The funniest part of the quote is where Bak talks about associating yourself with a "DIRTY COACH". Wasn't Bak coched by Sevene who got his fame as a coach by coaching Ahletics West. It is fairly common knowledge that Athletics West was as dirty as Barry Bonds is.
dariusladariusdarius wrote:
PRs are meaningless when it comes to MORALS you sack of shit.
I agree.
Bak can go climb a tree. It is a joke that he is even a professional runner. It doesnt matter that he ran sub-14. Gatlin probably cant hear him because he has gold medals blocking his ears.
But I guess Bak has a bunch of NESCAC championship rings.
Can we get someone of consequence to comment on the front page next time?
This post seems to have attracted a few very jealous people (or maybe just one under many names) to take some pot-shots at Bak.Also - in response to
Bakkar Noir wrote:
A massage therapist has a LOT more to gain, and lose, from dealing with a world record holder than a run of the mill professional. Rub down Ryan Bak, great, who cares? Bak ain't making your business. Being massage therapist to an Olympic champ? You can advertise on that.
Doesn't this logic play right into the massage therapists case? He has many times said "why would I sabotage the best thing I had going for me?".
I will be interested to see what happens in the hearing.
Everyone is so jealous of Ryan Bak because we all wish we were a half-wit wannabe professional runner. He may be the worst professional athlete in America. If he ever competes on the world stage - positive drug tests will ensue
to the one guy posting under many different names
please stop.
k thanks.
To Wilford Brimley
I could beat you up. Easily.
k thanks.
This is all absolutely ridiculous. You act as if I wrote an editorial column trashing Justin Gatlin. I simply wrote a quick email to Weldon Johnson disagreeing with his standpoint (which he has since changed). Wejo later asked me if he could quote my email on his site.
It does not matter how fast or how slowly you may think I have run. I would never call myself a professional runner at this point (and I did not label myself as such). I know that I have a lot of work to do to reach the level that I want to be at on the running scene, but that’s beside the point. Either way, everyone is entitled to an opinion no matter what his or her personal bests are.
I was not so much ripping Gatlin as I was standing up for a friend. I know Chris Whetstine well. I know that Whetstine did not rub anything illegal on Justin Gatlin. Chris holds himself to very high moral standards. He is an honest man who has become a victim. Regardless of the fact that I do not know Gatlin, I do know more about the case and the situation than is public knowledge for the rest of you. My opinion is based on the information that I have been privy to.
Gatlin may have been sabotaged, but it surely wasn’t by his massage therapist. If he was sabotaged, it is a sad case, but he is responsible for the company he keeps and someone of his caliber and in his situation should very stringently monitor everything that goes into his body.
Ryan Bak
zing!
aloha wrote:
is someone:
A) a wee bit jealous
B) a wee bit racist
C) all of the above
Even if the answer was C, so what? It wouldn't have any bearing on the truth about Gatlin.
To get your point across, you should say, "Bak made an ad hominem attack on Gatlin." That wouldn't contradict his claims, but it would logically nullify his immediate point of contention. Instead, you launch an ad hominem attack of your own.
By invoking the R word, you also give away the fact that you have no case of your own. The R word is always used as a "get out of accountability free" card and to drum up baseless sympathy. It's never used to present a logical case. Kind of like pulling a joker out of a deck and trying to use it as an Ace in the trump suit. The game of life is not "jokers wild," so you'll have to find another excuse.
Ryan bak sucks balls. When was the last time he won a race? Maybe a dual meet in college? He seemed like a retard even when they interviewed him in the movie 500 meters. Who knows why he is a professional runner... His opinion means absolutely nothing.
Knowing someone on a personal level does not necessarily mean you know what this person would or would not do in any and all situations. Now if you were in the same room with Whetstine at the time any and all care was being administered to Justin Gatlin, then and only then can you vouch for what he did or did not do to Justin Gatlin. I've been surprised numerous times by the (what I considered to be) deplorable behavior of my very close friends. That being said, I'm not saying that people shouldn't stick up for their friends. I am however, saying that it is at best an error in judgment and at worse absolutely classes to publicly condemn a man that you do not know while a federal case is going on that will determine his livelihood. You have every right to believe what you believe, and you may even think that Justin Gatlin is lying about Whetstine's involvement in his failed drug test. Publicly commenting on someone’s perceived innocence or guilt without having any evidence is just plain irresponsible, especially in such a controversial case. Now on the flip side if you do indeed have insider information (backed up by factual evidence of course) I'm sure there are some lawyers on both sides who would love to hear it. In the mean time the people with the Juris Doctorates would probably tell you to keep your judgments to yourself.
