Joshua Farris

[ice coverage]

Josh just now retweeted a Sun Valley tweet about tix to his Jul 25 ice show there.

So if he is injured to any extent, he at least is confident that he will be able to perform in the context of a show within a few weeks.

(The SV tweet refers to Jun 25, but Josh's show is in fact on Jul 25. And the tweet itself is from Jun 22, but Josh just retweeted it today within the last hour or so.)

---

.... And like them or not, they're far more in the know than most of us in this forum. They clearly are in regular direct contact (texting) a number of skaters: just look how frequently theyve had Doug razzano and Alissa on the show, and receive exclusive videos from people like Mariah and Alex Johnson.

Yes and no, IMO.

The fact that Razzano has appeared in multiple TSL videos means nothing more than that one particular skater whose initials are DR happens to have a good relationship with Jenny and/or Dave and vice versa.

My opinion is that they have certain pet skaters (such as Doug). Not that there's anything wrong with that.

OTOH, I could imagine that some skaters would have no desire to be interviewed by them. The likes of the Shibutanis and Davis/White, for example. (I don't follow TSL closely enough to know whether they care much about ice dance, but that's not the point.)

Yes, I would agree that TSL has direct channels of communication with more skaters and coaches than most of us on GS. But I don't think TSL has such universal clout that every skater under the sun is dying to offer them special access to news, videos, or whatever.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Yeah, never sure how much weight to put into some of the 'news' they share. In that same video, they also think Skate Canada is going to be in Ottawa this year.

They didn't even get the providence right LOL!

 

[gravy]

Josh just now retweeted a Sun Valley tweet about tix to his Jul 25 ice show there.

So if he is injured to any extent, he at least is confident that he will be able to perform in the context of a show within a few weeks.

(The SV tweet refers to Jun 25, but Josh's show is in fact on Jul 25. And the tweet itself is from Jun 22, but Josh just retweeted it today within the last hour or so.)

---

Yes and no, IMO.

The fact that Razzano has appeared in multiple TSL videos means nothing more than that one particular skater whose initials are DR happens to have a good relationship with Jenny and/or Dave and vice versa.

My opinion is that they have certain pet skaters (such as Doug). Not that there's anything wrong with that.

OTOH, I could imagine that some skaters would have no desire to be interviewed by them. The likes of the Shibutanis and Davis/White, for example. (I don't follow TSL closely enough to know whether they care much about ice dance, but that's not the point.)

Yes, I would agree that TSL has direct channels of communication with more skaters and coaches than most of us on GS. But I don't think TSL has such universal clout that every skater under the sun is dying to offer them special access to news, videos, or whatever.

The Shibs were interviewed a couple of weeks ago by Dave Lease. And I'm pretty sure Meryl has been in contact with them before.

I wouldn't say people are dying to go on the show, but if asked, I'm sure many would say yes. The amount of A-list skaters/coaches they have brought on (and are planning on interviewing) just this year is extremely impressive.

Have to laugh a little though in response to the person who said TSL has been taking pot shots at Farris. They were elated with him after Nationals and 4CC and were talking about how he was probably the best skater in the US. Even after NHK, they were in his corner and still praising his performance. They did discuss why they thought he did so poorly at Worlds with Scott Davis, but that wasn't malicious at all.

It really is pointless though to discredit some of their information because they got the location of Skate Canada wrong. Knowing how injury-prone Farris is, I wouldn't say it's a surprise.

My $0.02.

 

[sabinfire]

It really is pointless though to discredit some of their information because they got the location of Skate Canada wrong.

Seems like a pretty basic thing to me, for a video centered around previewing the GP series, to get the locations of the events correct. Still, this bit of misinformation passed through at least 3 people unchecked.

A lot of folks have still yet to decide and/or purchase tickets for the GP series, and may not be as 'tuned in' as some of us here to every figure skating announcement... and if they happen to watch this YouTube video telling them Skate Canada is in Ottawa (when it's not even remotely close in region), I would be rather irked to go through the process of discovering that this is not the case...

What if Skate America were being held in Portland, but they said it was being held in Philadelphia?

