Saturday, January 21, 2012

Canadians

First of all, congratulations to Director of Business Development (formerly director of Marketing and Public Relations) Debbi Wilkes for her sterling performance at Canada's National Figure Skating Championships. Debbi and her team fell just short of half-filling a venue the size of my grandmother's high school auditorium.* Kudos Debbi. Looking forward to all of your interviews on Skatebuzz. You've earned the spotlight girl.
Second:
WTF was that?

They fixed what wasn't broken, and the rest of it - don't get it.

Third: Jessica! Congrats on bravely soldiering through your sudden onset single-itis to second place in the short - even executing a split TRIPLE twist! I thought I was watching Xue Shen out there. Could Rod Black have leaned any harder emphasizing how much HARD WORK and long hours it takes to perform like that? I smell some motivational speaking engagements for you, Jessica.

Fourth, Tracy Wilson said the Dube/Wolfe short was choreographed by David Wilson.
David Wilson
When Dube/Wolfe were doing Liberty and Quebec P.J. Kwong was happy to inform us their short program was by Marina Zoueva. Come Canadians, it's good old David Wilson. The name of their sp choreographer changes almost as often as Debbi Wilkes' director's titles.** What's the problem? Canadians too mainstream for a sham shout out? Somebody thought people might wonder who paid for Marina?

Also Rod Black asked us to imagine you're Sebastien Wolfe, and one day you get a call that a World medalist - a champion (put it together like that sort of implied World Champion) needs a partner.

This stuff is just pulled out of people's hind ends, isn't it? There is just no relationship whatsoever to who, how, where, when or the facts. And this is the media some fans think would be on the case if they really knew Scott and Tessa were lying about their relationship status. 

Just read this Tessa quote about the short dance:
We're testing it out, we're feeling it and seeing how we feel competing with the changes, and getting some feedback from judges," Virtue said. "We're anxious to prove ourselves, and to prove that the changes we made were good, but we have to know that they are and trust our process and go out there and have a fresh start (Saturday) with a program that we love.
Can't get inside her head but that's not a Stepford quote, that feels real and syncs up with how they looked yesterday.

Finally, Melanie Hoyt reports she keeps running into people at the venue who don't know who Virtue/Moir are. So the two years of post-Vancouver Scott/Tessa promotion brilliantly orchestrated by Skate Canada is reaping big dividends in-country, that's for sure. It's not a surprise - you'd have to be amazingly incompetent to blow it with Virtue Moir and Thompson, Slipchuk & Wilkes have been sensational failures.

Ironically, prior to the Vancouver Olympics one of their favorite interview gambits was to explain to us all their superior insight about figure skating promotion in Canada, the proper way to do it and grow skating's popularity, how it needed to be presented to the public, and they let us know that this was something they thoroughly understood how to do that their well-intentioned predecessors did not.

They are unbelieveable charletons. Turns out their priority is promoting themselves - none more relentlessly than Wilkes & Thompson although Barb McDonald is as opportunistic as they come. She and Wilkes see Skate Canada as their personal promotion platform. Ask not what you can do for Skate Canada, ask what Skate Canada can do to raise your profile and create your brand. That's all that's getting done effectively in the marketing, public relations and business development departments.
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 *I bet they get a full house in China.

**Who is Director of Marketing & Public Relations now that Wilkes is Director of Business Development. Wonder what job they'll pretend she's doing next season.

17 comments:

  1. The adulation for Dube/Wolfe yesterday was over the top. They were overmarked but then again they were the only team that skated cleanly. I thoroughly enjoyed Lawrence/Sweigers yesterday in terms of choreography. I just wish Skate Canada would support them.
    I predict a semi melt-down for D/W tonight.
    As for V/M, the changes in the SD were not for the better. I almost want V/M to have a dinner date with either Kurt Browning or Ann Shaw to settle them down.
    I had to laugh when Tracey Wilson indicated that the D/W's SD was choreographed by David Wilson..oiee...

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    1. Just so sad to see this all play out. I blame SC, their families, and their coaches...they were so young when this all began, and now they just look exhausted. I hope they take control of their own lives...

      Have you ever been contacted by anyone from their camp/ Skate Canada? Seems this blog could be considered slander if it was all false information...their silence might be telling....

      Again, I hope they right their ship. They are undeniably talented, and federations have to realize that they can't pull this Sh*t anymore in such a digital age. Word spreads.

