Michelle Kwan in the crowd at Worlds

[Wrlmy]

It would be more fun if Michelle and Mirai had a thick southern accent or something.

I know a Korean-American girl with a thick Texas accent, and boy she cracks me up

[museksk8r]

If Michelle can even be competent, .........

Sorry, I have to :chorus:, as if Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, and Tom Hammond are models of competence where COP and figure skating commentary are concerned.

[ks777]

I know a Korean-American girl with a thick Texas accent, and boy she cracks me up

I always wanted to speak with a southern accent!!

[museksk8r]

The volume is pretty low. If the volume on your computer is working at all , turn it all the way up plus turn up the volume on the video as well.

Michelle talks about how awesome it is to be there at Worlds in her home town, how she is observing all the skaters, noting who is cautious, who is going for it, etc. Then the interviewer askes about her general impressions. Michelle says that this is the first time I have seen Yu-na Kim, Mao Asada and Rachael Flatt in person, she is impressed by their speed across the ice, etc. In other words, she included Rachael in the same group as Kim and Asada. She also had a somewhat different way of pronouncing "Yu-na," probably closer to the actual Korean.

The interviewer asked Michelle to assess the U.S. ladies' chances. Michelle said, Alissa Czisny? Rachael Flatt? Well, Rachael has had good practices and is ready to rock and roll. I was sitting with her mother and I told her how impressed I was with Rachael's skating.

The next question was similar, something about what the U.S. ladies need to do. Michelle said, if Alissa lands her jumps she'll be all right. (That's all Michelle said about Alissa in the whole interview.) Then she went on about how big a thrill it was for Rachael to be at her first worlds in her home state.

That was about half the interview. The rest was about Michelle's commentating gig and other things. The interviewer asked, would you rather be skating or commentating. At first Michelle looked like she was going to say, SKATING, but she caught herself in time and talked about how honored she was for the opportunity to work with the television staff, etc.

(Very rough paraphrase.)

Michelle's voice was beautifully modulated, I thought. I wonder if she has been taking voice lessons. I can't wait to see her tomorrow for the ladies SP.

Thanks for paraphrasing, Mathman. I didn't realize Kwan would be shown during the Ladies' SP coverage on Oxygen. I thought she would just be a part of the NBC Ladies' LP coverage. It'll be nice to see her again in front of the cameras.

[MKFSfan]

Thank you very much MM!!!

So, Michelle will be commentating on the SPs as well??? I thought she would only be doing so for NBC/Ladies' LP. Looking forward to that!

[Kwanford Wife]

I know a Korean-American girl with a thick Texas accent, and boy she cracks me up

you should check out congressman eric cantor (r-va) sometimes... the combination of new york jewish with a little southern drawl is highly amusing!!

[Particle Man]

Sorry, I have to :chorus:, as if Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, and Tom Hammond are models of competence where COP and figure skating commentary are concerned.

They do their jobs well - because they have interesting voices, and find interesting things to say. That's what I mean by competence as a commentator. They aren't judges or technical specialists, they are commentators. Their goal is to engage the people watching. That's the most important thing to do in their job.

Michelle didn't sound amazingly interesting in that interview. All I'm saying. Maybe she will be better in the booth. If you want blind MK love instead of objectivity, I think you know places to go where you will find that.

P.S.: I think Michelle would be a better commentator than Sasha. Does that make you feel better?

[shallwedansu]

Hey! Guess who else was in the crowd? Kristi and Michelle during a practice session. I love Kristi's hair!

Is it possible Kristi will be presenting the medals for the ladies ceremony?

[museksk8r]

They do their jobs well - because they have interesting voices, and find interesting things to say. That's what I mean by competence as a commentator. They aren't judges or technical specialists, they are commentators. Their goal is to engage the people watching. That's the most important thing to do in their job.

Michelle didn't sound amazingly interesting in that interview. All I'm saying. Maybe she will be better in the booth. If you want blind MK love instead of objectivity, I think you know places to go where you will find that.

Those are YOUR opinions; certainly not facts! I don't find Scott, Sandra, nor Tom engaging with their commentating. Scott oftens screams into the mic like an obnoxious child and Sandra truly says some of the stupidest things I've ever heard on air. Tom is certainly not knowledgeable about skating. I can't say I find them as "interesting" as you do. Saying so doesn't mean I "blindly" love MK and fail to see things objectively.

