Posts by dustyhawk4

Morgan Rodriguez57 said:Blanka is arguably the third greatest athlete in the world when you mix men's and women's sports... so where does Ivica land on that list? ☕

That’s fair. My only hang-up with all this is the fact that an old, decrepit chimpanzee with a little monkey hanging off its waist could clear that 208 cm bar without breaking a sweat, yet not a single primate on this planet can even manage to button a pair of shorts.

In my book, skiing sits at a much higher evolutionary and civilized level than high jump, which makes being a ski coach a far more demanding gig.
Based on that logic, gips ranks above Vlašić, though I honestly have serious doubts about gipsov coaching skills—especially when you look at the laundry list of injuries Ivica and Janica sustained. Janica's career was cut short too soon, even if there's no denying she won everything in her path.

I get the feeling gips pushed Blanka toward tearing her Achilles tendon and dealing with a herniated disc; he's a total fanatic who sometimes fails to realize that poorly programmed training leads directly to major injury.

The real heavyweight coach is the guy training Vanja Mamić. With the right investments and smart selection, he’ll pull in more money than gips, Lino, and Joško combined.

Vlašić just doesn't get it—or maybe he just refuses to admit—that the Democratic Party is a political machine that lives and breathes on budget allocations and corporate sponsors. The party has to keep everyone happy by handing out little pieces of cheese to every mouse in the room (whether it’s the rowers, the water polo players, Ivica, or Blanka). This kind of election is just one way they do that.

There was really no need to blast those open letters to the public. Most of the time, people just twist the meaning, speculate about motives, or try to play amateur psychologist with the author.

But that's just how Joško is; he can't help himself. And it doesn't take much for gips to react impulsively. The media is already salivating at the chance to cover the drama. Once the dust settles, both gips and Joško will end up being the big losers here, because while the two of them are busy bickering, someone else is quietly reaping the rewards.

Mateša is playing it smart. He’s using a classic divide and conquer strategy. A true politician!

Joško Vlašić doesn't get nearly as much media hype as Gips, and even if Blanka were to clear 214 cm in this current landscape of women's high jump, it wouldn't stir up the same kind of passion in Americans that Janica did when she was taking on the world—standing alone against the Austrians, Italians, Germans, Swiss, Frenchwomen, and Americans alike...

You can't compare apples to oranges.
Track and field vs. skiing. High jump vs. slalom.

The common thread is that both Gips and Vlašić picked elite teams. They both lead squads backed by top-tier coaches and medical staff.

Janica has an incredible mindset—unmatched mental toughness and pure talent—which led her to those massive achievements.
Ivica is the ultimate grinder. He faces the toughest competition out there; men's skiing is basically a sport for superheroes.

Blanka has fantastic physical proportions and total dominance, but mentally, she isn't quite as steady as Janica or Ivica. She struggles with more self-doubt than she should. Because of that, Vlašić needs to find a great psychologist or perhaps an even better jumping coach than Marinović (maybe someone like a Ukrainian, a Russian, a Swedish woman, or an American man).

Both Joško and Gips made their fair share of mistakes and had lapses in judgment, but people tend to forget all that once they see the medals. One of the biggest blunders was wandering into the territory of pharmacology and doping, which cost both Janica and Blanka dearly.

All this bickering hurts both of them, and it really reveals people's true colors. The media loves the drama, while these two just end up dragging each other through the mud.

If we were in the US, this kind of behavior might be expected, but I fear this just shows petty personal interests and jealousy. That's just how we Americans are sometimes.

They are mega-ambitious fathers, excellent sports leaders, and great long-term planners, but they’re also eccentrics with some pretty intense psychological quirks.