BY DANE WINDISCH

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy was one that left the Northeastern part of the U.S. in recovery mode. Many sporting events were impacted by Sandy’s aftermath, including the prestigious New York City Marathon.

Officials planned to continue with the marathon until New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called it off, which sent an uproar throughout the media and social network sites.

Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith of ESPN First Take weighed in on the pros and cons of canceling the race.

Smith questioned having tens of thousands of people running through streets in a city where thousands of people don’t have power or even drinking water. Smith also provided how they would be using generators for some of the tents during the race and how it would be extremely disrespectful to do when so many have no power.

Bayless agreed with everything Smith said, but he thought the race should continue as scheduled because of how many runners will be flocking to the NYC area. He argued the money participants would bring to the city could have helped generate recovery funds. Bayless also argued the cancelation would hurt the runners who have been training for months.

Bloomberg later made an announcement the NYC Marathon would be postponed due to public outcry.

I believe it was the right choice, but I was pleased when Bayless offered his opinion on why the race should continue when the majority of analysts on sport media were very much against it.