USATF offering $10 memberships until end of year

From Washington State in the 80s to Shannon Butler in 1996 to Goucher/Salazar in 2008 and many, many other incidents of sleaziness, John Chaplin needs to get axed.

However the delegates from the associations do not have the infrastructure to vote him out. They also appear to be terrified of John Chaplin.

I'd love to kick his ass all the way up and down Bourbon street myself.

Might encourage more participation in the xc events (JO and club) coming up if becoming a member wouldn't effectively double the entry fee.

Rbyrne wrote:

How is it a Bargain if it is only good for the next 2 months? If they want more people to join they should extend until next calendar year, no?

If I saw someone wearing USA gear at a local 5k, it would never occur to me that this person was trying to impress or "fool" anyone. I would just think they bought it online from eBay or USATF. When I see someone running in foreign gear at marathons, I don't think they're pretending to be on the Italian or German national teams, so why would I think that about someone wearing USA gear?

I think it's EXACTLY like wearing a Pujols jersey. By wearing it you are "representing," nothing more. Stuff like this may be a big deal to the average "LetsRun" poster, but 99.9% of everyone else is too ignorant about this stuff to even recognize an official singlet when they see it, anyway. To them, it's a simple patriotic gesture, nothing more.

Non-negotiable PRE-CONDITIONS wrote:

I'll join if USATF meets these Non-negotiable PRE-CONDITIONS:

1) Retroactive 8 year lifetime term limits for Director and above including unpaid volunteers, unpaid consultants, paid employees, board members, consultants, executives, etc.

2) Spin off into a new USATF TV Network Media Corporation with only LDR and High Performance. Re-locate the LDR and HP to West Los Angeles/Hollywood. Spinoff will use will use a 100% new staff, with rest of USATF in remaining in Indianapolis.

3) Elections have a 2 week duration, via internet voting, entire paid-up USATF membership is eligible, one person one vote.

Some of you guys crack me up...oh yeah, I'm sure the USATF is just scrambling right now to meet your terms so they can get your $10...ha, ha, ha

Non-negotiable PRE-CONDITIONS wrote:

I'll join if USATF meets these Non-negotiable PRE-CONDITIONS:

1) Retroactive 8 year lifetime term limits for Director and above including unpaid volunteers, unpaid consultants, paid employees, board members, consultants, executives, etc.

2) Spin off into a new USATF TV Network Media Corporation with only LDR and High Performance. Re-locate the LDR and HP to West Los Angeles/Hollywood. Spinoff will use will use a 100% new staff, with rest of USATF in remaining in Indianapolis.

3) Elections have a 2 week duration, via internet voting, entire paid-up USATF membership is eligible, one person one vote.

Some of you guys crack me up...oh yeah, I'm sure the USATF is just scrambling right now to meet your terms so they can get your $10...ha, ha, ha

mwwwin--

My refusal to purchase membership is not simply about sending a message to USATF, but is also about not wanting to associate myself with an institution that commits arbitrary injustices that affect the well-meaning and hard-working "little guy".

I refuse to be a part of it, for reasons that have to do with me personally.

On the flip side, I want those shafted athletes to know that somebody somewhere cares enough about what happened to them to actually do something about it.

Not only do I withhold my membership dues, I don't show up to run, I refused to let them write some sort of article about me, I communicate the facts of what happened at every opportunity to anybody who cares, and I express my opinion that it sucked.

Things always start with one person taking a stand. I'm not deluding myself into thinking that this will have legs, because again that is not my intended purpose.

We all make our decisions for ourselves, maybe some of you will make the same one I have.

orbitboy wrote:

If I saw someone wearing USA gear at a local 5k, it would never occur to me that this person was trying to impress or "fool" anyone. I would just think they bought it online from eBay or USATF. When I see someone running in foreign gear at marathons, I don't think they're pretending to be on the Italian or German national teams, so why would I think that about someone wearing USA gear?

I think it's EXACTLY like wearing a Pujols jersey. By wearing it you are "representing," nothing more. Stuff like this may be a big deal to the average "LetsRun" poster, but 99.9% of everyone else is too ignorant about this stuff to even recognize an official singlet when they see it, anyway. To them, it's a simple patriotic gesture, nothing more.

personally, i would never wear a USA jersey having not ever made a national team (although i don't care if someone does). however, i also see the good in someone doing so. baseball, football, basketball, and soccer fans all wear jerseys of their favorite players, and why should track be no different? it promotes the sport when people "show their colors." but track/running faces two problems: 1) athletes do not have unique jerseys that can be associated to them as individuals, and 2) wearing a running singlet would be kind of awkward if you aren't running. fans of other sports can wear a jersey around town because they work just like our regular clothes do. running singlets will leave our guns exposed(and to some degree, our nipples).

track and field needs to add a team aspect, and also allow individuals to shine as individuals. i like how a few years ago (do they still do it?) the major marathons were having athletes wear different singlets regardless of brand. the returning champion would get to wear the "yellow jersey." instead we're subject to this sea of green/blue/red(insert this year's color here) that the shoe companies decided to use this year (nike and adidas have even used the same color singlets many times).