Saturday, January 19, 2013

Class Participation

FYI: Canadians has started and Cassandra Hilborn has bravely changed her facebook profile name back to her full first and last name. As you do when you are struggling to protect your privacy from creeping and obsessive fans of your presumptive boyfriend when he is in the spotlight for one of the biggest competitions of the year. Anybody who went to school with Cass in first grade and would like to find her facebook - now is the time!*

Some thoughts: I don't think Scott and Tessa see Worlds in London as such a wonderful plus. They'll say so, and as far as skating goes, the audience is great, but again they have the friends - the old school friends who appreciate reassurance that their old buddy is still one of them - right there. Expecting to be part of the mix. Scott remains their biggest credential.

It's so convenient that Scott and Jessica, after lasting through that infamous bar fight/hockey venue fight/skating rink fight between Bryce and Scott, through Scott and Tessa winning the Olympics and Bryce and Jessica crashing, through Scott and Tessa winning Worlds and Bryce and Jessica  -and Jessica and Sebastien - sucking, through Tessa's shins and Bryce's knee  - we're talking years of devotion - that Scott and Jessica "split up" the second her skating career ends - the one that takes her to the same competitions as Scott and Tessa, not that Scott didn't just love his periodic trips to Quebec for apple picking and wedding attending, and not that Ilderton isn't always thrilled to receive Jessica.

And what happens but almost immediately Scott acquires a London-based girlfriend who is part of the crowd of his old school friends, just in time for London Worlds. Here is a way all of his old buddies can get right in there and be somebodies. Bust Scott's chops, joke about fans and the burdens of fame, get busy tagging stuff on facebook, feel like Scott may be a big deal, to the outside world but to them he's still just Scotty. And show off their photos of themselves with him to their current set of pals without looking try hard - cause they're helping him. They're involved.

It's not just London, and a London girl - it brings in all the friends who otherwise might want to, you know, hang out with Scott and Tessa both somehow. And of course, it's a way to stockpile eighty gazillion photos with built-in buffers. The families who spent years buffering Scott and Jessica both for real and in photos, the skating teammates who might be slightly over all the crap - are released from their duties.

They always like killing more than one bird with one stone, sham-speaking. This new sham is convenient, photo-wise, because the girl lives in London. It's convenient event-wise because WORLDS is in London and we know Scott and Tessa always like to do it up big, for the home folks. Let them know the public is still "them" and the old crowd is still "us".

And it helps Scott pander to his old buddies, pacify some egos, be one of them - and get business done at the same time (sham). It's efficient. Give the face time to his pals, make then feel like nobody can take their place, but not have to carve out separate time for both shamming or hanging with old school pals.

He can do both at once, and it creates something in common - and you know that's gotta be something of a strain after awhile when they're all sober.

I think fans are secondary to this one. This is to keep his pals feeling important and carves out their role while Scott and Tessa are in London or close to what they advertise as home.

And Scott and Tessa do very much enjoy making a display of martyring themselves, whether for their sport, their fans, or their hometown friends and family.

The gang's all here

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*Still no full length photo of the lovebirds. Seeing how tall Cassandra is in photos without Scott, vis a vis some of the old Medway/Fanshawe crowd, she's abruptly shrunk. A whole lot. So Scott's standing on a box? He's wearing lifts (Scott? Never!)? She's crouching?

4 comments:

  1. Any real girlfriend would have serious issues with some of Scott's statements, such as she would have to love Tessa as much as he does and that no one in the world understands him as well as Tessa (including "my girlfriend," who he had supposedly been dating for 4+ years when he said that).

    So let's see --- new girlfriend (home buddies). No sign that Tessa has ever been part of this group and no signs Tessa and new gf are tight. She (plus home buddies) must not love Tessa as much as Scott does (strike one).

    Tessa is still his other-half and bff. New girl cannot possibly compete. Not only with the previous (supposed) closeness of a long-time gf but with the bff status of Tessa who spends the majority of time with Scott. Therefore, it's clear Scott remains closer to Tessa than any newly acquired gf (strike two).

    Another thing --- All of this script is terribly familiar and canned (hello? Jessica and others from Camp VM putting up new photos, albums and public posts at predictable times and in predictable ways during the skating season). This is supposed to be believable? (Strike three)

    Without knowing anything about new gf or home buddies, simple common sense about relationships says no woman with a healthy sense of self, who is also a decent person and pretty by cultural standards (she could probably have her pick from any number of guys who would make *her* their number one person), would stoop to being some guy's "gf" knowing she's second string and another woman is first place in his life. (Game over!)

    But you know what. These guys want to share private photos, let the public in on their private off-ice lives? Go ahead, knock yourselves out. It's not the fans who see the pictures (or public posts) who are the fools.
    But hey, thanks for sharing.

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    1. You're right about that one. It's not the fans who are the fools. These photos just exude excitement at hanging out with their famous pal, with an "important" role to play - that is actually manufactured to make them feel important.

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  2. Off topic but can you explain the banner, it looks to me like the girl with Scott is friends with both Cass & Jess?

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    1. The banner is showing that the same group of friends that include Cassandra also spent years helping Scott sham with Jessica. To replace Jessica as Scott's fake girlfriend, he's just using someone directly from his group of old friends. There are other photos making the same point but the ones of Scott with his friend Heather, Cassandra with his friend Heather, and Jessica with his friend Heather say it best.

      Jessica was never really friends with any of Scott's friends.

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