Other members of the show may have felt resentment toward Sarah for the negative press she created by skating empty programs due to lack of fitness. By joining SOI Sarah became part of a commercial venture and the business world can be cruel to those who don't help the bottom line.
Knowing how harsh people, who paid good money to see that show, were talking about Sarah this year when I was in the audiences during SOI, I can only imagine how the other skaters felt hearing or reading those types of comments as well as seeing for themselves that she wasn't up to par this year. ITA that its business and with figure skating losing money every year, I don't blame any of the skaters for being annoyed at the negative press due to a fellow skater not coming in prepared to do programs worthy of her status (if that's the case, I don't know anything beyond speculation). For the most part, people enjoyed the show this year but they either thought she was fine or they didn't care for her skating at all. There wasn't much complimentary to her this year and even I struggled to find good things to say because I was disappointed in her programs. They were nice, but nothing special at all. Not what I was expecting to see at SOI where I hold the standards a lot higher. That's just my opinion though and apparently, it sounds like that just never mattered to the Russian skaters and they just went with the flow for lack of a better phrase. Having met most of the skaters on SOI through the past few years, I find it hard to believe they were being horribly mean and rude to her all the time, but I can also see how too much teasing, even in a light way, can affect a person's emotions.
I also didn't get anything from that article that says anything about him not touring next year. Unless an SOI skater has signed a multiple year contract (a la Jamie & David or Todd who won't be going anywhere because of those contracts and NOT because of a nationality bias FYI), then we've always had to wait a bit to find out if they re-sign or not. I remember being nervous as all get out to find out of Steven was going to be asked back last year!
IMO, Alexei brings in a lot of fans for both the US and the Canadian tours and I find it hard to believe they would cast him aside just to bring someone new in no matter if they are an American skater or not (especially if its for Michael Weiss who would be a BIG bathroom break for me, LOL
). It is about what sells in the USA but Alexei does sell those tickets so that will definitely be considered for SOI when they put the cast together for next year. I kinda think that if he doesn't tour again this fall, it won't entirely be the fault of SOI. I think it could be because Alexei doesn't want to tour anymore for that long and he makes that decision himself. I don't really know though. I do enjoy Alexei's skating though and I hope he continues to tour. I guess its just one more thing we will be waiting through the off season for!! I may not make it if things like this keep coming up, LOL
:banging: :yes:
