HUGE INJUSTICE at USA's

polevaultpower wrote:

wineturtle wrote:

Jill Geer may be the only person at USATF that gives a damn.

Most of the paid staff who work full-time out of the national office in Indy are hard-working and great people. John Chaplin does not fall in that category.

I agree, pardeon a bit of hyperbole, there are many good folks involved. No insult intended.

Before the first 3 heats of the 800, one guy at a time should jump onto the track and lay there in protest.

Track and USATF sucks. They are ruining the sport. How do we have such unqualified people there?

I dealt with Chaplin at WSU in the late 80's, doesn't seem like time has mellowed him.

wineturtle wrote:

polevaultpower wrote:

Most of the paid staff who work full-time out of the national office in Indy are hard-working and great people. John Chaplin does not fall in that category.

I agree, pardeon a bit of hyperbole, there are many good folks involved. No insult intended.

This is a serious question from a hobby jogger who never competed at a high level.

Ever since Rono was at WSU, I've heard and read nothing but unfavorable things about Chaplin. He seems like a petty dictator and a complete asshole. Why, in 35 years, has nothing been done to get rid of him or diminish his power. A palace coup, mass protests, a boycott -- I don't know, something, anything. Why should three generations of athletes live in fear of the arbitrary whims of this guy?

This is not a 'mistake'. USATF pulls this shit every year. How the hell is it allowed to continue? Who is happy with the job USATF is doing? Can we please overthrow them? Putting up with this crap every year is insanity.

As for the field sizes why on earth would you wait until the day of the race to announce who is in the race?! Our athletes have to pay to travel out there without knowing! It is asinine. It makes no sense to me why you would wait so late to organize the field. They need to change the dates for making the fields.

USATF is not paying for these B qualifiers to be there, so how hard is it to put them in the race if they are already in Eugene, ESPECIALLY when the field is not full!! How is this promoting our sport?

ATHLETES AND COACHES LETS PLEASE BAND TOGETHER AND GET RID OF USATF.

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

This is a serious question from a hobby jogger who never competed at a high level.

Ever since Rono was at WSU, I've heard and read nothing but unfavorable things about Chaplin. He seems like a petty dictator and a complete asshole. Why, in 35 years, has nothing been done to get rid of him or diminish his power. A palace coup, mass protests, a boycott -- I don't know, something, anything. Why should three generations of athletes live in fear of the arbitrary whims of this guy?

It's not one guy. It's a cabal. There are some really decent people in the trenches but the higher echelons are corrupt to the core. Everyone talks about how bad AAU was but what they don't tell you is that when USATF was formed to replace AAU, they kept the same people up top. In order to move up in the organization, you have to become one of them. The best position a decent person will get is LDR chair or something like that. It's the exact same organization that screwed Glenn Cunningham. It's way more than three generations.

I'm afraid this issue seems all too familiar. I think most people are aware of what happened in 2008. But, as a fellow competitor in those Trials, I was disheartened by the lack of consistency. That's the biggest thing. You never know what the USATF will do because they are consistently inconsistent. I actually was so bothered about it I tried emailing Doug Logan. But, nothing will ever change until there's a separation of powers and duties. I mean seriously, how does a professional organization allow executive decisions to be made by 1 individual, for an odd number no less? Harsh reality: Maybe that's because the USATF is not professional, and has no intention of being professional.

I don't think I really believe that the USATF doesn't want to be professional. Believe me, there are a ton of upstanding, honorable people that VOLUNTEER their time to help that organization. But, unfortunately, the momentary decisions of some bring way more notoriety to the organization, than thousands of volunteered hours elsewhere.

Everything about this seems like deja vu. Because it happens every stinking year. Here are the mottos of the NFL and NBA:

NFL: Anything can happen on any given Sunday.

NBA: Where amazing happens.

Now, the concept appears to be that on any given day, an upset can happen. And many times it does. But, it appears to me that USATF is hurting itself by not celebrating these more. The fact that Christian Smith made the Olympic Team as the 30th qualifier should have been celebrated to the nth degree. Because that's what will get the average population to take notice. Nobody's going to tune in to watch the same individuals win everything. Let's face it, if you know the outcome before the race, then where's the drama? But I digress...

