Boots & Sabers

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Owen

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1033, 27 Jul 21

So Much for the GOAT

While I have some sympathy for this young lady, it isn’t much.

Four-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles said “I have to focus on my mental health” after pulling out of the women’s gymnastics team final.

 

The American left the arena after the vault, but later returned to support her team-mates as they claimed silver behind the Russian Olympic Committee.

 

Biles, 24, scored 13.766 – her lowest Olympic vault score – before withdrawing from the event.

 

“After the performance I did, I just didn’t want to go on,” she said.

 

“I have to focus on my mental health. I just think mental health is more prevalent in sports right now.

 

[…]

 

She has reached all five individual finals and is undecided on whether she will compete in her next event on Thursday, when she will attempt to become the first woman to retain the Olympic all-around title since 1968.

“We’re going to see about Thursday,” she said. “We’re going to take it a day at a time and see what happens.”

She is exceptionally talented and rightfully reveled in the accolades for years. She wore GOAT leotards and took on the role of the leader of the American team.

But when she had a bad day on the vault, the abandoned her team. Character is revealed not when you succeed, but when you fail. She cost her teammates a gold medal not because of her failure to perform, but for her refusal to try. And the fact that she is even considering competing for individual medals when she left her team behind is selfish.

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1033, 27 July 2021

48 Comments

  1. Tuerqas

    Personally, I will not be as hard on her as you. She hasn’t been right this whole trip so far and vault is the hardest on confidence (If vault had been their last event I bet she doesn’t pull out). Letting down your team on all 4 events would have to suck. On the individuals she is only letting herself down and that is if she competes on any or all of them. Past accomplishments to date already marks her as GOAT. If Michael Phelps failed to medal in his last 5 events and one of those fails lost one of the coveted relays, it would not have changed the fact that the medals and accomplishments he had already earned to date made him the swimming GOAT.
    Biles was doing a vault that no woman and very few if any men have ever landed. It would have been at least her twentieth ‘women’s first’.

  2. Mar

    Tuerqas, I would normally agree with you, but according to ESPN, she wasn’t out for a physical problem, which I first believed, but because of mental reasons. A Naomi Osaka excuse.
    And to wear GOAT on her leotards, I suspect Lou Retton, Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci might have a different opinion.
    If they had the training, the training rooms, the coaching and the technology, they probably would be as good or better than Biles.
    Make no mistake, Biles is a great athlete, but a GOAT, I’m not sure.

  3. Mar

    But in reality, I really don’t care about the Olympics anymore because of politics.
    The US women’s soccer team, who could not beat a boys high school soccer team can go to hell.
    Same with the men’s basketball team with anti-Americican Popovich as coach. And allowing the anti-American hammer thrower to compete. Along with Costa Rican gymnast.
    No, who cares about the Olympics?

  4. Tuerqas

    Everyone gets their opinion, but I think every gymnast you mentioned would agree that Biles is indeed better all around, certainly if she does compete and win more medals in the individuals. If she quits completely this Olympics, Khorkina could probably claim to be better.

    For me it is about competition between the best of the best. I don’t listen to nor care about their politics in particular. Freedom of speech trumps hating American whiners every time, for me. It is certainly better than the State required patriotism of China or Russia or the like.

  5. Merlin

    She’s so good she’s been competing against herself for years, but Biles holds a position of leadership on her team and she quit because she embarrassed herself with a sub-par performance. It’s really just that simple. No injuries. No poor judging. She just didn’t meet her own expectations.

    I’ve never been the absolute best at anything, so I’m not sure how much of a mind-f*ck it is when you lose a battle like that within your own head. At twenty four she’s old enough to realize peak athletic performance is temporary no matter who you are and the Olympics is no place to suffer shattered self-confidence. Can’t tape over head problems like they were ankles or wrists.

    I wonder if the decision was hers alone to make. There are team officials. There are alternates. Maybe we’ll find out more when the games are over.

  6. Mar

    Sorry Tuerqas, I’ll take the line from Lying Le Roi, we’ll agree to disagree.
    I still think if the athletes I mentioned if they had the same training, same training facilities, the same coaches, they would come out on top.
    That’s like asking if Oscar Robertson is a better guard than LeBron, Chris Paul.
    Or who is the best center in the NBA, Wilt Chamberlain or Lew Alicindor (Kareem) or Shaq.
    Or the best home run hitter, the Babe of Barry Bonds.
    Or the best Packer quarterback,:Starr, Farve or Rogers

  7. Mar

    BTW, I think Giannis could be GOAT, but at what.position. He plays like a guard, center or forward.
    I think he could beat any player at any position right now but if he didn’t have the coaching, training facilities, trainers etc as those in the past, he would be an average player.

