1. Gatlin's statement sounded like it was written by his lawyer. When do athletes get to decide how they're going to control the media's awareness of these bombshells? Only the USATF cedes over shit like that.
2. Masback's response was incredibly lame. As though viligant self-policing and athletes patting each other on the back for going a few days or weeks without injecting steroids is going to do the trick. Nancy Reagan is still alive--maybe she can revive her "Just Say No" chant and tailor it to morally bankrupt track stars. A better Masback PR statement would have been "If Sample B is dirty, he's done".
3. Releasing the Gatlin tests positive statement at Saturday noon on the hottest day of the summer when millions of Americans are at the beach, camping, at ball games, mowing the lawn, etc. was pure genius. Although if Gatlin could have yelled his comments toward the bottom of a well, it would have had a more desired effect. USATF must not have been able to find Gatlin a well.
4. The greed the Gatlin/Nehemiah camp exhibited apparently knew no bounds. Hopefully, Nehemiah's agent career will be tainted by this as well. The motherlode won't be arriving anytime soon, Renaldo, and you'll have to wait awhile before you can try to hold up promoters and rip off the paying public again.
5. Anyone who can look at any sprinter who trained under Trevor Graham without raised eyebrows ought to seek serious professional help. Can't we cram Trevor Graham into a cannon and blast him off like Hunter S. Thompson's grand send off? It might even be environmentally friendly--a little greasy spot in a field a few counties over.
6. That includes the dozen or so hardcore Marion Jones followers on the T&FN board who wouldn't suspect a thing if Marion asked any of them to pull a syringe out of her ass because they didn't see her stick the syringe in her ass. Tafnut would consider it his life's greatest achievement if Marion Jones asked him to pull a needle out of her ass.
7. Gatlin's sponsors ought to be lining up lawsuits to recoup the monies invested in him. But they won't. Who wants to be known as the sponsor of the greatest doping cheat in the last 20 years? You fooled us, son. Better to cut and run. Leave it to the grad students in MBA school to figure out the ethics later.
8. Gatlin was almost a mainstream hero to a lot of kids. Remember his appearance on "The Apprentice"? As much as Gatlin has impugned the integrity of athletics, imagine the mixed message kids will get from this. Adults screw up big time. They lie. They cheat. Some get away with it, others don't.
9. I'm done with my interest in sprinting at the highest of levels. I'm done with thinking Gatlin is a class guy compared to noodleheads like Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Mark Lewis-Francis, Marion Jones, Zhanna Pintusevich-Block. Bob Hayes was clean. The rest I'm going to forget about.
10. Justin Gatlin was a magnificent athlete who didn't have to cheat. Emphasis on "was". He's toast and the sport will be better for it. Take your ADD meds and twitch off into the sunset, bud.