Mark Block: Nike Responds

Coach f wrote:

I have found this thread to be very interesting (sic, amusing also) with the black helicopters and paranoid posters.

During the Trials, I said next to a group of VIP's, though I certainly am not one myself. On one of the days, they weren't in the regular seats because they were "scheduled" to be in the VIP tent, with a buffet and drinks. When they returned to the regular seats the next day, they said that the VIP seats had a view that was nowhere near as good as those in the covered sections near the finish line. They went on to describe how a limited number of people were allowed in the VIP tent based on the number of passes that were issued for that day. They then laughed and said that additional people had found their way up to the tent when passes were dropped down to them over the side of the tent.

I'm relating this as a probable explanation for how a guy like Block got admitted. The security people don't know Block from Adam and Eve, so I can see how he got in "informally". Enough of the conspiracy crap your guys. Why don't you try to get a real life?

ryan foreman wrote:

C'mon people. Letsrun made an admirable but failed attempt at trying to be Woodward and Bernstein here. The Oregonian is nothing but a gossip rag these days. Oregonian writer Ken Goe's blog site essentially is telling the world, 'the Oregonian has given up reporting news but here is a bunch of links to other sources that you may want to read'. Them picking up the Letsun story is nothing Letsrun should be proud of. Good advertising maybe but that is it.

I was at the Trials in the East Grandstand and got a good look at the Nike "VIP" section and saw the entrance to it. It was nothing more than what you see in the picture. A bunch of seats separated from the rest of Hayward Field seating. There was just an usher to look at tickets or passes. Obviously Nike doled out a bunch of tickets within the company for these seats and Nike employees could trade or giveaway these tickets as they saw fit. Obviously Block was likely friends with various people who got these tickets.

Not clear what it means to be banned from the sport but Letsrun doesn't show anything to suggest Block violated that ban.

Maybe if Block got his pass directly from Knight or senior executives at Nike there would be a story but Letsrun doesn't show that.

I agree with your take on the tickets or passes, but you are being too rough on Ken Goe. The Oregonian, like a lot of papers around the country are suffering economically. They are however one of the few that actually has a track and field reporter.

In short, there is nothing to see here. Move on.

ryan foreman wrote:

I clearly didn't imply anything except that you don't present a story.

Are you saying the punishment is weak? Because I don't see in the story where he is violating the ban. I may actually agree that based on what he did he should be banned from entering meets just as Pete Rose wasn't allowed to even enter a major league ball park. But he is not. Speaking of Pete Rose. He was punished but many of his former teammates and colleagues continued to speak highly of him and had friendships with him. And for good reasons. Rose had been through the battles with his teammates for many years and was a genuine positive influence. What Rose did wrong doesn't negate what he did right. Obviously there is little public knowledge about Block compared to Rose but I have no problem with Nike employees and athletes continuing to have a relationship with him if it doesn't get in the way of him serving the punishment.

What are you talking about when you say "certain people at Nike", or "important people at Nike"? Who are they and on what authority could they control who comes and goes in this "Nike VIP section". If Phil Knight or a senior executive was directly giving him a pass into this section, then yes that is in bad taste and I can see a story there.

I also don't see the importance of who sits in that section. It looked like it held a good couple hundred people. There wasn't anything all that special about it. Your story suggest that it was like a posh sky suite in football stadiums. It wasn't anything like that. Calling it a "VIP" section is a bit of an oxymorn . And your analogy of letting Madoff ring the bell of the NY stock exchange is completely off base in my view. Madoff's punishment was a life sentence in prison first of all. So just being out on the street for him would have been violating the punishment. Secondly, this is just about Block sitting in a section where only people with Nike passes could go so he could watch a track meet. Nobody is going out of their way to call attention to him.

Maybe the problem here is that I just don't give much respect in the first place to Nike's outward appearances in public and their brand image. Therefore maybe I'm blind to something that sullies that brand image. To me Nike is just a corporation that makes good (and expensive) products. To me all I see is Block wanting to see a track meet and somebody at Nike got him a pass to sit in this section which was nothing but a pretty good seat to view the meet.

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

A Duck wrote:

You haven't spent enough time with elites.

I'll give you one real life example. I ran into a bunch of elites last year at a restaurant before the Payton Jordan. I didn't recognize them by face, but could tell they were probably there for the meet. I asked them their names (Aussies) and sad "yeah, I know your names, from the track websites," one of them said (and you can apply his Australian accent here) "Not that sh*t hole Let's Run.com, then?"

I assured them I'd heard of them on TFN, Runnerspace and Flotrack as well.

Try and think about it from their side.

Wow, you've really "spent time with elites"!

Truth:

IF you recognized them by name but not face, it's way more likely these second-stringers get two words on them from LetsRun, not T&F News. That's why they come here. To see their own names.

Critical Thinking wrote:

OK Brojo's lets stay inpartial if you want to be credibale journalists. By far the most important part of Nike's statement is the first line: "Mr. Block was not an invited guest of Nike." But it is the part you leave off your front page headlines. Why? Report the story rather than sensationalize it and leave personal feelings r agenda out of it.

Maybe Nike is lieing and maybe they aren't, but unless you can prove they are or show substainial evidence that they are (which you haven't), then you need to realize as journalists that what they are saying just may be true.

Instead of going after Nike here, it may be better if you focused on Mr. Block as he is the convicted cheater and person who is banned (that is clear), work on seeing at what level he is participating in the sport when he shouldn't be. Have you found out the stipulations of his ban or talked with crediable witnesses who can verify his breaking of these stipulations.

Is this story about Mr. Block breaking his ban or about your hatred of Nike. If it is about Nike, you have yet failed to prove any wrong doing. And Nike's explanation is plausable.

Coach f wrote:

I have found this thread to be very interesting (sic, amusing also) with the black helicopters and paranoid posters.

During the Trials, I said next to a group of VIP's, though I certainly am not one myself. On one of the days, they weren't in the regular seats because they were "scheduled" to be in the VIP tent, with a buffet and drinks. When they returned to the regular seats the next day, they said that the VIP seats had a view that was nowhere near as good as those in the covered sections near the finish line. They went on to describe how a limited number of people were allowed in the VIP tent based on the number of passes that were issued for that day. They then laughed and said that additional people had found their way up to the tent when passes were dropped down to them over the side of the tent.

I'm relating this as a probable explanation for how a guy like Block got admitted. The security people don't know Block from Adam and Eve, so I can see how he got in "informally". Enough of the conspiracy crap your guys. Why don't you try to get a real life?