Hollywood praising Tonya Harding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
She did stay at those heights. Two time Olympian!

And wtf your post is ridiculous. It shouldn't matter at all what Tonya was like, it shouldn't ever be about giving someone their due, it should be about how well you skated that day. By your own posts she was a decorated skater who had had a good career. You're contradicting yourself left and right.

What breaks food she receive? And not things that other usfsa does for all skaters at that level like travel expenses.

I retract my use of the word wealthy to describe Kerrigan's family, it doesn't get to what I was getting at.

She bombed at her second Olympics and she only went there because she sued USFSA.

What's ridiculous? When Tonya skated well, she was rewarded. She was a decorated skater. That disposes of any myth that the "skating powers were against her." They weren't. She screwed up her own career, all by herself. She had a good career despite her many failings, and if she worked hard and actually listened to her coaches and other advisors, she could have done a lot better.

You don't understand skating if you say it doesn't matter what Tonya was like. Skating officials make judgment calls all the time based on how they think a skater will perform. Why do you think there is a drama every year about who goes to the Olympics? Because only a national champion is guaranteed an Olympic berth. Everyone else goes there at the discretion of the committee who make their decision based on the entire body of work of a particular skater, not their performance during Nationals. That's why Wagner went to the last Olympics despite placing 4th (because she performed well up to that point) and that's why she's tantruming that she isn't going this year (because she didn't perform well up to that point).

As to the rich and varied ways in which Tonya was an asshole, always having an excuse for her failures:

- 1990. USFSA hosts an elite training camp where top coaches teach skaters how to stroke with style and move more gracefully, something that Tonya was in dire need of. Yamaguchi, Bobek and Ervin work their bums off. Tonya stands in the corner with her arms crossed, don't want no stinking grace, I'm great as I am already.

- 1991. Wins the Nationals but takes it eaaaaaasy after the win. Stops practicing. Goes to the Worlds untrained and fat, and Yamaguchi takes the title easily.

- 1992. The Albertville Olympics. France. Tonya, says USFSA, go to France when everyone else goes. Acclimate. Get over jet lag so you are in top form when you skate. I never get jet lagged, Tonya says. Stays home and practices at a rink in a shopping mall. Flies to France just three days before the competition. Bombs the short program and finishes out of medals. Sorry, I'm jet-lagged, says Tonya to reporters in the mixed zone. Lies about smoking, too.

- 1993. A strap on her dress pops off at the Nationals, and she receives permission for a do-over. That happens to everyone occasionally but it happens to Tonya a LOT. A LOT. Later, a USFSA official said he thought Harding unsnapped the dress after missing her first jump. That same year, there is a famous skate-on-the-judging table dealio at Skate America. (And the same thing will happen four months later in Norway).

- Also at that competition, Tonya tells reporters she has an ovarian cyst. Can explode at any moment. She is skating at a terrible risk to herself, forget about results. Earlier that fall, USFSA holds a special training camp in Norway for the Olympic hopefuls. Tonya was invited but never showed up, informing her coach she won't make it as the coach was on the way to the freaking airport. It's the cyst, she says. Exploding soon. Yet a week later Tonya is well enough to skate in a show and go to Skate America. Had she canceled ahead of time, another skater would have a chance to go. Her fan club had raised a thousand dollars for her Norway trip. Harding never returned the money.

- Her behavior in the wake of the attack was despicable. Tells ABC she wished Kerrigan good luck coming back next season - strange comment, seeing as everyone knew she would be back in a couple of weeks. The sad thing was that the entire attack was unnecessary. The US had two Olympic berths. If Harding skated well, one of them would go to her, unquestionably. She had every reason to expect that, and if she trained well, it was completely within her reach. Her lawyer admitted she lied to the FBI, so the responsible thing would have been for her to withdraw from the team. Yet not only did she not do it, she filed a $25 million lawsuit against USOC to prevent it from kicking her off the team (as she knew they would want to).

But yeah, sure, you want to believe she had "no one in her corner", please go ahead. You convinced me. Tonya is a victim. Poor, poor, Tonya.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

They hated her for all of those things before she chose to fight dirty. And that made hating her after much easier and more satisfying. She fought dirty because the country and her life had told her that the only person looking out for her was herself. And while what she did was wrong, she was right about that. No one was on Tonya's side except Tonya even BEFORE this happened.

