Sasha Leaves Tarasova For Robin Wagner

[LBC]

Originally posted by thisthingcalledlove
That line is just funny to me, LBC. Everytime I read it, I see TT falling on the floor, fur coat and all, and Galina Cohen screaming at her in Russian.

I think the skating moms need to all get together and leave their daughters alone!

Julie McDonough, Pat Lipinski, LaVonna Harding, Danny Kwan (he's not a mom, but I'm lumping him in here), Galina Cohen, Robin Wagner (I think if she had her way, she'd adopt Sarah), and the rest of them should be put in WWF and see who'd win!

My bet is on Pat Lipinski

IDLERACER- I think if W0FICE were still here, she'd have a second heart attack! She'd be like TT- she has to give up skating before Sasha kills her!

Yes Celebrity Skating Mom Death Match.

Announcer: Here we are at the Ice Palace of Auburn Hills for Celebrity Skating Mom Death Match.

Our first match feature: Pat Lipinski vs Danny Kwan

Announcer: This should be a slam dunk for Pat. Danny maybe a guy but he's not very big.

Michelle and Tara in the audience:

Michelle: Go Dad beat the "bleep" out of her.
Tara: Come on mom you can do it. I beat Michelle for god's sake you can beat her dad.

Michelle grabs Tara's hair and wraps it around her neck and mouth.

Announcer: There's the bell

Pat: Come on you . At least I never tried to coach my daughter just run her life.

Danny: Shut up Pat. Your daughter can barely walk. Mine is a legend.

Pat comes and smashes Danny's head to the ground.
Danny hits her with a karate chop.

Danny: Look what I learned from Bruce Lee in Hong Kong.
Danny proceeds to do several Bruce Lee moves and Pat is on the ground.

Pat: Take this.
Pat kicks Danny in the crotch.

Danny: uhhhhhhhhhh............

Danny falls to the floor. Pat then jumps and falls on him crushing him.

Michelle: DADDDDDDDDD.

Tara: unable to speak because of enormous hair ball in her mouth. MMMMMMMMM


Announcer: There's the bell and the winner is Pat Lipinski


Announcer: Next up Galina Cohen vs Julie McDonough

Sasha and AP in the audience:

Sasha: Come on Mom I've got the president on my cell waiting to congradulate you.

AP: Give me that. "Hi this is the President"

Announcer: There's the bell

Galina: You've never seen Swan Lake in your life have you? It is a ballet. Nobody has swans on their costumes.

Julie: Hey, Look at that hideous mess your daugher is wearing. What is that suppose to be. Looks like a swan threw up on it.

Galina hits Julie in the mouth. Julie hits her back and they are wrestling on the ground.
Julie then wraps Galina's legs behind her head.

Galina: You think that hurts Ha Where do you think my daugher gets that flexablity from.

Galina then makes herself into a pretzel and flings herself at Julie.
Julie then takes out her sewing machine and hits Galina sparkels fly.

Galina : I can't see. All I see is glitter.

They fight some more and then:

Announcer: What is that !!!!!!! It looks like a flying fur.
No it's Tatiana Tarosava.

Tatiana: Here you take this and smother her to death.
Gives Julie the fur coat.

PETA protesters storm the arena.

Get her. She's killing innocent animals

In the maheim Sasha gets the fur.

Sasha: That's mine. She bought that thing with MY MONEY.

The police storm the place and arrest everyone as a big fight breaks out.

Galina and Tatiana are pulled off each other as they try to choke another.

Michelle, Tara, Sasha, and AP: What is happening? What do you mean you're arresting us. We're stars don't you know that. You'll ruin our ice princess image. We'll never get another endoursement.

Announcer: Well it seems it is all over for now See you next time on Celebrity Skating Mom death match.

[God]

Originally posted by Fossi
Does Robin have her Masters in Psych, or a PhD? I fail to see how having a Psych degree alone (especially a BS/BA) will help in dealing with Cohen. Most reports point to Sasha being a handful. Can Robin deal with someone like that?

She has a B.A. in psychology, a degree which qualifies one to be a counselor. The relevant question is: Does Wagner utilize her degree in her job as a skating coach? She once said that for skating coaches, "it is important to have a keen eye that can spot the errors, but just as important to understand how to verbalize corrections. Have an understanding of equipment, injury prevention, off-ice training and sports psychology. You will not have to be an expert in each and every area, but having knowledge will make you a better head coach."

Of course, that is just talk, and talk found on Sasha's website no less. She does have one star pupil, Sarah Hughes, who can back that up as Ms. Hughes was known for her ability to stay calm under pressure. Alas, that is just one example.

Sasha is a different animal. The psychology degree may help, or it may not make any difference.

Psychology degrees really aren't necessary to handle brats, except for the fact that it's illegal, for now, to use cattle prods on skaters.

[Doggygirl]

...you CRACK me UP!!!! I don't know which will be more fun - watching the nationals on TV or coming here to read your commentary about it!

LOL..

