Meb says Boston didn't make an offer

Truth Sayer wrote:

If Meb feels slighted why doesn't he enter the race anyway - for no appearance $$ - and prove JH wrong? Of course he won't because he's old and he can give out any moment now. The guy is 36 years old. Why the hell would anyone want to invest 100k or more on a guy who is old and has a checkered injury history?

It's business buddy, nothing personal. $100k doesn't just fall out of thin air and they sure as heck won't spend it on Meb when they can spend it on a promising young talent.

I think Ryan Hall should show some leadership, friendship, competitiveness, and character.

He should lead the charge to get Meb a reasonable offer by offering up a portion of his appearance fee and encourage others & John Hancock to step up to get Meb to Boston.

It's obvious his supposed friend (Meb) is getting screwed here. Ryan is part of the reason there is not enough money available. Racism could also be a factor is no offer being made to Meb. That is unChristian. It's a bad situation.

Also, if Ryan is able to pull off the victory, it would be more meaningful if some of the best American competition was there too.

Ryan needs to ask himself: "WWJD?" Step up to the plate Ryan - this is your chance to make a positive impact!! Help your friend get to Boston!

big gap wrote:

I think Ryan Hall should show some leadership, friendship, competitiveness, and character.

He should lead the charge to get Meb a reasonable offer by offering up a portion of his appearance fee and encourage others & John Hancock to step up to get Meb to Boston.

It's obvious his supposed friend (Meb) is getting screwed here. Ryan is part of the reason there is not enough money available. Racism could also be a factor is no offer being made to Meb. That is unChristian. It's a bad situation.

Also, if Ryan is able to pull off the victory, it would be more meaningful if some of the best American competition was there too.

Ryan needs to ask himself: "WWJD?" Step up to the plate Ryan - this is your chance to make a positive impact!! Help your friend get to Boston!

This is an excellent proposal. So excellent, in fact, that I shared it with some people I know who are out of work. They're really looking forward to your offering up part of your salary so that your employer can hire them. Bear in mind that these people are accustomed to pretty good paydays, so you'll probably have to give up a healthy chunk of what you make. But I think you'll feel better about yourself once you've done the right thing.

Precious Roy wrote:

I love Meb, but completely understand Boston's approach. They are clearly rewarding people for running very fast and winning in 2010. Meb did neither in 2010. Plus, he has not been training hard since NY due to illness. If Boston can make hobby joggers crank out a sub 3:10 to get in, they can certainly require pros to be at their best to get an invite.

eb white wrote:

how does hall in 2010 fit within your crackpot theory?

You knew that Hall ran the fastest time for all U.S. males in Boston in 2010, right? Plus Hall doesn't come with the appearance fee baseline of an Olympic medalist and NYCM winner.

smd wrote:

This is an excellent proposal. So excellent, in fact, that I shared it with some people I know who are out of work. They're really looking forward to your offering up part of your salary so that your employer can hire them. Bear in mind that these people are accustomed to pretty good paydays, so you'll probably have to give up a healthy chunk of what you make. But I think you'll feel better about yourself once you've done the right thing.

Thanks for the props, dipsh*t. Funny you use this as a rebuttal, because I we recently did make a similar arrangement where I work to keep two good performers in our department from being let go.

It actually didn't take much, just a willingness to propose the idea, show that it was important, and then a willingness to explore the different options.

And, I'm not even Christian! And, racism wasn't potentially involved. I say again - W.W.J.D.!!!

Truth Sayer wrote:

If Meb feels slighted why doesn't he enter the race anyway - for no appearance $$ - and prove JH wrong?

And damage his negotiating leverage for the rest of his career? I don't think that JH is necessarily wrong, but some of the logic being applied here is just astoundingly moronic.

smd wrote:

This is an excellent proposal. So excellent, in fact, that I shared it with some people I know who are out of work. They're really looking forward to your offering up part of your salary so that your employer can hire them. Bear in mind that these people are accustomed to pretty good paydays, so you'll probably have to give up a healthy chunk of what you make. But I think you'll feel better about yourself once you've done the right thing.

big gap wrote:

Thanks for the props, dipsh*t. Funny you use this as a rebuttal, because I we recently did make a similar arrangement where I work to keep two good performers in our department from being let go.

Unless your two "good performers" both slipped in performance in their areas of specialty in 2010 then smd is right. Hall and Meb have different agents and vastly different negotiating positions. Further, Hall would only insult Meb with trying a charity play like that. Meb is a man, he doesn't need the help of Hall or any other colleague to get into any race.

hardset nipples wrote:

Unless your two "good performers" both slipped in performance in their areas of specialty in 2010 then smd is right...

So, since that is exactly what happened with our two good perfomers, you're agreeing that I'm right. Thanks. Much appreciated.

Why do you think that Meb and Ryan are friends? Ryan NEVER trained with Meb during his time in Mammoth.

Did you ever think that perhaps Ryan's agent negotiated not having another top American in the field? It happens all the time.

Just maybe Ryan is part of the reason that Meb never received an offer. Meb claims that he was in conversation up until about the time that Ryan left Mammoth.

history lesson wrote:

Why do you think that Meb and Ryan are friends? Ryan NEVER trained with Meb during his time in Mammoth.

