The Skating Lesson

floskate said:
This is the competition result that just refuses to go away isn't it? :lol:

Carlo approaching her is a really important point. Having produced the mens and ladies champions in 1976, perhaps he wanted to emulate the feat in 1980 and certainly he had the political clout that Frank didn't have. However, I have a hard time seeing Fassi take both 1980 titles over Jutta Muller who was just as politically active as he was. They both expertly navigated the backstage politics of the sport and it's part of what made them such incredible coaches in this era.
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I saw an ESPN program that profiled Witt maybe in 2014? Witt spoke candidly about many sensitive issues, including a deal that Jutta Mueller brokered with the TPTB in the GDR prior to the 88 Olympics that Witt would be allowed to accept lucrative $$$ offers from the West IF she won a 2nd OGM. I think this is an example of Mueller - the skilled negotiator.
 
olympic said:
Carlo Fassi approached Linda's mother prior to the 80 Olympics and told her that he could make Linda an Olympic Champion, but Linda was loyal to Frank and never considered it.
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If memory serves the Fratiannes added Fassi to the coaching team during the 78-79 season, in order to help regain the world title, but Fassi was unwilling to work with them again the following season, presumably because Carroll remained the primary coach. What always strikes me about the Fratianne controversy is how outspoken Virginia Fratianne was about the judging. I cannot imagine a parent speaking to the press like that today, nor do I think many reporters would even approach parents for comments about judging.
 
nylynnr said:
If memory serves the Fratiannes added Fassi to the coaching team during the 78-79 season, in order to help regain the world title, but Fassi was unwilling to work with them again the following season, presumably because Carroll remained the primary coach. What always strikes me about the Fratianne controversy is how outspoken Virginia Fratianne was about the judging. I cannot imagine a parent speaking to the press like that today, nor do I think many reporters would even approach parents for comments about judging.
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Virginia was outspoken for a very good reason. ;) Appropriate or not, I'm glad she did it.
 
nylynnr said:
If memory serves the Fratiannes added Fassi to the coaching team during the 78-79 season, in order to help regain the world title, but Fassi was unwilling to work with them again the following season, presumably because Carroll remained the primary coach.
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Incidentally, Carlo Fassi already had 5 other skaters in the women's event in Lake Placid (Kristofics-Binder, Driano, Watanabe, Wegelius, Richardson).
 
Lots of inconsistent triple-jumping free-skaters seemed to flock to Carlo for magical improvements in the politically judged figures segment. I know it’s sacrelidge to talk ill of saint Carlo but he really seemed to be the toe-tapping former Soviet ice dance judge of coaches. The Robert Moses of figure skating. :P
 
This has been my favorite TSL episode of the year. Dina is very nice, insightful and pro-Russian, so she's a perfect balance for the snarky / anti-Russian Dave. I also learned a lot from Dina, along with some gossip too.

It sounds like she will join Dave & Jonathan as a guest for one of the Olympic recaps. Looking forward to it! I think her Russian perspective definitely enhanced the TSL coverage.
 
I'm actually quite impressed that they got Dina Kuznetsova; I'm assuming she won't be somewhere on tour in February while the Olympics take place (last year around the same time, she was busy doing Onegin in Florida).

As for the quip about biathlon...Guys, the current men's 20km world champ is from the USA...
 
Seerek said:
As for the quip about biathlon...Guys, the current men's 20km world champ is from the USA...
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As a biathlon fan myself, I can say that Lowell Bailey winning that title was very unexpected, but he won it by clean shooting, while the favourites made mistakes, which is always costly in the individual race. Such is the unpredictability of biathlon.
 
^^ Interesting that Dave & Jonathan stick in there somewhere toward the latter part of this lengthy, over two hours episode (@1:19:05 while discussing the men) that Rohene and Jonathan 'hugged it out' at Nationals. :huh: But then Jonathan immediately changes his tune to say: "Rohene hugged it out with me. [Jonathan winks at Dave and continues] That wasn't meant to be anything other than Rohene approached me to apologize ..." And then Jonathan continues on discussing the judges and other 'interesting' people he had the chance to talk with regarding the state of Jason's technical arsenal and prospects. :COP:

Hmmm, but what did Rohene need to apologize to Jonathan for? Was it for allegedly inundating poor Jonathan's Facebook account with '300 insulting messages' which caused Jonathan to break down like a b**ch and run crying into a bathroom stall in Grenoble? Somehow I don't see busy Rohene necessarily 'seeking out' Jonathan Beyer at Nationals. It is more plausible that they ran into each other, which is easy to happen. And if it's actually true that Rohene felt he needed to apologize to Jonathan of all people, for something he regrets, then that's pretty gracious and classy of Rohene. I tend to think it should have been or maybe even was actually Jonathan who 'sought out' Rohene to apologize for his own rude and self-pitying tweet. Whatever it was all about, if 'hugging it out' was the outcome, then that could have happened in Grenoble without all the waterworks in the bathroom stall, and Jonathan's silly self-serving tweet drama. :drama: Plus, there was no need for TSL patting themselves on the back in the aftermath and making it about pettily lashing out at 7K, and pumping up their own egos and lagging self-esteem.

