Seriously, the amount of threads of one-off reactions/rants/whatever is cracking me up. But I thought maybe to no clog up GS serves, we could maybe just have one thread to express any rants, issues, knee-jerk reactions, whatever could go here.
Okay, I'm just going to say it because it's eating at me and just need to get it off my back. I'm really disappointed to see comments from the Asian American community on social media hoping that Ashley Wagner will "fail/fall/bite it" etc.
You can disagree with the selection process; you can say you don't care for Ashley Wagner. But hoping they fail? What good does that do? It doesn't help Mirai get on the team nor does it advance the cause of increasing diversity in figure skating.
FWIW, there are lots of developing Asian American skaters in U.S. Figure Skating; it's just that most people only know about the senior skater that got bumped.
Karen Chen got named to the junior worlds team despite WD from Nationals after finishing a dismal fifth in the SP (she was injured; cutting into training time). You know why? Because of her past record (winning both her junior grand prix events in the fall).
So the criteria of naming people to international events based on past record does not only apply to white people.
I'll be cheering for Ashley Wagner even if that means I will somehow be seen as not supporting my Asian American roots.
I've also seen comments from some folks accusing Ashley as being "entitled" because of her reaction to her SP score at the team event.
Let me give you some facts: After 2011, when she basically had the worst U.S. nationals of her life, she made some drastic changes. She moved cross country to switch coaches to one of the best, John Nicks. But to do that meant living 3,000 miles from her family and working at a Lucky Jeans store to pay the bills until she started getting endorsements AFTER she started being successful on both the national/international level.
Does that sound entitled to you?
As to her reaction at the SP yesterday, that was a raw reaction after the scores came up. Did people really expect her to be like "Oh, that's okay, I'm just happy I am here!" No, she thought she did better than how she was scored.
As someone that has watched numerous kiss and cry moments in many years of watching skating, I can assure you that Ashley Wagner is NOT the only skater to express disgust/disappointment/etc. at scores. If you think Ashley Wagner is ungracious/entitled for her reaction to her scores, then you should apply that same label to a whole lot of other skaters.
I have watched figure skating for many years and have had favorites from Michelle Kwan (all time fav) to Oksana Bauil. I think I have some knowledge of figure skating and have predicted the winner in many instances. This being said, I can easily see Julia winning the gold. There is a special quality to her skate that sets her apart from the other ladies. I love Yuna, but I am not sure this will be her moment.
What I really can't get is how grown people can beat up on a fifteen year old that has done nothing wrong but skate her heart out! I for one hope she takes the gold just to silence this group. Very disappointed!!!
By the way, even the great skates you all mention are in love with Julia. Is this coming from Yuna/Mao camp.
I'll post the rants I posted on my Facebook page:
For context, it came from seeing some numerous Facebook posts from acquaintances, who have been painting Ashley being selected over Mirai as an issue of race. Those same acquaintances have posted posts accusing Ashley being entitled basically of the reaction of her SP sores. That generated a gang-up of "I hope she fails" comments from others Asian American. That lead to this rant:
America's Darling Michelle Kwan booed her marks at the 2002 Olympics but nothing was said about it. It is a sport.
I have watched figure skating for many years and have had favorites from Michelle Kwan (all time fav) to Oksana Bauil. I think I have some knowledge of figure skating and have predicted the winner in many instances. This being said, I can easily see Julia winning the gold. There is a special quality to her skate that sets her apart from the other ladies. I love Yuna, but I am not sure this will be her moment.
What I really can't get is how grown people can beat up on a fifteen year old that has done nothing wrong but skate her heart out! I for one hope she takes the gold just to silence this group. Very disappointed!!!
By the way, even the great skates you all mention are in love with Julia. Is this coming from Yuna/Mao camp.
I can't believe people are still saying hateful things about Ashley. Even if it wasn't perfect, she delivered and did not endanger the team medal. And some are bitter about Ashley's supposed bad attitude when she received her sp score. Please! I personally thought it was a tad low and apparently, so did the bbc commentators. She's allowed to have human emotions, good grief.
Okay, end rant.
Ashley is just what this sport needs! I like her attitude. Let's not forget Kwan booing her marks after the SP Olympics 2002. Nothing was ever said about that!! Or Sasha mouthing "Fu*ck Yeah!" when she skated a clean SP in 2006. These are athletes were are talking about! To think that they are Ice Princesses is ridiculous and so old school.While it wasn't particularly lady-like, I love how her "That's bull****" is spreading like wildfire, and she didn't even care that there were cameras. It totally defines her as a fierce, bad-*** skater instead of the typical prim and prop nod-your-head skaters.
It would be epic if she dedicated her team bronze to LGBT people and then if she was stripped of it said, "Whatever, it's just a medal. Everyone knows I was part of the team, and that we came 3rd." Or if she realised she didn't have a chance at a medal in individual and decided to make some statement not even caring if she was disqualified.
Clearly she is very talented for a fifteen year old and has wonderful qualities; I am just dismayed with the judges and her score with respect to how she skated. This is a sport and as promising and consistent as she is, the low quality of her jumps are undeserving of such high GOEs.
Hah, good luck with that. But a good idea.
My rant: the anonymous judging needs to stop. We need to know which judge gives which GOE and which PCS marks, down to every element. Each judge must have a track record on what scores they give and be held accountable when they have scores that skew or grossly deviate from others. Also, the top PCS/GOE score and lowest PCS/GOE scores must be eliminated. Too often this will be used to lowball skaters deserving higher scores and inflate skaters that skate average but end up getting higher scores. And there need to be consequences for this bs. Judges essentially must be feared into judging properly and impartially.
http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2014/02/09/sochi-olympics-figure-skating-russia/
The screwball logic was that the feds themselves would not know how their judges voted, and therefore the judges could not possibly be influenced.What was the initial argument for anonymous judging anyway? Was it supposed to be so judges didn't feel intimidated by other judges? Given that COP was initially introduced in response to the judge collusion accusations, making it even more difficult to hold individual judges accountable seems bizarre. Though, this Olympics, even more so than judges, the objectivity of the technical callers seems in question.
1) Julia does not look 15. #sorrynotsorry