  8. MjM

    Narcissistic enough to strut around proclaiming herself the GOAT, then takes her ball and goes home when it doesn’t go her way.

    “ ‘I just didn’t want to go on,’ she said. “

    If a man had said that, what would be your first thought?

    Yep.

    The only sympathy I would offer is due to the fact that she had to grow up in a twit-ter/tiktok/Instagram I am Most Important/LOOK AT ME! world.

    But she happily played along. Call yourself the GOAT you gonna be the goat. Welcome to the real world.

    As a teammate? Persona non grata.

  9. Mar

    The US team lost by about 3.4 points. Biles could have made up those points, but I guess we will never know.

  10. Jason

    Reminds me of that piece of shit high school quarterback and his even more narcissistic dad, who folded after throwing more IT’S than TD’s when he went pro.

  11. Tuerqas

    Wow, tough crowd. Comparing a 5 Olympic medal gymnast to a HS quarterback, that’s rough. I wonder if your reactions would be this soured if we hadn’t just sat through 6 months of Mr. Roger’s wringer (definitely explains the choice of comparisons, eh Jason:)?).
    Anyway, I have seen two of the permanent paralyzations of high level gymnasts in my memory and I think Biles did exactly the right thing. Sorry you are all so bitter, but Mar, you don’t even care about the Olympics so of course your opinion is negative (and if you don’t care, then why would someone who does care take the GOAT opinion of someone who doesn’t? It sounds like I have seen a lot more gymnastics than you. You have probably watched a lot more basketball than I have, I’ll take your word on GOATs there). And the story of the GOAT leotards? They were a gift from her family that she wore to please them because they could not be there. I would not be surprised in the least if their absence had something to do with her mental break, but like Mar said, we will never know.

    Did any of you even see her vault? She did one full less twist than she was supposed to and barely managed to land on her feet. She could easily have missed by more or less and landed on her head, snapping her neck like a china doll…Geez.

  12. Mar

    Tuerqas, Biles is a brilliant athlete as I have watched her many times.
    Gymnastics is a very demanding sport with numerous injuries, that may even be comparable to football injuries in ratio.
    In a message attributed to her, she is blaming a lot of things, the sexual abuse, abuse by her coaches and I wouldn’t be surprised if she was psychologically abused by her family.
    But why now? On the biggest stage?
    Or maybe she was embarrassed by her performance, being the perfectionist she has to be.
    Or maybe she is just tired of it all and decided to quit, in which case, she should never have gone to Tokyo.
    But if she completed the vault, I don’t think we would be having this conversation.

  13. Tuerqas

    She did complete the vault and it counted towards the team competition. You only get one chance in the team finals. One by each of three of the four people, count them all. As for the rest, I wouldn’t disagree with anything you just said except that we disagree if you think she quit simply because she was embarrassed. I don’t think she is just tired of it all, but I agree that if she is, she definitely should never have gone to Tokyo. I haven’t given credence to anything ‘attributed’ to her either because I am not a liberal sheep;). I have only listened to what she has said. I just don’t think an embarrassed, prima donna whiner would have come right back out and told her team that she would be their cheerleader and gopher.
    Does SHE think she is great? How not? 18 years of marriage and my wife still says I am perfect. I am not, but I do try to do more to keep her thinking that and I am sure I have a better opinion of myself because of it. When everyone around you tells you that you are the best and you win most everything you compete in, you have to believe it to some degree. That doesn’t mean she is a whiny little quitter as Owen and others suggest, just my opinion. No one here has been wrong.

  14. Merlin

    Biles is set to take her talents commercial immediately following the Olympics. The ad campaign is already underway. There are branding and investor protection considerations at play here. Can’t be damaging a budding brand.

    I’m skeptical of the ‘fear of injury’ line of rationalization. Biles made her name doing degrees of difficulty others could not. Still out scoring the others with routines of slightly lesser difficulty would have been more than doable. We’ll see if she attempts the individual competitions after bailing on the team events.

  15. Tuerqas

    “Can’t be damaging a budding brand.”

    What damages the brand more, possibly getting hurt or stopping her participation in the middle of the Olympics because of an unprovable opinion factory of a reason like ‘mental issues’? If there were pressure from the advertising campaign front it would be to compete, not to quit…which then gives more credence to an emotional/mental issue.

  16. Merlin

    Whatever it proves to be, I’d still buy a ticket to see her fly around in the Fiserv Forum.

