Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto's Patriotic Exhibition

Vash, if you don't like cheesy displays of patriotism, I assume you won't be watching the Olympics, LOL.

MM

Patriotic tunes killed Weiss' chance for medal at the Dortmund Worlds.

Joe

No problem with patriotic theme as long as it done well (e.g. Irina's 2005 Worlds exhibition to a pop song "Made In Russia"). This was much better than the exhibition Gregory & Petukhov did to "God Bless America". I think finding anything disrespectful in their Tanith & Ben's performance is a huge stretch. I do, though, agree, that they would have been better off not bringing the flag onto the ice.

Wearing a flag

Was it Abby Hoffman who went to court to win for all Americans the right to wear a flag?

I may not agree with what it says, but I defend the right to say it.

Linny

Mathman said:

Vash, if you don't like cheesy displays of patriotism, I assume you won't be watching the Olympics, LOL.

MM

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I am not patriotic when it comes to figure skating, so I will be cheering for the best skaters, regardless of nationality. The Olympics do involve national pride for many, and I did cheer for our skaters loudly at the SLC Olympics, but I still prefer that they leave out obviously patriotic themes. I applaud the skating, regardless of what country the skaters are from. I am somewhat patriotic in other sports like the downhill, speed skating, hockey, etc. probably because I don't really know much about those sports. Otherwise I may be applauding the best athletes.

I did not much care for Kristi's patriotic exhibition number at the 1992 Oly exhibition either. As much as I love her, the costume looked a bit silly. However, in her case she may have chosen that because of her ethnicity- just to send a message that she was an American.

Vash

Panther2000 said:

It is there way of saying thank you for her citizenship.



It was a wonderful skate. But, I hope they use something different at the olympics. I hate the use of Political statements during the games.

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Of course. This was their way of acknowleding that Tanith is now an American citizen. I forgot one more musical piece from their exhibition - "American Woman". Appropriate! :thumbsup:

A piece such as "America the Beautiful" is appropriate in any occasion, as far as I'm concerned, but I'm sure some might consider that to be too political. Frankly, sometimes I think we all carry the political correctness thing a tad too far.

Anyway, good luck to Tanith and Ben! Go for it!

Ptichka said:

No problem with patriotic theme as long as it done well (e.g. Irina's 2005 Worlds exhibition to a pop song "Made In Russia"). This was much better than the exhibition Gregory & Petukhov did to "God Bless America". I think finding anything disrespectful in their Tanith & Ben's performance is a huge stretch. I do, though, agree, that they would have been better off not bringing the flag onto the ice.

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I thought G&P's "God Bless America" was beautiful, and far more enjoyable than B&A's display of patriotism. I am in no way OFFENDED by B&A's program, I just liked G&P's better, it was softer, smoother, more lyrical, and thats just what I like. I still just don't like Tanith's costume.

Piel said:

Tanith's costume was just fine. COI a couple of years ago had the entire cast in various stars and stripes costumes....which is different than costumes that are actually sewn out of a flag. Tanith's was obviously not made from a flag...the blue was a different color and the stars were much bigger., and the stripes were totally different from the stripes on the flag. So NO FLAGS were destroyed to make Tanith's costume. I think the girl was celebrating and embracing her new citizenship in an appropriate way. You could tell that they were trying to keep the flag off of the ice. Someone dancing or skating with the flag in a joyful manner doesn't bother me at all. If you want to get worked up about disrespecting the flag then worry about all of the killing and government misconduct that goes on in the name of the flag. The audience seemed to appreciate her performance. And since when is showing a navel trashy? She wasn't at church she was performing.:sheesh: :sheesh: :sheesh:

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If it were just her navel, that would be one thing, but it was about 12 inches of flesh showing! It just does not look appropriate for skating, IMHO, it looks like beachwear. And I don't care for all of COI's "Lets make all the girls look like sluts" 2 piece outfits, either.

Worst use of a flag award would go to all those idiots who stuck little flags on plastic sticks to the sides of their cars. After a while, the flags deteriorate, fall off, endanger the lives of other drivers, and are pounded to dust on the pavement (which is no way to treat the flag, which is not supposed to be allowed to touch the ground). Tanith did nothing but celebrate that while Ben is 'Born in the USA' she is now too an "American Woman". But if I were them, I'd do their exhibition in Europe to something else...maybe Imagine.