The point is, without allowing these individuals into the meet, you remove all chances of a "Christian Smith event" to happen. And thus, you remove any drama from the race. Now, I for one am expecting a lot of drama this weekend. But, then again, I have an active interest in the sport, and would consider myself knowledgeable. The average guy off the street however, will watch cars go around in circles (Nascar), horses go around in circles, and fatties playing cards. You'd be crazy to think that the audience doesn't exist for Track and Field. You just have to connect with them.

And this is clearly not the way to do that...

"At the AAU race, officials threatened to arrest spectators."

In case you don't know the legacy of Bill Roe and Olan Cassell and the rest of the henchmen. This is just one article from one season and the above one highlight from our organization. I could find thousands of pages of these in the last 50 years.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1094375/index.htm

The op's name is bison, I'm guessing he is Eric Strohl who runs for NDSU. This is awful I can't imagine what they are feeling right now. Cut USATF off at the knee boycott membership, events, etc. Get big name runners involved (like a pre back in the aau days)and see how the crumble!!!

Wejo,

Can you make as big of deal of this as possible? For better or worse, you wield one of the biggest sticks in this sport (even if it is a poorly edited one). It hurts to think about what kind of screw is going to happen next year.

CantChangeIt wrote:

All of the coaches and athletes involved have basically gotten a big "F you" from USATF ...

Maybe they should change their name to the Federation of United States Track. That way everyone would know that the FU was up front.

I would encourage everyone to get involved with your local association. People always bitch about not being able to vote at the Annual Meeting because they can't afford to get there, but many do not realize that only delegates from each association get to vote.

Find out who the open chair is for your association. Lobby them to make a stink about it at the annual meeting in December. Give everyone at USATF High Performance a piece of your mind as well.

It's the same BS every year because it's always the same people running the show :/

Randy Oldman wrote:

pre-Fontaine wrote:

So they are more pre-Springsteens then?

I think he means these are post-Madonna.

Good God do people ever read anymore. It takes more effort to type pre-Madonna, then primadonna. I bet he heard his coach call someone that once. I can't believe that is for real and that guy probably got into college somewhere without ever reading a single book of over 150 pages his entire life.

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?

You mean Cher. "These people are not Cher. "

Here's some wonderful stuff from the 2008 Olympic Trials...

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=13776&PageNum=1

And here is the thread about the 1996 Trials royal f*** up that sparked the RT article you're linking.

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

These guys need to hire a lawyer, add up every penny they spent in training, lost wages, travel, meals, lodging... and file suit. For all the BS law suits in this country, this is one that needs to be made. suing USATF = Blood from a Stone? perhaps, but at the very least, hold someone accountable. I would be livid if someone messed with my career like that. Don't feel bad doing it. Sue big, work your ass off with the money and make the final next year.

USATF is a joke wrote:

The USATF always seems to do this. Why can't they just be consistent? The sheer number of illegitimate rulings done by USATF is appaling. But, it's been going on for years.

As ridiculous as this sounds, I honestly think the athletes need to form some sort of union. Kind of like other pro sports. I realize that there's hardly any money involved, and so it doesn't make financial sense, but geez. This happens every year. And every year after that. Continuing to do the same actions, and expecting different results, is just plain stupid. They need to mix it up!

According to the 1997 article linked Shannon Butler sued USATF and specifically named John Chaplin in 1996. He won the lawsuit but it had zero effect on USATF. They are still pulling their shenanigans and John Chaplin is still calling the shots. A lawsuit is useless, apparently.

Mark Misch wrote:

I also believe if an athlete declares and then doesn't show up on the starting line then they should be fined for not competing barring injury because they just shafted another athlete that could've competed and in a way that's just being selfish and unsportsmanlike. I understand people have differing opinions on that and that's okay.

My opinion is that its OK to enter multiple races and not run them all. However, what Solinsky pulled today was BS. There is no reason to DNS in your first race. I think the solution is that any DNS prevents you from running any race that starts after that DNS. You are allowed to complete events that you already started (for example you ran round 1 of the 1500, then drop the 5k, then run the 1500 final), but you may not start a new event.

I liked Solinsky but now I really hope that Rupp takes his spot on the 5k team at worlds. That would be true justice.