  17. Mar

    Athletes risk getting hurt all the time. A baseball player can get beaned in the head, a football player, a knee injury or concussion, a basketball player tears up a knee. Professional wrestlers are in many ways gymnasts, with their high flying moves
    It’s something they risk but they determine the reward is greater than the risk involved.
    Naomi Osaka excuse was a farce, she just didn’t want to talk to the media.
    And of course, when a man leaves a sport because of psychological issues, they are not treated as kindly as females.

  18. MjM

    Tuerqas claims: ” And the story of the GOAT leotards? They were a gift from her family…”

    Nope. She, herself, was the instigator. And had prior put the symbol on her training skivvies

    https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/tokyo-summer-olympics/the-story-behind-the-goat-head-on-simone-biles-leotards/3171983/

    Tuerqas is shocked: “Wow, tough crowd.”

    Damn straight. You walk away from the team because you “just didn’t want to go on”, you deserve the stabs.

  19. Tuerqas

    So MJM, you believe all the training videos over the last several days of Simone falling on her back and face have been on purpose, just to cover up that she decided to quit? That is some commitment to quitting that you believe in.
    Good for you, a shining example of how the US is still trying to convince everyone that mental problems are just personal failures. No one is crazy, disturbed, distraught, depressed, etc. They are all just willfully faking it. I suppose that applies to all those soldiers with PTSD? Rub some dirt on it and get back out there?

  20. Mar

    It sounds that whatever happened to her during the vault that she missed really screwed her up and if that is the case, she should drop all the other events as well.
    If she decides to participate in the floor and balance beam, then I will call BS on her. If she doesn’t compete for awhile then I have great sympathy for her.

  21. MjM

    Tuerqas asks: “ you believe all the training videos over the last several days…..? “

    Don’t know. Don’t care. Ex Post Facto. It’s immaterial.

    Tuerqas compliments: “ That is some commitment to quitting that you believe in.”

    Thank you. From me and all the teammates I’ve had over the years.

    Tuerqas claims we are :” trying to convince everyone that mental problems are just personal failures.”

    Well, narcissism IS defined as a mental issue. While her failure was neither a cause or a symptom of it, walking away from her team because she couldn’t handle her boo boo certainly is demonstrative of her narcissistic personality.

    Perhaps she will be humbled a bit and learn from this episode. Like understanding she might actually not be Miss Perfect. You will know the next time you see her work tards.

    Tuerqas attends drama class:”I suppose that applies to all those soldiers with PTSD?”

    ~sigh~ Witnessing your teammate’s – or your – blood splattered all around – and on – you is a bit different than slipping on a gym mat and quitting because your feelz is hurt, doncha think?

    That you would resort to such an absurd equivalence shows you already lost the argument and is just more evidence of exactly what a pussy little society we have become.

  22. Mar

    MJM, sadly you are almost as harsh as our little Special Olympian, Le Roi.
    Though, he would say it’s her own damn fault because she is too mentally weak to perform now.

  23. MjM

    Mar, had she quit during the individual competition I could not have cared less and would not even have responded to this post.

    Team sports are an entirely different matter.

    And yes, as one who has played team sports from little league to Wednesday night bar league horseshoes, I will be harsh to any who walks away from their team in the middle of a competition because they “just didn’t want to go on”.

  24. Le Roi du Nord

    mar:

    I don’t care one way or the other if Biles competes, or not. Her choice, certainly justifiable if she feels there is a higher risk of injury.

    And #44, Hank Aaron is, without question, the best home run hitter ever.

  25. Tuerqas

    “~sigh~ Witnessing your teammate’s – or your – blood splattered all around – and on – you is a bit different than slipping on a gym mat and quitting because your feelz is hurt, doncha think?”

    Well, breaking your neck in front of a bunch of girls not conditioned to death all around them doesn’t seem that far off to me, and according to the medical people interviewed since, that would have been a real possibility. Her particular mental problem creates a disconnect between her brain and body. According to your team theory, it is like putting a pitcher in the game that has somehow literally forgotten how or lost the ability to pitch. I would call the team that shared in the decision to play him anyway, idiots. I would have laughed you off any of my teams for it. And I would call a coach who allowed, encouraged or forced her to compete criminally liable had something bad happened to her. If she could no longer do any double flip moves, even if she hadn’t hurt herself, the team would not have sniffed at bronze. It takes out all her dismounts and all the connection difficulties out of her routines. Since all scores count, she could not win it for the US, all she could do was lose it. And you have been calling her selfish, mean, petty, etc. for giving her team a chance win at the all around and at 2 extra individual medals by withdrawing. Sometimes the best decision for a team is not to play someone. It seems to me that someone with as much team experience as you claim might have come across that once or twice.
    You said it yourself: “Don’t know. Don’t care.” Fits you to a tee, and if you think that is a compliment too, you are welcome.

