldier born on an army base in Germany. Just because he wasn’t born here doesn’t put Meb at a genetic advantage over anyone with the letters “USA” emblazoned on their birth certificate. That’s unfounded and it’s a load of horseshit. If anything, not having being born in this country gave Meb — someone whose worked hard toward everything that’s he’s ever accomplished in his life — an unmeasurable advantage over the most ungrateful domestic complainers who expect everything in life to be handed to them.

Keflezighi and Alberto Salazar, the last American male to win it all in the Big Apple, share a lot of similarities. Neither was born in this country. Both came to the United States as children because their parents wanted to provide them with a better life growing up. Both attended American schools, competed for American universities and wore their country’s colors with pride in international competition. In my opinion, both of these men exemplify what what it means to be an American — someone who has taken full advantage of the opportunities he’s been presented with as a citizen of this great country. By winning one of the most prestigious races in the world Meb Keflezighi did himself, his family and his country proud.

I think why this muddled mess has struck such a nerve with me is because of my own upbringing as something of a second-generation American — someone who has been given a good life because the United States of America gave my father, an immigrant from Italy, the opportunity to work hard and be compensated for his efforts so he could provide a better life for himself and his family. That’s the American Dream, Mr. Rovell, and instead of downplaying the accomplishment of someone who has taken full advantage of the opportunity that Americans pride themselves in as a basic tenet of their citizenship, you should instead be using this man as an example of inspiration for future generations of Americans to follow.