An open letter to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
*Author’s note: I rarely do an ‘open letter,’ but what the hell. It’s the Olympics, and clearly, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
Guys,
First off: Congrats. Not only did you manage to make a lot of people care about ice dancing, you made them swoon over it. The on-ice chemistry; the romantic music; your signature “Goose” move – it was all very impressive. And then, you won a gold medal just when Canada’s Own The Podium chief was touting us as a “fourth to be reckoned with.” Nuts to that, you said.
And now the inevitable national question has started popping up: that is, when are you having babies? Because, it’s basically your national duty at this point. Oh, I know – I read the press about you two just being really great friends and having a strong working relationship and, y’know, that’s what makes it work or something, and it sort of made me a little angry. See, within all that deflection, there was this line (from the Canadian Press):
“Virtue, 20, and the 22-year-old Moir – who did date briefly when they were younger…”
And then this, from the Toronto Star:
“Something really changed in my life when I started to hold on to the hand of a very beautiful little girl,’’ Moir recalled tenderly. “It just seemed to make more sense to hang out with cute girl than to hang out with 19 other guys.’’ [...]
Virtue, who usually lets Moir take the conversation lead, remembers their early days thusly: “I know I had a crush on Scott, that’s for sure. But I wasn’t alone there.’’ (Moir snorts: “That’s certainly changed.’’)
Ho ho!
Look, I get it; it didn’t work out. But we all saw you at the press conference, sitting next to one another and enjoying your win, and – come on – it’s just too good. Seriously. I might only have a few years on you guys, but might I suggest that you just take advantage of the situation and sew it up into a nice little package now, before fame and cereal box sponsorship deals kick in. In fact, Scott, meet me at the next paragraph.
Hey, buddy. Look: I know at this point you’re probably saying something like, “But it’d be like dating my sister,” and that’s fair enough, but you’re just looking at it the wrong way – it’s all in your head. Besides, the seed has already been planted. Might I remind you of the quote at the end of Paragraph Two? It can’t have ended that badly. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it. Look, I know you think that now that you’re an Olympic champion, the dating possibilities are endless. And you’re right, they totally are. But they will ruin you. Think about it: For multiple hours of the day, you’re paired up with a total fox who you’re around all the time and with whom you share a life goal (and who doesn’t bore you to tears). After the gagillionth time you’ve explained the extra hour you spent at the rink to your fire-pissed jealous Perfect Post-Olympic Girlfriend, you’ll realize it’s barely even worth texting it again. And then you’ll realize I was right. You’ve got a good one here. In fact, Tessa, let’s talk for a second…
Hi, Tessa. Great work on the medal, and I hear you’re going to university. Excellent! Hope it’s been fun so far, because when you go back it’ll be different. Remember all those cool guys you met in your first few classes? The ones who seemed like a lot of fun down at the campus bar, or on the weekend? The ones who were learning “Your Body is a Wonderland” on their acoustic guitar that they had leaned up against a corner of their residence room? The ones who drunkenly (incorrectly) quoted Nietzsche just to try to impress you? The good news is that they’ll disappear. The bad news is that they’ll be replaced with something much worse. Watch as they all morph into one gargantuan marauding, smooth-talking, famewhore with a million heads and a billion hands, all pointed directly at a fabricated, television image of you, with no real interest in whether it’s the real deal or not. And look, guys are idiots (I should know – I’m both); finding “the one” who doesn’t mind you hanging out with a handsome, devil-may-care Olympic ice dancer all the time might be, well… difficult.
Finally, if for no other reason, can you at least get together to put the rest of Canada at ease? Speaking for both guys and girls here, I think I can safely say that knowing both of you are taken will just make life easier. Not only will all seem right with the world, but also, the pressure will be off. At least we won’t have that to think about. It’s like running into a married person at the bar – you know it’s going nowhere, so you can just relax. If both of you are running around on your own, we’ll all have to be extra vigilant, and to be quite honest, I just can’t deal with that kind of stress.
So, I realize you’ve already done a lot for the country, but I’ll make you a deal: You guys promise to give it one more go, and we’ll promise that nobody else will ever write you another mediocre open letter calling for your immediate engagement. And then we can also destroy this one.
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All I can say, Mr. Horgan, is THANK YOU for saying what most Canadians were probably thinking (or are thinking now after seeing their performances at the Olympics!) I demand a marriage…and/or babies. C’mon, Tessa/Scott, do it for us
[...] An open letter to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir – My love for these two came suddenly and has escalated to creepy heights. They’re just so talented and pretty and so in love, even if they’re not. Yesterday, I googled news articles about them just to read about the happiness. Colin Horgan’s open letter at True/Slant is great, and reflects how I feel. [...]
