10 reasons Salazar's letter does him more harm than good

Clear-minded readers of the letter don't need this explained to them, but not everyone has the time or impetus to wade through its 12,000 words and thirty-odd screen shots, so here goes:

1. He gave David Epstein a number of concrete lies, distortions and deceptions to seize upon and tear to pieces. As many have already seen, Epstein very quickly made hay of the opportunity to do this. Those who claim that Epstein hasn't added anything new are managing to ignore the fact that Epstein's work to date has done nothing but emphasize, to an ever-greater extent, just how dishonest Salazar really is. Even if Salazar is miraculously found to have never done anything illicit in regard to doping, he will never be able to reasonably claim that he is an exemplar of integrity.

2. He revealed that his emotions, as is characteristic of him, are overriding his intellect. He plainly insisted on having his letter posted in close to its native form, complete with glaring typographical errors and childish, stereotypical insults (e.g., "the BBC/ProPublica writers did not want the facts to get in the way of their stories") that never would have been included in the context of corporate oversight.

3. He indisputably either lied or was astonishingly careless about the Kara Goucher-Cytomel timeline.

4. He conspicuously ignored published statements by Lauren Fleshman and others. At a minimum, he could have claimed he would address these later even if he has no plans to do so. That he also said nothing about Mo Farah only invites more questions about whether his relationship with the British superstar remains intact. And although he tried to use "I wasn't coaching Slaney when he tested positive in 1996" as an indirect but first-salvo defense of his own character -- one that fell apart very quickly -- there is not one word about Slaney in his letter.

5. As I explored yesterday, when he resorts to hard numbers, he doesn't even try to disguise the fact that he has cooked up those numbers (e.g., "Of 55 athletes only 5 have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism after I had started coaching them" [emphasis mine]).

6. His over-the-top personal criticism of Steve Magness and Adam Goucher is a classic desperation tactic. He possibly, maybe even probably, knew this and didn't care because he foresaw that it would work to some degree -- witness the number of smug anonymous Internet posters crowing inanely about Magness being a "pedophile" and this thread about Adam Goucher being a terrible husband thanks to his temper -- but in the end, such manifestations of an uncontrollable temper will only cost him far more than his early would-be gains have helped him.

7. The word "Nike" is visibly absent from his letter. He might as well have opened his letter by saying, in the manner of many university professors doubling as bloggers, "These views are mine and do not represent those of my employer."

8. He told members of the media that they weren't doing their jobs properly, rather than simply trying to clarify what he supposedly sees as errors. That's firing a shot across the bow. If there was the slightest chance before that Epstein and the BBC would lose steam, that chance is now long gone.

9. He refuted nothing meaningful in any of the stories, instead resorting to various red herrings and worse. I mean, ex post facto stuff like this? It may seem odd that I'm sticking this so far down the list, but I'll concede the small point that Salazar was largely in a position to essentially prove a number of negatives, which is difficult for even a blameless person to do.

10. The "sabotage test" idea. It sinks the entire, already foundering letter. If you can really believe that a coach would want to know how much exogenous testosterone would trigger a doping positive because he's worried about sabotage and not because he's aiming to push the upper limits of microdosing, then you haven't even read this far. You're probably not a member of free society. You're insane.

So why are so many people (so it seems; on a message board that rewards anonymity and trolling, it's difficult to really tell) claiming that Salazar's letter was not only solid but a severe blow to the allegations? I can think of a few reasons.

• Some people claiming it was useful didn't actually read it closely, or at all. These types were merely waiting for any word from Salazar so that they could strike, either because they don't like Robert and Weldon Johnson (who have been eager to publish every update about the NOP mess, but no more rabid about this then they have historically been) or because they don't want to see good runners and coaches go down in a shameful scandal.

• Some people bought into the red herrings nicely. Even if Magness were the worst coach in the history of running, had been hitting on Jackie Areson since she was 14, and didn't even know how to count laps on an outdoor track, and Adam Goucher were homicidally hotheaded and bitter about the dissolution of his running career, these findings wouldn't explain away anything.

• Nike really is flooding Letsrun.com with posts supporting Alberto.

Enough of this crap for now. The U.S. Track & Field Championships begin today and I remain far more interested in watching those unfold than taking in this shit-show.