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November 5, 2014This Tells You All You’ll Need to Know About USA Swimming’s Whining About the Upcoming Article on Sex Abuse/Cover-Up in Outside Magazine
November 5, 2014by Irvin Muchnick
Concussion Inc. has obtained an internal USA Swimming memorandum in which the organization warns member clubs of a lengthy article on the sexual abuse and cover-up scandals upcoming in the December issue of Outside magazine.
The memo by board president Jim Sheehan notes that the magazine reaches subscribers by mail this week and newsstand racks next week. Sheehan adds that Outside has a subscriber base just under 700,000.
Sheehan complains that the Outside article is biased against USA Swimming, and downplays the account of a recent meeting between swimming officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The memo also attaches a letter to the editor that Sheehan says will be dispatched to Outside after publication. The letter disputes no facts in the article. “We have come a long way since 2010,” Sheehan complains. However, neither the letter nor the Sheehan memo to members refutes the reporting of many post-2010 cases by Tim Joyce and myself, some of which are expected to be highlighted by Outside.