DG

[thisthingcalledlove]

I'm going to have a heart attack at the ripe old age of 22 if I don't stop laughing at that post! I can just see Julie McDonough with her sewing machine! And Pat Lipinski was kinda big... (Here's another question- why are a lot of skating moms/coaches kinda...ummm big? Zmievskaya, Tarasova, Berezhnaya's mom, McDonough, and Estelle Kwan are all...plus sizes...yet their husbands stay thin! LOL)

[giseledepkat]

Those announcer posts were very clever, but OMG, I split my sides laughing over the Celebrity Skating Mom Death Match!

**Sasha: That's mine. She bought that thing with MY MONEY.**

Too, too funny!!!


Oh by the way, has anyone welcomed GOD to our humble forum? It sure will be awesome to know that we're getting the final word on the topics of the day!

[AdultSkater]

Originally posted by thisthingcalledlove
(Here's another question- why are a lot of skating moms/coaches kinda...ummm big? Zmievskaya, Tarasova, Berezhnaya's mom, McDonough, and Estelle Kwan are all...plus sizes...yet their husbands stay thin! LOL)

The warmth created by extra padding is necessary to any skating Mom.

Hours huddled without physical activity for warmth, hot cocoa, doughnuts and bagels add the padding that keeps you warm. The husbands stay thin running everyone around and then going to work the next 12 hours and then running around some more. That keeps them thin :D

AS

[RealtorGal]

Originally posted by AdultSkater
The husbands stay thin running everyone around and then going to work the next 12 hours and then running around some more. That keeps them thin :D

AS

What actually keeps the husbands thin is the constant extreme anxiety they live with from having to come up with the $$ to pay all the bills! :D

[shdotz]

After reading about Sasha's new coach - on her website - I can clearly understand why Sasha chose her as a coach.

I don't know if it will work; only time will tell.

I do know that the new coach has quite a well-rounded level of experience when it comes to those things required in figure skating competitions.

It's still up to the skater to do and to be what it is that they actually want to do or to be.

I think this will be an interesting watch in future competitions.

sh

[ballerinagrl]

LBC,

Your first two were great, but this one was just awesome! I read it first Christmas day, but just shared it with the three dancers I room with, and we all fell about laughing

You win the golden globe-shaped sequin of the year award for sure - only hitch is, you'll have to prise it away from AP's mom first!

Happy New Year!

Best, Lilia

[show 42]

This is a bit off topic, but when did Estelle Kwan become a "plus size"? I've seen her in person, and she's not a large woman!! 42

[Rgirl]

LBC,
Exactly more of what we need on GS! I thought your post was gol darn highlarious and am still wiping the spit off my computer on account of my laughing so hard.

Love the image of the flying furball, Tarasova. Plus Michelle and Tara going at each other in the stands.

I assume LaVonne Harding just took a police baton to whoever her opponent was and that was that.


As for the Big Momma Theory, I think it has some problems. Neither Estella Kwan nor Galina Cohel are anything close to what I'd call big. And thinking of other skaters, Kristi Yamaguchi's mom is very trim. Some do get big, especially after menopause, but I see too much individual variability to call it a trend. Although, if we could get photos of ALL the skating moms--and I do mean all--then we might see some trends
Rgirl

[Rgirl]

Hey guy! I got bronchitis right after I posted waaaaaaay back on p1 of this thread--got my flu shot in October so didn't get that, so I guess my body decided bronchitis was the next logical choice, lol--so I never got to respond to our "Sasha Dissected Continued" posts. I'm still feeling pretty punky and besides, most everyone else has made the points I would have made.

I love your style of writing as if from inside Sasha's head, eg, "Sasha knows she is not as loved as Michelle and so...etc." I love it! It reads like Harlequin Romance.

Seriously though, I think Sasha went with Tarasova mostly out of the situation. Nicks arranged for her to study with Tarasova for three weeks to help "refine" her style and Sasha ended up liking Tarasova AND the ice situation (no more trying to train with 50 kids on the rink) that she made the decision to change. I do agree that Sasha has more decision-making power than behooves her maturity. But given the fact that Sasha's mom is Ukranian, I think the whole idea of a Russian coach was just too good to resist--even though ideally it would have been better for Sasha and her parents to look at several different coaches, hopefully discuss with them how they would work with Sasha, and ideally have some coaching time together before Sasha and her parents made the decision. But that's water under the bridge. I will say that I think Sasha was right to leave Nicks. Nice man, but wrong sense of humor for Sasha's PR and as you have oft reminded us, never taught her how to do a proper Lutz. But then, Michelle is about the only US skater who is now doing a true Lutz and Jenny just this year sometimes. Somehow flutzing is the Mad Cow Disease of US Ladies figure skating.

I don't doubt for a minute that Tarasova's health problems are the major and legitimate reason for the change. True, Tarasova has been talking about health problems and wanting to move back to Russia for years, but these last 18 months with Sasha had to be intense both physically in terms of travel and emotionally. At a certain point and a certain age, especially after a situation like Tarasova had coaching Sasha and all the changes in her camp--Morosov leaving, teams leaving, Usova replacing, Yagudin's hip problems--I think the cumulative effect of all of the above finally got to be too much for her. Anyone who has ever watched Tarasova watch Sasha skate at a competition knows she expends at least as much energy as Sasha does.

