Lolo Jones Fires Back At Media For AK Analogy

[slowjo]

I have no idea what what comment you made Conor or even the apolgy (and whatever it was no need to dredge it up).

I rarely hold a grudge...life is just too darn short and we all say things we regret.

As for being sweet...well not always!

But hating an athlete is just beyond my comprehension...tired of, ashamed of (drug cheats -not L Jones!) exasperated by (ones I coach) oh yes!

[guru]

Jones strikes again, telling quadriplegic former Rutgers football player Eric LeGrande he needs to "get checked for a concussion. clearly u've been hit in the head" to challenge her to a race.

Yikes...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/20 ... r/1609691/

[lonewolf]

Missleading headline.. she had no idea who he was..

[tandfman]

Missleading headline.. she had no idea who he was..

I'm sure you're right. But the picture of him in a wheelchair might have given her a clue. Or she could have Googled him.

Bottom line: she surely meant no harm, but she could have been more careful.

[decafan]

Missleading headline.. she had no idea who he was..

The picture of him in a wheelchair might have given her a clue. Or she could have Googled him.

Give me a break. No reasonable person would think this. Lolo has over 300k followers and gets random tweets ALL the time. You expect her to research each person? She was clearly joking. She treated him like a normal person having fun talking smack. I have zero problem with this exchange.

You Lolo haters are reaching on this one. This is a non story.

[tandfman]

I am not a Lolo hater.

[decafan]

I am not a Lolo hater.

My apologies. You are an unreasonable person with no sense of humor and in lock-step with the Lolo haters on this particular matter. But definitely NOT a Lolo hater.

[Daisy]

she surely meant no harm, but she could have been more careful.

You are an unreasonable person with no sense of humor

Mmm, his comment seems reasonable to me. I think the difference here is that some people just don't use, or follow twitter. I guess twitter has a culture where her response is within the boundaries of normal?

I have to echo tandfman here, with respect to being 'more careful'. She should realise by now that her tweets will be taken out of context.

[gh]

... But the picture of him in a wheelchair might have given her a clue.....

Have you actually looked at his picture? Like so many Twitter handles it's an unrecognizable blob, and even if you double-click it, it's not readily apparent what's up. The day that vetting photos before you respond to a Tweet is the day that whole enterprise goes away.

It's meant (and used) for quick repartee.

I'm not sure what kind of reaction you think a runner is supposed to have to "wanna race me?" Adn in this case, what kind of response was LeGrand looking for?

I think the lolo haters are simply having a field day with an unfortunate chain of events. To call her insensitive in these circumstances is ludicrous.

[decafan]

she surely meant no harm, but she could have been more careful.

You are an unreasonable person with no sense of humor

Mmm, his comment seems reasonable to me. I think the difference here is that some people just don't use, or follow twitter. I guess twitter has a culture where her response is within the boundaries of normal?

I have to echo tandfman here, with respect to being 'more careful'. She should realise by now that her tweets will be taken out of context.

Daisy, if you read my first response to tandfman, you will see his original post in a quote. I believe the part you agree with was added later as an edit. At least I didn't see it in his original post. But for what it's worth, I still think it is unreasonable to ask her to essentially NOT partake in the fun twitter banter with someone she took as a fan having fun. Which, by the way, he was.

[Daisy]

Daisy, if you read my first response to tandfman, you will see his original post in a quote. The part you agree with was added later as an edit.

Ah, I missed that edit.

But for what it's worth, I still think it is unreasonable to ask her to essentially NOT partake in the fun twitter banter with someone she took as a fan having fun. Which, by the way, he was.

I totally agree. I detest the tabloid culture where celebrities have absolutely no privacy. Worse, more often than not, they are painted in a bad or unflattering light. Unfortunately, though, it is a reality.

edit: and now the NYTimes has picked up the ball too.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/10 ... tweet.html

[jazzcyclist]

I'm not sure what kind of reaction you think a runner is supposed to have to "wanna race me?" Adn in this case, what kind of response was LeGrand looking for?

I think the lolo haters are simply having a field day with an unfortunate chain of events. To call her insensitive in these circumstances is ludicrous.

Amen!

[guru]

Currently, there are 46 news agencies running this story(via Google search). My guess would be none of them are motivated by being "Lolo haters".

Jones can't have it both ways - if she wants people to pay attention to her, she shouldnt be surprised when she's called on the carpet for insensitive - or flat-out stupid - remarks, whether they're products of a brain cramp or not. And as the article noted, it's not so much what she said, but how she responded once she was made aware of LeGrand's situation.

[gh]

Currently, there are 46 news agencies running this story(via Google search). My guess would be none of them are motivated by being "Lolo haters"....

Merely confirming the sorry state of modern journalism. Make that "journalism"

[jazzcyclist]

Currently, there are 46 news agencies running this story(via Google search). My guess would be none of them are motivated by being "Lolo haters".

