Phil Hersh's Tweet

[Mango]

We had a whole discussion on why we need to respect Phil Hersh in this thread: https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?70421-Christine-Brennan-Sounds-Off-Again!

 

[twirlingblades]

Phil fails at his attempts at being edgy and “unfiltered”. He’s just a jerk.

Love Chris K’s response to Phil and his response of “no” when someone tweeted at Phil asking if he would say that to the Knierim’s faces.

 

[plushyfan]

I believed Alexa is sick from the first moment when she just stood one ice!

 

[charlotte14]

I think Phil just cracked. He thinks there is no need to do PC game.

 

[Barb]

Yes, American pairs are a mess, we all know it, but to say it directly at that moment was cruel.

 

[anonymoose_au]

What? What a jerk!

First of all, to tweet that right after Alexa and Chris's difficult skate is just rude.

Second of all, aren't all countries that make the minimum entitled to send a pair to the event? So no it's not one too many Phil.

What an a-hole!

 

[russianfan]

.

I think Phil is just an attention w*re

 

[cruzceleste]

What? What a jerk!

First of all, to tweet that right after Alexa and Chris's difficult skate is just rude.

Second of all, aren't all countries that make the minimum entitled to send a pair to the event? So no it's not one too many Phil.

What an a-hole!

He didn’t tweet it to them, he was responding to Jackie live report tweet

 

[anonymoose_au]

He didn’t tweet it to them, he was responding to Jackie live report tweet

Well that's a bit better I guess? Although Chris did end up seeing it and gave Phil quite the smackdown.

But the second part about 'one pair too many' is still dumb, he knows the rules, US Pairs may not be the best, but they can make the minimum ergo they deserve a spot.

 

[karne]

He didn’t tweet it to them, he was responding to Jackie live report tweet

And because everyone who is worth their salt follows Jackie, it meant that everyone in the skating world knew it in a heartbeat.

Hersh is a jerk. This is just the latest tweet that makes me wonder if he even likes figure skating. A couple of weeks ago he was raging about how it was such a waste for the lower-scoring skaters to be allowed to skate at Junior Worlds.

 

[aname]

Hersh is a jerk. This is just the latest tweet that makes me wonder if he even likes figure skating. A couple of weeks ago he was raging about how it was such a waste for the lower-scoring skaters to be allowed to skate at Junior Worlds.

Either he is a jerk or he just likes to play one on twitter. But the thing is, those two things are really one and the same. Either way, you're just being a tiresome twitter troll.

Another example was when he compared Adam to Eddie Edwards. You know, the ski jumper who was really bad at ski jumping and got a lot of attention because of that. Because skating 3 clean but quadless programs at Olympics really invites that "novelty act" comparison. :sarcasm:
https://twitter.com/olyphil/status/972223600303525888

But I liked how Adam's mom replied in the thread: https://twitter.com/AuthenticChange/status/972510276695228418
"We need more honest constructive criticism & less disparaging." :agree:

 

[MK's Winter]

^^^
But Phil doesn’t make these types of detailed criticisms; he’s just being mean, and he thinks, maybe, funny? I don’t know. Like I said, his comments would be at home in an NFL subreddit. But not for someone who holds himself out to be a journalist.:sarcasm:

And Phil isn’t criticizing the Fed’s lack of support of pairs, he is directly snarking about the pairs themselves. I think if we asked Alexa and Chris, Tarah and Danny, Ashley and Tim, Deanna and Nate, and all the other skaters, they could come up with a million reasons that we should “bother” sending pairs to international comps.

I’m sure if PH actually bothered to think, he might come with some too. That might be asking too much.

I definitely agree he was wrong to tweet it. I imagine he will write an article. He needs to remember it's not the 90's anymore. The skating landscape has changed.

And your football team is my team. Go Birds!

 

[moonvine]

I am so angry I just want to slap him. Poor Alexa tweeted "I'm sorry for losing us a spot." There are plenty of teams who finished behind them, our other US team did not even make the free. Of course we deserve a spot. Other teams made mistakes and fell, it's not like they were the only ones to have a bad skate. Bad skates happen. It is not their job to singlehandedly come in and get us 2 spots every year. It's a miracle they are even on the ice, let alone going to the Olympics and the Worlds after her health problems. If Phil thinks it is just so easy, let him grab a partner and go get us 2 spots next year. Grrr. I am just floored that anyone would think that, let alone say it.

 

[moonvine]

And the USFS is where the coin flips. If the Fed doesn't make the changes to help their Pairs- why bother sending any. That is where I can see Phil's brash unfiltered point.

Why do other countries bother sending any when they know they won't finish near the podium? To get them experience, to have representation for their country. The goal for a lot of these skaters is to get a personal best and make the free skate, yet they still get sent to Worlds. Let's face it, we haven't had a World Champion in pairs since 1979. So we shouldn't have sent any since 1979 because they didn't win? Because we are the US and nothing is worth doing if you don't win it?

Also, I think the problem is more that teams constantly switch partners than coaching changes, although coaching changes play a role. In a lot of countries it seems you are assigned a partner and you stay with that partner, like it or not. At least Chris and Alexa will not be changing partners. Tai and Randy were together for decades (including professional).

For a very long time our ice dance program was in the toilet. Then we got Tanith and Ben and the whole ice dance scene changed and now we are a world powerhouse. But we didn't get there by not sending teams to worlds and Olympics when we had spots to send them.

 

[jenaj]

I don't pay attention to Hersch. He no longer works for a newspaper/news agency. He is now just a blogger. If it weren't for figure skating fans, he would probably have no audience at all.

