The Skating Lesson - Hating on the Shibs and Davis/White as people | Page 7 | Golden Skate

The Skating Lesson - Hating on the Shibs and Davis/White as people

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
I don't know if that was for me but someone said it was a lie they said it and it wasn't a lie it was just a joke.

Thank you for your defense. It absolutely wasn't a lie. The evidence is available. They did say it, hopefully in jest. However, it speaks to the comment that "This and That" wasn't "tabloid trash."

I cited that conversation as evidence that they're not serious journalists, and I continue to believe they are not. "This and That" definitely is in the same vein as a tabloid.

It is a pity, because I've enjoyed several of their interviews. They are ratcheted down to a civilized and respectful tone, and I've learned things from their guests.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
And I agree with their evaluation of what the skaters are like- i've seen the video they pertained to (the one where the skaters choose the music they'd want to skate to) and Meryl did come of as an airhead. MAYBE she DOES want to skate to Scheherazade as a lifelong dream, but a.) that wasn't the question, and b.)- MISS AMERICA could not have said it any better. Plus you can see in the video, Charlie kind of just shut down once Meryl took the reins. But- whatever, maybe I'm wrong.

But then again, so what? Meryl is a smart cookie. She is a student at the University of Michigan majoring in cultural anthropology and minoring in Italian. She makes the dean's list every semester. I am pretty sure she won some sort of national scholastic award in high school. She is her fraternity's "woman of the year." If she likes Scheherazade just because she likes it (and if the man she admires most is her father ;) ) -- that's OK with me.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Umm, I've watched every TSL podcast and you are just making this up. You are not well, and you need some help, fellow. What zip code are you, I will get you an appointment tomorrow. Please get (back) on your meds.

Nope, he didn't make it up. I am sure about they talked about slicked hair and lactating breasts, and there was definitely a Jason Brown comment.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
We DO have enough to talk about. And TSL talks about ALL of it... yet people LOVE to being up the most sensational stuff Dave says and call him a horrible human being and drag his name through mud... which is worse, in my book, than what Dave is doing.

The difference is those athletes didn't do anything wrong, except offend Lease's sensibilities. TSL are in the wrong for provoking, accusing, and mocking skaters. Mean girls don't deserve nice.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Umm, I've watched every TSL podcast and you are just making this up. You are not well, and you need some help, fellow. What zip code are you, I will get you an appointment tomorrow. Please get (back) on your meds.

So, let me get this straight - are you actually suggesting that anyone who would come up with such comments is psychologically ill? Because you do realise what you've just accused TSL of in that case? But... probably not.

Also, I would imagine that questioning the sanity of fellow forum members would cross GS lines on civility. At the very least you do owe TontoK an apology.
 

LauraV

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
ETA: I think the other thing is the frequency and general context they talk about skaters. Are the Shibutanis, for instance, so useless as Ice Dancers that you can't have a single positive segment about them? What about their creative and fun YouTube videos?

If TSL was your only source on figure skating, the only thing you would know about the Shibs is that they're "childish-looking skaters" who bribe their way to the U.S. Nationals podium (and the Worlds team.)


.


I am a fan of the Shibs and the recent TSL comments on the Shibs mystify me. You make some good points Mrs. P.

I am just chalking it up to - I don't expect to agree with anyone all the time.

It can be tricky distinguishing between entertaining snark on the one hand and meanspiritedness on the other. I am hoping Dave and Jenny learn to negotiate that divide a little better in the future.
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
A journalist who puts a skater on the hot-seat over this issue should be more negatively judged than a skater who refuses to answer. The mere asking of the question is wrong and potentially endangers the athlete by trying to make the athlete take a stand when potentially there could be consequences.

These laws in Russia are horrible and sick, but, above all, I hope and pray with all my heart no skater is blacklisted by the ISF, the IOC or the judges for saying or doing anything in respect of this issue. They deserve the right to compete and be judged on the basis of their skating. Journalists should back off from even touching it in interviews with them.

Don't care what a journalist thinks his or her obligations are in asking the hard questions, some questions are wrong. Yes, it is a value judgment. I hope that the next skater who gets the question asked of him or her turns the table on the journalist by asking the journalist why s/he thinks s/he has the right to endanger the skater by asking that question. The question is not being asked innocently. No way.

