Well, I started this thread and didn't dare to open it again fearful of what more vitriol will be thrown in poor Caroline's way. Now that I've finally made myself read through the thread, I'm relieved that the discussion has resolved on a point of relative peace/harmony. Thank goodness for that.
I don't see why it's necessarily a huge surprise that the tech panel may have made a mistake this time (either wrongly downgrading a jump, or forgetting that a tech call involving GOE changes cannot be amended unlike most tech calls), considering how new the CoP is, and how the rules are constantly changing, and the tech panels are known to have made all kinds of mistakes at all levels of regional, national, and int'l competitions. The "entire history" of the CoP is only a few years old. And it has only been in its current form for a few months, with the addition of the edge deduction among other things -- and it happened that a review of the edge was what started the whole thing about downgrading Caroline's 3Lz, etc. So what's shocking about this if indeed they made a mistake? I don't see why cries of conspiracy have to be raised.
And for that matter, why this shows USFSA "favoritism." If they "favored" Caroline, they should have petitioned ISU to change the age rule already, when according to the media and skating forums that Caroline had about 50% chance of beating Kimmie for the gold, and over 95% chance of making the podium (just go look at the prediction threads).
Of course Caroline got most of the media and fans' attention this year, she had the most stellar GP season of all the US senior ladies, riding on top of the most stellar junior season ever enjoyed by a US lady last year. While the other youngsters are full of potential, too, like Ashley, Mirai, and Rachael, they didn't quite have the same level of results to show for their potential so far. The media and the USFSA are going to give the most attention to the skaters who achieved solid results, compared to those who are promising but haven't quite gotten the results yet -- I'm not saying that Ashley, Mirai, or Rachael are not unable to achieve as much or better than Caroline has so far -- maybe they haven't yet simply because they are late season bloomers or competed in less prestigious competitions so far.
I don't see why this has to be viewed as USFSA favoritism on Caroline's account either. From her anti-fans' rants, you'd think that USFSA was hyping Caroline based on nothing but thin air, while totally discounting the results that she actually achieved in competitions...
Mirai's team chose to compete on the JGP, and her coach explained why in interviews. Rachael had no international ranking and therefore no chance of getting two GP's (one if USFSA picks her for SA, but even that was not a given). Ashley debuted well as a senior but she has a terrible flutz and her one 3-3 attempt at SC was clearly under-rotated. Plus her presentation in her programs clearly improved over the season, it was impressive how much she improved from SC to TEB, and again from TEB to National's. To me, she sure looks like late-season bloomer. But that also means relatively little media/USFSA attention in the first part of the season. I'm sure that after this first season, if Ashley goes to World's and does well there, there will be no such over-looking next season -- then if she starts the season slowly, people might start calling her a disappointment.
