I think Hall has received more attention for a few reasons that may seem silly but in my opinion are real. Hall has an easier name to pronounce and remember. He has a cool story (about how he ran 15 miles home after b-ball practice and fell in love with running). He's from a unique home town. He went to Stanford, which most people hold in very high regard. He won the Olympic Trials Marathon. He ran under an hour in a half marathon, which is a magical thing to have done. During the Olympic Marathon, the announcers talked about him and didn't seem to know anything about Ritz (even though Ritz finished ahead of Hall). Hall chose to run Boston, which is the ultimate American marathon, so it captured people's attention. And he seems more charismatic with the media from what I can tell.
I've been following Ritz's blog for the past month or two, and I have started to become a bigger fan of his since then. In fact, I have to brag that I posted a comment before his race suggesting he might break the AR in the 5000m. Lucky guess.
http://dathanritzenhein.competitor.com/ (see third comment down)
Alberto Salazar (Ritz's new coach) believes that to be a great marathoner, you first have to be great at running 5K's and 10K's. He wants Ritz to be a 13/27 guy and then will be able to blow away a marathon. So this is a great first step.
