Brooks Johnson calls out USATF

I have yet to read it, so will simply assume that it is truthful, considering it's about hightower...but considering the source, BJ is one of the worst excuses for a human being on God's green earth. I've been (un)fortunate to see it iwth my own two eyes, on multiple occasions. the man is just a sorry case, so even if what he says is perfectly true, it needs to be said by someone else to hold any weight, sadly.

Agreed. This will sound petty, but I ran for Brooks and I can attest that he is a poor excuse for a human being. The only person that I've known in person who I think is truly terrible and beyond salvage. I wish he'd just crawl back into the hole he came from.

ghost of maxwell king wrote:

but considering the source, BJ is one of the worst excuses for a human being on God's green earth. I've been (un)fortunate to see it iwth my own two eyes, on multiple occasions. the man is just a sorry case, so even if what he says is perfectly true, it needs to be said by someone else to hold any weight, sadly.

ghost of maxwell king wrote:

I have yet to read it, so will simply assume that it is truthful, considering it's about hightower...but considering the source, BJ is one of the worst excuses for a human being on God's green earth. I've been (un)fortunate to see it iwth my own two eyes, on multiple occasions. the man is just a sorry case, so even if what he says is perfectly true, it needs to be said by someone else to hold any weight, sadly.

I get what you're saying, but it shouldn't. Facts should stand on their own, even if they are from a boy who cried wolf. If the facts are true, then it shouldn't matter who said them.

The question is if these ideas are true, and are we getting the whole truth. I've never interacted with BJ, but have met his reputation. We can't assume that his narrative is the whole story, but for now it is a good post to get a ball rolling, becoming a corroborated, evidence based ball. There seems to be more validity to his claims than something as simple as "trust me, I was there". (If that were the case, I wouldn't). I know BJ posts here, so maybe he can give some more details about how he knows that timeline, and what else may be under the "tip of the iceberg".

Thank you Clerk you are fast becoming my favorite poster.

Mr. Johnson needs to hire an editor. Almost gibberish.

Brooks Johnson is not very good at writing coherently, but there are some interesting accusations in his blog post. Here is my attempt at pulling out the various accusations he makes. Please note that I do not necessarily agree with everything he is saying, and I am not stating that all of these things are true. I am posting this because I think there are valid discussions that need to had on these topics, and it is hard to do so when you can’t follow his train of thought easily.

Brooks Johnson claims:

- That the additional funding the athletes just received is a joke because Max and Renee make a lot of money and because athletes in other federations get more money.

- That the athletes are being bribed in exchange for opposing legislation that the powers that be do not like, both by opposing it within the L&L committee and by opposing it on a floor vote at the closing session, if needed.

- That the Pre-L&L Meeting in Indianapolis was an attempt to circumvent the democratic process, because at the last two Annual Meetings, the floor votes at closing session went against the powers that be.

- That there are L&L proposals that pull power away from the powers that be, and therefore they strongly oppose them.

- That the powers that be want to centralize more power into the National Office and diminish the power of the delegates who represent the volunteers and grass roots people who work with the athletes daily.

- That Greifinger’s proposal that the President _must_ be the Board Chair is important because the Chair has control over the Board’s agenda, the President is elected by the people, and if the President cannot control the agenda, the people risk not being properly represented within the organization.

- That Robin Beamon has been charged and found guilty by AAU of financial malfeasance in her role with that organization (a statement supported by ESPN’s Outside the Lines

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/14172814/as-aau-grows-questions-how-spends-money-adheres-mission

)

- That Robin Beamon, in her AAU role, paid Stephanie Hightower an appearance fee to appear at an event.

- That the USATF National Office hired Robin Beamon to do some sort of consulting.

- That Robin was sent to the World Youth Championships and there were issues with her behavior. She does not appear on the list of coaches and staff, so I think she must have been sent by the National Office, as their staffers are typically not mentioned on the website.

- That Robin was at the pre-L&L meeting and opposed Greifinger’s proposals (this is true, I was there).

- That David Greifinger was removed from the Law and Legislation Committee as an AAC rep (which I think Brooks is trying to say is a result of the National Office buying the support of the athletes)

- That David was then re-added to L&L as the Youth rep.

