American Meb Keflezighi won the New York City Marathon yesterday, which seemed pretty cool until a couple of wet blankets came along to remind everyone he's only "technically" American.
CNBC's Darren Rovell confesses that he's not feeling the slightest bit patriotic today. He writes:
Meb Keflezighi, who won yesterday in New York, is technically American by virtue of him becoming a citizen in 1998, but the fact that he's not American-born takes away from the magnitude of the achievement the headline implies.
[...]
Given our disappointing results, embracing Keflezighi is understandable. But Keflezighi's country of origin is Eritrea, a small country in Africa. He is an American citizen thanks to taking a test and living in our country.
That's right. An American by Scantron. Meb can run around with Old Glory all he wants. Won't change the fact he was born not just in Africa, but in an African country so damn un-American we made Ethiopia bomb the crap out of it for us. So, no, Rovell will not be waving the flag today, thank you very much. He's waiting for an American to win this goddamn race. Someone who really represents these United States of ours. Maybe someone more like that fellow who won way back in 1982, the last time an American broke the tape in New York. Now there was a real American. Guy by the name of Alberto Salazar.
Who was born in Havana.
Marathon's Headline Win Is Empty [CNBC]
Technically, An American Won The NYC Marathon...Kinda [SB Nation]