Nightmare Vancouver Podiums

[Layfan]

THE worst possible Men's podium would be:

01. Evan Lysacek - he'd be so smug about winning
02. Evgeni Plushenko - he'd be angry about coming in second to such an inferior skater
03. Brian Joubert - he'd be angry about finishing below Plushenko yet again

Hahaha!! And I would have no problem with any of those reactions. If "he" wins, I think I might have to take a break from the boards along with R.D. if "she" wins.

[jennylovskt]

You're going to hate this.
My worst nightmare would be Plushenko and Joubert ON the podium

Wow! Your nightmare may very well become reality.

[seniorita]

THE worst possible Men's podium would be:

01. Evan Lysacek - he'd be so smug about winning
02. Evgeni Plushenko - he'd be angry about coming in second to such an inferior skater
03. Brian Joubert - he'd be angry about finishing below Plushenko yet again

LOL! I have a virtual image of this podium, Evan all colgate smile in his Vera Wang http://s18.rimg.info/fb5688f16f72196...1ac31b7cfa.gif and Plush and Joub like this http://s2.rimg.info/131f088a12a975b1...d1a54ce458.gif consolidating eachother. I hope Plushy can be all happy to be even on podium, althought I think he would prefer to get beaten by Joubert or Lambiel.

Who is "she"???

[schiele]

colgate smile

[NatachaHatawa]

1. True - if you don't like COP, than Canadian Skaters and Skate Canada should be on your hitlist.
2. Wait a minute. So a teenager shooting his mouth off (which he's done to Plushenko as well, fwiw) is somehow representative of the whole organization? And is contributing to hurting Joubert's chances for Gold? Do you think they sliced his foot as well and voodoo dolled his double axel at worlds last year as well?

If you don't want to trigger debate, maybe saying inflammatory things (which I believe you have) is not the way to go about it. IMO.

1) Canadian skaters aren't on my hitlist - I think Chan's great, I just don't want him to beat the quad guys. And I believe e's got every ability to win gold in Sochi, which would be much better as the OGM would come as a reward for a senior career, not at the begining of it.
2) I'm not saying Chan is representative of a whole federation, I think it's important not to confuse skaters and their federations. Like I said - and I believe I made it quite clear that I had no intention of sparking off a heated debate, that I just wanted to answer a question - I'm extremely surprised that Chan had a SECOND rant, after a first one that didn't necessarily do him any favours. It seems wierd how no-one from Skate Canada told him to be quite, that's all. I don't want this thread to go onto a debate on what happened last year - we've already done that. And I'm certainly not accusing Skate Canada of voodoo and God only knows what else - Brian's bronze medal was his own fault.:sheesh: I don't have a problem with skaters mouthing off - at least they're honest. I just don't appreciate it when federations slyly try to discredit other skaters. Skate Canada certainly isn't the only one to do so, like I said, but it's the one that's annoying me right now. Skate Canada probably wouldn't annoy me so much if on top of things they wrenet' the biggest advocates of the CoP.

I hope I made myself clearer.

[jennylovskt]

Chan dragged Skate Canada in for his own needs. For this, I haven't forgiven him yet. Many people dislike Chan's big mouth. They somehow shifted the anger to Skate Canada, then to Canada. I find it funny. No one hated US because of USFSA or a certain skater. No one hated France because of French Federation. This whole Canada hating thing makes me sick.

[Buttercup]

If you read the second part of the interview that fan site http://www.kurtfiles.com did not too long ago, I think it's VERY obvious what is certain. Kurt seemed pretty miffed.

it's not like Kurt's gone out of his way to screw anyone over, quite the opposite. And he's not just Skate Canada's puppet. Who knew the man would become part of a conspiracy

I've wondered for a while what happened between those two and after reading Kurt's answer, I was kind of "that's it?". I expected much worse. I don't think I've heard anyone describe Brian as inconsiderate of others (Johnny Weir said Brian is a very kind person) and I wonder if maybe Kurt thought he and Brian had an agreement and Brian thought that it wasn't a firm commitment - for instance, perhaps he thought Kurt would be busy with jury duty for a while? So now we've heard one side of it. AFAIK Brian has kept his mouth shut on the matter, although he did seem to dismiss the possibility of a NA coach/choreographer when he was sorting out his coaching situation; maybe it was a personality thing, maybe it was a cultural thing. I don't believe either of them is a bad guy.

