Marginalizing Women Runners in 2008 on TV: The LA Marathon

Great 7 miler this morning in Central Park, it was nearly 60F, 78% or humidity - wow - I was sweating...but it felt good. Will be nice to shed 7 .lbs and get in race shape. I have to rip on a Black man...damn...and Black folks no likey me when I do that. Hey, these people bring it on themselves - and I will let Helene Elliot of the L.A. Times set the scene, "Competitors in L.A. show spirit, strength and stamina. It's too bad William Burke, event co-founder and president, stuck his foot in his mouth by saying, 'You can't get them back in the kitchen.' The Los Angeles Marathon is part fun run, part habit and totally remarkable for its ability to bring out the best in those who run, jog, walk and push or crank their wheelchairs along its peculiar and sometimes twisting route. Each of the estimated 25,000 runners who started in Sunday's early-morning sunshine was a winner...Only one person came out looking like a loser. It wasn't a runner whose last steps came long hours after Tatiana Aryasova of Russia (there below braking the tape at the finish) and Laban Moiben of Kenya had won the women's and men's divisions, respectively. William Burke hit the lone discordant note (my man there on the right). Burke, co-founder and president of the City of Los Angeles Marathon, was asked during a Channel 4 interview to comment on the smart race strategy of the elite female runners. They had gotten a head start of nearly 20 minutes in a battle-of-the-sexes gimmick that paid a $100,000 bonus, and Aryasova capitalized on it to hit the jackpot. Burke's reply was stunningly stupid. "You can't keep those women down," he said. "You can't get them back in the kitchen." He offered no smile or wink to indicate he was attempting to make a joke. Not even a forced chuckle. Burke wasn't available later to explain his comments. A race official said Burke wasn't answering his cellphone Sunday afternoon. [END]. Then this Op Ed piece put it like this: Marathon Man -- Running Off at the Mouth

What year is this again? What city? The 20-minute head start for women runners gave the victory and a six-figure bonus to the winner, the Russian woman who broke the tape. Tatiana Aryasova’s overall time was two hours, 29 minutes and 9 seconds, compared to Laban Moiben of Kenya’s two hours, 13 minutes and 50 seconds. The Marathon’s co-founder and president, William Burke, was so wowed by Aryasova’s performance that he marveled to Channel 4, ``You can’t keep those women down. You can’t get them back in the kitchen.’’ So –- to answer my questions, the year must be 1950, and the town must be Stepford. My colleague Helene Elliott reported that Burke offered ``no smile or wink to indicate he was attempting to make a joke. Not even a forced chuckle.’’ His knuckle-headed remark is all the more distasteful because his wife is the formidable Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the first woman and the first African-American on the Los Angeles County board of supervisors -– and the first African-American woman to go to Congress from California. I hope she gave him a piece of her mind when he came home after Sunday’s marathon – because he sure sounded like he had come up a few brain cells short. Burke didn’t corner the market on boneheaded blather. Two TV commentators evidently spent some time discussing whether Aryasova’s hormone levels were back to normal after childbirth. Her child was born more than two years ago. Can you imagine the hue and cry if Burke had made some equivalently dumb, stereotypical remark about the first black marathoner to turn in a winning performance? Oh, what’s that? You don’t think he would have said any such thing? Well, there’s the problem, right there. [END]. Even in 2008...the dumbshit is alive & well. This William Burke is a man of some prestige & authority in LA too....it would be a shame if this did not hit the radar of NOW (national organization for women) - this man's got 2 daughters too - you would think he was a little further along the evolutionary curve, no? Oh well, have a great day nonetheless...