Maybe he’s a cool maverick who doesn’t give a fuck what people think. He may be the Kanye West of speed skating, with his ego, he can stand there with a speedo. And still be looked at like a fucking hero.
Or maybe he’s a socially inept dorky speed skater. Look at him in the interview with the Dutch woman in the studio, he isn’t exactly a confident interviewee.
It APPEARS as if the lady conducting the interview is a 40-something, short, possibly portly, glasses wearing, plain-jane type. If she was some tall, hot, 20-something with a sultry voice, his conduct may just have been a little more “political.”
I don’t blame this guy and if I had just won a gold medal and was getting interviewed by a random reporter I’d tell them him/her to go eat shit as well.
“Hey my names so and so and I just won a gold medal. My grandma died of cancer recently and that was really hard on me training for this event. I’ll give you 15 minutes of material and you can go make a nice emotional, patriotic segment about it to put on your tv broadcast that will make all the world feel all warm inside or you can just go find the nearest bridge and jump off.”
He’s an athlete, not a role model. I want to see the guys compete and see who won. I don’t want some huge backstory, that creative license has been applied to in an attempt to make it a human interest story instead of a simple sporting event.
The worst are when the reporters interview the bronze medalists and ask how they feel about their performance. The athletes say, “Well, gee golly gosh it was a good race and I gave it my all. Few people ever win bronze medals and its an acheivement I’ll remember for the rest of my life”
You know they are thinking, "Fuck, I really wanted to win that gold and I didn’t so I pretty much lost. I trained my ass off for 4 years for this and I just wasn’t good enough. My family mortaged their house to attend this, which they may not be able to pay off, and I lost.
They’re probably proud of me, but I probably could of done better. Oh, and the next person who asks me how I feel about losing is getting punched square in the nose".
The US olympic athletes are coached on how to do interviews, and there may be a punishment, i.e. getting kicked off the olympic team if they don’t abide. Personally, I’d watch more of the olympics and interviews if the athletes were honest about their feelings and reactions to the events that transpired.
Forgive the guy for being human, and not a robot sheep putting on an act on what possibly may have been the best day of his life.
[quote]theuofh wrote:
I don’t blame this guy and if I had just won a gold medal and was getting interviewed by a random reporter I’d tell them him/her to go eat shit as well.
“Hey my names so and so and I just won a gold medal. My grandma died of cancer recently and that was really hard on me training for this event. I’ll give you 15 minutes of material and you can go make a nice emotional, patriotic segment about it to put on your tv broadcast that will make all the world feel all warm inside or you can just go find the nearest bridge and jump off.”
He’s an athlete, not a role model. I want to see the guys compete and see who won. I don’t want some huge backstory, that creative license has been applied to in an attempt to make it a human interest story instead of a simple sporting event.
The worst are when the reporters interview the bronze medalists and ask how they feel about their performance. The athletes say, “Well, gee golly gosh it was a good race and I gave it my all. Few people ever win bronze medals and its an acheivement I’ll remember for the rest of my life”
You know they are thinking, "Fuck, I really wanted to win that gold and I didn’t so I pretty much lost. I trained my ass off for 4 years for this and I just wasn’t good enough. My family mortaged their house to attend this, which they may not be able to pay off, and I lost.
They’re probably proud of me, but I probably could of done better. Oh, and the next person who asks me how I feel about losing is getting punched square in the nose".
The US olympic athletes are coached on how to do interviews, and there may be a punishment, i.e. getting kicked off the olympic team if they don’t abide. Personally, I’d watch more of the olympics and interviews if the athletes were honest about their feelings and reactions to the events that transpired.
Forgive the guy for being human, and not a robot sheep putting on an act on what possibly may have been the best day of his life.[/quote]
LOL!
I wonder how many of you defending this action call athletes like Sosa assholes for not being cordial with the public.
We have an entire society that turns every passing fart from a celebrity into prime time news yet suddenly athletes are OK if they act like assholes in public and make fun of journalists interviewing them.
I wonder how many posters of Michael Jordan would be hanging on walls if he acted that way (you know, because he clearly never had a journalist make a dumb comment to him in all of those years).
The truth is, if he knew how to present himself well, there is no telling what kind of potential endorsement could come from it.
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?
[quote]ephrem wrote:
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?[/quote]
What’s speedskating again?
[quote]RSGZ wrote:
[quote]ephrem wrote:
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?[/quote]
What’s speedskating again?[/quote]
[quote Jeremy Clarkson] Apparantly speedskating is when pretty boys in bodycondoms and razorsharp knives on their feet go around an icerink… as fast as possible. [/quote Jeremy Clarkson]
[quote]bond james bond wrote:And FTR… Canadians are pretty passionete about skating of any kind.
[/quote]
Aside from a girl or two who likes figure skating, and the obvious hockey fans, I don’t know a single person who’s remotely interested in skating. Maybe you’re from a town where that’s not the case?
[quote]Professor X wrote:
LOL!
I wonder how many of you defending this action call athletes like Sosa assholes for not being cordial with the public.
We have an entire society that turns every passing fart from a celebrity into prime time news yet suddenly athletes are OK if they act like assholes in public and make fun of journalists interviewing them.
I wonder how many posters of Michael Jordan would be hanging on walls if he acted that way (you know, because he clearly never had a journalist make a dumb comment to him in all of those years).
