Cave Canem wrote:If HQ prevails, look for this announcement, "Due to the legal costs incurred fighting off the a hostile sale that wouldn't give the buyer a majority share, we are forced to raise the affiliate fees across the board to $5,000. We now return to our 'hands off' style management so you're 'free' (LOL) to run your own affiliate"
There is no reason to believe that affiliate fees will not continue to rise obscenely fast (as they have been) regardless of outcome. I'm sure Anthos thinks that the affiliates, while currently not making enough money through more income streams, are also not paying the mothership enough.
They could always have a bake sale. A really, Really, REALLY BIG bake sale
WOD 1 – AMRAP in 10 Min
3 Ring Handstand Pushups
6 Deadlifts @ 245# 12 Single leg box jumps on 24” – must jump AND land with same single leg
WOD 2 – FOR TIME
15 Squat Cleans @ 155#
15 Kb Swings w/35# Kb
15 Push Press @ 155# 10 Wall Ball (20# ball) through 20” circumference hoop @ 10ft.
15 Burpee to broad jump – must clear 6 ft distance on the jump
15 Sumo-Deadlift High-Pull w/35# Kb 15 Triple Unders
WOD 3 – AMRAP IN 6 Min
6 Squat Snatch @ 135# 6 Flying Pullups – must do a pullup on each bar, must release the ‘fly’ w/ both hands
I'd say it was a joke...but it isn't.
Besides, AgerBomb already thought all this shit up in her sleep and is totally prepared for it. Hey Andrea, here's a thought...maybe there were a lot of people who might have donated to your fund (or not) but chose not to due to the fact you're sleeping with one of the biggest D-bags in @F-Land outside of HQ...ya think?
Lisbeth X wrote:We will fight and do whatever we need to
Until she gets behind the wheel of a Ford Econoline loaded with potassium nitrate and personally delivers it through the front doors of Anthos Capital she's all talk.
But hey, the new regime will need passionate bloggers, right? Right!?
lasalle wrote:Well, at least they're keeping things in perspective:
Lisbeth the bat shit lunatic wrote:
I was a CrossFit affiliate owner first -- in 2007 -- before I became part of CrossFit, Inc, in 2008. I know the sweet taste of independence that affiliation provides. I know what life was like as a trainer before CrossFit arrived on the fitness scene and changed everything -- and none of us want to go back to that world. I have seen, first-hand, life from all sides of the CrossFit community and there is no doubt in my mind that insertion of outside interest is not in anyone's best interest but the profiteers seeking to insert themselves.
I stand with Coach. He has led us to a world none of us ever imagined, and the future looks brighter each and every day. Burn the boats. There is no other way for us. We will fight and do whatever we need to in order to protect our affiliates and maintain their independent nature, free from outside capital and control. And we will fight forever.
That @F forum thread is bringing out HQ staff like whingy flies to shit, even the ever-lurking Nicole Carroll came out to make a statement. http://board.crossfit.com/showthread.ph ... 36&page=25
Apparently they're now asking Dale Saran to do "Whatever it takes" (their new rallying cry), from the thread:
Attention CrossFit Affiliates
Yesterday, CrossFit Inc delivered a letter of intent to the founding partners of Anthos, Eff Martin and Thomas Healey, to sue over the putative agreement to sell an interest in CrossFit to Anthos Capital. This includes how the agreement was negotiated and entered into. CrossFit's complaints against the legality of the sale, and the dishonestly and unethical business practices of Bryan Kelly and Anthos, will be filed as public documents and we will make them available as soon as they are published.
I like Jon Gilson's post. As an actual businessman, he makes a good case for why $20M is cheap and Lauren should sell for more. Contrariwise, this means that if Lauren is willing to sell for $20M, Anthos will do whatever it takes to get it for that cheap - legal fees are a drop in the bucket compared to the bargain. Also, this means they could take a relatively hands-off approach, because if it's worth twice as much as they pay for it, why work hard to milk it? You get a 100% return for doing nothing, so why kill the goose that laid the golden egg? And if that's the case, why shouldn't CF, Inc. be fine with it? Anthos is likely less hostile than the ex-wife.
Yesterday, CrossFit Inc delivered a letter of intent to the founding partners of Anthos, Eff Martin and Thomas Healey, to sue over the putative agreement to sell an interest in CrossFit to Anthos Capital. This includes how the agreement was negotiated and entered into. CrossFit's complaints against the legality of the sale, and the dishonestly and unethical business practices of Bryan Kelly and Anthos, will be filed as public documents and we will make them available as soon as they are published.
