The Lottery (or, if someone undeserving is going to get it, it might as well be me)
Hmmm, so I don't know if this is something I should share! I'm a little torn between "Hey, if anybody should get a free ride, why not me?" versus "this is diluting the purity of the exclusiveness of the event, the event should be the reserve of deserving athletes who qualified" (c.f. I think the Finishers chute should be for finishers! Not for their kids and family! But I see the opposite view too).
I'd already somewhat gone through the same thought process for the marathon: my previous employer was a sponsor of Boston Marathon. Each year they held a lottery for employees who'd recently run a marathon, but who hadn't qualified for Boston, to run Boston anyway. Each year slightly more than 100 employee runners were selected this way. Although not really agreeing with non-qualifying runners running Boston, I justified it to myself by rationalizing that while the process is in place, regardless of whether I agree with it, I might as well take advantage of it, and if I win the Lottery, enjoy running the prestigious event even though "I didn't deserve it". My little protest of not entering the Lottery on principle would go unnoticed, and there would still be a non-deserving runner running. So, I rationalized, it might as well be me. So I entered. And I didn't win. I then BQed anyway. And didn't run (but that's another story).
Phew, that was a long preamble/disclaimer! Anyway, in that same vein, not sure I agree with the process, but with the same rationalization:
This message is generated as confirmation of your recent registration on Active.com. You have been successfully registered for the following: Registration:2008 Ford Ironman World Championship LotteryPurchase Date:10/29/07Team:United StatesGroup:Lottery ApplicationCategory:Lottery ApplicationEvent Date:10/11/08Name:Mark
