Hoisted by their own petard?

First, I want to share this link:

DW's scores explode

This is a piece by Jacquelyn Thayer, one of the best ice dance journalists out there (not a backhanded compliment by any means despite there being so FEW decent ice dance writers anywhere. Her work stands up to anyone's.). She reports for icedance.com as well as her own site, two for the ice, which hosts the article linked above. Thayer is much admired by many, including this blog, for her rigor, research, good taste and, not least, an incisive, waste-not, want-not voice that appears inspired by E.B. White's famous mantra: "Make every word tell."

Now:

The conversation in the blog has noted many times that Scott and Tessa's hoax has been a group effort. Over the years they've been enabled by Skate Canada, by Arctic Edge, by Meryl and Charlie and other teammates, by every skating insider, by every skating commentator. All of them have contributed to hoaxing us, to hustling us, to, basically, lying about us and attempting to gaslight us. Prior to 4CC's 2011, Mike "nothing to see here" Slipchuk was out there hustling, telling us to expect TWO TWO TWO performances from Virtue and Moir, letting us know Virtue and Moir ("and the other Canadians") had arrived in Taipei. MAN they were anxious to let us know Virtue and Moir were there to skate two programs, in case any one suspected that maybe they were there for some other reason, which is only natural, since that happens all the time - skaters enter a competition, arrive at the competition, but do something else instead. Right? Not Scott  and Tessa! They were going to skate TWO programs.

It's not a small thing. Even broadcast networks got in on the act. After all, back in Vancouver, Jessica Dube was a high profile member of the Canadian figure skating team with a colorful back story (the face slash) and, was for the free dance, planted among the Moir family so we couldn't miss her, and the Moir family had a giant ass camera set up to record their reactions. NBC didn't see fit to mention her presence. Why not? Why wasn't that relationship part of NBC's package for Virtue and Moir? Think of the interviews Virtue and Moir gave during that time, and yet not a single journalist thought it relevant to ask Scott how Jessica felt about Virtue and Moir winning gold while she and Bryce had disappointing skates and did that impact their relationship in any way?

It begs disbelief to think most of the ISU in power don't know that Virtue and Moir are the married parents of a little girl, don't know Virtue and Moir are aggressively marketing huge lies. David Dore for damn sure knows. Benoit Lavoie certainly knows. NONE of these people had a word with them, advised them that it would be a good idea to tone it down? That arrogantly flaunting how untouchable you are is not the right way to engage with the public for their sport, that there are obvious long term pitfalls not just for their credibility but the sport's credibility? The sport had some influence, surely, and if word had reached VM to cool it, they'd have cooled it.

Apparently that didn't happen. The sport just gave VM enough rope and when the time was right, yanked, and it was a noose.

Setting aside the fact that the more one looks at this cast of thousands, the more offended one becomes when considering how the ante has continually been raised, offended by how NOBODY in this entire machine appears to think there's a single thing wrong with proactively stuffing a lie down the throat of the public while simultaneously blaming them for it, sees nothing wrong with proactively marketing a complete hoax while flaunting the contempt they feel for the poor suckers they're screwing with - while ENJOYING that contempt - you have to figure there's a whole lot more wrong with this sport than the scoring for Davis White. It's holistic. The sport got involved with it, the sport helped them out. As the blog has said before, this isn't about a zone of privacy, this isn't about rote denials - nobody's playing defense. This is aggressive.

When the blog has talked about karma being organic, this is what it looks like. Scott and Tessa's hoax is enmeshed in the ISU infrastructure, or certainly was when it counted, as much as it is in Moirville. It was propogated by the commentariat as well, all of whom knew what they were pushing at us was a lie.

And it certainly looks as if now that this same infrastructure has decided to fuck over Scott and Tessa with lies about the scores Davis and White deserve for what they put on the ice, Scott and Tessa are trapped because of the lies this same infrastructure has enabled them to tell about their lives.

Their lies have screwed their competitive viability vis a vis Davis and White. Their community, which  preens itself about skating being everything, has FUCKED OVER this sport and their own skaters because they've used the system, the relationships, the organization, to advance an agenda that has nothing to do with skating, that's organized around a huge public lie, which meant that when the organization turned around and decided to fuck them over, they could do nothing because everybody has the goods on them.

