^ Just to be clear, I was kidding. I don't know Jason in real life.
In Internet Skating Board life, of course, that's a different story.
^ Just to be clear, I was kidding. I don't know Jason in real life.
In Internet Skating Board life, of course, that's a different story.
I personally think it's easy to WANT to be a competitor and WANT to succeed than it is to thriving competing. I've said it before-I show horses. I LOVE riding and I really, really want to do well. But sometimes no matter how focus I am in practices, no matter how well things are going at home and at the smaller shows, I just cannot shake the expectations I place on myself and fail to accomplish my goals. I don't give up, because I really do like the competition excitement and the times it does come together, it is so thrilling. But I a no Michelle, and I have failed more often than succeed. But yet I keep trying.
She is reading internet sites, she said so. So, you think MM, she should just keep on? Aren't you being PC nice and not honest? It is time for her to retire. How much more should her fans and fans of USFS suffer? Painful painful painful to watch her demise.
Ya know, "suffer" is not the word I use. Yeah, it's disappointing, but I've seen real suffering. This ain't it.Originally Posted by skateluvr
I think I can stand it for another couple of months.
We'll see. It was only a year ago that Alissa was coming off a season where she won the Grand Prix Final and the U.S. championship and gave a strong showing at Worlds. I think Alissa herself will know when she wants to retire from competition. I am not really in the advice business.
Now Bret Favre, he should retire.
That's an interesting insight, and it's good to have a competitor's point of view. (Something I'll never know from my own life experience, being both a chicken and a klutz!) I see what you mean. On those terms, Alissa's perseverance is completely understandable.
I think that if we had one or two really astonishing skaters, as we did in the days of Michelle and Sasha, someone with Alissa's exquisite skills would light up Nationals and maybe get to Worlds once in a blue moon, if ever--kind of like Amber Corwin or Angela Nikodinov. The fate of American skating wouldn't lie on her shoulders, and we Americans would always see the best of her. Maybe she'd get a few Grand Prix assignments each year, and perhaps 4CC. But with the current drought of skaters, Alissa is often pushed upstairs beyond her comfort level. Sometimes she floats, and sometimes she sinks to the bottom. But she does have the right to keep trying. It's not her fault that there's been no one better to take on the job. And the fact remains that when she's on, there are certain aspects of her skating that are of unparalleled quality, and she's a joy to watch.
Last edited by Olympia; 04-13-2012 at 10:21 PM.
Of course it might not be for you Toni, and let us not talk or compare suffering. She really seems to have no clue why she was falling and cannot bear to watch HERSELF! Should her fans feel any different? I started a consoltion thread that was poorly supported, but I assumed this season was it. I doubt she can turn it around by next year. Those that think she can have a very poor understanding of what this World's mess has done to her and our chances for a 3rd spot. She was held up at Nationals. This girl, if you read the interview is in denial, and is listening to few enablers around her who love her, and fans that don't seem to get that one good season replaced by a lousy one does not a champion make. I am sad to Agnes get treated like the ugly duckling when she is an amazing jumper with other quaities. It does Alissa no good for us to use her beauty as a reason to "forgive" her.
If she gracefully retired, that would become her. She is in denial and not honest with herself or us. I doubt there is a bone in her body (206) that believes she could be US champion without the beauty points, being held up. For a smart girl, she seems not to be thinking on all cylinders.
We had two ladies who skated at the WC. One belonged there, one was gifted the spot. I think they should have an emergency plan in their selection process. It is amazing how banged Flatt was last year for sucking up the pain and skating. It seems that we cannot forgive Rachael (nor does USFS despite her very good LP at Nationals) because she is not your classic ice princess. People are so dishonest in their statements. Her reaction and explanation to her falling sounded positively detached from her experience. Have y'all read it? just plain strange. She will make a lovely pro, on this subject I am done.
OK then I agree, but their goal shouldnt be just to succeed at the National level, but at the World level. That should already be incentive to add more. Atleast until either of them wins a World title or a World medal atleast, and has enough clout to get higher PCS for similar caliber skating. Plus when they attempt to skate clean doing less and being cautious it causes them to fail at that, so obviously a different and more agressive approach would be worth trying for that too.
Plus the best situation where at the National level either merely skate clean or even just stay upright and winning is easy probably wont be anymore next year. Wagner and Gold likely have the upper hand all things equal. Wagner probably isnt as talented a skater as Czisny and Nagasu, but after her performances this season she has surely earned the USFSA loyalty and they would probably favor her over all her senior peers all things equal at Nationals 2013. Gold is the USFSA cant miss kid for now, and will be until she falters (which inevitably will happen at some point, not saying that she wont have a brilliant future, but even the best like Kwan hit a bumpy patch at some point on the way up). So Czisny and Nagasu both have yet another reason to push for more. I dont think either can expect to be the U.S judges favorite next year, and will have to really rip it away from someone else.
