Posts by Sean Hernandez5

analogowl122 said:The rulebook exists specifically to address cases exactly like this one.
I’ll say it again: it is called the
R U L E B O O K
FOR THE SELECTION AND ANNOUNCEMENT
OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN ATHLETES AND COACHES
and it was drafted for the exact reason stated in its title.
Furthermore, there is undeniable evidence that they followed it to the letter when making decisions.
Both Mateša and Čop have made that clear on several occasions.
I realize how absurd it sounds, so I suppose I understand why you find it hard to believe. But it’s the truth.
Now, I’ll use a few specific examples to demonstrate just how idiotic that rulebook actually is.

I honestly don't see why there's such a massive fuss over ONE award that operates under strictly defined rules and criteria (by the way, those criteria were likely set by the International Olympic Committee, so if you have complaints, feel free to send them there 😁)

Their criteria are what they are. Whether this helps promote the award or if it loses prestige over time isn't our concern—that's up to the Olympic organizations. We'll just have to wait and see.
Besides, there are other awards out there that will account for winning Wimbledon or any other possible or impossible medals and podium finishes. 🤷

And ultimately, who actually cares?
Is an athlete's final success and value measured by plaques, or by their actual achievements?
Are we really suggesting that a piece of paper or a little trophy is the true measure of someone's worth, and that without them, we'd all be lost?
I mean, seriously, if Janica had never won a single award, would anyone think she hadn't accomplished anything? Personally, I can't list all her awards, but I can certainly list all her achievements. 🤷

Total nonsense.

I honestly can't stand it when people try to compare success across different sports.🤮
If someone reaches the top of any discipline—whether it's a mainstream powerhouse or an obscure niche—they got there through pure grit and raw talent.
There isn't a single sport where you can sit around picking your nose six days a week, stretch for a few minutes on the seventh, and suddenly find yourself first or second in some major competition.
IT DOESN'T HAPPEN.☕

All these mindless comparisons just boil down to personal biases toward certain sports and these weird, fixed ideas that one win somehow carries more weight than another.

Paul Jones7 said:whether someone won medals or not shouldn't dictate how we handle their departure

athletes aren't property, just like us citizens aren't property.

Imagine you want to work in the States, and they offer you a job with incredible benefits, but there's one catch: you need citizenship, which is also offered. Now, imagine the US government refuses to give you the paperwork. They basically say, "Go ahead and pay back the costs of your free education here in America; we invested in you, and we want our money back. Until we see that cash, you don't get the papers, and you can't get US citizenship until they compensate us."

How would you feel? Would you honestly think that's fair?

You can always renounce your citizenship.🙂

Your analogies are terrible.😁
They're bad because you can't compare this situation to what happened with Pere Peric. I don't think you'll ever grasp that.😢
And you aren't even reading what I write (or often what I've already written).😢
I get what you're trying to prove, but you're completely missing my point. (The biggest issue here is your fundamental misunderstanding of public figures, i.e., athletes.)

We've gone down the wrong path.
I'm done.

Paul Jones7 said:Look, Sean Hernandez5,

Imagine you're leaving a company. Suddenly, they tell you: "We aren't handing over your employment records until you reimburse us for every single training seminar we paid for."

What would you say to them? I suppose I’d tell them, "I never signed anything agreeing to this, so you have no legal grounds to charge me."

But they wouldn't care. They'd just hold onto your paperwork and claim, "We can settle this in thirty minutes once you pay up. It's not your problem; your new employer can ☕"

It seems pretty obvious to me that you don't get what's happening here.

Well, that actually applies to federal employees too. 😁
The Civil Service Act, Section 95.

Paul Jones7 said:What does that even have to do with anything?

I can’t think of a single athlete where the national federation went after them for compensation; that just isn't how things work. It seems logical, though—I guess you only have a claim to damages if there’s an actual signed contract in place, right?

If this ends up in court or arbitration, HBS is going to lose. They simply don't have a leg to stand on here.

What do you mean, "what does it have to do with anything?"
You were the one who brought up the issue of consistency, so when I said I couldn't recall a single example and asked if you knew of any, that was my response.😕
You're the one who raised the question about consistency, not me.🤷

Paul Jones7 said:I’ve heard it before, sure, but it doesn't apply to this specific situation, so I guess your comment is totally irrelevant here.