I hope it was worth it, because not only did they screw themselves, WE got screwed on both ends. We got screwed by continually being sold a hoax and blamed for the hoax, and, more importantly, we got thoroughly and completely fucked over as fans of ice dance, thanks to the greatest ice dancers of all time.

Scott and Tessa - NICE JOB.

P.S. VM have spent their careers, with of course, the eager assist of the media as well as various skating insiders -  working overtime to undermine the credibility of the public - wait, not the public - THEIR FANS - painting us as a bunch of pathetic, delusional headcases drunk on fantasy, fans who just can't get it through our heads that they are not a couple. Never mind that outside of this blog, the primary message from all of Virtue and Moir's fans is they are not a couple. Go to fsu and goldenskate; they're not a couple. Never mind that though - we're fucking crazy.

That means that, thanks to Virtue and Moir, we can easily be painted as fucking delusional about the skating as well. So VM, THANKS.

This is also how it happens off the ice

Suddenly, Davis and White exist. Suddenly it's okay to notice their actual skating:

Here's Beverly Smith on the article in L'Equipe:

russia-u-s-have-vote-swapping-deal-to-deny-virtue-moir-ice-dance-gold-says-lequipe

L'Equipe broke the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

If one is better than the other, I really hope they [judges] let it happen,” says Paul MacIntosh, a dance coach who developed Virtue and Moir, but who also admires Davis and White. “I do fear. I was worried at Grand Prix Final, because I thought Tessa and Scott were spot on. And we didn’t win either portion, but we were better both days, way better the first day. For sure. No question. “And they didn’t let it happen.”

AND

In Europe, judges currently seem poised to drop Virtue and Moir should they put a foot wrong in Sochi — but Davis and White aren’t facing the same scrutiny. One source said: “I know a few on the panel might even stick [French team Natalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat] second in the free dance if Virtue and Moir make a mistake.” Davis and White aren’t seen to make mistakes.

*****

Davis and White are known for their speed and their memorable routine to Die Fledermaus a couple of years ago, which stuck in the mind of MacIntosh. “It was like they had wings,” he said. However, there is a difference between speed and power. Virtue and Moir are the most powerful skaters in the world, says Ann Shaw, a Canadian who originally set out the code of points for ice dancing. White sometimes gathers speed by “wide-stepping” like a hockey player, one expert said. Davis gains speed with hops and jumps, not edges. The rules specifically discourage excessive amounts of toe steps. On the other hand, Virtue and Moir derive their speed from rhythmic knee action, which makes the stroke appear effortless.

WHERE HAVE THESE PEOPLE BEEN FOR TWO YEARS?

This is how it works. Somebody ELSE finally gets in front and says what everybody else already knows. Once it's out in the open, it's like floodgates - here comes everybody. But  nobody will speak up until somebody else first takes the flak. This is the pattern everywhere - in politics, in sport. The reporting of these subjects is every bit as political as the topics they're supposed to be covering.

The time for this topic to have been thoroughly aired was TWO YEARS ago, if not sooner. Not days before the Olympic ice dance competition. Some of the people now speaking up have been the same people pretending Virtue and Moir and Davis and White were equally superior, with the edge to Davis White.

If one reads up on the first Clinton sex "scandal" - Ginnifer Flowers - one way the mainstream media covered the story was to cover the coverage of the story (unlike later sex scandals that were positioned as abuse of office - Monica Lewinsky in the case of Clinton, prostitutes in the case of Elliot Spitzer - the Flowers story was straight up infidelity and considered a marginal topic for mainstream media).

By pretending to report on the gossip rag coverage of the story instead of directly reporting on the story, mainstream news entities maintained their serious, legit media bona fides while reaping the benefits of salacious tabloidesque content.

Here, everybody is letting L'Equipe' take the hit - everybody is now looking at the skating of Davis White, suddenly it's okay to talk about the skating of Davis White, suddenly everybody notices Davis and White don't skate - under the guise of reporting L'Equipe's claims.

This is how it works or would work with Virtue and Moir's lies about their personal life as well. Some other entity would have to decide it was worth blowing open, and then everybody else would ride the wake of that coverage, telling us what was being reported, and in the process, it would become obvious that they, too, knew it was true.

