It won't be awkward at all. These athletes are adults and professionals. If you are friends with a co-worker and they get a new job, do you hate them because they work somewhere else? If two friends play on the Yankees for years and then one takes a free agent deal with the Royals, do they become blood enemies? Of course not.
This isn't high school sports where you are supposed to hate the other guys because they wear a different uniform.
HOKA has a lot of cool people on their team but, man, I just couldn't imagine running in Hokas every day for the rest of my career.
Effete Liberal Elite wrote:
Over at the Fast Women facebook page, people are complaining that NAZ Elite is insufficiently committed to diversity and inclusion because they signed another white male runner. I'm a smug godless liberal myself, but even I can appreciate that crap like that is why some people hate liberals.
theres liberals and then there are people who want to dictate to others how to spend their money, time, who they should love, etc. just to feel good about themselves.
like trumpers they don't believe any of it they just love the adrenaline they get from fighting culture wars and feeling moral superiority
all in wrote:
pappas bun wrote:
North Carolina puma group with Cragg
What is the name of the NC Puma group?
Thanks
The Puma Rd Skins
I bet they got him so after this year he can start building HOKA's track program.
Effete Liberal Elite wrote:
Over at the Fast Women facebook page, people are complaining that NAZ Elite is insufficiently committed to diversity and inclusion because they signed another white male runner. I'm a smug godless liberal myself, but even I can appreciate that crap like that is why some people hate liberals.
That's what Facebook is for, right? Cluelessly out-of-touch complaining and griping in an echo chamber? Sounds about as bad as LRC, just with a different axe to grind.
flagv.everybody wrote:
Effete Liberal Elite wrote:
Over at the Fast Women facebook page, people are complaining that NAZ Elite is insufficiently committed to diversity and inclusion because they signed another white male runner. I'm a smug godless liberal myself, but even I can appreciate that crap like that is why some people hate liberals.
theres liberals and then there are people who want to dictate to others how to spend their money, time, who they should love, etc. just to feel good about themselves.
like trumpers they don't believe any of it they just love the adrenaline they get from fighting culture wars and feeling moral superiority
Always been how Alison Wade had come across. She's the feminista Alex Jones of running.
flagv.everybody wrote:
Effete Liberal Elite wrote:
Over at the Fast Women facebook page, people are complaining that NAZ Elite is insufficiently committed to diversity and inclusion because they signed another white male runner. I'm a smug godless liberal myself, but even I can appreciate that crap like that is why some people hate liberals.
theres liberals and then there are people who want to dictate to others how to spend their money, time, who they should love, etc. just to feel good about themselves.
like trumpers they don't believe any of it they just love the adrenaline they get from fighting culture wars and feeling moral superiority
QFE
Disgusting part when their whining actually dictates real decisions though.
Runner10287 wrote:
flagv.everybody wrote:
theres liberals and then there are people who want to dictate to others how to spend their money, time, who they should love, etc. just to feel good about themselves.
like trumpers they don't believe any of it they just love the adrenaline they get from fighting culture wars and feeling moral superiority
QFE
Disgusting part when their whining actually dictates real decisions though.
Someone had to take this here right? Labels aside, two things can be happening at the same time- 1) Hill was a good signing, the biggest name NAZ Elite has had the opportunity to sign & 2) distance running in the US is super white & non-white athletes deserve a shot with professional training groups.
I read that thread over there and thought and all sounded pretty reasonable. Nobody was saying that it was a bad signing or that they were against Hill getting paid. Folks did say that pro teams are super white. I think that's a valid criticism and something to think about if we're going to get more serious about diversity.
I like Hill. I like NAZ Elite. This signing was a good thing. I hope Hill does well there. But can the elite side of the sport do more for non-white runners? Yes. & this is a fine time to bring it up when a majority white team signs a white runner even if that runner has good credentials. Don't make this a big to-do and fire off some labels because this isn't a conversation you're looking to have.
Why does EVERY Letsrun thread now end up in politics? Can't we just talk about running?
Futsum Z., Rochelle K. .naz also took a swing at Weini Kelati
NERunner53 wrote:
Runner10287 wrote:
QFE
Disgusting part when their whining actually dictates real decisions though.
Someone had to take this here right? Labels aside, two things can be happening at the same time- 1) Hill was a good signing, the biggest name NAZ Elite has had the opportunity to sign & 2) distance running in the US is super white & non-white athletes deserve a shot with professional training groups.
I read that thread over there and thought and all sounded pretty reasonable. Nobody was saying that it was a bad signing or that they were against Hill getting paid. Folks did say that pro teams are super white. I think that's a valid criticism and something to think about if we're going to get more serious about diversity.
I like Hill. I like NAZ Elite. This signing was a good thing. I hope Hill does well there. But can the elite side of the sport do more for non-white runners? Yes. & this is a fine time to bring it up when a majority white team signs a white runner even if that runner has good credentials. Don't make this a big to-do and fire off some labels because this isn't a conversation you're looking to have.
You can't push a rope. Complaining about it at the pro levels is too little, too late. I don't see any POC high on performance lists not getting a crack at sponsored training groups in spite of their clear potential or proven ability, if they are interested in being part of that type of situation. Marielle Hall is in perhaps the best group situation that exists, Raevyn Rogers is in the other group that could claim the same, Weini Kelati took a bid from Dark Sky over one from NAZ, Aisha Praught-Leer is a charter member of Team Boss, Sally Kipyego has been with OTC Elite forever, Aliphine Tuliamuk was with NAZ for over two years before her OT win. I don't go on Facebook because I'm not a Boomer, are they mentioning specific names of POC distance athletes who are getting perpetually overlooked by these sponsored groups and white male athletes with lesser credentials are added, instead? I'm not seeing that happening but I realize I could have blind spots so I'm genuinely curious if there are overlooked POC athletes they've been championing in their discussion.
To me, the root of the issue in POC athletic development in distance running lies at the college level and even moreso before that. It's high school coaches letting POC remain slow quarter milers because their POC friends on the team are faster quarter milers rather than challenging them positively to move up to the 800m or 1600m. It's college coaches not recruiting POC to their distance squads for any number of "difficult" reasons. Blaming the landscape on the pro level is putting the cart before the horse.
As someone has already pointed out, NAZ has not avoided trying to add and develop POC athletically. Maybe you want to blame Ben Rosario for being white and male, but he's set the table for people to have success in his system and he's recruited outside the obvious, usual channels. Ben's system, whether it's his coaching style or the group's requirement for SM engagement, isn't for everyone. As many white males have flushed out of NAZ as POC and it's not due to bigotry. I'm left of center and often progressive in my views, and the views of AW often resonate as stridently feminist liberal, a single-issue dominated view that suffers from real world blind spots. I wonder, when she was coaching in college was she an activist who recruited POC athletes over white athletes for her team?
Alexi Santana wrote:
Why does EVERY Letsrun thread now end up in politics? Can't we just talk about running?
Why does any mention of anything close to politics make some so uncomfortable? Just move to the next post if it bothers you.
BTC
Two male athletes from Africa
Two male athletes with part Latin American descent
One female athlete with African American descent
Good point. The sponsors only sign black runners in the sprint groups. They should do more to support white sprinters and black distance runners. Their sponsorship should mirror the racial makeup of the general population. You probably don't really want what you are advocating because Nike sponsors just as many black runners as white runners when it should be a much larger percentage of white runners.
More details about why he made the move
Will this wash the sand out for the FW Facebookers?