The bottom line is that the circumstances under which Justin Gatlin failed his drug test were suspicious to say the very least. Gatlin tested negative six times earlier in 2006 and we was "caught" at the Kansas relays!? Assuming that Justin Gatlin is and was doped to the gills, how was he able to avoid detection at other meets, but not at the Kansas Relays? There is also the fact that the lab results actually support Gatlin’s claim that he was rubbed (or rubbing himself) with a steroid cream similar to the one that he alleged Whetstine used on him. So in conclusion, there is a reason a hearing is being held. All of the pilers-on, including the Brojos, who don't know all of the facts (or even less helpfully do have factual evidence pertaining to the innocence or guilt of a party or parties involved and are withholding it for some reason or another) are not helping Chris Whetstine, Justin Gatlin, or the state of Track and Field in the United States.
Are you guys reading Ryan's posts at all... he wasn't bashing Gatlin publicly, he wrote an e-mail to the brothers Johnson and they asked if they could quote it. If you want to blame anyone for the public bashing of Gatlin, blame Wojo and rojo.
Secondly, I have no qulams for people sticking up for their friends. It shows the kind of class that Ryan Bak has for people he considers of high moral standing. Unlike that of Justin Gatlin, who was ready to role right over on his coach and let the FBI and authorities decieve Graham through someone he considered a trusted athlete.
While Bak may not have the entire case file in front of him, all he did was point out the obvious. Is gatlins case really that different from anyone else who's ever been accused of doping... hmmmm... Floyd, Dieter the Cheeter, Marion... I mean c'mon people, track and field isn't the C.I.A... I have a hard time believing that people are going around with a conspiracy to ruin other athletes... in fact, it would go against the entire ego of a sprinter, who wants to race the best guy, not win by default.
Also, to address the point of Gatlins Negatives... are you familiar with how one takes steroids and the methodology behind it. It works in cycles, so if your competing in a down cycle, of course your going to come up negative. Thats one of the main reasons for taking steroids in the cyclical methodology, to avoid detection.
Thanks for the comments bak, it's nice to have someone who isn't afraid to stick their nose out and defend a friend. It reminds me that there are still people with dignity and class in our sport.
since when did running 13:38 for 5000 meters make you a worthless pile of crap? people on these boards are worthless, not bak, in my opinion... and that statement has nothing to do with p.r.'s.
Thanks Ryan, for standing up to all the REAL LOSERS on this board who constantly try to find some reason to bash anyone. If you don't run under 13 in the 5K (or even if you do) they will find some reason. Good luck in your running!
julia
We suck wrote:
The funniest part of the quote is where Bak talks about associating yourself with a "DIRTY COACH". Wasn't Bak coched by Sevene who got his fame as a coach by coaching Ahletics West. It is fairly common knowledge that Athletics West was as dirty as Barry Bonds is.
Sevene has a long anti-drug attitude which brought him into direct conflict with certain AW coaches. Sev may be fair game for his share of criticism, but the smear of drugs is way off base.
woow wrote:
Also - in response to
Bakkar Noir wrote:A massage therapist has a LOT more to gain, and lose, from dealing with a world record holder than a run of the mill professional. Rub down Ryan Bak, great, who cares? Bak ain't making your business. Being massage therapist to an Olympic champ? You can advertise on that.
Doesn't this logic play right into the massage therapists case? He has many times said "why would I sabotage the best thing I had going for me?".
I will be interested to see what happens in the hearing.
Because making a WC without a WR into a WR holder means you can advertise that you massage a World Record holder when previosly you couldn't say that. There are a lot of Oly champs. There is one World Record holders in track's premier event (well, I guess there are two.)
And what if the relationship was going south? What if someone else had this guy sabotage Gatlin? As Bak himself noted, the motivation to be at the top can change people, maybe it changed this guy.
Think about this: in every case where some guy turns out to be a serial killer, there are always a bunch of friends and neighbors who thought he could never do it. Nobody really knows what their friends are capable of.
Thanks Ryan, for standing up for your scumbag masseuse. At least someone has moral standing on this board.
Until Justin Gatlin is proven guilty, you and the idiot brojos should keep your traps shut and let the process take its course.
The brojos are the kings of killing people for being drug cheats without anything except a NY Post story to back up their claim. Sorry that you were quoted on the front page Ryan, but you should have merely defended your little masseuse and not called out Gatlin.
So if Ryan Bak is still available, can he comment on the article from the front page where Gatlin claims to have done a public records search on Whetstine and all sorts of legal trouble came up? Marijuana posession, trouble with what is presented as a governing body of massage practice in the state of Oregon (does anyoen know if they have any actual power, or do they just give ceritificate?), and multiple personal injury law suits? That article really contradicts the picture of Chris Whetstine being presented by his friends here at LetsRun, and typically I would be of the mind to beleive WeJo, but it would be cool for Ryan to directly claim that he knows the article to be misinformed.
Well said Ryan, I hope all is well man!