Nice to see you've got the time William

File under "Sanctimony".

After a sparsely attended and empty rink-board'ed Canadians, William Thompson shows up on fsuniverse to defend Skate Canada's honor in the judging-influence department. Goodness he takes his responsibilities seriously.

Good morning

To clarify one point. Skate Canada does not in any way pressure or manipulate judging. In fact, we specifically request that they judge what occurs on the evening and not worry about team selection etc. We have selection criteria that allows us to look at more than one event.

As a former Olympic judge, I find this suggestion completely objectionable and patently untrue. Our first obligation is athletic fairness to the skaters. If judges make errors, it is because they are human and not as a result of pressure from Skate Canada to place skaters in a particular order.

William Thompson
CEO Skate Canada

(On a paid subscription thread.)

Well, that settles that, obviously. If Skate Canada were pressuring and manipulating, they'd tell us straight away.

Bill knows from things both objectionable and untrue. And he knows about manipulating. Or maybe the problem is he doesn't. Bill & Co. care about what's being said about them by FANS? They absolutely don't give a flying shit about how well they're doing their own jobs - how well Canadians went off? Boy do they have priorities.

What are they saying about us?

Where do these people get the balls?

Bill! Two programs at 4CC's 2011. Remember? Jessica/Scott - remember? Debbi W. and Debbie M. in the Kiss'n'Cry hauling Jessica down, right? And Tessa's shins being the only reason whatsoever she and Scott didn't compete the GP and Nationals last season? I know in his mind it's not the same thing. Truth is a one-way street - Skate Canada lying its face off to fans is part of its "responsibility to the skaters as athletes." Bill Thompson is in no position to go on a fan chat board and posture about transparency and truth.

Why is their response always to blunder in and showcase themselves?

Even though here the topic is judging, Thompson is not in a position to say any type of fan speculation is objectionable. This is like when he bailed on twitter. "I don't lie on twitter." Read I don't lie on twitter.

It's objectionable that Skate Canada would pressure judges to score a certain way! I'm a former Olympic judge.

Read - we lie our asses off in other ways but not that.

Too bad - what Skate Canada does contaminates everything so he's got nothing. They're unbelievable, how they compartmentalize. They're corrupt "here" but "innocent" there, so they're going to grandstand about the area in which they find themselves innocent.

In his words, though, I believe we find the key to how Thompson intends to justify all the bullshit and lying they did to fans.

They are going to turn pious. They were protecting the skaters' personal lives. And while they're at it, why not market lies about their personal lives to the fans and have fans shell out for it? And why not use Skatebuzz to market Debbi - he was doing what he needed to do for Debbi too, right? Making fools of people was part of their obligation to skaters as athletes. Because there's no other way to protect privacy than the way they did it.

Read, there's no other way to protect privacy and keep a bunch of clowns in charge of it than the way they did it. Bait and switch, tease and wink, hint and pull the rug out, photo bomb and blitz, sham and stagecraft. These are all time-tested, professional ways of fulfilling your responsibility to your skaters.

None of what they've done with the shamming and hoaxing has been necessary for the skaters. Their operating premises are insane. It's like when Thompson told twitter that something was "personal to Tessa." Since when? When a then-Director of Marketing and Public Relations (now Director of Business Development) asks one of their own teams if they're a couple (Wilkes to D&D), when SC helps promote a book full of lies purporting to be a book full of personal revelations (VM's book) - they can't then get all pompous and talk about "personal" and "our responsibility to the skaters" - they're too pro-active. They're only obsessed with fans as to their personal reputations on gossip forums. Not their job performance. Not their ethics. I live for the day the president of the USFSA shows up on fsu riding a high horse.

In the judging department, Thompson says "the skaters as athletes" but almost anything SC does with the skaters can be swept under that umbrella and they do a LOT that's dishonest vis a vis the public, and a lot that is unnecessary.

