Dr. Jim Controversy <--------------Check This Out!

[M3Fan]

I just read all the threads and the waterski mag online article about the tournament. I'm shocked. Thoughts?

http://www.waterskimag.com/article.jsp?ID=37245

[NautiqueJeff]

Check out the thread on SkiFly.com. Sounds like it is for real!!

http://p205.ezboard.com/fwaterskiingfrm7.showMessage?topicID=514.topic

AND

http://p205.ezboard.com/fwaterskiingfrm2.showMessage?topicID=930.topic

[M3Fan]

Gotta wonder if it is a setup to draw more attention to the sport? Seems so crazy...

[M3Fan]

Let's think about this:

1. Guy comes out of nowhere
2. Gets huge publicity from everyone
3. Gets huge interview in WS mag
4. Has no pro career to ruin
5. Has pro event at his house, IN WISCONSIN, and everyone is cool with it (????????), unproven ground completely
6. Has huge controversy in tourney

This seems really like a scam to draw attention to the sport. Am I being too much of a devils advocate? Conspiracy theory bells are ringing loud and clear for me.

[jchamlin]

That is bizarre. The bouys moved 2 feet? IMO, that would really mess with your timing, unless he had been practicing like that.

Can anyone get any info off the Malibu Open website?

[M3Fan]

Couple other quick ones:

7. Article is IMMEDIATELY posted on WSMag website. Since when has timely info been posted there?

[Hollywood]

JM skiing
http://www.nztwsa.co.nz/images/kyle/Picture%20019.jpg
Normal course setup
http://www.nztwsa.co.nz/images/kyle/Picture%20018.jpg

Taken from http://www.nztwsa.co.nz/Malibu%20Open%20Results%20Day%201.htm

[M3Fan]

Jim will not be skiing today, Saturday, according to Schnitz's site.

[j2nh]

Why in the heck would he do this? Successful, obviously has money, what is the point? Suppose he did well and nobody noticed his alterable course, how in the world do you sit back and revel in your success knowing you cheated? This guy has some serious issues.

[ccskier16]

nope, he was not on the schedule, nor did he ski today (actually yesterday now) but i must say, it is a very nice site

[FatBoy]

He should be stripped of all records he may hold and he should never be allowed to compete in a sanctioned competetion EVER AGAIN.

[OldFart]

the "Big E" - EGO!

[DizzyG]

I was actually there to see the boarders on Saturday and everyone was very hush hush about it. It was a huge thing at the event.
On Friday is when it was supposed to have happened, during the qualifying rounds.

I guess that if the jump course buoys weren't out as a reference point, you really would have trouble noticing it. So people think maybe he thought he could get away with it and nobody would notice. I don't know what to think at all, the place he built is beautiful. 25 deep all the way, 40 on each end. He sunk a plane on one end to scuba and snorkel too. The whole thing is a sandy beach with special plants he had flown in special, the water is crystal blue without any chemicals. Seriously a nice pad on the end of it.
I've got a few pics of the event, some mine, some from others that were there.
http://www.dizzyg.net/photos/thumbnails.php?album=122

[Adrian]

Hi Dizzy

I can't see the pics. Is it a problem of my connection?
Thanks

[SilverSpraySports]

Interesting that he tried to pull this off. It will be interesting to see his future in the skiing community if any................

-Doug

[NautiqueJeff]

He's done. We'll never hear from him again.

[redelf75]

Thumbs Down!

[DizzyG]

Oops, forgot to make the album public,
you can try again if you like, should work this time
http://www.dizzyg.net/photos/thumbnails.php?album=122
if that doesn't work just go to dizzyg.net/photos

[Blue Ski]

I never met a skier I would not pull, now I know of one.

[Hollywood]

Wow, sure are a bunch of haters on here. First off, who knows if he really did it or someone else did it for him. Either way, he had to have known it was off and still didn't say anything. I don't know his motives but it doesn't really bother me. It sure got some attention, which is what our sport needs.

[darrel409]

If you have ever spent time with comp. skiers they are very serious about there sport.

[Hollywood]

They are very serious about THEIR OWN skiing. I have spent time with comp. skiiers, even pro qualifiers and what other people ski isn't their life.

[NautiqueJeff]

Here's the latest. He finally admitted it! He's kicked out of AWSA for six years.


It wasn't an illusion when water-skiers from around the world reported that the distance between the buoys at a competition course in Waukesha County appeared to widen after the first skier finished his run.

