Jason Brown | Page 66 | Golden Skate

Jason Brown

TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Dave Leases thoughts on Jason's future, career, prospects, personality, maturity and whatnot...

I try to avoid looking at The Skating Lesson, but I ran across an article/blog post about Jason & Mirai by Lease on my FB feed. Can't link it here, but the title is "The Season After" if you want to Google it.

I thought this was especially clueless:

"Often appearing youthful, it may be time for Brown to consider trimming his hair and giving off a more imposing demeanor at the boards. While audiences love his joy for skating and his open personality, hugging one’s coach before a competitive program does not necessarily set the tone for a strong and commanding performance for someone who is known to under rotate his triples at times."

What do you guys think?
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Eh, Dave's entitled to his opinion.

My opinion is that it makes no sense to break a years-long pre-skate routine for the skate of appearances. Giving that hug to Kori may part of the routine to help him relax before an intense performance. I think it also is a reminder of Kori's confidence and belief in him as well. And as for the hair thing. I suppose a hair cut might do something. Or it might not.

Otherwise, I thought his analysis of the two programs were fine, as well as Jason's competitive prospects. I think team Brown is aware of such prospects and have figured out ways to keep Jason competitive while keeping all the different things that make him special.

Also,while this season is the FIRST season of the Olympic cycle and perhaps it's good to make a good first impression, it's hardly make-or-break. We're at the start of a four-year cycle. Yuzuru, for example, didn't burn a hole in the world in 2010-2011, his first year as a senior -- he didn't medal on the GP or make the Worlds team. Gracie Gold didn't make it to Nationals that year. And the winner of Worlds in the Ladies ended up not making the Olympic team three years later. And I think we all know what happened to the 2011 World Bronze medalist later on. (Sorry to bring a sore subject, karne. :cry:)

Point is, that Jason has an opportunity to make a good impression this season but if his goal is making the Olympic team in 2018 (and perhaps have a shot at medal) he can't get muddled in the here-and-now (or rest in the laurels of any success he may obtain that season).
 
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TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
I was also surprised at how non-catty the post was on the whole - it was the afterthought about the hug that kinda ruined that (very rare) positive impression for me. I would have expected more scathing criticism from Lease re the programs, but was happy to see that that didn't materialise. Then he had to go and suggest, like you said, that giving up a years-long pre-skate routine would make him appear more commanding and I imagine somehow magically get him more IJS points? I'm pretty sure if that was a problem, judges would have mentioned it to them years ago and they would or wouldn't have changed their routine accordingly.

He had the skate of his life in Boston and didn't seem somehow un-commanding even with the hug :laugh:
 

jace93

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 8, 2014
Dave Leases thoughts on Jason's future, career, prospects, personality, maturity and whatnot...


"Often appearing youthful, it may be time for Brown to consider trimming his hair and giving off a more imposing demeanor at the boards. While audiences love his joy for skating and his open personality, hugging one’s coach before a competitive program does not necessarily set the tone for a strong and commanding performance for someone who is known to under rotate his triples at times."

I've yet toread the article, so I can't give my impression on the entire thing... regarding that quote, for what is worth, the reigning olympic and world champion goes around with a pooh tissue box and play with it in the kiss & cry, still the judges seem to love him very much, so fi I was Jason I wouldn't worry too much about a hug or two with my coach ;)
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Joined
Dec 27, 2009
That pretty much sums up TSL for me. I think they have some good analysis at times and the interviews with key figure skating figures can be great, but then they suddenly go into left field with catty comments and conspiracy theories.

:eek:hwell:

I do agree with Dave's assertion is that they are easing up on the cardio in his FS in hopes that he can up his technical content in the program. At the same time, he still gets a challenge in range in doing a different type of program. And yes Jason needs to nail the jumps too.
 

alabhaois

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I see absolutely no reason why Jason should trim his hair-- nor do I see any reason for Lease to criticize Jason's demeanor on the boards. I've never read Lease before-- is he always so adorable?
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
When you say "adorable" are you being ironic? ;)

I will say that David Lease has a lot of passion and knowledge for figure skating, no doubt about that. But he can also be gossipy and catty as well. I like it when he's more knowledge-oriented and less when he's catty. But than again, some people don't mind the cattiness.
 

alabhaois

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I was being ironic, yes.

I am not too familiar with DL but what he said up until the last part was well-written and well-taken.

