NYT Obliterates Lolo Jones

Then he did it very badly.

 

When it's the New York Times our expectations should be higher. Longman strikes me as an experienced enough writer to understand exactly what he was saying in the story.

If he didn't wouldn't an editor have pointed it out to him and maybe save him from himself. ( Admittedly an area that I know nothing about but have to assume that NYT pg 1 sports stories are tightly edited)

As an aside, I noticed that Jones runs under the Asics flag. Maybe Longman is on the Nike payroll.

 

Longman ignores an obvious truth about appearance - one which undercuts any specific criticism of Lolo Jones: pretty people get endorsements.

 

To ignore human beauty is to ignore the founding premise of sports, which is itself human beauty.

 

And if Jere's shocked by naked depictions of popular athletes, by no means should he travel back in time 2500 years:

www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/130009380

 

I think it would be more interesting to explore the judged sports (gymnastics and diving) to see if the best gymnasts and divers are making the Olympic teams, or if you have to be good looking as well. I don't recall too many ugly gymnasts.

 

Watching the Olga Korbutt feature over the weekend was surprising. I'm sure I would have lost the bet that Korbutt won the all-around in '72.
Also interesting to note how her crowd-pleasing routines were not initially welcomed by the judges or others in USSR gymnastics.

 

Agreed. If he didn't mean for it to be a rip job, then he failed in his intent. The attack on Jones comes through every bit as clearly as the discussion of the "issue of sex driving women's sports."

 

Though it is buried in the column somewhat, it would appear, too, that one of Longman's critiques is that Jones is willing to alter her persona for whoever wants to shell out money to her.

I read it and I suppose it didn't strike a big chord with me. I like Lolo Jones OK. I'll root for her. But I surely don't know her the way a long-time Olympics writer does.

Versatile makes a terrific point about many writers getting to the Olympics and losing all sense of balance and precision.

 

The Olympics and the Super Bowl bring out the very worst in sports media.

 

I will say that a lot of Olympic journalism is total cheer leading. I ran into that shit a lot with Phelps. Try and cover these athletes the way you cover, say, the Patriots or Yankees (and by that I mean with nothing more than a skeptical or critical eye when needed) and half the readers will completely lose their shit. And don't even get me started on figure skating or gymnastics, where any critical analysis has to be couched in ways that it never ever does in other sports.

I still think the piece Lobgmann wrote was beneath his abilities, though. It's clear he doesn't appreciate the attention Jones gets when other track stars -- AT THIS MOMENT -- might have times that deserve it more. The truth is, marketing the Games is almost always about narratives, not necessarily merrit. And the advertising dollars follow the narrative, especially when it belongs to a pretty face. Look at what just happened in swimming. Ryan Lochte was the new handsome star and was supposed to be the Face of the Games. That narrative bombed. And a natural course correction will occur. In the end, Jones will either run fast and reap more rewards, or she won't and that will be the end. As Boom said, it's not like she got to this position by being pretty or talking about her virginity. The reason why figure skating and gymnastics are athletic events but not actual sports, in my opinion, is there is too much subjective bullshit in play in those events. You can't dock someone a second in track for lack of grace or humility. Love her or hate her, Lolo Jones still earned her way onto the team with speed, not because she's hot. And she didn't sexy her way into the lead in Bejing before clipping that hurdle, which is what set up the narrative in the first place.

 

Lo Lo runs today in the semi's at 2:15 EST and perhaps the finals at 4pm. If she gets a medal look for Jere to take the credit for getting her focused and motivated.