:yes: Figure skating has to decide whether it wants to be a spectator sport or a sport just for the participants and insiders. For a spectator sport, the audience must know, when they leave the arena, who won and why. If they don't, then like your nephews they will never come back.
eWow, this thread is just nuts. I just came home from the bar and I expected to see people excited for Rachael - and it is quite the opposite in fact. People are tearing her to shreads....why?? She skated a clean program, attacked her jumps, and skated with a spark and determination. Mirai had some technical issues and got penalized for it. What's the problem??
e
The problem is the tech caller/judges are picking and choosing who and what to ding. The quality of mirai's program was FAR superior to Flatts, and there were some areas where Flatt should have been dinged and was not.
Having said that, I was impressed with Flatt when she was interviewed-she is a smart poised young lady who has led an impressive life. Today in the paper she said how she is looking foward to "all the free stuff you get" for the Olympics. I liked to have died laughing. Because frankly, that is cool! Flatt is just one of those kids you get a kick out of, and I wish her the best.
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e
The problem is the tech caller/judges are picking and choosing who and what to ding. The quality of mirai's program was FAR superior to Flatts, and there were some areas where Flatt should have been dinged and was not.
I'm just shocked at Sasha performing so badly. Level 1 footwork? Taking out the layback and triple toe? I'm so... I don't know, not angry like I would have been a few years ago, just confused. She was so stiff and not her usual self. USFSA told her to "get lost" with the PCS in the short and again in the long. In the short I felt she didn't even have her old spark.
Ok, I've gotten sleep and I'm alot less cranky now...that said...
I think what bothers me most aren't the tech callers but the fact that difficult and beautiful choreography seems to be chopped liver under this system, or at least it was last night. Choreography into a jumping pass can make it much harder than no choreography into a harder jumping pass! Gordeeva used to say the programs Zoueva drafted at first had the athletic difficulty of pairs programs and the artistry of ice dance-- and that it was "impossible" to, say, clap your hands twice, turn, do a crossover in another direction, and then do a jump. They had to simplify it so they could concentrate on landing their jumps and other high risk elements.
Staying in character and having so many perfectly timed choreographic movements and facial expressions should garner more points! Even before Mirai's first jump she does a million things (and not superfluous at all) that could have distracted her first jump...I'm reminded of Oda's Chaplin program where half the difficulty is putting your entire soul into an intricately demanding artistic and athletic program. You're never just concentrating and stroking into a nother jump.