Here's a Denver Post article about the complete lack of new endorsements for Rachael Flatt and Jeremy Abbott since winning Nationals. The skaters pretend not to care (with Abbott doing his usual schtick about how he couldn't have expected endorsements having been unsuccessful at the Olympics). The catch is that Flatt and Abbott's agent is Tara Modlin, who can be seen in many an episode of "Be Good Johnny Weir." Flatt's parents are quoted in the article as stating their unhappiness with Modlin.
"We're pretty disappointed," said her mother, Jody Flatt, from their Colorado Springs home. "I think Tara had too much on her plate. Handling Johnny's (Weir) career is a full-time job. I understand that. I really do. It's not easy juggling Johnny and Rachael and Jeremy."
Modlin said Thursday from New York that Flatt has received offers and counts the nine shows she did with the touring "Stars on Ice." She said offers came but Flatt couldn't commit due to her focus on school.
I think it does appear that handling Weir's career is a full-time job (especially since Modlin appeared so much on Weir's show - she really does seem to be with him an awful lot). But at the same time, there are numerous skaters to choose from in America and Flatt and Abbott don't necessarily pop out in my mind as the ones who are going to be garnering all of the offers, despite their national titles. National titles would never get as much attention as Olympic or world success. And endorsements are a smaller part of skating than they were maybe 16 years ago, when Tonya Harding's jealousy of Nancy Kerrigan's endorsements helped propel the scandal that rocked the skating world, but they still do matter. I won't soon forget the pre-Olympic endorsements for Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker...and I bet Denney, Barrett, Evora and Ladwig won't either.
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