Personally knowing Johnny and alot of the skaters, on and off the ice, you would be shocked if you only knew how normal Johnny is!! His remarks are honest, and if that is fake to you, then you really don;t know him and what does that say about you, when you cant tell honesty from bullcrap. And if you had ever talked to anyone about him that knows him they would tell you the same thing, he is honest. He makes no excuses for the start of his season., but keep in mind when Johnny skated the St Paul event he had just gotten back from Japan, and he flew into Japan did the event and flew out. So what time zone do you think he was on?? And from what I have read he had no choice about the Japan trip,,,,so maybe everyone needs to drop this thread and move on to next weeks competition in France
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2003
I never said he made excuses, I simply said he was fake, every word that I have ever heard from him sounds fake and until I hear something from him that makes me feel otherwise that will be my opinion of him.
- Joined
- Jul 27, 2003
I could see this in a way. However, I really don't understand how some of his comments can't be considered entirely honest. When he is skating like crap, he says, "Hey, I am skating like crap." That is what I find refreshing. He doesn't make excuses. He may be a little "in your face" just to stand out, but I like that he isn't affraid to pick at himself and his own skating.
I think most people have a firm understanding of this concept. Johnny has a history of inconsistency, fragile nerves, etc. However, he has made huge strides in the last two seasons and has become a different skater than he used to be. Are these things still possibly present? Certianly. But....I also think that some people don't want to focus so much on the negative. His competitive history reveals 2 things: 1) He can and has fallen apart under pressure, and 2) He can deliver stunning performances in pressure packed situations. Johnny is having a rough time, but that doesn't necessarily indicate that he is imploding. It could mean that, but I think we need to see what happens at COR before we start jumping to any conclusions about an abrupt reappearance of "fragile nerve" syndrome. If he is healthy and tanks at COR, then a reexamination might be beneficial. Otherwise, I think it is best to realize that skaters are human and will experience ups-and-downs in their lives/careers just as we do.
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2003
rjulie510 said:
the only big pet peeve I have is I see this all over the net where Johnny is applauded for his 'honesty'
yet Michael Weiss gets bashed for being just as honest (and yeah whenever he is his most cocky that's normally when he plays zamboni, Johnny should take note from other's self-centered mistakes)
I am not singling you out... I was merely pointing out that your statement got me on my soapbox lol
as for Johnny's opinions, that's all they are. his skating does very little for me unless he is 100 percent committed, and it is overly annoying that after one little mistake he will basically lose all of the passion [I can't think of the word that I really want to use, but after his 'stumble' in his LP at 05 nats it was like the life went out of the program]... :scratch: this is just my feeling... he is a very good skater and I can't help but be impressed.
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- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
There is honesty and there is diplomacy. I think Johnny could lay off knocking his colleagues. Nothing wrong with feeling the way he does about Mens figure skaters but such remarks are best left to his autobiograhy when he turns 35.
Joe
Joe
BravesSkateFan said:
I find it interesting that you use the word "fake". IMO, unless you personally know someone, I don't see how it is possible to know if someone is "fake". The media, and the internet, can really skew a person's motives. Kind of a sociological comment -- nothing against you personally -- just something I find interesting. :frown2:
Tonichelle said:
ITA!!! Can you imagine the flack that Michelle Kwan would get if she ever said anything like "ladies' skating is boring", and, if she said the things about CoP that Johnny says, everyone would say, "well of course she doesn't like the CoP -- she can't do well under it".
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
attyfan said:
Which is pretty much what everyone is saying about Johnny -- actually, it's what Johnny is saying about himself.I don't dare use the word "culture," but it's part of the same old double standard. Men are expected to puff out their chests and hurl insults at the enemy. Ladies, while they might puff out their chests, are supposed to be nice.
MM
dr.frog said:
Juniors are notoriously inconsistent and it is not at all unusual for the best of them to start off well in a SP then plummet in the FS. Considering Johnny qualified for SENIOR Nationals a year later and finished 6th, I wouldn't call it a black mark against him that he didn't do well at Junior Nationals. Hey, he finished 5th---Michelle Kwan finished 9th at Junior Nationals 1992, then took the Seniors test behind Frank Carroll's back and finished 6th at Senior Nationals 1993.
Why should you have to take it upon yourself to constantly remind people of the few competitions where he has had problems? You have no way of knowing how Johnny thinks, what his motivations are, or if he is even as mentally fragile as you seem to think he is.
I suspect that Johnny reads the FS boards and it's because of comments like yours and the TV commentators that he continues to skate when he is injured just to prove he's not a quitter. What he doesn't grasp quite yet is that there are those who will never allow the past to remain in the past so his best approach is to ignore them and their negativity and focus on the present and future and do what is best for himself.
