Mo Farah and Andy Vernon go at it in Twitter

Caps lock is broken, bro. When you grow up with a mature response, I may reply.

joho wrote:

If Mo isn't in charge of determining the field, why attack him about it? Why didn't Vernon ask / accuse the RD for not having any competition for Mo.

As far as the 2 mile you listed. It appears that a large part of the field is British. Just which British runners would be consider good competition for Mo? Bernard is there so maybe he can give him a run for his money.

I don't know why Andy chose the medium he did. He's an idiot and should have kept his mouth shut, but he's NOT wrong. Perhaps he thought venting on Twitter and including a tag for Mo would get some attention from fans and from Mo himself to put some pressure on the RD to stop lining up watered down fields for him.

Your 2nd paragraph proves my point. It is clearly watered down by consisting of predominantly British runners, and that you think his best competition is a 40 year old going for a Masters WR. They could have added more elites and kept the Brits in there too - they wouldn't exactly be tripping over each other for the same real estate.

Are we at least agreed that he does in fact have easier races set up for him in the UK, and you just take issue with Mo being criticized for it? Or do you still contest that point?

To rephrase:

Andy Vernon said that Mo Farah gets watered down fields, fields that Mo Farah as no control over, for track meets in the UK.

Why does this matter? And why is a "supposed" professional athlete making public statements criticizing another professional athlete over what is such an inconsequential allegation and completely unsubstantiated allegation? What ever happened to burden of proof? If Any Vernon is going to commit libel, you'd think he'd actual put together a coherent argument rather than an incoherent statement that is less than 240 characters.

seasoned ranker wrote:

Precious Roy wrote:

Generally not a good idea to be calling out a fellow pro and countryman when your 10k pr is about a lap down from the target of your scorn. And it is a very stupid fanboy argument that the top guys should always race against the top athletes and take it to the limit every time out. Farah is just opening up his indoor season. When you sweep the Olympics in 5/10k, you get the privilege of choosing when to hit your peak racing.

Neither of them look good in this exchange. I'm just saying that Andy is right that Mo gets watered down fields in London (apart from the marathon, of course).

OF COURSE MO GETS WATERED DOWN FIELDS!!!!!

He's the Olympic champion. Top athletes demand appearance fees, and like Usain, Mo's appearance fee isn't cheap. That's why Usain doesn't race much in the season or race any quality competition, they can't afford him AND a stellar field(in most cases). So Usain only gets tested at global championships. Mo Farah is in a similar situation now at this stage in his career. Just accept it.

Andy looks more like a shot putter than a runner by the way. And he likely doesn't get ANY appearance fee money outside of races in the UK as no one knows who he is in the athletics world. I didn't know who he was until I saw this post. Andy likely makes his small annual salary from prize money and sponsor bonuses.

He's just frustrated and venting about it in an unprofessional manner. Does Mo have more talent than him? yes. Does Mo have a better coach? yes. Does Mo have a better environment conducive to success? yes. Therefore he makes a lot more money than Andy and rightfully so as he is more successful athlete. It sucks but its the world we live in. Life aint fair. All Andy can do, is shut up and train hard and keep trying to live the dream by making a living off of a sport that most people have to do in addition to a full time job.

I do NOT need a response from you. You've defeated yourself with your own logic or LACK thereof. ANY further posts or words from you will be HARMFUL to humanity.

OverTheHillAndBack wrote:

I do NOT need a response from you. You've defeated yourself with your own logic or LACK thereof. ANY further posts or words from you will be HARMFUL to humanity.

In your original post you admitted not knowing who Andy Vernon is and you showed a lack of logic by arguing against watered down "home" meets with irrelevant information on world titles.

Leave the discussion to the grown-ups who are knowledgeable about the sport.

Farah does dictate the fields , in the GNR he had a pacer who didn't even try to win the race . All the UK track races he does are D list the only event he couldn't dictate was London Marathon

LIAR. YOU RESPONDED. What else are you lying about?

So you're saying the D LIST races have WATERED DOWN FIELDS.... In other news, APPLES HAVE SEEDS.

Furthermore, Lagat may be old - but he finished a close 2nd at NB 3k against a great field. He's in the Birmingham 2 mile. Also have that Japanese guy, Osako, in there. Sorry folks, this is about the best field you're going to be able put together when you have a big star taking most of the appearance fee. Farah hasn't raced, so he'll have his hands full with this one. Vernon needs to quit running his mouth. Good for Farah to call him out.