[Mathman]

OOPS, SORRY. Michelle did not say that she would be commentating on the ladies SP on Oxygen. I do not have any information on that, and as far as I know, she won't be.

They are all natural born valley girls.

True. As a teenager Michelle had a ltttle of that So-Cal slur. Now she seems to be deliberately working on enunciation, which is why I wondered if she has worked with a voice coach or something.

Compare how she talks now with her cameo with Brian Boitano as an announcer in that skating movie (whichever one it was.)

If you want blind MK love instead of objectivity...

Blind Kwan love rules! Objectivity is for the birds.

They do their jobs well - because they have interesting voices, and find interesting things to say. That's what I mean by competence as a commentator. They aren't judges or technical specialists, they are commentators. Their goal is to engage the people watching.

I don't entirely agree. That is what Tom Hammond and Terry Gannon do. But the jocks who sit alongside to offer "color" are supposed to know technical stuff that the audience might be interested in.

On the recent men's SP broadcast I was very disappointed in the number of times that Scott and Sandra missed opportunities to clarify scoring issues. I can't skate at all and Scott Hamilton is an Olympic gold medalist, so how come I know more about the CoP than he does?

[Dee4707]

Michelle's voice was beautifully modulated, I thought. I wonder if she has been taking voice lessons. I can't wait to see her tomorrow for the ladies SP.

That's great because I always thought she was very nasel sounding.

[Particle Man]

Those are YOUR opinions; certainly not facts! I don't find Scott, Sandra, nor Tom engaging with their commentating.

And yet they are still hired. If most people agreed with YOU, they would have been replaced. Therefore, Scott, Sandra and Tom are seen by the majority as adding to the broadcast, and better than the alternatives. Majority opinion = "fact" in this case.

[b]I don't entirely agree. That is what Tom Hammond and Terry Gannon do. But the jocks who sit alongside to offer "color" are supposed to know technical stuff that the audience might be interested in.

Scott Hamilton is a jock? He's there because he has a cute voice and personality, and to a lesser extent because he is a legend. I agree that "competence" in terms of accurate assessment of the skating, rules and outcomes would be NICE but -- clearly it isn't as important as personality.

This is similar to my "fluff piece" argument. The point of fluff pieces and the point of commentators are similar to the people trying to make money off of the broadcast -- get casual viewers interested. Compare:

- no commentary
- boring but accurate commentary
- inaccurate but engaging commentary

and you see they'll pick #3. You and I are going to watch even though Scott says something wrong or we know the rules better. A casual viewer won't notice if he is wrong. So knowing the rules better wouldn't really get them more viewers.

[R.D.]

From what I've seen in this interview, she could be really good as a secondary commentator who throws in really knowledgeable comments at certain times, but probably not yet as a main commentator. Her voice is just kind of subdued, and she didn't have the most interesting things to say, although it was still OK and she does speak well. Maybe she is afraid of being louder cause she lacks confidence in speaking? And maybe that will change with time, who knows. If Michelle can even be competent, it's worth it for the sport to have her there in some fashion. I'm sure the fan craziness and "don't you wish you were competing" would go away in a couple years.

Her best role commentator-wise might be simply a pre or post-show analyst. I think she will be simply answering questions from Costas (and maybe Button).

ETA: for those who do not want to hear her whatsoever, I think Universal Sports will also be streaming the raw feed on their website. People can watch without commentary, or if the NBC broadcast is being tape-delayed or pre-empted in their area, they can watch it live on there. (Thanks USports!!)

[Tinymavy15]

Naomi Nari Nam was in the audince for the men's SP. They showed her on the big screen. she was adorbale, as always!

[Mathman]

Therefore, Scott, Sandra and Tom are seen by the majority as adding to the broadcast, and better than the alternatives.

Interesting logic. So the majority of NBC viewers like Scott Hamilton, Sandra Besik and Tom Hammond better than Dick Button, Peggy Fleming and Terry Gannon, but the majority of ABC viewers liked Button. Fleming and Gannon better.

Participatory democracy in action!

Scott Hamilton is a jock?

OK, you can make fun of my Scotty if you want to , but did you know this? Before Terry Gannon became a big time figure skating announcer he won the NCAA basketball championship (1983, with North Carolina State), crushing the wimps from Houston featuring Clyde the Glide Drexler and future NBA MVP Akeem Olajuwon!

Hah! What did Vern Lundquist ever do?