Thursday, October 4, 2012

Out of Finlandia

Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue have withdrawn from Finlandia "due to the injury of Scott Moir."

Skate Canada p.r. shovels out bullshit and inanity by the bucketload, but in a real situation lies low. They can fall over themselves about Thomas Sabo but when it comes to updating the public on the status of a star attraction, suddenly everything's cryptic.

With the years and years of lies Scott and Tessa have foisted upon the public, and continue to foist upon the public, and with the season-long lie that was 2010-2011, the team has only itself to blame it's not taken at face value.

Jessica's "ankle problem" only contributes to the climate of fishy, considering she was a major element in Skate Canada's cross-platform bullshit dissemination strategy. I don't believe the two situations are connected, but they're each indicative of how SC operates in bad faith with the public.

I'm pretty sure Jessica isn't pregnant (Jessica is at least straining on pinterest trying to put that to rest) but am equally sure Jessica's ankle isn't why she's missing the Grand Prix.

Scott and Tessa have lied so much, the first thing you do when they announce anything is figure out where the lie is. What are they covering up?

Even if Scott IS injured; believing that he's injured isn't something you can take their word for.

He shuts down his fan page after keeping it up for a year; claiming he had no time. He's had "no time" (haha) for fb for more than a year and still it stayed up, but just before the season starts - bye bye. He also reminds us the exciting season is just around the corner.

Wait a beat. Oops, the season is delayed - they've withdrawn from Finlandia.

Did he know this when he shut down facebook?

What injury does he have? His back (all ice dancers and pairs guys struggle with back pain)? Is he practicing on which ankle he can limp most convincingly? You know they couldn't claim Tessa was injured, because everybody would believe it was shins, and going forward into the season Virtue Moir would be paranoid that the judges would see her as struggling on the ice even if she were skating like an angel. So if they needed to skip Finlandia, it had to be Scott this time.

Oops - update: "Slight" neck issue.
"It is disappointing not to go to Finland, but this early in the season we feel it was better to be cautious and careful. We have a long season ahead of us, and just don’t want to risk aggravating things by travelling and competing this weekend," said Moir. 
They do it like that. In 2010-2011 they were also just chomping at the bit to compete, also disappointed to miss TEB, SC, Canadians, but also had a long season ahead, felt it was better to be cautious and careful.

He might be injured, but it's not anybody's fault but theirs if they're not immediately believed. That's what happens when you lie more than you tell the truth, and lie when the truth would do just as well.

Scott and Tessa are stars and there are many disappointed fans who'd planned to attend Finlandia based entirely on their participation. It would be nice if these fans could trust the reasons they're to be disappointed and I certainly hope Scott and Tessa didn't decide to withdraw until recently. I hope they didn't know awhile ago but held back. They've done that type of thing before, and the paying public just has to eat the price of their tickets (and travel). We know where Scott and Tessa's priorities and values lie, and it ain't with the common skating fan or their hard-earned dollars.

Scott and Tessa should be huge stars for Skate Canada. They're stars, but apart from bragging rights, they've not done much for Skate Canada's bottom line, or for the public's interest in events produced by Skate Canada, and I think some of this goes to the shiftiness and lack of consideration towards the public where Virtue and Moir are concerned. It's been there from the start and I think the public feels a little burned.

After boasting about their promotional savvy in the run-up to Vancouver, Skate Canada failed spectacularly at converting gold medals/skating stars into increased public interest and enhanced revenue. As the blog has said a billion times, they have lost sponsors, and no matter how often they shove Thomas Sabo at us (is Kozy Shack now khopped liver?), Sabo is a minor sponsor a la Artistry, not the title sponsor that is key to the financial health of a thriving North American figure skating federation.

Scott and Tessa were supposed to generate a tidal wave of money for Skate Canada. They didn't.

It can't be discounted that Skate Canada just plain sucks at promotion.They're inane. They overestimate the public appeal of their obnoxious slate of directors. They promote everything but,  you know, figure skating. They promote the IMAGE they want of figure skating - so we end up with hazy impressions that SC thinks something BOMBASTIC and DRAMATIC is afoot, but SC is sort of vague about the specifics.They promote their logo.They've decided to promote the living hell out of Paul Poirier and Piper Gilles.To me the two of them come across as a reverse drag team, but Skate Canada and their fans believe they come across as likeable and FUN. They're FUN. Are they a major skating competition ticket's worth of fun, or a let's fight about them on message boards type of fun? What does the bottom line say?

This is all very try hard and does a lot of skirting around the skating. Skate Canada does a lot of skirting around the skating in general. You'd think a skating federation staffed at the highest level by ex-figure skaters would have more confidence in the public appeal of the actual sport they represent, instead of constantly and desperately trying to promote-by-association.

They also had this plan in place to promote Scott and Tessa and they ended up strangled by it. IMO with Scott and Tessa wanting to lie, they should have promoted Scott and Tessa as the once-in-a-lifetime ice dancing team they are and left relationship stuff minor key.

