Rupp fires Michael Johnson

For a moment, I thought that Michael Johnson had been fired.

This isn't a short-term decision. This is a long-term decision. While Rupp may or may not win an Olympic medal in London, he ideally has 4-12 years to still continue to improve and show he's one of the best in the world.

PLUS, he'll eventually move to the marathon, which is the big money event. Simms has huge international experience, and knows how to work with the very top athlete in the world, all of which is important to Rupp. Big picture thinking.

Wallace Gearman wrote:

I think we can all agree that Rupp is a great distance runner and we respect his ability on the track, but I can't see it being a good investment for any major company to invest money in Galen Rupp. He is dorky, can barely put together a clear and interesting sentence during interviews and he looks goofy.

You are probably right. Commercial success in athletics is far more than just athletic success. An athlete has to bring looks and charisma to the table, too.

Galen, honestly, has neither. Pre became a legend because of his athletic performance and his good look and persona. Galen doesn't really have a "personality" per se and doesn't seem to care about how he looks. No social skills, so to speak.

Just being honest. Doesn't make him a bad person. Just means he is not going to be the go-to athlete when General Mills is looking to put an Olympian on the cover of the Wheaties box, no matter what his performance in the Olympics.

He should be able to get a decent shoe contract from a Nike, something in the running marketplace. That might be worth $100,000 per year and Galen will have to participate in Nike events, conform to their schedule, etc., not something the reclusive Rupp is apt to want to do.

When they win the Golden League and WC and every 400m race inbetween.

Commercial Success wrote:

. Pre became a legend because of his athletic performance and his good look and persona. .

No Pre became a legend because he died.

Good points.

Rupps value will come when he marathons. Phelps is in whole different class of marketing and value , cannot compare.

Mebb and Hall would be target ideas of value. Old school , Shorter and Rogers are examples.

Lets see what the future brings for Mr. Rupp.

Replace "Rupp" with "any male distance runner" and that's what you got.

Wheaties, etc market to the general public, not track fans. Rupp, Ritz, Sol, Teg - they all look like skinny distance runners. There's no difference.

He should be able to get a decent shoe contract? Doesn't he already have one of those?

For as many Gold Medals as Phelps has, he is terrible for marketing. Bland bland bland bland bland. Even when he was caught smoking weed (marketing ploy?) , BLAND!!

The American media and advertisers for whatever reason aren't interested in a track distance runner who has never won an international race, even though he is caucasian and a few track aficionados have been following his career closely. Go figure.

Farah's agent.

I'm telling you, the kid has moxie. Does anybody remember that word? He knows he's going places and he's taking care of business.

MJ moonwalks wrote:

Good points.

Rupps value will come when he marathons. Phelps is in whole different class of marketing and value , cannot compare.

Mebb and Hall would be target ideas of value. Old school , Shorter and Rogers are examples.

Lets see what the future brings for Mr. Rupp.

I only mentioned phelps because he is goofy and looks awkward from the shoulders up. He is considered the best Olympic athlete of all time and his highest profile sponsorship other than speedo is subway, really? If I were the greatest olympic athlete on the planet I would hope Subway would not be my most popular sponsorship deal.

Personality and looks play a major factor, just look at LOLO. Where did she finish at the trials? 3rd. She went on Leno, has a RedBull sponsorship, and is being featured in more major publications than the 2 women ahead of her.

phelps is bland wrote:

For as many Gold Medals as Phelps has, he is terrible for marketing. Bland bland bland bland bland. Even when he was caught smoking weed (marketing ploy?) , BLAND!!

What about the threesome with the strippers?

WHO CARES!

rundre11 wrote:

MJ also is the agent who advised Jeremy Wariner to get rid of Clyde Hart. It only costs his athlete and himself perhaps a few million dollars in prize money and another Olympic Gold medal. Wariner should have gotten rid of MJ the agent. It was a really bad contract with the coach and the agent getting almost half of the $1 million dollars a year he was making. When you are #1 in the world, you don't really need a track agent, just a lawyer to handle endorsements. Good riddance.

wait - MJ took close to half? is that standard?

If Rupp keeps winning in the last 50m like he did in the OT 5k, he will start building a mainstream following.

truth toldbaby wrote:

Michael Johnson is a racist jerk, way to dump that dufus Galen!

Is that the reason why he married a white woman? I guess Africans are racist only when the situation benefits them.

No "social skills"?

You're an idiot.

It's amazing when people on the internet just make sht up.

Since I have hung out with him -- while he was hanging out with his crew of friends... I can tell you first hand he has just great social skills. Out of the limelight he is a cool guy. Maybe not your cool, but he is cool. He can make wise cracks with the best of them, he's a sharp guy.

You people just have really skewed and screwed up ideas and projections.

Just because the guy may not be 100% comfortable on camera (few are) all the time, doesn't mean he doesn't have social skills.

Just because he is average looking, doesn't mean he doesn't have social skills or appeal. He's an incredibly nice person, and truly understand and appreciates all the amazing good fortune he's had.

He's NIKE for life. Phil Knight has been his #1 fan for ages. Galen NEVER has to worry about money. He'll work for Nike as long as he EVER wants.

The guy won the talent and the good luck lottery.

To you jealous haters, I suggest you just back off your judgments, enjoy the athletic performances and can all the crap.

buckthetrend wrote:

Commercial Success wrote:

. Pre became a legend because of his athletic performance and his good look and persona. .

No Pre became a legend because he died.

Pre was a legend BEFORE he died. He dominated every USA competition he was in, just about, for half a decade plus.

For those that think so, don't be so sure that Pre would have done so well in endorsements. With Nike, sure. Pre may have been too intense for commercials. Print endorsements, he could have done all day long.

Go Afrika wrote:

truth toldbaby wrote:

Michael Johnson is a racist jerk, way to dump that dufus Galen!

Is that the reason why he married a white woman? I guess Africans are racist only when the situation benefits them.

His 2nd wife isn't really white.