Just  as now, people are reporting on L'Equipe's claims while demonstrating they've been aware all along that Davis White have been receiving dubious scores, demonstrating all along they know CoP scores can be juiced. Shit, the article above specifically notes that scores can be gamed so that Virtue and Moir's lowest scores aren't thrown out but Davis and White's are. In a sport that is won on tenths of a point, there's nothing easier.

It should also be noted that fans have been talking about this for years. In other sports, the media reports what fans are saying. Not in figure skating. In figure skating, they make up what fans are saying.

A whole lot too late from Beverly Smith

Beverly Smith calls Virtue and Moir the best in the world and tells us why

Of course the ice dance segment of the team competition is this weekend, so this accomplishes precisely nothing.

This article implicitly takes down Davis and White - but fails to mention Davis and White. Why?

Figure skating is a competitive sport. The Olympics are NOW. It's not performance art. It's not an evening of dance vignettes. It's not apples to oranges. It's apples to apples - the skating skills and dancing of this team verus that team for the Olympic championship.

There is no reason for this article to exist other than to take down Davis and White, but apparently if you mention their names in conjunction with criticism the ISU strips your credentials and you're banned from the sport. Has to be. In ladies singles the ladies are compared CONSTANTLY. Pairs, the same. Men as well. Just not the top two in dance. One cannot notice that Davis and White are being rewarded for flaunting the sport's own rules and standards, and for skating with inferior, dumbed down technique. One can only point out all that Virtue and Moir are doing and pretend everybody knows what you're really saying. But you're not allowed to really say it.

If you're not going to really say it, what is the point?

Here's Smith:

So what is it that they do so well that makes them the best ice dance team in the world, perhaps of all time (Robin Cousins once compared them to Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.)  Well, the way their bodies move, for one thing. They stretch their bodies. One canny expert explains that they straighten their knees and point their toes, they extend their necks upward, they open their chests, using their entire bodies to interpret music. Virtue in particular has a very mobile torso and they both arch their backs to create shapes, and they involve their hips and shoulders like no one else to produce movement that the style and rhythm of dance commands. Their movement is beautifully coordinated. They complete their movements, with extended legs and arms. The tension in their bodies’ changes as the music dictates. The tension is never static.
The foxtrot of the short dance this season calls for a sway – and they have a gorgeous sway – and the rise and fall of a soft knee. Says Ann Shaw, guru of international ice dance: “You’re supposed to have an elegant look, and use your knees in the foxtrot and have a syncopation of approach. [In the quickstep] they have an elegant upright, light airy look, and they have the best interpretation of the rhythms required of anybody this year. They interpret the quickstep and foxtrot like nobody else does.”
Speed? It’s supposed to come from rhythmic knee action, since the rules specifically discourage excessive amounts of toe steps. This is no problem for Virtue and Moir, because, Shaw says, they are the most powerful skaters in the world. Speed is just the velocity across the ice, no matter how you get there. It is not the same as power. Some are fooled by speed, but how is it generated? Virtue and Moir have a hidden power, that comes from deep knee bends, and it allows them to float across the ice. Their stroking is so smooth and well-matched, that it appears effortless.

Is there a LAW somewhere that says one can't say the names of Davis and White, can't point out that they DON'T do these things? That the excessive toe action and two-footing that enables speed without glide and big curves is discouraged by the rules, not meant to be rewarded by the rules with record-shattering scores?

It is COMPETITION. Why are Virtue and Moir's competition not mentioned in this article?

Every single point loudly and implicitly tells us that Charlie and Meryl do NOT do what Virtue and Moir do, that everything they do is dumbed down and inferior.

What use is implication? WHY is it against the political law to CALL OUT MERYL AND CHARLIE.

Smith here cites unattributed experts and attributed experts, she speaks from an informed perspective, she understands the sport, she understands the rules, but she will not mention that Meryl and Charlie have been rewarded this year, and most assuredly this weekend, and next week, for skating that is manifestly, by the rules, inferior to Scott and Tessa's.

WHY NOT?