 

[MK's Winter]

Why do other countries bother sending any when they know they won't finish near the podium? To get them experience, to have representation for their country. The goal for a lot of these skaters is to get a personal best and make the free skate, yet they still get sent to Worlds. Let's face it, we haven't had a World Champion in pairs since 1979. So we shouldn't have sent any since 1979 because they didn't win? Because we are the US and nothing is worth doing if you don't win it?

Also, I think the problem is more that teams constantly switch partners than coaching changes, although coaching changes play a role. In a lot of countries it seems you are assigned a partner and you stay with that partner, like it or not. At least Chris and Alexa will not be changing partners. Tai and Randy were together for decades (including professional).

I agree with you. Experience is absolutely important. Partner swapping needs to stop. Tai is a resource the USFS refuses to use. She would be a great consultant. But the USFS needs to help their pairs. And they don't.

 

[moonvine]

I agree with you. Experience is absolutely important. Partner swapping needs to stop. Tai is a resource the USFS refuses to use. She would be a great consultant. But the USFS needs to help their pairs. And they don't.

I'm not sure how to stop the pair swapping. I expect in China, Russia and comparable countries they pair people up, say "You're skating with this person period" and they aren't allowed to break up, they're told who they have to skate with. That means they have to work through stuff that pairs here don't want to work through (just my opinion).

And what is USFS's problem with Tai? She seems to be a wonderful person and she is a fabulous skater. I could just watch her stroke around the ice and be happy. I know USA Diving wouldn't use Greg Louganis for years because he was gay/HIV positive, but they finally reconciled with him after treating him like trash for many years. But the times have changed, and that's not Tai's situation anyway. I love her. She retweeted one of my tweets. But of course I loved her before that.

 

[MK's Winter]

I'm not sure how to stop the pair swapping. I expect in China, Russia and comparable countries they pair people up, say "You're skating with this person period" and they aren't allowed to break up, they're told who they have to skate with. That means they have to work through stuff that pairs here don't want to work through (just my opinion).

And what is USFS's problem with Tai? She seems to be a wonderful person and she is a fabulous skater. I could just watch her stroke around the ice and be happy. I know USA Diving wouldn't use Greg Louganis for years because he was gay/HIV positive, but they finally reconciled with him after treating him like trash for many years. But the times have changed, and that's not Tai's situation anyway. I love her. She retweeted one of my tweets. But of course I loved her before that.

Tai has touched on the partner swapping. Sometimes you have to work through things. Randy stuck out her growing pains and they became very successful. She stated in a TSL interview that the USFS doesn't ask for her help. I know she has offered it. She isn't afraid to call them out either which might ruffle their mighty feathers. She has spoken about the lack of US pairs working on simple stroking, pair holds, moving together being an issue. They jump on the harder elements first. I think the lack of working on simple basics hurts as well. Timing is everything in pairs.

 

[TallAdultSkater]

Either he is a jerk or he just likes to play one on twitter. But the thing is, those two things are really one and the same. Either way, you're just being a tiresome twitter troll.

Another example was when he compared Adam to Eddie Edwards. You know, the ski jumper who was really bad at ski jumping and got a lot of attention because of that. Because skating 3 clean but quadless programs at Olympics really invites that "novelty act" comparison. :sarcasm:
https://twitter.com/olyphil/status/972223600303525888

But I liked how Adam's mom replied in the thread: https://twitter.com/AuthenticChange/status/972510276695228418
"We need more honest constructive criticism & less disparaging." :agree:

Here is the actual tweet text:
Other than ski jumper Eddie the Eagle Edwards and the '88 Jamaican bobsled team, who were novelty acts in dangerous sports, has anyone become more popular after being an Olympic also-ran than Adam Rippon?

Dictionary Definition of an also-ran: a loser in a race or contest, especially by a large margin. An undistinguished or unsuccessful person or thing.

So Phil insulted insulted the Jamaican Bobsled Team, Eddie and Adam all in on swoop. Classy, what an insulting thing for him to say.

Ummmmm actually other people (NOT PHIL) such as other media, fans and athletes mostly on You Tube were comparing Adam Rippon to Michael "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards in a really positive way because they both had big, fun personalities, they were happy to be there, fulfilling a lifelong dream and happy to represent their countries! How many Olympians get movies made of their story? Eddie did! Adam probably is next LOL.

 

[moonvine]

Tai has touched on the partner swapping. Sometimes you have to work through things. Randy stuck out her growing pains and they became very successful. She stated in a TSL interview that the USFS doesn't ask for her help. I know she has offered it. She isn't afraid to call them out either which might ruffle their mighty feathers. She has spoken about the lack of US pairs working on simple stroking, pair holds, moving together being an issue. They jump on the harder elements first. I think the lack of working on simple basics hurts as well. Timing is everything in pairs.

Do you have a link to the interview? (I don't doubt you, would just like to read it, I am all about Tai and Randy) I actually listened to a podcast lately (and I wish I could remember which, but I listen to a lot of skating podcasts. I have insomnia and listen to skating podcasts when I'm trying to sleep. The person being interviewed said there was "no hope" for our pairs and that he believed the discipline might disappear due to lack of skaters worldwide. I seem to see some new young teams, so I'm not sure this is accurate. I do wish they would allow more pairs to make the free skate. Young pairs need experience in both the short and long. I know that's been touched on, but people (me!) watch 30 something mens and ladies short programs. I would definitely watch more pairs in the long. They only show the top 8 or something on TV so it wouldn't affect TV.