This is an excellent post. Why wasn't it the first? The only thing any sort of analogy drawn to spousal abuse does is serve to trivialize or rationalize it. I couldn't believe what I was reading from you. At every point in the conversation the tone from the top (you) seemed to be on some level a defense of Jack. Or maybe it was a defense of the lack of action on the part of USAT. I probably come back over the top too harshly but I want to leaders of my sport to condemn this type of behavior and not trivialize it. Knowing Jack I'm sure he is fighting this tooth and nail and making it extremely difficult for USAT to act and maybe that is part of the reason for your response. I was just extremely disappointed in the tone of almost every post you made in regards to his actions.

So if the board of directors was mostly fundamentalist Christians, then being gay or having an abortion would constitute an immoral action?

Best to stick to criminal code offenses and stay away from morality.

Totally agree with you, however sexist it may sound though, I still have a very big problem with a male hitting a female. It comes down to nature I guess. As much equality as there is in the US and a few other places, I still feel a man should not abuse his natural physical attributes to be aggressive to women.

Now, we can lump in mental abuse and such, but I feel women are much more readily equipped to match men, therefore I don't make the distinction of "men should not be mentally abusive to women". I would stand by your statement of "I'm against mental violence between any sex".

Does that make sense?

I guess I also still believe a man should hold a door open for a woman and give up his seat to a woman. Maybe I'm too old.

"Cheating on wives right up there with beating on wives???? That is an insane way of thinking ... Yikes."

to you, and to the fellow who told me to go fuck myself, i think you misunderstand. you assume i'm bringing wife beating down to the rather (i suppose) minor level of cheating on your wife. it's really the other way around. beating your wife is just unconscionable to me. it's just, so is cheating on your wife. to me, to my thinking, i just think it's a way worse act than a lot of other people consider it. but i'm not going to castigate you, or the go fuck yourself guy, for being so cavalier about cheating on your wives.

wait. did i just accuse you of being cavalier about cheating? that wasn't very nice of me, was it? i'll bet that made you mad. i apologize.

probably best if we don't accuse each other of "insane ways of thinking," or tell each other to go fuck ourselves. or for me to assume that you don't take your marriage vows seriously. it's probably better to try to soberly discuss an issue, each assuming that the other is a man (or woman) of goodwill.

Honestly, I feel like there will be no reasoning with you but, the board of directors is charged by the membership (us card carrying dues paying triathletes) to provide the services stated. All of the board of directors take an oath (presumably) to carry out the duties of their office as it pertains to the by-laws. I think for most people, those on the board, they will be putting the USA Triathlon's best interest before their personal religious beliefs. If they can't A. they shouldn't have been elected in the first place. B. they should be removed at election time. Most of the people I've sat on boards with, you wouldn't know what their personal beliefs were on the topics you mentioned. We were concerned with the organization first and foremost.

@ Tri-Banter: you don't understand what a "witch hunt" is. Witches weren't real and innocent people paid the price. Jack Weiss is an admitted abuser. There is no "witch" in this scenario.


It's less of a witch hunt and more of a mob mentality justice against Weiss. One person spouts something and the masses jump on the bandwagon. Apparently, according to the ST brethren, there is nothing more for Jack Weiss to do other than step down. He's paid his price in the terms of the law. He's paid his price in terms of his family. He owes me absolutely nothing. You neither. Nor anyone else. Yet, this thread seems to think otherwise. There are some who would interpret my opinion as support of Jack or spousal abuse. That's hardly the case. I'm not in any situation to stand in judgement of the man or his actions. I don't believe that people should be removed from professional positions due to mob justice/ "I'm offended" mentality.

Further, the sputum that seems to be emanating from people due to slowman's opinion is further evidence of the mob mentality. The guy gave the thread a window into his own personal moral compass and he's getting hammered. I'm not sure why. He's certainly innocent of any wrong doings, yet seem to be paying the price. So, by your definition, he's the target of a potential witch burning.

This is a reply to the whole thread.

I get it that many of you want Rice to resign from his position. I get it that you are all against spouse abuse. But here it the rub:

What if you, yes you, were in a situation that caused you to lose your cool and hit your wife. Or even find yourself in a situation where you were accused of doing so and then you were unable to defeat that false accusation. Would you be happy to have a clause in your employment contract that forced you to resign? Right after facing that time in the courtroom, that time in a jail cell, right when you have been struggling to pay your bills due to the loss of a few weeks or months without income, add in the additional expenses of lawyers and depositions and suddenly you are unemployed.