Linny said:

Was it Abby Hoffman who went to court to win for all Americans the right to wear a flag?

I may not agree with what it says, but I defend the right to say it.

Linny

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(((DorisPulaski))))

Actually, the presentation to the court was the right to wear the American Flag on ones A**. sadly, all the other trashy costumery comes with that poor judicial decision.

However, Hoffman vs. Court's decision did not alter the long held respect that te Flag is not to touch the ground. Irrespective as to how carefiul an artist may be, it is inappropriate to use the American flag as a prop.

I would think thatTanith would have made a better decision to thank the U.S. government for her hastened citizenship, by performing a beautiful dance program AND not strollling to the ice dressed an a US flag and then waving it aroung like a sweat towel.

Whatever Ms. Belbin''s thinking was, she and Agusto, coach and team, made a poor decision, costume, music and flag. Gawd, someone have some sense and not do this in Turin or Calgary!!!

DORISPULASKI said:

Worst use of a flag award would go to all those idiots who stuck little flags on plastic sticks to the sides of their cars. After a while, the flags deteriorate, fall off, endanger the lives of other drivers, and are pounded to dust on the pavement (which is no way to treat the flag, which is not supposed to be allowed to touch the ground).

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ITA. Right after 9/11, a lot of drivers put flags on their cars. Then, a couple of later, it gave me chills to see all those American flags lying torn on highways, cars running over them. I realize the flags were put on the cars for patriotic reasons, but still found the site extremely disturbing.

flags on cars

Mostly, I found it distressing to see flags stuck in gas guzzlers just before going to war to defend the oil supply.

Back OT, someone mentioned that the full lyrics to Born in the Usa aren't exactly complimentary. Neither are the full lyrics to American Woman. Here's some of them:

American woman, I said get way
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come hanging around my door
Don't want to see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away

Linny

I just hope that B&A do not skate this program outside North America...in fact, if would even be tacky of them to skate it at the end of Worlds, in Canada, as Tanith is also Canadian.

Fun & moving in St Louis. It would be HORRENDOUS & might result in boos in Turin (or anywhere else on earth where Americans are detested). Sorry but that's the world in which we live.

Linny said:

Mostly, I found it distressing to see flags stuck in gas guzzlers just before going to war to defend the oil supply.

Back OT, someone mentioned that the full lyrics to Born in the Usa aren't exactly complimentary. Neither are the full lyrics to American Woman. Here's some of them:

American woman, I said get way
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come hanging around my door
Don't want to see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away

Linny

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you are correct, the song was written by a guy in some Canadian band (the name I don't remember) who was sick of his fans (way to be grateful to your fans dude) at american shows - he thought the women were too made up and unnatural looking (and assumed they were all american, ya know, cuz we don't have immigrants here) and that Canadian girls were more natural looking (cough, pamela anderson, cough) lol. But I guess some people decided to make the song their own - like how some women try to "own" the B word. In either case, it is a sexist and not very nice song IMHO just to women in general, but free speech, blah blah blah, so I'll let him express himself and maybe I'll write my own little song about Canadian men! That'll get him.. I'll start making a list ...Michael J. Fox, Kurt Browning.... watch out!

As for the program by Tanith & Ben - I didn't find it offensive and thought it was cute. Tanith looked very happy. Hopefully it was only for US Nationals though cuz I think it might come across as obnoxious if used in the Olympic games.

Everyone will probably be doing their exhibitions to Italian opera with a Tarantella thrown in here and there. Maybe even more R&J.

In my opinion, Tanith and Ben deserve a lot of credit for surviving a roller-coaster of emotions while waiting to learn whether or not Tanith would receive her US citizenship in time to qualify for the US Olympic team. They received it at the 11th hour, thanks the Congress (finally) passing a bill giving individuals with 'extraordinary talent/abilities' expedited US citizenship and to President Bush for signing the bill. They were just letting loose with joy, relief, and emotion.

