yeah right wrote:
joho wrote:I think an earlier poster nailed it when he said some of this started when Sol beat Galen in the arranged Rupp-Certified 10K AR attempt. Maybe Al Sal was ambarrassed and it all started there. None of this would have happened had Solinsky toed the company line and finished second to Galen.
I think too much is made of Solinsky's AR and the animosity between the two groups. I'm sure at the time it had to sting, but since then Galen has far surpassed Solinksy's accomplishments.
I think there was some history before the 10K. One of Galens old mates did go to Wisco and ran with the boy who beat Galen at Footlocker. But remember Galen "went pro" or whatever and then went to Oregon. You know those guys didn't like that he could #1 "go pro" as a teenager an #2 give it up and go to Oregon and become a hero. He quickly left that freshman class behind (including the Wisco boy) and was competing against the best seniors like Cheseret. Then he took down Solinsky in a kick over 5000. That was not supposed to happen at that time. Galen was seen as a XC/10K guy with no kick and unable to win races, but it happened.
I think this is when it started to fester. The Wisco guys may have drank the coolaid that Rupp had it all on a silver platter and they were such blue collar, hard working guys who were self maid despite that they had the most talented (overall) training group at the time, great facilities, and one of the best coaches in college or professional. You know they read letsrun (and may even post) and it didn't help that that whole idea manifested and snowballed. It wouldn't matter if Rupp was resting at night after a monster Salazar workout and they were drinking beers together, the seed of this thinking was planted and it had to grow.
In that line, the more success Galen has relative to you, the more you resent him.
Fast forward to the start of the move to Portland. Guys mature a little and say "hey, if we can beat 'em, let's join 'em and see what we can do." Things seemed pretty good at the start but then friction started to build up as Jerry's crew really wanted to make a name for themselves over Rupp/Ritz and later Farah. Both crews have some great performances and highlights, but ultimately Salazars is more consistent and on the upward trajectory. That has to be frustrating for Jerry's crew who is so large and so talented and has moments of brilliance but lacks consistency. Not saying this is all their fault, some of it may not be. Injuries etc., but the fact is, there aren't the consistent medals/records/championship titles to match what Salazar is getting.
Though all of this Jerry's crew gets a bit more of a free pass on almost all levels, fair or not. Alberto tries to give more insight into what they are doing by giving interviews and allowing videos, but they end up getting ripped for it. I don't really understand that but it is what happens.
This is the way I see it, and it doesn't mean anyone is bad in this. It seems very natural. These are competitors and they are human. They can also be affected by the things they read on letsrun or twitter.