LRC Bashing of LV - Selfish and Unwarranted

Rojo and Wejo are biased against Oregon, Rupp, Salazar, etc. They've been made fools of repeatedly by Rupp/Salazar by underestimating them. And of course Rupp/Salazar/Oregon dislike the Brojos who host (and encourage) a board so anti-them that the Brojos are considered to be in their pocket, lol.

A horrible marketing decision by Team Verzbicas.

Rule Number One of Athlete Marketability: Don't f*ck with the Swoosh!

Rule Number Two of Athlete Marketability: Don't f*ck with college sports!

Rule Number Three of Athlete Marketability: Don't f*ck with the fans!

Rule Number Four of Athlete Marketability: Don't f*ck with the team!

Let me begin by saying that I have always been a huge LRC fan, and I love that it is a website where everyone expresses their opinions instead of one that feels like a PR firm. I tend to see eye-to-eye with LCR on 99% of issues, and I see no bias whatsoever towards Nike/Oregon/Etc.

I do agree that his departure from UO was untimely, and MIGHT have cost his team a berth at nationals. I just think that some of the comments and relentless bashing is overboard. It seems like nobody on here has missed a chance to use the word 'quit' regarding the situation, or put the blame for UO missing nationals entirely on LV's shoulders. Regardless of whether he ran or not, this was a subpar UO team compared to recent years, and wasn't going to make any noise on a national level.

While on the surface it looks like he completely screwed his team over, I'd like to think that there were many, many other factors yet to be revealed which were involved in his decision, and played a bigger part in the timing of his departure. Yes, he left his team in favor of his self-interest. This is athletics, not a war. Sometimes you need to do what you think is best for your own career, regardless of the effects that it has on others. In the end, its LV's choice, and as an athlete I can respect his decision. MJ would have caught endless sh*t for something like that, but he was a professional under a contract, and wasn't a WJC in baseball.

I believe LV would have received just as much criticism from Letsrun if he had finished top 20 at nationals for his team, and then decided to bow out of the program. There would be threads titled "Lukas thinks he's too good for Oregon" and such. People here just love to bitch and be critical of everything, even though they cannot possibly know the true inside story. What if it came to light that he was being hazed or something so he said screw you guys I'm out of here earlier than planned. Yeah....that would change everything. His decision would be pretty justified. I doubt that happened, of course, but how would we know? That's why it's so amusing to see all these passion filled, anti LV responses. I will not be critical of him because I don't know the ENTIRE story and I won't allow my scumbag brain to fill in the details as I imagine they occurred. Neither should you.

He's a pussie, and everyone who has run cross country knows it!

He is a selfish pr*ck, and he can f*ck himself.

T.

I think that it is unprofessional that the Johnson's put their own biases and opinions on the front page. That's how they alway's have been. It's more like "Yellow Journalism". They went to Yale they know what that is. They pump in controversey to keep this site interesting.

That's why it's the top internet website covering distance running in the world. But its a free forum and they are the only ones that take the hit and we all keep coming back. They run it and they put out publicly how they feel. Sometimes they shoot too soon.

I'm still not sure if they are beholden to Oregon though. I mean Nike. They need to let it all go. Its a free site.

Moderators however have to decide what content needs to be blocked.

1. stupid ass hijacking kids and profanity unrelated to any coherent conversation.

2. Unsubstantied drug claims. Rumor mongering of people outside any contact of those athletes.

I don't think you could write a more ambiguous or incoherent post if you tried. I don't think it is 'unprofessional' to put their opinions on the front page. It is their website ; you don't have to read it. I have always appreciated that this site has personality instead of blandly reporting news and results. In this case I just happened to disagree with their opinion, and chose to discuss it on the forum. LRC is to running websites as democracy is to the world.

So one minute Lukas is training for and winning the world triathlon champs to honor a sick friend... and now you guys are bashing him for being "selfish?"

And don't make me laugh about how some of you "experienced cross country" while Lukas "can't take it" or Lukas "has no guts." Lukas has more guts and heart than the rest of you combined. What is it with you people and bashing the biggest stars of our sport? Clearly we running fans don't deserve to have exciting, new talents, because on the rare occasion we do, we'll pour our judgemental bullshit/ put them down everytime they have an obstacle or do something we perceive as a fault.

Lukas, good luck in triathlon. The running world doesn't deserve you.

He is the biggest pussie in Oregon history!

