Rovell's apology:

I said that Keflezighi's win, the first by an American since 1982, wasn't as big as it was being made out to be because there was a difference between being an American-born product and being an American citizen. Frankly I didn't account for the fact that virtually all of Keflezighi's running experience came as a US citizen. I never said he didn't deserve to be called American.

All I was saying was that we should celebrate an American marathon champion who has completely been brought up through the American system.

This is where, I must admit, my critics made their best point. It turns out, Keflezighi moved to the United States in time to develop at every level in America. So Meb is in fact an American trained athlete and an American citizen and he should be celebrated as the American winner of the NYC Marathon. That makes a difference and makes him different from the "ringer" I accused him of being. Meb didn't deserve that comparison and I apologize for that.

That's all well and good, but the idea at the heart of Rovell's first story — the mystique of the African marathoner — isn't going away anytime soon. Rovell was far from the only offender, as The New York Times' Gina Kolata notes. Kolata, in addressing the question of whether Keflezighi is sufficiently American, alludes to the widely held notion that an African runner represents some kind of a winning genetic bingo card. This is true to the extent that every great athlete is, in one way or another, a winning genetic bingo card. For whatever reason, though, whenever a big marathon rolls around, we pretend that the Africans are winning less because their abilities were forged at some happy intersection of culture and circumstance and geological phenomena and more because their abilities derive from some super-special nucleic juju that no one else has. (Rovell wisely avoids this minefield only to bumble into another. He thinks that Africans run faster because they're really poor.)

Keflezighi's victory has renewed what the New York Times judiciously calls a "debate." It's not a debate. It's science and common sense on one side and on the other a handful of grumpy people who've decided that the genetic advantages that may or may not sort themselves according to race somehow matter more than the countless other genetic advantages all world-class athletes necessarily possess.

What I Got Wrong About Keflezighi [CNBC]
To Some, Winner Is Not American Enough [The New York Times]
EARLIER: American Who Won NYC Marathon Isn't American Enough For Some People

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]

Apparently Doc Gooden is failing in his attempts to mentor the area kids:

In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court in Newark, three Millburn High School students contend Newark Bears president and co-owner Thomas Cetnar berated them, cursed at them and then booted them from the ballpark after they failed to stand for the song during the seventh-inning stretch.

"Nobody sits during the singing of 'God Bless America' in my stadium,'" Cetnar bellowed during the June 29 incident, according to the suit. "Now the get the (expletive) out of here."

The teens — Millburn High seniors Bryce Gadye and Nilkumar Patel, both 17, and junior Shaan Mohammad Khan, 16 — argue the treatment and their ejection violated their rights under the Constitution, along with federal and state public accommodation laws and state law against discrimination. They're seeking unspecified damages.

What these rebellious boys obviously need are some extra large, Sarah Palin-approved flag pins to wear on their lapels. That'll learn 'em!

[NJ.com]

Meet Bradford Campeau-Laurion, a 29-year-old man from Astoria, Queens, and a director of web production for a "major website" who made the unfortunate decision to blatantly disregard "God Bless America" and hit the head. He was dealt with swiftly and aggressively by Steinbrenner's Red, White, And Blue Muscle. I left a message with Yankees media relations for their comments on this, but it's probably safe to assume that they'll only react to this if Brad here makes a colossal stink over it.

Brad's detailed, irate, email is after the jump.

Deadspin Editors,

I attempted to get up to use the restroom, rather urgently, during the 7th inning stretch as God Bless America was beginning. As I attempted to walk down the aisle and exit my section into the tunnel, I was stopped by a police officer. He informed me that I had to wait until the song was over. I responded that I had to use the restroom and that I did not care about God Bless America.

As soon as the latter came out of my mouth, my right arm was twisted violenty behind my back and I was informed that I was being escorted out of the stadium. A second officer then joined in and twisted my left arm, also in an excessively forceful manner, behind my back. I informed them they were violating my First Amendment rights and that I had done nothing wrong, with no response from them.

I was sitting in the Tier Level, and of course this is the highest level of the stadium and I was escorted in this painful manner down the entire length of the stadium. About halfway down, I informed them that they were hurting me, repeated that I had done nothing wrong, and that I was not resisting nor talking back to them. One of them said something to the effect that if I continued to speak, he would find a way to hurt me more.

When we reached the exit of the stadium, they confiscated my ticket and the first officer shoved me through the turnstiles, saying "Get the hell out of my country if you don't like it."

Nowhere on the Yankee Stadium ticket policy nor on any posted sign does it say that forced patriotism is a required element to attend a baseball game. Nowhere in the laws of this country would that begin to be defensible.

Furthermore, when the two officers returned to their section, Steve who was still in the stadium overhead one of the officers say "We got to watch ourselves. One day we're really gonna get in trouble." They were also spreading rumors with a fan with whom they were friendly that I had said "This country sucks."

I do not believe in God, nor am in support of this country to a degree of patriotic fanaticism. The fact that I wanted to use the restroom instead of standing through God Bless America should not be grounds for a forcible ejection from a baseball game.

I spoke with Brad on the phone and he seems like a reasonable enough man, albeit one with a little bit of an anarchist bent (and, yes, he's a Red Sox fan) but he didn't sound like the type of guy to either embellish the incident in his favor or make it up. We had a quick e-mail q-and-a just to clarify a few things:

DS: Did you feel like you had gave security more reason than normal to act aggressively toward you?

No, I did not. Regardless of what I said, I did not act in a threatening manner, nor step toward the officer in a threatening manner. I just made my statement and attempted to continue to walk into the tunnel toward the restroom. I was given no opportunity to explain myself further, nor any explanation from the officer before my arm was being pinned behind my back.

DS: Were you aware of the "no movement" policy before you attempted to go to the bathroom?

I was not aware. People did not seem to be moving at the time, but I thought it was more a function of the fact that a lot of people at the stadium are rabid patriots rather than an actual policy.

DS: How many Yankees games have you attended and have you ever gotten up to go to the bathroom before?

I have probably attended an average of 8-10 Yankee games per year over the last 8 years. I have used the restroom countless times, though I do not recall ever trying to do so at the exact moment I did last night.

DS: Are you planning on suing Yankee stadium or do you just want them to eliminate the stupid policy?

I have contacted Normal Siegel (public advocate - http://normansiegel.com/) and the New York chapter of the ACLU. I have not discussed my options with them and I don't know my long term plans at this time. I want people to be aware of the forced patriotism that is happening here, a clear violation of First Amendment rights and something that should be kept wholly separate from attending a baseball game. To my knowledge, Yankee Stadium is the only stadium in the major leagues with this policy, let alone still playing God Bless America in the 7th inning stretch.

UPDATE: So, where did you end up going to the bathroom?

Ended up just getting on the train and holding it until I got to my girlfriend's place on 90th and Lex. Probably about another 45 minutes.