Well that makes it even worse then if because of one single poster on the interweb Talbot decides to cancel all his upcoming interviews and not release any more vids-that sound terribly immature.

As I said there will ALWAYS be critics no matter how perfect something is. If your business is putting content out for public consumption and you can’t handle a single negative response then it’s rine to do something else.

The incident was witnessed by Siri Lindley and several other athletes thankfully.
That's a statement saying Siri and other people witnessed it, where are they on this thread and what have they done

I'm not a professional. But you can sure bet when I am doing a pitch at work I put everything into it. Especially if it's the biggest one of the year.

I'm not expecting Callum to win. He can even finish last of the pros. But so far behind, it s a joke he is racing pro.

I think Luke McKenzie was on the cusp of times for respectable pros. And he came 28th I think. 40 minutes behind? Guessing.

I don't have a beef with that.

I suppose if I have a beef its that if you race pro you need to finish within a % of the winner.

It will be worse next year with the new system of win and you are in. But thats another whole thread.

I am definitely the top 25% of my peers.

Something Callum can't say.

The Talbot thread was slightly different. He got some feedback that was negative but mostly was articulated properly. People can have opinions it’s just how they’re conveyed. The keyboard warriors on here have been getting worse though and I don’t blame brands and pros from shying away.

It’s really not that bad, it’s been better and worse multiple times 10+ years ago. The reason pros aren’t on here is because they can’t show a social media presence through here. 100k followers on Instagram is way more important than posting on here. The reach is also significantly more.

Shot in the dark here, but I'm guessing that your peers aren't described as "elite".

Something Callum definitely can say.

I think everyone should consult ST before they do anything.

I'm pretty sure that fewer than 25% of professional triathletes qualify for Kona.

The whole idea that he is undeserving of being there is stupid, there is a qualifiying system. He qualified. He deserved to be there.

Are you so sure.

A lot of pro men were beaten by pro women and age groupers.

Are you so sure.

A lot of pro men were beaten by pro women and age groupers.

Incorrect. Teddy was a boxer and probably didn't have much of a ground game. He'd have connected with a few crosses. Google the Roosevelt bar fight.

I don't know what the Talbot thread was.

Yes, 100k followers on Insta is more important. But, I know that we had a couple of sponsors that appreciated posts here since they were related to their products and since the posts were (I think) constructive. Even still, however honestly a lot of pros post feedback on equipment here, you'll get plenty of folks saying that it's because pro so and so is 'paid'.

There was an incident years ago (years and years) where 2 pros walked it in together. They got more shit from this forum than most pros in total that I can remember. Until one of them got on here and posted why. Then most folks walked back their comments. Keyboard warriors want to tell pros how and what they should do to run the business of being a pro with no real idea what it takes. In that sense, the post that Coggan posted way up rings true now and in the past.

For a pro, this place can be a lot of negative energy. So, it's simply not worth it unless you have kind of thick skin or to a degree DGAF.

Whether Callum walked it in or whether he would have hung it up and not finished, he would have lurked on here and see that his finish was a 'disrespectful whatever place' or that 'he should have finished and respected the race'. No win situation in either case, negative energy. Granted, it probably took him as much negative energy to post it on Insta and read the comments, etc., but there have been at least 2 posters on this thread that paint a good enough picture of why more pros aren't here.

Google Roosevelt judo. Or Roosevelt jiu-jitsu (since then Judo wasn't yet called Judo). I remember reading about it when I started BJJ, like 10 years ago, so I forget the details but Teddy trained quite a bit with one of Kano's students.

I get the sense that the focus ends up being on the negative posts, rather than the positive. If you look at Talbot's posts, the majority are positive. This post, it's generally positive towards Cal. Unfortunately, like all social media, the bold and often counter arguments tend to get people really riled up and is snowballs from there. Rather than ignore or scroll past these comments, people dig in deeper and the conversation spirals (downward).

Damn! He did have a ground game. I guess younger college-aged Teddy would have boxed, older Teddy might have taken him to the ground.

I stand corrected!

The incident was witnessed by Siri Lindley and several other athletes thankfully.
That's a statement saying Siri and other people witnessed it, where are they on this thread and what have they done

That, however, was a time when settling things with fists would settle them instead of resulting in lawsuits and prison time. And as appealingly simple as that sounds, it’s not a moral or civilized approach to conflict resolution.

Regardless of all else, Cal blocking Mike on the social medias looks like an excellent judgement call if nothing else.

The Talbot thread was slightly different. He got some feedback that was negative but mostly was articulated properly. People can have opinions it’s just how they’re conveyed. The keyboard warriors on here have been getting worse though and I don’t blame brands and pros from shying away.

I think Luke McKenzie was on the cusp of times for respectable pros. And he came 28th I think. 40 minutes behind? Guessing.

While the rest of the thread might be entertaining to read and bring in page views, it's ultimately what drives people away from ST forums from an actual posting standpoint.

Sure, there's plenty of useful tidbits on ST and I skim the forums daily, but I rarely post anymore for exactly this reason. It's just not worth it most of the time. The level of general hate/assholes/etc here just seems to climb by the month.

I get that the general concept is to let things take care of itself, but at some point it doesn't become any better than a bad Reddit thread. Hell, at least with Reddit a post/comment can get downvoted to oblivion, effectively making it disappear for most.

Have you read this whole thread? I'm hoping Siri doesn't lower herself by posting on here. This isn't Judge Judy you know?

You're right. And at most other races a lot of those same pros beat all the pro women and all the age groupers. The age group race in Kona (and most races) is not nearly the same as the pro race. The largest majority of age groupers who turn pro after a decent 70.3 or IM finish find that out pretty quickly.

Whether it's playing the points right or finishing high enough in one race, every pro who lines up on the starting line in Kona has earned that spot. Period.

-Brandon...I think that I was 23rd in 2013 and beaten by 1 age grouper...Marsh, retired pro

Lets not forget Callum Millward is forever making "stretched truth" accusations on social media and then deleting them when the real truth comes out. Accusing all his rivals of cheating at Noosa last year based on 1 photo comes to mind. That photo ended up being from inside the green zone (drafting allowed, but no passing allowed) coming into transition.

I predict the other side of the story will come out and his accusation post will be deleted just like all his others 😏