There are other skaters who were/are much bigger head cases than Johnny Weir, among them Christopher Bowman and Emanuel Sandhu. Along with the occasional big successes, they had one spectacular failure after another. I don't see that pattern in Johnny's resume at all.
chuckm said:
Well I think that this season has been (so far) a spectacular failure for Weir. I'm not saying this to judge him, but he has had a period of very consistent, beautiful skating followed by very inconsistent skating (at the Cheesefests, last Worlds,this year's comps). Yes I know he was injured. However Yevgeny has been competing injured the past few years and he retained his consistency. Evan has also been competing with a serious injury and he has been fairly consistent as well.
Weir has textbook technique on his jumps, however this year he has been having issues with the technique on his jumps. I don't put this all to injury. I think a lot of this is competitive nerves rather than injury. He has a lot of expectations for himself, plus he's a perfectionist. Once he makes a mistake, he doesn't seem to let it go very easily. If you look at his past performances, the best ones were mistake free. The horrible ones start with one mistake on a jump and then it's all downhill. Compare him to Buttle or Klimkin, and those guys may skate error filled performances but they don't give up after the first error. They stay with the program and try to get as much out of it as possible. Weir, IMO, seems to have the wind sucked out of his sails after a mistake.
Dee4707 said:
Well, it's a competitive sport. Isn't that what it's all about? Otherwise nobody would be worrying about who wins what medals or who makes the Olympic team and who doesn't. If Johnny doesn't want to be compared to his competitors, maybe he should turn pro right now and just concentrate on doing ice shows.
Dee4707 said:
Over Yevgeny's career, how many injuries has he been rumored to have verses competitions he has withdrawn from? Last I can recall, he withdrew from 2002 Worlds and 2005 Worlds. The past few years, he won/placed well in almost every competition he entered in.
Johnny has never skated well at cheesefests, and in reality, they are not important in the scheme of things.
I don't see that he has had a disastrous season so far when the only real (as opposed to cheesefest) competition he was in, he placed a close 2nd in the SP and suffered an injury which prevented him from doing a clean FS. He has since recovered from his injury and is set to compete at CoR.
To me, Honda's 2004-2005 season, where he finished 7th in both of his GP events, and was carried off the ice in the QR at Worlds 2005, was disastrous. Takeshi is skating much better this season, but he is in a bad place. He finished 4th to his countryman Oda's bronze at Skate Canada, and he faces both Oda and Takahashi (who won gold at SA) at NHK. Honda's chances of making it to Torino are dim.
As to Plushenko's consistency, his 6 Russian championships,3 GPF titles, 4 European championships, 3 World Championships,
and silver Olympic medal speak for themselves. He has competed at 7 European championships and never finished worse than 2nd. No other eligible man skating today can boast accomplishments anywhere near to his.
Plushenko has been skating with an injured knee for over 2 years, and he withdrew from Worlds 2005 after winning his QR and finishing 5th in the SP, because he had two inguinal hernias which caused him terrible back and abdominal pain. Most men would have been unable to stand up straight, let alone compete in an athletic contest, with such an injury. And it was this withdrawal that made him inconsistent?
If Plushenko is inconsistent, who IS consistent?
I don't see that he has had a disastrous season so far when the only real (as opposed to cheesefest) competition he was in, he placed a close 2nd in the SP and suffered an injury which prevented him from doing a clean FS. He has since recovered from his injury and is set to compete at CoR.
To me, Honda's 2004-2005 season, where he finished 7th in both of his GP events, and was carried off the ice in the QR at Worlds 2005, was disastrous. Takeshi is skating much better this season, but he is in a bad place. He finished 4th to his countryman Oda's bronze at Skate Canada, and he faces both Oda and Takahashi (who won gold at SA) at NHK. Honda's chances of making it to Torino are dim.
As to Plushenko's consistency, his 6 Russian championships,3 GPF titles, 4 European championships, 3 World Championships,
and silver Olympic medal speak for themselves. He has competed at 7 European championships and never finished worse than 2nd. No other eligible man skating today can boast accomplishments anywhere near to his.
Plushenko has been skating with an injured knee for over 2 years, and he withdrew from Worlds 2005 after winning his QR and finishing 5th in the SP, because he had two inguinal hernias which caused him terrible back and abdominal pain. Most men would have been unable to stand up straight, let alone compete in an athletic contest, with such an injury. And it was this withdrawal that made him inconsistent?
If Plushenko is inconsistent, who IS consistent?
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BravesSkateFan said:
Have to defend Johnny on this one, although with the disclaimer that of course everybody is entitled to their opinions on a skater's personality on and off the ice.
One of the great things about Johnny is that at least he always has something interesting to say, which cannot be said for all athletes. It's entertaining, stimulating and sometimes controversial - but so what - this is figure skating, and we need everything we can get. On a personal note I can only say that in person he is INCREDIBLY genuine - a nice guy - not a diva, not an egomaniac (which again, LOL, cannot be said for all athletes). He is a very caring individual who really sees the big picture in life and suffers deeply for every little mistake he makes on the ice. He is a real favorite of mine.
When contemplating skaters I'd 'choose to be marooned' on a lifeboat with, Johnny is definitely on the short list.
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