  26. Mar

    Here’s where you lose me Tuerqas.
    She performed on the balance beam today. I would think that’s is the most dangerous gymnastic event. And now she is going on tour to perform. Based on the advertisements I have heard, she is the main attraction.
    If she chose not to perform on the balance beam and the tour, I would 100%agree with you.
    How did she get this sudden cure?

  27. MjM

    Tuerqas sez:” doesn’t seem that far off to me,”

    Go stand in the middle of Arlington National, then get back to me.

    Tuerqas sez:” according to the medical people interviewed ”

    Experts! They were there? They examined her first hand? Or were they speculating from some TV studio?

    BTW, other participants have just as much chance of breaking their necks as Biles. No sympathy for those who didn’t quit?

    Tuerqas claims:” Her particular mental problem …”

    You’re an Expert! too? Who knew? Did you personally examine her? You a psychologist or psychiatrist? So what, by your diagnosis, Doctor, exactly is her particular mental problem?

    Or are you just speculating from your keyboard based on what other speculating Experts! speculated?

    Tuerqas piles more absurdity:” According to your team theory, it is like putting a pitcher in the game that has somehow literally forgotten how or lost the ability to pitch”

    Must be your theory because I’ve never advocated that. To the contrary, my theory would be: a good coach would know the conditions of team members before the game starts and makes up the roster accordingly.

    Tuerqas finally makes a semi good point:” I would call the team that shared in the decision to play him anyway, idiots”

    Yes. And the coach fired. However, this particular decision wasn’t team – nor coach – based.

    Tuerqas two steps back:” And I would call a coach who allowed, encouraged or forced her to compete criminally liable had something bad happened to her.”

    Oh, goody. Let’s call the lawyerman. And the pussification of the nation rolls on.

    First, no one is “forced” to compete. Secondly, if you don’t know, encouraging and allowing are what coaches are supposed to, even paid to, do. 110%, you can do it, go for it, relax, deep breath, get yer head in the game, show ‘em whose boss, etc. etc..

    I wonder: if the women’s coach knew Biles was a head case but still let her compete because she is the famous GOAT the world needed, wanted, and demanded to see, would you call your lawyer?

    Better yet, if the coach didn’t know but Biles herself did know but played anyway, is Biles the criminal?

    Tuerqas speculates s’more:” If she could no longer do any double flip moves,..”

    You know this for a fact, how? Oh, forgot; Experts!

    Tuerqas one step forward:” Sometimes the best decision for a team is not to play someone. ”

    True. But it’s the team – more precisely, the coaches – that get to make that decision, not the player.

    Tuerqas tries to scold:” Fits you to a tee, and if you think that is a compliment too, you are welcome.”

    Gracias. I do take pride in identifying then dismissing irrelevancies.

  28. Mar

    To me, Biles is a has been and we should concentrate on the winners or even those who gave their best and may not have medaled.
    Biles sold out her team and also the US Olympic team because of her alleged crisis.
    We have so many Americans who have medaled and many more that competed and competed honorably.
    Those people ought to to be the story, not a quitter.

  29. Mar

    For us older folks, I remember the story of Herb Score. He was smacked in the face with a batted ball while pitching for the Indians, and suffered some real bad injuries.
    He came back to pitch.
    For his team.
    Simone Biles quit because she had mental health issues.
    Naomi Osaka quit because of her mental issues.
    The younger generation are weak, for the most part.
    This is in part because of parenting and because of the education in our schools.

  30. Tuerqas

    “Here’s where you lose me Tuerqas.
    She performed on the balance beam today. I would think that’s is the most dangerous gymnastic event. And now she is going on tour to perform.”

    What she cannot do are twists. Twists are integral to vault and floor. They are part of uneven bars and integral to any difficult dismount. On beam there are only twists on the dismount and one move on the beam. She did not do the one beam move and did an easier non-twisting dismount, thus the bronze. There was also only one American qualifier on the beam so she wasn’t taking an American’s slot by competing. Supposedly over 90% of gymnasts have gotten ‘the twisties’ at some point(s) in their careers and they generally last 2-4 weeks. Why people don’t believe the entire gymnastics world is beyond me. I defer to people I consider more knowledgeable than me on different subjects quite often, you included on multiple instances. To dismiss the entire gymnastics world and just call SB a whiny, mental health challenged quitter…it doesn’t make sense to me. Every older generation thinks the younger generation is weaker, I often think that myself. I just don’t think it applies to Simone here.

    On Herb Score, if he pitched well, he was well enough to help his team. Simone’s scores on vault, floor and uneven bars would have lost the US any medals had she gone on in the team event. If Herb’s eyes had been too swollen to see the plate, he would not have pitched, right? Even if he wanted to.