World-record-holder Jim Michaels - whose private lake near Dousman was the site of the event - admitted Monday that he set up an underwater mechanical system to manipulate the course and give himself a competitive advantage in the 2005 Malibu Open Waterski Championships and Wakeboard Exhibitions in June.

And Michaels, through a public relations specialist, acknowledged that he had cheated other times in the past in setting national records in slalom events at his lake.

"My competitive zeal got the better of me and clouded my judgment," Michaels said in a prepared statement released by a public relations consultant. "I have no excuse for this and recognize that it was a mistake."

Michaels' statement followed a decision by the American Water Skiing Association on Monday to suspend Michaels, 48, from the sport for six years and strip him of his national records for what it dubbed "unsportsmanlike conduct."

"I've been with the organization since 1993; I have not experienced anything like this," said Steve McDermeit, executive director of the association.

McDermeit said the association's chief officials and dozens of pro skiers at the event noticed the distance between the buoys mysteriously grow about 2 feet minutes after Michaels finished his run.

A lesser distance allowed Michaels to ski around more buoys with a shorter rope - criteria for winning the competition.

The event, which drew about 2,500 spectators, was temporarily halted, and Michaels withdrew from the competition.

He sent a letter to association board members Friday admitting he rigged the course.

Stripped of records
Both McDermeit and Michaels' public relations consultant, Evan Zeppos, said the June event was not the first time Michaels, a dentist, had cheated.

Michaels held national slalom records in the Men 4 and Masters Men 55K divisions held on his private lake, Lake Lynn Louise, which he built several years ago specifically for water skiing.

"He no longer holds any record that I'm aware of," McDermeit said.

The American Water Skiing Association also recommended that its parent, USA Water Ski, suspend Michaels' membership from that group, forbidding him to participate in other sanctioned water-skiing events such as show skiing or exhibitions.

In his statement, Michaels apologized to his fellow water-skiers, his coaches and family, all of whom he said had no prior knowledge of his scheme.

"He feels very remorseful about the situation," Zeppos said. "He accepts full responsibility for his poor judgment. He feels very badly about it."

Neither McDermeit nor Zeppos would say how Michaels controlled the underwater cables attached to the buoys, whether he or someone else pressed a button in the boathouse or whether the system was on a remote timer.

Investigators found no evidence of other skiers' involvement.

Zeppos said Michaels was not after the prize money, which totaled $100,000 for men's and women's winners in three events.

"I think it was just his competitive desire to win," Zeppos said.

Zeppos said Michaels doesn't expect his dishonesty with the water-skiing world will affect his dental practice.

"There's a pretty clear divide between what happened with his skiing and his dental practice," Zeppos said. "In his mind, there is no correlation. It's a practice built on experience. He's an excellent dentist."

[wakefun]

I thought I had heard it all...
This story sounds more like some bad made-for-tv movie that is so far fetched it can't be real.

[FatBoy]

I don't know what makes him think it won't hurt his practice. I know if my dentist was cought in a dishonest situation like this I would dump him. Why you ask? Because to me a lier is the same as a thief, and if he would do that he would overcharge or shortcut patient care. I just would not be able to trust him.

[66Skylark]

Diddo Fatboy!

I know I'd dump him if he was my dentist.

[SNMike]

About 11 years ago in my town, a highly respected dentist, also my entire family's dentist, was caught with video camera's in the ladies restroom, and the room for his dental assistant's to change. He was naturally sued for everything he had, lost his license for good, and his gorgeous sweet wife was atta there. I saw him one day during lunch and asked how he was. He was selling medical equipment, and said he didn't understand what one thing had to do with the other.
He was the only one who didn't. :shock: He moved!

[Michael_Freeman]

I don't know what makes him think it won't hurt his practice. I know if my dentist was cought in a dishonest situation like this I would dump him. Why you ask? Because to me a lier is the same as a thief, and if he would do that he would overcharge or shortcut patient care. I just would not be able to trust him.

I see it more as proof of sub standard quality.

If he can't make all the buoys move at the same time that is poor quality of workmanship. :)

[83sn2001]

Why only six years? It should be for life.

[Christopher-W.-Becker]

All,

If I remember correctly he is a faculty member at a Major University. Wonder if there will be an ethics reveiw.

