Thursday, December 20, 2012

Tangent - nice work if you can get it

This is about the post below, in which we read about the lonely pluckiness of Jessica Dube as she trained alone without Bryce in 2010.

The article must have thrilled Dube Davison fans. It reported how Dube Davison talked every day, that Jessica felt lost without Bryce and still relied upon his support and advice, and it described Bryce not only showing up for her regional Challenge competition (with his family), but visiting Montreal to watch her practice. And not a mention of Scott Moir!

As an example of the double dealing that went on continually with the Dube Moir hoax put over on the public, this shines.

But the tangent part is reading quotes from Annie Barabe'. Such as this:

“In pairs, they were only doing the Axel and Salchow, just doing those jumps every day, and sometimes if it doesn’t go well, you just keep practising your mistakes in the jumps,” Barabe said. “When there’s more to practise, sometimes you have less problems.* Now she’s way, way more consistent in her jumping.”

What is she, a coach - or a spectator? There are skating parents with more of a clue.

If your skaters are practicing their mistakes, the coach is supposed to deconstruct the mechanics of the mistake and re-set the technique so it's proper. That's the job. I recall Bryce verbally deconstructing Jessica's salchow problem as her tending to get back on her heel. He said it was a matter of adjusting the mechanics, because other than that the technique was basically solid. He could and did deconstruct his own issues too - understand them, and work to correct them (such as his hip opening up in his axel landing). I really think Bryce coached himself most of the time. He had to have.

If your skaters' practice day is so dull and predictable their mind wanders and they fuck up, maybe you should step up and challenge them.

In watching Jessica (at first to see the much-reported "misery with Bryce" - which was never actually visible and was a projection by fans, and then to see what her mechanics were like when she slipped up) - I noticed in competition after competition she did one of two things when there was a mistake - got back on her heel or fell off an outside edge. It got worse as seasons wore on. She got lazy about it.

At the time I thought "Good luck with getting her to adjust that one, Bryce" because even then it was pretty clear that when Jessica makes mistakes she tells herself and is told it's all because of her high expectations of herself.** It's a perfectionist, emotional thing - that's more flattering, and it's how she prefers it. It's not about tedious stuff such as re-organizing what you're doing physically.

Second, from the below it also appears that at Barabe's camp, the skaters do the same damn thing every single day. Again - WTF, she's a coach. It's not like that's some winning formula for her either. 

I think many observers of Dube/Davison, including Davison, were dying for Dube Davison to do something other than the same damn program every season the same way. Easiest money David Wilson made every year.

If Barabe's theory was if her skaters can do something in their sleep it makes it less likely they'll make mistakes, it was a stupid theory, because a sign of a Barabe skater is a head case who chokes and wobbles. The positive reinforcement absent a challenging coaching environment is going to give you damn good reason to choke. If a skater's not prepared, they're going to be nervous. Her skaters get maintenance training. "Maintaining" isn't going to support you when the stakes are high.

It also leads to mental sloth. For someone like Jessica, she often appeared as if she HAD fallen asleep out there on the ice and had plenty of mental room to mull over other things, such as 'why did I stumble just there - better pull up short on the throw landing coming up to make sure." "Hmm, everything seems okay in this jump but what if I fall? Better put a hand down." And in the non arial stuff she'd occasionally trip over her own feet just because it appeared she actually had catnapped between dismount and spiral sequence. And of course, with her mind so focused on self-protection, she wasn't focused enough on the here and now, so more mistakes. She hadn't trained in a challenging enough way to engage either her mind or body.

Basically it appears as if Jessica hasn't been coached to take responsibility out on the ice.

That's not good coaching. Good coaching - good choreography - is the short program that someone - Zoueva or Wilson or someone else (commentators never settled on the name) did for Dube/Wolfe last year. While, naturally, Jessica appeared to like the ponytail swinging part the most, overall the short was her more dynamic skate last season. The rhythms and transitions and connecting moves were new even if the actual elements were the same, so she actually had to invest herself in each non-element move to pull it off. She couldn't do it in her sleep. If your athlete can do it in their sleep, that's not a good thing. Things get sloppy.

Third - the flattering spin in this Jessica interview! Oh, now that she's free from the expectations of all the winning she always does with Bryce - all those Grand Prix golds, for instance - Jessica is just knocking out those triples - lutzes, flips, salchows.