  31. Tuerqas

    In order mjm on what he ‘sez’:
    So you do believe that PTSD is real? Do you believe it is an honorable end to a military career? A mental illness? That is the comparison I was making, that you have a double standard when it comes to mental conditions. The billions of soldiers trained since Roman times have been trained to ignore death, the blood spatters of their comrades and the desire to run. Soldiers get ‘to quit’ due to mental issues stemming directly from events they are trained to accept, but gymnasts cannot in your view. Fine, your judgement is good for you.

    Nope, I am not an expert. I just listened to all the former gymnasts who said yes it is real and seriously dangerous if you ignore it. I also read an article by a psychiatrist who has specialized on the condition and what it does to the gymnasts. That professional was not there, but they believe the condition is real after studying it for years so can comment on it with some authority. Your theory of ‘worthless quitter’ only holds up if you don’t believe the condition is real or if you think she is a lying quitter. Either way, you can have your opinion and good for you, and I can have the opinion that she isn’t a liar and that you are a cynical, small world-view, small minded person. You admit you ‘don’t know’ yet you purport your opinion that she is a worthless quitter as fact, disputing anyone else’s opinion.

    Yes, you directly advocate ‘playing her anyway’ if you believe that Simone should have competed to not let her team down. If Simone chose to compete anyway, it is on her if she is hurt. If the coach decided that twisties weren’t real or that Simone did not really have them, yes he/she should be liable if he shamed her into competing and she were hurt from doing a twisting element. That isn’t really a likelihood on a US team, but it has caused more than one permanent paralysis injuries from competitors of countries with state run Olympic programs. To finish your statement on a ‘good coach’ he would also substitute the lineup if an in-game problem arose wouldn’t he? You brought up the team aspect, I was commenting on your statement and I added the coaching part. Coaching was irrelevant so we agreed on that until this:

    “Tuerqas one step forward:” Sometimes the best decision for a team is not to play someone. ”
    True. But it’s the team – more precisely, the coaches – that get to make that decision, not the player.”

    Here you are saying it is the coaches decision and the only way that can be true is if they can force SB to compete. But you also say (and I agreed) that:
    “First, no one is “forced” to compete.”
    Which is it? Or do you get to use both to ‘prove’ your points?

    Scold? Haha, you said it yourself about yourself, I just quoted you.

  32. Le Roi du Nord

    FYI:

    Herb Score was hit in the face by a batted ball on May 7, 1957. He missed the rest of the ‘57 season and didn’t return to pitch until early 1958. But he was never the same dominant pitcher.

  33. MjM

    Tuerqas wonders: “So you do believe that PTSD is real? “,

    Seen it first hand.

    As to “an honorable end to a military career?”, that depends. Are you talking about a multi tour combat vet who has crawled over his platoon’s body parts or a camp cook who claims he “just didn’t want to go on” because he cut the tip of his pinky off with a potato peeler?

    Because that is the type of asinine comparison you made.

    Tuerqas comes clean: “Nope, I am not an expert.”

    Odd. Yet you stated with certainty that you know exactly what “particular mental problem” Biles has (or had, it would now conveniently seem). And you based your unquestionable knowledge on the words of others who spoke/wrote generalities but, like you, have zero direct knowledge of her mindset before, at, and after she quit. What you and your referenced Experts! have done is dangerously applied a remote diagnosis based on conjecture and loudly proclaim Biles a serious mental case. Some would call that malpractice.

    Tuerqas falsely claims: “Your theory of ‘worthless quitter’ only holds up if you don’t believe the condition is real or if you think she is a lying quitter.”

    I never wrote that I thought the “condition”, what ever it is, wasn’t real (if you want to test your own mental stability, play golf) nor did I ever write that she was lying. Quite to the contrary, I totally believe her own words: “I just didn’t WANT to go on”. And stop putting words in my mouth: I never said she was “worthless”. Again, contrary to your misguided remote diagnosis, it is precisely because I thought she HAD worth to her team that I called her out.

    Tuerqas drives in circles: ” You admit you ‘don’t know’ yet you purport your opinion that she is a worthless quitter as fact, disputing anyone else’s opinion.”

    I have no idea what I “admit [I] don’t know”, but the irony of your statement flew right over your head.

    Tuerqas, definitely not the Coach Of The Year: “To finish your statement on a ‘good coach’ he would also substitute the lineup if an in-game problem arose wouldn’t he? ”
    Happens all the time. What is your point? That a coach would plug in a pitcher who he knows has forgotten how to pitch? That would be a “bad coach” (indeed, such a pitcher would had be sent down or let simply released long before). In this case, the US Team coach was forced to substitute because one team member decided to walk off the field. So again, what is your point?

