Let the dude run

[FUDU]

http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/howard-110804/oscar-pistorius-meets-olympic-qualifying-standard-400-meter-time-renews-controversy-prosthetic-legs

While there is certainly worthwhile debate to be had for science, it's just funny that an Olympic sport so peppered in controversy would be so adamant about the legitimacy of a disabled runner.

[hebner20]

this is completely off topic but today as i was riding my bike i saw a guy with two prosthetic legs riding quiet well on the trail i was on. No opinion about the olympic issue.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

He's got metal legs for fuck's sake......

[motherscratcher]

Yeah, let him run, I guess. I can see the other side of it. Maybe he does have an avantage. Who the hell knows?

What if the dude was running a 39 second 400? Would it still be bad to imply that he might have an advantage? I guess they're trying to figure that out.

The only thing I really object to is stupid shit like this:

Mullins, who later became president of the Women's Sports Foundation and is scheduled to serve as a chef de mission for the U.S. team at the London Olympics, added, "At times, I think, 'Wow.' We're really still living in this place where people get away with saying, 'I don't want to play with you,' because in whatever way -- be it consciously or, I think, perhaps more subconsciously -- they think, 'I see you as my inferior. I can't lose to you.' There's so much of that in this issue, it reminds me in some ways of what happened in the 1950s with Jackie Robinson and racial integration in baseball, or Billie Jean King and gender integration in sports."

Get the fuck over yourself asshole. Just because someone is raising questions doesn't mean they are scared and somehow bigoted against amputees. They just want it to be fair. This is guy is not Jackie Robinson, for fuck sake. Just stop that stupid crap right now.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Isn't there games for disabled athletes to compete in? Could a guy with spring legs compete in the long jump?

[FUDU]

Isn't there games for disabled athletes to compete in? Could a guy with spring legs compete in the long jump?

Kind of moot to the issue of letting Oscar run in the Olympics. I could understand all these concerns if Oscar was setting records that would otherwise seem inhuman, but he isn't. In the spirit of human achievement, for an amateur event, it's kind of embarrassing if it is decided he is not allowed to compete.

[motherscratcher]

What if, instead of a sprinter, he was a swimmer. And, instead of those springy running legs, he had some kind of prosthetic flipper? Should he be allowed to compete in the spirit of human achievement?

[FUDU]

In the spirit of human achievement, sure. I think what gets missed, or unintentionally overlooked, is this guy has no legs. Most people with no legs cannot take part in any otherwise normal activities the rest of us use our legs for. So, yeah he has, fake legs (which is another achievement thanks to science) and he now runs at a level that 99.99% of us that still retain our natural legs cannot perform at.

BUT, if that guy with flippers starts sending out mental telepathy (wooob wooob wooob wooob) and communicating with sea life then we have a problem.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

In the spirit of human achievement

Quit saying that..... WTF does that even mean?

Stephen Hawking has achieved more than this cat could ever dream of, why not let him strap rockets to the back of his chair and race in the 100 meter dash? You know, in the spirit of human achievement.

[FUDU]

In the spirit of human achievement

Quit saying that..... WTF does that even mean?

Stephen Hawking has achieved more than this cat could ever dream of, why not let him strap rockets to the back of his chair and race in the 100 meter dash? You know, in the spirit of human achievement.

Stephen Hawking cannot even put his own socks on....OK that's a low blow.

Seriously though, if this was a "let's see who can travel 400 meters the fastest with the what they can design in their own basement" you'd have a point. But seriously CDT, context here. This is a running event, to the best of our abilities science has given people like Oscar the opportunity to use legs again, and take part in a competition like this if he so attempts to. You want to argue about the advantage have at it, but those in the know cannot even agree on it at this point and he hasn't touched any records yet. I still fail to see the harm in his taking part in this event.

I mean shit I have legs and I haven't used them to do shit today other than get up to eat & drink, it is Mob Week in my defense. Oscar by all rights should be stuck in a wheel chair, but he isn't, due to the spirit of human achievement, his own and others.

[motherscratcher]

But, we just don't know how much is him, and how much is the legs. For all we know he pulled those legs out of Rodney Dangerfield's golf bag.

What if you were one of the competitors who had the talent and dedicated your entire life to this with Olympic medal hopes. And now this guy comes and beats you, and you have no way of knowing if it was him is science. I think you'd want to take the "spirit of human achievement" and shove it up his ass.

Now, if he glued some sandpaper to his nubs and ran a 44 second 400, I'll stand and applaud and sing kumbaya with everyone. That would be something.

I also have no idea why I should be scared of a guy who can talk to fish.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Those aren't legs, dawg.

[FUDU]

But, we just don't know how much is him, and how much is the legs. For all we know he pulled those legs out of Rodney Dangerfield's golf bag.

What if you were one of the competitors who had the talent and dedicated your entire life to this with Olympic medal hopes. And now this guy comes and beats you, and you have no way of knowing if it was him is science. I think you'd want to take the "spirit of human achievement" and shove it up his ass.

Now, if he glued some sandpaper to his nubs and ran a 44 second 400, I'll stand and applaud and sing kumbaya with everyone. That would be something.

I also have no idea why I should be scared of a guy who can talk to fish.

To be honest I'd probably accept the defeat and be happy for him, seeing as he could have just as easily gave up on this apparent dream of his. Besides I think we know exactly how much of it is him, from his head to roughly his knees?, but most likely his heart being responsible for most of it.

Why can't he compete while this whole debate gets hashed out?

[Orenthal]

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Is that real? I've seen dogs that have their asses in carts because they've been hit by cars, but never prosthetic legs on a cat.

What if that cat is really a Terminator?

[Orenthal]

Well I don't wanna speak for donny but no way Terminators are allowed in the Olympics. I don't even care if they have some % of human DNA.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

I'm opposed to all cyborgs.

[FUDU]

I'm putting that cat on my next death pool.

...and only T1000's can run, duh.

[Cerebral_DownTime]

Cyborg cats...... just wait until they get shoulder mounted rail guns and infrared vision. it'll be the end of us.

I for one, welcome our new feline overlords.