But then the comments about Jason's hair and his demeanor on the boards were petty-- and gratuitous. :sarcasm:
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
FWIW, people have made the same comments about Jason's hair on these boards. Which I guess makes the fact he made the comment on a website that claims to be a resource for figure skating fans worse....
 
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Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
So I just realized that this person I wrote about:

So because I'm a nosy auntie and inherently curious, I went on Twitter and found her. Creepy is right. Some of the fan-fiction she wrote about Jason she posted was scary.

But yes, it seems she has calm down a bit. Hope it stays that way!

And this person karne wrote about:

She's still hanging around and still tweets at him and favourites all his tweets (and the tweets of anyone who posts happy/positive things about Jason - I was mortified to find out that she'd favourited six of mine!), but at least she seems to have stopped her constant bombardment.

Are not one in the same! Which means Jason has TWO psycho fans?! Geezers.... :cry:
 

alabhaois

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
FWIW, people have made the same comments about Jason's hair on these boards. Which I guess makes the fact he made the comment on a website that claims to be a resource for figure skating fans worse....

Per what you wrote, at first I thought the "he" was Jason. Now I get it. (I'm a little slow-- it's Monday) :p

What Mr. Lease wrote is the first critical article about Jason I've read. Everyone else has been so supportive.

One supportive reader comment ended with this:

As for you, David Lease, you often are a great commentator, though your increased cattiness is really getting irritating. There IS a difference between critique and criticism.

Touche
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
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Dec 27, 2009
Per what you wrote, at first I thought the \"he\" was Jason. Now I get it. (I\'m a little slow-- it\'s Monday) :p

What Mr. Lease wrote is the first critical article about Jason I\'ve read. Everyone else has been so supportive.

Relatively speaking it\'s not a bad criticism of Jason, just a bit off-the-wall. Dave\'s definitely thrown a ton more shade at other skaters.

Actually, they interviewed Jason last summer. I can't link it here just look for "Jason Brown interview Skating Lesson" on Google.

It was pretty good. The only thing is that I wish more time was spent talking about what it was like to work with Rohene.
 

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.
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Mar 3, 2014
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Relatively speaking it\'s not a bad criticism of Jason, just a bit off-the-wall. Dave\'s definitely thrown a ton more shade at other skaters.

Actually, they interviewed Jason last summer. I can't link it here just look for "Jason Brown interview Skating Lesson" on Google.

It was pretty good. The only thing is that I wish more time was spent talking about what it was like to work with Rohene.

I've read about "TSL" on this and other boards. What is it and who are these folks?

I found the "criticism" to be fairly mild; I have also seen threads here where some opine Jason should cut his hair. Are they kidding? Most of what any American (not a fan) will remember about skating in these Olympics is D&W, the blond girl in the red dress, and the kid with the ponytail. Besides, having seen Jason's hair, which is even curlier than mine (and that's saying something), he would need a buzz cut to be "mature", and that would not be flattering. Then again, I came in the late 60s and early 70s, and to this day, I love long hair on men.

The perception on maturity comes I think from others' discomfort of his closeness with Kori. Too bad. It certainly makes the KnC more enjoyable than skaters with that stone man Frank Carroll (he hasn't changed in the years I stopped following skating.)

And I would love more on working with Rohene as well. Talk about hair!
 

alabhaois

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Relatively speaking it\'s not a bad criticism of Jason, just a bit off-the-wall. Dave\'s definitely thrown a ton more shade at other skaters.

Actually, they interviewed Jason last summer. I can't link it here just look for "Jason Brown interview Skating Lesson" on Google.

It was pretty good. The only thing is that I wish more time was spent talking about what it was like to work with Rohene.

I saw that and enjoyed it. That's why I was a little taken off-guard with this piece. Ah well... as you said originally, Dave's entitled to his opinion. :yes:
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
I've read about "TSL" on this and other boards. What is it and who are these folks?

I found the "criticism" to be fairly mild; I have also seen threads here where some opine Jason should cut his hair. Are they kidding? Most of what any American (not a fan) will remember about skating in these Olympics is D&W, the blond girl in the red dress, and the kid with the ponytail. Besides, having seen Jason's hair, which is even curlier than mine (and that's saying something), he would need a buzz cut to be "mature", and that would not be flattering. Then again, I came in the late 60s and early 70s, and to this day, I love long hair on men.

The perception on maturity comes I think from others' discomfort of his closeness with Kori. Too bad. It certainly makes the KnC more enjoyable than skaters with that stone man Frank Carroll (he hasn't changed in the years I stopped following skating.)

