Thanks for your helpful observations
@Spiralgraph, and
@Cleo1782, which I noticed after I wrote the below in response to
@Jojo13's and
@angi's comments. I would like your post 100 times if I could
@Cleo1782, and I know you speak with some knowledge and firsthand experience. My response below is meant to make all of us stop and think and to take a look at the history, and to recognize that the current problems are more complicated than we can effectively or intelligently address on an Internet forum.
I'm sorry, but have you guys lost your minds? Who are either of you to make such claims and suppositions???!
I'm surprised at you
@Jojo13. Denney/Frazier deserve praise and support for how well they performed at Skate Canada, not snarky, speculative commentary about the state of U.S. pairs in general. There are no 'magic bullets' or 'magic wands' that will suddenly change the current state of affairs. How dare anyone question in even general terms the desire of individual U.S. pairs teams to improve and to be competitive! Can you please wrap your head around the fact that our U.S. teams have many challenges to face financially and in terms of the amount of training time they are able to afford. We have beaten this subject to death plenty of times! I've posted in this thread about the lessons of history, but I don't see anyone interested in engaging in any intelligent discussion and examination. We could take the topic to a general thread that reflects on the differences in pairs development among various countries. Is there any interest in doing that? Regardless, please stop with casting aspersions on U.S. pairs skaters.
Yes, USFS have never been fully invested in developing their pairs teams. But even in general, the U.S. is not like other countries. There are a vast number of separate skating clubs around the country, and as far as I can see, USFS has generally been content over the years to allow good skaters to rise to the top on their own. Then there is a certain small amount of financial support and backing the cream of the crop eventually receive to supplement their training. That kind of system obviously will be lacking in many significant ways when going up against the more government-backed, strategic development-focused systems of China and Russia. Definitely, the U.S. is behind the times in terms of finding new and different ways to support skaters and to encourage training program collaborations among coaches and skating clubs. There are no easy answers. But the big issue is that there doesn't appear to be anyone even looking seriously at all aspects of the current situation to try and come up with solutions. Skate Canada probably engages in better pairs development, plus they are more astute politically than USFS. And SC is also fortunate to have a more recent history and legacy of success in pairs, which makes a significant difference in terms of rep status and bragging rights.
Meanwhile, the desire and fire of U.S. athletes is the very least thing that should be criticized or blamed! And
please stop with snide innuendo against the Knierims. They don't deserve anyone blaming them for being the favored U.S. team at the moment. It's easy for all of us fans to sling around insults and to question skaters' motivation and preparedness. But for the most part, what do we really know about the nitty-gritty stuff these skaters have to deal with on a daily basis? Each skater is faced with an individual set of problems and obstacles, so we should stop generalizing about their hunger and desire. And also
stop trying to denigrate U.S. skaters @angi with your wildly irresponsible claim that they are not good enough. D/F are clearly trying to rebuild their strengths and momentum after Haven's devastating injury and time-consuming rehabilitation. That takes time, and it takes even more time to regain rep and status amidst the rampant political-based scoring system. Plus, many skaters are also hampered by few opportunities to even compete! If they can't compete more often, it becomes even more difficult to be competitive when they do receive opportunities. What's so difficult to understand about that reality???
As I detailed in an earlier post in this thread, the history of North American pairs in general is something that every NA pairs fan should examine before spouting off.
Canadian pairs went 19 years off World and Olympic podium in the 1960s and 1970s (at a time when U.S. pairs teams were at least taking bronze and silver on occasion during those years). Then the Canadians came storming back with the success of Barb Underhill and Paul Martini, and the eventual successes of Brasseur/Eisler, Sale/Pelletier, et al. on the World and Olympic stage. Therefore Canada obviously has more recent success in pairs than the U.S., but both countries have an interesting and notable past history of success in pairs. It should be a point of pride for all U.S. pairs teams to know that
the U.S. was the first NA country to have a pairs team become World champions (after WWII amidst the social, economic and cultural devastation that many European countries were facing). It was the talent of Karol and Peter Kennedy that allowed them to rise to the top. And then Canadian pairs began to achieve even greater prominence and a more illustrious legacy with the multiple decorated pairs successes of Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul. Study the history for further names and chronology. The point is that talented teams come and go.
Right now, the U.S. is in the midst of a 16-year Worlds and Olympics drought in pairs. And Canada previously suffered through a 19-year drought. It's not clear exactly why. Obviously, there are many factors involved, but part of the podium drought faced by many countries in pairs clearly has to do with the Russian pairs dominance that came after the revolutionary impact of Belousova/Protopopov, which changed the discipline.
Again, please
stop blaming the athletes and stop thinking in the measly, limited frame of 'what just happened five minutes ago.' We all need to better understand the sport's complex, multi-layered history, as well as the intricacies and conundrums of current realities. When we don't have a deeper grounding of knowledge and understanding, our frustrated generalizing is not only depressing and inaccurate, it's also completely aimless, repetitive, hurtful and unhelpful.
No matter how far D/F and other U.S. pairs teams are individually able to strive, we should all appreciate this moment in time where we are at now (not just in terms of trying to enjoy figure skating, but also in our own personal lives). The moment of striving against a sea of troubles is what builds strength and character. It's sometimes hard to understand the concept, but it's always the journey and not the destination that matters and carries the most significance.
We really have to stop generalizing in order to be clear on what we are talking about. The problems are not going to be solved on here of course. But for USFS: good communication, historic research, fresh insights and collaborative engagement to incrementally attain specific goals is what's needed. And, if we as fans don't start by understanding what we are talking about, then we too will get nowhere in terms of communicating well. We end up talking in circles in endless threads. Obviously, we aren't on the front lines anyway unless we are participant coaches or skaters. There are in fact some fans here who are insiders with past or current experience in the sport. Let's engage politely and with open minds, but above all let's be supportive of the skaters and be clear on exactly what we are talking about.
Give the judges and USFS something to think about eh! C/T can't go to the Olympics, but hopefully they will find themselves prepared and gritty enough to make noise, and as they said, have USFS wishing they could send them. 
