This commentary would never have appeared if Lauren Fleshman hadn't written about the scandal on her blog.
We should be mad as hell and call for Max Siegel to resign !!!
I hope more journalists pick this up and question usatf whenever they have a chance.
This is all on Fleshman - good on her. She deserves a lot of credit here.
"But this is track and field, a sport that has repeatedly failed Public Relations 101, so nothing seems to be too ridiculous to be true."
And yet Jill Geer and Stephanie Hightower's campaigns of obfuscation and misinformation continue unabated.
agip wrote:
I hope more journalists pick this up and question usatf whenever they have a chance.
This is all on Fleshman - good on her. She deserves a lot of credit here.
Credit for expressing her outrage to her fans (most of whom are of the Runner's World set) on an issue that had already been written about on this site (as she notes at the top of her post) the previous day?
As others have pointed out on other threads. The issues with USATF need to be addressed from within.
I don't believe that more negative media attention is a good thing for track.
Bring Back the 880 wrote:
agip wrote:I hope more journalists pick this up and question usatf whenever they have a chance.
This is all on Fleshman - good on her. She deserves a lot of credit here.
Credit for expressing her outrage to her fans (most of whom are of the Runner's World set) on an issue that had already been written about on this site (as she notes at the top of her post) the previous day?
As others have pointed out on other threads. The issues with USATF need to be addressed from within.
I don't believe that more negative media attention is a good thing for track.
as far as I know, Leer and Fleshman are the only ones brave enough to criticize usatf for its embrace of dopers.
just imagine if Leer, Flesmhman, Simmons, Rupp, Ritz, price, Lolo, Meb, Lagat, Hall and J Simpson had a press conference at USAs this year and said that USATF's coddling of dopers is not representative of the sport they love - that would be the most perfectly awesome day ever. They would take heat, but jayzus it would be the best thing ever.
Instead, we have Fleshman in public, Leer in private...and a lot of silence. Kind of shameful when you think about it.
I think you're right, but the comparison isn't exactly fair to Symmonds (who tends to speak out when necessary!), Lagat, Simpson, etc.
I absolutely disagree with those that disparage Fleshman for not being worthy to express an opinion since she isn't a top elite runner anymore. However, in the context of calling out USATF, she has less risk than a current top runner because she isn't a threat to make a US team currently.
She seems to have moved on to more of an entrepreneurial, fitness model, spokesman role (which is perfectly okay). So, if anything, inserting herself into "controversial" issues is a benefit to her brand.
another reason for me to stop watching sprints - shalonda solomon praising the first family of doping:
Shalonda Solomon @Shalonda200m · May 25
Shout out to @cherrymitchell and Coach Dennis for there hard work and support. You guys rock. See (cont)
agip wrote:
just imagine if Leer, Flesmhman, Simmons, Rupp, Ritz, price, Lolo, Meb, Lagat, Hall and J Simpson had a press conference at USAs this year and said that USATF's coddling of dopers is not representative of the sport they love - that would be the most perfectly awesome day ever. They would take heat, but jayzus it would be the best thing ever.
The only thing that rupp and lagat love about this sport is that they are dopers who get coddled. Why on earth would they criticize USATF? If it weren't for USATF letting him dope, rupp would be incredibly lucky to have a job cleaning Burger King bathrooms.
agip wrote:
another reason for me to stop watching sprints - shalonda solomon praising the first family of doping:
Shalonda Solomon @Shalonda200m · May 25
Shout out to @cherrymitchell and Coach Dennis for there hard work and support. You guys rock. See (cont)
http://tl.gd/ncm65a
I'm more upset about her grammar.
Bring Back the 880 wrote:
I don't believe that more negative media attention is a good thing for track.
im sure donald sterling is saying the same thing about basketball right now.
media is media, if we want attention, we can't gripe about what they show
a footnote in the NYT is not media attention, it fcking sucks. nbdy is reading that sht
a blog by lauren fleshman is not going to do dogshit
it's better than nothing, but barely
So what WOULD you like, Homer? What would count for something?
After all that--D. Mitchell was at the helm of a men's team that missed out on medals in the 4x1 and 4x2!!! WTF!
Kind of similar to the plight of teachers in this country, I don't think it would be terribly difficult to find a higher quality coach if track coaches were paid somewhere north of McDonald's employees.
agip wrote:
just imagine if Leer, Flesmhman, Simmons, Rupp, Ritz, price, Lolo, Meb, Lagat, Hall and J Simpson had a press conference at USAs this year and said that USATF's coddling of dopers is not representative of the sport they love - that would be the most perfectly awesome day ever. They would take heat, but jayzus it would be the best thing ever.
What if those runners don't all share your view on doping?
Thanks, Lauren! wrote:
This commentary would never have appeared if Lauren Fleshman hadn't written about the scandal on her blog.
Forget about Lauren, I want to take credit for it being in the Times:)
Another writer from a major newspaper wrote me to thank me for the article. I told him my job was only half done, that the story needed to be picked up by others. Pleasant surprise to see it in Times. I told Jill Geer, silence isn't productive for Max Siegel here. He made a mistake, just admit it and move on.
It's also amateur hour that the head USATF coach of a world team doesn't have to talk to the media. The NBA, MLB, etc require players and coaches to address the media. It should be mandatory for track and field as well.
USATF offered to let me talk to Duffy Mahoney. My one mistake was not realizing Dennis was the women's sprint coach as well as the men's. I would have asked the women's 4x100 team about him. The men's team bombed out of both relays and didn't talk to the media so I couldn't ask them.
Ha! Homer jk - it's not a conspiraccy thoery until YOU make it one.
signing off
Slightly off topic, but I will add a Dennis Mitchell story from about 1982 or 1983.
There was a HS mile relay qualifying race for the Millrose Games held on a wooden indoor track on the Seton Hall University campus. Back in those days Mitchell was as much a 400M runner as a 100/200M sprinter.
Mitchell was anchoring his HS team's relay. I was standing nearby as he paced the track waiting for his team to get the stick to him.
In 30 plus years of watching the sport, I have NEVER seen a more intense competitor!
He had a look of unbelievable intensity and focus on his face. He coiled and bounded into the air like some sort of martial arts guy.
Finally as the third leg approached, I think he assumed some sort of odd squat, stuck out his arm and waited. I don't know his time, but I would guess it was about 48 seconds. He was good for a 45 second relay leg outdoors even as sophomore.
So the moral of that story is that intense guys make superior coaches, doping history be damned?