As a rule, I prefer people to be direct rather than make sneaky behind the back comments, so I give Scott Moir credit for taking the direct route. Is there footage of the press conference online? I would be very interested in seeing the context and the tone of his comments, and maybe catching the other skaters' reactions. I'll also add that while I'm not fond of post-competition complaints about scoring, if you're going to complain anyway, it is better to say "I was underscored" (as Trankov did this weekend, too) than "they were overscored" (we've seen that happen as well).
Scott has never shied away from expressing his opinions, so I can't say I'm hugely surprised that he became the first person to break away from the whole "Team Canton, friends forever" official line that we've been sold for so long. I never really bought the idea that two teams with the personalities and drive that D/W and V/M appear to have could coexist - not just peacefully, but as friends - when in the same training situation as top teams. There's an Ingo Steuer interview that's been translated over on FSU, and one of the points that came up was whether or not he might have trained V/T as well as S/S. He noted that it would likely have been a non-starter for the Russian fed, but also said he didn't think it was possible to train two teams at the same (high) level. I think in the short term coaches can get away with it, but over time, especially if the teams flip positions, well, then things get challenging. IMO, S & Z did not handle this particular challenge very well when it came up back in 2008, and we'll see what they've learned from that experience.
Having said all that, Scott's outspoken, but he's not stupid and he's never struck me as someone who makes really off the cuff remarks. I bet something beyond just the scores motivated this, and suspect it may have more to do with what's going on behind the scenes at the moment than with the actual judging. One possibility is that this is a message to Skate Canada; V/M have always said and done all the right things, he and Tessa agreed to stay in competitive skating even though they didn't really need to, and now they find themselves in a situation they can't be too happy about, and are no longer their federation's top priority (it would seem). Another issue is what's happening at Arctic Edge that we don't know about. IP brought up the issue of choreo and whether the programs are geared to get the points V/M need, and I think that is a valid question. I would also question whether Igor and Marina are putting in the same effort when it comes to drumming up political support for their top two teams. I am going to go out on a limb and guess no. If this is indeed the case, what options do Scott and Tessa have? The very approach that got them to the top is the one that's being rewarded in skating, and a B/A-like move could result in a B/A-like drop in the standings.
Therefore, to me, the interesting question isn't whether Scott Moir should have kept his mouth shut/been more diplomatic; it's whether or not we are in for a shakeup in ice dance, and what sort of political maneuvering is going on behind the scenes. I'm very curious to see how the rest of the season will play out.