Last edited by pangtongfan; 04-13-2012 at 10:23 PM.
Those who know me can recall that I never tell skaters to retire, I only state when they appear to be past their peak.
Yet, I came awfully close to doing so with Czisny last month. The frustration with having her seemingly peak at the National championships only to fail yet again at worlds is repeating over and over again.
But even then, I won't wish for her to retire. What I WILL wish for, however, since she has stated her desire to continue, is for the rest of the US skaters to step up their game and leave her behind so no matter how she does at Nationals next year, she's not going to be on the world team again. I have nothing against her as a person; she appears to be extremely accommodating and friendly to her fans and I wish her the best in her future endeavors. But as a skater, as a competitor, frankly I've had enough. It's time to promote younger talent as it's increasingly clear she'll never get her act together.
We'll just have to see what happens.
Exactly R.D. You are refusing to give any more chances after so many years and are realistic in your appraisal of things, refusing to just "sound nice." Well, if she does continue, I wish her the best." Our wishes are not horses, and all horses have a track record. They retire, too, no matter how shiny their coat, when they keep losing.
Actually I've heard that Mathman IS Jason Dunjen.^ Just to be clear, I was kidding. I don't know Jason in real life.
In Internet Skating Board life, of course, that's a different story.
There's something in what you're saying here. Something in that I don't think she is telling us everything. Which is fine and all, if there are some personal issues she doesn't want to discuss, but I'm not even sure she is being honest with herself in what truly went wrong. She has SO MANY people blindly supporting her/backing her up, which is fine, but can create a distortion field. Even Phil Hersh is choosing to shift blame over to USFS instead of pointing at her like he did for Flatt. The double standard here does bother me somewhat. I do hope Czisny happened to read some of the more critical comments as well as the positive ones- she is by no means off the hook here. It's one thing to have an off-night, but it's another to sleepwalk. The whole 4CC thing rubbed me the wrong way, too- she said last year that she didn't do well because of the short prep time between Nationals and 4CC- as a result, USFS passes this year to give her more time to train for worlds and she thinks she deserved it?? She's got a bunch of people telling her she deserved it, anyway.She really seems to have no clue why she was falling and cannot bear to watch HERSELF! Should her fans feel any different? I started a consoltion thread that was poorly supported, but I assumed this season was it. I doubt she can turn it around by next year. Those that think she can have a very poor understanding of what this World's mess has done to her and our chances for a 3rd spot. She was held up at Nationals. This girl, if you read the interview is in denial, and is listening to few enablers around her who love her, and fans that don't seem to get that one good season replaced by a lousy one does not a champion make. I am sad to Agnes get treated like the ugly duckling when she is an amazing jumper with other quaities. It does Alissa no good for us to use her beauty as a reason to "forgive" her.
If she gracefully retired, that would become her. She is in denial and not honest with herself or us. I doubt there is a bone in her body (206) that believes she could be US champion without the beauty points, being held up. For a smart girl, she seems not to be thinking on all cylinders.
We had two ladies who skated at the WC. One belonged there, one was gifted the spot. I think they should have an emergency plan in their selection process. It is amazing how banged Flatt was last year for sucking up the pain and skating. It seems that we cannot forgive Rachael (nor does USFS despite her very good LP at Nationals) because she is not your classic ice princess. People are so dishonest in their statements. Her reaction and explanation to her falling sounded positively detached from her experience. Have y'all read it? just plain strange. She will make a lovely pro, on this subject I am done.
As for Zawadzki- well, I see no reason to hail her as The Next Great One, either. Again, she's horribly inconsistent in the FS and I'm not even convinced she'd have done much better than Czisny at worlds (perhaps in the 11th-16th range, which wouldn't have been good enough for 3 spots anyway). Unlike Czisny, though, she is still young and can perhaps get it together in the future, so I won't count her out.
She said she was surprised she didn't get 4CC. Not that she thought she deserved it. She was the only US silver medalist not to go to 4CC. In fact, she was the only US medalist (ie, top three, pewter doesn't count) to not get a spot. There is a difference.
My bad, but the point is essentially the same: she expected to receive the invitation.
Well to be pc one should retire hopefully when they want too and not because of health, money, placements but that is not real. One cannot explain always popularity or unpopularity. I have no idea why Patrick is so hated when there are others including Carolina Kostner, Sasha Cohen, Katrina Witt who won arguably controversially. We don't nearly have the uproar over Czisny than we did Rachel and Rachel placed over ten spots better. Alyssa did not even get penalized pc wise comparatively to others; she spent so much time with her butt on the ice and the were awkward falls. She didn't look like she had any confidence or was sure of any technique. Very very disappointing. By skating on she probably would skate on until 2014; not many quit a year before the olympics. As much as I like her skating; I am not a huge fan of flukes at the Olympics though Liz Manley and Paul Wylie were kind of nice stories.
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