It was during the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles when I realized how ridiculous casual sports fans tend to be, and how most people’s opinion of what they care about has nothing to do with thinking. I realized this when Zola Budd collided with Mary Decker Slaney during the 3,000 meters. This—as you may remember—was a huge controversy. And while I was following the controversy on my beanbag in front of our twenty-one-inch Zenith, something occurred to me: Why the fuck is everyone in this country suddenly concerned with women’s distance running? Had this race happened in the summer of 1983,
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