We must face the fact that most of the fans of figure skating are ladies, and they hold to a different standard of sports behavior than what men would hold. To me, it is not the end of the sport if a coach berates his student unintentionally in the public's eye. If it bothers the skater, which is more important, then he has the option to switch coaches, otherwise the skater may practice harder.
This whole Mirai-Frank situation was blown out of proportion.
I agree. If the kiss and cry episode went like this:
Mirai: "I gave it away. (*sniff*)"
Frank: "Yes, you gave it away. I'm sorry. (Now tell your fans to stop throwing teddy bears at me.)"
-- I can't really get all up in arms.
As for the Hersh article, it is Hersh's job to ask provocative questions and to spin the answers in such a way as to make a newspaper column that is talked about.
The content of Frank's "mooning comment" was, "Mirai was so nervous out there before she even started that she kept fiddling with her boot laces over and over. What was the point of that, trying to moon someone? Just go out there and skate the program you trained!"
I agree. I'm not sure why it is such a big deal to so many. Then again, this is the same "sport" where skaters, especially female ones, are discouraged from showing their competitiveness. Huh? Give me Ashley Wagner any day over, say, Czisny.
no good "showing" your competitiveness if you actually aren't competitive in competition.
I agree. I'm not sure why it is such a big deal to so many. Then again, this is the same "sport" where skaters, especially female ones, are discouraged from showing their competitiveness. Huh? Give me Ashley Wagner any day over, say, Czisny.
If a high school student hired Mathman as a tutor and doesn't get the effort from the student he wants, it would be unbecoming of MM to go to the (school) newspaper and tell the world that.
Not talking about trash talking or bragging, which would put external pressure on you to back up what you say. I'm talking about openly striving to be a champion instead of hiding behind the dreaded phrase "Just want to have fun" or its awful variant, "Just want to skate my best". There's a difference between saying what you want to do- and saying you're going to do it. The latter requires walking the walk.
It is refreshing when skaters say I want to win. Ashley didn't say that though.
actually she did. In a recent interview she stated that her (long-term) goal was to win in Sochi.
Such a delicate balance. Of course they ALL want to win. NOBODY puts this much time, money, effort into such a fickle sport unless they "want" to win. Saying it is the issue. How, when, put in context by ?? Seems always better to be safe and say your goals are to do your best. If already a proven champion, then you had better say you want to win, since that is what is "expected"
I remember reading somewhere (book?) that Kurt Browning talked about how he got Kristi to admit she wanted to win by making her say it out loud. Now whether Kristi would have been well received for going out in front of a TV reporter and saying this out loud, seems a completely different thing IMHO.
Such a delicate balance. Of course they ALL want to win. NOBODY puts this much time, money, effort into such a fickle sport unless they "want" to win. Saying it is the issue. How, when, put in context by ?? Seems always better to be safe and say your goals are to do your best.
Take a step back and stop being so worked up about it. (Gee, are you sure you are not a fanboy? You sound as emotional as any.)Be safe?! From what??? This is where I vehemently disagree but I will spare you the extensive tirade. Are we talking about a sport or not? Where exactly are you aiming if you simply "want to do your best"? SOMETHING has to drive you to that point. If you just want to have fun, you'd skate recreationally, right? That's why I say that it is a hogwash statement used only to save face in front of people who think it's wrong that skaters should even bother to be competitive...
Again, there is a difference between saying you WANT to win, and saying you are GOING TO win. Now, one of the strategies to do so may be very well to "skate your best" and try not to get too hung up on medals- but that's only a means, not an end.
We need to have more (female) skaters who are forward/upfront about their goals.