Is Ashley Wagner a Spoiled Sport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about the men? #2 guy gets booted in favor of #4 and isn’t even made the first alternate. That seems very unfair. I realize he doesn’t have the international career but he had the skate of his life. Shouldn’t skating big at the right time count? I do not follow skating closely but I remember when Tara and Sara Hughes were skating for gold. They killed it. It was so exciting. Ross Miner has a moment like that and he should get to go (or at least be the alternate). Am I wrong?

I was in the building when Miner’s coach, Mark Mitchell, also finished in the top three at Nationals in Orlando, apparently earning a berth on the 1992 Olympic team, only to be booted off the team in favor of a skater with a better international record. Oh, fate. You do mess with certain people!

And Paul Wylie earned silver at that Olympics. The judges called that one right!

Technically, it was Todd Eldredge who was given the Olympic spot over Mitchell.

But yeah, there was speculation whether Mitchell should have finished ahead of Wylie in the standings. Glad the judges chose Wylie. I said to a friend on Saturday, “What if we are being deprived of seeing Miner give us another Wylie moment at the Olympics?!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If one of the three was injured she still got in by default?

That will be the worst. Wagner will be insufferable in that case. I don’t want to hear it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USA Today has a story that USA skating totally rigged it against Wagner. She got lower artistic scores at Nationals, with uS judges, than at an international competition, which the author says never happens. The judges just decided to move onto the skaters with jumps as opposed to artistry.

She lost the chance for them to be invested in her artistry when they didn't have the opportunity to view "La La Land" routine in practice and offer critique, as is standard. She went with an untested program, and very few of her spins were rated Level 4. And her combo jump wasn't there. She two-footed another landing. Weak program, not clean, done.

+1. And her SP was recycled and not as good as in the past. I’m sure she lost some PCS points for that. I know skaters often automatically receive the same PCS points from competition to competition and from year to year, but this is not a given. She had not even competed this version of her free skate until nationals, so she really had no reason to expect the high scores.

To think at one point she was thinking of using TWO recycled programs for the Olympic season! Surely with her endorsements she could have afforded a new SP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If one of the three was injured she still got in by default?

That will be the worst. Wagner will be insufferable in that case. I don’t want to hear it!

+1
The other competitors seem like nice young women with a lot of class. It would make me sick to see her replace any of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:USA Today has a story that USA skating totally rigged it against Wagner. She got lower artistic scores at Nationals, with uS judges, than at an international competition, which the author says never happens. The judges just decided to move onto the skaters with jumps as opposed to artistry.

She lost the chance for them to be invested in her artistry when they didn't have the opportunity to view "La La Land" routine in practice and offer critique, as is standard. She went with an untested program, and very few of her spins were rated Level 4. And her combo jump wasn't there. She two-footed another landing. Weak program, not clean, done.

+1. And her SP was recycled and not as good as in the past. I’m sure she lost some PCS points for that. I know skaters often automatically receive the same PCS points from competition to competition and from year to year, but this is not a given. She had not even competed this version of her free skate until nationals, so she really had no reason to expect the high scores.

To think at one point she was thinking of using TWO recycled programs for the Olympic season! Surely with her endorsements she could have afforded a new SP.

All this with the programs AFTER she used a recycled long program in the 2012 Olympics. She was supposed to do "Romeo and Juliet" but went back to "Samson and Deliliah" from the season before. Clearly, she expects to skate by (pun intended) on old material and has a history of being wishy-washy.

For an Olympic year, you need two new, amazing programs, and you need to test them on big circuits BEFORE Nationals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of sympathy for these judging-type sports b/c it is all so subjective. Imagine how tough it would be to be gracious after working your whole life and just missing it.

+1

This is exactly the reason why none of my children, and I have 4, participate in ice skating, basketball, baseball, football or any extra activities that involve a coach or panel that will decide who can and can not make the team. This is especially so true at the high school level and lot of politics and favors with parents. The outcome is often rigged.

Two of my kids play tennis and the other two play golf. In those two sports, team members and seeding is solely based on head to head competition via match play. At the end of the day, those that have the most wins make the team. Those that have the least, good luck next season.

Yeah, but then your kids have to play tennis of golf. Yuck.

Just kidding. The subjective element is frustrating, especially when you're dealing with a coach who is not great. On the other hand, it really does teach kids that they need to deliver what the coach is looking for if they want to play. DS recently heard through a friend that the coach of his middle school team expressed regret to the friend for not doing a better job coaching DS when he was in middle school (probably partly because DS has gone on to do well in high school). DS's response was "Yeah, but I was not nearly as good as I thought I was in middle school, and I could have been more coachable." To me, that's a pretty good lesson (both are totally true, by the way).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about the men? #2 guy gets booted in favor of #4 and isn’t even made the first alternate. That seems very unfair. I realize he doesn’t have the international career but he had the skate of his life. Shouldn’t skating big at the right time count? I do not follow skating closely but I remember when Tara and Sara Hughes were skating for gold. They killed it. It was so exciting. Ross Miner has a moment like that and he should get to go (or at least be the alternate). Am I wrong?