TSL does some good stuff and I hope they stay around, but on this issue, I don't even have to go to their after-comments (which are ludicrous and despicable) to find a reason to condemn them. The very asking of the question deserves condemnation. This is just too serious to let ride because there is too much at stake.
 

TontoK

Hot Tonto
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 28, 2013
Country
United-States
So, let me get this straight - are you actually suggesting that anyone who would come up with such comments is psychologically ill? Because you do realise what you've just accused TSL of in that case? But... probably not.

Also, I would imagine that questioning the sanity of fellow forum members would cross GS lines on civility. At the very least you do owe TontoK an apology.

Please don't report his comment and have it removed. I really want it to stay right where it is. I would value an apology because I think one is warranted, but I'm not holding my breath.
 

zschultz1986

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 18, 2013
A journalist who puts a skater on the hot-seat over this issue should be more negatively judged than a skater who refuses to answer. The mere asking of the question is wrong and potentially endangers the athlete by trying to make the athlete take a stand when potentially there could be consequences.

These laws in Russia are horrible and sick, but, above all, I hope and pray with all my heart no skater is blacklisted by the ISF, the IOC or the judges for saying or doing anything in respect of this issue. They deserve the right to compete and be judged on the basis of their skating. Journalists should back off from even touching it in interviews with them.

Don't care what a journalist thinks his or her obligations are in asking the hard questions, some questions are wrong. Yes, it is a value judgment. I hope that the next skater who gets the question asked of him or her turns the table on the journalist by asking the journalist why s/he thinks s/he has the right to endanger the skater by asking that question. The question is not being asked innocently. No way.

TSL does some good stuff and I hope they stay around, but on this issue, I don't even have to go to their after-comments (which are ludicrous and despicable) to find a reason to condemn them. The very asking of the question deserves condemnation. This is just too serious to let ride because there is too much at stake.

Too much at stake? For whom, the skaters? What about the gay people in Russia that are being beaten and harassed and freedoms are being stripped away, in a country that is hosting something that is supposed to be about tolerance, fair-play, and freedom? No, they have every right to say that they don't want to answer or that is isn't their place to comment, or that they're focused on their job (skating) but, I'm sorry, you're 1000% percent WRONG. They SHOULD and NEED to be asked.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
When I was in China talking to this wannabe Italian journalist, she went to Xinjiang. She bragged about asking the Xinjiang locals about the censorship by the Beijing government. She thought she was being very subversive and clever. I disagreed with what she did. If she were really interested in the locals' lives, she could ask them indirectly and obliquely about other matters to infer what was going on without putting anyone in a difficult position. Instead, she asked questions that could jeopardize anyone who talked to her. All this for a bit of journalistic glory. It was selfish and had little to do with educating the world about the Uighurs.

This is the same thing with the gay issue in Russia. No, athletes, journalists, gay people, etc. shouldn't be put in a tough spot just so some activists and "journalists" can feel their cause is validated. No one owes you anything, especially if it endangers their chances to win OGM and their physical safety.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Please don't report his comment and have it removed. I really want it to stay right where it is. I would value an apology because I think one is warranted, but I'm not holding my breath.

It's all right - I haven't reported it, nor will I.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
When I was in China talking to this wannabe Italian journalist, she went to Xinjiang. She bragged about asking the Xinjiang locals about the censorship by the Beijing government. She thought she was being very subversive and clever. I disagreed with what she did. If she were really interested in the locals' lives, she could ask them indirectly and obliquely about other matters to infer what was going on without putting anyone in a difficult position. Instead, she asked questions that could jeopardize anyone who talked to her. All this for a bit of journalistic glory. It was selfish and had little to do with educating the world about the Uighurs.

This is the same thing with the gay issue in Russia. No, athletes, journalists, gay people, etc. shouldn't be put in a tough spot just so some activists and "journalists" can feel their cause is validated. No one owes you anything, especially if it endangers their chances to win OGM and their physical safety.

That's my take on it too, BlackPack.

