Random Acts of Sport: Shirtless Running

First of all, welcome to a new segment we will occasionally be running called "Random Acts of Sport." These are meant to be brief, amusing posts where we talk about some physical activity we've seen around town or on TV and how it relates to/whether it qualifies as "sport." For instance, if I saw a kid throwing a frisbee with his dog, I might declare "NOT SPORT," but if that same dog then dunked the frisbee on a Fisher Price plastic hoop, I would be inclined to rule "SPORT." You get the idea. Feel free to chime in with your own opinions.

Anyway, the other day, I was driving home from work and while crossing the bridge into Cambridge, I saw a young man in his mid twenties out for a run. Thing of it was, he was only wearing shorts and running shoes. Now, running shirtless is nothing new or out of the ordinary when the weather is warm, but is it really necessary? It's not finally tuned college athletes who do it; it's always the guys with too much hair, are too pale or noticeably faked tanned, so on and so forth. What advantage, meanwhile, does the runner have? It's never THAT hot out that you can't some sort of shirt, especially not here in Massachusetts. And being shirtless would stop them from going into most stores to get a Gatorade or something. So basically, nobody benefits. Let's put an end to this activity. Shirtless Running: NOT SPORT.

I've never heard of WGN's Pat Tomasulo, but I gotta say, on this topic, I like the cut of his jib: