Hey Mark, it's Wake...sorry to hear that things went downhill w/ AE. I would continue to write to the USATF association, as I am sure that it is not in accordance w/ the rules for a club to have an athlete use another's identity. Hope that you are well say hi to W for me!!!
Sounds like identity theft to me. Identity theft is a crime and accordingly, I would contact the police or better yet, the district attorney's office in the county in which the identity theft occurred. If anything will send a message, it would be criminal action.
Don't delay!!!!!!!!!!!
Also find out if AE has any corporate sponsers..if so, go that route as well...
What a HUGE loser that Dave Sullivan guy at Athletics East is. Why would anyone run for a crap club like that run by a guy who would do such a thing? Runners are nothing if not their names and their times. To steal another's identity like that is low low low, and it's not funny and should not be taken lightly.
Dave Sullivan, I suggest you come on here and apologize. What a piece of crap you are until you do so.
I was approched by dave sullivan while still and college and when I told my coach his name he asks me "is this the same dave sullivan from boston who's short and has an annoying voice" I said yea you hit it on the money. Well then my coach went on to tell me that he ran against him in the early 80's at the time my coach was sposored by Sucony. Apprently dave sullivan was unethical back in his running days. Cutting courses taking shortcuts. You name a way of cheating in a road race and he did it. And now this guy is the coach of a Athletics East... I can't believe it.
i've reported numerous incidents about dave to usatf-ne. this was the first specifically involving the club as a whole, but really he told me once that "he" is the club and that it was "his", so i guess a complaint about him is one about the club too. anyway, to actually have usatf do something you have to go through some long greviance process or something, and i would have to do it alone, me against him, which kind of suchs. but i say if you've had an experience with this guy, i know a lot of people have, then write usatf-ne and tell them. the more complaints about it the better i say. don't make stuff up, but serious issues. i know that high school coach's have had issues with the team in the past when dave planned a workout at franklin during an xc invitational, and then wouldn't move. the usatf-ne office are good people, i'm sure they'll be able to do something if they have more info regarding other instances.
yeah, i was a victim of AE. that guy dave is totally a jackass. he should have been grateful that the people stayed on the team as long as we all did. there were many times i was ready to quit due to dave's erratic ways, so many times i was completely embarassed by his behavior in public. we were asked to leave facilities a few times - one time he yelled at the coaches where there was a game going on because they told us it was dangerous to be running around the track while they played lacrosse, yadda yadda yadda, anyway, the police came and dave ran off, literally. also, i participated in the workout at franklin park when he wanted us to do hill repeats during a high school meet. i told him i was waiting until the kids were done with their races to do the workout on bearcage and he said that basically we had every right to be there so we weren't leaving. he "punished" me by not timing me. he never even timed me correctly anyway. dave is not only a terrible coach, but also a terrible person, not a role model in the least, not a motivator, the opposite of all that makes a good coach. i was never ever proud, but always embarrassed of being on that team. so glad that the whole thing came crashing down in the end.
Boston George wrote:i've reported numerous incidents about dave to usatf-ne. this was the first specifically involving the club as a whole, but really he told me once that "he" is the club and that it was "his", so i guess a complaint about him is one about the club too. anyway, to actually have usatf do something you have to go through some long greviance process or something, and i would have to do it alone, me against him, which kind of suchs. but i say if you've had an experience with this guy, i know a lot of people have, then write usatf-ne and tell them. the more complaints about it the better i say. don't make stuff up, but serious issues. i know that high school coach's have had issues with the team in the past when dave planned a workout at franklin during an xc invitational, and then wouldn't move. the usatf-ne office are good people, i'm sure they'll be able to do something if they have more info regarding other instances.
Go out to a gay bar tonight. Pick up 3 or 4 guys and have major sex with them...and use his name. Just make sure they use a condom...hate to see you get aids for revenge's sake.
