HUGE INJUSTICE at USA's

Apparently John Chaplin and USATF have been sued for this before. This sport is a complete joke.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2557843&page=0

This happens every year. Seriously.

USATF is a bunch of screw-ups, John Chaplin is an ass.

After a while, you come to expect this type of nonsense from this bunch of f'ing amateurs. Just another way in which our sport is holding itself back.

I know someone wrote:

I think I know one of the athletes. It could possibly be Erik Sowinski from Iowa. A couple days ago his facebook post was "Not happy with USATF..." or something like that. He has made the qualifying times too I think.

The athletes that are talked about in the OPS post are Eric Sowinkski, Brian Gagnon, and Eric Stroh.

You have to agree that the USATF Ice Cream Social will go a long way to make these athletes feel better about not running a stupid World Championship qualifying race...and they get 10% off the price of admission to the stands with their USATF card, so they can see the really fast guys who run for Nike show how it is done.

It's actually a great deal for them.

Steffie.

unnecessary wrote:

They should absolutely honor their word and allow people to run if they have agreed to it. However, I'm not sure why the heck they need 30 entrants to begin with. The field needs to be large enough to ensure that everyone with a legitimate chance of finishing in the top three is included. Do we really need to let 30 people in to accomplish this?

I think it's been said twice now that Christian Smith was a #30 seed in 2008.

So, think about your closing question again.

After you've thought about it, think about what's the decent thing to do as a human being under these circumstances.

Sorry, the last statement was unnecessary, you already allowed that they should follow their word (and, presumably, the implications of their word as well).

unnecessary wrote:

They should absolutely honor their word and allow people to run if they have agreed to it. However, I'm not sure why the heck they need 30 entrants to begin with. The field needs to be large enough to ensure that everyone with a legitimate chance of finishing in the top three is included. Do we really need to let 30 people in to accomplish this?

Perhaps you should check previous posts about the last OT to answer your own question.

Also, USATF nats serve other purposes. As a qualifier for World's, we want to simulate as closely as possible World's rounds. if our guys can't run in traffic, we should find it out now instead of after their 1:50 for last in their heat because they couldn't navigate.

Finally, what if one of these guys getting bumped has a 1:44 in him next year. Giving him the experience in heats now will be a benefit to him and the overall strength of our team next year.

Most importantly, however, is not discouraging young runners away from this sport altogether. We fight for athletes with other sports and every time something like this happens, young runners have one less reason to commit to track.

post-Madonna wrote:

A prima donna is literally the "first lady" of an opera. These singers were typically very pretentious and made tons of demands to opera houses.

A pre-Madonna is somebody who precedes Madonna?

One of the funniest spelling errors ever on letsrun, and there's been plenty on here.

unnecessary wrote:

They should absolutely honor their word and allow people to run if they have agreed to it. However, I'm not sure why the heck they need 30 entrants to begin with. The field needs to be large enough to ensure that everyone with a legitimate chance of finishing in the top three is included. Do we really need to let 30 people in to accomplish this?

Mark Misch wrote:

PS. A little bit of history, Christian Smith made the 2008 Olympic Team in the 800m. He only got in the field as the 30th man because Alan Webb scratched. Imagine that.

Apparently we do.

bunch of f'ing amateurs dude wrote:

USATF is a bunch of screw-ups, John Chaplin is an ass.

If was granted dictatorial powers over the USATF, the first thing I'd do would be to dismiss Chaplin. I realize the problems of the USATF go far beyond Chaplin, but it would be such a no-brainer, I'd start there.

If ANYONE files a lawsuit, we are deffo cancelling the USATF ice-cream social. You have been warned.

Steffie.

I sure hope Coach Sam Bell doesn't read this thread and decide to take action.

while I am too lazy to do so myself right now, anyone who would like to post and email of a responsible party...Id imagine we could effectively flood their inbox

Via a google search:

John Chaplin (T&F Committee Chair):

, 509-332-1994

Ed Gorman (Vice Chair):

, 201-745-0244

Here's the full directory:

LET GAGNON RUN!

Maybe if Broe has a heart attack they will let Brian race out of pity. Broe can't be far off from one anyways.

Thanks for the e-mail addresses!

I sent my questions and hope everyone else e-mails your concerns as well. We have such a simple sport, there is NO REASON for this garbage!

Yet another problem with a corrupt organization leading a dying sport.

I'm telling you raod racing is where it is at and the Marathon is the crown jewel of road racing.

Road Racing is quickly growing and has more money in it than track. More sponsors are putting money in road races, and it has participant money as well.

The USATF and this type of stuff will just hasten the death of T&F in the U.S.

My runners and I are USATF members but try do have as little interaction with them as possible with them and rely on them as little as possible to avoid their crap.

Did anybody try calling him? Phone number is on there. I'm emailing and not renewing my membership unless this is corrected.

isn't it about time for jeff johnson to dig into the scads of cash he made off nike to pay for an injunction to get these athletes into the meet? - as in actually do something for the team (ITA) that he supposedly supports?????

nah, easier to just gaze at the human scenary...