What’s more, Virtue and Moir can vary their speed and change direction seamlessly – important in the transitions category of the program component mark and also the choreography category to some extent. They can slow to a stop, and then regain top speed in three or four strokes. The variation of speed allows for the shades and light of interpretation. They change dance holds frequently, easily, eschewing the same-direction skating that is so much easier. “Their movement from one hold to another is just like little rose petals unfolding,” Shaw said. “It’s superb. They skate in close relation all the time. But you are never aware that they are changing hold. They sort of fold into each other – and I think that is superior to anybody.”

Footwork? Virtue and Moir have challenging footwork with big curves. The size of the curve that a skater’s edge creates is important, and never more so than in footwork sequences. Virtue and Moir trace huge arcs with their edges both into and out of their turns. They have dainty, precise feet.

Lifts? From a young age, when Virtue and Moir began to learn more difficult lifts, Virtue was taught to feel like she was doing the lift herself, rather than the male partner forcing the woman somewhere and the women reacts. “She moves herself from one position to another and she doesn’t wait for Scott to move her,” says Marijane Stong, known for her knowledge of dance, music, and costuming. “That was when she was quite young and she has maintained that. Ballet dancers don’t wait for the man to put them somewhere.”

In other words, Virtue has an ability to manage her own body in the lifts. Rather than Moir supporting Virtue, there are fewer points of contact between them during a lift, and Virtue extends her own free leg, without help from the partner. The positions in their lifts require a lot of strength in Virtue’s core and hips and back. Their style of stroking also is taxing on the legs, knees and thighs. This team is physically strong.

This is a waste of time. Everybody knows Virtue and Moir can do these things. Nobody is calling out that Davis & White DON'T do these things. The sport didn't hesitate to call out Plushenko's deficiencies in 2010 - the lack of transitions, the posing, the absence of non-jump content. They didn't just hype Lysacek - they went after Plushenko, specifically. Frank Carroll pointed out he saw a lot of jumps in Plushenko's programs and not much else - that was his reaction to the scores.

How come only in ice dance has everybody been silenced about Meryl and Charlie? Beverly Smith giving more support to Tessa and Scott than they've bothered to generate for themselves is pointless when the scoring is all "Us too - PLUS" for Davis and White. The only value in this type of deconstruction is to point out what Davis and White are NOT doing and ask why they're scored as if they are. And even in Canada, one dares not say.

Every word of this has Davis and White between the lines. Every syllable. Yet Smith won't or dares not come out and say it.

Moreover, it's only days before the first event. Why did she wait this long?

I'm just amazed, amazed, that someone in the skating world is bringing all of this up but failing to mention Davis and White and only getting specific about Virtue and Moir's superiority when it's too late.

In keeping with the two-year trend of Davis White committing glitches, mistakes and oops's, and everyone agreeing to say they didn't, let's look at these video comparisons shared in a comments section further down.

With thanks once again to canadablue.

GPF:

Start at 2:53

Nationals.

At 7:11



At 6:45



Kaitlyn Weaver at 4:45



I don't know if the segment edits will transfer - I think not, but the videos are worth it in their entirety and I've noted the minute/second point for the relevant segment.

Skate America

at 2:43



NHK

2:47




These videos help establish that the entire Canadian team has pushed past Davis White. NOBODY is skating like Davis and White. Nobody else's programs look like Davis and White's. Why? These are the programs that are winning and will win in Sochi. Moreover, they have a clear, easily deconstructed formula with lots of filler, and dumbed down lift mechanics that receive monster scores. WHY are no other teams doing what they do or even imitating?

Also let's link to this:

http://daviswhite2014.blogspot.com

Davis and White out of synch in their Level 4, +3 Twizzles at the GPF.
And the screen cap doesn't show Charlie's stumble into the
entrance of the sequence.
As noted in the comments section, Davis & White
only do two twizzles, and one of them was this
much out of synch.
+3!

Virtue and Moir's power and speed crushes Davis White's. So naturally, the skating chattering class, even those who pretend to be Virtue Moir supporters, say these are the only areas where Davis White best Virtue Moir. What - these are the areas that have traditionally won in ice dance? You don't say.

In fact if you shut up and slept the
whole way it would be great.

Look at them sitting together on the plane,
something they never ever do.

As DW's p.r. hammers home they have
exactly zero competition, not even Scott and Tessa
(who have become nameless in a lot of DW hype),
the reality show reminds us that everybody
is VM's competition, and they still struggle
to separate themselves.