[...] On a serious note, they were a well complemented dancing pair. While Scott Moir skated with dexterity through the technical elements, Tessa brought in the aesthetic élan of a graceful dancer. They had the expressions, the synchronicity, the focus, the intensity down pat. But most importantly, and over and above all the others, they had the chemistry. No wonder one of the most asked questions about them is whether they are dating. We all want them to. [...]
[...] While most guys are worrying about a potential cock-block from this open letter to Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, following the advice in it would be a fitting conclusion to their Olympic gold performance. (True Slant) [...]
Nice article and so true that life will change for the two of them. But I thought Scott was dating fellow figure skating teammate, Jessica Dubé. I could be wrong or they could’ve broken up? I do think Tessa and Scott make an adorable couple, but I guess they have their own reasons for not dating. From what I gather Scott has a big close family and Tessa maybe is like sister to him and I can totally understand him on that view.
I don’t know who they’re dating, but you might be right. This was, without question, not meant to be taken too seriously.
In response to another comment. See in context »I understand the urge. I felt it strongly. Any apparent simpatico such as we witnessed…we want them to mate, and I mean mate.
Part of it is a revolt against the pervasive opposite: the dull or doltish having little personal maturity and no element of actual love pretty much ‘doing it in the road’ within an hour of meeting. The preverbal ‘hookup.’
Another part is the proactive: we want there to be this much true love in the world. When we see it — and this dance delivered it — we ache to know it is real and to sing with their hearts. I wanted them to kiss at the end and walk right off the ice and into a cottage made for two.
I hope Tessa and Scott do not give in. Don’t give in to the pressure to go at our pace, and for the love of mike do not give in to hollywoodization.
Here is my reason for hope: when children grow up together in a healthy environment they develop an ease with each other’s presence. They learn (or never have to unlearn) that it is okay to wrestle around, play rough and tumble, sing, joke and generally be friends. After a long slow intermingle, they have established a trusting closeness, a space in which the true self is known, is exposed, is accepted genuinely between each other. When these friends mature, there is a very strong chance that the boundary between friendship and sexual love might be established in a healthy way, neither causing a rejection of the friend intimacy nor a categorical imperative that they “must” become lovers.
Guess what: this is good. It is good to be at choice. It breaks my heart to say: it is all too rare in our world. We can hardly believe they actually dare express the genuine emotion in their dance and hardly believe they are NOT lovers, by choice.
Collin, so what I am saying is: this was to be taken VERY seriously, as art. And that something much deeper than “dating” in the offhand sense of the word, is taking place.
I looked back at some of their earlier competitions, and I can definitely see a growth in their maturity and feelings through time. That means their undeniable chemistry was blossoming as well. But, my sense is that it is much more than that. People notice this kind of thing. It’s different. It’s rare. It’s sweet. It’s romantic. It’s everything. My sense is that they were together for awhile, but the romance probably was stopped short before it was too late. If I know girls, Tessa was able to go on from it with her self-respect in tact. BUT, that doesn’t mean the feelings stopped entirely, nor for Scott. Scott was too young to make this more serious, but wow, hasn’t he matured over the past couple years? Wow. Like Sergei Grinkov, young men need time. And, Tessa and Scott dance so much like Gordeeva & Grinkov, and those two were in love and didn’t know it for some time. We have to respect their privacy. BUT, wow, the whole world now has seen BEAUTIFUL TESSA! All the men in the world, including Sidney Crosby, all of them, had to have noticed passionate Tessa. How could they not?? She is the most gorgeous female skater of them all, I think. And, all I gotta say to Scott is—look out, man, because there are going to be some men, not boys, making major moves on her!
I LOVE this post – I know you mean it only in jest, but I would LOVE to see Virtue and Moir get together and I think your reasons are perfectly legit, besides can you imagine being the significant other of one of them, knowing they have such a connection, it would be too weird.
Can I just tell you that second to last paragraph is PERFECT. I’ve been preparing what I’m gonna say to Tessa when I randomly see her somewhere in public. I’m awaiting that moment, even thought it won’t happen. They have to get together so I can stop false hoping! lol and cuz they’re both awesome.
Colin, I know your letter is tongue in cheek, but it’s a lesson in how skaters create an image on ice to draw us in, like Sale and Pelletier did for real (before they got divorced).
Along the lines of “anything is possible” – BOY are you ever right. Tessa is involved and has been for some time (early 2009 at least) with David Pelletier who recently announced his divorce from Jamie Sale) It’s not clear if she was the original infidelity that broke up their marriage, but everyone in the skating world knows that they are dating. Jamie, seems to have gotten over her hurt and shock, because she has broken up Craig Simpson’s marriage, the hockey player who won Battle of the Blades with her. Craig’s wife found out about their affair..everybody knew about it anyway. They have 3 kids still at home. Far cry from our romantic ideals of romance isnt’ it?
(you’ll probably choose not to publish this comment. That’s OK. It was just FYI)