May 21, 2008
Matier & Ross (Sort of) Finger SFist as Culprit in Bay to Breakers Booze Mayhem
(By Joe Kukura)
Imagine our surprise when we finally stopped partying woke up this morning to find ourselves quoted by the legendary Matier & Ross in The Chronicle! And – surprise! – we were made to sound completely irresponsible. In the finger-pointing aftermath of Sunday’s evidently-more-rowdy-than-usual Bay to Breakers, M&R assess the situation and identify the perpetrator:
The race's party rep has been building for some time. This year, a local news and entertainment Web site, SFist, even posted a map of liquor stores along the route to help participants through stretches "painfully lacking in places to buy additional smokes and booze for your continued 'running.' "
Whoa. Those guys get reporting from this site? And they still have their jobs?!?
In our defense, our map did note the presence of additional trash bins in Golden Gate Park. The offensive post can still be found here.
Image credit: getinet/Flickr
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Five bucks says we lead the weekly roundup again this week beacuse of the B2B debacle.
I never could have found the liquor store on every corner without your help, Brock. Thanks.
Aw... They capitalized "Web site" They're adorable!
brock don't sell yourself short. Matier and Ross just mentioned you to get free publicity on this site.
yikes! in a tasteless move on my part, i forgot to credit this post properly: joe kukura wrote it. in fact, he lived it.
I, for one, get ALL of my news from SFist. Great pic of Mattier, by the way... He's one classy chap.
Thou doth protest too much sfist . . .
Feel a little guilty that your "coverage" of Bay to Breakers was a wee bit juvenile? You're lucky that they referred to you as an "entertainment" website. You're quickly descending down the gutter to some other less flattering category. You're now falling below the Perez Hilton standard of maturity!
But I guess if your treatment of Bay to Breakers consists of "uncut" pictures and a map of liquor stores you will get the readership you seek.
Btw, I think the "news" value of referring to Sfist's coverage of Bay to Breakers lies in the fact that there are apparently a good number of people who read sfist and who think that the height of fun is acting like a drunken frat boy.
SFHawkguy, that is complete crap. we have always been smack-dab in the gutter, and consistently less mature than perez. how dare you.
Judging by most SFist comments, I always imagined the average reader here as a snide prig with misplaced condescension.
I guess I didn't realize it was this much in the gutter. I used to read this site (a long time ago) to catch a bit of the local flavor. But I don't remember it being geared solely to the 20-something frat boy. Duly noted though.
SFHawkguy, I am about a dozen worlds away from the 20-something frat boy you describe, and I read and contribute to this site every day.
I used to be a jerk, too; I once chastised the folks who run and manage this site for thinking it could dare to elevate itself above mere gossip because they didn't go to journalism school. SFist may still be more gossip than news on the balance, but did any SF Bay news organization cover the recent Union Square suicide or the ballpark fire? SFist is valued and valuable.
Thanks Katy. Yes, I'm sure that you and many others offer positive contributions on this site.
But one can be excused for drawing negative conclusions based on Sfist's "coverage" of Bay to Breakers. It was simple revelry in mindless drunken debauchery. And evidently sfist is proud of it, to boot.
Before I moved to San Francisco I had heard of Bay to Breakers described as revelry in mindless drunken debauchery. Maybe not word for word but pretty close. I don't think that sfist is off mark here...
Haven't any of you watched the Frontline program: "News War: What’s Happening to the News." There's room on the internet for both M&R and self-styled smack-dab-in-the-gutter Brock.
SFist sometimes seems to be afflicted with potty-mouth, but it beats the Chronicle and Examiner on keeping up with local news and timely reporting.
SFHawkguy is right. SFist's coverage completely neglected to describe all of the noble aspects of an event where people dress up as bananas and wander the streets.
who cares if people are peeing naked on trees and bushes as long as:
1. they are cute and not vomiting
2. high quality booze was the cause of the peeing, as it preserves the green foliage target.
what's a prig?
