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After winning his third straight U.S. title in St. Louis in January, the flamboyant and outspoken Weir became a major “item” at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino, Italy, in February for his brassy remarks and focus on fashion, which only heightened the anger of his critics when he fell from second to fifth in his competition and failed to bring home a medal. Now, leaked accounts of a secret and subtle but concerted effort by U.S. skating officials to downplay his role and elevate that of one of his competitors, Evan Lysacek, surfaced when a web site and pamphlet promoting next January’s U.S. championships in January 2007 in Spokane, Washington, failed to display a single image or mention of Weir, despite his reigning championship status. The reports were first mentioned on a popular on-line blog, Deadspin, which entitled a piece “The Johnny Weir Blackball” (www.deadspin.com/sports/olympics/the-johnny-weir-blackball-167122.php), on Friday, April 14, and raced like a prairie fire through the Internet, being picked up by the Daily News the very next day. By Monday, a small thumb-nail image of Weir had been pasted onto the home page of the web site and officials of the U.S. Figure Skating Association in Colorado Springs, Colorado, were in a highly-defensive mode, denying all. Still, observers note that there have been more than a few indicators in recent months that could suggest Weir is being “blackballed.” Suffering from dwindling general interest and attendance at major events, the U.S. figure skating brass, they suggest, may be trying to “straighten up” the sport’s image, finding Weir too “out there“ and prone to criticism for his articulate, public expressions of a proud individuality and, among other things, public questions about his sexuality. This is despite the fact that Weir has won thousands of new fans with his fresh “pop star”-like image, as well as the quality of his skating, and could have something to do with political pressures, as well, especially given Weir’s “the establishment can’t handle me” remarks at the Olympics. But as for image, officials of the sport have more to be concerned for its already-shaky one, tainted by just such allegations of subjective influence over what is supposed to be an objective competition, a problem that reached a breaking point in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Since then, the sport has undergone an overhaul of its “scoring system” to address just such concerns, with the results far less than satisfactory to many followers of the sport. The new system now subjects every move of a skater to rigid point accumulation criteria. Weir has complained of the new system, saying such things as, “It gives you points for being able to chew on your shoes,“ and it hurt him in Turino, because concern for artistic expression became so subordinated to a preoccupation with racking up points. For example, one avid and knowledgeable fan noted in a letter to the News-Press following the Turino Olympics, “I watched every minute of the skating competitions and without a doubt Johnny Weir was the most emotional and creative skater. It was horrible watching (Evgeni) Plushenko (the eventual gold medal winner-ed.) in his free skate moving from jump to jump with no emotion, no creativity, just working for the big points on each jump. Maybe this new point system isn’t all that great.” Responding to reports of the Weir “blackball” effort, observers go back to December, when U.S. organizers of the sport revamped the Campbell’s Challenge event in Boston to remove all “objectivity” and make the event into a version of “American Idol.” Instead of strict judging, the skaters were rated by a three-person panel that included some of the most deeply embedded insiders in the top levels of the sport’s establishment. Following the opening and decisive round, these three “judges” all subjectively chose someone besides Weir, the two-time defending U.S. champ at the time, with two favoring Lysacek. But their efforts to influence the public perception was frustrated when viewers voting from home by text messaging and telephone calls still favored Weir, overwhelmingly. For this next December, it has already been announced, there will be no public voting component to the Campbell’s event. At the U.S. championships in January, Weir skated to his highest point total ever in the short program, and did a solid job in the free skate. But observers noted that the final outcome was far closer than might have seemed appropriate. It took a very long time for the final tabulations to be announced, and alleged hopes by some top brass that Weir might be deposed simply didn’t turn up in the final numbers, although it was very close. Finally, at the Olympics in February, many have questioned the sudden nose dive in Weir’s results from second place after the short program all the way to fifth following the free skate. Weir’s was not a flawless free skate, they note, but neither were those of the other skaters, all except perhaps Plushenko. But there is a mood in the Internet world now that is incensed at the very notion of powerful, vested self-interest establishment types trying to screw over those who don’t like to play by their rules, even if they have the talent to be the best. The very American notion of fair play and respect for individuality runs very deep in this land, and every bit as much for fans of figure skating. Therefore, there is no mistaking the rumblings of an on-line organized boycott of U.S. figure skating events in the coming season short of credible assurances that the leaked reports are either not true, or that steps have been taken to correct the problem they exposed. If they think Johnny Weir is too “out there,” figure skating officials should perhaps take a closer look at just who constitutes such a huge portion of their paying fans.
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