All nonsense. If they had right of first refusal, this wouldn't even be an issue. Some clown tried to assert that because Lauren turned down more money from @Fit, that this means she's being irrational. It's quite possible that Lauren believes that it's not in her company's best interest to be solely owned by Couch.
It's also quite possible that Greg has strung along employees with vague promises of future equity, which will be exposed as ridiculous if you have another 50% stakeholder who Couch won't risk going below 50% himself against.
One of the downsides of the Internet is that it allows like-minded people to form communities, and sometimes those communities are stupid.
Soooooo, ankle extension happens before your hips and knees? I've been doing this all wrong.
I'd love to see the video. You've either got a guy who jumps forward four feet on the catch (this is a common fault of those who attend the cf oly cert when the weight gets heavy) or who just tried to squat under a bar that barely cleared his knees. I'm thinking full on donkey kick forward leap with elbows down on the catch. But, maybe i'm just being bitchy.
Miss Piggy wrote:Never eat more than you can lift.
Karianne Dickson
CrossFit Staff Karianne Dickson is offline
Re: Stop Anthos from Taking over CrossFit
CrossFit is not tangible. It is not a commodity. It exists because of the people that have committed to make it their life's work.
The caretakers of this precious community are a small group of people whose motives and vision have been crystal clear from the beginning. That is the simplicity and elegance of the operation.
There is and should be no question for affiliate owners and trainers. We go where they go and under no circumstance is there any other option. There are no substitutes and no short cuts.
CrossFit CEO and Founder Greg Glassman has now entered the CrossFit vs. Anthos debate, and says the private investment firm ‘will NOT end up with an equity share in CrossFit.
Glassman has confirmed claims Anthos is offering $20 million to take over the affiliate system, in a post on the CrossFit Discussion Board on Sunday.
He says he has been preparing for this day for a year after Bryan Kelly made the Anthos intent ‘painfully’ clear to a room full of CF Staff on Tuesday May 10, 2011.
It appears that Lauren Jenai-Glassman, Greg Glassman’s ex-wife is looking to sell her half of CrossFit, and feels Anthos is a worthy buyer. On her Facebook page she posted her thoughts on the issue, stating that she feels Anthos is the ‘right choice’ as a co-owner.
She also revealed that since her divorce with Greg two and a half years ago she has been prevented from having any involvement in the sport.
I like how Couch glassassinated the deal. It's a classic illustration of how he does business. He doesn't like the potential threat to his dominion - whatever the threat actually is - and then he finds a way to gin up the controversy in the community so they back him and throw the threat under the bus. Who knows what Anthos is really going to do? Anthos has said some stuff, Lauren has said some stuff, Greg has said some stuff. Frankly, the stuff Greg says Anthos was planning on doing, I'm not even sure it's possible, but it's definitely not advisable and I'm definitely sure that Anthos would be stupid if that was what they really wanted. One thing it would definitely mean, though, is that Greg couldn't just shoot from the hip and manage things in exactly the way he wants. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's often said that people with the genius to build up an idea into a big company often don't have the skillset needed to actually manage the company, and I will definitely not begrudge him the recognition that he had a lot of talent to take what he had and build what he did. It's on the order of going from a 250# deadlift to a 750# deadlift in a couple years only pulling heavy singles a couple times per year.
All I know for certain is that Greg got a sweet deal from Reebok and nobody else got a bite of the pie.
The HQ staff is all incompetent and know they will lose their jobs.
Lastly, in a potentially huge karmic retribution, if Anthos gained the electronic master keys to all of the @F domain (emails and secret message board posts in particular), where HQ people have few qualms about speaking ill of the very people paying their paychecks (as was evidenced in the George Mounce screenshots way back)...well, just like BeastModalDomains employer got an anonymous letter with his internetz work inside and paid a price...I could see Anthos doing their own well-poisoning by sending affiliates and other @F-friendlies anonymous letters with copies of previously confidential smacktalking by HQ cronies.
@FHQ only wants to hide the bodies at this point...the very reason the Reebok deal went through so smoothly is because it required little to no disclosure by HQ.
If you've asked yourself what other corporate interests might be at work behind Bryan Kelly and Paul Farr's attempt to buy CrossFit, look no further than Bryan's wife- Emily White. Is it just a coincidence that she's a corporate director for Lulu Lemon? I think the CrossFit community deserves to know.
If this is something Anthos is trying to hide, what else could they be hiding?
As for looking out for affiliates, HQ has always reminded me of Tony Soprano when he said," Shit flows downhill, money flows up". What do the affiliates actually get? Did anybody share in the Reebok cash? Do they get anything if they host an L1 seminar other than a couple of "scholarships"?