As far as I know, they have yet to correct this error. They obviously know how to use YouTube annotations, judging from all the windows that pop up on the video telling me about their twitter and FaceBook page.

 

[ice coverage]

The Shibs were interviewed a couple of weeks ago by Dave Lease. And I'm pretty sure Meryl has been in contact with them before.

I wouldn't say people are dying to go on the show, but if asked, I'm sure many would say yes. The amount of A-list skaters/coaches they have brought on (and are planning on interviewing) just this year is extremely impressive....

Sorry that I was wrong about the Shibutanis. (I take it that their TSL interview has yet to be published.)

I went back and looked at the TSL site. And over the last season, the current competitors with whom they conducted full-fledged interviews were:

• Doug Razzano
• Iliushechkina/Moscovitch
• Caroline Zhang and Grant Hochstein
• Polina Edmunds
• Mariah Bell
• Duhamel/Radford
• Hawayek/Baker
• Nam Nguyen

Of course I am not so lucky as to have any of the above in my proverbial Rolodex, but I'm not so sure that I agree that the list is extremely impressive. Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but I would not go so far as to call it "extremely impressive."

[I do realize that TSL conducted interviews also with non-competitors (at least at this point) of varying levels of prominence (some very prominent) in the skating world.]

... It really is pointless though to discredit some of their information because they got the location of Skate Canada wrong. Knowing how injury-prone Farris is, I wouldn't say it's a surprise.

My $0.02.

Seems like a pretty basic thing to me, for a video centered around previewing the GP series, to get the locations of the events correct. Still, this bit of misinformation passed through at least 3 people unchecked.

A lot of folks have still yet to decide and/or purchase tickets for the GP series, and may not be as 'tuned in' as some of us here to every figure skating announcement... and if they happen to watch this YouTube video telling them Skate Canada is in Ottawa (when it's not even remotely close in region), I would be rather irked to go through the process of discovering that this is not the case...

What if Skate America were being held in Portland, but they said it was being held in Philadelphia?

As far as I know, they have yet to correct this error. They obviously know how to use YouTube annotations, judging from all the windows that pop up on the video telling me about their twitter and FaceBook page.

I am not the one who originally pointed out the Skate Canada error, but I agree with sabinfire that it does not reflect well on TSL's overall credibility. Makes me wonder what other details have gotten garbled -- whether TSL cited a "fact" about Skater X that really was a fact about Skater Y, for instance.

For me, TSL was way too vague about Josh's supposed injury for me to feel any certainty that it is true. Maybe TSL forgot that he already has recovered from the injury, just as TSL forgot that Skate Canada will be in Lethbridge.

 

[alexg]

I was hoping they were referring to his shoulder/arm injury, which would set him back a few weeks bu likely have no long term effects.

 

[karne]

And I can't recall many pot shots at Josh actually, if anything i would say he is one their favorites, or at least was for awhile there - I think they like (or at least liked) Josh more than Jason or Max, and really all but maybe Adam.

Dave's favourite thing is to cast aspersions over Josh's work ethic, and drop bald-faced hints that he does not train hard, and it angers me.

They didn't even get the providence right LOL!

Your PM box is full

 

[cheerknithanson]

Dave's favourite thing is to cast aspersions over Josh's work ethic, and drop bald-faced hints that he does not train hard, and it angers me.



Your PM box is full

No it isn't. Try again!

 

[gravy]

Sorry that I was wrong about the Shibutanis. (I take it that their TSL interview has yet to be published.)

I went back and looked at the TSL site. And over the last season, the current competitors with whom they conducted full-fledged interviews were:

• Doug Razzano
• Iliushechkina/Moscovitch
• Caroline Zhang and Grant Hochstein
• Polina Edmunds
• Mariah Bell
• Duhamel/Radford
• Hawayek/Baker
• Nam Nguyen

Of course I am not so lucky as to have any of the above in my proverbial Rolodex, but I'm not so sure that I agree that the list is extremely impressive. Nothing too sneeze at, to be sure, but I would not go so far as to call it "extremely impressive."

