Still guys, and now you are losing respect for him? If you haven’t seen his contract you can’t know if he is right or wrong. What if his Ordu was broken in transit and Orbea couldn’t get him a new one, or his contract stated that he would have a new (better) bike by X date and that promise was broken?
The whole “broken bike” thing has already been shown to not be what happened. In addition, you have Orbea’s statement re: what happened. Admittedly, it is *their *statement, but it does use the phrase “breach of contract.”
As for the “broken promise” angle, here’s my take - come out and make a statement BEFORE the race, preferably in conjunction with Orbea. As noted above, I believe it was unprofessional on his part to portray his sponsor in a poor light. That isn’t why athletes get sponsored.
The fact that his camp has still not made any statement is also telling, IMO.
There you go again. Have you seen the contract? Do you know the full facts? If so, please share since there are apparently many, many, many folks who want to know. If not, continued shame on you for passing judgement on someone who has always had a stellar reputation. Perhaps you are 100% correct, but even then shouldn’t you know the facts first? Otherwise it is all just innuendo and supposition. I continue to maintain that simply isn’t fair to Crowie.
There*** I ***go. Yup, it is just me on this whole thread who has expressed such sentiments. rolls eyes
Sorry, I don’t need all the facts to form an *opinion *on what has transpired so far. Now, if facts come to light that contradict my opinion I will gladly revise it. But see above…the fact that Crowie has not uttered a word it telling, IMO.
The assumption a lot of folks on this thread are making is that CA was the first to breach the contract, when for all we know. Orbea may have first for not providing a superbike that is aerodynamically competitive. We don’t know what happened behind closed doors.
I did Ask CA at the Vegas press conf to comment on his bike selection long before the ST threads and he said that he will comment at the right time. He was not ready to do so post race.
he’s talking to his wife. If there’s one person on earth you ought to be able to talk to about things it’s your significant other. I never judge people on what they say about other people to their spouse. People have opinions and even the nicest person in the world will get annoyed at someone for something.
Well put David.
CA took the time, after winning Kona in 2009, to talk with my kids and to ask them how they were enjoying their trip to Hawaii. They were impressed that the winner would do that for them. I was impressed by his modesty.
He has always come across as a classy guy as well as appreciative of what the sport has given him.
Switching equipment(other than using your sponsors equipment) happens all the time in many sports…he’s not the first nor the last. Golfers use balls, clothing and clubs branded with their sponsors name but “underneath” they are using another manufacturers equipment. I’ve seen this first hand many times.
Sadly this issue, no doubt, raises questions in many minds as to his character and loyalty to a sponsored brand.
This is so interesting…
He won. There’s a lot to be said for that. And I think we can all agree that he won b/c of scorching fast run. So now his character is in question b/c he rode a P4 instead of his sponsor’s bike? His fundamental character? He didn’t cut the swim short, he didn’t draft on the bike, he didn’t cut the run course. He rode a different bike and now he’s an a**hole? He did whatever it took to win. What’s the big deal?
agreed…he didn’t cheat by riding another company’s bike.
Next someone will question an athlete for “not wearing their sponsors jock strap”
Thankfully we have Macca to tell us all about how he would handle the situation that he isn’t in
Haha. This is great. Macca will take shots whenever he can though so it’s not surprising.
I’m torn by your post Dev. On the one hand, it is a perfect perspective on the issue. On the other, it will provoke POWER13 into posting, for the 23rd time on one thread, his entirely uninformed opinion. Same opinion, stated over, and over, and over. In case, however, POWER13 is reading this - we - know - your opinion.
There you go again. Have you seen the contract? Do you know the full facts? If so, please share since there are apparently many, many, many folks who want to know. If not, continued shame on you for passing judgement on someone who has always had a stellar reputation. Perhaps you are 100% correct, but even then shouldn’t you know the facts first? Otherwise it is all just innuendo and supposition. I continue to maintain that simply isn’t fair to Crowie.
There*** I ***go. Yup, it is just me on this whole thread who has expressed such sentiments. rolls eyes
Sorry, I don’t need all the facts to form an *opinion *on what has transpired so far. Now, if facts come to light that contradict my opinion I will gladly revise it. But see above…the fact that Crowie has not uttered a word it telling, IMO.
I have mostly agreed with Power13 on these threads, and I’ll continue. I mean, how long are we supposed to wait until we are enlightened with facts? We already have a significant amount of circumstantial evidence that paints a story:
Crowie is signed with OrbeaCrowie races on a P4Orbea says Crowie "breached his contract"Of course there are situations that would dispel the opinions put forth by Power13, myself, and others- Super-bike not ready, Orbea failing to comply with xyz- but Crowie has thus far not helped his case.