You ask who she was representing at the Olympics and that shows a fundamental misunderstanding of people in her position. She was absolutely representing herself, her only chance. That gold medal wasn't for honor/glory, it was going to be freedom.

And once again I never said sympathy, I said empathy. They aren't the same thing.

What? The country has made her twice national champion. World medalist. Olympic medalist (which 4th place is considered to be). Do you realize how much free stuff, how many breaks, how many resources she has received from USFSA at that point? You think anyone makes it to these heights straight outta trailer park without massive infusion of support?

Stop with the sob story. Learn the facts.

You keep calling Harding an Olympic medalist. Your stupid is showing. They don’t give pewter medals to 4th place at the Olympics.

It is customary to refer to the 4th place finisher as a pewter medalist. It's tradition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Potential spoiler alert here, so don't read this particular post if you plan to see the movie:

NP here. Just saw the movie and had to chime in. At the time of the occurance, I thought Harding was 100% guilty. The movie (if you choose to see it, I understand if you do not) is convincing, in making Harding seem to perhaps not know about the exact plan.

If you tend to root for the underdog, you will like this movie, and how it was done.

I have to chime in about whether you could "tell" about "class" at the time. Truth is, you would have had to be blind to not have been on team Nancy when this whole thing happened. There was no doubt that Tonya was raised in a broken home (or whatever you choose to call it); and yes, you could actually tell by looking at them. They were judged by how they carried themselves, however inaccurate (turns out, as we now know, Kerrigan's life was far from perfect). In retrospect, it is hard not to be on Team Tonya now, having seen things play out.

Another poster manipulated by Hollywood. That was the angle they made up. From a liar like Tonya Harding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe try “stable”?

That would be more accurate but less hateable than a pretty ice princess from a "wealthy New England family".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know how some people are going to love certain celebrities, no matter what?

Part of me will always love Tonya. I was 13 years old when she landed that triple axel at Nationals, and it was all over the news, and Dick Button was losing his mind with his commentary in the booth, and it was all amazing. I loved it, I loved her, and part of me will always root for scrappy little Tonya.

I admire her scrappiness and skating skills, but Nancy could have been maimed for life.

Yeah, but Tonya didn't bash her knee in, and I don't believe she knew anything until after the fact. That's not excusing her participation in a cover-up/obstruction of an investigation, I'm just saying. Bitch didn't hit nobody.

They found a note in Harding’s handwriting that said “Tunee Can Arena” - Tonya’s stab at finding out for her cronies that Kerrigan trained at Tony Kent Arena so they could attempt to hurt Nancy there.

She knew.

She knew is right and she is still lying and playing victim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know how some people are going to love certain celebrities, no matter what?

Part of me will always love Tonya. I was 13 years old when she landed that triple axel at Nationals, and it was all over the news, and Dick Button was losing his mind with his commentary in the booth, and it was all amazing. I loved it, I loved her, and part of me will always root for scrappy little Tonya.

I admire her scrappiness and skating skills, but Nancy could have been maimed for life.

Yeah, but Tonya didn't bash her knee in, and I don't believe she knew anything until after the fact. That's not excusing her participation in a cover-up/obstruction of an investigation, I'm just saying. Bitch didn't hit nobody.

You can split hairs about it all you want, but the truth is that if not for Tonya, a guy with a bat would have never come close to Kerrigan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
She did stay at those heights. Two time Olympian!

And wtf your post is ridiculous. It shouldn't matter at all what Tonya was like, it shouldn't ever be about giving someone their due, it should be about how well you skated that day. By your own posts she was a decorated skater who had had a good career. You're contradicting yourself left and right.

What breaks food she receive? And not things that other usfsa does for all skaters at that level like travel expenses.

I retract my use of the word wealthy to describe Kerrigan's family, it doesn't get to what I was getting at.

She bombed at her second Olympics and she only went there because she sued USFSA.

What's ridiculous? When Tonya skated well, she was rewarded. She was a decorated skater. That disposes of any myth that the "skating powers were against her." They weren't. She screwed up her own career, all by herself. She had a good career despite her many failings, and if she worked hard and actually listened to her coaches and other advisors, she could have done a lot better.