How many of YOU, YES YOU, would be happy about that outcome for yourselves, regardless of whether or not you actually committed the crime or were falsely accused? Do you REALLY want to have all of your sins be used to determine whether or not you keep your job? What about the others who depend upon YOUR income, like your children and the abused spouse?

I was falsely accused of spouse abuse when I was in the Navy, and thank God in Heaven that my now ex-wife failed to know my duty schedule because the time she gave the detectives was exactly the time when I was on duty and signed into a log book on the Quarterdeck of a ship. If I did not have that alibi, your opinions would be that I should lose my job. That outcome would happen today because the military generally discharges people who are found guilty of spouse abuse because they are prohibited from handling weapons after that conviction.

So many people gleefully pick up the stones to throw at others, yet they never remember that those very stones could as easily be thrown right back at them. So many people who sincerely believe they would NEVER do something have found that they can do exactly that, and rue the vehemence that they inflicted on others as they reap that harvest for themselves.

This is a reply to the whole thread.

I get it that many of you want Rice to resign from his position. I get it that you are all against spouse abuse. But here it the rub:

What if you, yes you, were in a situation that caused you to lose your cool and hit your wife. Or even find yourself in a situation where you were accused of doing so and then you were unable to defeat that false accusation. Would you be happy to have a clause in your employment contract that forced you to resign? Right after facing that time in the courtroom, that time in a jail cell, right when you have been struggling to pay your bills due to the loss of a few weeks or months without income, add in the additional expenses of lawyers and depositions and suddenly you are unemployed.

How many of YOU, YES YOU, would be happy about that outcome for yourselves, regardless of whether or not you actually committed the crime or were falsely accused? Do you REALLY want to have all of your sins be used to determine whether or not you keep your job? What about the others who depend upon YOUR income, like your children and the abused spouse?

I was falsely accused of spouse abuse when I was in the Navy, and thank God in Heaven that my now ex-wife failed to know my duty schedule because the time she gave the detectives was exactly the time when I was on duty and signed into a log book on the Quarterdeck of a ship. If I did not have that alibi, your opinions would be that I should lose my job. That outcome would happen today because the military generally discharges people who are found guilty of spouse abuse because they are prohibited from handling weapons after that conviction.

So many people gleefully pick up the stones to throw at others, yet they never remember that those very stones could as easily be thrown right back at them. So many people who sincerely believe they would NEVER do something have found that they can do exactly that, and rue the vehemence that they inflicted on others as they reap that harvest for themselves.

I'm against violence between any sex. I wonder what the public perception would be if it was same-sex partner abuse or female abuse of a male.

When you deal with morality, people's have very different ideas of what is moral and what is not. Best not to leave that up to a bunch of volunteer board members...

Honestly, I feel like there will be no reasoning with you but, the board of directors is charged by the membership (us card carrying dues paying triathletes) to provide the services stated. All of the board of directors take an oath (presumably) to carry out the duties of their office as it pertains to the by-laws. I think for most people, those on the board, they will be putting the USA Triathlon's best interest before their personal religious beliefs. If they can't A. they shouldn't have been elected in the first place. B. they should be removed at election time. Most of the people I've sat on boards with, you wouldn't know what their personal beliefs were on the topics you mentioned. We were concerned with the organization first and foremost.

Going on the cheating thing (not sure why after I told myself wouldn't), I can understand where Dan was coming from. He clearly stated he was not bringing physical abuse down he was bringing cheating up. This is important as there are very real and severe long lasting mental issues (PTSD for example) with this in many cases just as there are with physical abuse. I have been in relationships with a number of women who have been physical abused, sexually abused (and/or cheated on), and verbally abused. All of them would put them on the same level as the long lasting mental affects are similar, one in fact left when the mental abuse and cheating got too much, not the physical.

In reality the issue with cheating, physical abuse, or any of the above is not so much the act but it is the fact that someone is being manipulative and attempting to show they have power over the other person. The victim is the one who gets to decide if they are the same to them not any of you.

Remove Triathlon from that bolded part and maybe make board into congress or state legislature.

How is that working out for us?


What makes you think a private board would be any different?

Remove Triathlon from that bolded part and maybe make board into congress or state legislature.

How is that working out for us?


What makes you think a private board would be any different?