I don't agree that Sasha is the same color horse as Nicole Bobek. A number of superficial similiarities, sure, but their core psyches, motivations, and willingness to work seem on opposite ends of the spectrum. I think Sasha would have stayed with Tarasova had TT's health problems not become an issue. Bobek changed coaches because there was always something wrong with all of them. Even when she was doing well with Callaghan, she decided he was boring. And I do think Carlo Fassi dying at Worlds (I forget the year) knocked her last chance at making an eligible comeback. After that--kind of like with Angela's situation, although we've yet to see if Angela might come back--I think Nicole just said, "Screw it. I'm not cut out for this." Sasha, at least to me, seems determined to make her mark on the eligible scene.

You also say that Nicole couldn't produce at the big events and neither can Sasha. She did produce for a while. She won Nationals in '95 and then the World bronze that year--albeit with a less than stellar performance. After that she left Callaghan, who is a taskmaster to be sure, and she only got close to being consistent in her short time with Carlo Fassi before he died. As for Sasha, three silver and one bronze medals since the age of 16 to Kwan's golds at Nationals seems pretty good going against the five-time World champion. I thought Cohen's programs at the Olympics were excellent considering it was her first non-GP international competition. She'd never even been to Worlds before the Olympics and to skate clean except for the fumble on the 3/3 attempt (and don't start screaming "FLUTZ! FLUTZ!" because even Sarah and Michelle flutzed; only Irina didn't). Fourth place given Sarah's skate of a lifetime and the competition of Michelle and Irina seemed good to me even then, although not to her, I'm sure, nor her detractors. And fourth at Worlds was definitely a big disappointment, especially when she repeated it again in '03, losing to Fumie Suguri. Nevertheless, in '03 she decisively won the GPF where I believe Suguri did not medal.

I wonder how people would respond to Sasha if she had Suguri's record, which over the last two years has tended to be poor performances and no gold medals on the GP circuit, except for gold medal at the '03 NHK; doing very poorly in the GPF last season, and now having come in second in Japan's Nationals to Miki Ando--but, winning bronze at Worlds two years in a row. That kind of record vs. two golds and a silver in the GP series last season, winning the GPF, winning the IFSC last season; this season winning gold at every event she entered since Campbell's except for the silver at GPF and the bronze at IFSC. No diss intended toward Fumie, whose skating I've actually come to like with her programs with season, but the point is, would people feel differently about Sasha if she never won a medal the entire season except for say a silver at Nationals and a bronze at Worlds? I don't know the answer, but I don't know that last season Elena Sokolova didn't even make the GP final and yet after she won the silver at Worlds she was the next great skater, watch out Michelle! Obviously a skater wants to peak for Nats and Worlds, and Olympics if it's their year, but are those ultimately the true measure of a skater? Rgirl asks thinking of Janet Lynn.

Speaking of flutzing, if Robin Wagner couldn't get Sarah to fix her flutz, I don't have much hope that anything is going to change with Sasha's. At least in the US, Richard Callaghan seems to be the only coach today pushing true Lutzes with his ladies' skaters. OTOH, if that's the only problem with Sasha's skating, I can live with that. But if she starts bending her knee on the free leg of her spiral after being coached by Wagner--YIKES! I sure don't want to be around SWWNBN if that happens!

In any case, whoever ends up as Sasha's coach, I would like to see that person focus on two things: Her edging and her training periodization so she can peak at Nats and Worlds--and Olympics.

I do agree that over the last 18 months, albeit with some poor skates at inopportune times, Sasha has proved herself to be a magnificent skater. Now I think the question is, can she show that magnificence at the big events in the second half of the season, when previously she has tended to falter.

All else aside, the proof will be on the ice. Of course, even if Sasha wins Worlds someday, people will still argue what that proves
Rgirl
Nice to have you back in the fray, Adultskater.


PS to GOD: Would you please turn on your PM thingy so I can say "Howdy." You know, the guy who invented the Gallup polls, Mr. Gallup, says he can prove your exisitence with statistics

[hockeyfan228]

Originally posted by Rgirl
But then, Michelle is about the only US skater who is now doing a true Lutz and Jenny just this year sometimes. Somehow flutzing is the Mad Cow Disease of US Ladies figure skating.

Nikodinov and Mok have true lutzes. I agree about the rest.

[Rgirl]

Absolutely true about Mok and Angela. Poor Angela. She's been away from competition so long I'd forgotten about her beautiful Lutz!
Rgirl

[shine]

Erm, Jenny Kirk...trule lutz? Don't belong together!!
And Nikodionv didn't have a true lutz the last time I saw her, either. Michelle Kwan's lutz is also untrue.
The only US ladies with a true lutz are Mok then McDonough.