I don't think so! I feel sort of pissed on Ross Miner's behalf -- and they really rubbed it in his face but not making him an alternate!

As for the fluke, well, who's to say that he won't have another 'fluke' in February, and who's to say that Rippon won't screw up again when it counts?

I’m really torn on this. Ross Miner went to the World’s in 2013 and didn’t crack the top 10- which was a big factor in the Men’s team only having 2 spots for Sochi. He also tends to crumble at his Grand Prix assigments. That said, he had the skate of his life and finally put it together when it really mattered.

However, Adam Rippin has only really started to get consistent in the past 1.5 years. He only made it to the Grand Prix Final because so many of thr top akaters were missing.. He wasted the YEARS of potentially being the leading US man. His Rippon Lutz was breathtaking and started the movement of jumping with both arms over your head. If he hadn’t crumbled under pressure in the past he could have been on world podiums. Now he doesn’t have a chance of being on tbe olympic poduium.

Only Nathan Chen can possibly compete with Yuzaru Hanyu, Shoma Uno, Javi Fernandez, Mikhail Kolyada or Boyanig Jin. Miner and Rippon don’t stand a chance.

I don’t understand why Max Aaron the 4 continents assigment over Grant Hochstein!

I agree, I was torn about it too. I don’t envy the selection committee having to make that decision.

I hope Chen has a great ilympucs! Curious to see where Zhou places as well.

[Anonymous]

Besides, she's not that attractive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about the men? #2 guy gets booted in favor of #4 and isn’t even made the first alternate. That seems very unfair. I realize he doesn’t have the international career but he had the skate of his life. Shouldn’t skating big at the right time count? I do not follow skating closely but I remember when Tara and Sara Hughes were skating for gold. They killed it. It was so exciting. Ross Miner has a moment like that and he should get to go (or at least be the alternate). Am I wrong?

I don't think so! I feel sort of pissed on Ross Miner's behalf -- and they really rubbed it in his face but not making him an alternate!

As for the fluke, well, who's to say that he won't have another 'fluke' in February, and who's to say that Rippon won't screw up again when it counts?

I’m really torn on this. Ross Miner went to the World’s in 2013 and didn’t crack the top 10- which was a big factor in the Men’s team only having 2 spots for Sochi. He also tends to crumble at his Grand Prix assigments. That said, he had the skate of his life and finally put it together when it really mattered.

However, Adam Rippin has only really started to get consistent in the past 1.5 years. He only made it to the Grand Prix Final because so many of thr top akaters were missing.. He wasted the YEARS of potentially being the leading US man. His Rippon Lutz was breathtaking and started the movement of jumping with both arms over your head. If he hadn’t crumbled under pressure in the past he could have been on world podiums. Now he doesn’t have a chance of being on tbe olympic poduium.

Only Nathan Chen can possibly compete with Yuzaru Hanyu, Shoma Uno, Javi Fernandez, Mikhail Kolyada or Boyanig Jin. Miner and Rippon don’t stand a chance.

I don’t understand why Max Aaron the 4 continents assigment over Grant Hochstein!

I agree, I was torn about it too. I don’t envy the selection committee having to make that decision.

I hope Chen has a great ilympucs! Curious to see where Zhou places as well.

Yes, I really hope Chen can seize the moment. The way the quads are breaking down these guys’ bodies, you never know if he’ll have another chance in 4 years.

[Anonymous]

I'm watching now as I missed it on original air date. I think the judges made the right choice.

I miss Gracie Gold though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More training, less Tweeting, Ash.

Curses, TWITTER!!!!

[Anonymous]

A few things:

1. Wagner was furious about the judging but very gracious in congratulating the skaters picked to the team. She said the Olympic selectors made the right call.

2. If Wagner pulling out of a jump made the difference, that's one thing. But her technical scores were still a little higher than Chen. Her PCS (artistic) scores, as Christine Brennan pointed out in USA TODAY, were ridiculous, and she has every right to be furious about that.

3. It probably works out, anyway. Nagasu left no doubt that she deserves to go, and the other two will at least gain from the experience. Maybe Tennell will even be a dark-horse contender.

4. The person who thinks skiing is easy should take a look at an Olympic downhill sometime. Being able to make it down the easy slopes at Wintergreen is to an Olympic downhill as one lap around the Tysons skating rink is to a triple-triple combination.

[Anonymous]

I know her dad. She's not really the person you see depicted in the media. Hard working and competitive, yes. A total b, no. The media takes snippets and turn them into a personality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Besides, she's not that attractive.

she's fine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides, she's not that attractive.

she's fine

That's not Ashley Wagner