Ashley Wagner to skip Grand Prix Series

[acapenci]

I seriously doubt that the ISU paid any attention to Ashley Wagner's tweets.

i dont know, news travels fast when it comes to this sport.

 

[evasorange]

If the isu cared at all about what skaters say about other skaters then Parrick Chan would have been out of the Grand Prix about 4 years before his retirement let’s just be real...they could care less, as long as they are making money

 

[narcissa]

Something about being glad he didn't medal because of his skating skills or something. Not a direct quote but something along those lines.

Not that I'm at a fan, but Ashley could probably still be competitive with the US ladies because who do we really have right now? While I suppose Brady would be top 2, I don't trust what Karen or Gracie can do, so it's like a toss up for all of them to me.

When he got surpassed, she said "Thank god, crossovers shouldn't win the Olympics *sassy emoji*" or something. It's one thing to post constructive criticism. It's another to....post that.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

From a skating perspective, Ashley is a great performer and someone whom I consistently find interesting to watch. Unfortunately, she also has serious technical limitations (no real 3-3, trouble earning spin levels, etc.) that will keep her far away from a world podium now. It's clear she is no longer the favorite of the USFSA, and I don't know if she wants to train as hard as she has in the past in hopes of barely making the world team and finishing in the bottom half of the top 10 at Worlds (both of which are a best case scenario).

 

[crazydreamer]

Does it not seem wrong to you to attack the way your competition skates? It's like saying, "I know I can't win just by skating, so I'll attack how they lay out their program, because I'm threatened by their successes". If she really wanted to show the merits of a balanced program, she could've skated her own at her very best so that the judges at nationals had no choice but for her to be in the top three. She didn't do that, Alina did.

She has valid points about the layout. If the only valid method of criticism is beating someone in competition, we should immediately resign from this forum and it should shut down. She has more right to an opinion on layouts than you and I do, IMO. And I don't think she "attacked" anyone.

 

[lesnar001]

She has valid points about the layout. If the only valid method of criticism is beating someone in competition, we should immediately resign from this forum and it should shut down. She has more right to an opinion on layouts than you and I do, IMO. And I don't think she "attacked" anyone.

Any valid points she had about the layout were spoiled by statements such as "wasting time for the the first half of the program". The first half gained points for spins and footwork sequences - level 4 at that. IMO she was trying to be "edgy", "in your face" and "throwing shade" - and for the most part it backfired on her.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

When he got surpassed, she said "Thank god, crossovers shouldn't win the Olympics *sassy emoji*" or something. It's one thing to post constructive criticism. It's another to....post that.

I kept hearing people say she wants to become a commentator. Oh the popcorn in America would be so buttery. Not that powder butter either...that movie liquid butter stuff!!

 

[chopinskate]

I kept hearing people say she wants to become a commentator. Oh the popcorn in America would be so buttery. Not that powder butter either...that movie liquid butter stuff!!

I'd hardly call what she produces popcorn. Just sketchy-looking meat-of-the-day your friend dared you to buy from a hole-in-the-wall place downtown, that you're sure is the reason you have food-poisoning.

 

[crankyintheAM]

Something about being glad he didn't medal because of his skating skills or something. Not a direct quote but something along those lines.

Not that I'm at a fan, but Ashley could probably still be competitive with the US ladies because who do we really have right now? While I suppose Brady would be top 2, I don't trust what Karen or Gracie can do, so it's like a toss up for all of them to me.

Because her skating skills are so stunning! Nothing says great skating skills like shaking your hips and some shoulder shimmy. To think I cheered for her back in 2011/2012!

 

[Danibellerika]

Because her skating skills are so stunning! Nothing says great skating skills like shaking your hips and some shoulder shimmy. To think I cheered for her back in 2011/2012!

Yeah I've never enjoyed her skating or her mouth since day one. But she was at least tongue in cheek about it saying that she knows her own skating skills ain't so hot either...I think.

 

[cohen-esque]

Yeah I've never enjoyed her skating or her mouth since day one. But she was at least tongue in cheek about it saying that she knows her own skating skills ain't so hot either...I think.

She referred to herself as “the queen of no transitions” in the same post, so I’d say she was at least demonstrating quite a bit more self awareness than some posters here...

 

[chopinskate]

She referred to herself as “the queen of no transitions” in the same post, so I’d say she was at least demonstrating quite a bit more self awareness than some posters here...

I wouldn't. She undid all of that self-awareness through her stream of nonsense over the next day. Her attitude was horrific, and she tried to spin it into her being attacked when fans called her out on it. That's not even remotely close to self-awareness. And I wouldn't compare what she says and how she says it as a public figure on Twitter to posters snarking on a website in the first place.

It's simple -- she thinks all she did in her own programs were crossovers, she doesn't think crossovers should medal to the point that she'd pray for someone to shine just so someone else can lose a podium spot, so she can return her team bronze from 2014 on principle. She and her crossovers didn't deserve to medal in her own opinion, after all. Just so happens to coincide with my own in that particular case.

 

[withwings]

I wouldn't. She undid all of that self-awareness through her stream of nonsense over the next day. Her attitude was horrific, and she tried to spin it into her being attacked when fans called her out on it. That's not even remotely close to self-awareness. And I wouldn't compare what she says and how she says it as a public figure on Twitter to posters snarking on a website in the first place.