[DavidF]

I believe the truth of the matter is that 9.9 out of 10 of his patients will never hear or know of this incident. Therefore, his practice will probably survive unscathed. I for sure would find a new dentist.

[ag4ever]

I wonder if he will have WaterSki Magazine out in the waiting room now.

[gotwake]

Came across this:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/aug05/345935.asp

Skiing dentist's claims are a bit fishy
Posted: Aug. 3, 2005
Laurel Walker

First he cheated. Then he hired a PR expert.

Man, the spin around Jim Michaels, the dentist from the Town of Ottawa in Waukesha County, has left a virtual whirlpool on the private, 16-acre Lake Lynn Louise he built for water skiing.

Or, for fish-farming, if you buy the use he convinced the tax assessor of, resulting in a lower assessment and taxes. But let's not jump ahead.

Michaels was caught in a real buoy bind June 24, when a professional water ski tournament was under way on his lake. Observers noticed the buoys widened after Michaels skied. He held amateur national records for his age group and had said in a recent interview he wanted to break a record in the professional ranks that very weekend.

Now we know how. He had a secret cable system that narrowed the buoy course for him.
The American Water Ski Association took five weeks before disciplining him Monday. Its board banned him from competition for six years and stripped him of his national amateur slalom records - achieved on his own lake. Michaels' spin master, Evan Zeppos, said he cheated then, too. The association also recommended that his membership in USA Water Ski, the national governing body of organized water skiing, also be suspended for six years.
Michaels' excuse?
"My competitive zeal got the better of me and clouded my judgment."
Oh, puleeeease.
His cheating, of course, raises deeper questions.

Like how Michaels had time for skiing.

According to a stipulation he reached in February with the Department of Regulation and Licensing, which required he pay costs, a small fine and take a refresher class to settle a complaint for leaving a broken file in a patient's tooth during a root canal, Michaels is a busy, busy man.

As part of the stipulation, Michaels and his attorney insisted on this "finding of fact" - that Michaels "currently performs approximately 750 root canal therapies annually with only minimal incidents of complications."

Seven hundred and fifty? A check with the Wisconsin Dental Association's Carol Weber, director of public relations, said statistics aren't kept, but "physically, it could be done." (That's two or three a day, every workday of the year with no time off for vacations - or waterskiing.)

While possible, Weber added, a dentist she asked said "it seems highly unusual from a general dentistry perspective."

Then there's that fish farm.

Michaels got his property assessment changed in 2001 when the 16-acre lake was moved from a residential class to agriculture use as a fish farm. Today, his 13.4 acres of residential land is assessed at $16,776 an acre. The 16-acre lake: $256 an acre.

Jim Murphy, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue's supervisor of assessments, said water farming "is a pretty gray area," frankly, and Michaels' use of the lake for ski tournaments and waterskiing "raises a red flag."

Had the Town of Ottawa Board of Review not just wrapped up its assessment roll review July 27, Murphy would recommend that the assessor take a close look at it, he said.

Assessor Judson R. Schultz said the assessment was based on Michaels' information and input from the state. Next year, he said, Michaels will be asked to document the income he makes from fish farming.

If you ask me, fish would have a heck of a time thriving under the daily harassment of water skiers.

Then again, now that Michaels' wake has been clipped, maybe what fish there are will get some peace and quiet.

[darrel409]

Not to protect the good doctor in anyway, but it is very common practice at many of the private lakes in the Bakersfield/Arvin areas in Calif. to be fish farms. Meets the county requirement of "agricultural land use", and is an actual source of income for the lake owners. No fish no lake permits. Fish dont seem to mind the skiers/boats.

[Hollywood]

I'd take advantage of every opportunity to lower my property taxes, and I'm pretty sure you all would too.

[82tique]

This enforces the theory of 'Karma'

[Rick]

Yeah but when you smack a 1lb catfish with your fin going around 3 ball it's no fun... or so I'm told

[Adrian]

1 lb catfish? Too difficult to hit, but what about a 200 lb catfish?
2 months ago they fished this one at our lake I guess if you smack this "whale" you can have serious problems.

Sorry off topic

[Laptom]

I think there is a real catfish plaque in Europe... At our cable ski lake they found 5 catfish all larger then 2metres (over 6ft)... I heard they really like skiiers and boarders Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

[Brewski*]

I once pulled a catfish spline out of a friends foot. He hit it one foot at 42 mph. I had to use needle nose pliers. He was in some real pain for a few days~!