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  2. Skate Canada was just egregriously stupid. Didn't know what it was doing, no experience, but figured "marketing - that's not even a real job. Anyone can do it. And hey - we'll promote Jessica/Scott on facebook! It's not real media - it's social media! We can have it both ways!" I bet Debbi only started using email in 2006.

    Idiots.

    Skate Canada is on the blog all the time; always opening the comments sections.

    They wouldn't contact the blog. If this were slander, they'd have to inform google, and if google agreed, google would take down the blog. I imagine a few outaged fans hit "report" in the early going but that's because they have trouble believing Tessa and Scott are lying.

    The next step would be SC litigating against google but they can't. Even if they were willing to commit perjury (which I doubt) - there's a discovery process on the record and their goose would be cooked not to mention and provided jurisdiction was able to be determined, I could sue them.

    I wouldn't assume Scott & Tessa are exhausted due to the hoax. I don't think the charade takes up that much real life time and energy. Emotional energy, maybe. More like they've reformatted their training regimen in terms of time - and what is the new "free" time they've acquired spent on? Given the changes in their lives the past year, I'd say they've got almost as much energy spent at home as at the rink. What they're doing is pretty ambitious and I'd imagine more challenging than say, balancing training and school.

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    1. I know is attending The University of Windsor, But, what does Scott do with all of his spare time while not attending University. Especially when everyone at Canton, and pretty much all of the DSC attend University. While they are all attending classes ( Part-Time) and home studying. Does he just play video games or what?? LoL. No serriously, has he ever said what he was going to do wwith the rest of his life. I know he said sometime before the 2010 Olumpics maybe law-enforcement or firefighter...???

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  3. Okay, so I just discovered this blog today. I've read through it (mostly), and I just wanted to ask you a few questions:

    What do you think of Langlois/Hay's engagement? Also, years ago, she and Patrice Archetto split up, and it was a lot like Dube/Davison's split. Do you feel Cody was the "other man" in that split, or was it someone else?

    What is the name of Tessa and Scott's baby? You've mentioned both Charlotte and Quinn, and I can't figure out which one is the name of their baby. Are they raising the baby, or is someone else raising it?

    Do you think Weaver/Poje will ever admit that they're a couple?

    Finally, even though this has nothing to do with figure skating, I'd like to know your thoughts on it: a few weeks ago, rumors were rampant that Tim Tebow (NFL football player) and Lindsey Vonn (Olympic skier) were a couple. They both have denied it, although Vonn has said she's "not opposed" to dating him. Do you think they're truly not dating, or if they're covering up a real relationship?

    FYI, I love this blog, and am thrilled that I found it!

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  4. To the anon above regarding what Scott does in his spare time - well I would guess Scott probably does some coaching to bring in some income. Scott's financial situation is nowhere as cushy as Davis/White, the Shibs, Evan Bates etc. Even though they go to Michigan, I highly doubt that they are taking more than 2 easy courses a semester. So yes they are in school but I don't think they are doing a "Rachel Flatt" courseload. There are many amateur athletes in North America that are practicing/training full time. Kudos to those who can squeeze in some academics.

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    1. What is Davis/White's financial situation and how do you know?

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    2. Igot has spoken about the families in the past. He has said that White's father is an oil company executive - I can't recall if he used the word wealthy but that was at least implied. Charlie did figure skating and hockey growing up -both expensive sports to pursue. Raised in Ann Arbor - a high income area. Throw in violin lessons and attending U of M (not an inexpensive school) with no need for outside sources of income while training in Canton in a sport where even skaters at the highest level bear most of the training costs. Add in that at least the mom often travels with them to competitions - as does Meryl's mom - this is a luxury for many skaters (Asher Hill, for example, and Meagan Duhamel).

      Meryl has a Great Lake in her family's backyard in Ann Arbor, has a nice boat, also attends U of M and belong(ed)(s) to a sorority - those aren't cheap. She's often seen in high end clothing, is purchasing a condo and buying furniture on line. She, too, never needed to get a "real" job. Her own condo and furniture isn't unusual for a 25 year old but for one who in a sport like hers, who isn't doing any other work, it speaks of financial comfort. (Contrast Patrick Chan who still fund raises for his training costs despite being World Champion).

      Contrast this to Madison Chock and Greg Zuerlein, who worked as cashiers at the rink and did other part time jobs to supplement their finances while training at Canton and attending school (in Madison's case, high school).