Except she wasn't. She never had a triple toe really. I can't recall her landing a 3 loop. She could get a lutz airbourne, but underrotated/two footed the landing. She didn't have a flip because it got edge called. During her first season with Wolfe they had sbs flips which were then abandoned because she couldn't take off on an outside edge. It was back to salchow.

I don't get how that training center decided that keeping a skater static was the best way to ensure success. It seems more like a daycare situation than a coaching one.

_____________________
*Why didn't Barabe apply this insight to the layout of the programs? If a skater is skating the same program, same style, same layout, same everything, every year, it's going to get stale. Everything from the performance to the technique. Jessica got out of shape, and she got sloppy. Why didn't Barabe give her skaters "more to practise" outside of the jump area? Why is she such a fan of formula, of rote repetition of the dull?

**Later Jessica added more cover by throwing in "virus" "tendonitis" and now "ankle."

32 comments:

  1. "Later she added more cover by throwing in "virus" "tendonitis" and now "ankle." "

    How quickly Skate Canada and Weaver/Poje announced Kaitlyn's ankle injury. Skate Canada's silence about Dube/Wolf seems even more weird in light of how open they were concerning W/P. Is it even confirmed who was supposed to have the ankle injury, Jessica or Sebastien? If they've supposedly lost training time, how prepared can we expect them to be for Canadians next month?

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    1. Jessica is meant to have the bum ankle. It's the sort of thing that permits, for example, partying on top of a bar in heels, or, say, participating in a Color Run, but really hampers competition prep.

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  2. Have there not been any updates re. Jessica and Sebastien? Who knows, maybe they'll show up at Canadians and be great.

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    1. Who knows? I think most people know you can't be unfit and undertrained and be great when you've yet to be great when you've been in better shape. They weren't great last season; this season Jessica has been MIA for one reason or another since Sebastien Wolfe ended up skating solo last spring in some exhibition he was supposed to be in with Jessica. That was last spring, and by Sept. she still wasn't ready for HPC.

      You know what is super interesting? How there are fans who over the years have sworn they are insiders and happen to know all about this skater or that skater's love life, have seen it first hand, know the issues, and they're right on top of everything always the second a rumor or story emerges on the web. The minute there's a romantic rumor, especially if it stirs up fan wars, there will be fans who claim they saw stuff that validates that story - even if they've kept quiet until the info was a rumor on the internet.

      Here is Jessica Dube - so many people showing up to swear on grandma's grave they know first hand she was in a thriving relationship with Scott. Yet absolutely nobody knows where she is or what she's up to now.

      Well, I'm sure people do, but the usual suspects who like to broadcast their connections and expertise when it came to validating Jessica and Scott as the real deal romantically, are absolutely clueless when it comes to Jessica's status as a figure skater.

      I, for one, am going to throw out the ankle excuse, because ... please with that. Here are questions:

      Did Jessica and Sebastien have a falling out and those around them covered it up, believing they could patch things together?

      Did Jessica insist on some type of break because of all she's been through, such as Bryce's injury, the stress of trying to do singles, the stress of trying to make a new partnership work, and she over-indulged during said break, and that's why she got heavier and out of shape? And now everyone's keeping quiet while she tries to be back in shape (based on the most recent fb photos, that's not what she's doing, but for the sake of argument, let's pretend).

      Did Jessica not take a break per se, but simply fall back on being passive resistent and excuse-making, until she found herself in the same situation as the above paragraph?

      Did Jessica put out feelers to see what type of shape Bryce was in physically and mentally?

      Are Dube Wolfe finished but Skate Canada and Jessica are hoping another option presents itself before that announcement is made? Or are Dube Wolfe finished and both Skate Canada and Jessica haven't decided yet on the story they're going to try to tell?

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  3. They may try for singles careers again. Jessica and SC will keep going until she regains some of her order glory, or at least until Sochi. Pairs had pulled Sebastien into the known from the junior ranks - perhaps he has been motivated into a singles career.

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    1. Sebastien Wolfe can't do singles; he can't jump. The jumps he did/does in Dube/Wole - double axel, flip and salchow - he struggles to do as often as he hits them. Unlike her, I don't think it's because he's not sharp. He's just not a natural jumper.

      I agree that one way or another Jessica and SC will keep going until Sochi, even though weight is a tricky work around. Weight throws off your center of balance - it throws off everything. Whenever I look at her facebook photos it's amazing how much camoflage is going on - hide the torso. Even the face - she wears neck bangs like some aging celeb trying to hide. In her case it looks as if she's attempting to hide facial fullness.