Mark-
This is extremely disturbing. I don't know Dave Sullivan but from what I read, it's a good thing. But, I do know Matt Sullivan, at least I thought I did, and it's hard to believe that he is using your name to tempo races and record a slow time with your name on it. But, these photos show it to be true. He seems to be somewhat of a gullible and immature guy for his age, almost innocent-like...perhaps Dave Sullivan has brain-washed him in some way..."us against the world"? I hope he reads these boards and sees that it is just not working in his favor.
My personal feeling is that Matt Sullivan should be banned from competing in USATF races for a given period of time for this. Identity theft is a crime, and for ranked athletes with earning power, poor race performances reduce rank and sponsorship possibilities. Also, he has forged your name on the race application, etc.
I assume you have emailed Steve Vaitones at USATF-NE? You should also go directly to USATF. Here is a link to the contact list. You should email the contact for Associations, Membership, and Clubs...all three with the evidence you have here.
Also, send this information along to New Engand Runner, c/o Bob Fitzgerald @
to see if he can use it. If he doesn't the Hockomock Swamp Rat definitely will. The website for the pub is
http://www.hockomock.net/index.htm
, and there is an email of the editor, Peter Wallan, listed as well.
Good luck and the next time I see Matt I will definitely let him know how I feel about this.
Sorry- here is the link to the USATF contacts list so you can email them. They may take this more seriously than USATF-NE offices.
Before we make this into a federal case, maybe Mark could try contacting Matt and asking him not to do it again might be a more reasonable alternative. It doesn't cost you anything to try.
Just because you can raise hell, it doesn't mean you need to.
Of course you are right. Call him first and call him on it.
witness, i've seen a bunch of times in results that are slow for you man. sorry you gotta put up with this nutjob, but he can hardly tarnish your rep by pretending to be you. i would just blow him off and eventually he'll get over his identity crisis. lata bro,
jjf
I wouldnt blow it off...Call the police..get a civil attorney..sue them...they could be proscuted for a felony...they sure have played hard ball..you play hard ball..thats all they understand
I agree with Fishead.
In a totally serious fashion I would suggest you make a polite call then get a lawyer AND notify the police, then I would notify USATF-NE of the situation.
DOCUMENT EVERYTHING (phone calls, conversations and the photos you have mentioned earlier) I had a situation at work once that became terribly difficult when I attempted to 'deal' with something...so I can relate.
If you wanted to go NUCLEAR notify Bob Fitzgerald at New England Runner magazine AND Peter Wallan at HSR preferably after taking all of the first few steps. Fitzy would take a very dim view of this s*it & Peter (aka 'the Rat') has 'friends' in the Greater Brockton area...if you get my drift.
Be Smart, not Sorry. Good luck.
Running and T & F are having a bad enough PR problem (drugs) without rectum heads of the sort you're dealing with making it even worse.
Whatever happened here..???..updates..??
well i did notify usatf-ne right away, before i posted this thread over a week ago. he tried to contact both matt and dave, but i haven't heard back on if they responded. i also had notified the race directors about it, and the club that runs the wed night race, but nothing. it was also brought to the attention of the president of usatf-ne, but again no response. maybe they're all on vacation or something. i was thinking maybe i was the only one who thought it was wrong. but now i think i'm going to send it off to usatf (national contact), and new england runner too i suppose. i feel like contacting the police is a waste of time and they aren't going to do anything.
I ran against Matt in HS and was glad to see the strides he had made since then. He was the #3-4 runner on a good Wakefield team and is better than almost all of the guys from the Middlesex that were his contemporaries at the time. I know that he was never even close to me in our HS races and now is well ahead. That said, it's sad to see him playing these types of games at 27 years old. I'd hope there is a better explanation for this. I know I would pissed if I were in Mark's shoes right now.
best of luck with your situation. do something about it, this guy sounds like a real prick and i would hate to ever meet him. do whatever you can to make sure that he never even has the chance to do this again.
Go straight to USATF. USATF-NE is comprised mostly of volunteers that are overloaded with responsibilities and also have full-time jobs. USATF has a full-time paid staff that will treat this matter seriously.