Ice Wars

mememe · Sep 20, 2005

Just got some information about Ice Wars. According to my friend, who said she talked to the producers, the event will be held in Peoria, Ill., on Nov. 17.

The format won't be USA vs. The World this year -- instead, it will be a battle of the sexes-type competition, with the men against the women. The teams (according to the producers) would be:

Ladies: Katarina Witt, Oksana Baiul, Nancy Kerrigan, Nicole Bobek.

Men: Brian Boitano, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko, Alexei Yagudin.

Tickets supposed to go on sale Sept. 26

purplecat · Sep 20, 2005

Thanks for the info mememe! I'm glad that Ice Wars will still be around even if it isn't quite the same format.

CzarinaAnya · Sep 20, 2005

Thanks for the info!! I would love to see that live! I couldn't believe my eye's at first when I saw Peoria! :clap:

Will anyone else be added to he roster? Such as Matt Savoie who's from Peoria.

dr.frog · Sep 20, 2005

CzarinaAnya said:
Will anyone else be added to he roster? Such as Matt Savoie who's from Peoria.

If Matt were to compete in a pro competition, he'd give up his eligibility for the Olympics. Not very likely to happen. :laugh:

CzarinaAnya · Sep 20, 2005

dr.frog said:
If Matt were to compete in a pro competition, he'd give up his eligibility for the Olympics. Not very likely to happen.

Oh, duh lol , *Smacks forehead* I'm tired...

JOHIO2 · Sep 20, 2005

but couldn't matt make a"guest" appearance and do an exhibition number? he's got plenty of fans around who'd love it!

IDLERACER · Sep 20, 2005

In the late 1990s, "Ice Wars" and "Skating's Battle Of The Sexes" were two different yearly events. I guess that the latter was the more popular format, but the former had the catchier easy-to-remember title. This isn't nearly as nonsensicle as last year's "Divas On Ice" which included men.

STL_Blues_fan · Sep 21, 2005

I think Divas on Ice has been renamed Katarina and friends. That's how they could include the guys. But even before, that didn't make much sence - Kat was the only true divas on the show. All others were either divas in training or "wannabes".

Yana

PS - lucky Peoria! First they get Blues top farm team to move then they get the ice wars.

Yana

mememe · Sep 21, 2005

IDLERACER said:
In the late 1990s, "Ice Wars" and "Skating's Battle Of The Sexes" were two different yearly events. I guess that the latter was the more popular format, but the former had the catchier easy-to-remember title. This isn't nearly as nonsensicle as last year's "Divas On Ice" which included men.

Well, actually, they're still two different events -- it just appears that Ice Wars (which has been a pretty catchy title that the producers have used every year since its inception in 1994 other than the one year this event was called World Team Challenge) will have a "men vs. women" format this year, rather than USA vs. the World. The format has changed off and on in this event -- one year they had pairs and dance, one year they had three women and three men each, one year they went North America vs. the World to get B&S and S&P into the mix. Once they added a second "Ice Wars" event and called it Ice Wars: Four the World with four teams of one man-one woman from four different countries. The producers like the Ice Wars name and I do believe it'll be used again this year -- just the format will be different. The Battle of the Sexes event only lasted two or three years, although the USFSA also used it a time or two in its pro-am events and such.

Oh -- and Kat's Divas has never been a competition, it's just a show. Ice Wars has always been a competition.

KwanFan1212 · Sep 21, 2005

I love road trips to places where I have friends all ready there with free lodging, LOL :agree:

I've always liked Ice Wars and I'm kinda glad its still around all these years later. It should be a fun competition although I wish Caryn Cadavy was one of the ladies here instead of Bobek. Ahh, doesn't matter, Brian and Kurt will be there and that's enough for me. And I guess its safe to say now that I will be there with bells on and I can't wait to rock out Peoria! :rock:

Zanzibar · Sep 21, 2005

Alexei confirmed tonight that he will definitely do Ice Wars and all I can say is those ladies are going to have their work cut out for them - pretty strong line-up on the guys team!

mememe · Sep 21, 2005

Zanzibar said:
Alexei confirmed tonight that he will definitely do Ice Wars and all I can say is those ladies are going to have their work cut out for them - pretty strong line-up on the guys team!

I think so, too. The ladies team isn't anywhere near as strong as the men's!

And I wish Caryn Kadavy was in this lineup, too, rather than Nicole. Nicole has so much to offer, but tends to always disappoint, while Caryn is always prepared and has wonderful programs. And I also agree that the men's team is enough to get me to that competition -- glad Alexei's confirmed and hope the other guys do, too, because they will be the reason I go (well, I'll be glad to see Kat again, too).

bloozywoozy · Sep 21, 2005

Thanks for all your news mememe.

As much as I love the girls, the guys will win it hands down :yes: :agree:

Germanice · Sep 21, 2005

Great to see Alexei in the cast again! :clap:

But I would've prefered Ilia over Elvis! :frown2:

Joesitz (RIP) · Sep 21, 2005

JMO - Bobek will be the deciding vote for the Men to win. I agree, replace with Kadavy.