Granted, I'm not thrilled with seeing people using the US flag as a prop. IMHO, the flag should be hung on a flagpole or paraded with a post, and/or otherwise displayed in a respectful maner. Still, Tanith and Ben's use of the flag wasn't offensive, at least not to me. They showed how thrilled they were, how proud they were to both be American citizens.

And, yes, I agree with several of the posters who thought Tanith's costume was a tad over the top and showed a bit too much skin. Frankly, Tanith's costumes this year are ALL a tad over the top and show a bit too much skin.

One of the nicest exhibition performances to Ray Charles' "America the Beautiful" was skated by Kitty and Peter Carruthers following their 1984 Olympic silver medal win. I saw them skate to this in "Ice Capades" many years ago, and it was a wonderful program. The audience was on their feet, cheering.

As for those who write that people might boo American skaters who have the audacity to skate to "America the Beautiful" outside of the continental US, I say, "Let them skate to America the Beautiful!!". If I was an Olympic figure skater and had the chance to skate an exhibition program, I would be delighted to skate to patriotic music. However, in doing so, I would not skate around punching my fists at the audience, shaking my booty, or acting like a jerk. I would skate to the music in a serious, respective mode. If that offended people - well, too bad.

SkateFan4Life said:

Tanith and Ben just skated to a medley of Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" and Ray Charles "America". She was dressed in a sort of American flag costume, and they used a full-sized American flag during the number. When they finished the routine, they took their bows, holding the flag fully extended between them.

Go, USA!

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Oh brother.....

Piel said:

I think the "BITUSA" part was just pertaining to Ben beause he was BITUSA. If you notice the only lyrics that were played were BITUSA,. Then when Tanith came out it was the Canadian band The Guess Who singing "American Woman" which Tanith is now. Then together they skated to Ray Charles' "America". So as I understood it the guy BITUSA and the Canadian-American Woman (she has dual citizenship) skated together to "America".. I loved it but agree not for an international audience. But please no Green Acres.

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Funny they would choose that song - If only they knew what Burton Cummings is implying in his song "American Woman" (The Guess Who - Canadian group from the 70s) she might rethink that one. The song is actually putting down the US - it's an anti-war song. If she is trying to be patriotic, she is skating to the wrong tune. I guess Tanith is too young to know - it's not a flattering song for her....she should ask her dad.

"American Woman"

(As recorded by the Guess Who)
RANDY C. BACHMAN
BURTON CUMMINGS
JIM KALE
GARY PETERSON

American woman gonna mess your mind
American woman she gonna mess your mind
Mm, american woman gonna mess your mind
Mm, american woman gonna mess your mind
I say A, I say M, I say E, I say R, say I, use C, say A, N, um
American woman gonna mess your mind
Mm, American woman gonna mess your mind
Ooo, American woman gonna mess your mind.

Ooo
American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don't come a-hangin' around my door
I don't wanna see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin' old with you
Now woman, I said stay away
American woman, listen what I say-ay-ay-ay.

American woman, get away from me
American woman, mama let me be
Don't come a-knockin' around my door
Don't wanna see your shadow no more
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, I said get away
American woman, listen what I say-ay-ay-ay.

American woman, said get away
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come a-hangin' around my door
Don't wanna see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Coloured lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now woman, get away from me
American woman, mother let me be.

Go gotta get away
Go gotta get away now go, go, go
I'm gonna leave you woman
Gonna leave you woman
Bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, bye-bye

You're no good for me
I'm no good for you
Gonna look you right in the eye
Tell you what I'm gonna do
You know I'm gonna leave
You know I'm gonna go
You know I'm gonna leave
You know I'm gonna go, woman
I'm gonna leave, woman
Goodbye American woman
Goodbye American chick
Goodbye American broad.

(c) Copyright 1969 by Cirrus Music, Toronto, Canada. International copyright secured.
All rights reserved including public performance for profit. All rights for the U.S.A.
controlled by Dunbar Music, Inc., 1133 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036.

- SONG HITS, Summer 1974.

IDLERACER said:

Click HERE to see the Kodak moment.​

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The striking thing about that picture is Tanith's ribs sticking out!