NBC vs. IceNetwork vs. Universal Sport

Joesitz (RIP) · Oct 27, 2008

NBC will be prime time and commentary by former skaters who want to keep their jobs. But the competition will be limited due to prime time only.

IceNetwork on a smaller screen with Kerrigan keeping commentary to a minimum.

Universal Sport with full TV screen and no commentary.

For me, who tried all three, I prefer Universal for LIVE coverage and love IceNetwork for its ON DEMAND.

What do you think?

kandidy · Oct 27, 2008

Anything without Button's comment on his ugly spiral position and Peggy's comment on skater's dress is acceptable for me. :biggrin:

decker · Oct 27, 2008

Unfortunately, I did not realize there was commentary-free video available. Won't make that mistake again!

NBC commentary is simply intolerable. IceNetwork was much better IMHO, but I don't have a fancy new HDTV ... can't hook up my laptop to get a nicer picture.

Susan

libby · Oct 27, 2008

Nancy Kerrigan's commentary is truly horrendous - her monotonous tone of voice, misprononunciation of the skaters' names, lack of understanding of CoP even after it has been in place for six years now, and just a general tendency to make completely uninsightful statements about the skating make me cringe. I actually have to turn the sound down on icenetwork just to be able to watch.

Without Dick Button to reign him in, Scott Hamilton's bias drives me crazy. He has always had a strong tendency to promote the skaters he is going to use on his "Stars on Ice" tour, and as SOI is losing money these days, he is getting worse and worse. At Skate America, his bias for Evan Lysacek was completely out of control. He was completely apoplectic during Evan's free skate, screaming "THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!" over and over, despite Evan's many mistakes, like a fall, an incomplete triple axel and a missed combination. He was so subdued during Johnny Weir's program it was like he was asleep, and then he actually did an entire segment explaining why Evan lost the gold medal to the Japanese guy and made no mention at all of Johnny, who actually beat Evan!

Last season, Scott hired Evan for all of the men's guest spots on SOI despite a poll on the SOI web site on which fans voted for Johnny to be the guest star by a margin of eleven to one, and it is likely that he is planning to hire Evan again this season. I'm sorry, but it is just completely unethical for him to be using his commentary gigs to promote certain skaters for his professional tours over others.

Mathman · Oct 27, 2008

^ I wonder of Scott will let Evan wear his Skate America LP costume on the SOI tour?

KBell · Oct 27, 2008

I personally didn't mind Ice Network - Universal wan't available to me. After watching Ice Network then haveing to switch to NBC for the ladies long, I was shocked at just how much the "over commentary" bothered me. Nancy keeps her comments to a min. and speaks softly (not yelling every 5 seconds like Scott) so I can live with that.

sillylionlove · Oct 27, 2008

Universal sports did a great job and although I don't know a salchow from a flip, the commentary free thing was nice. You got to the hear the music. My favorite parts was hearing the skaters and the coaches talk during the warm ups and at the kiss and cry area. That was awesome!!

uncertainty · Oct 27, 2008

libby said:
Last season, Scott hired Evan for all of the men's guest spots on SOI despite a poll on the SOI web site on which fans voted for Johnny to be the guest star by a margin of eleven to one, and it is likely that he is planning to hire Evan again this season. I'm sorry, but it is just completely unethical for him to be using his commentary gigs to promote certain skaters for his professional tours over others.

I'm sorry that this is clearly an off-topic, but I'm just curious. If Johnny was more favored by the fans according to the poll on the website(I didn't know that), why didn't Scott hire him, not Evan, who can sell more tickets?
I may sound stupid, but I really don't understand. I'm kinda a newbie to this sport.

kittyjake5 · Oct 27, 2008

sillylionlove said:
My favorite parts was hearing the skaters and the coaches talk during the warm ups and at the kiss and cry area. That was awesome!!

ITA. Getting a glimpse of the skaters right after the competition and in the Kiss and Cry was very enjoyable, something us fans are not used to seeing.

libby · Oct 27, 2008

uncertainty said:
I'm sorry that this is clearly an off-topic, but I'm just curious. If Johnny was more favored by the fans according to the poll on the website(I didn't know that), why didn't Scott hire him, not Evan, who can sell more tickets?
I may sound stupid, but I really don't understand. I'm kinda a newbie to this sport.

Well, that's the question, isn't it? And I'm afraid we have to go way off-topic to answer it. Sorry, everyone, ahead of time. It is a delicate subject, and it tends to offend people and set off arguments.