They say they are friends. They've both tweeted about having dinner at the other one's house. The video of Hall's send-off party before Beijing included Meb.

As far as them training together, they've never had the same coach and Hall prefers to train alone. But it's not true to say they've NEVER trained together. I've seen a video of them on a run together. Also, the Mammoth crew typically meets before workouts, so even though they might not have run together very much, they were likely around each other a lot before hall left the Mammoth Track club.

So it seems there's a lot of evidence that they were friends.

You sure about that?

From the article:

"Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi are neighbors. They live less than a quarter mile apart in the town of Mammoth Lakes, Calif... Occasionally, they train together on the pine-lined mountain trails."

"Often, they and their families share dinner at each other's homes. Hall's wife, Sara, babysits Keflezighi's three daughters.

Hall and Keflezighi are good friends, though they could be fierce rivals."

"'My dream is it will come down to Meb and I -- that would be a win-win scenario,'' Hall said. ``We can have a classic duel in the sun. Me and Meb -- that would be pretty sweet.'"

"so their workout schedules don't always mesh. But when they do run together, they feed off a feeling of cooperation."

"'Meb and I have one of those rare relationships where we can work together really well, and it's not like that with everybody,'' Hall said. ``Some guys you can tell are trying to drop you, and you feel that competitiveness. With Meb, there's peace. He knows I'm not trying to drop him, and he's not trying to drop me. We're trying to push each other along. We really, truly want the best for each other.'"

"Hall said Keflezighi is ``like an older brother'' who has given him advice and encouragement during a career full of promise."

"``I have so many memories of racing with Meb,'' Hall said. ``One time, at the Jacksonville 15K, I started to drop off, not feeling so good halfway through, and Meb looked back and yelled at me, `Come on, Ryan, let's go.'"

You sir, are wrong.

Hadn't considered that. That would be unfortunate if that's the case. However, considering you lost your credibility in the first part of your post, I have doubts about your "expertise" in this matter.

hardset nipples wrote:

Unless your two "good performers" both slipped in performance in their areas of specialty in 2010 then smd is right...

big gap wrote:

So, since that is exactly what happened with our two good perfomers, you're agreeing that I'm right. Thanks. Much appreciated.

Then your employer is a fool, with all due respect, and what those "good performers" received was charity for being dead weight.

Or it could be that your employer realized that it could not attract better talent. Which is certainly not the case with JH/BAA.

Rojo contacted the BAA who contacted John Hancock. Here is their response.

As a matter of company policy, we do not comment on athlete negotiations.

Thanks very much.

Best regards

Brian Carmichael

Director, Corporate Communications

John Hancock Financial Services

I guess we can interpret that to mean that Meb is telling it like it is...what a shame. Things don't look so good for Boston.

history lesson wrote:

Why do you think that Meb and Ryan are friends? Ryan NEVER trained with Meb during his time in Mammoth.

In case you need the friendship part spelled out:

"Before leaving for Boston earlier this week the 34-year-old Keflezighi said, "I respect Ryan, we’re good friends and I wish him nothing but the best. I hope one of us does come first.”

Source:

Spend some time in Mammoth and you will know what I am talking about.

Meb's "media" response is not the same as reality.

Meb is no fool, he says that he is friends with everyone. He is a good guy.

Although I see the sense in Ryan helping out a friend and scoring some brownie points with the media (like he needs it) by sharing his entrance fee, I'd rather see Meb's sponsors just give him a few grand more to make it worth his time. He shouldn't have to get money from a peer; he's a professional and there should be alternative ways to make it worth his time.

douglas burke wrote:

so antonio vega gets an elite invite to the boston marathon and meb does not, how is that justified? i would bet even vega would admit he does not have close to the credentials meb does.

mike shelly, michael aish, eric gillis are a few of the invited runners to london, but meb does not get invited?

what about rotterdam? or paris? i would think the race directors at those races would like americas top marathoner the last 2 years, why did they not invite him?

i may be looking at this as far more sinister than it is due to my admitted ignorance of the business end of the sport, but it seems meb is being blackballed from races.

There is a big difference between the invite that Michael Aish and Antonio Vega get and the invite Meb gets.

Meb isn't being blackballed. He is just having to face the reality that marathons are becoming dominated by superfast young East Africans. Meb won NY against an aging group of past champions, and may not have won at all had Kwambai not dropped out at mi 24 (seriously, Kwambai has a PR that is minutes ahead of Meb's). Paris, London and Rotterdam will all require a 2:05-2:06 to win (in good conditions), if not be in the top 3. Meb has never come close, and there are plenty of E. Africans who have, and have done so very recently. Why would elite directors offer Meb a ton of cash to finish 3-4 minutes behind the leaders?

Meb could race wherever he wants to, but cannot expect to get the same red carpet that people with recent races in the 2:05-2:07 range get.

Did you ever think that perhaps Ryan's agent negotiated not having another top American in the field? It happens all the time.

This makes sense to me. Since American runners almost never win big marathons, their fallback position and claim to fame is being the first American finisher. All the American media attention is on the first American finisher. It would make total sense for Hall's agent to make that a provision since it would assure Hall's fallback position. Obviously, if Meb or any other top American were in the field it would endanger Hall's fallback position. He could lose the race, which is likely, AND not be top American.