Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

[Randy Treadway]

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

Give it up sleeper - he didn't even mention Drummond in his statement, and you know what he said is generally true.

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

"We must remember that among young inner-city males there is a culture that rewards a particular kind of behavior. The ability to trash talk and the willingness to fight back when challenged or "dissed" are considered cool attributes.

Then when some of these men because of their unusual athletic skills are exposed to a wider public they continue to exhibit what they thought were "good" habits and they are probably bewildered to find that we think of them as buffoons or jerks. "

I happen to find your statement a little unfounded. Do you even know what kind of upbringing Jon Drummond had? Seems to me that you don't have too much of an idea of what you are talking about but thought you would just throw out some assinine reason and hope it sounded good.

[niemand]

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

I don't believe that Jon Drummond (or Maurice Greene, or for all I know Ricky Henderson or Allen Iverson, and so on ad infinitum) are jerks.
I bet if you were stuck on a highway with a broken-down car and Drummond came along he would stop and help you.

We must remember that among young inner-city males there is a culture that rewards a particular kind of behavior. The ability to trash talk and the willingness to fight back when challenged or "dissed" are considered cool attributes.

Then when some of these men because of their unusual athletic skills are exposed to a wider public they continue to exhibit what they thought were "good" habits and they are probably bewildered to find that we think of them as buffoons or jerks.

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

and he totally CRIED like nancy kerrigan. not just an embarrasment, but a total little bitch

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

your mom is an embarrassment

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

nope..you looked up wrong committee..the council approved it...try again!

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

Since 99.9% of us have never met
>Drummond, I'd say that NONE of us really hate
>him. But he seems to be convinced otherwise.>

Based on some of the holier than thou comments on this board this statement is absolutely absurd.

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

Well if he came on here and read some of the remarks posted about him, I don't see it being too far fetched for him to think that. I have seen many attacks on him as a person and his character.

[Randy Treadway]

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

>was told as a young child that he would be slow mentally

If he's been told that much of his life (and I have no reason to believe that they were correct), maybe that's why he's so quick to assume that anybody who criticizes an ACTION of his, must really hate HIM.

Criticism of actions and personal hate are two entirely different things.

I can like somebody as a person very much, yet intensely dislike something that they do.

Since 99.9% of us have never met Drummond, I'd say that NONE of us really hate him. But he seems to be convinced otherwise.

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

Sorry, I meant to say never compare to what has happen in his life.

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

I feel that we are all putting in our 2 cents, and really don't understand the real compassion for competing. Jon Drummond was told as a young child that he would be slow mentally, and probably never be able to walk. Now we know him as the "Clown Prince," and the man with the fastest reaction time in the world. Drummond wanted to race, and he wanted to win. Although, Drummond acted mentally younger than his age; our words and negative remarks can even compare to what this man has gone through in his life. He has conquered much more than a gold medal from the Olympics or Worlds. Lets all remember that!

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

I have seen
>many cases of disqualifications in big meets in
>which the disqualified athletes did not behave
>like Drummond. Instead, they respectfully
>walked off the track, acknowledging that they
>had broken the rules (Linford Christie in 96 is
>a big exception to this). True, I don't know
>exactly what was going on in Drummond's head;
>how could I? However, I think I have the right
>to make observations that are based on
>comparisons of Drummond's behavior to that of
>other world-class athletes in similar
>situations.>

The difference with Drummond and Christie cases were that they vehemently did not feel they false started. If they had committed an obvious infraction they may have very well simply walked off the track.

I still say let the runner back in the blocks and leave it up to an after race appeal.

jd

[tafnut]

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

No name, (obviously, I have not been addressing just him)
Good enough. I hope that the tone of this board is always civil, and you HAVE been that. Thanks.

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

"I'm outing myself. Say what? = tafnut (real name has already been posted several times). Please go read the thread I started about bashing people. MY POINT is that you wish to bash Jon Drummond, and you think that's OK. But fair is fair, so you should identify yourself as well. MY POINT was NEVER about JD, it was about people, like yourself, who have no problem criticizing specific individuals when they know NOTHING about what the athlete is going through. NO THREAD is ever about the thread itself, or even the original intent - it's about whatever is significant that we wish to talk about. I was addressing your need to criticize a man who so obviously is already down and out. What he did, he must bear the burden of himself. It DISserves us all to continue to heap abuse upon him."

OK, few things:

First, thanks for that post; I think the tone of this conversation is now improving from where it was yesterday.

You say that if I feel the need to criticize Drummond, I should identify myself. I'm not sure why I should feel the need to do so. There are many posts on various threads in this board that could be classified as criticisms. Should everybody who criticizes anyone be obligated to identify themselves? If you feel that's the case, I think there is a large number of people on every thread that you should single out.

Additionally, you talk about my need to criticize a man who is down and out. My criticisms are simply based on my perception of gentlemanly behavior. I have seen many cases of disqualifications in big meets in which the disqualified athletes did not behave like Drummond. Instead, they respectfully walked off the track, acknowledging that they had broken the rules (Linford Christie in 96 is a big exception to this). True, I don't know exactly what was going on in Drummond's head; how could I? However, I think I have the right to make observations that are based on comparisons of Drummond's behavior to that of other world-class athletes in similar situations.

[gm]

Re: Jon Drummond - an embarrassment

Here's the list of the folks who would have had to approve the rule in question:

IAAF Technical Committee

Chairman:
Jorge Salcedo (POR)

Members:
Gabriel Abad San Martin (ESP)
Filbert Bayi (TAN)
Erich Bremicker (GER)
Jorge Echezaretta (URU)
Vivian Gungaram (MRI)
Al Guy (IRL)
Victor Lopez (PUR)
Mahgoub Saeed Maghoub (SUD)
Jésus Molina Hernandez (CUB)
Robert S. Ouko (KEN)
Oleg Riakhovsky (RUS)
Anna Riccardi (ITA)
Cecil Smith (CAN)
P. Solomon (MAS)
Kari Wauhkonen (FIN)
Denis Wilson (AUS)

Honorary Life Chairman:
Carl-Gustav Tollemar (SWE)

I looked up all of them and found information on most. None of them really fall into the category of "fat old men" and I imagine Ms. Riccardi would be quite offended by being called that.

In fact, Louise, many of them are still quite fit and I bet they could bend over and move blocks several times in a row.

Name calling is a poor way to back up your point of view.