[I do realize that TSL conducted interviews also with non-competitors (at least at this point) of varying levels of prominence (some very prominent) in the skating world.]

I am not the one who originally pointed out the Skate Canada error, but I agree with sabinfire that it does not reflect well on TSL's overall credibility. Makes me wonder what other details have gotten garbled -- whether TSL cited a "fact" about Skater X that really was a fact about Skater Y, for instance.

For me, TSL was way too vague about Josh's supposed injury for me to feel any certainty that it is true. Maybe TSL forgot that he already has recovered from the injury, just as TSL forgot that Skate Canada will be in Lethbridge.

Dave interviewed several skaters from the past in one video (can't recall which one) which included Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Sasha Cohen, Paul Wylie, etc. They were short but most likely previews for full fledged interviews. Other guests on the show include Nathalie Pechalat, Aliona Savchenko, Tamara Moskvina, Rudy Galindo, Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, Tim Goebel, Kori Ade, Jason Brown, Max Aaron, Ashley Wagner, Adam Rippon, Frank Carroll, Babilonia/Gardner, among others. They also had a bunch of former skaters on their recaps like Punsalan/Swallow, Liz Manley, Scott Davis, Ouriashev, Vasiliev, etc.

I'm not sure about you, but those lists of only some of the people they have interviewed are extremely impressive.

I remember Chris Howarth on British Eurosport talking about how Carolina (in Saitama) had failed to get gold at home during the 2010 Olympics in Torino and she was the heavy favorite going in and managed to get 16th. They also said the 2018 Olympics would be held in Pyeongyang. Scott Hamilton talked about haven't ever seen anyone do a one-handed Biellmann when commentating for Sotnikova (even though he did commentary for Slutskaya and Asada who did them). Or Kurt Browning mispronouncing Lipnitskaya's name during the Olympics like crazy. I don't think of them having less credibility because they made a simple mistake and they're on a much bigger scale than Jenny and Dave.

---

Dave's favourite thing is to cast aspersions over Josh's work ethic, and drop bald-faced hints that he does not train hard, and it angers me.

That was a couple of seasons ago and Tom Z himself said that Farris didn't have a good attitude in training and he tended to frustrate easily and not train well as a result. Of course you have to take it with a grain of salt as he was his former coach, but I don't think someone as high up as Tom would tell a flat out lie. This past season though, TSL has done nothing but praise his new work ethic, which has obviously showed. Doesn't seem like it was a lie considering all those quotes Farris said after his Nationals and "being immature" about training in the past.

I think a lot of people think that saying he doesn't train hard means he deliberately does so or he likes being lazy. When you let your emotions come into play, it can be difficult to do a lot of things you really want to do well. As a result, it would be accurate to say he doesn't train well or efficiently.

 

[sabinfire]

gravy -- I noticed you haven't acknowledged how they have refused to acknowledge a major error in location for the Grand Prix in North America. Do you think this is not worth them correcting?

 

[StitchMonkey]

gravy -- I noticed you haven't acknowledged how they have refused to acknowledge a major error in location for the Grand Prix in North America. Do you think this is not worth them correcting?

FWIW I did mention it to someone on FSUniverse who claims to be doing the editing for them now and they said thanks and that it will be fixed. I am curious to see what if anything they do.

 

[sabinfire]

FWIW I did mention it to someone on FSUniverse who claims to be doing the editing for them now and they said thanks and that it will be fixed. I am curious to see what if anything they do.

I don't think there's much an editor can do to fix a published YouTube video, unless they plan on yanking the existing video and re-posting a new one. It's probably best to annotate and/or fix their description/comments to reflect the corrected info.

Thanks for the update! I want to think they are aware of it and doing something to fix it.

 

[gravy]

I don't think there's much an editor can do to fix a published YouTube video, unless they plan on yanking the existing video and re-posting a new one. It's probably best to annotate and/or fix their description/comments to reflect the corrected info.

Thanks for the update! I want to think they are aware of it and doing something to fix it.

They have no problem acknowledging when they have said downright incorrect information in the past. I remember one video where Dave inadvertently said Julia messed up on a triple lutz and had an annotation put afterward below the video that he meant a triple flip.