I don't think Kurt wishes Brian ill and he has spoken positively about him; after NHK he said somewhere that he was happy to see Brian back in good form, and when Brian was injured he wished him well. I do wish they could have continued working together, I really enjoyed Kurt's programs for Brian. Maybe next year, after the pressure of the Olympics is over and all the patriotic stuff winds down.

I do have some issues with Skate Canada, most notably their ill-planned masculinity/no, we didn't mean it like that campaign, and encouraging Chan to make statements that were ugly and did him no favors - Jenny, I agree that Chan needs to tone it down, but I also got the sense some people were pushing him in that direction, which is extremely irresponsible. Still, I am hardly naive enough to think they're the only federation playing politiks; they simply happen to be better at it than most. I have nothing against Canada, Canadians, or Canadian skaters. I just dislike some Canadian skaters.

As for nightmare podiums, I refuse to play that game. I'll criticize skaters based on how they perform, not ahead of time.

[i love to skate]

1) Canadian skaters aren't on my hitlist - I think Chan's great, I just don't want him to beat the quad guys. And I believe e's got every ability to win gold in Sochi, which would be much better as the OGM would come as a reward for a senior career, not at the begining of it.
2) I'm not saying Chan is representative of a whole federation, I think it's important not to confuse skaters and their federations. Like I said - and I believe I made it quite clear that I had no intention of sparking off a heated debate, that I just wanted to answer a question - I'm extremely surprised that Chan had a SECOND rant, after a first one that didn't necessarily do him any favours. It seems wierd how no-one from Skate Canada told him to be quite, that's all. I don't want this thread to go onto a debate on what happened last year - we've already done that. And I'm certainly not accusing Skate Canada of voodoo and God only knows what else - Brian's bronze medal was his own fault.:sheesh: I don't have a problem with skaters mouthing off - at least they're honest. I just don't appreciate it when federations slyly try to discredit other skaters. Skate Canada certainly isn't the only one to do so, like I said, but it's the one that's annoying me right now. Skate Canada probably wouldn't annoy me so much if on top of things they wrenet' the biggest advocates of the CoP.

I hope I made myself clearer.

This is Chan's third full year on the senior circuit so I would say he is in the middle of his career. Also, your logic doesn't make sense you have no problem with skaters mouthing off.....so why are you making such a big deal/taking issue with it? SC doesn't control the skaters and make them say certain things - we live in a free country here after all. Your previous point about Kurt Browning carries no weight as he is not directly involved with Skate Canada - also the interview Tonichelle provided clearly shows what happened in the Browning/Joubert conflict. How exactly is SC "slyly trying to discredit other skaters"? Like I said Chan is an invididual and SC has not made any derogatory statements towards skaters from other countries that I am aware of.

[janetfan]

As for nightmare podiums, I refuse to play that game. I'll criticize skaters based on how they perform, not ahead of time.

[NatachaHatawa]

This is Chan's third full year on the senior circuit so I would say he is in the middle of his career. Also, your logic doesn't make sense you have no problem with skaters mouthing off.....so why are you making such a big deal/taking issue with it? SC doesn't control the skaters and make them say certain things - we live in a free country here after all. Your previous point about Kurt Browning carries no weight as he is not directly involved with Skate Canada - also the interview Tonichelle provided clearly shows what happened in the Browning/Joubert conflict. How exactly is SC "slyly trying to discredit other skaters"? Like I said Chan is an invididual and SC has not made any derogatory statements towards skaters from other countries that I am aware of.

Granted it's Chan's third year n the circuit, but he has been a heavyweight for less, so I'd prefer it if some people like Takahashi or even Evan (although I don't like his skating that much) were to win a medal. It's a bit like Sarah Hughs winning gold in 2002 or Tara Lipinski in 1998 - they had one or two good seasons, won gold, went professionnal. It' like in 2006, I was happy that Asada couldn't go to the Olys, because a new skater winning gold would have just been contrary to what the Olympics is about, but this year I'm praying for her to win a medal.

