The Show Must Go On

Update: Just as I clicked "Publish" on this post, the 2012 New York City Marathon was cancelled.  As you can see below, I disagree with the decision.

Marathon Sunday is always one of those uniquely awesome New York sports experiences.  Thousands of runners--some famous, most not--tackling 26.2 miles across all five boroughs.  So many people want to run in the New York City Marathon that they have to hold a lottery for the limited number of entries.  For many, simply finishing the New York City Marathon is a lifelong goal.

But this year's race will take on a decidedly different feel.  Hurricane Sandy devastated the New York area earlier this week, but Sunday's marathon will take place as scheduled.  There's a good number of people who think this is the wrong decision.  I see where they're coming from.  There are thousands of people in the New York/New Jersey area that are still without power (fortunately I'm not one of them), as well as a lot of people that lost homes in the storm.  Their argument is that the money being used to put on the marathon would be better spent in the relief/cleanup efforts.  I disagree with them.

I'm not in the business of defending Mike Bloomberg.  Quite the contrary, actually.  I think the Mayor is an idiot.  In this instance, though, I think he's right.  What has happened in New York over the past week is precisely why the marathon should take place on Sunday.

I know that my opinion isn't the popular one.  That's fine.  But I also agreed with the original decision to still hold Thursday's scheduled Knicks-Nets game at the Barclays Center, which was eventually postponed, but only because it was impossible for fans to get to the arena without the subways running.  Just like I agree with the decision to hold Sunday's Giants-Steelers game, for which the Steelers will leave on Sunday morning because they can't get a hotel due to Sandy (the one they had originally booked has no power).  Why was there no outcry over the plans to still hold these events, yet still holding the marathon is considered "insensitive?"

Most of the money that's spent on the New York City Marathon is spent long before the race begins.  So, that money the critics argue would be better spent elsewhere, has already been spent.  Likewise, the Marathon generates more than $300 million a year from sponsorships, people coming into New York, etc.  If it wasn't held, the city would have no way of recovering that lost revenue.  In fact, New York Road Runners, the race's organizers, will donate $1 million to the relief effort, and the race sponsors will throw in another $1.5 million.  And the concerns that police shouldn't be diverted from storm cleanup to work the marathon are unfounded.  The officers who work the marathon do so on their day off.

The biggest reason why I think the marathon should go on as scheduled, though, is because they were too far along in the planning to cancel it at the last-minute.  Had the hurricane hit on Thursday or Friday, it'd be a different story.  But mass transit is back up-and-running and the roads and airports have reopened.  As a result, everyone who had arranged their schedules to be in New York this weekend are able to get into the city.  Some of these people book their tickets and hotel rooms up to a year in advance.  It wouldn't have been fair to ask them to rearrange these plans.  Sure, some people aren't going to make their trip, and runners have been given the option to defer their entry until next year, but there will still be tens of thousands of entries and thousands more will still come into the city just to watch.

As for the marathon course, it went virtually untouched.  Sure, the backdrop's not going to be the same, but so what?  They're at least going to be running.  If nothing else, putting on a marathon through that devastation will show New Yorkers' resilience.  We can overcome anything.  What better way to prove it?

And the marathon could also go a long way towards helping the relief effort.  The New York City Marathon is broadcast worldwide.  You don't think the City will take advantage of that?  You don't think ESPN2 will show a phone number or website where people can make donations?  They'll probably do the same on European television, as well as everywhere else they're going to show the race.  How much money do you think will be raised as a result?  A lot more than if there was no race at all.

Most importantly, New Yorkers need something else to think about.  It'll only be for a couple hours, but in a week where there's been nothing but nonstop news coverage of Hurricane Sandy and her aftermath, the New York City Marathon will be a welcome and much-needed distraction.