Nate Smith article Washington Post

[APB]

I don’t get it... safesport wishes they could do more.....there’s proof he sent sexually explicit texts to a minor yet says he didn’t. His statement makes him sound even worse.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/sex-misconduct-report-on-water-ski-champ-shows-limits-of-safesports-reach/2019/09/19/17696572-d8bb-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe_story.html

[Andre]

Just when the others threads died...

[skidawg]

Where there’s smoke????

[skihard]

BOOM the sport has just been rocked and people will now be talking about lots of things. Safe Sport and their limits, Water Ski Governing bodies (globally) and their rules, boat and product manufacturers and their athletes, and the laws themselves.

He was and maybe is still the best but zero support from me. And all I can say is he's a lucky man that it wasn't my daughter in any of those reports!!!!

[gregy]

A lot more people that never knew competition waterskiing existed now will know. Ironic.

[dvskier]

Does anyone believe that AWSA leadership hasn’t seen and reviewed the entire Safe Sport report? If so what does that say of our leadership?

[bkreis]

upside...alot of people just discovered competitive waterskiing, regardless of how. lets get more people skiing!!!!!

[ScottScott]

I don't think there's any appropriateness to a "silver lining" regarding this situation.

[ski6jones]

From the article; " .. the confidential investigative report, which was reviewed by The Washington Post, ..". At least some disinterested third party saw the report and concluded it IS as bad as it sounds. Helps eliminate some of the ambiguity in my mind.

[Rpc29]

I really do wonder how long Nate’s suspension would have been if he was 10th on the world ranking list instead of 1st.

[Ilivetoski]

From the article- “Smith acknowledged he had sex with a 17 year old when he was 23”.... that’s all I need to read

[wawaskr]

Statistics show that this will not be the last time for him either....scum bag....I have zero respect for him. I need a new handle too, but refuse to support sponsors of this piece of work.

[mshaw200]

@wawaskr HO has some nice handles, check them out: https://www.hosports.com/ropesAndHandles

[Ed_Johnson]

Surprising nobody questions How or Why the Post got this information to begin with. Hard to believe they monitor Ski-Fly or BOS. Sure seems like someone is working hard to push an agenda against Nate, just like they did here on BOS !!!!

 

[ForrestGump]

@Ed_Johnson That is what you want to know? That is your issue?

[Ed_Johnson]

Shane, You pretty much laid out the agenda on here for all to see, and caught Hell for it.

Plus I was one of the only ones to stand up for you.........Welcome Back !!!

 

 

[ski6jones]

The resurrection of @ForrestGump !!

[Horton]

@Ed_Johnson

 

Shane was given a time out because - the complicated personal lives of some people who dislike Nate is irrelevant and off topic.

[ForrestGump]

Life was so much easier when all we did was ski, drink beer, and make fun of @MS.

[Geppetto]

Like nothing happened

[APB]

Missed a few details in that career edit.... very weird timing... interesting to still see a nautique logo and boat in that edit.

Personally I liked Uncle Rico & Kenny Powers movies better...

[Spineofgoo]

Damage control?

[Spineofgoo]

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain?

[Jordan]

PR type fluff piece aimed rebuild name?

[Ed_Johnson]

Say what you want, there has been a lot of Bias Miss-information bantered about, but you cannot deny the amount of talent Nate has displayed, and how high he has raised the bar. His efficient technique has been constantly studied and the envy of the majority of skiers out there.

 

 

[bigtex2011]

@Ed_Johnson No offense but OJ was an awesome athlete too. The fact that Nate punched a girl is enough for me to write him. I guess your threshold for awful behavior as a human being is much higher than mine.

[Geppetto]

@Ed_Johnson Have you carefully read the Washington Post article?

 

@bigtex2011 Punching a girl is what he was punished for but not why people are so uncomfortable with him.

[MuskokaKy]

@Ed_Johnson Legends are made over decades both on and off the water.

 

clearly you value talent over character....poor choice.

[scuppers]

Can anyone tell me exactly what crime he was found guilty in a court of law and then convicted of? And not the Ball of Spray court

I don’t know either Nate Smith or Chad Scott but as I read here on BOS one was convicted and one was accused.