The truth is, if he knew how to present himself well, there is no telling what kind of potential endorsement could come from it.[/quote]
So that’s a yes on the Kai Greene thing then?
This guy is going to have to be mindful of his behaviour.
I know he’s probably getting drunk off the lavish lifestyle and excitement that only a speed-skating star can enjoy - the private jets, limos, VIP clubs, Brazilian runway models and so on - but he’s going to have to take it down a notch.
I have it on good authority that the bigwigs at Van Der Waal’s Ginger Snaps (het koekje mit GINGER POWER!) in Eindoven are less than impressed with his behaviour and are considering dropping him. Where’s he going to go after that?? Janssen’s Biscuit-Werks? That’s a far inferior cookie company.
[quote]ephrem wrote:
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?[/quote]
Anton Apolo Ohno, Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, etc. They don’t get shoes named after them, but they do alright.
Regards,
TDL
[quote]TDL77 wrote:
[quote]ephrem wrote:
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?[/quote]
Anton Apolo Ohno, Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, etc. They don’t get shoes named after them, but they do alright.
Regards,
TDL[/quote]
…yeah, when i said “international” i meant everyone but americans. Do you know any non-american speedskaters with an american endorsment-deal?
[quote]ephrem wrote:
[quote]TDL77 wrote:
[quote]ephrem wrote:
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?[/quote]
Anton Apolo Ohno, Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, etc. They don’t get shoes named after them, but they do alright.
Regards,
TDL[/quote]
…yeah, when i said “international” i meant everyone but americans. Do you know any non-american speedskaters with an american endorsment-deal?
[/quote]
Who cares? Are you saying it is impossible? That wasn’t even the point. If someone knows how to sell themselves, someone somewhere is going to see the business side of that. This guy apparently can’t do that and feels the need to call journalists stupid to their face while being interviewed by them for simple issues.
In America, that can cost you MONEY.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]ephrem wrote:
[quote]TDL77 wrote:
[quote]ephrem wrote:
…tell me, which international olympic speedskater do you know got a lucrative endorsment from an american manufacturer in the past… say 15 years?[/quote]
Anton Apolo Ohno, Dan Jansen, Bonnie Blair, etc. They don’t get shoes named after them, but they do alright.
Regards,
TDL[/quote]
…yeah, when i said “international” i meant everyone but americans. Do you know any non-american speedskaters with an american endorsment-deal?
[/quote]
Who cares? Are you saying it is impossible? That wasn’t even the point. If someone knows how to sell themselves, someone somewhere is going to see the business side of that. This guy apparently can’t do that and feels the need to call journalists stupid to their face while being interviewed by them for simple issues.
In America, that can cost you MONEY.[/quote]
…why take this in to consideration when the chances of getting an endorsment deal are slim? If anything it might even improve his chances of getting a dutch endorsment deal because of it. The golden boy can do no wrong after all…
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
So what was the point in saying that she is stupid and crazy FOR asking a not-so-stupid and crazy question??? IT was even more retarded to act as if the reporter was the rude and incompetent nitwit.
Was she asking personally for his name??? OR was it so the WORLD could know more about him?? Regardless,he could have had more tact in dealing with an “absurd” question instead of being an arrogant and insecure “champion.”[/quote]
Exactly.
Tell THE WORLD your name.
That is what she was getting at. It was NOT a dumb question since I don’t know who the fuck he is.
She could also be assessing if he spoke English, like I wrote before.
Either way, his fucking response was SHIT and he deserves all of the criticism for it.
Not one of you here would support some doctor for saying, “What are you, stupid…how could you not know my name when it is clearly posted on the front of the office door?!”
That doc would lose a patient…yet some UNKNOWN athlete to the rest of the world is this arrogant just because she asked him to state his name?
Bullshit.
And everyone defending this jackass for it is full of it.[/quote]
I disagree. Any decent reporter usually opens by introducing the person, place, or thing that he/she is going to be reporting on.
Example: “Hello I am Sage Steel here with 3 time gold medalist John James.”
Rarely do you ever hear reporters open with interrogation like questions, such as please state your name. That is simply not how it is done. Both were at fault as his response was quite puerile, while her approach was also pretty dismal.
[quote]PimpBot5000 wrote:
He’s Dutch, and seems to have the misconception that the rest of the world cares as much about speedskating as his compatriots do. He couldn’t possibly fathom that nobody else gives a shit about his sport.
It’d be like an NHL star from Ontario lambasting a reporter in Auckland, New Zealand for not knowing who he is. To quote the South Park Michael Jackson…“ignorant…that’s ignorant!”
[/quote]
He knows Americans don’t care about skating : - YouTube
You are all attributing his behavior to only internal factors and forgetting the power of the situation…
The interviewer clearly says “…for tape identification purposes.”
[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
The interviewer clearly says “…for tape identification purposes.” [/quote]
Damn you, truth and logic. You have foiled us once again.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
[quote]Big_Boss wrote:
The interviewer clearly says “…for tape identification purposes.” [/quote]
Damn you, truth and logic. You have foiled us once again.[/quote]
Hes not American… English is not his first language. He just won a gold… chances are hes not even fully aware of whats going on. Watching that video it doesn’t even appear that that comment registered… I had to listen to it 3 times myself to hear it.
As I said earlier have any of yall competed in anything and had someone try and interview you right after… You’re not fully “there” yet… other things are on your mind.