Apologetics? No, it's seeing things for what they are. If you read my posts you ought to realize I'm not justifying his behaviour. Just showing to you that there are plenty of other things that he does which people regard as respectful. And his skill can be appreciated despite this, especially as he's still a kid and doesn't intend to disrespect. But fair enough, I see your point of view. That last sentence was uncalled for though.
I'll explain why I said that. What you're doing is trying to play this behaviour down. I can appreciate his skill, just like you, but any amazing wins he takes home by applying his skill will be soured due to his choing. I think it's a real shame that one of the JNT's major sources of potential behaves in this way.
Why does it matter if he's respectful in other ways? I don't want to see a documentary on his life - I want to see TT played in good spirit with good sportsmanship, without contrived annoyances.
If you're not trying to justify his behavior, why are you trying to say that he doesn't intend to do it? He obviously DOES intend to shout and scream, or he wouldn't do it. It's not a natural response - it's trained. I could accept an argument that it's the coaching system, or whoever has trained this into him, at fault if you could demonstrate that to be the case. But how nice you are to the shopkeeper on your way to the stadium doesn't mean you can behave like an idiot once you get there.
The reason why I take issue with your, well, whatever you're doing (let's face it, if you're not trying to justify it, or explain it away, then I don't know what you're doing) is that I think it's important for this not to become the norm. If harimoto's approach is successful, we will see the same thing adopted wholesale during junior coaching. I don't think it should be encouraged, and I don't think explaining it away via some "aw, he's a nice kid really" wash is good enough. All you're doing is leaving the door open for other juniors to behave in the same way, so long as they behave with respect when away from the table. This is not good enough. I don't care how harimoto doesn't kick his cat when he gets home - I care about what he does when he's playing.
I also see things for what they are. This kid is annoying, and it would be great if he stopped it (and still continued to be awesome at TT, and respectful in all aspects of his life). if not, it would be great if we at least tried to discourage it to prevent it becoming the accepted norm.
, seems like it upsets people a lot. Just a matter of opinion really, but in my opinion, he doesn't intend disrespect however awful you find his choing.
