Johnny and Tara

[Mathman]

I always laugh when Johnny is critical of the US skaters falling behind in tech content, or men not landing quads.

Two different things, commentating and performing .I can't do a quad. But I can still observe that Jason Brown would be more competitive internationally if he would do three or four.

 

[Mathman]

If Johnny was biased like you said don't you think NBC television would have sat it down and discussed the issue with Johnny years ago?

With respect to what NBC TV had to sit down and come to terms with, I think that patriotism was not at the top of their list. What they really had to decide is whether to frankly acknowledge that as far as the ty[pical U.S. male sports fan is concerned, men's figure sjkating is a gay sport. Do we (that is, does NBC TV) want to boldly go down the path of hiring an openly gay man, flamboyant and unappolgetic, as the television face of figure sakating? Will this bring in more viewers in the long run (since there are hardly any male viewers anyway)?

That they chose to do so is a sign of the times, I think.

 

[Scott512]

Throughout his career Johnny has been an unabashed enthusiast for anything having to to with Russia, Russian history, Russian culture, arts, architecture, Russian skating style. He taught himself to speak Russian (I don't know how good he is at it -- he also taught himself some Japanese in admiration for Japanese skaters and culture). He is the only U.S. broadcaster who makes an effort to pronounce the names of Russian skaters as accurately as possible for a non-native speaker.

As far as i can tell, NBC television has never felt the need to discuss this with Johnny -- it's just part pf his natural if outspoken charm. He pretty much says what he thinks. As a figure skating analyst, I have never noticed any particular national bias. He does continually say, about leading U.S. skaters like Brady Tennell, Karen Chen, Mariah Bell, etc., that they have talent, but will have tp up their game if they have any hope of competing with the Russian ladies these days. This, however, is not a biased observation, just obvious fact.

I give Johnny credit for learning Russian and learning to understand Russian before they had this dynasty from the ladies. At the 2018 wench were lampwicks he was pointing out what Zhenys was saying to EG because he can understand Russia . He explained what Zhenya said and I appreciated the insights from Johnny.

 

[Olympic]

You obviously didn't watch worlds 2014 mens lp.

I don't remember. So, I checked the protocols - Looks like he splatted on an opening 4T in the SP which put him in the penultimate group for the LP (?). Looks like he did a good job in the LP.

 

[Olympic]

It's the word "headcase" that is not useful. Sometimes people get nervous and don't perform their best. And sometimes they are just unlucky about when their strongest performances occur.

The opposite, however, is worth it's weight in gold (medals). Once in a while a clutch player comes along who miraculously can channel all that nervous energy and adrenilin in a positive direction, performing feats seemingly beyond their normal capabilities.

Yeah. The wording is harsh. I guess it would be better to say he was a nervous competitor

 

[mrrice]

I give Johnny credit for learning Russian and learning to understand Russian before they had this dynasty from the ladies. At the 2018 wench were lampwicks he was pointing out what Zhenys was saying to EG because he can understand Russia . He explained what Zhenya said and I appreciated the insights from Johnny.

So do I. Russian is an extremely difficult language if you're from the US. We all tried our best when I was dancing there but, it was not easy and Johhny is fluent.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

So do I. Russian is an extremely difficult language if you're from the US. We all tried our best when I was dancing there but, it was not easy and Johhny is fluent.

It's really not that difficult if you really try. I'm semi-fluent and fluent in multiple other languages. It's all about wanting to do it, having an open mind and motivation.

 

[karne]

Weir is catty, bitter and jealous.

Also, sorry Ic3Rabbit, but people were predicting Abbott screwing up in Sochi before the Olympics started because it was part of a pattern with him. His blown SP in the team event was not at all surprising, though his poor attitude about it ("it's a positive step, it's just a warmup!") was an unpleasant one.

 

[mrrice]

It's really not that difficult if you really try. I'm semi-fluent and fluent in multiple other languages. It's all about wanting to do it, having an open mind and motivation.

You know, as a vocalist I sang in many languages. My difficulty with leanring it had mostly to do with my limited freetime in Russia. I didn't understand the alphabet there and fortunately, I had dancers from Russia help me all the time. They were the best.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Weir is catty, bitter and jealous.