So here it is: Scott Hamilton only likes to hire male skaters for the Stars on Ice tour who are either married or have public girlfriends. He feels that this makes them seem "safe" to the public audience. Get it? Evan dates Tanith. Johnny calls himself a "princess". Scott is not going to hire him for the Stars on Ice tour.

OK?

uncertainty · Oct 27, 2008

libby said:
Well, that's the question, isn't it? And I'm afraid we have to go way off-topic to answer it. Sorry, everyone, ahead of time. It is a delicate subject, and it tends to offend people and set off arguments.

So here it is: Scott Hamilton only likes to hire male skaters for the Stars on Ice tour who are either married or have public girlfriends. He feels that this makes them seem "safe" to the public audience. Get it? Evan dates Tanith. Johnny calls himself a "princess". Scott is not going to hire him for the Stars on Ice tour.

OK?

Ok, that explains. Thanks a lot.

dlkksk8fan · Oct 27, 2008

Universal Sport with full TV screen and no commentary.

:thumbsup:Universal Sports all the way!:thumbsup:

I got to see ALL of the skaters without commentary, what more could you want

jcoates · Oct 27, 2008

libby said:
Scott Hamilton only likes to hire male skaters for the Stars on Ice tour who are either married or have public girlfriends. He feels that this makes them seem "safe" to the public audience. Get it? Evan dates Tanith. Johnny calls himself a "princess". Scott is not going to hire him for the Stars on Ice tour.

OK?

You nailed it Libby. I was yelling and the TV yesterday for Scott can it (shocking my poor mother who had no clue why I was so irritated). Not only did he make his bias toward Evan (whom I personally prefer) painfully obvious, but he also succeeded in furthering the anti-CoP agenda he, Bezic and even Hammond have. Any time is a result that is not easily explained in one sentence, they use it as an excuse to trash the entire system.

It's pretty obvious that NBC does not like CoP in skating or it's equivalent in gymnastics b/c they force the analysts to actually work rather than do PR. That's pretty ironic b/c it's arguable that that network bears as much responsibility for their existence as anything else. In 2002 and 2004 their media machine drummed up Olympic controversies for ratings while also further damaging the sports in question thus leading to massive scoring changes. All very irresponsible if you ask me.

What they should do is chuck the old announcing guard unless they clean up their acts and learn the system. I really missed Tracy Wilson, Paul Wylie and Suzie Wynne yesterday. While they may have their faults, no one can deny that they clearly understand CoP. None of them treats the audience with kid gloves and assumes ignorance over intelligence. If people can understand all the scoring nuances of football (US), golf or tennis, they can understand skating. So what if there are more numbers involved? It's not like true skating fans have not devoted the last six years to learning what these rules mean. If necessary, give a brief scoring primer at the start and offer occasional reinforcing examples during the broadcast. Don't wait until there is an unclear result the you have to explain through backtracking with no frame of reference. Not too difficult.

Mathman · Oct 27, 2008

jcoates said:
If people can understand all the scoring nuances of football (US), golf or tennis, they can understand skating. So what if there are more numbers involved?

I think the advantage American football, golf and tennis have over figure skating is that fans can keep score in real time of the unfolding drama. My team is three points behind but if we can make one more first down before time expires we will be in field goal range. Tiger Woods is a stoke ahead on the seventeenth, but Phil Mickelson just hit a chip shot to within four feet and is poise to gain a stroke. What will happen next?!!!!!

In skating, the whole program goes by in a flash, and the total is posted. Why is this skater 3.8 points behind the other guy? Well, the contest is over so i'm not sure if we really care any more, but, well, we can look at the slow motion and see that someone underrotated his Salchow and lost 3.3 points and he only did 5 revolutions on his sit spin instead on six.

What's the fun of that? The problem is not whether the audience is capable of understanding all that; it is whether, after the game is over, they care.

It's not like true skating fans have not devoted the last six years to learning what these rules mean.

It's not the true skating fans or the math geeks (like me

) that i am worried about. It is the ordinary sports fan that likes the unfolding drama and the in-the-monment thrill of victory, agony of defeat thing. I can see the football player crash into the end zone for 6 pints with three seconds on the clock. :rock:

But does the average sports fan have the interest or the patience to sit there scratching his head while the commentator explains rule 132.8 of the CoP-- after the contest is over?