Wait, people take what's posted on SFist seriously?
MattyMatt,
I'm not surprised that B2B is only about the costumed drunk in your mind that dress up in bananas and wander the streets. That's the way sfist "covered" it as well. But that really says more about sfist's priorities (and perhaps its lack of creativity). Only 10% of the runners and participants dress in costumes. There were 22,000 people who treated it like a fun run or more serious race and who actually completed the race. There were tens of thousands of other people and families that watched the race and were not there to get drunk and act stupid. The fact that Sfist's coverage focused almost exclusively on the costumed, 20-something, frat boy set doesn't mean that is how the majority of people experienced it.
I'm not asking for noble. Hey. Cover Bay to Breakers any way you want. I'm just pointing out the obvious: that you're sinking into the gutter, which I'm told, is the way you like it.
reading the Chronicle today is often like reading a blog from 2 weeks (or 2 years) ago...
SFist may be in the gutter but it's looking at the stars.
Yes, SF Hawk, some took it seriously. Some treated it as a fun run. But where's the interest in that. Would that make a better post:
"22,000 showed up and ran down the street."
Yawn. I would assume most of the people who showed up to watch were there to watch goofy people in costumes, not serious soccer moms in their breast cancer awareness shirts, running.
Matier and Ross's version of investigative journalism consists of scanning a few blogs and waiting for the phone to ring with tips from political insiders looking to sell stories embarrassing their enemies.
It seems sfist has less contributers these days than a year or two back, so it's much more the voice of one person than of a varied group, and that one person has to rely more on cut and paste from the interwebs for content.
I still think it's the best SF blog out there, but it has changed. Anyone follow any of the other gothamist sites? Are they the same?
Middle-aged John from Berkeley just getting back in shape and shooting for a 1:15 is not high theater to most (although I beg to differ). So I understand Sfist not wanting to cover road races like the SF Marathon or Bridge to Bridge. But, if road races are lame then use your creative juices at Sfist to come up with something more interesting to cover than drunken constuming.
And yes, I understand how most people watching are watching the goofy costumes as much as watching the runners (but you would be surprised how many people cheer you on as a runner). But they themselves are not acting like jackasses. In fact, what many of these observers are saying is that they no longer have an interest in the race now that it has been taken over by drunken hooligans. Costumes have always been part of the race but drunken costuming on such a scale is not part of that tradition. There is a big difference. And you guys seem to be leading the charge to make B2B all about drunken costuming.
I don't know - when I lived in Boston we had this event every year called the Boston Marathon. A percentage of folks running in the Marathon did indeed dress up in silly costumes. (One guy ran the whole Marathon dressed as an 8 foot tall replica of Old North Church) And a lot of folks would treat the day like a giant block party and drink in the pubs and at house parties all day lining the Marathon route.
Yet, somehow, magically, people pissing on everyone's front lawn was generally avoided and the coverage of the event was mostly focused on the actual athletes running in it.
I don't know how many registered participants they claim, but after the 2 hour 30 min point virtually none of the participants crossing the finish line have a bib number. Based on that, I would say there are about twice as many non registrants as registered participants.
There's no way to prevent that without spoiling a lot of peoples' day. Say 50% of those people have had at least something to drink. So no amount of police work is going to prevent 20,000 drunks from pissing on people's lawns.
The saddest part is the solitary drunks (male and female) staggering down Fulton and Lincoln. If you're going to get shit-faced, at least do it with a friend, or hook up with another drunk and get some party on.