Otherwise an okay if rambling as usual recap, complete with name-dropping (i.e., Dave said he had lunch with Bruno Marcotte). Some of the talking points don't seem up-to-date or necessarily accurate, and of course I don't agree with their every take.

Interesting if true that 'technical specialists' feel Jason's quad jumping difficulties are not the result of a "talent deficiency" but a "correctable technical deficiency involving timing and rhythm on his jump entrances." Dave says that Frank Carroll "feels Jason has a 'Gus Lussi technique' which is mainly helpful for triple jumps through the lutz, but not so helpful beyond the 3-lutz."
 
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alchemy void said:
I really don't have any desire to wade through 2.5 hours to find Pasha. Please share--how did Pasha make an appearance on their US Nationals recap? :rofl:
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Apparently Dave is either facebook friends with Pasha or actual friends with Pasha and she reposted an insta post from 2015 to him about spending 9 'wonderful' years with Platov or something like that and Dave just put in an old fluff piece about Pasha. The one we all know about her changing her name and singing Monroe lol.
 
I fell asleep listening to the Nationals recap show, slept for more than an hour, and it was still playing. Don't remember where it left off or picked up, but I don't have it in me to replay the episode.
 
Is Jonathan stucked in that damn toilette, in Grenoble?:huh: :rolleyes: I tried to listen a bit but the audio is horrible. :blah:

By the way, listening to Rus Nationals recap. What's this story about Nikita and Elena had a tryout during this summer? :eek: Geee, that's such a bad idea. Their talent was never in question but they're so toxic together. :drama: And they lack the ambition of the likes of Grishuk&Platov or Anissina&Peizerat.
 
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Amantide said:
By the way, listening to Rus Nationals recap. What's this story about Nikita and Elena had a tryout during this summer? :eek: Geee, that's such a bad idea. Their talent was never in question but they're so toxic together. :drama: And they lack the ambition of the likes of Grishuk&Platov or Anissina&Peizerat.
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Desperate people, desperate measures sort of thing at this point for both of their careers. They were Olympic Bronze Medalists (also won a Gold ;)), and should have been World Champions.
 
I haven't watched all of the Nationals recap but there is no way Dave isn't reading here.

While I agree that leaving off the silver medalist looks bad, his suggestion that the judges should have placed Ross behind Vincent so "only" the bronze medalist was left off the team is exactly why teams are decided on body of work instead of Nationals results. That's basically suggesting that the judges rig the competition to get the team they want to finish 1-2-3.

Ross beat Vincent fair and square to earn the silver medal. He also did not earn a spot on the Olympic team. These statements are not mutually exclusive.
 
I can't listen for two hours. They need to script their videos and stick to the script--Ladies, Men, Pairs, Dance, in whatever order. If they want to talk about the selection process, they can do it within the discussion of the four events. They need to leave out innuendos about Gracie Gold and speculation about whether the judges thought Ashley was injured at Skate America and her preparation for Nationals. If they are claiming to be journalists, they need to do their homework before they report what amounts to gossip. They should also do whatever it takes to fit their recaps into 30 minutes. Why do they think most TV news shows are 30 minutes? Because that's the limit of most peoples' attention span.
 
giselle23 said:
I can't listen for two hours. They need to script their videos and stick to the script--Ladies, Men, Pairs, Dance, in whatever order. If they want to talk about the selection process, they can do it within the discussion of the four events. They need to leave out innuendos about Gracie Gold and speculation about whether the judges thought Ashley was injured at Skate America and her preparation for Nationals. If they are claiming to be journalists, they need to do their homework before they report what amounts to gossip. They should also do whatever it takes to fit their recaps into 30 minutes. Why do they think most TV news shows are 30 minutes? Because that's the limit of most peoples' attention span.
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Considering the number of people who continue to watch their show, it doesn't seem like they "need" to do anything.
 
Dave said he recorded an interview with Mark Mitchell. It will be out later this week. I look forward to hearing it. Should be interesting.

Being at Nationals a few weeks ago, many coaches, skaters, officials etc. seemed very open to Jonathan (Dave wasn't there). Perhaps they aren't as derived as I thought by the community.
 
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