- Joined
- Jan 6, 2004
Preface: This post is not directed at anyone specifically. It is just my general observations from several years of reading skating boards and watching broadcasts.
The whole "thoughts on this season" thread made me able to put something into words that I have wanted to say for a while but not been able to articulate. It appears to me that skating fans, or maybe US skating fans, or maybe just US skating fans more than other fans, are looking for the next "great one" to "save" or reinvigerate skating ratings and preception around the world. Something or someone to make it more popular back to where it was in the mid-90's.
It seems to me that the last couple of years fans (on the internet at least) have annointed the latest "junior superstar" coming into her first year as a senior. I say her, b/c I have noticed that this is primarily about the young girl skaters coming up. I.e. last year Rachel Flatt. This year Caroline Zhang, a couple of years ago a lot of the buzz seemed to be about Carolina Kostner (not US, but mostly the same principle).
The girl knocks 'em out as a junior. She has the jumps, the style, the "it" factor. She moves up to seniors, has a typical or some would even say exceptional first year, yet the sentiment on the boards turns against her (or maybe it just seems that way to me). Maybe she's not landing the 3/3 combos. Maybe her presentation scores aren't on par with some of the other senior ladies she's competed against. Whatever. You get the idea.
My point of this post is to say, please give these girls a break. As I said in my reply in the other thread, there's a world of difference between juniors and seniors. The time difference in the programs is only one thing. Another is the media exposure that wasn't there as a junior. All of a sudden there are lots more people looking and and more saying the girl is not measuring up. Yes, I realize more eyes means more comments and more comments mean more critisizm. But come on.
Do I think skating needs a shot in the arm? Yes. Do I think it would be great if it could be as popular as it was in the 90's? Yes. Do I watch every competition I can and look for the results as soon as their out? Yes. But I like to think I'm a little more realistic in my expectations. If Caroline Zhang or Mira Nagasu or Ashley Wagner or anyone else turns out to be skating's next "it" girl and helps the ratings skyrocket to the top, or even take a nice leap, I'll be happy and enjoy it. But I don't plan to nitpick them in the meanwhile.
As a side note, I purposely didn't use a guy or a pair or dance team as an example b/c I don't recall seeing nearly the number of threads related to those as I did the ladies division.
As always, this is JMHO.
The whole "thoughts on this season" thread made me able to put something into words that I have wanted to say for a while but not been able to articulate. It appears to me that skating fans, or maybe US skating fans, or maybe just US skating fans more than other fans, are looking for the next "great one" to "save" or reinvigerate skating ratings and preception around the world. Something or someone to make it more popular back to where it was in the mid-90's.
It seems to me that the last couple of years fans (on the internet at least) have annointed the latest "junior superstar" coming into her first year as a senior. I say her, b/c I have noticed that this is primarily about the young girl skaters coming up. I.e. last year Rachel Flatt. This year Caroline Zhang, a couple of years ago a lot of the buzz seemed to be about Carolina Kostner (not US, but mostly the same principle).
The girl knocks 'em out as a junior. She has the jumps, the style, the "it" factor. She moves up to seniors, has a typical or some would even say exceptional first year, yet the sentiment on the boards turns against her (or maybe it just seems that way to me). Maybe she's not landing the 3/3 combos. Maybe her presentation scores aren't on par with some of the other senior ladies she's competed against. Whatever. You get the idea.
My point of this post is to say, please give these girls a break. As I said in my reply in the other thread, there's a world of difference between juniors and seniors. The time difference in the programs is only one thing. Another is the media exposure that wasn't there as a junior. All of a sudden there are lots more people looking and and more saying the girl is not measuring up. Yes, I realize more eyes means more comments and more comments mean more critisizm. But come on.
Do I think skating needs a shot in the arm? Yes. Do I think it would be great if it could be as popular as it was in the 90's? Yes. Do I watch every competition I can and look for the results as soon as their out? Yes. But I like to think I'm a little more realistic in my expectations. If Caroline Zhang or Mira Nagasu or Ashley Wagner or anyone else turns out to be skating's next "it" girl and helps the ratings skyrocket to the top, or even take a nice leap, I'll be happy and enjoy it. But I don't plan to nitpick them in the meanwhile.
As a side note, I purposely didn't use a guy or a pair or dance team as an example b/c I don't recall seeing nearly the number of threads related to those as I did the ladies division.
As always, this is JMHO.