I thought it was interesting that, in a recent FSU discussion, it was claimed SC didn't promote Scott and Tessa's relationship, and so why would Scott and Tessa want to stage a fake relationship instead in order to protect their privacy?

I must have dreamt the book promotion done immediately after the Olympics, promoted in every possible media outlet, pushed by everyone from Tracey Wilson to Debbi Wilkes to David Pelletier, a book that centered around their "relationship". I don't recall very many media questions about training and skating. It was all relationship. An entire radio interview with a prominent outlet was all about Tessa and Scott getting choked up, jaws set, faces grim, reliving an estrangement between them that never took place. An entire Ben Mulroney interview took place with the three of them barely able to discipline their snickers at the expense of the public (you think Mulroney didn't know the score? You think they didn't know he knew?).

WTF does FSU think promotion is? That's promotion. Why was the book out in the first place? PROMOTION.

While Skate Canada is objectively bad at marketing, the management of Scott and Tessa compounded this by not just being ineffectual, but actually backfiring, so the whole gold medal deal became bragging rights for SC and did nothing for the bottom line. They've been shifty from the start, and so Scott and Tessa withdrawing from Finlandia doesn't read as a legitimately cautious reaction to a normal athlete injury, but raises the question of more Scott and Tessa wannabe sleight-of-hand.

All this utter crap, all this ugly, because these two didn't want the public - at least officially - to know they were in love and together.

41 comments:

  1. From personal experience, all I can say is that you should never take an injury the easy way. I had to end my dream of being an professional athlete because I thought a minor injury should not keep me from competing. Now my right wrist is not functioning properly anymore. I am dissapointed as everyone else and the timeline of events seems strange, but Scott has to live with his body forever, so there is no point in unnecessarily damaging it. Additionally, an ignored strain can turn into something quite worse! Give them a break on that one!

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    1. Yes, and Scott and Tessa have exploited the perspective of people like you in the past. That is the point. They exploited the hell out of it in 2010-2011. They were lying their heads off.

      That's the shame of them. There are honest reasons why an athlete would need to be better safe than sorry with a strain or sprain, especially early in a season. Scott and Tessa have used that and similar realities to sell huge lies.

      I would believe others under these circumstances. And, it's perfectly possible Scott's neck IS achy. However, coupled with him bailing on facebook right after saying the season is right around the corner, then coming up withdrawn from Finlandia, it can't help but be pointed out that this echos past lies. Not only does the rationale echo their rationale for 2010-2011, but Scott has been competing for years and years without ever withdrawing due to an injury of his, and there is no way he has competed 100% every time. There have been aches and pains, cramps and sprains as there are in the career of every skater. All in problematic areas of the body, such as shins, hips, back, rotator cuff, neck, etc. Still, he's skated and other skaters have skated.

      You know the boy who cried wolf story, I'm sure. I'm not saying he's lying. I am simply making the point that they've lied so much in the past, and exploited people's reasonable expectations so ruthlessly, that even something as benign as this gives rise to suspicion. They have themselves to blame for that. Even when you're telling the truth, other people are suspicious. They've earned that suspicion and then some.

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    2. So what's the lie that they're trying to cover up then?

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    3. I don't know they are. Everything could be exactly as they've said it is. Why not. It sounds normal.

      My only point is that as far as I'm concerned, they've forfeited the right to be taken at face value. There has been a pattern of going out there and being very proactive about lying just when the opposite is about to occur.

      All I'm doing is tracking things here in this case, period. I'm saying there are pieces of this that evoke 2010-2011. Such as, the rationale for not competing despite an "injury' they are simultaneously sort of minimizing. Also, specific to this instance, there's Scott being whatever with his fan facebook for a year, not really caring that he "had no time", then just before the season starts, shutting it down with a shout out to the exciting season just around the corner. Wait a beat, he and Tessa withdraw from the start of the season.

      Feels very familiar. That's what happens though, when you use elements of truth to sell lies. Once you do that, the truth is always corrupted in some way. Either you're lying, or, if you're telling the truth, people can't believe you, because you have a pattern of lying exactly the same way you tell the truth. That's the point I'm making. It's a shame. For the rest of their eligible career, it's wait for the other shoe to drop and it's on THEM, because they've lied so much. Anytime there's a blip or a glitch like this, they have made it so they can't be trusted.

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    4. Yes, it does seem "familiar" like almost verbatim from last year. I didn't want to say it could be due to covering up family (child) obligations. Or maybe they just don't want to do it, because they don't have to? It could be argued, it's "just" Finlandia, not the Olympics. Knowing how insincere Scott is, though, the neck strain is about as believable as faking a parent's note to get out of school.

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    5. Scott's a beast - he's going to skip Finlandia because of a pulled neck muscle? Instead of oh, heat therapy, massage, etc.? His conditioning coach, Maria Mountain, is one of the best in the world. She's so smart about what she does with her athletes.