The assumption a lot of folks on this thread are making is that CA was the first to breach the contract, when for all we know. Orbea may have first for not providing a superbike that is aerodynamically competitive. We don’t know what happened behind closed doors.
I did Ask CA at the Vegas press conf to comment on his bike selection long before the ST threads and he said that he will comment at the right time. He was not ready to do so post race.
This is possible. Orbea could have said at the end of 2010 that a new super-bike would be ready by Vegas and Kona. It is also possible that they failed to live up to their promise.
But I would argue that a signed contract- either ethically or legally- prohibits such subjective determinisms. What if Crowie deemed the super-bike not to be “super” enough. Is that also a breach of contract? Should Orbea have filed for breach of contact when Crowie finished 4th? That certainly could be construed as non-“super”.
he’s talking to his wife. If there’s one person on earth you ought to be able to talk to about things it’s your significant other. I never judge people on what they say about other people to their spouse. People have opinions and even the nicest person in the world will get annoyed at someone for something.
Agree. Not to mention his feelings regarding Andy Potts- either comprehensive or situational- have almost nothing to do with the topic of this thread.
This is so interesting…
He won. There’s a lot to be said for that. And I think we can all agree that he won b/c of scorching fast run. So now his character is in question b/c he rode a P4 instead of his sponsor’s bike? His fundamental character? He didn’t cut the swim short, he didn’t draft on the bike, he didn’t cut the run course. He rode a different bike and now he’s an a**hole? He did whatever it took to win. What’s the big deal?
Well put. Here’s what surprises me a little-for all of his talk that he can usually back up, I think many people would “expect” this type of controversy from Macca(just look at the title of his book for cripes’ sake). But an earlier post by jackmott in this thread states that, based on his statements, the assumption/speculation that Macca is a prick is probably wrong. And I wholeheartedly agree.
And saying that CA is not what he purports to be based on an isolated conversation with his WIFE that may or may not have been taken out of context is probably wrong too because nobody knows the whole story except CA and those directly involved. For all we know, Potts could have talked st or given him the finger(DISCLAIMER- This is just an example!)-the point is that NOBODY knows the backstory and it’s a BS move to stcan the guy because he’s venting to his wife.
FWIW, I met Craig years ago in 2007 at the Florida Half Iron after he won that day. I can appreciate the fact that the pressure on him may have increased somewhat since then, but I believe that a person’s basic character does not. Based on that interaction with him shortly after he finished(think how you feel after racing), he is a phenomenal athlete as well as a consummate professional on top of being a REALLY nice person.
As I said before, because it seems out of character is what makes this controversy juicy-it’s a curiosity thing and should NOT evolve into a character assassination in the least!!
There*** I ***go. Yup, it is just me on this whole thread who has expressed such sentiments. rolls eyes
Sorry, I don’t need all the facts to form an *opinion *on what has transpired so far. Now, if facts come to light that contradict my opinion I will gladly revise it. But see above…the fact that Crowie has not uttered a word it telling, IMO.
Guys who use the phrase rolls eyes on the internet are wankers. IMO.
There*** I ***go. Yup, it is just me on this whole thread who has expressed such sentiments. rolls eyes
Sorry, I don’t need all the facts to form an *opinion *on what has transpired so far. Now, if facts come to light that contradict my opinion I will gladly revise it. But see above…the fact that Crowie has not uttered a word it telling, IMO.
Guys who use the phrase rolls eyes on the internet are wankers. IMO.
Wow…am I crushed.
Of course, some people can have a discussion of differing opinions without having to resort to childish insults.
Can I just ask why this matters?
It doesn’t. If I were him, I would do what I want, too.
It seems Orbea let some slack out on the rope. CA tightened it the way he wanted. NBD. Then won the race. I hope he never says a damn thing. He doesn’t need to.
Hmmmm…a person doesn’t comment regarding a legal matter and you think that is strange…welcome to the big bad real world.
Look, we all do this for fun…this is Crowies JOB…it puts food on the table for him…I honestly can’t see why people think this is a big deal. Once again this type of crap happens all the time in the real world…
There are hundreds of “other” things that could have happened too…
Have engaged both Macca and crowie at races in oz and found them both to be class acts. On each occasion they have given their time, have shown genuine interest and have come across as being grounded and humble. Both have gone out of their way to meet my requests, crowie in particular had his mate wait while I ran up the road to find a marker for him to sign a race poster. Macca returned a poster for a mate by mail at his cost.
Subsequently I have learnt not to judge our superstars by what I read or by virtue of what the keyboard captains write on forums.
And just to add in the superstar on the girls side, have stayed in the same hotel as chrissie and had her put on hold the car that was waiting for her just so my kids could duck up to the room to get a poster and marker. Pure class.
We are better off for having these people in our sport.