Mama's boy.

LV may be a pussie,

but Rupp is a phaggot.

Bashing of LV ---- A poem

LV bashers briskly walk wounded?

chafing of their micro penises

being turned into scarlet clits.

hot rod Lincolns, tootsie rolls

wrappers stick to their shoes

the bashers cry silently only

to curl in their corners like

whipped little puppy dogs who

shat on the sacred Persian rugs

Whimpering and whining.

Craving to be petted!

Will they grow up and take

things in stride, but their

micro penises have now moved

to their forked little tongues.

Squatting out more dung to

throw at the squad of runners.

OP, you just don't get it.

I really don't care remotely if LV runs or pursues tri. He's not enough of a phenom for me to care about his running when there is so much greatness in T&F right now, and I am completely uninterested in the tri world. So no, this has nothing to do with any supposed "selfish desire to see him run." I think the same goes for most of us here.\

The issue is that he would have the sheer lack of character to walk away from his team mid-season. That is where the accusations of selfishness come in, quite obviously. I just have little respect for someone who behaves this way in any aspect of his life, whether it's sports, work, etc.

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

OP, you just don't get it.

I really don't care remotely if LV runs or pursues tri. He's not enough of a phenom for me to care about his running when there is so much greatness in T&F right now, and I am completely uninterested in the tri world. So no, this has nothing to do with any supposed "selfish desire to see him run." I think the same goes for most of us here.

The issue is that he would have the sheer lack of character to walk away from his team mid-season. That is where the accusations of selfishness come in, quite obviously. I just have little respect for someone who behaves this way in any aspect of his life, whether it's sports, work, etc.

I do get it. I understand that he left his team and its very easy to view this as a selfish act. Like I said earlier, I'd be surprised if many other factors didn't influence the timing of his decision.

Like I also said earlier, sometimes in athletics you need to take care of yourself and your own needs. Through the eyes of the running community, walking away from his team could easily be percieved as 'lack of character'. However, I think we should appreciate the character that it does take to make a decision like that based on what HE wanted to do, instead of what others wanted him to do. regardless of who he supposedly 'screwed over', he made what he felt was the right decision for himself

A lot of us are blaming LV for Oregon's loss but does anyone know the actual back story? There are a lot of unanswered questions...

What if he didn't quit the team two days before regionals but weeks ago? He might have quit a while back but it was only reported or finalized just recently.

What if he did want to finish out the season but Vin didn't want him to?

Do we really know that he just up and quit two days before regionals? I just find that so difficult to believe.

break it up wrote:

...It's more like "Yellow Journalism". They went to Yale they know what that is...

Letsrun might be "like 'Yellow Journalism'", but it is not yellow journalism because the Johnson's make no claims that Letsrun.com is a journalistic website. It is clearly a fan site, with so much personal opinion and bias that anyone should be able to make the distinction.

MOUSE wrote:

regardless of who he supposedly 'screwed over', he made what he felt was the right decision for himself

Do you realize that what you just said basically makes LV sound just like a thief? When it comes right down to it, that's what he was. The people on his team trusted LV to be a responsible member of their little "community," and he essentially betrayed them.

If he has simply waited another two or three weeks before making this permanent decision, things would be entirely different. Instead, he robbed his class mates of their opportunity to compete at the highest level of collegiate sports. That was selfish, egotistical, and exceedingly immature.

Added Perspective wrote:

Do you realize that what you just said basically makes LV sound just like a thief? When it comes right down to it, that's what he was. The people on his team trusted LV to be a responsible member of their little "community," and he essentially betrayed them.

If he has simply waited another two or three weeks before making this permanent decision, things would be entirely different. Instead, he robbed his class mates of their opportunity to compete at the highest level of collegiate sports. That was selfish, egotistical, and exceedingly immature.

This might make sense if we were talking about crimes and society, but were talking about athletics. I've been a part of some amazingly close teams with teammates that I would die for, so I understand the values of being a good teammate. In the end, this is athletics and he doesn't owe anything to anybody. If my teammates had made a similar decision, I would respect that they chose the best course for themselves, and wish them nothing but the best. He did not ROB anyone of anything. UO is sitting at home next monday because the team they fielded yesterday failed to perform well enough to qualify. Athletes have an very short window of time to maximize their successes, and sometimes you need to make tough decisions with self-interest in mind. Its not egotistical or inmature, just part of the sport(s)