NYC Marathon: What Happened Here?

I want an explanation. Tonight, amidst enormous pressure from both sports media outlets (mainly ESPN) and those in the mainstream news, the NYC Marathon and Mayor Bloomberg made the decision to cancel annual event which was to be held on Sunday. That in my opinion, is absolutely the right decision, but probably should have been made much sooner. I am however, not taking great issue with that. My issue lies with the source of the ridiculous attention and pressure that was put on the mayor and the NYC Marathon to cancel, whereas the Heat/Knicks game tonight, 2 days prior to the marathon, and the Steelers/Giants game in The Meadowlands in New Jersey on Sunday seem to have escaped with only a fraction of the scrutiny, if any at all. ESPN is the worst culprit here, and it's pretty obvious why, but they are not the only ones as the public seems to have a rather distorted view of the issue as well. Please understand that I am not regular follower or fan of the NYC Marathon, I have just come across a bizarre double standard that I simply cannot find an explanation for.

Now I've never been a fan of ESPN, however, the purpose of this post is not to rip ESPN about their usual shortcomings when it comes to reporting, but rather shed light and ask questions about the stance they decided to take on the NYC Marathon issue compared to some other sports events going off in New York City this weekend. The network has been bringing it up for days, on television and on their website, and while they did not take an official stance on the matter, they pushed articles and stories to the front of their outlets that took a hard line saying the decision by Mayor Bloomberg and the marathon itself were wrong.

There has not been one article however (online at least, I haven't watched ESPN television recently so I cannot comment on that) asking whether the Heat/Knicks game tonight should be played or if the Steelers/Giants game on Sunday should go on either. The most that I have seen is a story about Dwayne Wade questioning the decision to play tonight (MAJOR credit goes to Wade on that, and he even put his money where his mouth is, donating his entire check from tonight's game to the relief efforts). They also put up a poll in the last hour, asking whether the Steelers/Giants game should be played (more on that later, the results are staggering). What's happening here? Well it just so happens that ESPN is airing that Heat/Knicks game tonight, a very high profile NBA game that I'm sure will bring great ratings for them. There's also that contract that they have with the NBA to air all of those games during the regular season as well as the postseason. Hmmmm. Well okay, what about the Steelers/Giants game? Oh yeah, maybe that $1B (with a B) Monday Night Football contract has something to do with it. The Worldwide Leader In Sports clearly has a vested interest in staying away from any criticism of the NBA or the NFL, so why not make the NYC Marathon the goat in all of this? ESPN has always been a colossal failure when it comes to attempting actual journalism on serious topics (see: Jerry Sandusky and Bernie Fine coverage) and this is clearly no different as they have thrown the concept of impartiality out the window.

What about the mainstream media? Well they have fallen right in line as well as over the last few days you could find the story on the front of places like Yahoo, with no mention of the Knicks or Giants games. What about the public? What's their stance on this? This is shocking to me. Here are the results of the poll ESPN put up not too long ago, which was the first mention I have even seen questioning the validity of playing the game on Sunday.

Now it was either yesterday or Wednesday that a similar poll was conducted, but with the NYC Marathon as the main topic. While I unfortunately do not have the screenshots of that poll, I can tell you that the results were almost identical to this one, except it was flipped. A great majority of the public said it needed to be cancelled. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I simply do not understand.

I have yet to hear a good reason for this double standard. Runners taking up all the hotel rooms? Well I would assume most of the people running the race are already there, so it's a little late to solve that problem, and you don't think Steelers fans travel? Please. The football game is in NJ, it's not downtown like the race? Madison Square Garden. The manpower needed to run the race could be better used elsewhere? Absolutely, nobody will be needed for either of the other two games. New Yorkers could use a distraction from this reality for a few hours, rooting for their teams? Sure, just disregard all the reasons to cancel the marathon, to play those.

The reality is that none of these events should be played this weekend, the city needs manpower directed elsewhere, and these games will still be here when the city is fixed. I however, have yet to find an answer to why the NYC Marathon was made to be a punching bag in this situation by the media and the public, while the other 2 events escaped unscathed. Are we just seeing an 8th grade popularity contest here? There are 3 culprits here, someone needs to be punished, so let's beat up on the unpopular little guy. I do not understand what happened here, and I do not yet have any answers, but I will continue to look for them, as elusive as they may be.

UPDATE: (11/2/12 7:11 PM) ESPN has released a poll with over 25k responses asking if the right decision was made regarding the NYC Marathon. Here are the results.

I don't even have words for this anymore. This is in direct contradiction with the poll released just an HOUR ago about the Steelers/Giants game. The American public seriously needs to sit down and think about the stances they're taking here. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? Ladies and gentlemen, these are some of the same people voting for your next president in 4 days time. Opinions without reason or thought behind them. Incredible.