USATF accidentally gives Craig Leons Pan Am spot to Tyler McCandless. Should TrackTy give up slot?

Just looked at that not trackty account. Did McCandless seriously call Farah gutless and Meb greedy?

"When they (the USATF officials) were putting the list together back in March, they just had missed my time,” Leon explained. “They went down the list (ordered by fastest times) and contacted runners to see if they were interested in this race. It wasn’t until the rosters were released that I realized a slower runner was added to the team.”

Upon learning of the rosters, Leon reacted quickly, reaching out to USATF officials to seek clarification.

“I had a phone conversation with them on Tuesday morning, and they were pretty forthright in admitted that a mistake was made, but they weren’t going to fix it,” Leon explained. “It was too late to do anything.”"

So, USATF screwed up in March, then didn't release the rosters until recently so initially treid to say that it was too late to do anything about their mistake. Then once lawyers got involved they are suddenly able to fix their mistake and change the Pam-Am roster.

I've been around both guys, one is a stand up kid, the other is a tremendous douche. You decide, it's pretty easy.

Tyler Fan! wrote:

True: USATF offered McCandless $25,000 as a settlement. He and his lawyer refused, and then counter-offered with $300,000. Seems fair, right?

Wow Tyler is a bigger scumbag than I thought if true. Of course he'll make sure to get the instagram likes with the kids in Hawaii before the next Kauai marathon. An attempt to offset his douchiness.

Are there any quotes from Tyler out there. Would love to hear what he has to say in his defense.

Changed my mind, I don't care about USATF's response anymore. I, too, can't wait to hear TrackTy's response. Ten bucks says it'll involve a motivational quote about moving on or not giving up or something vague (unless he's reading this thread).

I am surprised he hasn't used his powerful twitter account to drum up support for himself. Outside of a picture of his USA gear when he was first selected he has actually pretty quiet on the topic.

He usually thrives on this kind of thing. Anything for a like or a favorite.

Whole Wheat Muffins wrote:

Tyler Fan! wrote:

True: USATF offered McCandless $25,000 as a settlement. He and his lawyer refused, and then counter-offered with $300,000. Seems fair, right?

Wow Tyler is a bigger scumbag than I thought if true. Of course he'll make sure to get the instagram likes with the kids in Hawaii before the next Kauai marathon. An attempt to offset his douchiness.

Do you have any reason at all to believe that the post you quote is actually true?

Yet another misguided and avoidable mishap by USATF. What a joke of an organization.

Absolutely no need to try to drag either of the athletes through the mud for trying to defend themselves and their dreams. Shame on USATF and on those of you spreading lies and hate.

USATF = Fail wrote:

Yet another misguided and avoidable mishap by USATF. What a joke of an organization.

Absolutely no need to try to drag either of the athletes through the mud for trying to defend themselves and their dreams. Shame on USATF and on those of you spreading lies and hate.

Yep. When someone offers you a job, do you go around worrying that maybe someone else was actually supposed to be ahead of you, but got skipped over inadvertently? Then when the employer came back to you after the fact and rescinded the offer because they'd screwed up, would you just say "ok, no big deal"?

These are two people who were put in a very difficult situation by an act of inconceivable stupidity. The blame lies 100% with USATF.

Agree that 99.9% of the blame is on USATF. I don't think anyone is taking issue with an athlete accepting a spot on a team, but that news article says that TrackTy declined to give up his spot to the faster runner even after he was told that he wasn't supposed to be on the team. I don't really see a problem with people here taking issue with a decision like that.

I will say that, though, that there is a difference between taking issue with someone's actions and flat-out insulting someone you've never met. Hopefully he can look back on this later and maybe learn from it.

The first mentioned article also says that USATF's initial response to Leon was that they admitted their mistake, but weren't going to change the line-up.

http://registerguard.com/rg/sports/trackandfield/33302040-84/arbitrator-hands-team-usa-spot-to-leon.html.csp

says:

“As soon as USATF discovered the error that resulted in Craig Leon being omitted from our roster for the Pan Am Games, we took the steps necessary to place him on the roster,” Jill Geer, the chief public affairs officer for the USATF, wrote in an email. “Today’s decision confirms that course of action.”

Those do not sound like the same thing to me.

It seems those steps they took were ineffectual at first.

refused to give up the spot

did not send the ticket back

kept the shirt and shorts

called the athletes residence and told them not to let anyone else sleep in his bed

said he was going to hold his breath until he turned blue

HTF do you refuse

I understand at best half of what you are saying. You mean that USATF's initial, ineffectual steps were to ask TrackTy to just give up his spot willingly?

If that was indeed the case (and I can't believe I'm about to type this) that actually does make sense on USATF's part. That would've been the easiest, quickest fix, so I can't really blame USATF for trying that option first. (Not that a governing body that hires a drug cheat as a coach is an entity that I generally agree with, just saying.)

hunh? wrote:

I understand at best half of what you are saying. You mean that USATF's initial, ineffectual steps were to ask TrackTy to just give up his spot willingly?

If that was indeed the case (and I can't believe I'm about to type this) that actually does make sense on USATF's part. That would've been the easiest, quickest fix, so I can't really blame USATF for trying that option first. (Not that a governing body that hires a drug cheat as a coach is an entity that I generally agree with, just saying.)

What exactly is preventing USAT&F from correcting it's roster and putting the correct person on the team?

Nothing, of course, which is why that's exactly what they did. But they obviously knew that they'd have to deal with McCandless's lawyers. And it appears that that is also exactly what they had to do. Good point, though. Not sure how this is or was at all complicated.

To me the phrase those steps was all inclusive, plural on its face and covered all the steps USATF first took. It is not a big leap to think they might have said something like "We made a mistake in offering you a spot. Someone else should have been given the spot. Sorry" But those spots was surely a reference to all the steps USATF initially took.

hunh? wrote:

I understand at best half of what you are saying. You mean that USATF's initial, ineffectual steps were to ask TrackTy to just give up his spot willingly?

If that was indeed the case (and I can't believe I'm about to type this) that actually does make sense on USATF's part. That would've been the easiest, quickest fix, so I can't really blame USATF for trying that option first. (Not that a governing body that hires a drug cheat as a coach is an entity that I generally agree with, just saying.)

I expected to see just tweets from the last two weeks (as if someone made it just to bash him for this) but looks like the account is at least a year old, so this isn't something new for TY, kinda gave me a chuckle. He does seem a tad douchey, though you must admit he prob gives his sponsors their money's worth. fwiw, the leon fellow seems like he does as well (give sponsors their worth) but just in a quiet, no attention needed, fashion. Seems like a likeable guy, hope he runs well on short notice.

yoso wrote:

Pretty Into Himself wrote:

Yes I realize it's a troll account, my point was that Tyler seems to be a polarizing figure in the running community. Some people love him and some people dislike him enough to create a fake account about him. Interesting response to a guy that isn't close to the top tier in distance running

Ok, I understand your point now. I agree with you. I'm surprised there is somebody that would create the fake account and have so many followers for an unknown runner.

That being said though I think some of the tweets are hilarious. It is the type of humor that reminds me of one of my hometown friends.

one more thing, though it may actually BE douchey for him to not give up his spot, it also may have only been a CYA move for a future lawsuit. He may need to show that he tried every avenue possible to stay on the team that he "wanted" to be on, thus losing out on chances to win up to $300,000 in order to represent his country. If (and it's a big if) this every went to trial, NOT fighting to stay on the team might have worked against him and any potential claim. He still seems douchey, but something to consider as a mitigating circumstance regarding his not voluntarily giving up his spot.