- Joined
- Feb 10, 2014
@princessalica, I agree there are a lot of people who should consider tone when they speak. Sadly, a lot of people don’t.
@century2009, we’re all entitled to our opinions but I think yours is unnecessarily negative about everyone except Nathan. It’s clear you’re a fan of his, but every one of the other guys you mentioned has value that exists independent of Nathan.
To put it bluntly, you seem to view every US man as “not Nathan,” and therefore not good enough. If your goal for Jason, for example, is to be able to do as many quads as Nathan, that’s probably never gonna happen, and you’re always gonna be disappointed. The flip side of that is that Jason has extraordinary skills and qualities that no one else has, that you simply won’t acknowledge. Dismissing that SP as you did is pretty rude. I’d also say that while yes, it’s very admirable that Nathan is attending Yale full time and continuing to compete at a high level, it shows a lack of imagination on your part to dismiss what Jason’s doing right now - going through the process of totally revamping his technique while continuing to compete on the GP. As someone who graduated from a tough Ivy (not Yale) while working full time at a demanding job, and someone who performed at a high level in another profession,who struggled to regain technique after a pretty devastating injury, I can assure you that both processes are equally demanding in very different ways.
All of us are going to be innately drawn to certain skaters more than others. I’m innately more drawn to Jason than Nathan, but I respect Nathan’s work ethic and what he’s accomplished, and I think he’s made huge strides in the past few years towards becoming a more balanced skater. I respect all the work Vincent is putting in to improve his performance skills and how hard he’s trying to improve his rotation. For me, competitive figure skating is not just about who wins, but the process of becoming the best you can be. Which brings me back to Jason and Nathan in France. Jason was able to sustain a virtually perfect performance throughout the SP. He beat Nathan by ten points without a quad and got a huge, record breaking quadless score. I’m pretty sure that the noticeable change in Nathan we saw between his SP and FS was due at least in part to wanting to beat the competition and win. To me that shows a respect for his competitors that some of his fans seem to lack.
@century2009, we’re all entitled to our opinions but I think yours is unnecessarily negative about everyone except Nathan. It’s clear you’re a fan of his, but every one of the other guys you mentioned has value that exists independent of Nathan.
To put it bluntly, you seem to view every US man as “not Nathan,” and therefore not good enough. If your goal for Jason, for example, is to be able to do as many quads as Nathan, that’s probably never gonna happen, and you’re always gonna be disappointed. The flip side of that is that Jason has extraordinary skills and qualities that no one else has, that you simply won’t acknowledge. Dismissing that SP as you did is pretty rude. I’d also say that while yes, it’s very admirable that Nathan is attending Yale full time and continuing to compete at a high level, it shows a lack of imagination on your part to dismiss what Jason’s doing right now - going through the process of totally revamping his technique while continuing to compete on the GP. As someone who graduated from a tough Ivy (not Yale) while working full time at a demanding job, and someone who performed at a high level in another profession,who struggled to regain technique after a pretty devastating injury, I can assure you that both processes are equally demanding in very different ways.
All of us are going to be innately drawn to certain skaters more than others. I’m innately more drawn to Jason than Nathan, but I respect Nathan’s work ethic and what he’s accomplished, and I think he’s made huge strides in the past few years towards becoming a more balanced skater. I respect all the work Vincent is putting in to improve his performance skills and how hard he’s trying to improve his rotation. For me, competitive figure skating is not just about who wins, but the process of becoming the best you can be. Which brings me back to Jason and Nathan in France. Jason was able to sustain a virtually perfect performance throughout the SP. He beat Nathan by ten points without a quad and got a huge, record breaking quadless score. I’m pretty sure that the noticeable change in Nathan we saw between his SP and FS was due at least in part to wanting to beat the competition and win. To me that shows a respect for his competitors that some of his fans seem to lack.
But I became accustomed to the fact that he did not.
Although I would love for Jason to be rewarded for his many gifts (and IdF was a start), my temperament was forged by watching Toller. If Jason doesn’t win, it will not change my opinion of his marvelous skating and performance skills one whit.
Whether those gifts include ability to challenge for a World’s spot does not make those gifts less valuable, or certainly less important to their fans.
And Nathan is currently on a 5 consecutive GP event win streak. Not sure who was the last man to win 5 in a row.
, he competed at Worlds and contributed to three spots for the following year 
.
.