      When Tessa had ECS she did her best to minimize it as an ongoing concern, but anyone who googled the condition understood what the surgery involved and skating while still pretty much healing was going to be brutal.

      'neck pull' just sounds like 'quad spasm' to me.

      They are secretive without reason at times. If you go back into the online new archives relating to Tessa and Scott, earlier in their career they had to miss something (not a competition) because of a death in the family. The explanation declined to specify not only who had died, but which family (Moirs or Virtues) had experienced the loss. WTF? Just don't show and say "family obligations". Don't half ass it. But apart from that, what is wrong with saying a grandparent had passed on? It's just pointless, so much of what they've done and do.

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  2. I agree that because of past spin one doesn't know for sure how to take this announcement. I hope to God it really is a minor ache that will be all better in a few weeks and not something career-ending.

    This makes me newly suspicious about the reasons for Scott shutting down his public fan page on facebook. Did they already know they were skipping out on part or all of the season and they cut off any means of fan-questioning? And why do that for some minor injury?

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    1. Yep. These questions arise immediately. And whose fault is that? Theirs. They have been full of shit for so long. They've played so many games, and overplayed those games with the public. Their pattern has been so elementary for so long, too, that when Scott shuts down his facebook, and his farewell throws in a shout-out for the season to come, along with encouragement to check out their webpage for updates - and then the next thing we hear from them, VM have fucking withdrew from Finlandia due to an injury that, like a quad spasm, can sort of cover withdrawing from a single competition, but is explicitly nothing ongoing - who can blame fans if they feel Team Virtue Moir has struck again? Tessa and Scott are once again experiencing one of those uncanny "injuries" that pose no threat whatsover to the season at large - at least as Scott/Tessa would have it - but just makes this one itsy competition (or program) something it would be prudent to skip. This is a pattern they share with Jessica Dube and her singles-skating specific sudden onset tendonitis.

      I really hope it's real but it feels like lies. However, that could be because they lie so much. It's also a fact that pretty much every time Scott has shown even a glimmer of sincerity on his facebook, it's been a set up. It would be sad if even his fan facebook farewell, which included a mention of him shutting it down because he couldn't maintain it as fans deserved, was actually another piece of bait. Getting everybody revved up for the season, the better to believe the neck muscle pull.

      It starts with them and all their lying and how funny it is to watch fans defend their lies and make fools of themselves. Seriously, nothing like mocking the people who are buying your bullshit, BECAUSE they buy your bullshit.

      I've said before one of the worst things they did was they wanted fans to believe them, but when fans did, it made fans even more ridiculous in their eyes and they made sport of it. So now, the reality is, they could tell the truth a bunch of times and who is the fool if they're not believed? Who is the fool if they're never believed? They've created that. Their word isn't worth anything in the public sphere.

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  3. Tessa is again pregnant and Scott acts like a surrogate mother


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  4. They have cried wolf so many times with injuries, who knows if this time it's real?

    I certainly can't judge injuries, but when they drop out of their 1st competitions of seasons due to a quad strain and slight neck pain, it seems questionable. These are, after all, the top dance team who trained through Tessa's painful shin injury all the way to Olympic glory.

    Why would they do it though?

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    1. We don't know because we don't know what is actually going on with either of them physically this time, nor do we know what is up with their family, which includes a toddler-aged child they had together, because they're pretending the kid doesn't exist. There are plenty of scenarios - including the truth - that would account for withdrawing from Finlandia. Just don't forget there are major elements of their lives that they refuse to acknowledge, and these could have a bearing on their travel plans. Or not. But, they are not two single, childless people where the only reasonable reaction to an announcement that Scott has a muscle pull is to believe Scott has a muscle pull. They have a lot going on they don't admit.

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  5. If Scott wants anyone to take him seriously about being injured, he should probably avoid being seen out and about at local bars. What is their game this season? I just don't understand them. At all.

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    1. When was he seen out and about?

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    2. Last night. From Twitter:

      ‏@jaidawilliamson

      Scott moir at cowboys?!?!? #bestnight

      8:53 PM - 5 Oct 12
      ·
      ‏@bripank

      Scott Moir of Scott & Tessa is at cowboys... Omg... Just beautiful

      8:53 PM - 5 Oct 12

      Yeehaw, Scotty. It's good that you're taking it easy with that strained muscle!

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    3. Folks unless Scott was riding a bull at the bar - I don't think this is a big deal. It's Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and there is no hockey on tv - so the guy went out for a beer...who knows to what extent the injury is and who is unjured etc but bailing out on a Senior B competition that is overseas is not the end of the world...Hey if anyone should have done a senior B this year - it should have been the Shibs...so maybe this is more of a Canton issue and playing the cards close to the vest for Zoueva...

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    4. I agree that this is possibly a decision by Marina but how does it benefit her teams to not get a head-start and early feedback on their programs?