You don't understand skating if you say it doesn't matter what Tonya was like. Skating officials make judgment calls all the time based on how they think a skater will perform. Why do you think there is a drama every year about who goes to the Olympics? Because only a national champion is guaranteed an Olympic berth. Everyone else goes there at the discretion of the committee who make their decision based on the entire body of work of a particular skater, not their performance during Nationals. That's why Wagner went to the last Olympics despite placing 4th (because she performed well up to that point) and that's why she's tantruming that she isn't going this year (because she didn't perform well up to that point).

As to the rich and varied ways in which Tonya was an asshole, always having an excuse for her failures:

- 1990. USFSA hosts an elite training camp where top coaches teach skaters how to stroke with style and move more gracefully, something that Tonya was in dire need of. Yamaguchi, Bobek and Ervin work their bums off. Tonya stands in the corner with her arms crossed, don't want no stinking grace, I'm great as I am already.

- 1991. Wins the Nationals but takes it eaaaaaasy after the win. Stops practicing. Goes to the Worlds untrained and fat, and Yamaguchi takes the title easily.

- 1992. The Albertville Olympics. France. Tonya, says USFSA, go to France when everyone else goes. Acclimate. Get over jet lag so you are in top form when you skate. I never get jet lagged, Tonya says. Stays home and practices at a rink in a shopping mall. Flies to France just three days before the competition. Bombs the short program and finishes out of medals. Sorry, I'm jet-lagged, says Tonya to reporters in the mixed zone. Lies about smoking, too.

- 1993. A strap on her dress pops off at the Nationals, and she receives permission for a do-over. That happens to everyone occasionally but it happens to Tonya a LOT. A LOT. Later, a USFSA official said he thought Harding unsnapped the dress after missing her first jump. That same year, there is a famous skate-on-the-judging table dealio at Skate America. (And the same thing will happen four months later in Norway).

- Also at that competition, Tonya tells reporters she has an ovarian cyst. Can explode at any moment. She is skating at a terrible risk to herself, forget about results. Earlier that fall, USFSA holds a special training camp in Norway for the Olympic hopefuls. Tonya was invited but never showed up, informing her coach she won't make it as the coach was on the way to the freaking airport. It's the cyst, she says. Exploding soon. Yet a week later Tonya is well enough to skate in a show and go to Skate America. Had she canceled ahead of time, another skater would have a chance to go. Her fan club had raised a thousand dollars for her Norway trip. Harding never returned the money.

- Her behavior in the wake of the attack was despicable. Tells ABC she wished Kerrigan good luck coming back next season - strange comment, seeing as everyone knew she would be back in a couple of weeks. The sad thing was that the entire attack was unnecessary. The US had two Olympic berths. If Harding skated well, one of them would go to her, unquestionably. She had every reason to expect that, and if she trained well, it was completely within her reach. Her lawyer admitted she lied to the FBI, so the responsible thing would have been for her to withdraw from the team. Yet not only did she not do it, she filed a $25 million lawsuit against USOC to prevent it from kicking her off the team (as she knew they would want to).

But yeah, sure, you want to believe she had "no one in her corner", please go ahead. You convinced me. Tonya is a victim. Poor, poor, Tonya.

You clearly did not read most of my posts with any real comprehension. I don't really defend Tonya...I say repeatedly that what she did was terrible.

I also said that her upbringing and the perception of being an uncouth red neck meant that she'd been fighting an uphill battle most of her life. So I have some empathy for her. I haven't argued that usfsa was wrong with banning her. All I've said is that a person who is raised in violence frequently resorts to violence. And so she isn't an evil Disney villain, she's a complicated person that did something very terrible a long time ago. I'm sorry that knowing that anyone has a shred of compassion for someone who grew up abused and has spent their adult life a pariah upsets you so much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe try “stable”?

That would be more accurate but less hateable than a pretty ice princess from a "wealthy New England family".

None of my posts disparaged Nancy. Sorry that doesn't fit into the box you want to put me in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You clearly did not read most of my posts with any real comprehension. I don't really defend Tonya...I say repeatedly that what she did was terrible.

