No more praise for slackers

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o, if you gather at the Boston Marathon this weekend to cheer on the crowd
(i.e. the folks behind the winner), rather than "looking good" or "way to go" or some such
ego-candy, go with "you suck," "is that the fastest you can run?" or "why not give it up 'til
you can really run."

I yell that every year, except when I'm being paid to MC, the sponsers frowned on my yelling "What's
wrong with you? Got a load in your pants or something?".

Bill R.

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OO

"Jenn e fir" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Jenny, nice to have you back.

Roger. <who will try any approach to get into a babe's pants

Good one J-fir. This assumes you *want* those other runners to get faster. OK from the sidelines to
use tough love but out on the course shouldn't one say "looking good" "good job" and such to permit
one's competitors to get comfortable with their pathetic effort so you can stomp them in the
stretch? This is common on the golf course, where good golfers are always giving me all kinds of
props for my lame results. I used to think they were part of a worldwide support group of people who
just love the game; now I know they are just glad somebody on the course is a bad enough golfer that
they can win. They want me to accept mediocrity. This could be the evil aims of some runners who
have been using self-esteem techniques to slow the field in the U.S. As for me, I have seen pictures
of myself during races and will never have to worry about believing those lies people tell along the
way. -chris

Jenn e fir said:

Who'd have guessed that the solution to U.S. competitive distance

running

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malaise would be found in the Wall Street Journal? Yet, there it was.

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"Real Self-Esteem Builds on Achievement, Not Praise for Slackers." It

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discusses a study that finds that programs to raise self-esteem fall

comically,

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short. The study, generally observes the effect of attempts to

bolster the "D"

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of "F" student with comments on his or her tests that read (or

something to

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effect of) "You're too smart to get a D!!" Or, "good effort." Or, I

imagine

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"Keep trying you're all winners!"

The researcher figure that because there's an intervention that

encourages them

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to feel good about themselves regardless of performance, may remove

the reason

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to work harder--resulting in poorer performance.

So, if you gather at the Boston Marathon this weekend to cheer on the

crowd

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(i.e. the folks behind the winner), rather than "looking good" or "way

to go"

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or some such ego-candy, go with "you suck," "is that the fastest you

can run?"

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or "why not give it up 'til you can really run."

But in the ashes of the study there was one benefit: high esteem

equals

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happier folks. Ignornace equals bliss, I suppose. So if you wish to

make the

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crowd happy go with the "looking good" but if you want to make them

fast go

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with the tough love.
-----------------

Jennifer

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Roger. <who will try any approach to get into a babe's pants>

...or guys pants for that matter.

Bill R.

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OO ?

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-----<

I suppose making people complacent would only work with some people. But I know that yelling at
people DOES make a lot of people run faster.

My crosscountry coach would yell at us, and sometimes he'd curse at us, to get us to run faster. It
had never failed to work. I remember at one race at Clemson, he yelled at me to "start running!"
That race was one of my best improvements of the season.

However, when people yell at me that I'm looking strong, I usually tell myself that I'm weak and I
really have to push harder. I've got self-esteem problems, thus whenever I get any sort of praise, I
automatically counter it with the thought that I'm not really that good and I need to be trying
harder. It also helps that I don't want to look stupid by running slow, so whenever a friend in the
crowd yells at me, I'm alerted to their presence and I pick it up.

I'm not sure which improves my performance better, but I'm willing to bet it's the prior. I
guess that it makes me feel as if whoever's yelling has faith in me- that they believe that I
can do better.

Odd, how the mind works.

--Vincent

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Interesting Vincent since I was thinking the same thing after our last exchange. You see in spite
of your claim of being "more Yankee than most

of the

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yanks on here" you've only responded to me twice, both times when I used

the

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word "[censored]".

I guess this makes three for three.

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So in spite of your claims of being a yank, your response tells me you really think otherwise.

Perhaps, but I disagree. Seeing that all my friends are upper-middle class white kids, fairly
intelligent, and that I tend to avoid most Asians, (often, they possess quite a few qualities which
I disapprove of) I wouldn't say that I think otherwise. Then again, considering all the jokes I make
of my being 'yellow' when around my friends, I might really see myself as more of an Asian than an
American...

I guess it all depends on how you look at it.

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If you use a small piece of scotch tape under your eyes they will look caucasian.

Odd that you should say so, because I've had people ask me if I was Asian, people tell me that they
didn't think I was Asian, and a few friends tell me that I almost look like a darker-skinned
European. (Think Grecian.)

Anyways, I tire of this debate over my roots. It was a good conversation while it lasted. Best of
luck in trolling for a good bite.

--Vincent