And of course I think it's worth correcting! I just think it's a bit silly to question someone's overall credibility because of a little mistake-- otherwise I don't think many of us (including myself) would be in a position to ever talk about skating again.

 

[sabinfire]

And of course I think it's worth correcting! I just think it's a bit silly to question someone's overall credibility because of a little mistake-- otherwise I don't think many of us (including myself) would be in a position to ever talk about skating again.

Great. I agree, we all make mistakes sometimes, but I'm quick to correct them. TSL hasn't yet acknowledged this mistake (I just checked).

So the question still remains.

 

[ice coverage]

(emphasis added)

... The amount of A-list skaters/coaches they have brought on (and are planning on interviewing) just this year is extremely impressive...

Dave interviewed several skaters from the past in one video (can't recall which one) which included Michelle Kwan, Kristi Yamaguchi, Sasha Cohen, Paul Wylie, etc. They were short but most likely previews for full fledged interviews. ...

I believe you are talking about the TSL video from the Figure Skating in Harlem gala -- attended by the Shibutanis, Michelle, Kristi, Sasha, Paul, etc. (ETA: Meryl too.)
I could be wrong, but I doubt that Dave conducted full-fledged interviews (yet to be published) with all who appeared in that video. I'll believe it when I see it.

... Other guests on the show include Nathalie Pechalat, Aliona Savchenko, Tamara Moskvina, Rudy Galindo, Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, Tim Goebel, Kori Ade, Jason Brown, Max Aaron, Ashley Wagner, Adam Rippon, Frank Carroll, Babilonia/Gardner, among others. They also had a bunch of former skaters on their recaps like Punsalan/Swallow, Liz Manley, Scott Davis, Ouriashev, Vasiliev, etc.

I'm not sure about you, but those lists of only some of the people they have interviewed are extremely impressive.... .

Your previous comment said specifically that their guests "just this year" were extremely impressive. I was reacting to your specific comment.

I agree that a number of TSL's bookings over the totality of its existence have been impressive.
But others -- not so much. I think it is great that TSL was interested in interviewing Doug, Luba/Dylan, Mariah, and Kaitlyn/Jean Luc, for example, but I do not find it particularly impressive that TSL was able to book them -- no offense to any of those guests.

... I remember Chris Howarth on British Eurosport talking about how Carolina (in Saitama) had failed to get gold at home during the 2010 Olympics in Torino and she was the heavy favorite going in and managed to get 16th. They also said the 2018 Olympics would be held in Pyeongyang. Scott Hamilton talked about haven't ever seen anyone do a one-handed Biellmann when commentating for Sotnikova (even though he did commentary for Slutskaya and Asada who did them). Or Kurt Browning mispronouncing Lipnitskaya's name during the Olympics like crazy. I don't think of them having less credibility because they made a simple mistake and they're on a much bigger scale than Jenny and Dave. ... .

I take your point, to some extent.
But I am guessing that your examples re Howarth and Hamilton were in live commentary at a comp. And yes, people make mistakes -- esp. during live commentary. (I myself wouldn't lump mispronunciations into the same category as factual errors.)
TSL's video was recorded under different circumstances. And as sabinfire pointed out, it is a weird error to make when the GP series was the focus of the video. Plus confusing Ottawa with Lethbridge is not the same as confusing PyeongYang with PyeongChang, IMO.

In any case, for me, the extremely :yes: vague reference to Josh does not strike me as rock-solid evidence that he is injured. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. Once again, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[gravy]

(emphasis added)


I believe you are talking about the TSL video from the Figure Skating in Harlem gala -- attended by the Shibutanis, Michelle, Kristi, Sasha, Paul, etc. (ETA: Meryl too.)
I could be wrong, but I doubt that Dave conducted full-fledged interviews (yet to be published) with all who appeared in that video. I'll believe it when I see it.

Your previous comment said specifically that their guests "just this year" were extremely impressive. I was reacting to your specific comment.

