James/Radford announce partnership

[saturdaysun]

That DOESN'T prove he strung her along. He was willing to do shows with her and they were scheduled to do shows in SOI Canada AND Japan. It doesn't say anything about future plans WHATSOEVER.

If anything, that shows for then at least he was committed to doing shows with her.

It does prove he was stringing her along since the end result of all this was that he told her of his plans only after almost two years of looking for Plan B and finalizing absolutely everything behind her back and not giving her any heads' up. If this didn't happen now it would have happened some point down the line when he had his affairs in order again and she was still in the dark, still thinking their professional futures and earnings opportunities were tied together. I don't know what your definition of "stringing along" is but this is it.

If he had told her he wanted to potentially explore other opportunities but would stay and perform with her until anything solidified, and she agreed, or at least acknowledged his wishes, and was also given the time to think about making plans for her own career without him, and they were both making future diverging future plans while they continued to do shows together, that would be not stringing her along.

 

[chasingneverland]

It does prove he was stringing her along since the end result of all this was that he told her of his plans only after almost two years of looking for Plan B and finalizing absolutely everything behind her back and not giving her any heads' up. If this didn't happen now it would have happened some point down the line when he had his affairs in order again and she was still in the dark, still thinking their professional futures and earnings opportunities were tied together. I don't know what your definition of "stringing along" is but this is it.

If he had told her he wanted to potentially explore other opportunities but would stay and perform with her until anything solidified, and she agreed, or at least acknowledged his wishes, and was also given the time to think about making plans for her own career without him, and they were both making future diverging future plans while they continued to do shows together, that would not not string her along.

Do you know what a Plan B means? It's a BACKUP PLAN. His first plan WAS skate with Meagan. He himself also said that he had no certainty in his OWN income.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

He himself said he began looking for a way out of the partnership in the fall of 2019 when she got pregnant.

She has to take probably close to a year off to give birth and be a mother to an infant. I don't think it's reasonable to expect him to sit there and do nothing when he's nearing the end of his career and has a very limited time left to compete at his highest level.

 

[saturdaysun]

Do you know what a Plan B means? It's a BACKUP PLAN. His first plan WAS skate with Meagan. He himself also said that he had no certainty in his OWN income.

No. Meagan was his backup plan. His plan was to look for a new partnership, but he would tell her he was sticking with her until something better came along.

 

[chasingneverland]

It basically comes down to before he even started to consider skating with Vanessa he should have talked to Meagan. He didn't. But she should perhaps of been clear about why she was hesitant.

 

[chasingneverland]

No. Meagan was his backup plan. His plan was to look for a new partnership, but he would tell her he was sticking with her until something better came along.

That's not what Plan B means...

Maybe it's what he wanted BUT it's not what he said. He said that he realized he had to look for a plan B. Hence why we have NO evidence that he strung her along.

Should he have been upfront earlier. Yes. But that wasn't two years ago. That was literally months ago.

While she probably assumed that they would do shows together after the pandemic, that was never from either of their statements agreed upon. The only thing we KNOW that was agreed is that they were both going to do SOI Canada and Japan this year. And neither of them broke that promise. Circumstances outside of their control changed that.

 

[saturdaysun]

That's not what Plan B means...

Maybe it's what he wanted BUT it's not what he said. He said that he realized he had to look for a plan B. Hence why we have NO evidence that he strung her along.

Should he have been upfront earlier. Yes. But that wasn't two years ago. That was literally months ago.

He can call it whatever specific term he wants but his actions AND HIS OWN WORDS speak otherwise.

 

[chasingneverland]

He can call it whatever specific term he wants but his actions AND HIS OWN WORDS speak otherwise.

That's circumstantial.

In what way do his own words speak otherwise??

Was there ever a formal agreement to skate shows after the pandemic that he broke? Regardless of when he started looking seriously at a different plan, he DID plan to do SOI this year. And HIS OWN WORDS said he did as recently as February.

Regardless, we DON'T have the whole story.

 

[ice coverage]

And so what if she didn't call him back? Why are people trying to make the burden of the communication fall on the person who was blindsided and betrayed? Why didn't he try to call her back to have more of a conversation? If he really thought he was absolved of any wrongdoing with one phone call after going behind her back for almost two years that's his delusion, not her problem.

Eric did reach out to communicate with Meagan.
If(?) -- as you speculated -- she later (after their first phone call) came to have deep feelings that she wanted Eric to be aware of, then yes, I think it would have been up to her to call him back.

(And I do not agree at all with your characterization of his "wrongdoing."
Meagan is the person who feels betrayed and blindsided, but IMO, whether her reactions are warranted is a separate question.)

It also feels like both of them - Meagan and Eric - are trying to get ahead of the story and say their opinion, somewhat under the jury of public opinion.

IMO, it is primarily Meagan who had the agenda of "trying to get ahead of the story."
I get that her feelings were hurt. (I do not think Eric was trying to hurt her.)
But I do not understand why she needed to draw attention to herself and make the story about herself.
I see her in quite a different light now than I once did.

