Editorials
Pride Goeth...
By Staff Editorial
Apr 26, 2008, 23:04

The ancient expression reads "Pride goeth before the fall".  It suggests that those who are overly prideful and filled with hubris will get their come-uppance because they’ve been blinded by their egos.

Today, an article in the New York Times about the Boston Marathon (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/health/nutrition/24Best.html?pagewanted=2) suggests that pride may goeth before another's fall-and that pride in one's own game may help combat cheating.

The NYTimes article covers the Ebay auction of a starting place in the Boston Marathon-the toughest and certainly amongst the most highly regarded Marathons that take place annually in the US.

The Boston Marathon has very strict entry requirements and it's against the rules to sell your 'bib' if you've managed to qualify.  Nevertheless, positions in the race are so highly sought after by non-qualifying runners that there seems to be a ready-market for illicit entries.

In this particular case, a qualifying runner offered a "pole position" for auction on Ebay-and was promptly outed by other runners, both on numerous runner web forums and to the Boston Athletic Association-the marathon's governing body.  The auction has since been removed from Ebay and both the seller and the buyer have been promised public castigation for quite some time to come within the running community.

Runners take pride in their game.  Both those who qualified for Boston and those who didn't were equally outraged over this breech of rules and etiquette. 

The Runners didn't keep it to themselves.  They didn't keep quiet in the hopes that their own future indiscretions would be overlooked.  The fact that such an offer was posted by a runner on Ebay and that other runners bid on it certainly indicates that there is cheating going on in that game. 

The difference between competitive marathon runners and competitive paintball players should be obvious.  The runners have their act together  and take PRIDE in their sport.  Rather than beating up the whistle-blowers, the B.A.A. is seriously looking into the matter and legions of runners have promised to keep an eye out for similar activity.

Given the proper cultural climate, pride in your sport can be a powerful tool for creating and maintaining honesty, sportsmanship and professionalism. 

It sure would be nice if we all started taking some pride in our game.