      As an athlete it's always appeared to me as if she spent too much of her career reluctant to make choices and sacrifices. Obviously, many successful skaters do party hard, but more often than not, for the successful ones that's not routine. It's celebration, blowing off steam, or vacation. She's got a lot of natural talent but instead of nurturing it she coasted on it. Just re-listening to the last interview I watched from Bryce. Bryce describes himself as almost a training nerd - he loves the routine of the daily grind, loves technique, loves hitting the rink and the gym and just pushing that much more. By her own admission Jessica finds a lot of the process tedious. And ironically she's in a coaching environment where the emphasis is on comfort zones, avoiding challenge and keeping things the same, so skaters appear to become little ocd risk-averse play-it-safe head cases and the bad habits of people like Jessica become reinforced. I think she made a mistake never changing training centers. Yes, she would have been called out on her shit and not coddled to pieces, and nobody in a somewhat spoiled position (she was always the star of her training center) who likes that position would readily give it up. But the up side is she might have found training more adventurous and exciting if she'd been able to tolerate the process.

      I'm just amazed at what's happened - or not happened - with her career this season. I mentioned it before. She dumped Bryce and there was nothing he could do about it. Due to the condition of his leg, there was no chance he could find a new partner, succeed without her, while she struggled and lost. She got every advantage her first season with Sebastien, did everthing at her own (slow slow slow) pace and then some - didn't even put in the 3 twist til late in the season. She got the schedule she wanted and as a bonus, she went to Worlds. All of it without changing her game. Same program, same elements, same way = silver medal at Canadians. Crappy at Worlds but that's nothing new - it was making the World team that was the accomplishment. She was able to say she accomplished everything with Sebastien that she did with Bryce - she lost nothing.

      So why the pouting after her Worlds performance, why the acting out in the off season (letting herself go as she did is definitely acting out)? The energy it must have taken on Bryce's part to keep her on track - dear lord. Because without him, there was nobody to stop her from getting completely out of shape (instead of her usual the last years with Bryce, which was merely not in the best shape she could be). All the coddling at CTC, all the boosterism from Skate Canada, a medal at Canadians and a trip to Worlds - none of it stopped her. It's so odd.

      oc not logged in

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  4. "Sebastien Wolfe can't do singles; he can't jump. The jumps he did/does in Dube/Wole - double axel, flip and salchow - he struggles to do as often as he hits them. Unlike her, I don't think it's because he's not sharp. He's just not a natural jumper."

    It sounds like he would have been a good candidate for ice-dance. Is it too late for him to try it?

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  5. I doubt he has the edges and ability, he was fast tracked from junior as it is. Plot twist - Jessica and Sebastien switch to dance hahaha!!!

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  6. The funny thing is that Jess probably would have made a lovely ice dancer. She moves beautifully on the ice. I'm not so sure about Sebastien...

    On another board, someone mentioned that Jessica's injury was serious. It's so odd how there's no real information on this. All we have to go by is the pics that we've seen - Jessica, in wedges, Jessica, on the bar, Jessica, looking not even close to being fighting weight. What's up, Jess?

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    1. I don't really agree about her making a good ice dancer. She's a classic pairs skater. Tons of smooth power in her stroking, and she's got great natural balance. Musical and expressive she's not, and refined in small things she's not. Her problems with focus would kill her as an ice dancer - so many gratuitous little wobbles that don't matter in pairs but would kill in ice dance. Jessica has also gotten sloppy about carrying herself in elements - she started giving over too much weight to Bryce and thunking down onto the ice. She also has this goose step thing going on at times during transitions. I can't see her making the rapid and precise position changes in dance lifts. Pairs lifts - where you're up there, your partner's elbow locks (which makes it easier on males whose partners aren't carrying themselves), where what matters is the strength of your core and holding a position, not so much your control of your own body at speed in space - are her bailiwick. Of the two, I think Bryce would have hacked it better as an ice dancer.

      If your ankle issue is serious you're not partying on top of bars, you're not running in the Color Run, and you're not on wedge heels. It's typical for those on other boards to pretend they know what they don't, ignore the obvious, or not question what they hear.

      oc - not logged in

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  7. "On another board, someone mentioned that Jessica's injury was serious."