Joe

Kasey · Sep 21, 2005

bloozywoozy said:
Thanks for all your news mememe.

As much as I love the girls, the guys will win it hands down :yes: :agree:

The battle of the sexes themed events usually are set up in a way to give advantages to both teams...and are scored rather....um...strangely and generously!

Joesitz (RIP) · Sep 21, 2005

Kasey said:
The battle of the sexes themed events usually are set up in a way to give advantages to both teams...and are scored rather....um...strangely and generously!

Kasey - Are you saying that this comp was set up to give advantage to both teams? Bobek v. Stoyko? Sato v. Yagudin? Kerrigan v. Browning? Boitano v. Baiul?

Do you really think this was set up as an advantage to both teams?

Joe

mememe · Sep 21, 2005

Joesitz said:
Kasey - Are you saying that this comp was set up to give advantage to both teams? Bobek v. Stoyko? Sato v. Yagudin? Kerrigan v. Browning? Boitano v. Baiul?

Do you really think this was set up as an advantage to both teams?

Joe

Unfortunatly, Yuka isn't a part of this. And I see no advantages for women over the men -- I see this as a slam dunk for the men. I have no idea how this will be set up, whether it'll be head-to-head in both programs or the (for Ice Wars, at least) usual setup of technical programs first with each "team" doing all their programs back-to-back (like, all the ladies techs first, then all the men's techs) then head-to-head in the artistic programs.

If they have head-to-heads in both phases or even one, maybe they'll go by Olympic year matchups? Like Witt-Boitano (1988), Browning-Kerrigan (92), Bauil-Stojko (94) and Bobek-Yagudin (98)? Of course, Broaning and Boitano were also in 94, Kerrigan was in 92 and Stojko was in 92 and 98 as well. So, who knows? Wherever Nicole is placed, she's unlikely to challenge whoever she's matched up with.

And for the question on Ilia's participation -- I understand he's headlining Stars on Ice Europe in Antwerp right around that date and wouldn't be available (acording to Willoway on FSU). From what the producers said, the go-ahead to do this Ice Wars came rather late in the day -- the sponsor only renewed a month or two ago, and the network only renewed after the sponsor did, so invitations couldn't be extended until fairly recently. I would guess Ilia (and perhaps Yuka and even Caryn) already had other things scheduled by the time this was arranged (at least, I would HOPE they'd have invited Yuka and Caryn before Nicole).

Still, it looks like fun, even though I do think the men's team is far and away the stronger of the two..

Mathman · Sep 21, 2005

I think what Kasey is talking about is the fact that in these "battle of the sexes" things they usually cheat as they go along to keep the contest even. The last one I remember, the men were way ahead (or maybe it was the other way around), then they gave all the ladies inflated scores in the last round to let them catch up.

Basically, what they want is to give the audience a good time, rather than any kind of pretense at a serious competition.

MM

mememe · Sep 21, 2005

Mathman said:
I think what Kasey is talking about is the fact that in these "battle of the sexes" things they usually cheat as they go along to keep the contest even. The last one I remember, the men were way ahead (or maybe it was the other way around), then they gave all the ladies inflated scores in the last round to let them catch up.

Basically, what they want is to give the audience a good time, rather than any kind of pretense at a serious competition.

MM

Yeah, that's how it's been with the actual Battle of the Sexes competitions -- which were mostly celebrity judged things. The one I think you're remembering was the original one with Scott H., Brian B., Kurt B., Paul W., Kristi Y., Liz M., (I think) Caryn K. and Roz S. (can't remember the ladies for sure), and they had "spinning" contests and such between programs and did manage to get the two teams into a tie by the end so they could have a "jump off" between Brian and Kristi.

But I would assume, since it's Ice Wars, they'll maybe (hopefully) continue to have "real" judges -- that is, former skaters, coaches, etc., rather than Boom-Boom Mancini and Rashamba Williams, or whoever the heck they've had at these celebrity-judged things. Over the years at Ice Wars, they've had people like Irina Rodnina, Landon Johnston, Ron Luddington, Elena Bechke, Bernard Ford, Petra Burka, Charlie Tickner, Francis Dafoe, etc., do the judging, and while I haven't always agreed with them, I at least can acknowledge that they know skating. And they've always had some rules -- not a lot, not particularly complicated, but some rules that skaters and judges can figure out.

Yes, the main point is to entertain the in-person and TV audience, but having skaters who take their own performances seriously (and I think most of this lineup does) and judges who know skating and who take their job to judge quite seriously (at least, the ones I've talked to after events seem to) makes the "competition" aspect of it a bit more realisitic and enjoyable -- for me, at least.

Ice Wars

mememe

purplecat

CzarinaAnya

dr.frog

CzarinaAnya

JOHIO2

IDLERACER

STL_Blues_fan

mememe

KwanFan1212

Joey Votto Fangirl

Zanzibar

mememe

bloozywoozy

Germanice

Joesitz (RIP)

Kasey

Joesitz (RIP)

mememe

Mathman

mememe

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