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    5. Well it's going to be a long season - so I think team Zoueva is probably thinking let's fine tune prior to the GP series...who knows but she knows the politics of the business and I am pretty sure the USFSA is keeping tabs on the progress for D/W and the Shibs..can this backfire - definitely but then again D/W and V/M are the hunted rather than the hunters...we'll just have to wait until Skate America and Skate Canada to see...

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    6. I disagree that Marina plays politics that way. That is ridiculous. Her politics are to train each team to their potential but it's up to the team to perform. At the end of the day, the skaters can't blame her if they don't win. She can't go on the ice with them. She has had a habit of making her teams responsible for themselves, and that pays off. She has done it since she was in Russia. They get all of her talents, but she's not their babysitter, nor can she give them more talent than they have. Her top teams get the best coaching, and end up with a program that shows off what they can do, and addresses any questions the judges may have about each team's limits and strengths. Then it's time to skate. She simplifies. She doesn't complicate by engaging in pointless manipulation.

      I don't think there are "cards" or purposeful mystery to Canton being a vault. I believe each team wants the programs judged after they're on ice, not before, and that's why they don't announce everything they're doing, along with a description, until the damn thing is on the ice. Why encourage pre-judgment? She's smart, and part of it is not needlessly complicating this process.

      Of course, by doing that, many fans go ahead and needlessly complicate what they think is happening at Canton. Canton works because the coaching is top level and in good faith, and each team is responsible for themselves on the ice.

      Scott and Tessa are each, separately and together, extremely strong minded people. If they listen to Marina it's because they agree with her. They would never say "oh, okay" and skip an early competition and helpful feedback because Marina thought she could keep her training camp cards close to the vest. Canton isn't competing as a training camp. Each team is on its own. It just so happens that they each are training with the same coaches. The element of giving each the same effort and benefit of the coaching talent and intelligence but then saying to the skaters - if you want to win it's up to you - makes the skaters responsible for themselves. The winning is done on the ice.

      The best politics Marina ever played was a gambit to checkmate potential politics. IOW, she stopped possible politics in its tracks at Vancouver when she had Elena V (not looking up spelling) who, I believe, created the Argentine tango, come to Canton and work with her teams, and publicizing that she was doing so. That was brilliant. In the first instance, it noticably improved the clarity of movement in Marina's teams in the tango, so it served to grow the cds. In the second instance, it sent a signal to the judges that the Russian creator of the Olympic cd had worked with these teams and signed off on how they were doing it, so no judge could pretend the cds weren't up to standard or competitive with D/S.

      The best part is the cds WERE fabulous and competitive, because Elena and the skaters did a great job. So it was a master stroke of both training and politics - sending a signal to the judges that they'd look like idiots if they didn't reward what was on the ice.

      The imagined Canton conspiracies is because they don't issue a press release every two seconds so fans start inventing and speculating. The reason Canton is quiet is, one, it makes sense to judge the programs when they're seen on the ice, not programs imagined by the internet or media because the skaters have released information early. It's pointless to release early - nothing can be known until it's on the ice. And second, the discretion of Canton is a choice made by each team. If one of them chose to get out there and share everything, they could, as long as they didn't tell everybody else's business without permission.

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    7. Oy Canada - I agree that Marina Zoueva is a great coach and she knows what she is doing - otherwise these teams would not have stayed with her. And I agree that just because a team doesn't have a press release every 2 minutes doesn't mean that there is something wrong. But on the other hand, it shows that these teams are not perfect. Zoueva is not perfect. It's been 3 years in a row that supposedly after Champs camp that D/W had been asked to scrap a program (first year with Amelie as a SD, last year with La Strada and who knows this year - Sinatra..) and then V/M's struggles with the SD last year and all the changes throughout the year...and this is where I think V/M benefited last year - it was a tough year where the SD went through changes and the FD was not universally loved - but they overcame it.

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    8. Only on the web would a season where Scott and Tessa won everything they entered except the GPF (where Scott fell in the sd), and beat their biggest rivals twice (at the 4CCs and Worlds) be considered a season of struggle.

      This belief has become entrenched among the usual suspects on message boards, because they themselves didn't care for Funny Face. But it has nothing to do with reality.

      FF wasn't loved on figure skating message boads, i.e., a familiar cast of characters and a relatively small group. Youtube videos, for instance, have many positive comments about the progam. But never tell some of the fans on the web that their concerns are irrelevant as to judging criteria or a program's ultimate success.

      I think sometimes internet fans believe as it goes with them, so it goes with the judges and the public, and that's hardly ever the case.

      So many internet fans thought Gershwin was schlock, when, please with that. They also think there's something wrong with Sinatra. Personally, I think the aversion some internet fans feel for music with rhythm and melody is odd. If they begin with that mentality, then the program isn't for them. That's not a real world reason for the figure skating team to scrap the program, or to consider their winning season a time of struggle.

