When I read the article I was kind of surprised that the Toronto Star was sending one of its signature writers to cover the GPF. (Every day, I go through the Toronto newspapers in the vain hope that there will be an article on figure skating so I nearly fell off my kitchen chair when I saw that there was one yesterday.) I suspect that she will be filing a story a day. (Today, her article was on hand holding in the pairs skating. lol. Yup, this woman has depth.) She tends to push the envelope in her writing and that is what her readers like, but she is actually, IMO, no where near as distasteful as some of the other writers at that newspaper are.
I was not at all surprised at the article, knowing the newspaper, being familiar with the writer and her relationship with figure skaters. The articles speak more of her character rather than about anything she writes.
But: Add Patrick to the mix, and there is a perfect storm for journalistic plunder by a newspaper that excels in its art (in a certain way). Patrick says too often what he should not say, not understanding that it can be twisted out of context. Fact is: most, if not all, skaters are cold-blooded competitive characters when they size up their competition. In news conferences, the sugar-coated polite responses that get churned out, we often know are not really the real answers to the questions that are asked. Patrick has never been shell-proofed (as it appears many of the other skaters have) for answering questions. Nevertheless, we really don't want to hear people's honesty always. Some inner thoughts are outwardly rude and should just not be said, especially to writers like DiManno. In my respectful opinion, what she wrote should not have been written even if it was said.
People who know of Patrick personally know of him as a very decent person. He is perhaps naively too trusting of the press and, as a result, he is the perfect victim for writers like DiManno. He should, however, be better coached on how to deal with press, because this is not the first time his words have been mangled. As a confessed Chanaholic from Toronto, I admit that even I sometimes cringe at his responses, but I also know that he really is, behind it all, a very decent person.
I blame the Star, I blame DiManno, but I don't blame Chan for what was written in the article.