It's simple -- she thinks all she did in her own programs were crossovers, she doesn't think crossovers should medal to the point that she'd pray for someone to shine just so someone else can lose a podium spot, so she can return her team bronze from 2014 on principle. She and her crossovers didn't deserve to medal in her own opinion, after all. Just so happens to coincide with my own in that particular case.[/QUOTE



Such a darkness.

 

[cohen-esque]

I wouldn't. She undid all of that self-awareness through her stream of nonsense over the next day. Her attitude was horrific, and she tried to spin it into her being attacked when fans called her out on it. That's not even remotely close to self-awareness. And I wouldn't compare what she says and how she says it as a public figure on Twitter to posters snarking on a website in the first place.

It's simple -- she thinks all she did in her own programs were crossovers, she doesn't think crossovers should medal to the point that she'd pray for someone to shine just so someone else can lose a podium spot, so she can return her team bronze from 2014 on principle. She and her crossovers didn't deserve to medal in her own opinion, after all. Just so happens to coincide with my own in that particular case.

I will never understand why so many skating fans are so positively determined to hate Ashley Wagner and anything and everything she says or does.

It’s self aware because it shows that she can publicly acknowledge and poke fun of her own skating weaknesses even while recognizing those same weakness in others, and pointing them out. Mild self-deprecation via reflecting a criticism back on oneself is a very common strategy specifically to lessen the inherent harshness of criticism so that it comes across less negatively, and again, one which rests on self-awareness— and also, an understanding of humour.

It does not necessarily need to literally imply that she truly believes all she has to offer are crossovers, nor that she doesn’t do any transitions. (She certainly had more transitions in Boston, for example, than Boyang has ever included, so many that I think she actually weakened the choreographic impact of her program slightly, but that’s getting off track.) She also made this post during the Singles event, not the Team event where she won her medal. In fact, I think most people commenting in good faith would understand that and so it personally strikes me as a little disingenuous to act as if she meant her statements to be 100% literal.

And I’m just not sure what you’re seeing that you’d describe as a “horrific attitude” at all? Scrolling through her feed during the Olympics, I see her being generally supportive and complimentary:
(American Skaters)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/966917150844764160
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/962880986336788486
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/962912355699970049
(Hendrickx)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964701264700256257
(Zagitova)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/968297642521325568
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/965136411035758592
(Patrick... and there's that self-awareness again)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964720470640635905
(Shoma)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964726390137372672
(Aljona/Bruno)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964328910447034368
(And to the FS fans)
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964724577510174720
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964704153925660672

I suppose YMMV as to whether all of the above, or her Tweets below, qualifies as a “stream of nonsense.”

The only real criticisms she made of skaters during the Olympics were for (mostly Boyang’s) empty programs and for Alina’s extreme backloading: and, IMO, considering her posts about Alina, it’s a mistake to read her comments on “yay, more crossovers” as criticizing *only* the relatively large numbers of crossovers, but also a perception that there’s not much else of the aspects of skating which she personally values the most on offer in those programs. As she rather frequently explained in her relative posts about, with a few more doses of self-awareness:
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964369428950364161
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964726535910342656
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/965134128432611328
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/965137000939470848
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/964758054142013440

She’s been fairly consistent with this feeling before, so it’s not as if she was unleashing her horrific new attitude on the poor, unsuspecting Olympians:

I am the queen of no transitions, but Boyang surpassed me today #SkateAmerica

I mostly found her criticisms to be valid, although I don’t *completely* agree with her: it’s true Boyang could do with some more complete choreography, but he’s a an excellent, natural performer and quite charming. But even I thought his 2016 Worlds FS was amazingly dull when I saw it in person, and his program last season had looooong empty stretches.

And her comments on Alina’s program. Again, nothing I’d call “horrific”:
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/962882352199319554
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/962882943885524992
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/962883453145399296
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/962892839632846848
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/968297638616473601
https://mobile.twitter.com/AshWagner2010/status/968297639925067777

I would not characterize any of her tweets as “attacks” on her competitors, as has been suggested in this thread by other posters— and the men are not even her competitors in the first place— nor would I say she displayed a “horrific attitude” and certainly not more so than, well, the majority of posters on this forum display on a daily basis.

 

[pearly]

Well I think she's intelligent, knows how to speak in public and enjoy most of her comments and photos, unlike some other US skaters also not doing the GP series.

 

[crazydreamer]

It's just a double-standard. For some reason, World medalists can't say on social media what fans without any skating skills or experience say basically every other post on here.

 

[Spirals for Miles]

Because we're not skaters. If a skater says that, it seems like they're a poor loser -- even if they aren't.

 

[Lester]

Most skaters these days are trying to be vague about retiring for as long as possible, but I don't really think Ashley can gain much out of continuing. She already worked a miracle to get her World silver medal and now the competition is much stiffer and I don't know where she could get the motivation. She had a long and interesting career anyway.

 

[Lester]

She referred to herself as “the queen of no transitions” in the same post, so I’d say she was at least demonstrating quite a bit more self awareness than some posters here...

This is not self-awareness, it is no more than coquetry, wink, wink.

 

[georgia]

It was not just with Alina, she was pretty harsh to Boyang too...

Ashe was doing her job.