I also said that her upbringing and the perception of being an uncouth red neck meant that she'd been fighting an uphill battle most of her life. So I have some empathy for her. I haven't argued that usfsa was wrong with banning her. All I've said is that a person who is raised in violence frequently resorts to violence. And so she isn't an evil Disney villain, she's a complicated person that did something very terrible a long time ago. I'm sorry that knowing that anyone has a shred of compassion for someone who grew up abused and has spent their adult life a pariah upsets you so much.

You are entitled to your feelings, just not to made-up facts in defense of them.

And her being an uncouth redneck wasn't a perception. That's what she is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe try “stable”?

That would be more accurate but less hateable than a pretty ice princess from a "wealthy New England family".

None of my posts disparaged Nancy. Sorry that doesn't fit into the box you want to put me in.

I also never used the term ice princess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You clearly did not read most of my posts with any real comprehension. I don't really defend Tonya...I say repeatedly that what she did was terrible.

I also said that her upbringing and the perception of being an uncouth red neck meant that she'd been fighting an uphill battle most of her life. So I have some empathy for her. I haven't argued that usfsa was wrong with banning her. All I've said is that a person who is raised in violence frequently resorts to violence. And so she isn't an evil Disney villain, she's a complicated person that did something very terrible a long time ago. I'm sorry that knowing that anyone has a shred of compassion for someone who grew up abused and has spent their adult life a pariah upsets you so much.

You are entitled to your feelings, just not to made-up facts in defense of them.

And her being an uncouth redneck wasn't a perception. That's what she is.

I haven't made up anything, different perceptions of, as you admit above, a sport that comes down to perception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe try “stable”?

That would be more accurate but less hateable than a pretty ice princess from a "wealthy New England family".

None of my posts disparaged Nancy. Sorry that doesn't fit into the box you want to put me in.

You said she came from a wealthy New England family. That's a lie. You portrayed her as Tonya's rival in a classist war. That's a lie. Who wants to put people in boxes now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know how some people are going to love certain celebrities, no matter what?

Part of me will always love Tonya. I was 13 years old when she landed that triple axel at Nationals, and it was all over the news, and Dick Button was losing his mind with his commentary in the booth, and it was all amazing. I loved it, I loved her, and part of me will always root for scrappy little Tonya.

I admire her scrappiness and skating skills, but Nancy could have been maimed for life.

She was underhanded and just plain mean. She was afraid that she wasn't going to make the team so she stood back and allowed her thugs to open up a spot or her. For a world class figure skater of all people to knowingly sit back and watch her friends try to break another skater's knee cap like that......that is just plain chilling. And now this poor pitiful, misunderstood, abused, "nobody liked me" crap. Barf.

It's amazing to me that people are still holding this much vitriol for a woman who did nothing to them personally but was involved in an assault more than 30 years ago.

And to reduce her life to 'nobody liked me'. To call someone lazy who left their abusive home every day to train as a kid. I mean what she did was ducked up no doubt but minimizing her life is also pretty ducked up

What she did was underhanded and mean. She was a cheater.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe try “stable”?

That would be more accurate but less hateable than a pretty ice princess from a "wealthy New England family".

None of my posts disparaged Nancy. Sorry that doesn't fit into the box you want to put me in.

You said she came from a wealthy New England family. That's a lie. You portrayed her as Tonya's rival in a classist war. That's a lie. Who wants to put people in boxes now?

I admitted my word usage was bad but that is not a disparagement in any interpretation!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe try “stable”?

That would be more accurate but less hateable than a pretty ice princess from a "wealthy New England family".

None of my posts disparaged Nancy. Sorry that doesn't fit into the box you want to put me in.

You said she came from a wealthy New England family. That's a lie. You portrayed her as Tonya's rival in a classist war. That's a lie. Who wants to put people in boxes now?

And it absolutely was a classist issue in the media. Trailer park abusive parents poor as dirt is absolutely a different class than blue collar working middle class happy family. It's not Warren Buffett and then everyone else, there are a lot of brackets.

Nancy was rude and disrespectful to coaches/ staff BEFORE this incident. Tonya acted like a spoiled brat sometimes BEFORE this incident. Nancy became America's sweetheart. Why? Because working middle class is not the same as growing up with one abusive parent in a trailer park and you could see the difference every time they were on television.