Spun Silver · Oct 27, 2008

sillylionlove said:
Universal sports did a great job and although I don't know a salchow from a flip, the commentary free thing was nice. You got to the hear the music. My favorite parts was hearing the skaters and the coaches talk during the warm ups and at the kiss and cry area. That was awesome!!

My favorite was hearing Tugba say "It sucked." I don't know whether she was talking about her falls or the judging, but it was funny. I didn't realize she's totally bilingual. (PS: I really like her plush style this year and her line is beautiful.)

I didn't realize Uncle Dick was so biased. Dang. Then I vote for Universal. I've been enjoying the feel of being at a competition instead of just getting the edited version of the mainstream media.

Buttercup · Oct 27, 2008

I watch Eurosport UK almost exclusively. CoP is not that hard to explain - the team there have been doing a great job of it since it came in. If I had a dollar for every time they explained how URs are marked, I'd finally be able to buy a car - and gas is cheaper, so I'd be able to drive it, too

.

Back to the actual topic: from my Youtube experience of NBC, I agree with much of what jcoates wrote. Stop trashing the system; it's not going away. Make your criticism fair and to the point - e.g. like the Eurosport announcers' pet cause of getting the judges to use the PCS properly and actually cosider each component rather than marking them all the same even if it's obvious specific things aren't working.

Mathman, I can tell when there's a touchdown scored, but when the zebras throw their flags for a penalty, I never know the reason, and often can't see it even on the replay... Is it just me?

purplecat · Oct 27, 2008

Spun Silver said:
My favorite was hearing Tugba say "It sucked." I don't know whether she was talking about her falls or the judging, but it was funny. I didn't realize she's totally bilingual. (PS: I really like her plush style this year and her line is beautiful.)

I also liked when Tugba said "Can you make me look skinnier?" when watching herself on the monitor after her lp. Another interesting kiss n' cry moment was John Coughlin saying he started to do the sp footwork in the lp by mistake.
:biggrin:

sillylionlove · Oct 27, 2008

Tugba speaks perfect English and yes her comments were totally great!!

Also Galina said some thing to Johnny in English and some in Russain at the boards before he skated and that was amusing.

I really wish universal sports would do all the Grand Prix!!

decker · Oct 27, 2008

Mathman said:
... What's the fun of that? The problem is not whether the audience is capable of understanding all that; it is whether, after the game is over, they care. ... I can see the football player crash into the end zone for 6 pints with three seconds on the clock. But does the average sports fan have the interest or the patience to sit there scratching his head while the commentator explains rule 132.8 of the CoP-- after the contest is over?

Huh?

Big-deal plays are automatically reviewed in football. Sometimes that alleged touchdown is called back on a penalty or a step-out. Or a more exotic infraction that requires actual work for the commentator to explain.

As often as not, these pesky details are apparent only in the instant replay. Which isn't really instant. Reviews + ads routinely stretch a 60-minute game to 3 or 4 hours.

Yet nobody is screaming bloody murder for a whole new system of football rules. Or the old days when there wasn't technology to support review. And in the SEC anyway, we still care about the outcome.

And really, I don't think real-time review would be an improvement (or even a viable possibility) for figure skating.

"So sorry, Mr. Lysacek. Please remain balanced on your left hip until we determine whether you completed the rotations before you fell." :rofl:

Susan

Joesitz (RIP) · Oct 27, 2008

If you've never seen a major comp LIVE, Universal is the way to go. One advantage of Universal is that you get the close up of the skating whereas in the Arena LIVE, never totally and occasionally when the skater zips by your seat which, of course, are in rows a-f. on the main floor.

One thing Universal can not bring is the arena atmosphere which one can only get in the Arena, and the fun of running into competing skaters. Also one will not fall asleep waiting for the event at 2am if one is home and watching on TV.

I also hope you checked out the PPCs which became available (I think by mistake) for the Men's SP and LP.. That sort of thing should be on sale in the arena for all the die hard fans to compare as they watch the comp.

BTW - Anyone know what the NBC rating was? I did notice they got State Farm back.

NBC vs. IceNetwork vs. Universal Sport

Joesitz (RIP)

kandidy

decker

libby

Match Penalty

Mathman

KBell

sillylionlove

uncertainty

kittyjake5

libby

Match Penalty

uncertainty

dlkksk8fan

jcoates

Mathman

Spun Silver

Buttercup

purplecat

sillylionlove

decker

Joesitz (RIP)

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