Jones can't have it both ways - if she wants people to pay attention to her, she shouldnt be surprised when she's called on the carpet for insensitive - or flat-out stupid - remarks, whether they're products of a brain cramp or not. And as the article noted, it's not so much what she said, but how she responded once she was made aware of LeGrand's situation.

To a certain point I agree with you. Celebrity is a double-edged sword. As an old friend once said, once you're important enough in this world to make the cover of Parade and have Time doing fluff pieces on you, you're also important enough to make the cover of the National Enquirer and have the New York Times doing hit pieces on you.

[tandfman]

edit: and now the NYTimes has picked up the ball too.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/10 ... tweet.html

NYTimes was just running a story written by the AP.

[slowjo]

I check out twitter about once a week and rarely tweet anything (who cares what I had for lunch..okay Squackee does but besides him?) .

I did eliminate about 90% of the track athletes I followed because their narcissitic tweets made me start to really dislike them. Also eliminated those who post Jesus talk all day long. I want to stay a fan of some of those people on the track so not reading their inane posts might help.



Not that I was ever a Jones fan.

[tandfman]

Daisy, if you read my first response to tandfman, you will see his original post in a quote. The part you agree with was added later as an edit.

Ah, I missed that edit.

You missed it because it didn't (and still doesn't) show as an edit. For the past couple of years, it's been the case that if you edit your own post before anyone has responded to it, the fact that you've edited it does not appear.

In this case, I read what I wrote and I immediately realized that it could have sounded harsh, which I did not intend. So I edited it. decafan must have grabbed the quote in that short period of time (probably less than a minute) when the unedited version was visible.

[tandfman]

I did eliminate about 90% of the track athletes I followed because their narcissitic tweets made me start to really dislike them. Also eliminated those who post Jesus talk all day long. I want to stay a fan of some of those people on the track so not reading their inane posts might help.

I follow a whole bunch of athletes, and I've found the same thing. A lot of them tweet many times a day, telling the world what they're having for lunch, with whom they're going to dinner or a party, and lots of other petty details of their life about which I couldn't care less. But I don't dislike them because of this. They are young people, chatting with their friends in a medium that many of them use for that kind of interchange these days. Yes, some of their posts are inane. And some of them are imperfect in matters of spelling and grammar. So what? Is any of that a reason not to stay a fan? Not to me.

As for the Jesus talk, it's interesting to see which athletes go out of their way to retweet bible quotes, thank Jesus for all sorts of things, and otherwise share their religious beliefs. Some Olympic champions and medalists do that. It's part of their lives, and in some cases probably a part of their success.

[Conor Dary]

I check out twitter about once a week and rarely tweet anything (who cares what I had for lunch..okay Squackee does but besides him?) .

I did eliminate about 90% of the track athletes I followed because their narcissitic tweets made me start to really dislike them. Also eliminated those who post Jesus talk all day long. I want to stay a fan of some of those people on the track so not reading their inane posts might help.



Not that I was ever a Jones fan.

I have never done twitter, and can see I haven't missed anything.

Jesus talk all day?....ugh.
Some of these people have got to be incredibly boring to be around.

[tandfman]

... But the picture of him in a wheelchair might have given her a clue.....

Have you actually looked at his picture? Like so many Twitter handles it's an unrecognizable blob, and even if you double-click it, it's not readily apparent what's up.

I assumed that the reporter who wrote that story had looked at it. Writing such a story without looking at it would be irresponsible.

Merely confirming the sorry state of modern journalism. Make that "journalism"

Yup!

[decafan]

I check out twitter about once a week and rarely tweet anything (who cares what I had for lunch..okay Squackee does but besides him?) .

I did eliminate about 90% of the track athletes I followed because their narcissitic tweets made me start to really dislike them. Also eliminated those who post Jesus talk all day long. I want to stay a fan of some of those people on the track so not reading their inane posts might help.



Not that I was ever a Jones fan.

I have never done twitter, and can see I haven't missed anything.

Jesus talk all day?....ugh.
Some of these people have got to be incredibly boring to be around.

Just once I would like to hear an athlete say some version of this after a loss:

REPORTER: So what happened out there today?
ATHLETE: Beats me. I did everything right. This one is on Jesus- talk to him.

[Fortis4Eva]

I check out twitter about once a week and rarely tweet anything (who cares what I had for lunch..okay Squackee does but besides him?) .

I did eliminate about 90% of the track athletes I followed because their narcissitic tweets made me start to really dislike them. Also eliminated those who post Jesus talk all day long. I want to stay a fan of some of those people on the track so not reading their inane posts might help.



Not that I was ever a Jones fan.

I have never done twitter, and can see I haven't missed anything.

Jesus talk all day?....ugh.
Some of these people have got to be incredibly boring to be around.