Also, sorry Ic3Rabbit, but people were predicting Abbott screwing up in Sochi before the Olympics started because it was part of a pattern with him. His blown SP in the team event was not at all surprising, though his poor attitude about it ("it's a positive step, it's just a warmup!") was an unpleasant one.

Well, we weren't discussing Sochi, we were discussing worlds that year. But if you'd like to discuss Sochi, yes he had the unfortunate accident and got injured in the SP there but ended up 8th after the LP, Jason finished 11th. And if I remember, and sorry to mention this but we need to let the bitter that Max didn't make the team thing go.

Can we just get back to the topic at hand which is how catty and annoying Tara and Johnny are?

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

You know, as a vocalist I sang in many languages. My difficulty with leanring it had mostly to do with my limited freetime in Russia. I didn't understand the alphabet there and fortunately, I had dancers from Russia help me all the time. They were the best.

That's cool. I didn't learn in Russian in Russia.

 

[anonymoose_au]

I will say one thing about Johnny, he sure knows his flags of the world! I tried that Insta filter myself and I was a disaster!

 

[Skater91]

I will say one thing about Johnny, he sure knows his flags of the world! I tried that Insta filter myself and I was a disaster!

I love his little facts when does the flag game
His like a talking book of facts lol
Also that hmm nosie he makes

 

[Mathman]

It's really not that difficult if you really try. I'm semi-fluent and fluent in multiple other languages. It's all about wanting to do it, having an open mind and motivation.

Some people have a talent for learning languages while for others it is a grievous struggle. To be good at languages you need a certaion temperament -- you have to be psychologically willing to put yourself out there -- just blurt it out, if you make an error in grammar or pronounciation, then next time you do better.

I am terrible at languages. I couldn't master Latin in high school, German in college (and I was no better after living in Germany for a year as a post-doc), or French (which was required for my graduate degree). The reason was that I could never force myself to just take my best shot without first over-analyzing everything and consulting a dictionary.

 

[Mathman]

("it's a positive step, it's just a warmup!")

If I remember correctly, Jeremy was consulting with a sports psychaitrist at this time in an attempt to learn how to deal with his nerves better. This "every failure is a positive learning eaperience" business is straight out of the Sports Psychaitrist Handbook of Meaningless and Unhelpful Baloney.

I don't blame the athlete for trying to follow the prescibed regimen. Plus, many artistic, soulful personality types are suscepible to performance anxiety.

 

[Mathman]

Weir is catty, bitter and jealous.

To me, Weir has considerabl;y moderated his "catty" schtick since he has become the official NBC spokesperson. I do not find him bitter or jealous at all. Who is he jealous of, Tara?

 

[el henry]

To me, Weir has considerabl;y moderated his "catty" schtick since he has become the official NBC spokesperson. I do not find him bitter or jealous at all. Who is he jealous of, Tara?

At one point, he appeared to be jealous of Jason. Or mad. Or upset. Or something. I say that not as a Jason super fan (although of course I am ) but just evaluating his tone and his comments.

But as Moonvine noted, he has gone to commentating school and changed his tune, and tone, completely. Bravo, Johnny.

 

[Skater91]

So do I. Russian is an extremely difficult language if you're from the US. We all tried our best when I was dancing there but, it was not easy and Johhny is fluent.

Johnny also studied linguistics for while so i think learning languages comes easy to him and his love for all things Russian likely helped him with learning the language
Also how good is Plushenko English just out of courtesy I don't think I ever seen a video of him speaking I seen videos of him skate

 

[Seven Sisters]

It seemed to me that when he began commenting Johnny was trying to create a sort of commenting character persona that was akin to those manufactured reality-show characters “you love to hate,” who are believed to bring in audiences. If he’s starting to move away from that, I would welcome that. As a former world-class competitor himself, he undoubtedly has many valuable insights to share.

 

[mrrice]

Johnny also studied linguistics for while so i think learning languages comes easy to him and his love for all things Russian likely helped him with learning the language
Also how good is Plushenko English just out of courtesy I don't think I ever seen a video of him speaking I seen videos of him skate

I have heard Plushy speak in English during promos for Worlds 2001. He's actually quite funny.