- That Stephanie replaced longtime L&L member Tim Baker with Robin Beamon, and replaced Devon Martin with Sharrieffa Barksdale (these positions are Presidential appointees, she has the authority to do this)

- That the powers that be think grassroots volunteers are not informed enough to make decisions about how they are governed.

- That none of the USATF leadership in Beijing ever came to the warm up area, that they spent all of their time in the VIP section.

Again, those ^^ are the allegations that I believe Brooks is trying to make in his blog post.

I have had only one encounter with Robin Beamon, but it absolutely leads me to believe she is one of the most undeservedly arrogant, self-important persons involved in the sport. She has zero accomplishments yet wields her 'influence' to support her cronies. It's a sad, sad day for USATF Youth athletes if we are the recipients of thr AAU "pass the trash" game.

Let's get turnt up, Stephanue!

A few years ago Robin presented the bid for a National Youth Meet for Jacksonville and the then new facility at the U. of N. Fla. which has since hosted numerous NCAA D1 Eastern Regional Meets. She intentionally sabatoged it by some of her remarks. Probably due to her being an AAU person.

Thanks for your clear condensation of Brooks's foggy prose.

Tom

Haven't read Brooks Johnson's piece. What he says may be true, but Brooks is a turd so I would prefer to spend my time reading something written by someone else.

He makes a great point that athletes are paid far more in other countries that lack massive TV contracts, though the money in some of those countries seems to be luring the drug cheats (Turkey in particular).

Not Really.USATF insiders spend the money on themselves and leave crumbs for atheles, even if after the proposed new doling out.The only solution is to have a ZERO reimbursement policy for volunteers. I.E. no travel, no hotel, no airline, no food.Rthere the elites should be paid the perks money now siphoned off by Hightower and Siegal.

jjjjjj wrote:

He makes a great point that athletes are paid far more in other countries that lack massive TV contracts, though the money in some of those countries seems to be luring the drug cheats (Turkey in particular).

No more Siphoning wrote:

Not Really.

USATF insiders spend the money on themselves and leave crumbs for atheles, even if after the proposed new doling out.

The only solution is to have a ZERO reimbursement policy for volunteers. I.E. no travel, no hotel, no airline, no food.

Rthere the elites should be paid the perks money now siphoned off by Hightower and Siegal.

jjjjjj wrote:

He makes a great point that athletes are paid far more in other countries that lack massive TV contracts, though the money in some of those countries seems to be luring the drug cheats (Turkey in particular).

May not be the right thread for the discussion, but that is the trade-off. The US has a broad approach in its talent development; money goes into entry level organizations at the local and regional level, mountain/walking/road/XC/track organizations for youth and masters, in addition to everything high-performance: Olympic training centers, US champs/trials, national team support staff, etc.

Scaling down that strategy of throwing money everywhere to see what sticks would be to move away from a talent development model that has proven successful.

And while USATF could due for some tightening of its bureaucracy, that is slowest and the least likely path. Just like for every organization or institution, the ones who are in power to make changes are the ones who would lose the most.

Biting the hand that fed him...

Must be looking for one last payday for 2016

The public shame strategy, make your bets

Brooks is smart enough to realize that athletes from other countries are largely supported by government funds. No such support is rendered in the USA.

You are diverting the argument. Volunteers to USATF should not be re-imbursed for travel expenses. The expenses would be considered by the volunteers as part of the contribution to the sport. Thus, USATF volunteers would pay their own expenses to domestic and international competitions. The money would instead be used to pay elite athletes.

No more Siphoning wrote:

The only solution is to have a ZERO reimbursement policy for volunteers. I.E. no travel, no hotel, no airline, no food.

While some volunteers do abuse the system, eliminating all reimbursements, ever, would mean that only those who are independently wealthy would ever be able to volunteer for anything, and I don't think that is what you really want either...

Divertinng the Argument wrote:

You are diverting the argument. Volunteers to USATF should not be re-imbursed for travel expenses. The expenses would be considered by the volunteers as part of the contribution to the sport. Thus, USATF volunteers would pay their own expenses to domestic and international competitions. The money would instead be used to pay elite athletes.

That's the best way I also feel. Only old retirees can volunteer for teams that travel. Or people can save up, crowd fund, etc. But the main deal should be to pay elite athletes and to once and for all, and forever put and end to the infamous USATF-Insider's Gravy Train which has ruined the careers of many elite runners.