    It also seems odd that any reports out there to be had can't be more specific about the nature of the injury. From the pictures that have been seen it certainly doesn't look like an ankle injury. Maybe they just called it "ankle injury" but it's something else. In any case, why not be forthcoming? Athletes get injured all the time, what's the big deal about keeping things secret?

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    1. You think Jessica tendonitis sudden-virus ouch my wrists Dube really has an ankle injury? I don't. If she did, it's not the reason she and Sebastien missed the season. Something else is going on with either her or the partnership. It's not been announced because everything with Jessica gets the kid glove treatment from Skate Canada. Sweep it under the rug until you've got spin, then sell the spin. We'll know the sales pitch they decided upon by Canadians, whether or not Dube/Wolfe skate. Last season the sell was that Bryce's injury forced his retirement (they didn't "split" and she didn't inform him that "not skating with [him] was a better idea" and she didn't shock Bryce. The way it was spun you'd have thought losing Bryce was just another obstacle for poor, plucky Jessica to surmount. Then, instead of Sebastien being somebody who trained at her rink, part of her training community for years, somebody she was doing pairs elements with as back-up while Bryce was rehabbing, Sebastien was spun as a retired junior sitting at home who gets a call from 'a champion' and the opportunity to work with this success-oriented, high work ethic, international star.

      They'll be hard put to beat the swill they put out there last season but they'll try.

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  8. They always play the poor little Jessica card

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    1. As soon as they played "poor little Jessica" when Bryce was the one who was injured, they went over the top. It was ridiculous. They played it like she was adrift in a foreign country with no friends, instead of in the same little pocket of Quebec where she's always been surrounded by enablers and coddlers. Her own account of her decision to split with Bryce included casting Bryce's injury as the incentive she needed to reinvigorate her love for skating. IOW, she said his injury was the event she needed for herself. Unbelievable. There wasn't even a pro forma expression of empathy for Bryce or gratitude for all he'd given as her partner.

      When Skate Canada decided a few things had been omitted from the Bryce/Jessica split press conference, they wrote a farewell they claimed came from the skaters (the skaters didn't write it, of course) and posted it on skatebuzz. It was a recital of thanks to their various sponsors and an afterthought hey thanks to fans, the end. That's a federation kissing ass, nothing to do with the skaters.

      Her poor me crap has been old for years, but the face slash is her ace in the hole. I've never seen it providing similar cover/sympathy for Elena Bereshnaya who had her head slashed open by her partner's skate blade, was in a coma and then a long hospital stay, then her speech center was affected. She got back on the ice and if you look back, while it was part of her story, nobody ever cut her bad skates slack because of what had happened.

      Jessica checks out mentally while she's on the ice. The face slash was mutual - every bit as much on her as Bryce. She's the one who controls the element. She calls the position changes. She also traveled.

      For years she took the kudos and Bryce had the responsibility. When he's gone, what self-discipline she possessed unraveled as soon as the thrill of the new was gone.

      oc, not logged in

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  9. No new Christmas and/or New Years photos of Tessa and/or Scott with the respective alleged boyfriend and girlfriend? I would bet - by Canadians, as per previously scheduled format, such photos suddenly "get discovered" by some "anonymous" fans.

    Oooo, wonder which pair of lovebirds will be napping on the sofa or lap-sitting this time.
    Lol.

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    1. Well, it looks like there was no need for fans to work at "discovering" anything. The principal players themselves are advertising themselves on facebook.

      Let me get this straight, though. Scott went to Florida around Christmas break? But a photo is just now making an appearance, just over a week away from Canadians. Yep. Predictable.

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  10. Where are you, OC?! There is much to be had today! Jessica and her brave new world cover photo and Scott spending the holidays in Florida with his new beloved, Miss Cassandra! Let us rejoice!

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  11. Oh please someone screen capture the "this looks like and advertisement" comment. I'll say.

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  12. When was this pic of Scott & Cassandra taken? I remember Meryl saying she got back from Disney on Dec. 23rd, and Charlie saying something about missing the snow. I wonder if they were all down there together??? I bet Charlie was the one to take the pic... And yes, BIG Shocker about the timing of the pic. Isn't there always a new pic 1 week before an event?

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  13. P.S. THey are probably reading all of this and laughing about how we expected the pic.

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  14. So, so gross, the Cassandra/Scott stuff. It's pure spite, nothing else. There's no other rationale. Exactly how does this "protect" them during Canadians? From what?

    I love that Jessica styled her brave new world photo before posting it. The feather. The angled folder. The cup.