      I believe what threw off last season wasn't Tessa and Scott, but the unmerited, stratospheric scoring for D/W in the GPs. It was absurd overscoring. When they got to Worlds and 4CCs, some of the media wondered why D/W had lower scores - what were they doing wrong? They were asking the wrong questions and coming at the subject from the wrong angle. D/W were doing nothing wrong - it was their GP scores that were off-kilter, while Virtue Moir appeared to be getting both reality based scoring and nit picky scoring (at their own Canadians,especially. Ironically, the same competition that decided Paul and Piper had skated better than C&P the season before, were closely on W&P's heels, and better than VM winning bronze at Worlds in 2009).

      These issues corrected themselves by the end of the season. It was those GP scores for D/W that freaked VM fans out, made them think it was Funny Face that was the problem, when the programs weren't the issue - neither theirs nor DW's. It was a matter of getting the scores to more closely match how a program was actually skated and what was being skated.

      I suspect the Champs Camp issue might be the USFSA having more confidence in a particular type of program for D/W - ideas about programs that might fall short of D/W's ambitions. Marina mentioned that prior to the Olympics, the USFSA grilled her about "Phantom". Sort of "again with the Phantom!" when meantime Tessa and Scott had Mahler, music that wasn't a warhorse on the competitive circuit. Marina said she and Charlie made the case for Phantom.

      IMO this goes to the figure skating. Everybody contributes. When they reached Champs Camp, it seems to me Meryl and Charlie and their coaches liked the programs but didn't convince the USFSA. The USFSA is thinking about D/W versus VM, and is aware of the differences between the teams.

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    9. Well written post Oy...have a good rest of the weekend...

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    10. You know something else - to have to stop a program and withdraw from a competition is major. It's rare. Yet after the initial 4CC's explanation about quad spasm, never have Scott and Tessa been asked to revisit their withdrawal from the 4CCs. There's no what did that do to your confidence, did that scare you for a second about Tessa's comeback or your prospects for Worlds.

      These are people who revisit and rehash some of the most tired stuf. But as far as VM and the media are concerned, withdrawing from the 4CCs never happened. It's also remarkable that for two such ferocious competitors as VM, they were completely unfazed by withdrawing. It's a huge, huge deal. Their reaction was fairly la de da. Oh well, it was a spasm, we thought pulling the plug was the best approach to spare ourselves for Worlds.

      Yes. And let's remember that while Jessica Dube has withdrawn from competitions prior to skating in them, and she and Bryce needed to "rest" for some reason between Canadians and Worlds in 2009, Jessica as a singles skater or pairs skater has never withdrawn from a program after she's begun to skate it (I don't count the face slash; there was no choice there). She hasn't even withdrawn from a summer comp program once she's begun it. She'll punk out on the new elements she and Bryce have trained all summer, she'll dangle off Sebastien like a Christmas ornament rather than complete a lift, but bail on the program despite all the ailments that routinely afflict Jessica? It never happens. You need a lot of cover to pull that off; a lot of cost/benefit calculation.

      Yet here are Tessa and Scott, who, in every aspect of their careers from training and conditioning to mentality are leagues ahead of Jessica, pulling the plug on their first competition of 2011 after skipping the Grand Prix. This is a team that lied about Tessa's pain in 2009 and 2009-2010 because they feared the judges would perceive her differently if they knew she was battling with her legs. In 2009 and 2009-2010, she claimed shin pain was history. Yet, after skipping the first half of the season due purely to what they claimed was another shin surgery and nothing else, they are unfazed withdrawing from the first competition upon their return.

      The way it works with them is that if Tessa were experiencing pain, they'd never admit it. They'd be scared of the scrutiny. If she's not, then they can lie and say she is, because they know if the judges scrutinize they're not going to see anything.

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    11. "The way it works with them is that if Tessa were experiencing pain, they'd never admit it. They'd be scared of the scrutiny. If she's not, then they can lie and say she is, because they know if the judges scrutinize they're not going to see anything."

      Bingo.

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  6. I'd like to be able to read some of your captions under a couple of the pictures in your title banner but they're too fuzzy and small to read. Also, would you mind explaining some of your thinking about these pictures you chose for the banner?

    I totally agree with you in your posts, 8:39 and 10:06, that Marina and the Canton ice-dance school are not into playing dumb mind games just for the thrill of toying with people's expectations. All of that stuff is in the minds of the fans and from their own imaginations they're speculating all sorts of ridiculous theories. Marina is a master, down to the tiniest detail. Her students are as prepared as they can possibly be according to their own strong points and/or weak points, and I don't for a moment believe she pits one team against another in a bid to play favorites.

    I just love how Tessa and Scott are the World Champions but somehow on the skating boards this last season was disastrous. Say what? *rolleyes*

    As far as this latest Team VM injury, I think it's too early to tell if this is like previous patterns of lies or if they're on the level. Maybe we'll never really know, but as the season goes on we might have a good idea. I do agree that whatever is going on with Jessica is not about an ankle.

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    1. I agree it's too early to tell. However, they've created a situation where they simply can't ever be taken at their word.

