Stroller95 wrote:Crikey, shiv is Clyde Butt.
mikesiva wrote:Stroller95 wrote:Crikey, shiv is Clyde Butt.
The WICB could learn from Jamaican athletics in so many ways.
This is not a novel assertion to make: Grenada PM Keith Mitchell said it not so long ago. But I've just read something in the Sunday Times magazine that made me think along those lines again. I can't post a link, because the Times is a part of the evil Murdoch empire, which you have to pay to view online.
The interviewer is asking Usain Bolt about the history of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport of athletics, and he's easily handling the questions that come his way. Eventually, this paragraph comes up in the story:
'His handlers are getting edgy. They want me to quit this line of questioning. My time is limited, but this is important, I insist. An awkward pause ensues. The sponsors are looking at the manager; the manager is looking at me: I am looking at the world's fastest man. Bolt, predictably, doesn't have a problem with discussing the issue. "It's okay," he says. We move on to the subject of London 2012.'
Clearly, the managers and the sponsor's reps were doing their jobs. They were ensuring that no story gets side-tracked into some negative story that could spiral out of control. That is what any media officer worth his salt should be doing.
So, what was the manager and the media officer doing when Chris Gayle gave that interview to the Guardian the last time the West Indies toured England? Any manager or media manager worth his salt would've squashed that I-don't-care-about-Test-cricket comment in the bud, but they don't seem to have been present at the interview.
The question is, has the WICB learnt from that experience? Are they as professional as the teams surrounding top Jamaican athletes? I don't think so....
Aidan11 wrote:WIs are on for a shock win today.
ChrisQ wrote:mikesiva wrote:Stroller95 wrote:Crikey, shiv is Clyde Butt.
The WICB could learn from Jamaican athletics in so many ways.
Actually Jamaican athletics is not what it appears. The Jamaican Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) is not responsible for Bolt. Bolt and a lot of the others are basically managed by a private groups (The "Racers Track Club" and The "Maximising Velocity and Power Club" or "MVP Club") coached by Glen Mills and Stephen Francis. There is no love lost between the MVP and JAAA (See: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2009 ... orts1.html and http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2009 ... sure4.html and http://z15.invisionfree.com/SprintZone/ar/t4841.htm) with MVP athletes having skipped "mandatory" JAAA training camps for both the 2008 Games and 2009 Championships. Take out the MVP and Racers and Jamaican athletes would still do well, but not nearly as well (an example would be Sherone Simpson who prior to joining the MVP hadn't won a race apparently but has since gotten medals at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games).This is not a novel assertion to make: Grenada PM Keith Mitchell said it not so long ago. But I've just read something in the Sunday Times magazine that made me think along those lines again. I can't post a link, because the Times is a part of the evil Murdoch empire, which you have to pay to view online.
The interviewer is asking Usain Bolt about the history of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport of athletics, and he's easily handling the questions that come his way. Eventually, this paragraph comes up in the story:
'His handlers are getting edgy. They want me to quit this line of questioning. My time is limited, but this is important, I insist. An awkward pause ensues. The sponsors are looking at the manager; the manager is looking at me: I am looking at the world's fastest man. Bolt, predictably, doesn't have a problem with discussing the issue. "It's okay," he says. We move on to the subject of London 2012.'
Clearly, the managers and the sponsor's reps were doing their jobs. They were ensuring that no story gets side-tracked into some negative story that could spiral out of control. That is what any media officer worth his salt should be doing.
So, what was the manager and the media officer doing when Chris Gayle gave that interview to the Guardian the last time the West Indies toured England? Any manager or media manager worth his salt would've squashed that I-don't-care-about-Test-cricket comment in the bud, but they don't seem to have been present at the interview.
This is very faulty reasoning. You assume that Gayle even wanted to have the WI team manager and/or media manager present. Given his rebellious nature that would be totally out of character for our "rebel without a cause" and he would likely have considered it as WICB attempts to "muzzle" him or restrict his freedom of speech and movement. We can attempt to make up any number of excuses for Gayle (he was misinterpreted, his managers were not around so it is the WICB's fault for the interview) but at the end of the day Gayle is 31 years old, not 1 year old and he has to take responsibility for his words and actions. Note that despite the media's apparent attempt to side-track Bolt into a negative story, Bolt is able to handle himself well and continues discussing the potentially negative issue of drugs in athletics whereas his handlers would have loved for the issue to have been avoided entirely. Yet at no point is Bolt silly enough to say anything along the lines of "I did drugs" or "I think they should just do away with drug testing". Bolt has enough sense to think before he speaks unlike Gayle (unfortunately Bolt seems to have taken to a lot of partying like Gayle (his picture appears in the papers at a LOT of usually late night parties) over the past 12 or so months (I've seen him at Jouvert and his picture appears frequently in the papers at the parties he has been to, most of which I've never attended) and his form seems to have dropped off remarkably - he was given a proper scare by Carter at the Monaco Diamond League only a few days ago and didn't look like he was totally dominant.The question is, has the WICB learnt from that experience? Are they as professional as the teams surrounding top Jamaican athletes? I don't think so....
Bolt's handlers are not the JAAA but the Racers Track Club which is a private outfit and not the governing body of athletics in any country or territory. The Racers does have non-Jamaican athletes such as Daniel Bailey from Antigua (who was also in the MVP club alongside Andrew Hinds from Barbados, Simeon Williamson from Britain and Powell, Foster-Hylton and Sherone Simpson from Jamaica). So the analogy doesn't hold..
Aidan11 wrote:Ottis Gibson has signed a new 3 year contract to remain as WIs coach
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/21 ... Cricket%29
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