I don't really care about that point. It isn't anything new. If RDs want to water down a field for a particular runner they are just hurting their own races. Maybe. Maybe not. Races do it all the time for top sprinters right? How many times does Bolt face other top sprinters? Maybe Mo has the star power to get the same type treatment in Great Britain.

Thank you. Everyone needs to stop acting like Farah being in the field is exogenous to the quality of the field (holding Mo's alleged manipulation of the field constant). Prior to any alleged manipulation the quality of the remaining field is already going to be decreased simply because his appearance fee eats a decent chunk of the budget. Outside of the Olympics and World Championship, this is expected to happen at every invitational meet. Therefore it should not be a surprise to see a A list athlete with a large appearance fee in a meet with other C and D List athletes who demand little to no appearance fees. Lastly, the meets may very well organize their budgets event by event, which means that having Farah in an event effectively wipes the budget for the entire event.

Our article and analysis of the twitter war is now up:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/02/andy-vernon-calls-out-mo-farah-on-twitter-i-would-just-rather-watch-a-race-than-the-the-mo-show/

Editor's note: LetsRun.com's article and analysis of the twitter war is now up on the front page:

Andy started with a dig at the watered down field Mo is racing, how he always gets these easy races on home soil...

Andy Vernon: @AndyVernonGB: Another stellar field against @Mo_Farah on home turf this weekend at Birmingham. #joke

Mo: @Mo_Farah: @AndyVernonGB Shame you didn't make the line up....again #ComeBackWhenYouWinSomethingDecent

Andy: @AndyVernonGB: Lol @Mo_Farah I think even you can work out that I can make the cut to the Indoor Grand Prix. Lets hope no one loses their shoe...

Mo: @Mo_Farah: @AndyVernonGB I wish you did make the cut mate so I can leave you in my dust like ALWAYS!! hahahaha #hatersgonnahate

Andy: @AndyVernonGB: @Mo_Farah. 1) stop quoting Taylor Swift. 2) I don't hate you Mo. I would just rather watch a race than the the Mo Show. #playersgonnaplay

Mo: @Mo_Farah: @AndyVernonGB that's why they didn't put you in the race mate.. Cos you're an embarrassment!! Taylor swift can probably run faster than you!

Its amusing (to me) that the majority opinion on here is Pro-Mo, but if you look at British athletes or the general British running community (on Twitter and facebook and other places that Brits frequent online) then it heavily baised towards Andy (who was clearly correct in what he said - whether he was correct to say it is up for debate but his point is 100% accurate)

Almost all of British running communit agreeing with Andy and Mo is very much falling further and further out of favour amongst this demographic.

He seems more popular on here (which I presume is majority American) - do you guys want him permenantly? Don't think we would miss him much!

Get Farah US citizenship wrote:

He seems more popular on here (which I presume is majority American) - do you guys want him permenantly? Don't think we would miss him much!

We'll trade him for Galen.

LetsRun.com wrote:

Our article and analysis of the twitter war is now up:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/02/andy-vernon-calls-out-mo-farah-on-twitter-i-would-just-rather-watch-a-race-than-the-the-mo-show/

So you're saying, "Simpson[s] did it?"

British distance athletes are on Andys side because they see through the mist.

Mo has been rubbing people up the wrong way for years. To my recollection it started when he ran in the heats at the British 1500m champs then didn't show for the final. Taking the spot of a developing athlete.

It's not entirely Mo's fault, it's clear he is the victim of British Athletics trying to get 'bums on seats' at major meets. They say he is running to sell tickets. Then he suddenly won't be running. Which I'm sure works once but I've lost count how many times it's been done now. Most recently edinbourgh XC he with Drew for illness but on the same day instagramed a picture from a track session in Ethiopia. Where british athletics head of endurance was also visiting at the time- he was never running in Scotland!!

Vernon is unfortunate that he is the only guy with the balls to call it out on twitter. No does get weak fields in the UK and it's boring to watch.

Mo ran the London marathon because he was paid a pile of money to run that race. And he is best friends with Dave Bedford's (ex Ldn race directors) son Tom.

Wouldn't it be ironic if Mo withdraws from Birmingham this weekend now the tickets are sold???!

In defense of Andy Vernon, Taylor swift has an excellent build for a distance runner