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  5. About what Scott does in his spare time - we're assuming we can take their account of themselves at face value? How do we know Scott doesn't attend school or it wasn't something he did when Tessa did? He's a smart guy, he could be part-timing at Windsor same as when Tessa was and not sharing because their story is they do separate activities off ice - remember that? I don't know that he does, but I wouldn't buy into the "I like sports and Tessa's the book learnin one" crap. They both like sports. They both like book learnin. I believe Scott even likes fashion - not with Tessa's passion, but he absolutely cares about what he wears. It's apparently not Scott's official persona to present himself as a thoughtful person who reads and was a diligent student, but he is and was.

    Canadians program note: I think Tessa had to consciously correct her habitual "walk in apart from Scott" mode in the tsn ice dance bumper - she actually turned, made eye contact with him and when the bumper ended Scott was putting an arm around her.

    If Tessa can wear Herve' Leger to a Worlds banquet I don't think Scott is coaching anymore for money. That was prior to the Olympics - prior to a number of things. They get paid for personal appearances - that's one income source, they had the Body Butter launch, they did the Hyundai commercial in Japan. They could sell one of their new mint Audis. :)

    They completely make stuff up all the time - don't take their self-account of off-ice activities on face value.

    Charlotte is the name of Danny's daughter and Quinn is the name of Charlie's daughter.

    Know nothing about Tebow and Vonn but when celebs start using the media to chronicle their dating life or potential dating life, they're selling something. When it's two high profile celebs in the same industry, even more so.

    Andrew & Kaitlyn - everybody pretty much thought they HAD admitted it. That's why people's eyes rolled out of their heads when the new article popped up. If they were smart they'd shut up with the platonic stuff - just shut up completely like Anabel & Cody finally did (just prior to the Olympics Langlois was still denying Cody was her bf). Because this new initiative is ridiculous. I don't think enough people care to get all hot and bothered over it a la Virtue/Moir - people will just ridicule them to death.

    Babies: how many babies have parents who work full time? Plenty. I'd imagine the answer is they raise their own kid, with help, like the rest of the world lucky enough to have family to pitch in and/or afford help.

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    1. I remember when Anabelle and Cody were denying their relationship - once, when she was asked if they were a couple, she actually said "he's cute, but no". Pretty obvious, if you ask me. I do wonder when they actually got together.

      Do you have any idea what the gender of Tessa and Scott's baby is?

      After Sochi, do you think the truth will, once again, come out about Kaitlyn and Andrew (or, for that matter, Tessa and Scott)?

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    2. Do Scott and Tessa seriously have a baby? Are you insinuating that the shin surgery was used as cover up for the pregnancy? She had scars on her legs though.

      What do you mean by this: "Charlotte is the name of Danny's daughter and Quinn is the name of Charlie's daughter." Who are Danny and Charlie?

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  6. Oh, and what kind of relationship do you think Duhamel/Radford have - romantic or platonic? Also, do you think she was ever romantically involved with Craig Buntin?

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    1. I'm pretty sure that Meagan isn't Eric's type, if you catch my drift.

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    2. You mean he bats for the other team?

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  7. I don't know about Buntin but I don't think I'm going out on a limb with the opinion Duhamel and Radford are platonic.

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  8. What the heck with changing the choreographer's name for Dube/Wolfe's SP? So who actually did the choreography? And if it is indeed David Wilson, how in the world does SC get away making this kind of "mistake"?

    They also did this last season when Jessica performed in singles. First, that "boyfriend Scott Moir" was choreographing her SP. Then no, someone else was doing choreo and "bf Scott Moir" was only doing "connecting steps." Then by the time Jessica was at Nationals, it had switched again (per pjkwong in the announcer's booth) to all of the choreo of the SP by Scott.

    These guys are so obvious and ham-handed in their attempts at promoting both Jessica and Scott-Jessica. If I were a parent of a skater being conveniently overlooked in order to promote this b.s. I would be raising hell.

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  9. If Marina did the choreography it was both a payment-in-kind to Jessica for her sham contributions and a sham component itself ("ah, Scott Moir's coach did Jessica's choreo just as Scott himself did the choreo for her singles short last season. They're bf and girlfriend you know.")

    I think the name switching is Skate Canada being cautious with keeping their fingerprints on a blatant public hoax. Either they're lying about Marina - which is a hoax - or they actually did give Jessica a Zoueva program (Marina does very effective pairs choreography) as part of Jessica's payments for all the crap she does as the "gf" of Scott Moir such as sitting next to Cara at ice dance competitions or being escorted to public ice dance practice by the two moms, on display so VM fans can see her.

    They may have thought it the better part of valor to keep all the Scott/Jessica lying out of prime time Canadians. It'll show up via the back door soon enough.

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