polevaultpower is reporting that Dwight Phillips the new AAC may have reported to the Board that the athletes backed Hightower. Phillips may have been acting off input from just a few people not from the vote or other member caucus.
http://trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/showthread.php?144452-USATF-Bylaws-snowjob-attempt
wineturtle wrote:
polevaultpower is reporting that Dwight Phillips the new AAC may have reported to the Board that the athletes backed Hightower. Phillips may have been acting off input from just a few people not from the vote or other member caucus.
http://trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/showthread.php?144452-USATF-Bylaws-snowjob-attempt
I am not just reporting that he may have said that, I was personally in the board meeting at that time and saw and heard that with my own ears.
My conversations with other athletes and AAC leaders indicates that he did not consult with AAC leadership or AAC members as a whole before saying that.
Given the number of athletes upset about this, I think it is safe to say he was not representing all of AAC when he said that.
Sorry, Thanks for the correction.
How does this even happen? What recourse do we have?
Badnews wrote:
How does this even happen? What recourse do we have?
I'm sure we'll hear the once it's voted on it is impossible to change it.
wejo wrote:
What the hell are you talking about? We pride ourselves on being "the conscience of the sport". We harped on the USATF indoor fiasco all winter, we exposed Mark Bloch at the Nike VIP booth at the Olympic Trials, I asked Carmelita Jeter about her association with Bloch at the Olympics.
jscranton email me at
wejo@letsrun.com.
agip wrote:
I have no idea and am a complete outsider, but sometimes leadership has to make tough decisions for the betterment of the organization. Popular people get fired all the time. Doesn't necessarily mean the person doing the firing is corrupt - maybe the person doing the firing is taking an unpopular stand for the betterment of the organization.
That does happen but when it is done it is explained to people why it happened. Here there is no explanation.
It sounds to me the cynical view is Stephanie's term as President is up soon (when exactly?) and this is a way to keep her involved.
Exactly to my point , lots of noise about situations , no noise about the leadership of the sport. I would hope your conscience would allow you to direct your journalistic investigative abilities to chase a true travesty with this absurd vote. When a board has absolute finality over the popular vote of the body of voters you have a problem. You could compare this to the recent protests in Honk Kong , the masses want to have a open honest free election of candidates ,not the Chinese government proposed candidates. What just happened at USATF is like the communist party saying you can have your vote , you can elect your candidate but in the end we will put into place who we want. The USATF has told all that vote your vote does not count.
That average USATF delegate has to spend $1000 of her own money to attend the convention. The board members who voted to overturn the delegate's vote were living large on the memberships money. Probably each of them got $3000 of YOUR money to slap YOU in the face.
The USATF is in worse condition than ever.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/162889787132224/permalink/744559048965292/
wejo wrote:
What the hell are you talking about? We pride ourselves on being "the conscience of the sport". We harped on the USATF indoor fiasco all winter, we exposed Mark Bloch at the Nike VIP booth at the Olympic Trials, I asked Carmelita Jeter about her association with Bloch at the Olympics.
jscranton email me at
wejo@letsrun.com.
agip wrote:
I have no idea and am a complete outsider, but sometimes leadership has to make tough decisions for the betterment of the organization. Popular people get fired all the time. Doesn't necessarily mean the person doing the firing is corrupt - maybe the person doing the firing is taking an unpopular stand for the betterment of the organization.
That does happen but when it is done it is explained to people why it happened. Here there is no explanation.
It sounds to me the cynical view is Stephanie's term as President is up soon (when exactly?) and this is a way to keep her involved.
I'd disagree that when leadership thinks a change is needed they will tell exactly what is going on. The opposite actually. The leadership doesn't typically criticize the fired person - they will thank him for service etc.. Leadership doesn't want to appear to be jerks. The guy who was just fired from secretary of defense- the White House didn't say what was happening.
And someone from usatf did say they need a "new" person. That's your explanation.
RE: "Bet on Black". That's bullshit. I'm Black and I would vote Bob in a heartbeat over Stephanie. And I can promise you that most black athletes and officials would vote for Bob over Stephanie. This is not a black-white thing. And to besides the board is more white than black. This is about more than black and white. It's about abuse of power. We the people in the sport cannot stand for this. There has to be a huge outcry on this to stop this type of nonsense.
Maybe it's time for the athletes to try and form a breakaway association outside of the union that they already have. Having a competing league attracting the top stars would force the USATF to change, unless the executives are even dumber than I think.
American whites are not productive in the
sport,why should they hold any position of
power.
wuzthere wrote:
RE: "Bet on Black". That's bullshit. I'm Black and I would vote Bob in a heartbeat over Stephanie. And I can promise you that most black athletes and officials would vote for Bob over Stephanie. This is not a black-white thing. And to besides the board is more white than black. This is about more than black and white. It's about abuse of power. We the people in the sport cannot stand for this. There has to be a huge outcry on this to stop this type of nonsense.
I have no idea whether race played a part. But looking at the board, it looks majority black, both voting members only, and total.
http://www.usatf.org/About/Committees/Board-of-Directors.aspxNo idea on Sam Berkeley.
Schwartzehonky wrote:
American whites are not productive in the
sport,why should they hold any position of
power.
hey lpd
Simple fix: strike. No one show up for nationals or Olympic trials. No athletes, no coaches, no fans. Picket outside the track. Make your voice heard.
NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL lose millions not playing when on strike. Sad truth is track athletes don't have the guts to make it work.
Track and Field Athletes are Sheep.
They could not organize anything last year when there was no WC or Olympics. Lots of talk but when push comes to shove the sheep will show up. USATF knows this and can do whatever they want.
At least Stephanie Hightower has done something for our sport. She and Max Seagull has helped Rafer Johnson, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant in L.A. to virtually lock down with the IOC the Summer Olympic Games in 2024. What has Bob Hersh done but lose the IAAF WC to Doha for us?
People are not upset over the Hightower vs Hersh decision. People are upset that the BOD doesn't care what membership wants. That is the ONLY discussion point.
missing the point wrote:
People are not upset over the Hightower vs Hersh decision. People are upset that the BOD doesn't care what membership wants. That is the ONLY discussion point.
No, they're upset about both. Hightower and Hersh are complete opposites, Hightower being unprofessional, while Hersh is intelligent, well-spoken, and diplomatic.
Nope. I have talked with many that find the BOD ridiculous in their actions that don't even know any of the players.
Only accomplishments matter wrote:
At least Stephanie Hightower has done something for our sport. She and Max Seagull has helped Rafer Johnson, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant in L.A. to virtually lock down with the IOC the Summer Olympic Games in 2024. What has Bob Hersh done but lose the IAAF WC to Doha for us?
Bob Hersh had the balls to stand up to Nike and the National Office in 2011 when they were trying to screw everyone over regarding logos on uniforms, and tell all of the athletes, in a VERY public meeting, that the IAAF was NOT asking USATF to enforce IAAF rules at USATF Championships, which directly contradicted a lie that had been going around for the previous year, a lie that was being spread by USATF staffers and volunteers.
Maybe that's why he lost this election, the first one to happen for his seat since then. Bob puts the interests of the athletes and of the sport before the interests of Nike.