    Tuerqas is confused: “Here you are saying it is the coaches decision and the only way that can be true is if they can force SB to compete. But you also say (and I agreed) that: “First, no one is “forced” to compete.” Which is it? Or do you get to use both to ‘prove’ your points?

    I will state it simply for you: You quit, you suffer the consequences. Permanently benched, more likely traded, released, or simply kicked off the team. Whatever.

    Do you now understand what “no one is forced” means?

  34. Mar

    Gee Le Roi, your pert judge has agreed to a plea deal for watching and downloading child porn.
    He’s going to spend at least 5 years in prison.
    I guess you were wrong about your buddy

  35. Mar

    Should be Pervert judge.

  36. Tuerqas

    I guess we could go forever on this:).

    So you compare Simone Biles to a clumsy camp cook. My comparison was extreme and I freely admit that I was too extreme because i am used to going back and forth with liberals, but your comparison sounds similarly asinine to me.

    Not so odd, you are prevaricating. These are the steps of a non-expert on a subject
    Step one: Hear SB say that she could not perform any twists because she had the ‘twisties’.
    Step two: Read up on what ‘the twisties’ are.
    Step three: Decide that either SB knows what the twisties are and that she has them or that she does not, or that she is lying.

    You are saying that a doctor needs to be there to diagnose it. I don’t think so, and indeed that is kind of silly. It is not a concrete lump under her skin that a doctor could confirm so either you believe SB or you don’t. Clearly you don’t and you can have that opinion, but to say I need a doctor’s note for mine is a crap argument. What is your opinion if not that either the condition isn’t real or that she is lying?

    The rest is all babble that means nothing if you won’t clarify what your position actually is. You said she failed the team and by stopping she was worthless to the team. In what way is that false?

  37. MjM

    Tuerqas assumes: “ you compare Simone Biles to a clumsy camp cook.”

    The comparison was between the cook and combat vet. She IS the cook, metaphorically.

    But who said the cook is clumsy? I didn’t. He is a damn fine chef who just drank to much at the card game the night before. And he was distracted by dysentery. And he got a Dear John letter two days ago.

    You know. His mind was on other things. (Which, btw, ≠ PTSD)

    Tuerqas :”… and indeed that is kind of silly.”

    If you think first-hand consult is silly I can say nothing more than you have no idea what mental illness is.

    Tuerqas speaks (again) for me:” You said she failed the team and by stopping she was worthless to the team. In what way is that false?”

    Again, show me where I wrote that she was worthless.

    She failed the team by not informing or consulting with the team and backing out BEFORE the competition began. In that particular set of of events, by rule, the coach was not allowed to replace her after she quit, adding pressure to the remaining three girls.

    My position is simple. She quit, screwed her teammates, and based on her pimping her GOATness and the obvious tell in her own words, for more reasons than just the claimed yips, true or false.

  38. Tuerqas

    “Again, show me where I wrote that she was worthless.”

    Again? Okay:

    You said she “failed the team”. By stopping she was worthless to the team. In what way is that false?”

    How about this?
    “Narcissistic enough to strut around proclaiming herself the GOAT, then takes her ball and goes home when it doesn’t go her way.”
    Sounds like you thought she was pretty worthless.

    Or this:
    “And yes, as one who has played team sports from little league to Wednesday night bar league horseshoes, I will be harsh to any who walks away from their team in the middle of a competition because they “just didn’t want to go on”. What level of worth are you assigning here? ‘Worthmore’?

    Or maybe this?
    “As a teammate? Persona non grata”
    How is not being there for her team ‘worthful’? Are you simply saying that you did not specifically use the term ‘worthless’? That is the depth of many of your comebacks.

    Tuerqas sez: “Pathetic”

  39. MjM

    Tuerqas goes crazy: “Again?”

    Whooboy. Your are confused that calling someone an ass is the same as calling them worthless.

    Trump is an ass, but he isn’t worthless.

    LeBron James is an uber ass but he isn’t worthless.

    Worthless AND ass would apply to Eric “Fartman” Swalwell.

    And I suggest you look up the meaning of ‘Persona non grata’

  40. Mar

    Simone Biles is milking this for all it’s worth and she is making true heroes, like the young lady who won the gold in the all around and the young lady who won the gold in wrestling, struggle to get noticed.
    I think that is even worse than her failure in the vault.
    She may have gotten the Twisties, but she still wants to bask in the sunlight like she actually won.
    Get out of the way, Simone, and let those who truly earned their medals get their chance in the bright lights.

