Yesterday espnW held a Q&A session on Twitter with USA's Ashley Wagner, and called out for questions to Tweet to Ashley. Of course, never one to miss an opportunity to get insight into the workings of a champion's mind (for both myself, and my readers!) I went ahead and Tweeted a question, knowing that the chances of being picked for these things are kind of slim.

Sometimes competitions don't go the way you wish they did. Sometimes, and this is far worse than having a bad skate, the comp goes well, and you still get bombed by the judges.

Politics and favouritism in skating isn't news, and I don't have to tell any of you hardened skaters/parents what it feels like to have truly done your best and get put at the bottom of the barrel. Why does this happen? I've been skating 14 years and I still don't know. It still crushes me when it does (and it happened recently, which is probably where I got the idea for this post).