Great post about USATF Interim-CEO's response letter

T&F, XC, RR, Ultra, Youth, Masters, Club is bigger than ever. USA T&F has the #1 team in the world. The only thing that is dying is your lying propaganda.

Who are you, Jon Drummond?

The USA is in danger of not medaling in the men's sprints (100m-400m) this year. Ironically, there is great hope of more medals in the 5,000 & 10,000 than ever before.

The current USATF as leader is becoming as limp an argument as our government becoming socialist and being expected to provide for us. The ONLY reason this sport is still not dead in the US, is due to the PRIVATE sector like the Competitor group, the NYRRC, the Boston Marathon and LaSalle marathons pushing further than expected. There are agents doing a better job at promoting the sport than the governing body.

The distances between the elite and the masses is as far as it will ever be. THIS COMES IN A SPORT THAT CAN BOAST WHERE MASSES AND ELITES CAN COMPETE IN THE SAME EVENT!!!

The sky is falling! The sky is falling AND the emporer has no clothes.

Reading the other flotrack comments it looks like the 800m guys weren't the only ones getting screwed...

"Scott Barnas- This happened to me this year. I was number 20 in the men's shot put and they did not "scratch" me from the meet till the night before the championships already started and I was in Eugene. I mean come on...... In what major championships do they only take 19 throwers. I mean I know I was not a favorite of making a team or anything, but if I want to become a better athlete, the championships are the only place I can compete against those who are at my level or better. The NCAA championships have 24 athletes every year and it is not like the throwers are taking up time on the track or anything. The worst part is that I was only 10 cm from the athlete who ahead of me and the were only 22 athletes that entered for the meet which is more than what the NCAA takes for their championships"

jack off. T&F is better than ever in the USA. Don't trash T&F just because you can't get entrants like Penn or Mt Sac. There's never been a better year than 2011.

What's a helicopter soccer mom?

If you can't pack em in like Stanford Invite XC, Stanford Invite T&F, NYM, Penn Relays, Bolder Boulder, CHIM, BOSM, Mt Sac, Texas Relays, PF Changs, Peach Tree, Carlsbad, ... then don't trash our sport. You don't know how to run a race/meet. That's your problem, and not the sport's problem.

What exactly makes McNess qualified to be the head of anything, exactly? And who do you have to know/blow to get in those positions?

you have a provisional

you know it's a crapshoot if you're in or out

you decide if you want to spend the time and money and roll the dice

you present your self to the clerk or seeding comittee before the event

clerk lists the presented provisionals by seed time or measurement

if a lane is open or there is space in the flight the provisional with the shortest time or farthest or highest mark get in

2 lanes open

2 get in

roll the dice go to the meet and have a shred of hope, or chose not to spend the time and effort.

You are a B guy you are going to go on your dime one way or the other, this way you decide how to spene your dime.

Oh you have a B and presented to seeding/clerk but don't get im, USATF gives you a seat in the athletes section- a thanks for playing reward.

YOU BELIEVE in yourself or ... wrote:

if a lane is open or there is space in the flight the provisional with the shortest time or farthest or highest mark get in

2 lanes open

2 get in

roll the dice go to the meet and have a shred of hope, or chose not to spend the time and effort.

That would be fine if that was how it actually worked. There would be no problem with a pre-announced field size and everybody would know where they stood. Instead it all seems very capricious and arbitrary as there is no set field size and all provisions seem to be let in or kept out on a whim, personal vendetta, sponsor ties, or who knows what criteria. Races get run w/ lanes open while in other events it seems they reach deep into the provisionals to get favored athletes in. No reason they can't declare a field size for the shot put a month before the trials. Then the B guys can make an informed decision.

This tells a bit about his experience.

And some race results -

http://www.athlinks.com/myresults.aspx?rid=27444037

Info on college stuff:

Currently an active masters athlete, McNees was a three-time varsity letterman for the Indiana University track team and has an MBA from Louisiana Tech University. Specializing in the 400m hurdles, he earned all-conference honors and was a Big Ten team champion as well as a member of IU's school and Big Ten meet record-setting 4x400m relay.

Every management figure at USATF is a lightweight even for a piss hole who the hell wants to live there town like Indianapolis.

