Nick Symmonds walks the walk by putting left shoulder up for bid on eBay...

2008 US Olympian and three-time World Championships 800 meter runner Nick Symmonds (left/file photo by Paul Merca), who garnered a lot of publicity over the last few months by taking on the USATF and the IAAF regarding its advertising policies, is walking the walk via eBay by putting up his left shoulder for bid.

Symmonds, the four time defending USA Outdoor Champion and the reigning Olympic Trials champion, created an auction to encourage corporations and fans of the sport to join in his quest for Olympic gold by bidding for a spot on his left shoulder where he's agreed to wear a temporary tattoo of the auction winner's Twitter handle.

Symmonds states that he recognizes that at many meets, specifically those governed by the IAAF, he will be forced to cover up the tattoo due to "antiquated and crippling rules put in place be the IAAF." These sentiments reflect his views previous aired in a 2011 group he created on Facebook entitled "Im tired of USATF and IAAF crippling our sport." 

Symmonds, a graduate of Willamette University in Oregon, credits much of the sport's waning popularity to the restrictive regulations on where and how corporations may advertise on an athlete and has gone as far as to say, "these regulations are the biggest problem in our sport today." His strong feelings toward this issue have been covered in recent months by many publications including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

The auction which began late in the afternoon of Wednesday, January 4th, is a 10 day auction and is set to expire on the afternoon of Saturday, January 14th.

To see the auction, please click this link.

According to a report in the San Jose Mercury News, former University of Washington assistant track coach and Olympic legend Lee Evans underwent successful surgery Tuesday to remove a tumor in his brain.

The 1968 Olympic 400 meter champion, who was living in West Africa for the last four years, was visiting family in California, when he was checked into the hospital complaining of severe headaches.

Because he was living overseas, Evans did not have any health insurance when he was admitted on December 20th. When word of his plight became public, an account and donation page for his was set up to help him pay for his expenses.

The link to the story is here.

You can donate to help the family pay his medical bills here.