"Only 10% of the runners and participants dress in costumes. There were 22,000 people who treated it like a fun run or more serious race and who actually completed the race."
you must have attended a different B2B set in some alternate reality. i mean, at a high point on fell you could look in *either* direction and see more than 22,000 people, mostly in costumes and mostly drunk or on the way to being drunk. and that would have been just the snapshot of the moment.
i won't argue the merits of what should or shouldn't be the focus, but you can't argue against the fact that the majority of people out participating in the events of the day are drunk and in costume, not participating in a race. i mean, there must be at least 4 or 5 cruisers for every actual runner, at minumum. they generated 23 tons of garbage in a single morning.
and on that note, i also read that the city ended up putting all of it in a landfill since there weren't adequate recycle bins, etc. wouldn't it make sense for the city to plant recycle bins and trash cans more regularly along the route?
I've kept quiet and will continue to do so, beside 2 points:
1 - 33,000 people registered, not 22,000.
2 - The reason some of the recyclable material was tossed in the landfill was because participants threw the trash in with recyclables, which were then not resorted.
That 10% figure comes from the channel 4 coverage of the race--that's what their reporters said. It makes sense if one doesn't simply hang out in the back of the race with the drunk crowd--where it sounds like you hang out. I attended the same event you did but I guess we had much different experiences. I ran the event and was primarily around people that wanted to compete or take part in a race. Very few wore costumes. It would be interesting to look at all the numbers. How large was the drunken costumed contingent? 2K? 5K? 10K? Well over 30K registered for the race (I registered a couple days before and I was 31,000 something). Only 22K of the official registrants finished the race. These people, for the most part, were not the drunks wandering the streets. These were the people that actually wanted to run or walk the whole length of the course.
But you're wrong on the facts to argue that B2B is a drunken costume party first and foremost. It's a fun race that the likes of you wish to change into a drunken costume party. This was the 97th running of the race. I for one think of it as a race--not an excuse for a drunken frat boy with the historical memory or a mouse to act like a jackass.
don't worry hawk guy, we'll beat those frat guys yet in the greek challenge and keep our house from being disbanded!! i'll bring the chest mounted sequencer and devo jumpsuit. plus we'll sleep with their hot girlfriends!! nerds forever!!
22K officially finished the race. There were probably a good number of "serious" runners and walkers (i.e. they weren't there to get drunk or party) that also finished the race but did not officially register (maybe another 5-10K?). There were probably a good number of sort-of-serious runners/walkers that did not finish but were also not there to get drunk (another 5-10K?). There were also plenty of spectators that lined the race course, including the more obscure parts of the race course, and seemed like they were there to cheer on the runners or look at costumes--they weren't there to party. These spectators were probably another 10K, in my estimate. Then we have the hard-core costumed drunk (p.s. do I get credit for coming up with this phrase?). You're right, there were probably more than usual, as seems to be everyone's impression from this year. It could be up to 10K, 15K, 20K I don't know. It was certainly a lot. But one's impression of what the race was like I guess hinges on where you were. My race was quite pleasant, thank you very much. Because I made an effort to get to the front of the race and I enjoyed good spectators and a fun race environment. I guess the costumed drunk have a hard time running very fast. If I got stuck at Hayes Hill or the Panhandle I would have had a much different experience.
SFHawkguy, you don't like this site, but continue to hang around and argue every little point. Maybe it is time to get a hobby?
It is interesting that since the "race" is no longer sponsored by a major newspaper, like it was before Hearst ditched the Examiner for the Comicle, that the brave journalists at the local bird cage liner have suddenly discovered that *gasp* folks get drunk at the B2B. Who knew?
What I want to know is how SFist managed to hold a gun to the head of so many people to cause them to get shitfaced? Surely, ever-civic-minded-SFist was just promoting local businesses in publishing that list. Why do M&R hate America?
joe, part of the commenting thing might just be that your sports posts generally lack in controversy, or at least have anything controversial that the audience here would care about. i'm just guessing but i'd say this site's readers are a bit too condescending and priggly to have a lot to say about things like sporting events, as the discussion generally leans more towards local politics and such. if it's any consolation, the article you linked about tom brady's hat did generate 300+ comments on the site it was linked at, so you have a nose for it..
for me, i am only a bay resident for under 4 years now and it hasn't been enough time for me to convert to caring much about any of the teams from here, so that's why i never post on "must be the day after" threads... i see the 49ers and raiders as a bunch of dicks whose dual-market presence means it's even less likely that i'll get to see a game i actually want to watch since the nfl blacks out an extra one just out of spite.
