Would Cohen have climbed to the top if she stayed with Tarasova? | Page 7 | Golden Skate

Would Cohen have climbed to the top if she stayed with Tarasova?

Um, I didn't say I agreed, did I? I am watching my back!

Seriously: I do agree with you on principle about women athletes, including Sasha, being tough. Nonetheless, she doesn't seem to have the mental resilience of some (like your girl). And she has to work with the physique she's got, which sure looks delicate to me (if beautiful).
 
antmanb said:
But then red dog why are you surprised - you seem to be saying that once upon a time when she was being bashed, you stuck up for her and now that she is being praised you bash her more often than not....so maybe the answer to your question lies in yourself. Why did you suddenly do a 180?

Ant
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Well, it's not up to me to answer for Red Dog and I won't. However I'll share my own point of view on the situation.

It's ridiculous when skaters' get deified and people lose sight of the fact that they have flaws. Kwan is a wonderful skater, but she's not the best in all areas and doesn't deserve to be treated this way. Same for Cohen. That's why it would make sense for someone who doesn't have uber fan zealousness to point out to the said uber fans that they are exaggerating the prowess of their skater and underestimating the ability of their competitors.

I, for example, still remember how many demonized Tara Lipinski for supposedly stealing Kwan's deserved gold. I am not talking about those who thought that Kwan deserved to win that competition, but rather about those that wrote really nasty stuff about Tara and made her out to be a terrible skater, undeserving of the medals that she won.
 
antmanb said:
But then red dog why are you surprised - you seem to be saying that once upon a time when she was being bashed, you stuck up for her and now that she is being praised you bash her more often than not....so maybe the answer to your question lies in yourself. Why did you suddenly do a 180?
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Ha! I was waiting for someone to ask this. It wasn't ME that did the 180 here- it was the forum. It shifted suddenly from a place with no Cohen defenders (or if there were, they kept quiet) to a place where you can't even get in a comment slightly critical of her without having a few posters adamantly challenging you. One poster is particularly aggressive about defending Cohen- not sure why- but I'm just pointing out that the forum has changed a lot more than I have.

Now, to be honest I really wasn't DEFENDING her back then per se. So why did I say I was sticking up for her? Because people THOUGHT that I was, when in reality I was actually pretty neutral about her and other skaters (so I was more balanced in my opinions about her and everyone else). But in a forum with a negative vibe towards one skater, if you provide even a neutral vibe you're seen as a rabid fan or a defender of that skater. I said no more than two comments total that were actually what you would consider "defensive" of her.

In addition, because some folks thought I was a fan of hers, and I really wasn't, I wanted to make that pretty clear in my comments. So I became more liberal in saying what I really felt about her instead of trying to be "fair and balanced"- unlike Fox News, but that's another thread- like my thread title back then. I actually agreed with many of the posters who had not-so-nice words to say about Cohen, but because I didn't agree with the harshest comments, let's just say that "things happened" and leave it at that.

So, to summarize everything into one clear, concise sentence: the forum did a 135, I did a 45. ;)
 
Spun Silver said:
Seriously: I do agree with you on principle about women athletes, including Sasha, being tough. Nonetheless, she doesn't seem to have the mental resilience of some (like your girl). And she has to work with the physique she's got, which sure looks delicate to me (if beautiful).
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OK. All athletes are "tough" to a certain degree. Some are tougher than others.

I think Cohen's the type to get sick easily and she seems pretty vulnerable to me. She lacks the mental toughness of Kwan, Meissner and Slutskaya but still- I'm actually going to say a + about her now- is actually good at not letting one mistake totally sink her. Maybe she's made so many that she's forced to learn, lol, but seriously- at the Olympics, I was surprised with how she turned a potential disaster all the way around. How many skaters would have simply given up and mailed-in that performance after two fatal mistakes? So many. That was an MK-type recovery there, and it earned her a silver medal- many think it should have been bronze- but there you have it. Really courageous effort by her, which she couldn't duplicate a month later.
 