      The banner was originally going to look a little different and the captions under some of the photos were part of the original design idea. They're not needed now but I think they look fine - like someone just grabbed a handful of VM and Jessica/Scott photos and laid them down, and a couple had captions.

      "He's her boyfriend and he's the best!" is under the fuzzy photo of Jessica/Scott in the apple orchard. The captions beneath the fuzzy winter clothes photos identify Jessica as Scott Moir's relationship and girlfriend, and Tessa as his wife and the mother of his child.

      The thinking with the banner was to display look-alike photos of Scott/Jessica vis a vis Scott/Tessa. "Big Love" is an HBO drama about a man with more than one wife. The overall effect of the sham came off similarly, that Scott was in the middle of some female-juggling soap opera where whenever he appeared with Tessa he'd counterpoint with a photo of Jessica. Tessa was the authentic relationship, Jessica was the fake, but as he was posing with the fake while having a relationship with his real partner on and off the ice, the overall effect was flat-out disgusting.

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  7. what do you guys think of @Meryl_Davis's and @ALBGinger's conersation on twitter about borrowing Meryl Davis's Silver Medal for Halloween, but with a @McKaylaMaroney #NotImpressed face? Is that another dig at Tessa and Scott winning the Worlds?

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  8. I have to say that I'm surprised by how little effort they're now making to make it seem like they aren't together all the time. There was no protesting in PJ's latest posted interview about how the "beach days" weren't spent together. Tessa didn't even look peeved about it, she just smiled adoringly at him. What happened to policing those "we's" and "us's" Tessa? People are going to start getting the wrong idea soon.

    I can't believe this is the same Scott and Tessa who made a comment about that stupid sign in Ilderton insinuating that she lived with him.

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    1. I agree, but we'll see. They appear to be doing the smarter thing which is just let things be. They're not going out of their way in either direction - to spin that they're platonic or admit that they're together.

      As PJ knows the score and is an extremely nice person, I could see trusting her to create some nonobnoxious, baby step videos - the "what does romance mean to you" comes to mind, her question about the off season which had "we's" without caveats, and I'd expect others. On the flip side, we had that journalist who interviewed Tessa/Scott and tweeted about it last season, the better to emphasize once again how connected-but-not-together they are, and to slide in the former girlfriend comment. So who knows.

      Time goes by quickly and I wonder what happens when their kid is computer age and sees references about daddy and by daddy that, back when they were a baby and a little one, Daddy had a girlfriend he would say "J taime" to, and it's not mommy. The girlfriend saying "Miss you baby" on facebook to daddy. Of course the kid will know the score but I can't think of any child for whom that wouldn't feel like a kick in the gut.

      Maybe they think the child will be as interested in their parents as most kids are (zero), maybe they think the private archive they've got will be plenty to offset what's in public.

      In the not-my-business department, I'll say it anyway: I'm of the opinion that having a concurrent acknowledgement of the child on the public record means something to the child. There are children of movie stars excited to have been given a cameo in one of their parents' movies, despite having plenty of home video and photos. "There's me as a baby!" I don't mean use the kid as a prop or bait, but just include the child on the public record, FOR the child, so they have had a public part in the big deal that is their parents' professional career. So they're not left out.

      Look at Scott's neices - already they've been on camera with grandma in the stands. They'll look back at that.

      Maybe the child will feel part of the secret-keeping team, versus somebody completely excluded from the public record of their parents' eligible and historical career.

      Let's say your parents won Worlds, Canadians and a second Olympic title during your early childhood. Canadian role models and heroes. There were Kiss'n Cry shout-outs, interviews about life and schedule off-ice, favorite things to do in one's downtime, and public references to your cousins. There's shots of the stands showing aunts and uncles and cousins, but never you. For the rest of your life, even when you have your own kids, you can look at old video from the time you were little and your parents competed, and neither you nor your own kids can find evidence you even exist. There's not a single published article chronicling their storied career, which was concurrent with your early life, that mentions you.

      For instances, Charlotte and Quinn have a piece of video with Scott shouting out to them - there's uncle Scott when we were babies, saying our names! Scott and Tessa's first book released never-before-published photos - maybe there's another in store that will put their full private life on the record, but I think it's a shame there's no real time acknowledgement.

      When Scott and Tessa's kid is an adult and has children, they can't go to the videos of the famous grandparents winning their big titles and say "There I am!" "Look, they said my name!" That's exciting.

      When Katia Gordeeva was doing commercials, television specials and ads, her child was included. Yes, this was good business, but I also think it kept the whole thing grounded - it wasn't celebrity-mom with the child not part of it. Jessica will be part of it, though. But not the child.

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    2. "Jessica will be part of it, though."

      ^^^
      This.

      Did any of these bozos think of this ahead of time? I can't think of anything worse than all of those years of disgusting imitation-intimacy with a fake SO being documented for posterity. What a lovely gift to the future family. Ick.