If getting more people in skating rinks in this country could change the law or rescue people in Russia, I'd feel differently about it, but the fact is it can't. Moreover, I'm sure that pretty much all the skaters in the U.S. know and support gay friends and gay people in general and dislike this awful law. So what does it prove by asking such a question of a skater when skaters have been told to avoid making statements on the matter? Keeping in mind that the people asking the questions are not spreading the word to a huge listening audience. David and Jenny are not broadcasting on ABC or writing in Time Magazine. They're reaching a few thousand fans at most. So who benefits from this? Certainly not the beleaguered LGBT people of Russia.
 

bigsisjiejie

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
I agree with these last posts of BlackPack and Olympia. I watched a few of the TSL interviews that had guests on that interested me, but I don't bother with anything else they put out there. I think Dave and Jenny need to decide whether they want to primarily be 1) serious journalists 2) entertainers and "pop icons" or 3) activists. Trying to be all of these simultaneously seems ultimately self-defeating.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
It can be tricky distinguishing between entertaining snark on the one hand and meanspiritedness on the other. I am hoping Dave and Jenny learn to negotiate that divide a little better in the future.

I agree. I have a really hard time distinguishing their snark, which is probably part of my problem with them. Like when they would talk about Ashley earlier in the summer, it was hard for me to figure out if they were laughing with her or at her. And then Ashley came on and they played it out like it was all just good ol' fashioned teasing. Which it might have been. Or not.
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
Please don't report his comment and have it removed. I really want it to stay right where it is. I would value an apology because I think one is warranted, but I'm not holding my breath.

I apologize. There. But I think you are being entirely way too personal with your attacks on someone you do not even know. So maybe we should all have a collective apology session. Jenny and Dave are working hard to make skating interesting and relevant again. As the old saying goes don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution. I hadn't thought about skating in over a year, and was tired of the mean girlish crap on FSU. Be a part of the solution and stop your Bitter Betty posts. So yes, I apologize. I have far too much going on in my life to reduce myself to that level. Truce?
 

mskater93

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 22, 2005
I think some of what TSL discusses/asks is inapprorpiate IF they are trying to be "real" journalists.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I apologize. There. But I think you are being entirely way too personal with your attacks on someone you do not even know. So maybe we should all have a collective apology session. Jenny and Dave are working hard to make skating interesting and relevant again. As the old saying goes don't be part of the problem, be part of the solution. I hadn't thought about skating in over a year, and was tired of the mean girlish crap on FSU. Be a part of the solution and stop your Bitter Betty posts. So yes, I apologize. I have far too much going on in my life to reduce myself to that level. Truce?

Not everyone has the resources or desire to start their own podcast. If they did, we would have a whole lot more of them.

As I said, my criticisms of TSL doesn't mean that I don't acknowledge how much time/effort they put into it. But so do many others. I noted Manleywoman already, but there's also the Skate Guard blog (http://skateguard1.blogspot.com), who has also had wonderful interviews with key figures in the skating community.

In the mainstream media, we think of Phil Hersh as being the sole person covering skating, but that isn't true either. Kelly Whiteside of USA Today has done some great work as did Nancy Armour of the Associated Press.

(OT: You guys ought to read Whiteside's piece in yesterday's USA Today piece regarding racism U.S. gymnist Simone Biles experienced at Worlds Championships last week. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ogizes-racist-comment-world-champion/2952905/)

Certainly TSL, for better or worse, stands out because of its delivery and clearly its style has resonated with many fans. However, that doesn't excuse them from what valid concerns/criticisms people have about it.
 

Bluebonnet

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Like when they were wondering how Miki Ando would be able to do a spiral with lactating breasts?

And when they said Adam Rippon wanted a DNA test?

And Jason Brown impregnated her with his pony tail?

Or when they wondered if the baby had slicked back Russian hair?

:laugh::laugh: The foamsprings on Youtube!:laugh:

It's called humor.

Is this kind of "humor" a part of real journalism?
 

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam
Medalist
Joined
Nov 24, 2006
But this is what irks me. Why should they be 'real' journalists?? And what does that mean anyway? To spout bs and lies on Fox News every night with a polite smile? They have a freaking WEBCAST!! They aren't CNN. And the fact that they have interviewed many of the major players shows that they are on the right track and putting out a quality product. You don't like? Then don't watch. But stop with the haterade. I hate Monty Python flims, have never laughed once, and want to implode when I have to sit through one. You know what I don't do? Go on the internet and complain and deride Monty Python and his fans. Just go away. Dave is one of the nicest men you could ever know. He doesn't float your boat? Then move on, but don't attack him. It really is that simple. And as for the comments he made about Miki, Rippon, Jason et al, it's called A SENSE OF HUMOR. You don't share that same sense of humor, like I don't with Monty Python. But stop your Nastie Nellie posts. You bring out the ugly in others when we don't want to go there. Thanks.
 
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