Then too, Skate Canada has other obligations to their figure skaters - an obligation to direct and manage a financially viable organization. An obligation not to squander important relationships and resources. An obligation to put competent people in key positions. An obligation to market and promote events so the figure skaters are rewarded with the idea that the public actually gives a damn about what they work and sacrifice for year round.

Thompson has been sitting on his ass ignoring those obligations for two years.

He has an obligation to the public as Skate Canada has public funding. Don't pull the wool over the public's eyes and market hoaxes to them whether it's a book signing hoax or a relationship hoax or a wedding guest hoax-by-implication, all so you can sell falsehood to them while making them think they're paying for the real deal.

Amazing. One little area where he thinks he's got some authentic standing and he can't wait to on a fan message board how clean his hands are.

That's an awful lot of self-righteousness for a guy in his position. And it's revealing about what matters to him.

What are people saying?

They don't get it.

After a couple of posters snarked, William Thompson returned to say:

Good afternoon. I have been on the board for many years. Criticize me if you wish but the reason I am here is that I read the board from time to time to pay attention to skating fans. I would see this as a positive. Occasionally I correct things where I feel they are incorrect. In this case, there was no defense of the judging rather, I corrected the assertion in this thread that Skate Canada told the judges how they are to judge. Further, I do it in my own name for complete transparency.

William Thompson

You know what I love most? Bill not only posts to a message board about a few fans chewing the fat about judging, he sticks around to see people's reactions. He doesn't care for some of them  so he comes back to "correct" them! Canadians were this past weekend. It's a week day. He's got stuff to do! What's he doing checking how people reacted to his post on a fan board and then overreacting when I think maybe two participants rolled their eyes?

Come back and correct us soon again Bill.

This is them. Obsessed with themselves, not their jobs. They're wannabe stars, SC's personnel.

I think skating fans as well as sponsors are already aware William Thompson would "see it as a positive" if attention of any kind were paid to them by the self-impressed Skate Canada higher-ups.

OTOH, I think it might be argued that Skate Canada, led by William Thompson, pays way too much attention to skating fans in all the wrong ways (hoaxing, shamming, reputation protecting, lying, high horsing, message board gossip about themselves when they don't care if the same posters are full of shit about skaters due to the lies Skate Canada disseminates) and not enough attention to the public in the right ways (a web page that's user-friendly, not a showcase for the in-house media whore, ethical use of publicly-funded resources and venues, and a well-run figure skating competition).

Dear lord he bragged on his transparency. Well yeah, Skate Canada is transparent but not in that way, Bill.

William Thompson's facebook is restricted.  However, this photo isn't:

"Ah .. St. Lucie."

This he leaves open to the public so the public can be impressed by how much weight he'd lost and his streamlined physique. Why would a former mediocre figure skater turned organization official publicize his naked torso? Vanity. It's not vanity, necessarily, about that godlike silhouette pictured above. It's vanity thinking fans are interested.

Just like him mentioning to a bunch of fans on fsu that he thinks they should basically count themselves fortunate someone at Skate Canada is paying attention to what they say - even if all he cares about is what a bunch of fans say about HIM. Yeah Bill, not so much.

Russian fans post darkly about the Russian Fed, all Feds get gossip about dealmaking and politiks. Bill has to step in twice on a fan message board? He talks back to fans? And when a fan or two wonders why he's thrusting himself into fan business, he lectures they ought to be gratefeul attention is paid at all? What's wrong with him?

I tell you what, based on Skate Canada's track record of squawking loudest when they're guilty of something, I figure Thompson showing up on fsu means Skate Canada politicked pretty hard for Gilles/Poirier with the judges and simply didn't expect so many fans to call them out on that.

I'll also, like many fans, call them out on their reluctance to send Amelie Lacoste to Worlds. Okay, if Kaetlyn wins, we'll send her - no skate-off with Cynthia. If Cynthia wins, she goes. If Amelie wins, skate-off.

Athletic fairness to the skaters. Bill is all about it.

Screw him.