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    3. It's their choice and their kid, so I imagine they're proactive about handling the Jessica/Scot spam on the web, not just their own kids but the numerous new young generations of Moirs and Virtues too. Kids can be street smart and savvy and play things off, although how street smart the entire sham was to begin with is debatable.

      What sticks in my mind more than that is the non-existence of the child on the historical record. All the real time articles and videos ignore their child.

      Scott and Tessa's accomplishments will be a point of family pride for generations. For the second Olympic cycle, this child was in the world, yet daddy continued to publicly parade that he was in a relationship with Jessica Dube while Mommy, while pregnant with you, denied on television she was with daddy and talked about the separate dating life of each of you and told the world they were imagining there was romance between her and daddy. This is more than denial, this is an entire fantasy life presented as truth, that cuts you out of the picture.

      In all the fluff pieces created around major events in their career, you don't exist. Grandkids looking to see their parent as a kid during this exciting period in family history will come up empty. There they are winning Worlds for the second time, saying stuff in the Kiss'n'Cry. There they are talking up Worlds in London - and again talking about what they like to do in their down time. There they are talking about appreciating family, especially those brand new neices. Who is left out? The most important person of all.

      And that's WHY they're left out, but down the line how much consolation will that be for them or their own kids?

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  9. "having a concurrent acknowledgement of the child on the public record means something to the child. There are children of movie stars excited to have been given a cameo in one of their parents' movies, despite having plenty of home video and photos."

    Good point. There are so many times when a famous mother has a moment of notoriety that shows the importance of the child. Such as, Natalie Portman accepting the Oscar while pregnant will probably have huge meaning for her son one day, as he will feel "with her" in this huge career/life moment. Christina Aguilera having her son make a vocal appearance on her album. Kristi Yamaguchi bringing her daughters everywhere, letting them wear her gold medal. The Moir child will not have any of these moments.

    The inspiration that a child brings to a parents' talents are undeniable. It would appear to an outsider that hiding the child out of "protection" is not protecting them at all, but belittling them.

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    1. There's also the dynamic of the parent being famous/important and the kid isn't. I've seen that dynamic. A way to ameliorate it is to include the child, pick and choose moments to share the spotlight so mom and dad aren't these idols who are very important out there in the world, and you're outside the whole thing and not even included in ways the rest of the family has been included. Especially since Scott and Tessa are constantly banging on about being role models and proud Canadians. They will be retired from eligible competition, it seems, after Sochi, but their fame, their status, will derive from their very public accomplishments during their eligible career. In the last 3+ years of that career, they had a child and excluded that child from the experience. I just can't imagine Tessa and Scott's grandchildren, occasionally perhaps looking at video of Grandma and Grandpa's historic win in Vancouver, and there's Jessica's face smack dab in the family shots. They'll all know why she was there. Two years later Tessa and Scott will win Worlds and in the run up to that competition, Scott shouts out his neices but not his own kid. If I were a kid and my grandparents had done something historic, with a video record of it, where they mentioned family, and called out the names of loved ones, I'd want to hear my parent's name called out. from the time my grandparents were young and my parent was a baby or toddler.

      Imagine watching some old video of your grandparents - or showing your friends or significant other the video of your parents, and when you were one and two and up they didn't even acknowledge you despite chattering on endlesly about their lives off the ice. They go on about dating other people. When they let that go, they talk about everyone but you. Aunt Carol gets mentioned, Quinn and Charlotte are mentioned, cousin Cara is mentioned - a big family with a lot of names mentioned but who is missing? You.

      Maybe they think that because it's their kid that kid has an inherent importance and status that trumps the public acknowledgements other family and supporters got, but I don't know. Maybe they think that because they have a privacy fixation, their kid will too. But I wonder. Gee, mom talks about the University of Windsor, golf, etc. - where's my name? They're not going to remember this era either, but they were there, but there's no public acknowledgment at all. Of course there's private stuff, but that's different from checking out an old broadcast or old interview and knowing you're part of history because they said you name in front of the world during their historic career. They will know that as far as the world was concerned, they were invisible and didn't even exist, even though everyone else in the family did, and nobody was shy about giving the others their moment in the sun.

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  10. Wow. I think there are endless photo-possibilities for your blog title. A big thank you to Scott and Jessica for such lavish sharing. And thanks to this blog, their exuberance on facebook continues to be saved forever for public research. That is plainly what they intended when they posted all these photos. They should be grateful for your help in maintaining them open to the public.

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    1. The sheer number of photos is mind-boggling and defies any rationale I can think of. There are actually photos I had on a now-DOA laptop from the Dominican and can't retrieve - nothing more salacious than already published, but the freaking VOLUME. There's more from that short "vacation".

      WTF with that game? Why was it necessary? They did realize that as long as there was a denial in place, as long as Scott had a "gf", they were protected, did they not? What benefit did they get from endless photo spam? Fucking up people's heads? Making family members who helped manage it feel important? For real, as long as a reasonable cover story is thrown up, in the groupie world of skating "journalism" nobody is going to call you out on your real relationship, so what was the overkill for? It's just so sickening and says stuff about THEM that's really uncomfortable.