5K, 15K, 20K? all estimates way, way short.
i would estimate > 50,000 people bringing up the rear this year. if you stood at the high point of fell around 11am there would have been at least 20k people in -sight-.
from the panhandle to soma was wall-to-wall i-can-barely-move-forward people. figure 3-4 miles of people completely saturating the street from side to side.
again, 23 tons = 46,000lbs. an aluminum can weighs about 1oz and most people i saw were drinking out of plastic cups. any way you slice that it verifies that there were a lot of drunken revelers.
But you're wrong on the facts to argue that B2B is a drunken costume party first and foremost. It's a fun race that the likes of you wish to change into a drunken costume party. This was the 97th running of the race. I for one think of it as a race--not an excuse for a drunken frat boy with the historical memory or a mouse to act like a jackass.
Every advert for the race shows someone smiling in costume with the double entendre tagline "Show Me Yours"...come now.
The organizers bill this race as a race that has an unusual amount of fun compared to other races. For instance, many serious runners run this race in a centipede (something "fun" and "different" for a good runner). But it is still an official race, it's organized as an official race, and alcohol is supposed to be prohibited. And there is a reason the costume contest is only for paid participants and ooccurs at the end of the race. Look at the Examiner special edition with the top 10,000 finishers. Those people all finished in less than 1 1/2 hours. That's a pretty fast clip. There were tens of thousands of runners or fun runners or people watching. As mentioned above, I would love to see the numbers. Maybe this year reached the nadir of drunk costuming. Maybe this year the drunk costumers took over and are now the majority.
Some of us don't want it that way. We want our race back.
I don't want to take away your drunk costuming (although there are plenty of other opportunities for you to drunk costume). I just think the priority should be on the race (especially the paid racers). Maybe you drunk costumers should pay your own way so you can use the toilets or so we can have appropriate race services. It sucks that the 30K plus of us that paid have to pay for you to drunk costume.
And the organizers certainly encourage costumes but they don't encourage nudity and drunk costuming like you imply. It's pretty much out of control--as this year attested--the 50K unpaid drunk costumers is too much to handle. Look. I know you must loooove drunk costuming and you probably think you're unique and it's the most clever party invention--EVER! Well, at least since the other excuses for drinking excessively before noon. That's fine. There are plenty of 20-somethings that live for this. And even plenty of 30-somethings that continue the tradition well past the time that is good for them.
But there are a good number of young people and other citizens of the City that think of B2B in a different way and also want it to be something other than a drunken costume festival.
I guess I was just surprised that this site has turned into a drunken gay frat-boy social page. I thought it tried to appeal to a broader range of San Franciscans. I came here after the race because I wanted see all the coverage of the race I could. I expected more coverage of the costumes and fun and frivolity than the coverage from other local media or running type places. But I didn't expect requests for "uncut" pictures of mens' penises and a complete fixation on drunken costuming ("I can watch youtube videos of people chugging beer all day long!"). That's fine that this is some peoples' cup of tea but there are a lot of people that like B2B that don't go there looking for that uncut penises and projectile vomiting. If you're a gay alcoholic frat boy--sure, it's probably heaven. For the rest of us. No thanks. Take your party to the End Up or something. Or don't they have an event in the desert that is drunken (or drugged) costuming heaven?
Has anyone considered that the large, drunken frat-guy draw had anything to do with the broadly-run ad campaign, "show me yours?"
In an effort to rake in as many entry fees as possible, they were appealing directly to the young, college, newly freed from finals week, party crowd and in so doing, proving that advertising works.