Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

[vaulter83]

"STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - American athletes Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery have been told they are not wanted at the Bislett Games, organizers of the meeting said Friday."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm ... ID=5290069

[MJD]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

Pretty tough to lawyer their way out of that one.

[marknhj]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

You beat me by 15 seconds over on the THG page!

[1-2-Go]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

This is what is interesting about being in Europe (not the story, but the news: received this at 12.30 GMT+1 [03.30 PST]). Headlines: THG Helped "Tiny Tim" Go up 12,5 Kilos.

[tafnut]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

They can invite anyone they darn well feel like, but if Marion comes up clean in all this, her 'restraint of trade' lawsuit against somebody is gonna be pretty impressive.

[basehead617]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

regardless of the outcome, it's hard to imagine her coming out totally clean --

hey lets move this to the thg crisis so everyone (including me) can continue to read the current events threads and pretend its an alternate universe

[MJD]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

>They can invite anyone they darn well feel like, but if Marion comes up clean
>in all this, her 'restraint of trade' lawsuit against somebody is gonna be
>pretty impressive.

Paging Law Dude. Pretty sure that she can't sue in a Swedish court especially over the lack of invitation that has been withheld for whatever reason?

[tafnut]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

a. I didn't just mean this meet's promoters
b. it's pretty clear why they don't want her
c. her reputation, justly or unjustly, is making that Coriolis spiral down into the porcelain convenience, and there are some big bucks that are starting to disappear. Somebody's gotta pay! (it's the American Way, he said eminemally)

[mojo]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

Wow- that seems a little harsh as neither one has been found guilty of anything. I would think MJ in particular would be a huge draw- the controversy might bring more spectators who want to see how she is handling the whole thing.
It will be interesting to see if other big meets follow this same route!

[MJD]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

b. it's pretty clear why they
>don't want her

You missed my point. I don't think anyone can force any of these meets to invite anybody. They can choose to invite or not invite for any reason they want to. Lots of athletes think they are entitled to get into these meets and don't(or do) for any number of reasons-connections, agents, sponsors, whatever.

[MJD]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

would think MJ in particular would be a huge draw- the controversy
>might bring more spectators who want to see how she is handling the whole
>thing.

I said the same thing about the Charlie association last year but got no takers.

[tafnut]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

Marion Jones (we're talking about MARION JONES here) would NOT be invited to ANY meet?! The only reason could be the scandal. They are punishing (big time $$$) her for something they THINK she MIGHT have done. Of course it is their right, but as was pointed out just above, why would they not invite the BIGGEST name in women's track, were it not for their pre-judgement of her? They could look good by inviting her by showing everyone they have faith in the 'innocent until proven guilty' thing. The worst they can look is overly optimistic.

[Runninghorse]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

I assume meet promoters want to make money. Then they're pretty stupid not to invite these two athletes. A public relations dicturm: "Even bad press is good publicity."

[marknhj]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

Put yourself in the promotors position. Would you want to cough up tens of thousands of dollars in appearance fees to someone who may get banned a week or two later? I wouldn't.

[tafnut]

Re: Bislett Games turn down Jones and Montgomery

People will still put their fannies in your seats, won't they? And it's not your fault if they turn out to be cheats LATER.