You know things are rough!

Here's a link to a great piece written by Joe Batagglia of Universal Sports about the plight of US sprinter Darvis "Doc" Patton, who made the finals of the men's 100 meter dash in Beijing.

His reward? A thank you (if even that), and a notice that he was dropped by adidas.

“I did a new store opening appearance with Jeremy Wariner just before Thanksgiving,” Patton said in a recent phone interview with Universal Sports. “Two weeks later, I found out that adidas was dropping me. My agent (Claude Bryan) said he didn’t want to tell me on my birthday. I didn’t expect it at all. It was a complete shock. It was like thank you, but no thanks.”

Very few track & field athletes were able to cash in on their Olympic feats from Beijing. Two of the most visible athletes in the sport who did were Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who had his deal with Puma upped substantially, plus got a deal with Gatorade; and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva (above/photo by Paul Merca), who declined to re-sign with adidas after 2008, but cashed in on a deal with Li Ning of China, which will use her to try and break into the world track & field market.

To read the full article, please click here.