  41. Tuerqas

    Originally I said ‘worthless TO HER TEAM’. That doesn’t change anything for you, I guess. You can describe worthless in a bunch of ways and then cry that you did not call her ‘worthless’. If Lebron James goes down with an injury for a month, he is worthless to his team for a month. Based on your words I could easily argue you said she was worse than worthless to her team at the 2021 Olympics because she did not pull out fast enough and it “screwed” her team. And where did “ass” come from? You said “she failed her team” because she quit. That is what I quoted from you. Why are you going off on entirely different tangents?

    Same with lying. You declaim: I did not call her a liar!!! You are putting words in my mouth! Yet when you “Put it simply”:

    “My position is simple. She quit, screwed her teammates, and based on her pimping her GOATness and the obvious tell in her own words, for more reasons than just the claimed yips, true or false.”

    That is saying she is lying…but again yes I agree, you did not use the word.

    I will say one thing where you are 100% right and I was wrong. I thought persona non grata meant more or less ‘person not present’ or ‘missing in action’. It just means unwelcome. Weird, it sure looked like her teammates always welcomed her. How is it you came to the persona non grata conclusion? Because we all know visual observation and secondhand diagnoses are certainly not good enough for you (except to condemn her, of course. You can use the one lip read to put it all so simply). But as you said specifically concerning visual evidence ‘Don’t know. Don’t care. It’s immaterial’ Nice to have it both ways in an argument…much harder to lose in your own mind.

  42. Tuerqas

    Mar, I would say the media is milking it for all it is worth. They love creating and destroying heroes. I would guess (i.e. my opinion, could be wrong) that she would love to be out of the spot light right now. I don’t think she is proud that she hurt her team, though if she is as great of a narcissist as the detractors here believe I am totally wrong and she is eating up that she is being called brave for ‘standing up for mental issues’ or however some of the media is putting it…yeah, that could be the case (though I have heard lots of others stepping forward with their opinions, like Michael Phelps, I have not seen her in the media saying how brave or freeing it was to do what she did). But let’s face it the woman wrestler was NEVER gonna get noticed nationally for more than 15 minutes, come on!

  43. MjM

    Tuerqas admits: “ Originally I said ‘worthless TO HER TEAM’. “

    Indeed! You are the one who originally used the adjective “worthless” and labeled her with it, and yet you try to pin it on me, in any/every form, for some reason.

    Tuerqas circles back: “You can describe worthless in a bunch of ways and then cry that you did not call her ‘worthless’.”

    Or, one can assume things that aren’t actually there. Second request; show me these sneaky descriptions that I wrote that (you think) equate to the definition of ‘worthless’.

    And FYI, “failed her team” signifies value.

    Tuerqas misreads:” That is saying she is lying…”

    No, it’s not. Unlike you and your remote doctor friends who claim with Experts! certainty she is a mental case, I merely propose that it is probable that she is not admitting the whole story, possibly not even to herself, and that IF she did not actually have the yips, then, yes, in using that as an excuse she would be a liar. I’ve never written nor directly claimed “she is a liar” because, unlike you, I don’t claim definitively what I cannot prove. You can go on putting words in peoples’ mouths, assuming, and misreading intention all you want, but it doesn’t make YOUR claims valid.

    Tuerqas needs to know:” And where did “ass” come from? ”

    Good Lord, man, your deductive skills are entirely F’d up.

    On one hand you divine nonexistent intention on my part and on the other cannot see the big jiggly “ASS!” in the first 22 words I wrote on this thread.

    Tuerqas conveniently leaves something out:” as you said specifically concerning visual evidence ‘Don’t know. Don’t care. It’s immaterial’. Nice to have it both ways. “

    Hmmmm. So why did you cut out “Ex Post Facto.” from my quote?

    Aside from that, gymnasts falling drown is proof of….. what? Are you claiming the GOAT was so GOAT that she never ever ever fell down? Ever? Or are you claiming that any time a gymnast falls the gymnast is mentally ill? Please clarify.

    Tuerqas misreads yet again:” Weird, it sure looked like her teammates always welcomed her. How is it you came to the persona non grata conclusion? “

    Who said I was talking about *her* teammates? Go re-read, including the words in front of the phrase you misunderstood.

  44. MjM

    One more tidbit…

    Tuerqas sez:”I would guess (i.e. my opinion, could be wrong) that she would love to be out of the spot light right now.”

    Ahem.

    “ Yes and no, because in the docu series that I’m filming [during the Olympic competition] I have an incredible team, I love everybody who I work with and the people around me. But it’s just like at the end of the day, we’re putting content out. So I don’t want to put anything out there that people wouldn’t view as nice.” – Biles, July 28, three days after she quit the competition….

    … but not her Instagram career.