And I would love more on working with Rohene as well. Talk about hair!

TSL = The Skating Lesson. Basically it was a collaboration between David Lease, an adult skater who was known for running a super snarky figure skating/gynamistic site call Aunt Joyce's Ice Cream Stand, and former national medalist Jenny Kirk. The site was pretty noteworthy for getting interviews with elite skaters and coaches. But their commentary was too snarky for some.

Dave's running the site on his own now that Jenny's off doing some other things.
 

alabhaois

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I love long hair on men!

Me too-- as long as it's well-kempt, and Jason's is certainly that.

The perception on maturity comes I think from others' discomfort of his closeness with Kori. Too bad.
Yes it is. Jason and Kori have been hugging for years-- I don't see what the big deal is. :rolleye:

Nor was I aware that embraces and long hair were the stuff of immaturity.
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
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Jan 1, 2013
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Yes it is. Jason and Kori have been hugging for years-- I don't see what the big deal is. :rolleye:

Nor was I aware that embraces and long hair were the stuff of immaturity.

One of my favourite photos of Plushenko is from Vancouver. He's standing on the ice about to skate his long program (with his long blond hair just to his shoulders!), and he's got a smile on his face and is tipping Mishin's hat off his head rather childishly and playfully.

Now, would anyone ever accuse Plushenko of not being intimidating or formidable on the ice? :p

I've come up with my dream podiums for the six grand prixs:


Skate America: Artur, Jason, Machida

Skate Canada: Max, Menshov, Rippon (or Reynolds)

Cup of China: Joshua, Han Yan, Hanyu

Cup of Russia: Artur, Max, Jason

TEB: Menshov, Han Yan, Nan Song

NHK: Joshua, Voronov, Hanyu.

The above is not necessarily in order. But if it came down to it...as much as I love Jason, and Max...if I had to choose, I would give over anything to see Artur standing on top where he belongs. :cry:
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Dave Leases thoughts on Jason's future, career, prospects, personality, maturity and whatnot...

I try to avoid looking at The Skating Lesson, but I ran across an article/blog post about Jason & Mirai by Lease on my FB feed. Can't link it here, but the title is "The Season After" if you want to Google it.

I thought this was especially clueless:

"Often appearing youthful, it may be time for Brown to consider trimming his hair and giving off a more imposing demeanor at the boards. While audiences love his joy for skating and his open personality, hugging one’s coach before a competitive program does not necessarily set the tone for a strong and commanding performance for someone who is known to under rotate his triples at times."

What do you guys think?

I don't think "imposing demeanor" is Jason's style... and why should it be? Nor do I think his refraining from hugging his coach will have any effect on his jumps...

Note: I have nothing against "imposing demeanor" - I'm a Plushy uber after all. :) But what I like is for skaters to be themselves - the more different styles, the more different personalities... the merrier, say I!

Note 2: I have not read the article in its entirety, so I'm merely remarking on the quoted part here. Since many here seem to think Dave Lease has made some interesting points, I might search it out and read it. TSL often did have interesting insights, but, however, when the annoying (for me personally) started to outweigh the enjoyment, I ceased following the blog.
 

alabhaois

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
I don't think "imposing demeanor" is Jason's style... and why should it be? Nor do I think his refraining from hugging his coach will have any effect on his jumps...

Note: I have nothing against "imposing demeanor" - I'm a Plushy uber after all. :) But what I like is for skaters to be themselves - the more different styles, the more different personalities... the merrier, say I!

Note 2: I have not read the article in its entirety, so I'm merely remarking on the quoted part here. Since many here seem to think Dave Lease has made some interesting points, I might search it out and read it. TSL often did have interesting insights, but, however, when the annoying (for me personally) started to outweigh the enjoyment, I ceased following the blog.

That's one of the (many) things I like about Jason-- he is himself. The ponytail isn't a gimmick-- it sprang from the fact that he likes long hair and, apparently, has had it pretty much his whole life. I think it took guts for him to move forward with it instead of trying to blend in with the others. Each skater is an individual, and that's how it should be. This hair-cut business reminds me of the 60s when men wore long hair and people would admonish them to "Get a haircut!" which seems a positively medieval thing to say in the 21st century.

Lease wrote, "Often appearing youthful...Brown..." as if it were a liability. Well, Jason is youthful-- he's a teenager! If he were 30 years old, I could maybe see Lease's point, but since that's not the case... :confused2:
 
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