[Spineofgoo]

@Horton

[Horton]

I am staying out of this except to say please leave Chad out of it.

[skierjp]

I would stop this thread before it gets out of control like last time.

[Spineofgoo]

@skierjp people are entitled to express their options,as long as it doesn't get malicious till then let @Horton run the show.

[jhughes]

“Outrage/call-out culture” has kinda become the zeitgeist in the US these days. Tough to see it hit our tight knit little community/sport.

[MillerTime38]

Feel free to pile on Nate but don’t dare say anything about Chad.....

[Spineofgoo]

@MillerTime38 yeah I'm gonna pile on I have 2 daughters who were in a similar situation when they were in high school, it was ignored and swept under the rug because "He would never do anything like that" WRONG! So yeah I'm gonna pile on!

[MillerTime38]

@Spineofgoo if you have read any of my comments about this subject you would see I am 100% on your side. So don’t get your panties in a bunch. My comment was made regarding this sites bias over who you are allowed to criticize and who you are not allowed to criticize.

[slow]

Well said MillerTime38

[aupatking]

Nothing clears him from hitting the girl, nothing. That’s battery and he should have seen some jail time.

The rest was stuff he did from age 19-22. The latest episode cited was more than 7 years ago. A college boy with a high school girl (I believe she was 17 at the time he was 21) is nothing new, or particularly news worthy.

It’s all in the report.

[Broussard]

@MillerTime38 I take it more as trying to keep the thread on topic

[jcamp]

"The report also includes screen shots of digital messages between Smith and underage girls. In one, for example, he’d mentioned a “threesome” to a 14-year-old girl ..."

 

@aupatking not exactly a "college boy with a high school girl" nor not newsworthy in my opinion.

 

"'Outrage/call-out culture' has kinda become the zeitgeist in the US these days."

 

@jhughes it's hard to tell from your post but are you criticizing "call-out culture?" Do you think this type of behavior SHOULDN'T be called out? As the father of two teenage girls I sure as hell want to know when there is a predator around my daughters.

[gmut]

@Ed_Johnson you hit the nail on the head.

[BraceMaker]

@gmut he has - however the argument that people are out to get Nate is only a defense if they're making stuff up.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but it looks like the verifiable parts of the story are

-Safesport viewed text messages as inappropriate but not under their scope due to SS not being in existence when they occured - if same/same in 2019 would have been a safesport violation but isn't.

-Sexual encounter whilst 21 23 with a 17 y/o was legal in the state in which it occurred as that is the age of consent for that state and therefore not a crime, same/same 2019 safesport would view this as a violation of their policies but isn't.

-The physical altercation would have been criminal charges in a foreign country but nothing came of it.

 

So at this point people are aware of it but unless the involved parties should chose to pursue criminal actions at this point in time its just if you want to purchase items from his sponsoring companies or not.

 

[jhughes]

@BraceMaker I just bought a Masterline rope and I will most likely buy a D3 this summer because they are great products made by good people at relatively tiny companies. I won't buy a Nautique this summer because the current boat is simply too ugly. :p

 

 

[UCFskier]

@skierjp I dont think they should close the thread... rather they should sticky it to the top and allow ppl to comment. if the sanction is over he should be allowed to complete. but I would not want him anywhere near my kids no matter how good a coach he might be.

[gmut]

@BraceMaker are you a real person? Nothing comes up with your user ID. Do you just choose to post anonymously?

[jcamp]

@gmut I would think that @BraceMaker's 3,822 posts (literally) put him firmly into the "real person" category.

[gmut]

@jcamp then why do both of you post anonymously?

[Than_Bogan]

There are plenty of valid reasons to be anonymous, and if someone actually has one of those valid reasons, they certainly can't tell you what it is!

 

@Horton keeps out the riffraff, and certain threads do NOT allow anonymity.

[escmanaze]

So I'm just a nobody who skis on a mud pond in Utah a few times a year and doesn't know any famous waterskiers so I typically would have no reason to believe either side of this polarizing issue.

 

But when the Washington Post runs an article, I always tend to believe more the other side - whoever it is they are trying to slander. Looks like this time, that is Nate.