 

[4everchan]

Meagan is drawing attention to herself because she is now out of a job (skating in shows). I think one can easily understand that. She feels betrayed by her teammate. And of course, as a figure skater, show skating is a way to provide for her family. If you look at Canadian successful pairs at worlds/olympics, they pretty much all had very long show skating careers. Underhill/Martini, Salé/Pelletier, Brasseur/Eisler. They pretty much had the monopoly on North American pairs for shows all over the world until a new team can aspire to match their credentials... So yeah... that story belongs to her as well. It's a loss of income and opportunity. It's normal that she is speaking up about it. Fine, covid has put a halt on things but show skating will resume and it's not like she can get a new partner that would attract promoter to the same level as Eric with whom she won 3 olympic medals and 2 world titles.
I was thinking about Tessa and Scott... how they handled not doing shows together anymore. They decided that together. Talked about it. Tessa and Scott had different interests. They dealt with it together and professionally announced it together. Funny how that was an option so close to them, but yet, Eric and Meagan couldn't choose it... so I think it's normal to think that there was a huge lack of consideration in how things were communicated from Eric to Meagan.

 

[eaglehelang]

It is unfortunate that in figure skating it is Not the norm to have temporary or different partners when one partner is injured or unavailable.

In badminton, a mixed doubles pair can partner another player if the regular partner is injured. Esp if it involves surgery & long recovery.
Then, they will pair back together when the partner recovers.

If they want, Eric can partner Vanessa James for competitions & Meagan Duhamel for shows.
Or Meagan+ Eric for Canada shows. Vanessa + Eric for shows outside Canada. Its shows not competition so it doesnt matter that much if they're rusty/out of practice.

 

[4everchan]

It is unfortunate that in figure skating it is Not the norm to have temporary or different partners when one partner is injured or unavailable.

In badminton, a mixed doubles pair can partner another player if the regular partner is injured. Esp if it involves surgery & long recovery.
Then, they will pair back together when the partner recovers.

If they want, Eric can partner Vanessa James for competitions & Meagan Duhamel for shows.
Or Meagan+ Eric for Canada shows. Vanessa + Eric for shows outside Canada. Its shows not competition so it doesnt matter that much if they're rusty/out of practice.

well that would be nice, but the nature of the sport, timing, intricacy of lifts (balance, strength etc) makes this idea very dangerous... that's why pairs need time to gel before they can do big elements... and there is also the entire marketing aspect of things..

 

[ice coverage]

Making the story about herself never was going to accomplish anything in terms of Meagan's prospects of show skating with Eric.

I do not think she has done herself any favors in this situation.

 

[chasingneverland]

I was thinking about Tessa and Scott... how they handled not doing shows together anymore. They decided that together. Talked about it. Tessa and Scott had different interests. They dealt with it together and professionally announced it together. Funny how that was an option so close to them, but yet, Eric and Meagan couldn't choose it... so I think it's normal to think that there was a huge lack of consideration in how things were communicated from Eric to Meagan.

I think it's funny that you brought up Scott and Tessa..

There are sooooo many rumours about them...

I LOVE Scott and Tessa but the real difference is that they both care about PR..

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

If they want, Eric can partner Vanessa James for competitions & Meagan Duhamel for shows.
Or Meagan+ Eric for Canada shows. Vanessa + Eric for shows outside Canada. Its shows not competition so it doesnt matter that much if they're rusty/out of practice.

The lifts, spins, and jumps (both side-by-side and throw) require a lot of work for a pair to master, so I don't think he'd go back and forth like that. As long as he and Vanessa are competing together, they should perform together as much as possible to build chemistry and trust.

 

[DSQ]

Agreed. Partnerships form. Partnerships dissolve. People deal with these things the best they can.

The only issue hanging out there for me is the Cipres issue. What did she know, and when did she know it? To my mind, that's never been satisfactorily addressed. The Morgan "thing" was studiously ignored during the interview with Dylan and Asher.

Will the answer impact how I view her as an athlete? Probably not.

Will the answer impact how I view her as a person? Maybe.

I think that’s how I feel. I know others might disagree but how I feel about them as a team might not be effected but I still feel like it should be addressed.

 

[4everchan]

I think it's funny that you brought up Scott and Tessa..

There are sooooo many rumours about them...

I LOVE Scott and Tessa but the real difference is that they both care about PR..

well.. you know... i am just a fan... and the rumours about them didn't get to me... so for me, they did do a great job about PR which makes it easy for me, as a fan, to not suspect anything was awfully wrong.. so that's great, isn't it?

 

[DSQ]

You may be right.

But, I can see why he wouldn't say that.

Figure skating fans seem to me to become overly connected personally to their favorites. I don't understand it, but whatever. My observation is that this is especially true of Canadians.

Already, we're getting "that cheating bastard" vibes from some quarters. Can you imagine if he just came right out and said, "I want to skate with Vanessa, not Meagan. That's the story." There would be a national meltdown.

Also it would change the “soulmates on ice” narrative that they had if he admitted that they were perhaps not as close as they presented themselves as.

Personally I’m more than fine with ice skaters, especially pairs, being colleagues rather than friends. It’s what happens on ice that counts.

 

[chasingneverland]

well.. you know... i am just a fan... and the rumours about them didn't get to me... so for me, they did do a great job about PR which makes it easy for me, as a fan, to not suspect anything was awfully wrong.. so that's great, isn't it?

I mean this was a rumour too..

The difference is they didn't come out with a joint statement..

 

[4everchan]

I mean this was a rumour too..

The difference is they didn't come out with a joint statement..

people do not need to make a joint statement to send a convincing message with plausible stories. Rumours grow bigger and more intense when we hear a bunch of different versions... Scott and Tessa gave us ONE version. Whether or not it is true, well, I don't care... not my place to judge them. I am just a fan right? But here... my mind is triggered because the versions do not align. Oh well... As I said earlier, in a couple months, I won't think about it, and I will cheer for them if they skate interesting programs.