Red Dog said:
One poster is particularly aggressive about defending Cohen- not sure why-
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Because so many are critical of her to the point of disrespect and character assassination, making her some kind of scapegoat. I really don't like seeing people picked on. Maybe Michelle got these comments before, but don't tell me she didn't also get the aggressive defenses because she still does! Seems like there should be room on the forum for a few vocal Cohen fans too.

It's really pretty basic. Some don't like her and say so. I do like her and say so. There are different POVs. What don't you understand?

ETA: ITA with your last post. Poor thing, she just ran out of gas before Worlds.
 
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SS- just so you know, it wasn't you I was referring to. ;)

As a poster I like you in general. :agree:
 
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Nothing wrong with vocal Cohen fans- as long as they are balanced out by opposing fans. It's always good to have a little of each side- as close to 50-50 as possible; that makes for the most interesting discussions, IMO. It's boring if it's all one-sided (also IMO, for you picky ones ;) ) It's also what makes a fan forum a fan forum- they are DESIGNED to be one-sided. ;) but of course it wouldn't be boring if you're a fan- if you're not, obviously you don't belong there. When things might become a little uncomfortable is if the balance is NOT there in a general forum (and unfortunately, this can't really be controlled). Now I'd say GS is more balanced than it ever used to be- four years ago I felt it was heavily pro-Kwan and somewhat anti-Cohen (the "135" shift I was talking about in the above post).
 
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soogar said:
Sasha has always kept this quiet but around the TT time and the Robin time her parents were in the process of divorcing and who knows what kind of marital issues her parents were experiencing prior. Sasha seems to be one of the most emotionally sensitive skaters out there. It surprises me that someone as mechanical as Michelle who just crunches out jumps consistently can inspire such heartfelt devotion when a delicate creature such as Sasha can inspire such disdain.
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:rolleye: :rolleye: :rolleye: :rolleye:
Mechanical Michelle vs. Poor delicate little Sasha. Psh. She's no more delicate than any other skater. More of a head case, perhaps, but you want emotional? Michelle wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see, every single time she skates.If Michelle is mechanical, then I'll take mechanical over "delicate" any day.
 
Do posters really care what a poster may think of a skater? I really require intelligent opinions to at least move me, if not change my mind. Origninal opinions; not repeats of selected opinions of others.

Joe
 
Dee- sent you a PM

Mechanical Michelle vs. Poor delicate little Sasha. Psh. She's no more delicate than any other skater. More of a head case, perhaps, but you want emotional? Michelle wears her heart on her sleeve for everyone to see, every single time she skates.If Michelle is mechanical, then I'll take mechanical over "delicate" any day.
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You'd better buckle up and prepare for the onslaught!! :laugh:
 
Red Dog said:
OK. All athletes are "tough" to a certain degree. Some are tougher than others.

I think Cohen's the type to get sick easily and she seems pretty vulnerable to me. She lacks the mental toughness of Kwan, Meissner and Slutskaya but still- I'm actually going to say a + about her now- is actually good at not letting one mistake totally sink her. Maybe she's made so many that she's forced to learn, lol, but seriously- at the Olympics, I was surprised with how she turned a potential disaster all the way around. How many skaters would have simply given up and mailed-in that performance after two fatal mistakes? So many. That was an MK-type recovery there, and it earned her a silver medal- many think it should have been bronze- but there you have it. Really courageous effort by her, which she couldn't duplicate a month later.
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It's not the competitions fault that Sasha isn't healthy. Tanya S (Germany) wasn't always healthy. Irina has a chronic illness, but she didn't make all the mistakes Sasha was known for. Sasha isn't the only skater to have fallen and gotten back up to finish the program. It's not like Sasha has any more courage than any other skaters out there. She fell twice. No surprise. She got back up, as usual, and finished the program. Doesn't make her a saint. It makes her human. A skater that messed up, knew she did, but wanted to finish wiht her dignity. She ended up with an extremely controversial silver and should be thrilled. She was, and she stated it was a gift.
 
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