Jim Michaels Tournament Course

[scuppers]

One thing for sure, mention of this mess should NOT have been in the Water Ski Mag Anniversary issue. Of all the great moments to remember - The hero worship of that guy was not not one.

[gregy]

I can believe that someone would make a course like that. But to have the balls to go through it all and claim a world record. Some kind of mental illness. Should have been banded for life from competition. Same as Lance Armstrong.

[Wish]

Is he not?

[gregy]

From what I remember it was 6 years band.

[mwetskier]

from memory i think the estimated cheat on the balls was between 2 and 3 feet on each side base on the photos other skiers took. the handle and rope had to be premeasured to follow record tourny rules so no cheat there.

[Marco]

The ban ended on Aug 1, 2011. I doubt he has the cajones to compete again though...

[klindy]

@Marco he had the cajones to do hat he did! Never say never! However I wouldn't expect the same scores.

[Marco]

@klindy You got that right!

[Than_Bogan]

Hard to see how he could come back. "Oh sorry, Jim, I guess I lost your entry. And we're full."

[Ghibli]

@Ryguy Dr. Michaels is easily contacted through his website. I would guess he still has blueprints if interested. He continues to practice dentistry, even though he did lose quite a few patients following the scandal, according to local news articles. The header on the website is "Trusted Dentistry" and as recently as yesterday circulated advertisements in local publications promoting the "Honesty" and "Integrity" of his practice. No Joke.

[Than_Bogan]

Goddam! Also, welcome Ghibli!

[Shortenit]

I was at a ski school lake back in the day, (we'll leave out the name, unfortunate episode for a great coach), when it was blown out. Some other fairly bulked up guy was there and he wanted to kill time by playing chess while we waited for the wind to die (which it never did). So we played and it turned out it was Dr. Jim. He talked a little about his skiing approach but was generally just polite and quiet. You just can't tell from appearances. I was hoping to watch him ski as I had heard the hype about him from word of mouth and mostly from Schnitz's site. Would have been interesting to measure the rope he was using there.... Didn't think much of it until the scandal broke a few months later. He left before we finished the game. And the rest, as they say, is history.

[Than_Bogan]

@Shortenit. Cool story, but it would be so much better if he cheated against you in Chess! :-)

[bdougherty]

There was a boat for sale in Wisconsin a few years back, a friend of a friend was interested. My opinion was sought on this with a little research found out that it was Dr. Jim's boat. Long story short the deal fell through based on his history. In this day and age there are no secrets and I am sure that this is only a small example of how this decision has effected his life. If there is a way people will try to cheat, just look at pro sports and PED.

[LeSkiAvantTout]

I skied in Northern Ireland on a public river there were 6 buoys and I went round them at 34mph then 36mph, was the 1st time I'd ever seen buoys, (am decent freeskier nothing more). Told my wife this is easy, when we get back to England we'll go to a proper club, shorten it up and go for the world record. Tried that, got half way out to buoy one and realised I'd been on a novice course (though didn't know what that was at the time).

For a couple of weeks I was living the dream though, actually turned up at the club thinking it was game on and i'd be moving to Florida!

[Stevie Boy]

@horton, I take my hat off to you, for a post that you were not keen on, you have let it run, far past it,s sell buy date, you truly are a fair Administrator.

[ScarletArrow]

[sarcasm]

 

Come on guys! It's hardly fair to expect someone to go to a tournament and miss a gate...errr buoy only by a couple of inches. It's bad for the sport! Spectators want to see people go around buoys and break records - that's what Dr. Jim gave them - he's the people's choice!

 

How do we expect to become an Olympic Sport if we can't see more skiers go around more buoys?

 

Who cares if their form is bad? Spectators don't know the difference. We have to make skiing easier for everyone - Dr. Jim was just showing us the way.

 

It's impossible for someone to accurately judge a 41off pass from a FAR AWAY tower without a remote control helicopter following the skier at precise angles with an HD camera and telescopic lens.

 

It's too dangerous to go that wide - and Dr. Jim, being a doctor and all, was aware of these safety concerns and just tried to show us how to ski safely around the buoy with bad form.

 

His only real mistake is that he didn't keep it the same for everyone...but we shouldn't let this keep him off the rules committee for the proposed gate change should we?

 

Vote for Pedro...errr, I mean Dr. Jim!

 

[sarcasm]

[bogboy]

i really like those waterskiing monkeys. they look surprisingly cute and agile. (haven't figured out how to get my photos up-right)

[Shortenit]

@Than_Bogan, you are sharp, I never thought of that. If he'd brought a chess clock I bet he'd have tweaked it somehow for an advantage!

[Brady]

Guaranteed Dr. Jim is on this website trolling around. Probably is using some fake persona, Like @AB or something like that. Better Yet, he probably is living the dream in Korea right now, making videos about how great he is.....

 

I can't say anything against the ass however, until I can ski as good as him. Did I say how hard this damn sport is!!!!!!!!

 

[teammalibu]

I have only had one guy stiff me on a payment and he skis on Doc Jims lake I hope I run into him at the Malibu Open!!

[lpskier]

Well, Dr. Jim may be an embarrassment to the water ski community, but so was Tonya Harding in the sport of figure skating. And that didn't work out too bad for figure skating.

 

You may recall that in 1994, Tonya's husband Jeff Gillooly had a "hit man" (literally) wack Nancy Kerrigan in the knee with a lead pipe as she got off the ice after a practice session just prior to U.S. Nationals. There was a ton of press coverage. Both Tonya and Nancy competed in the Olympics a month or so later and Nancy won a silver medal.

 

Gillooly and the hitman were convicted and Tonya was convicted on related charges and ultimately banned from the sport and stripped of a National title. Even though it was pretty nasty stuff, it took figure skating from a once every four years curiosity (i.e. the Olympics) to a popular TV sport. Arguably, Tonya Harding did more to promote figure skating in popular culture in the United States (up to that point in time) than just about any other skater, with the exceptions of Dorothy Hamill and maybe Peggy Fleming.

 

She went on to have a sex video, perhaps one of the first by a " celebrity." If you haven't seen it, don't. If the assault had happened today, she might have gotten a reality TV show out of it. Timing is everything...