(WireImage)

A New York Times writer has a problem with all the media attention Lolo Jones has been receiving. So, naturally, he wrote a story about it.

Jeré Longman, who to his credit has written several renowned sports books, stages an impassioned but ultimately inconsequential argument against Jones's marketing of herself.

"Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games," Longman writes. "This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be — vixen, virgin, victim — to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses."

Other Internet sites have lashed back at Longman and his piece. They argue that Jones is only doing something that plenty of other athletes do — maximizing her marketability while she can — and they take issue with Longman's rather hostile accusation that Jones is playing