I think we only have certain facts about Alissa. Let's not decide just yet she lacks morals, courage etc. We don't have facts but speculation. I wrote a support thread after CC but felt she should retire after worlds regardless of what went wrong=phsically mentally or both, but I agree with MM that people shouldn't call her Shady. She has pressures...herself, her coaches, USFS, her fans. Maybe it's very hard knowing what to do when you have pain, but not sure the etiology or if it is permanent. We are mostly fans here of AC as she has been around a long time, and she has smitten us with her beauty and some truly beautiful skating mpments. Alissa is special for many reasons, and she may be done. So let's respect all she has struggled to give to us her fans when she is by nature a girl who loves to skate but has fought her comp. nerves all her life. I think I would give AC the benefit of the doubt when she doesn't have all the facts herself. Pushing through pain is how top athletes and many of us live.
Everyone loves a winner and a lucky person, and if you fall, the world quickly turns on you. I think Alissa reads these boards and she may be using twitter to slowly let people know why she ended her season sobadly, and maybe she is told by her coaches what to do. So I don't think RFlatt deserved the words she got ( wasn't reading myself) that were so negative. And people should give Alissa a break.What would you do? Most would likely choose her choices given the fines. She is a timid person who likely overthinks everything and I think she is following what her coaches advise. Elite skating is a game and she did what her and her team felt best. Hey, she's not some wall street criminal that deserves verbal beating and incarceration.
When the chips fall and her career is mostly over, I am in her corner. She has given us her best. It is hardly of much consequence-it's not skategate or close.