    I wonder what story - if any - we'll get about her retirement. Her ankle injury was career ending? When she and Sebastien got together Sebastien made it clear he was in for a three year commitment. That's exactly what he said. The goal was to compete through the Olympic cycle and try for Sochi. After a season that in terms of opportunity and ultimate result (the Canadians silver and a berth on the world team) exceeded their goals, they quit.

    We will never get the reality because those that know don't talk, and those that talk out their hind ends and make it up are the ones that do most of the talking on the message boards.

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  15. These people really are gross and spiteful. It turns out that new picture on facebook proceeds this article by less than a day: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/olympic-ice-dance-champs-virtue-moir-well-prepared-173943220--oly.html

    It includes this comment:
    "The two said the short dance has become a reflection of their own story as longtime partners.

    "There's a history, there's the ebbs and flows, the ups and downs. . . I think we tried to showcase the reality of a relationship and truthfully it's just two people who enjoy each other and are in love and dancing to beautiful music," Virtue said. "We started with this really complicated storyline and it's hard to get it across in three minutes and include all of the technical elements as well."

    They really should stop messing with the fans. I know they're not though. That would be far too classy and mature of them.

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    1. There's not a single person I've outlined the Scott/Tessa scenario to who hasn't had an extremely negative reaction.

      I'm coming at this at least in part as a fan. An outsider is not a fan, not invested. I have described this situation to people in person, people who are familiar with celebrity and with the industry that supports the public/private divide (i.e., sports, music, theater). By "familiar" I mean worked in or close to.

      To a person they judge Scott and Tessa much more harshly than this blog has, simply based on the situation and how it's managed. They think the arrogance and level of douchery is beyond belief.

      They're not familiar with Scott and Tessa, the adorable Olympic figure skaters, just the Scott and Tessa as I've described them - physically beautiful, charismatic figure skaters with palpable chemistry who attract intense interest among many figure skating fans, while managing a level of access that is only experienced by, say, soap actors (in the day), or a few reality stars - the wierd fame where people know who you are but you're not living in the famous people zip code -you're living where they live (more or less).

      I've devils' advocated the Scott and Tessa side a lot and nobody has time for it. I was actually surprised at the harsh judgment by people who have wrangled a lot of secrets, or who know secrets that are being kept under wraps.

      It's the games that turn them off - the how, the patterns, the overkill, the ego, the double standard, the stings and set-ups, and the legit/social two-faced shit that sets people off. The sanctimony and having it both ways, how self-serving it all is. Everybody thinks the egos here are inflated in the extreme.

      Maybe these people judge harshly because they don't know (haven't seen) Scott and Tessa. They don't understand the Scott and Tessa exceptionalism.

      Surely if they were familiar with Scott and Tessa - how sweet, adorable, well mannered, talented and courteous they are - these people would conclude that it's okay because it's Scott and Tessa. It's a situation where it's the WHO is doing it that's important, not what's being done. It's that type of ethical standard.

      I think Tracy Wilson is a big subscriber of that one.

      Tessa and Scott are sweet, but they are willful liars and incredibly entrenched in a pointless scam purely out of resentment and spite (they're entitled, after all, to hoax people without being called on it. How rude.) And also so the other side won't "win". All fabulous reasons to fuck with well-intentioned fans.

      They operate with very little of the humility they claim to have. And as I said in another post, this reflects poorly on their "small town communities". Scott and Tessa were local heroes before they were Canadian heroes. That experience led them to conclude that being well known on a larger scale would be unbearable. I think we should look at Ilderton and its community and some of its neighbors and associates to figure out why the idea of being known on an even larger scale was unbearable to Scott and Tessa.

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  16. Where did you guys see the picture?

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  17. SO under what name is Cassandra in FB nowadays?

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    1. Brooke Cassandra

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    2. but it's the same facebook account/page ie easily found through your browser's history if you visited the page initially.

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  18. The Moir family, Scott's Mom, aunt and cousins, were very involved in promoting Scott-Jessica on social media. I would say they are still just as much involved now, in spite of the new pairing of Scott-Cassandra mostly being promoted by Scott's circle of home-town friends. It's been noted both here and elsewhere that the Moirs are a very influential family in their town. This is, after all, about their golden boy. I would be very surprised if they're not actively involved in how all of this is presented. They've probably just figured that this way they give the appearance of keeping their hands clean.