I agree that a number of TSL's bookings over the totality of its existence have been impressive.
But others -- not so much. I think it is great that TSL was interested in interviewing Doug, Luba/Dylan, Mariah, and Kaitlyn/Jean Luc, for example, but I do not find it particularly impressive that TSL was able to book them -- no offense to any of those guests.

I take your point, to some extent.
But I am guessing that your examples re Howarth and Hamilton were in live commentary at a comp. And yes, people make mistakes -- esp. during live commentary. (I myself wouldn't lump mispronunciations into the same category as factual errors.)
TSL's video was recorded under different circumstances. And as sabinfire pointed out, it is a weird error to make when the GP series was the focus of the video. Plus confusing Ottawa with Lethbridge is not the same as confusing PyeongYang with PyeongChang, IMO.

In any case, for me, the extremely :yes: vague reference to Josh does not strike me as rock-solid evidence that he is injured. Maybe he is. Maybe he isn't. Once again, I'll believe it when I see it.

Most international commentary re: Scott Hamilton (with the notable exceptions of the 2002 and 2010 Olympics) is never recorded live. There are instances of British Eurosport recording after the fact. But you forgot to bring up about mistaking the 2010 Olympics with Torino? Should I discredit Chris Howarth and all of his experience, because of one mistake? If not, then it's a double standard you're having. Edit: for the record, their graphic designer is the person who made the mistake, not Jenny & Dave; they should have checked, but oh well. Minor glitch.

And if you want to get really specific then, I also said that "the amount of A-list skaters/coaches they have brought on (and are planning on interviewing)" is impressive [(emphasis added) :sarcasm:]. Michelle Kwan has already tweeted them to set something up and Sasha Cohen has stated she would want to. Also, did you just forget about Pechalat, Savchenko, Duhamel/Radford, Moskvina, and Vasiliev? I never said anything about only being impressed by current skaters being interviewed, that was something you added. (emphasis added, again)

Perhaps you're not impressed because they haven't interviewed your favorites, but they, for the most part, have done much more talking to skaters in depth than even NBC or IceNetwork has, which is kind of embarrassing for the latter two organizations. Yes, IN does interview skaters for quotes, but that's about as close as "from the mouth" as we get. And they did that Google Hangout thing that was maybe the same length as an interview TSL would have for one person alone and with non-questions that were for the most part uninteresting and enquiring about stuff we already knew about.

For the record, they're also working on interviewing Joshua Farris.

 

[sabinfire]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4sMqqOPZ9s

 

[ice coverage]

Most international commentary re: Scott Hamilton (with the notable exceptions of the 2002 and 2010 Olympics) is never recorded live. There are instances of British Eurosport recording after the fact. But you forgot to bring up about mistaking the 2010 Olympics with Torino? Should I discredit Chris Howarth and all of his experience, because of one mistake? If not, then it's a double standard you're having. Edit: for the record, their graphic designer is the person who made the mistake, not Jenny & Dave; they should have checked, but oh well. Minor glitch.

And if you want to get really specific then, I also said that "the amount of A-list skaters/coaches they have brought on (and are planning on interviewing)" is impressive [(emphasis added) :sarcasm:]. Michelle Kwan has already tweeted them to set something up and Sasha Cohen has stated she would want to. Also, did you just forget about Pechalat, Savchenko, Duhamel/Radford, Moskvina, and Vasiliev? I never said anything about only being impressed by current skaters being interviewed, that was something you added. (emphasis added, again)

Perhaps you're not impressed because they haven't interviewed your favorites, but they, for the most part, have done much more talking to skaters in depth than even NBC or IceNetwork has, which is kind of embarrassing for the latter two organizations. Yes, IN does interview skaters for quotes, but that's about as close as "from the mouth" as we get. And they did that Google Hangout thing that was maybe the same length as an interview TSL would have for one person alone and with non-questions that were for the most part uninteresting and enquiring about stuff we already knew about.

For the record, they're also working on interviewing Joshua Farris.

The bottom line is that I stand by my posts re reserving judgment on the truth of Dave's comment that Josh "apparently" is injured.
After this post, I will stop commenting on the topic of TSL. It is Josh's thread after all.

You have made some valid points re TSL -- as have I, IMO.

