we are closed today...
...come out and support your CFJAX team at Regionals!
and for your entertainment and enjoyment, here is a transcript from one of our community's lawyers, Dale Saran of CFHQ, telling it like it is in a comment from the recent 'Reebok: Community' post from the CF Journal. he makes a great statement and point to the critics of our program, our sport and our community. the critics and nay-sayers all have several things in common:
- they realized they weren't 'good' at CF, therefore creating their own version which concentrates on their strengths and what they're good at i.e. specific vice GPP
- they feel threatened by the program, therefore critiquing it without fully understanding what we do
- and finally, feel envious of the fact that they alienated themselves and now wish they hadn't do to the growth and expansion of REAL health/wellness/fitness
whatever the case, if it weren't for CF, they wouldn't be moving large loads long distances quickly, regardless of what they call themselves or what they are now currently doing. what these people do will always be synonymous with our program, and it will be so exhausting on their part to explain otherwise.
"A - CF partnered with Reebok as the title sponsor for the CF Games. They were not the first apparel or shoe company that we had discussion with. They agreed to pony up somewhere north of $100 million over 10 years for marketing of the Games and underwriting some of HQ's initiatives for the AFFILIATES. That seems to me to be a very good thing - for both CF athletes (some of whom are now sponsored), CF boxes (who will reap the benefits of the initiatives we are working on), and the CF movement worldwide. (Please refute if you feel like it. And sorry we didn't consult you first. We were busy.)
B - CF is a FREE website. That's how "profit conscious" Greg Glassman is. He started a website that has zero advertising on it and gave away everything. All the knowledge about his "secret" program for, uh, nothing. Well, $25 a year if you count the Journal. What a capitalist pig that guy is. And I'm sure the server space, bandwidth, people who write the articles, produce the content, I'm sure they all work for free - or are covered by the $25 a month. (rolling eyes). (Please feel free to say that Reebok's deal made Greg personally, or any of CFHQ, gloriously rich. I have the one signed copy of the Reebok deal in my file cabinet. It has yet to print any extra benjamins for me).
C - Speaking of free - again, as in my first comment - you and Jay and everyone else only knows about CF because Greg decided to make it (a) public, and (b) free. Please refute and explain again how you - or this mass of people for whom you see yourself as a spokesperson - has a right to determine in which direction this company should go? I'm confused about that sense of ownership you have. To the extent we're a "community", everyone is entitled to their opinion and you would be surprised at how much "play" comments from the community gets in HQ meetings. The guy behind the curtain ("The Great Oz!") hears and consults a lot of people in this community as he steers the ship - but I'm just as entitled to air my opinion as Jay is to his vitriol (or you are to yours). Why is it from your view only the dissent is deserving of the courtesy that you decry me for lacking? Why not the same criticism for the dissenters on here? Or your own post's lack of civility? Pot - kettle?
D - CF offered affiliation initially for $500 a year. Even now, at $3000/yr - when I was in a lawsuit against CF - one of the other attorneys was like "how much is the license fee?" When I told him he said - "But how do you guys actually make money?" You talk about how CF "needs" you and the hardworking affiliates, as if the things CF has done haven't been with an eye toward helping affiliates. Ask anyone who has been to an affiliate gathering about Coach's generosity. Ask any of the military or non-profit affiliates or just about anyone of the 2600 affiliates whom I serve on a daily basis how hard we work for them by going after trademark infringers, defending BS lawsuits, helping out affiliates in getting their boxes up and running, working with the SMEs to bring more offerings to the community, helping with the day-to-day chores of contracts and such for the journal, and that's just the Legal Guys. how about the quality of offerings by the Journal? The work Tony, Dave, the cert crew, Nicole did in getting the certs accredited, and on and on...
E - I'm sorry - your complaint is what again? That CF got a big company that you don't like to fund the annual Games and raise CrossFit's profile worldwide? Don't buy their stuff then. Just like you don't have to buy Rogue's gear, or Dynamax balls, or Garage Gym's gear, or Sorinex's stuff, etc... or anybody else's stuff you don't like. You know that Sorinex, and York, and Under Armour, all make some of the same stuff you don't like, right? And they've been sponsors, too. Where was your vitriol then? Why wasn't the sky falling when we were "authentic" (at the Ranch) but had Gatorade and that Panda Express chinese food as sponsors?
Joseph - you just come off as a guy who will be angry no matter what we try to do, and no matter how good it is for the Affiliates. When that reason for being angry fails (and it does), you'll find another one. Like that CF's lawyer isn't polite enough. And that's one that isn't going to be solved until the Boss cans me (Insha'allah, not in this lifetime...) Try not to take yourself so seriously, I don't. ;-)..."
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