    I think the whole town of Ilderton (and London friends) has gone completely nuts in their loss of perspective. All for the sake of pleasing one Mr. Scott Moir and his family.

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    1. And it works the other way as well. Ilderton and London friends are all up in Scott and Tessa's business even as they joke about fans and consider themselves insiders. They're as star struck as anyone, as eager for status-by-association as anyone.

      A lot of them cherish their history and connection with Scott, and find it validating. For a community that brags on its home town values and claims Scott and Tessa have stayed humble, a lot of the community is eager to maintain their association with their "famous" buddy.

      During the year, Scott and Tessa can bounce in and out of their home towns to see family or hang out, without having every single person they know know they're there. But when there's a competition in town, everybody who considers themselves a friend of Scott's knows they're coming and a lot of them are hoping to hang out or otherwise get some face time.

      So the sham is a way to involve the community, make them feel in the loop, without requiring a whole lot of actual in-person hanging out from Scott, who has a lot on his plate, to say the very least. I'm not saying the sham exists to give the community a way to participate in the lives of Scott and Tessa and validate that they're insiders versus mere skating fans, but it has definitely evolved to fulfill that function. It's an ego boost, makes them special, makes then a FOS, and sets them apart from the general public.

      Cassandra is embedded in the Medway/Fanshawe crowd that comprises Scott's hometown pals. She's one of that group. That group has been on the facebooks for years when Jessica would post photos, adding their comments about how adorable Jessica and Scott were together. Now by using one of their own they're brought even closer to the action without actually spending a lot of time with Scott himself. They still have the bragging rights and the validation, because they're involved.

      How much in common do Scott and Tessa have with the home town crowd at this point? Their lives are totally different, both on and off the ice. You can go down memory lane only so much. The shared experiences are all years in the past. But it couldn't be more obvious that the hometown communities see the fact that Scott and Tessa are "one of them" as personally validating and are anxious for it to be reaffirmed.

      This is all small town bullshit. I'm not slagging off small towns per se, but if you are of the mental habit of believing you know everything you need to know, have nothing to learn because you live in a place that's superior to every other place, you're going to end up showing your ass, and they all have. Skaters from larger and more diverse cities aren't burdened with being the place's main claim to fame, with half the town claiming a connection or close relationship. And it's a burden. Scott's done stuff like take some of his friends to the locker room and to meet Mike Babcock at a Red Wings game, but that's a special event, not nearly as draining as other social expectations.

      The weird thing is that while flattering themselves they're superior to fans, a lot of the community is exactly as needy as fans.

      Fans have done nothing but be fans. They're fans like the fans of any other skater. But in the case of Scott and Tessa, due to their "unique" background and "unique" relationship and "unique" circumstances, fans have been worked over, manipulated, insulted, back stabbed, gaslighted, set up and mislead. They're the ultimate scapegoat for these people and their misplaced arrogance.

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    2. Basically, I think I'm saying that Scott doesn't want to offend these people and he does have genuine feelings for them. He doesn't want to lose that connection either, but his connection is different than theirs. He doesn't want to be called too big for his britches or forgetting his roots or not having time for the old crowd, even though while he's eligible, he ISN'T going to have time for the old crowd and still have five seconds for himself. He's an elite figure skater. He's married. He has a kid. He has a training base in the U.S. He has a life that has grown past the boundaries of Ilderton that also requires his attention off the rink. Things have changed and it often looks as if the community wants to pretend they haven't and looks to Scott and Tessa to prove it hasn't.

      So who ends up getting treated like shit? The fans. It goes to a lack of character, a lack of maturity, too much concern with how you're going to be perceived by others. It's about avoidance of conflict, trying not to hurt feelings, blah blah blah, but again, somebody ends up getting dumped on and it's the fans.

      What they've done has been pure crap. There isn't a thing fans have done that calls for it, that deserves it. Fans are used used used - not for professional reasons but just as much for personal ones. It's the sort of situation that when a particular sham event has passed and you look back on it with better perspective, it gets WORSE. It looks even more immature, more petty, more "our crowd" versus "you nobodies" than it did when it happened. And the funny thing is "our crowd" wouldn't be behaving that way if they didn't badly want Scott Moir to help confirm that they're somebodies. To be somebody, you need nobodies, and that's become the fans.

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  19. Five days without training ??? They need more training not less, because it's obvious that this year they're slow and tired, especially after the first half of Carmen...

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