5 Criticisms of WJF II

#5

The number five spot goes to the seating arrangement. The competition floor was lower than the specators' seating making it difficult to see the competitors without being in the front row. This could be avoided in the future by taking the spectators' perspective into consideration when designing the seating area. (Stadium bleachers would have been better.)

#4

The number four spot goes to the overall organization of the competition. For example, several competitors were caught unprepared to come on to the competition floor. Their names were called several times before they were located or the next competitor was called for. Also, it seemed like nobody knew what to do in any situation except Jason Garfield. All decisions seemed to be deferred to Jason, who appeared fatigued and stressed throughout the event. Jason may need to delegate more of the operations of the event for it to run smoother.

#3

The number three spot goes to Jason Garfield's poorly executed interviews. When Jason asked a question to a competitor in the post-routine interview, he would say something like "So what went wrong out there?" or "Why do you think you dropped so many times?". The overall tone of his interviews was negative and awkward. The awkward part is certainly because Jason is a juggler and not an interviewer, but the negative part has got to come from Jason's perspective. This could have been avoided if Jason had developed questions in advance and given them to the competitors before the competition to make things go more smoothly during the interviews.

#2

The number two spot goes to Jason Garfield for his banquet dinner speech. The first few minutes of his speech was inspiring to listen to. Jason outlined his vision for the WJF like a good leader would do for his cause, but then he started trashing Anthony Gatto for not competing. My opinion of Garfield's speech took a 180 degree turn in that instant. You cannot be a leader and be a mud slinger at the same time.

#1

The number one spot goes to Jason Garfield for his humiliation of one of the Japanese competitors in attendance. I could not believe what I was witnessing as it was happening. I was disgusted.

There was a young Japanese competitor who offered to help translate for another young Japanese competitor in the post-routine interview. The translator was trying to show respect to the other competitor and Jason Garfield by staying out of view of the television camera while translating. Jason immediately began making jokes at the expense of the translator by taking advantage of the translator's confusion. Instead of focusing on asking simple and intelligent questions, Jason humiliated the Japanese translator by making him hide behind a pseudo-wall in between questions. The pseudo-wall was only 3 feet tall, so the Japanese translator was repeatedly ducking down behind the wall in between questions and standing up to translate as Jason and the audience enjoyed a good laugh. This was the most disgusting display of cultural insensitivity and ignorance that I've ever seen.

Quote of the Day

A man is usually more careful of his money than of his principles. ~Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., speech, Boston, 8 January 1897