As for the rest of your post, I'll refer you to the end of Buttercup's last post, who expresses perfectly well what I'm trying to say. Concerning Kurt/Brian I've already expressed myself on that - there have been loads of rumors going around, but they seem pretty strange seeing the kind of gut Kurt is.

[jennylovskt]

I do have some issues with Skate Canada, most notably their ill-planned masculinity/no, we didn't mean it like that campaign, and encouraging Chan to make statements that were ugly and did him no favors - Jenny, I agree that Chan needs to tone it down, but I also got the sense some people were pushing him in that direction, which is extremely irresponsible. Still, I am hardly naive enough to think they're the only federation playing politiks; they simply happen to be better at it than most. I have nothing against Canada, Canadians, or Canadian skaters. I just dislike some Canadian skaters.

I actually think that the differences in dealing with issues between the federations might be the cultural differences. Canadians don't like direct face to face incounters in arguements unlike the big neighbor US. Canadians are in general a lot milder and gentler. I don't think they would risk to hurt their number one male skater's feeling in any way. Chan's action is his own responsibility, not the SC's.

[Poodlepal]

I tried to post before, but it didn't seem to go through.

This is what worries me the most: that the podium will be sort of pre-decided and that the favorites will win while skating badly, over clean skaters.
Ladies:
1. Yu-Na falls but wins because of her superior layback position (or something)
2. Carolina Kostner falls, but somehow gets enough points to come in 2nd.
3. Joannie Rochette also skates poorly but gets enough points to come in third
4. Rachael skates clean, lands triple triples, but it's decided her positions are ugly, so no medal for her
5. Mirai skates beautifully, brings the crowd to its feet, but after scrutinizing her program for 15 minutes ,they decide she must have underrotated, so no medal for her.

You could replace Carolina and Joannie with Mao Asada or anyone else, and it's the same.

Men: I want to see one of my home country-boys on the podium (Evan, Jeremy, or Johnny), but besides that, I think the judging is more fair. LOL about the Evan, Evegeny and Brian prediction, with one bragging and the others fuming!

Dance: Some team(s) that didn't compete in the Grand Prix bump off the favored Americans or Canadians. If this team or teams are really good, fine, but I can imagine some Russians getting favored because they have a classical style, that the judges like better than, say, Phantom of the Opera.

Pairs: Same as Dance, except it's the Chinese that would be bumped off.

[seniorita]

As for nightmare podiums, I refuse to play that game. I'll criticize skaters based on how they perform, not ahead of time.

ah THANK YOU! Couldnt say it better. I have enough excitement for the event, i dont want to have a black spot in my heart beforehand.

[i love to skate]

Granted it's Chan's third year n the circuit, but he has been a heavyweight for less, so I'd prefer it if some people like Takahashi or even Evan (although I don't like his skating that much) were to win a medal. It's a bit like Sarah Hughs winning gold in 2002 or Tara Lipinski in 1998 - they had one or two good seasons, won gold, went professionnal. It' like in 2006, I was happy that Asada couldn't go to the Olys, because a new skater winning gold would have just been contrary to what the Olympics is about, but this year I'm praying for her to win a medal.

I don't understand the bolded part of your statement at all. The Olympic motto is "Swifter, Higher, Stronger" and in skating the Olympics are (usually) about who skates the best on that night. So what if a new skater wins gold? They have trained and worked just as hard as the skaters who have been on the circuit for longer than them. Hughes and Lipinski deserved their medals - they didn't want to compete anymore, had injury problems, wanted to go to college, pursue other interests etc. so they left competitive skating. What is wrong with that?

[ARipp42014]

I'm new here and been lurking on this board for a while. So I might as well post my nightmare podiums!

Pairs: S/Z not winning gold. :( Anything lower for them is failure.
Mens: G: Plushenko, S: Joubert, B: Weir
ID: Dom/Shabs medaling (even worse, winning it all), D/W and V/M not medaling
Ladies: G: Kostner, S: Lepisto, B: Flatt

What makes it much worse if everything is a splatfest!