Given his past, you certainly can't say the following is an unbiased take. And he didn't even wait for the 2nd and 3rd days of action to take place, but it's rare to see this much venom in public. It's clear he still hates MJ for asking for so much money as an athlete. The guy doesn't even work in track anymore but he came out with spears:
It took just one competition day for the much-hyped Grand Slam Track series to prove it’s not the future of track and field – it’s a flop. In fact, “Grand Flop Track” might be a more accurate name.
Given his past, you certainly can't say the following is an unbiased take. And he didn't even wait for the 2nd and 3rd days of action to take place, but it's rare to see this much venom in public. It's clear he still hates MJ for asking for so much money as an athlete. The guy doesn't even work in track anymore but he came out with spears:
Even a doping accusation tossed in there for good measure unless I'm misinterpreting that - "That performance raised more doubts in me than any other – before or since – about the integrity of our sport. And I wasn’t alone." Maybe he also saw MJ walk into doping control with Istvan Gyulai and out 40 seconds later, haha.
Yeah definitely some personal vendetta going on there and while he's entitled to his opinion it actually uncovers/raises some important narratives.
Grand Slam track needs to be in Europe and I mean at least 2 of the 4 meets. Primarily for getting athletes (because almost no European based athlete is interested in coming to the US for 6, maybe 7 days to run a dual meet super early season) and for timing (right now GST has been forced to fit in with the DL and main Euro schedule which dominates June, July, August).
But Magyar won't be and isn't alone in his dislike of Johnson, especially within the old guard/mafia of European track and field, and these guys don't have short memories. Johnson was a notoriously demanding athlete and while his ability and stature could warrant that it's the question of command v demand. Johnson did a lot of demanding and that typically doesn't make you well liked. And now he needs help. And even if he humbled himself enough to ask for it, it's doubtful it's coming because people don't tend to help people they don't like. I was told the DL had tried to reach out to Johnson after the first announcement of GST to figure out how they could best coexist and he just ignored them. So they kept him out of Europe and without that, well, we all saw what happened in Kingston and if he thinks getting 3500 people into a 5000 seat stadium in Miramar Florida is going to move the needle then good luck to him.
That text message group of old guard Euro track guys must have been a riot last weekend.
Fired and missed. GST is not perfect, but Kingston was better and more interesting than the second-tier DL meets, and is a better attempt at expanding the reach of track than goofing around with long jump rules, etc. The DL has been unable to generate much interest in the US outside of Pre, so it should be glad to see someone trying to build the audience for track in the US with a more US-centric event.
Given his past, you certainly can't say the following is an unbiased take. And he didn't even wait for the 2nd and 3rd days of action to take place, but it's rare to see this much venom in public. It's clear he still hates MJ for asking for so much money as an athlete. The guy doesn't even work in track anymore but he came out with spears:
Even a doping accusation tossed in there for good measure unless I'm misinterpreting that - "That performance raised more doubts in me than any other – before or since – about the integrity of our sport. And I wasn’t alone." Maybe he also saw MJ walk into doping control with Istvan Gyulai and out 40 seconds later, haha.
"After Johnson’s run, I left the stands, threw up behind the grandstand..." Seriously? He THREW UP?? Whether MJ was doping or not, that makes Magyar sound like a hysterical drama queen.
If you love the sport and genuinely want to see it grow, you don’t put out a hit piece like this. You shut your f’ing mouth in public and have these discussions in private or through back channels. It’s almost as if he thinks Johnson doesn’t know “his place.” Yeah take that how you want.
"After Johnson’s run, I left the stands, threw up behind the grandstand..." Seriously? He THREW UP?? Whether MJ was doping or not, that makes Magyar sound like a hysterical drama queen.
Yeah I laughed at that. "Things that didn't happen for $500 Alex". But it just shows how much a guy like that really doesn't like Michael Johnson. Dramatic or not that's not a good thing because Magyar can also be a twit, but he's a twit that had and I'm sure still does have some considerable clout in the sport.
If you love the sport and genuinely want to see it grow, you don’t put out a hit piece like this. You shut your f’ing mouth in public and have these discussions in private or through back channels. It’s almost as if he thinks Johnson doesn’t know “his place.” Yeah take that how you want.
Agreed. Additionally, LinkedIn is such an odd platform for publishing that. People are supposed to be professional on LinkedIn, and his hit piece was far from it. I wouldn't want to work in any capacity with someone who posts something like that on LinkedIn.
Agreed. Additionally, LinkedIn is such an odd platform for publishing that. People are supposed to be professional on LinkedIn, and his hit piece was far from it. I wouldn't want to work in any capacity with someone who posts something like that on LinkedIn.
I had to look at it 2 or 3 times to accept that Linkedin was the platform. Very strange setting.
It looks like this guy had the longstanding hatred of Michael Johnson and Grand Slam Track provided the excuse to write it. I doubt he would have done it if he thought there was any change he could get back into the industry. A desire to get back is the reason he withheld until now.
My cynicism is that I don't think Michael Johnson really cares if Grand Slam Track succeeds or fails. Not long term. I'm convinced he's been miffed that his name and accomplishments aren't mentioned more frequently, during telecasts or recounts of the sport. With this venture his name is attached to almost every reference to Grand Slam Track.
He must be worried. If he wasn't he would not have said anything and just let it quietly die. The only reason to publicly call it a flop is if you're actually worried about.
Given his past, you certainly can't say the following is an unbiased take. And he didn't even wait for the 2nd and 3rd days of action to take place, but it's rare to see this much venom in public. It's clear he still hates MJ for asking for so much money as an athlete. The guy doesn't even work in track anymore but he came out with spears:
My cynicism is that I don't think Michael Johnson really cares if Grand Slam Track succeeds or fails. Not long term. I'm convinced he's been miffed that his name and accomplishments aren't mentioned more frequently, during telecasts or recounts of the sport. With this venture his name is attached to almost every reference to Grand Slam Track.
And here's the thing, if it does become a thing or it runs of out cash and goes down the route of the XFL, Johnson wins anyway. As you said he's become extremely relevant again and I'm sure he isn't the founder and CEO of this venture for charity - he's getting paid. And at least 4 times this year he's staying in a 5 star hotel for a week eating and drinking like a king in pretty sweet locations (sans Philly. Sorry Philly).
Given his past, you certainly can't say the following is an unbiased take. And he didn't even wait for the 2nd and 3rd days of action to take place, but it's rare to see this much venom in public. It's clear he still hates MJ for asking for so much money as an athlete. The guy doesn't even work in track anymore but he came out with spears:
"Now, I understand that as the founder of the Diamond League and former meeting director of Weltklasse Zürich – still the sport’s most prestigious meet – I might be accused of bias."
People probably accuse him of bias because he does things like write hit pieces against a track legend over 3 decade old dirty laundry. Thank goodness he's out of the sport. Must have been a nightmare to deal with. I hope MJ bleeds him even drier than he did as an athlete.
Given his past, you certainly can't say the following is an unbiased take. And he didn't even wait for the 2nd and 3rd days of action to take place, but it's rare to see this much venom in public. It's clear he still hates MJ for asking for so much money as an athlete. The guy doesn't even work in track anymore but he came out with spears:
I was told the DL had tried to reach out to Johnson after the first announcement of GST to figure out how they could best coexist and he just ignored them.
MJ started GST because he was sick of the old guard and the status quo, so he decided to force his way into the scene. Whether or not thats gonna end up working is to be seen.