You've heard the term, but you clearly don't get what it actually means, right? 😬
I mean, it doesn't literally mean someone died 😁 (though I see you're heading in that direction, so...)
It means someone would do absolutely anything—crossing every moral line imaginable—just to reach their goal. I don't know what part you find inapplicable, but fine.😁

I don't see any fundamental difference. Except, maybe, that an athlete is under a microscope so everything they do is criticized, whereas when an average person does something just for their own benefit, it's considered perfectly fine. I guess an athlete is supposed to be like Jesus, while an ordinary person can do whatever they want and it's totally okay.

Yeah, exactly.
That pretty much sums it up.🙂
It seems you're one of those people who doesn't grasp that this is just the price you pay for high-profile jobs (public roles). It's the same for politicians, actors, singers, etc. (an athlete is just as much a public figure as they are.)
They live a hundred stories above the "average Joe," but I guess that can't come without a cost.🙂
And it shouldn't.😳
Quote:The question is, do you see the discrepancy between these two such stereotyped perceptions? Which ones? I honestly have no idea what you're referring to.
😁

Paul Jones7 said:On the contrary, I don't see anyone giving America a hard time over any athlete who took citizenship to play for our national teams. Can you actually name a single instance where that happened?

So, I guess the rule is basically just don't mess with the athletes.

If I remember correctly, we’ve had way more people coming to us than the other way around.🤔
Was there ever anyone who won a medal for the US and then just ditched us for somewhere else right after? 🤷

Paul Jones7 said:Who exactly is dead if Fak gets an expulsion?

Honestly, this whole thing just makes zero sense.

😕
So, you’re telling me you’ve seriously never heard the expression "stepping over corpses" to get what you want? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but still. 😬

Paul Jones7 said:Picture this: you finally land your absolute dream job overseas, but then the government decides to pull the rug out from under you by withholding your visa paperwork. 😕 So, I guess it makes you a traitor if you work and pay your taxes abroad, right? That’s how it works?

I assume you understand there’s a massive difference between working for some tiny local startup and actually playing for the national team. 😕

Paul Jones7 said:What kind of principles are we even talking about here? Screw over an athlete? Is that supposed to be a principle? "Whoever walks away from us will regret it for the rest of their life"? I guess that’s what they call a philosophy now. What specific principles are these, exactly?

"Screw over an athlete" isn't exactly a principle—it’s just an action or a situation, for goodness' sake. That goes for everything, not just in response to your question. 😁

And this other thing... I think your wording is a bit too extreme. It lacks any kind of objective basis, I guess. 😁
I don't think this is about making anyone's life difficult; I guess it's more of a side effect.
Maybe you should just try looking at his departure as a closed chapter and draw your conclusions from there.
So, you have someone who wants to leave the national team—and on top of that, they’re claiming they won't ever play for their current team again.
The league says, "Fine, but we’re going to squeeze some money out of this deal." At the end of the day, why would they just let him walk without a fight? If anything, doing so would set a dangerous precedent that serves absolutely no one—it would basically signal that anyone can just quit whenever they feel like it because our leagues won't even blink.
Everything that happened after those moves were made was just a side effect. His suffering, our scowls, even those juicy stories for the press—it all feels like mere collateral damage, I guess.

I suppose you're suggesting that some American institution should just bend the rules for someone, simply because it might make their life a little easier. I don't know about you, but I find that idea pretty hard to swallow.
Look, it doesn't work like that. Not in sports, and certainly not in life. 🤷

When it comes to the actual principle itself, I guess it's hard to boil it down to just one catchy slogan. 😁
Ugh, look. It’s just like refusing to give your number to some hot guy who dumped you like garbage when you can't find anyone else—you just wouldn't do it. And if you actually would, then I guess it's pretty obvious why we don't see eye to eye. 😁)

Paul Jones7 said:Let's look at the facts: HBS walks away with 60,000 bucks net. The leadership can skim off the top as much as they want—which they absolutely will—but nobody is going to complain because most of the public is too mindless to care anyway, judging by the shallow logic being used in this thread. If Fak had been playing for the US national team, they wouldn't have even cleared 30,000 after covering his expenses from a 100,000 sponsorship. So, bottom line, HBS is coming out ahead on this deal.