From the response:

I can also say that had I been one of the athletes that traveled to Eugene and was unable to compete, I would have been sorely disappointed, regardless of whether I knew in advance that I hadn’t run the “A” standard and was therefore traveling at my own risk. Many argue that one, hard standard would be preferred, and would prevent this type of thing from happening. Many others argue that some discretion is far better than a hard, bright line, to allow for special circumstances that inevitably occur.

Classic straw-man argument.

First,no one is arguing for "one, hard standard", i.e., A or nothing. What they seek is having plain rules set out in advance, such as: All "A"s get in, the field will be X, and the next Y number of "B"s get in to fill-out the field. So, e.g., in the 800, "there will be 4 heats of 8" (or even "4 heats of 7"). Everyone can see where she stands. If there are 25 As and I'm the 5th B, I'm good. If I'm the 8th B, I might have a problem and will only get in if someone ahead of me DNS. (Which brings up the cut-off time for scratching; i.e., doing it X days before the first heat.)

Second, what "special circumstances . . . inevitably occur"? So far as I can tell, the only one we're talking about is allowing Abdi into the 10,000. And Goucher in 2008. But remember, McNees says, "These exceptions typically are granted to accomplished athletes (i.e. past national champions, national team members or medalists) who may be coming back from injury, maternity or other exceptional circumstances". So, for an athlete that jumps to the head of the line, as it were, it is based on prior accomplishments. So, taking Abdi, he gets a spot but USATF knows he has that spot well in advance. Thus instead of having 24 spots by time, there are now 23. So the 23 fastest get in. USATF had Abdi on the entrant's list with an "NT". Just give him a "he's in" asterisk.

In short, there is nothing inconsistent about having a hard rule -- all As and exempt "accomplished athletes" plus enough Bs to fill out the specified field-size.

Add in that if someone eligible scratches before the start, the next available B gets in (which addresses someone's problem with in the women's 1500 in 2008).

Finally, McNees writes, "Only for the Olympic Trials is there a prescribed 'desired' or 'minimum' field size, which is published well in advance of the Trials. There is no minimum or guaranteed field size for typical USA Championships". Why? Why does it make a difference for a World Champs year? Why if USATF can do it in years divisible by 4 can't it do it at other times? After all, he also says, "For the USA Indoor and Outdoor Championships and the Olympic Trials, a USATF committee of statisticians derives qualifying standards for each event intended to provide both for an appropriate field size and high quality competition". Did this committee come up with 27 for the 800 this year?

This suggestion should be the way it works. Plain simple straight forward.

YOU BELIEVE in yourself or ... RE: Great post about USATF Interim-CEO's response letter 7/13/2011 9:37AM -

you have a provisional

you know it's a crapshoot if you're in or out

you decide if you want to spend the time and money and roll the dice

you present your self to the clerk or seeding comittee before the event

clerk lists the presented provisionals by seed time or measurement

if a lane is open or there is space in the flight the provisional with the shortest time or farthest or highest mark get in

2 lanes open

2 get in

roll the dice go to the meet and have a shred of hope, or chose not to spend the time and effort.

You are a B guy you are going to go on your dime one way or the other, this way you decide how to spene your dime.

Oh you have a B and presented to seeding/clerk but don't get im, USATF gives you a seat in the athletes section- a thanks for playing reward.

Mr. Obvious RE: Great post about USATF Interim-CEO's response letter 7/13/2011 9:47AM - in reply to YOU BELIEVE in yourself or ...

That would be fine if that was how it actually worked. There would be no problem with a pre-announced field size and everybody would know where they stood. Instead it all seems very capricious and arbitrary as there is no set field size and all provisions seem to be let in or kept out on a whim, personal vendetta, sponsor ties, or who knows what criteria. Races get run w/ lanes open while in other events it seems they reach deep into the provisionals to get favored athletes in. No reason they can't declare a field size for the shot put a month before the trials. Then the B guys can make an informed decision.

I feel like the USATF is a dog, chasing its own tail.

McNess seems like a very average guy, incapable of doing ANYTHING special. He marginally made an impact in the private/public sector and he is barley qualified to run a youth sports rec association; let alone a governing body of an Olympic staple sport.

I'm sure he (and his proud mother) would say otherwise, of course.

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Will we see Ian Stewart emirge as a possible for the job?

Ian Stewart is Stephanie Hightower's man-bitch.

Bring in Vin!