Just once I would like to hear an athlete say some version of this after a loss:

REPORTER: So what happened out there today?
ATHLETE: Beats me. I did everything right. This one is on Jesus- talk to him.

Maybe Tyson Gay after the men's 100m in London
"I tried man. I tried my best. I just came up short."

[guru]

Currently, there are 46 news agencies running this story(via Google search). My guess would be none of them are motivated by being "Lolo haters"....

Merely confirming the sorry state of modern journalism. Make that "journalism"

Now on front page of ESPN.com, and overall count up to 122 news outlets

[lonewolf]

People who did/do not like Lol will jump all over this..those who do not even know who she is will be swayed by the missleading headline which was obviously intended to arouse ire whether the "journalist" knew her or not.

This was her characteristically flippant reply to an anonymous interenet "stalker" with no malice intended.
Lolo apologized, LeGrande understood the mistake and accepted her apology.

No story here..except as an example of the fallacy of the cliche that "there is no such thing as bad publicity."

[Dutra5]

The only issue...if it even is one....that I would have is, based on what I've read about it, Lolo tweeted something regarding that she was now going to get buried for this before she issued the apology. With that said...I find a LOT of young people self centered enough to not find this surprising.

[jazzcyclist]

Now on front page of ESPN.com, and overall count up to 122 news outlets

Schadenfreude doesn't become you guru.

[slowjo]

I do not expect pithy comments and wisdom on Twitter! What I get tired of is say Sanya RR retweeting every nice thing tweeted to her, making sure everyne knows how rich she is etc. I guess I believe that is unbecoming to praise yourself and to talk about how much you have. It is unseemly to me.

Then there are the athletes who complain about the smallest thing-people who are among the most privileged on earth.

I like tweets that are funny, informative and interesting-they are out there!



People can tweet about Jesus all day-I just said I get sick of it so I drop them. If they inpsire others, fine.

[marknhj]

[quote="lonewolf"
Lolo apologized, [quote]

Actually, she immediately played the victim card and still is. A wise man once advised me to avoid victims at all costs and in my experience he was absolutely correct.

When she became unbearable prior to the Olympics I deleted her, as I did with a jumping group who kept posting jesus tweets. However, I find twitter to be a fabulously efficient source for the latest news, articles, sports scores, links to a plethora of otherwise unknown-to-me outlets of information, and a very fun way to see inside people. If you are select in who you follow, it's a fantastic medium.

[Conor Dary]

I don't understand why anyone who follow anyone on twitter or anywhere for that matter. Maybe Warren Buffett, but any of these track people? What a bunch of bores. If Pre had been twittering and I was following it daily I probably would have been sick of him too.

[marknhj]

I don't understand why anyone who follow anyone on twitter or anywhere for that matter. Maybe Warren Buffett, but any of these track people? What a bunch of bores. If Pre had been twittering and I was following it daily I probably would have been sick of him too.

Yet you appear to spend all day, everyday, on this board. Do you agree that many people wouldn't understand that?

[jazzcyclist]

I don't understand why anyone who follow anyone on twitter or anywhere for that matter. Maybe Warren Buffett, but any of these track people? What a bunch of bores. If Pre had been twittering and I was following it daily I probably would have been sick of him too.

I feel the same way you do. The people who I would be interested in aren't the types to waste time twittering. I suppose it might be interesting to see what they're saying during a global championship meet, but after the meet was over I would have no interest in hearing what they have to say.

[jazzcyclist]

I don't understand why anyone who follow anyone on twitter or anywhere for that matter. Maybe Warren Buffett, but any of these track people? What a bunch of bores. If Pre had been twittering and I was following it daily I probably would have been sick of him too.

Yet you appear to spend all day, everyday, on this board. Do you agree that many people wouldn't understand that?

What's so unusual about a track nut posting on a message board with other track nuts about track and field?

[Conor Dary]

I don't understand why anyone who follow anyone on twitter or anywhere for that matter. Maybe Warren Buffett, but any of these track people? What a bunch of bores. If Pre had been twittering and I was following it daily I probably would have been sick of him too.

Yet you appear to spend all day, everyday, on this board. Do you agree that many people wouldn't understand that?

All day? I check in now and then during the day while doing other things. And besides folks here aren't telling me Jesus stories or how much money they make or what they had for lunch, which sounds what twitter is about.

And besides people write, at least the ones I bother to read, using capital letters, in complete sentences. Even paragraphs!

I consider my experience here a mini blog. Commenting on interesting ideas. Primarily because there are, for the most part, interesting commentators here, including yourself. It is similar to an interesting conversation with worthwhile people.

If twitter is like that, than there you go..but it doesn't sound like it. Sounds more like getting harassing phone calls...hey look at me...

[marknhj]

If twitter is like that, than there you go..but it doesn't sound like it. Sounds more like getting harassing phone calls...hey look at me...

So you mean you're being critical and judgmental about something you have little experience with?