  45. Tuerqas

    And confusion reigns in mjm’s brain…

    “And FYI, “failed her team” signifies value.”
    Duh, yeah. You said she failed her team. That signifies value as you say. Is value not a synonym of worth? Is fail not closer to worthless than worth more? I was referring to you using “failed her team” as meaning she was worthless to her team not that she was lying or an ass. I never argued against you thinking she was an ass because everyone is entitled to their opinion and if you don’t believe her, she is totally being an ass. You bringing it up now had no context, it was immaterial.

    And perhaps you should look up what ‘I’ means. I never denied that I used the term worthless, not you. I was pointing out that for most people, context matters. You just make more and more stupid crap up and then still ask again what you said that implied worthlessness. You said she failed her team and admit that you understand ‘failed her team’ signifies value (Value…not asses and not lying). What is your disconnect mal-function?
    The lying part you explained yourself. Not saying the whole story are lies of omission, lying to herself and thus lying to the public is lying. According to your ‘put simply’ line, you think she is most likely lying. BUT you never directly said that!!! It is just your opinion that she is, in some way not telling the truth.

    And in the putting words in someone’s mouth department, I have always claimed my sympathies are my opinion. You have claimed that I and the experts who shared their opinion simply on what the twisties are (not that SB unequivocally has/had them) were certain the twisties were her mental problem. I have said from the beginning that I chose to believe her and that people who condemn her clearly do not. Much of your misguided sarcastic ranting is based on words you have put in my mouth. I have never once even implied any certainties. I fully believe that all the other problems and pressures are what CAUSED the twisties, but the twisties are what caused her to quit the team competition and not participate in any of the individual events where twisting was required to perform a creditable score.

    Why did I leave out ex post facto? I thought I was being kind:

    “Tuerqas asks: “ you believe all the training videos over the last several days…..?
    “Don’t know. Don’t care. Ex Post Facto. It’s immaterial.”

    For those not trying to be pompous latin snobs it simplifies to:

    ‘Don’t know. Don’t care. Retroactively, it’s immaterial.’

    How are the training videos of her unable to do any twist AFTER the team event when she was working out to see if she could do any of the individual events retroactively immaterial? Please explain and show everyone my ignorance.

    “Aside from that, gymnasts falling drown is proof of….. what? Are you claiming the GOAT was so GOAT that she never ever ever fell down? Ever? Or are you claiming that any time a gymnast falls the gymnast is mentally ill? Please clarify.”

    My first question is why? You don’t care. So now you do, fine, I’ll explain…again. One of the puff pieces during the individual all arounds (after the team events and before the individual events) was a current video of SB practicing on the uneven bars. She could do most of the routine as there aren’t many twist elements but her dismount included a double twist and she couldn’t even land on her feet. While having the twisties she literally could not locate the ground. They weren’t growing up videos of all her face plants through history, they were a half dozen attempts in a row of her landing on her back and side on her dismount there at the 2021 Olympics. She could not do a twist at that time. So I felt it was material evidence that she should indeed have withdrawn from the competition as her scores would have been lower than the other girls, and creditable evidence that she did have the twisties. Or she was faking the falls to look like she had the twisties.

    “But she happily played along. Call yourself the GOAT you gonna be the goat. Welcome to the real world.

    As a teammate? Persona non grata.”

    Well immediately before Persona non grata was “As a teammate?” You and I are not her teammates so we would be immaterial. The ‘real world’ is pouring out support. Who DID you mean? Everyone that has been on a team that feels like you, I suppose. You can’t appreciate that most people would interpret ‘As a teammate’ to mean her teammates? They are the ones negatively affected and are the only ones you should be meaning so pardon me for ‘misinterpreting your poor wording.

  46. Mar

    It will be interesting to see how her teammates feel in a few months. Gymnastics is a cut throat sport with a bunch of divas (men and women) and a lot of helicopter parents.
    It will be interesting to see if any “anonymous sources” goes after Biles after a few months have passed.

  47. Tuerqas

    I hear that Mar. I have seen a lot of hugging and kissing to hide the bile (heh) and the backstabbing in my days and ‘whoo boy’ on athlete’s parents at times. But if SB did not drop (and performed as expected) Suni gets a team gold and an all around silver and I think she is happier with what she has. She also loses her bronze, Mykala loses her silver for vault entirely and Jade gets a silver for floor instead of a gold. Not really all that much loss for the team individuals overall so who knows. The biggest losers were her best friends that did not qualify for any individuals (Chiles and McCallum) so they went from gold to silver for the team. 3 out of 5 made out the same or better without SB and that says something for the rest of the team. Arguably the biggest losers were SB and the people who control the team because they don’t really care about the medal distribution. I think leaks hemorrhage from there.

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