I have no idea who this Chelsea is, but then I don't follow teenage gossip. Is she that important that her statements can not be brought into LE CAFE?
(Oh dear, with so many male sportsman, can we blame the athletes for calling it a Little Girl Sport)
She's a late-night talk show host.Originally Posted by Joesitz
And "teenage gossip"? Geez.
I know! I read that and thought, does Joesitz (and the high horse he rode in on) really need to post here how he's FAR to intelligent and sophisticated for gossipy Chelsea Lately!? Seems kinda ostentatious to me!
As to his point on moving this to le café, I think this interview is as important as any of the other interviews skaters have given with the perhaps more highbrow media outlets that appear on these boards, no?
Last edited by berrycute; 04-10-2010 at 02:37 AM.
hey, Joe has the patina of us older fans! So don't pick on a senior or I'll hit you with my cane! (actually for disability not age). I know who Chelsea is and think she's over rated and one of the reasons why people turn off their TV sets. I keep waiting for her to be funny! I just reduced my cable channels due to nothing but @# on TV. If not for PBS the news and a few channels I'd throw the darn thing out. heck, I didn't buy cable til 2001 and that was only because ESPN had all the skating comps the year leading to the Olys.
Johnny is the pretty fluff made for the current "latelys" and reality shows. I would have watched him, tho had I known to look.
Ouuta the loop and too old to care...
"Bijoux"
I've always thought that figure skating was not a gay sport for men. But the more you get into it and know, the more it appears to me that way. Now I am not so sure any more. There must be a lot of people would say, "See, I've told ya!" That is one of the main reasons that this sport is shrinking.
Are you saying figure skating is shrinking in popularity because there are too many gay skaters???
It's OT:
No, I didn't mean that. But it is related to it.
I am saying that no one wants to enter a sport that is labeled "gay sport" except the real gays and a few dare devils who wouldn't mind to be mistaken as gays. More straight people would go to other sport. As a result, the percentage of gay skaters in figure skating will be higher and higher. And it will appear more and more like a gay sport. Therefore, the number of boys enter into figure skating is shrinking. That is the situation in North America. And that is the reason that there are more straight figure skaters in Europe and in Asia than in North America. How to increase the popularity of this sport in North America? Change the culture.It looks like a losing battle because the culture cannot be changed.
That's certainly the wrong attitude. Culture can be changed as evidenced by the civil rights movement and the debate on gay marriage. Considering that being gay wasn't even discussed that many years ago and that blacks and whites couldn't marry, there has been a considerable cultural change. True, not everyone accepts the differences, but the more 'open' the topic, the better learning and tolerance leading to acceptance by the majority.How to increase the popularity of this sport in North America? Change the culture.
If figure skating is to be viewed as a sport, then the emphasis should be on the skating, not the personal, especially the private, lives of skaters.
One could argue that the USFSA marketed Evan more aggressively, but why shouldn't they. Prior to this year, Evan out trained Johnny and Evan was much more consistent than Johnny. and got better results. Also, Johnny only finished 5th at Nationals the year before the Olympics, while Evan was World Champion.
While Johnny had 2 beautiful performances, he was told that the programs weren't competitive under COP and he chose not to re-work the choreo to up the ante. So, he needed someone to falter greatly. Nonetheless, he did what he wanted to do and got 2 wonderful performances.
Sorry, I didn't realize how important friendship is that it belongs in the main stream of figure skating. Beats a triple sal chow, I guess.
Meh, I don't think we need to take this board quite so seriously, what's wrong with a harmless bit of celeb dish once in a while?
I don't think that's the right way to go about it at all. It's not psychologically healthy for the sport's gay athletes, whether there are many of them or not, it sets a very poor example that "you're better off in the closet". What's more, it is EXTREMELY disrespectful to the sport's loyal gay fans.It's OT:
No, I didn't mean that. But it is related to it.
I am saying that no one wants to enter a sport that is labeled "gay sport" except the real gays and a few dare devils who wouldn't mind to be mistaken as gays. More straight people would go to other sport. As a result, the percentage of gay skaters in figure skating will be higher and higher. And it will appear more and more like a gay sport. Therefore, the number of boys enter into figure skating is shrinking. That is the situation in North America. And that is the reason that there are more straight figure skaters in Europe and in Asia than in North America. How to increase the popularity of this sport in North America? Change the culture.
This sounds like casual observation/impression -- do you have any hard data to back up such these assertions? That " no one wants to enter a sport that is labeled "gay sport" except the real gays and a few dare devils who wouldn't mind to be mistaken as gays. More straight people would go to other sport. As a result, the percentage of gay skaters in figure skating will be higher and higher. "It's OT:
No, I didn't mean that. But it is related to it.
I am saying that no one wants to enter a sport that is labeled "gay sport" except the real gays and a few dare devils who wouldn't mind to be mistaken as gays. More straight people would go to other sport. As a result, the percentage of gay skaters in figure skating will be higher and higher. And it will appear more and more like a gay sport. Therefore, the number of boys enter into figure skating is shrinking. That is the situation in North America. And that is the reason that there are more straight figure skaters in Europe and in Asia than in North America. How to increase the popularity of this sport in North America? Change the culture.
Personally I don't share the impression that the number of homosexual figure skating athletes (or persons who for whatever reasons are perceived to be homosexual) is rising in NA -- but it wouldn't matter to me if it were -- I think there are plenty of reasons why skating is losing popularity in NA and I think it has a lot more to do with the subjectivity of the sport and now the truly esoteric nature of the scoring system than it does with the image of the athletes. But that's just opinion, and unless there is data to back it up so is stating that "no one" wants to go into figure skating because it is a "gay sport" or even that there are more homosexual figure skaters in NA than there are in Europe or Asia. HUH???? Do you really have any reliable data to back this up or is it conjecture?
I don't believe it is a 'gay' sport, as much as I think it is a 'little girl's sport'. It is a type of little girls' pagaent competitions.
I'm on Stoyko's and Plushenko's side as the emphasis is to be little ballerinas on ice more than being a sportsperson.
I'm reallly ok wiith Figure Skating as is but I would not shed a tear if Ladies were part of a totally different competion. Of course, all those women would cause a decline in box office receipts, and I would lose the Men, Pairs and Ice Dance.
Last edited by Joesitz; 04-13-2010 at 07:05 PM.
I've never heard Evan say an unkind word about Johnny, but this isn't the first time I've heard Johnny talk this way about Evan. I really like both of them, but maybe Johnny's just bitter that Evan's had better luck in the skating world lately.
I'll say that it's just my observation and opinion. I don't think anyone could produce any hard data while there is only one official gay man in figure skating in US.
You are right that there are other factors too which have caused the decline.
Last edited by jennylovskt; 04-13-2010 at 10:09 PM.
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