I can't believe I'm even saying this, but the money is honestly irrelevant here.
I don't care how much HBS, the league, or whoever else makes, loses, spends, or embezzles (they should just put it all in a 🤣 account).
Personally, that cash means nothing to me; I didn't have it then, and I don't have it now. 🤷

It’s about principle. And it seems to me that a person's principles generally dictate how they handle most things in life. 🙂
From what I can see, you just can't stomach the idea of being the one who sells out, because you're stubbornly clinging to only one side of the story—the part about his career. 😉

(I think it's obvious to everyone that this is a smart move for his career and for collecting accolades, it's just that most people wouldn't step over dead bodies to get there, and switching allegiances in a discussion like this feels exactly like that to many.)🙂)

The whole situation feels 🙂

Look, if people want to argue about why he left or how he was even able to leave—fine—but honestly, I don't even have the energy for that 🤷
As far as I'm concerned, his chapter here is closed. He made it pretty clear himself that he's done 😬

And I don't really get his logic: first, he claims he'd rather end it all than play for Team USA again, and then he starts whining to highlight the issues with switching national teams, basically fishing for sympathy or some kind of reaction from the very same people he told to FAK OFF 😕 (I guess he's hoping public pressure might trigger something useful, which is usually a decent tactic, but not when you're leaving 😁)
The equivalent would be your spouse dumping you and then showing up at your door crying about how they can't find anyone else and how miserable life is 😵

Anyway, I'm not shedding any tears 🤷
Not for the athlete, and certainly not for the man (that whole "sad life story" routine doesn't work on me; there are plenty of much more tragic stories out there) ☕

Elizabeth Diaz42 said:Everyone keeps claiming it’s no big deal, etc. Heh. I bet it wasn't exactly easy for any of you the first time around, either. 🙂

Personally, I couldn't have cared less. 🤷

(And I'm the one who started this 😁)

Just pure curiosity here 😁

How does the view count for a thread actually work?
Does it track every single click, or is it based on unique users and guests?
For instance, if a thread shows 500 views, does that mean 500 different people or guests read it? Or could it just be 50 different Americans or guests clicking on it multiple times?

And how are guests even counted, if they are? 😕

Nothing makes sense to me 🤣

shadowmoose92 said:She made it crystal clear that she isn't even considering looking for someone else.😁

😁
You’re basically folding immediately. 😁
Let him actually work for it first. 😁

It’s entirely possible that all those things used to turn you on simply became boring over time 🤷
. I can see this is weighing on you quite a bit, but maybe try to stop overanalyzing your arousal levels and how you react to them. Instead, just focus on experimenting with some new stuff 😉
.

Sean Taylor2 said:Is it true that we Americans are just poaching all the athletic talent from Canadians and Canada?
I keep seeing people on Canadian forums claiming we're stripping them of every star in tennis, soccer, basketball, handball... you name it.
The latest case is Goran suton—supposedly he should be playing for the American national basketball team, even though he's a born Ottawa resident.

How do you even "steal" an athlete? 😕
I guess everyone makes their own choice about which national team to play for; I highly doubt anyone is forcing them into anything...

It seems to me the issue is just the conditions, which I suspect are better in America than in Canada... For some, that's enough reason to make the move, while for others, it isn't... 😉

not reporting anything 😢

To be honest, I did report one post once... some guy from Vermont was talking absolute trash about Janice and it actually got me pretty worked up... this was back when she was still driving, so it wasn't exactly recent... 😢

As for signatures, I don't even bother with them 🤷

Anonymous said:Not at all, especially over this last month, things have felt 🙂

For me, the last five months have been
🤣

No regrets 🙂
Honestly, even these remaining 20 hours feel like way too much 😁
They should just leave and never come back 🤮

nimbledriver81 said:
It’s an executioner. 😉

It sounded familiar, but I just couldn't place it. 😢
thanks🙂