Your speculation about my favorites happens to be utter nonsense, however.
Max Aaron is my very favorite current skater, and more than once on GS in the past, I have credited the 2013 TSL interview with helping me "get to know" Max better as he was starting to become my favorite. I also have cited the TSL interview in other contexts -- what Max said in the interview about his choice of Carmen, for instance.
Jason Brown is another big favorite for me, and I am well aware that TSL interviewed him.
If/when TSL has an interview with Josh, I will watch it with interest.

ETA, most recently, I thoroughly enjoyed TSL's two-part interview with Phillip Mills . AFAIK, I was the first person on GS to post about the first part with Phillip. I am not a TSL-hater, if that is what you were wondering.​

LOL, I did not forget about Pechalat, et al. I acknowledged above that TSL had interviewed some non-competitors of great prominence.
Last I checked, Josh Farris is a current skater -- thus my listing of the current skaters who were TSL's guests from the past 12 months.

I already said that to some extent, I take your point about mistakes.
I did not forget to bring up the Torino 2006 / Vancouver 2010 error. It is a more understandable slip to me than Ottawa / Lethbridge. YMMV.
Your reminder that Hamilton's commentary is not always live is valid.
OTOH, I don't recall that IceNetwork ever has conducted a Google+ Hangout. USFS has conducted several Google+ Hangouts -- including one devoted to an interview with the lovely Michelle Kwan all by herself, BTW.

Rhetorical question:
If a graphics person made the error re Skate Canada International, does it mean that Dave and/or Jenny do not bother to review the final edited versions of their videos before they are posted online??

You of course are free to be extremely impressed with TSL. And I agree to disagree with the words "extremely impressive."

 

[gravy]

The bottom line is that I stand by my posts re reserving judgment on the truth of Dave's comment that Josh "apparently" is injured.
After this post, I will stop commenting on the topic of TSL. It is Josh's thread after all.

You have made some valid points re TSL -- as have I, IMO.

Your speculation about my favorites happens to be utter nonsense, however.
Max Aaron is my very favorite current skater, and more than once on GS in the past, I have credited the 2013 TSL interview with helping me "get to know" Max better as he was starting to become my favorite. I also have cited the TSL interview in other contexts -- what Max said in the interview about his choice of Carmen, for instance.
Jason Brown is another big favorite for me, and I am well aware that TSL interviewed him.
If/when TSL has an interview with Josh, I will watch it with interest.

ETA, most recently, I thoroughly enjoyed TSL's two-part interview with Phillip Mills . AFAIK, I was the first person on GS to post about the first part with Phillip. I am not a TSL-hater, if that is what you were wondering.​

LOL, I did not forget about Pechalat, et al. I acknowledged above that TSL had interviewed some non-competitors of great prominence.
Last I checked, Josh Farris is a current skater -- thus my listing of the current skaters who were TSL's guests from the past 12 months.

I already said that to some extent, I take your point about mistakes.
I did not forget to bring up the Torino 2006 / Vancouver 2010 error. It is a more understandable slip to me than Ottawa / Lethbridge. YMMV.
Your reminder that Hamilton's commentary is not always live is valid.
OTOH, I don't recall that IceNetwork ever has conducted a Google+ Hangout. USFS has conducted several Google+ Hangouts -- including one devoted to an interview with the lovely Michelle Kwan all by herself, BTW.

Rhetorical question:
If a graphics person made the error re Skate Canada International, does it mean that Dave and/or Jenny do not bother to review the final edited versions of their videos before they are posted online??

You of course are free to be extremely impressed with TSL. And I agree to disagree with the words "extremely impressive."

It's so amusing that you're such a stickler for some minor details I typed out and just blatantly ignored other points I brought up that obviously don't help with your reasoning. Good stuff. Anyway--

Back to Joshua.

 

[Domi]

Have you guys seen this? It's 3 weeks old but Joshua is probably showing jumps to younger skaters.
https://instagram.com/p/3m3dhZitOJ/
And also photo from training.
https://instagram.com/p/3m0NJXitIJ/?taken-by=samaranester