Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!
Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? I was about to tell you a cute story about getting older and not being the receiver but the giver now. But something struck me as I was typing, I did not ask the Man for anything. I was too focused on the material world.
Yes I received my Christmas gifts. Here they are;
My family is alive and healthy.
My mom survived a bout with cancer with a smile on her face and her spirit as high as any Olympic medalist.
My son is happy. He is smart. He is able to be a kid and learn and grow.
My oldest is a grown man, not involved in foolishness.
My girl is a senior in high school and loving life. Cheerleader captain, already accepted to a university, and maintains a 4.2 GPA.
My wife, Tasha Danvers won the bronze in Beijing. As a result her star is rising and she is riding it for all it is worth. She has a book, 'Keep Ya Peckah Up!' Stay tuned, her site will be up for you all to purchase this self help book. It is a great read, seriously.
I was able to go to Beijing and do my job. She stuck with me through everything and believed in me, and we walked away from the Games as Olympic medalists.
I survived my year. That is God's greatest gift to me. I thought I was built to coach, I thought the events in my life were preparing me to create champions on the track, I found out this year, I have been built to do the one thing we are all built for, live our own lives with all its circumstances.
Merry Christmas folks. Make sure you realize not one of those gifts in paper is the true gift you were given this morning when you opened your eyes.

The year in a sentence. Tasha won the bronze medal.
Now I need the rest of my crew to come on board and get theirs. That's my New Years resolution

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Did he say that?!

No DJ this week at least not in the title. This entry should be fun

Brooks has decided to blog and expose the liars and the lies. www.spikesandflats.com. If you are in track please read what he has written and study it. It is very relevant to the development of USA track.
Stephanie Hightower won the Presidency of USATF despite a concerted effort to bring her down and discredit her. It was not a campaign about who was better but rather a do not let her win campaign. It was pathetic to watch the effort due to the fact that she stood accused but very little by way of evidence was actually given. The irony is the most detailed information came from Brooks blog, where he put to rest the rumors and innuendo that was floated about. Thanks Brooks.
Track and field has too many PC people in important places, but that took a change this week.
Congratulations to Jon Drummond the new AAC chair. The next time he says he is done with track I am going to simply call him, "Lifer". I have friends in high places!
Listen my fellow USATF members, the elections could not have gone better, but there is a very important thing we have to pay attention to, the restructuring. Doug Logan was successful in passing his plan, mainly on the back of reducing the size of the board. However, that is not as dramatic as a few other changes people voted in without paying attention. The board members are not directly chosen by the respective committees, instead they submit three names and a selection committee will PICK who they deem best. And then there is the chairman of the board. The President has been the de facto chair up until now. Now the board will chose its own chairman in a separate vote, the bone thrown out there is that if the president were to lose they would be the automatic vice chair. This is misdirection at its best.
The mantra was streamlining and simplifying to remove the infighting and build bridges. This little piece does nothing more than provide contention. A president not winning the chair is an immediate vote of no confidence. The power struggle is immediate.
Then there is the FACT that the restructuring directs ALL business through the CEO and the national office. Nothing gets approved without the CEOs say so. As Brooks pointed out this is bad. This is as bad a structure as you can possibly lay out. Micromanagement is a bad idea in our complex and diverse organization.
Did I mention we will now have three USOC seats on our board? That is 3 voices on our board that have nothing to do with our everyday business but everything to do with money.
Brooks lays it out better than me, I will comment more later. Unless I get gagged, which has happened before LOL.
See you in Vegas next week. I will be there to steal the secrets from Brooks and see how he made D.O. the best hurdler in the US.