      Marina has compared VM to Gordeeva & Grinkov. I have to say, that while knocking on wood and crossing myself a bunch of times, it's crossed my mind that what if, God forbid, they met the same fate? Would they have dressed Jessica up in mourning clothes and paraded her at the funeral? If it were Tessa, would Jessica have been pasted at Scott's side? How cavalier were they? It was so disrespectful to themselves as well as to fans.

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  11. Bahaha I love this one. Scott seems to enjoy much more Jessica's company than Tessa's, doesn't he? LOL

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  12. Oy Canada 7:48

    Ouch, that's crass. Although while I cringe reading your parallel G/G scenario, I can't help remember Team VM and skate Canada's many crass moves --- Dominican "honeymoon," Jessica front and center in Monaco photos, Ilderton parade, throughout the Olympic FD, lip-kissing photos, just to remember a few.
    Very Gross.

    But given the fact Jessica is no longer in the picture, dare we hope they are all finished with showing how crass they can all be?

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    1. I cringed when I thought of it (the G&G parallels). But they set the bar. What if something had happened? Where were their limits?

      They slapped babies in Jessica's arms, had her at the most personal family events, faked xmases with the lovebirds sporting just-rolled-out-of-bed attire. There she is in a ridiculous group photo with Prince Albert.

      They went out of their way to show that Jessica was to Scott what Tessa v.2 was to Danny Moir and Danny's wife was to him. Why was such incessant stagecraft necessary? Why the pattern of push and pull?

      I believe all of this served them more than us. It was way more than we needed to get us to believe in Jessica/Scott.

      So how about this: it kept the family members involved and included in Tessa and Scott's success and gave everybody a role to play - an ongoing contribution. And not just the families. It gave those two do-nothing incompetents holding down Skate Canada's marketing and communications directorships something to occupy their time. If I'm right, that's a pretty pathetic way for them to contribute.

      I can't wait until the shocking revelation and the wave of sanctimony that comes with it, the apology softening the rationale that they needed the barrier to protect their privacy since they skated together in the public eye. What bullshit that's going to be. They needed a barrier - they HAD a barrier. The mountain range they built of garbage was something else. THAT was all for THEM. Don't put that one on us, or your privacy needs.

      Tessa/Fedor was maintained for about a year with most fans believing it based on a couple of photos and her showing up in the stands with her mom. Tessa/David Pelletier was believed based on rumor and lies. But we get to Scott and Jessica and too much is never enough. There's some screw loose there with that one.

      This blog and others suspected they were trying to police people's thoughts. The George Clooney nonsense felt like that. But try and stop people from thinking or suspecting? Realistically, what would thinking things lead to? Absolutely nothing.

      And how gross that so many people needed something like THIS to occupy themselves, and did it with such relish. What contempt they all showed. And notice how it took a village to stage and execute this hoax, with so many Moirs and Virtues and Medway people and Ildertonians and Londoners with their hands in the pie, eager to contribute, and not one person, apparently, can spare the occasional minute to update Scott's fb page. It's just amazing.

      I hope they're finished showing us how crass they can be, but as they don't seem to know what crass IS, or think crass has nothing to do with them if it's just a strategy aimed at the idiots out there, how would they recognize when they're being crass? Every move they made has been really crass, straight across the board. The Monaco sting. The swift announcement that Scott would choreograph Jessica's short program made right on the heels of Bryce's injury, after they'd spent the previous year implying Scott was already a hurtful element in Brcye's life and his partnership with Jessica. They've got a them and us mentality and "we" are not people who need to be treated with consideration. They can show their best to people who count.

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  13. How come people have never tweeted about seeing Tessa and Scott together,ya know like on dates? They can't be unrecognizable!

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  14. This has always puzzled me as well.

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    1. 1. People aren't comfortable tweeting real things.

      What tends to happen with skating gossip is someone hears a rumor and puts themselves in the picture to make it more credible when they share it. If they actually did see something they tend to keep it in email or other private communication.

      2. You ask why not tweet about Scott and Tessa - why not tweet about other activities, romances and behavior of other figure skaters too? They all have lives - why don't we hear about it from fans on the internet who saw them out and about?

      Scott and Tessa aren't precisely world famous, not even in Canada. What is the likelihood they're going to be recognized by someone in the relatively small group on the internet who is prone to tweeting/posting or on a message board. There were attendees at Canadians last season who didn't even know who they were. Scott and Tessa have been spotted and tweeted about, but what people tend to say is "Met Scott and Tessa at blah blah" or "Saw Virtue Moir on the patio of [wherever]" They don't get all TMZ.

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  15. I would also add how many tweets do we see about oh - I saw Charlie and Tanith at a restaurant in the greater Detroit area...not happening...

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