"It's hard to know if it's skating that has kept us
together, or if it's our marriage, small daughter,
and lying. We might get rid of all of it
after we retire."

I love how incredibly uncomfortable Scott looks at times when Tessa lies, such as when she says they had to come to Paris to spend time together off the ice. But when it comes to hyping up his dick, he's all over that. He's got emasculation panic or his family/community does, and she is a straight up psychopath.

I'm going to put up some of the skating videos later. It feels a bit futile, as if it's beating a dead horse. We KNOW what's going on. We don't need to prove it. But I think it's important to have it there anyway.

Episode 5, Part 2

Who will get the Final Condom.

"I love coming home. I have a great group
of guys that I grew up with ..."

Who knew Scott was 42?

News alert. Scott has a penis.

Well - maybe not.

Tessa is one rough-looking twelve-year old.
"What do you say if you try to pick up a guy?"

Just FYI, at least two of the school girls in that tub are married women.

Don't come round here with your feminist
nonsense, sweetheart.

Let me tell you how to get a guy.

Damn. She's been so sure of yourself up til now.

Part three to come.

The Fifth Episode (Nothing Sacred)

I've already vented elsewhere but I've got enough in me to re-vent, and my main thing is - I will never understand how context makes it okay to throw what's valuable and sacred in your life under the bus. 

Scott and Tessa treat their public relations like a toxic waste dump. Forget the insult to the public that's obvious in that. What is in them that WANTS to do that? How profound must their stupid be to believe that putting the opposite of the truth on parade protects their private lives? The opposite of being married isn't contempt. Every move they make reveals something about them I don't think anybody wants to know.

Everything they want to accomplish (or appear to want to accomplish) is possible to accomplish without this degree of contempt and degradation. It's not even that they're lying. It's the nature of their lies. Their lies are like a grotesque experiment in virtual boundary breaching. There are a million ways to convey "we're platonic" and there were a million ways to stage this "reality show" facade without copping to their actual reality, but they chose this. It's the package that is so blood-curdling with them, because it's not necessary to their agenda, so the package they chose shows us something else about them.

In addition, this reality show is pandering to the crap on the internet that Scott and Tessa claim not to read. It's another way of pissing on the public. These two - and theirs - must be epic levels of stupid to get off on one-upping internet message boards. They have a taste for humiliation that borders on sadistic. The fact that this reality show plays into message board speculation encourages the posters on those boards to set themselves up and humiliate themselves even further.

I was saying - not on the blog - that I was hoping that the absolutely hateful, stupid narrative of this reality show would make it easier to deal with the silver medal Tessa and Scott are assured of winning in Sochi, but that's not true. I don't think I will EVER be reconciled to a Davis White gold medal and the stone cold corruption that will make it reality. I'd be more at ease if B&S won gold, because they actually skate. And the very fact that the promotional push for DW absolutely ignores the fact of Virtue and Moir's existence because there's no way to acknowledge Virtue and Moir and still position DW's slated win as deserved just emphasizes how corrupt this win is going to be, and IMO, like all medals awarded this way, it's going to stick in skating's craw for decades. It's not going to be what the ISU appears to be setting up - a just this once situation and then we can all move on. Maybe if it weren't at the expense of Virtue and Moir's skating. But given that the win will be over VM's skating, it will, IMO, permanently damage ice dance long after the two teams retire.

At least Scott looks pretty.

The bright spot in this for me is Johnny Johns.

Don't cut her open. Not only will snakes and frogs escape,
the acid will melt your face.

I can't with Tessa whiffing the golf swing and Scott pretending he's going to be a redneck after figure skating.

Gross.

Here comes Scott's penis. He's not fucking Tessa except he is, and all of his friends are jealous and would love some of that action. That's his wife. But because they're pretending that's not his wife, but his platonic partner, they script a scene where all of his buddies talk about how they want to get with Tessa, because that's the sort of scene people want to act out about their wives. All hail Scott's penis.

Also, how romantically successful are Scott's "buddies"? They all act like they're in middle school and he's envied because he's the first to have a girlfriend.

At least it was a very realistic conversation a man would have about his platonic business partner in front of his girlfriend.

To be continued.