Should Flatt have skated at the World Championships on an injury? | Page 11 | Golden Skate

Should Flatt have skated at the World Championships on an injury?

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
Alissa's smile during her skates is a bit plastered on but her smile at the end of a performance that she nails is irresistible. :biggrin:

I love Mirai's expressions when she skates. She manages to be fierce, coy and joyful at the same time. The only criticism I have is that she sometimes still fades in an out ever so slightly. One minute she's out there performing full on charming the pants off the audience and the next minute her expression gets a bit flat and mechanical - then she hitches on the charm again. But that's nothing really. It's the sort of thing that will improve naturally as the years go by.
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
How many base points are there for a smile? Skaters, particularly the Ladies are more concerned about their looks than the Men. Who cares if you are going for the points? (It is a contest.) How much closer should the Senior Ladies get to the smiles of the uninhibited little tykes in the Children's Pagaents or the serious smiles of the Ladies in Ms Universe?

Is Ladies Figure Skating to be how pagaents are judged? No wonder the men of sports shy away from it. it's not like Evert v. Natrilova.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
On the other hand, only one skater has had her smile featured as the centerpiece of a national ad campaign:

http://www.lifeskate.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/12/rachael_flatt_2.jpg

Please don't tell a lie m.
I saw no such ad run as a Natl TV campaign. I did see several US skaters included in a somewhat lame ATT ad but that was mostly on the internet. Maybe I missed the Natl TV exposure of the ad you are referring to :think:

AFAIK, Flatt's biggest sponsor was the Potato growers of Colorado.
As if I would ever eat a Colorado potato ;)

Mirai had a decent sponsorship deal with Panasonic who made it possible for her parents to see her skate in Vancouver. Evan was on sixpacks of Coca-Cola along with other USA Olympians.

NBC ran a few Natl promos last year featuring Sasha but did not really feature defending WC Evan, or D/W, B/A and most definitely not Flatt.

I don't think any US skater ever came close to Dorothy when it came to Natl ad campaigns.

She probably did more than all of them combined.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Hernado said:
I saw no such ad run as a Natl TV campaign.

Rachael was the national spokesperson for the American Association of Orthodontists. She was featured in a campaign called "Band Together" that encouraged children and teenagers to get special red, white and blue braces to show support for the U.S. Olympic team.

Many a pediatric orthodontist's office featured a poster of Rachael flashing her silver smile. :cool:
 

Tinymavy15

Sinnerman for the win
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 28, 2006
Alissa should get a deal with Colgate or someother toothpaste company. I would buy it.
 

kwanatic

Check out my YT channel, Bare Ice!
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May 19, 2011
Michelle had an insane amount of endorsements and ads; everything from Chevy and Coca-Cola, to Visa and Disney (check out the list). Of course that was during the Golden Age of skating when it was smart and beneficial to use a skater as a marketing piece. That's just not the case in the US anymore. I remember reading something about Rachael's parents being upset that she didn't receive more offers for endorsements or whatever after she won nationals last year. It's just the scope of the land--no one cares about skating anymore.
 

janetfan

Match Penalty
Joined
May 15, 2009
Rachael was the national spokesperson for the American Association of Orthodontists. She was featured in a campaign called "Band Together" that encouraged children and teenagers to get special red, white and blue braces to show support for the U.S. Olympic team.

Many a pediatric orthodontist's office featured a poster of Rachael flashing her silver smile. :cool:

Thankyou for setting the record straight. Last I read Flatt's mother was bitching about how much money they spent (not for her braces ;) but for her skating and even though her daughter was the Natl champion they couldn't get a decent endore$ment deal) :laugh:

Mrs Flatt must have been absent the day they taught "it factor" at her college. :p
 

Layfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
How many base points are there for a smile? Skaters, particularly the Ladies are more concerned about their looks than the Men. Who cares if you are going for the points? (It is a contest.) How much closer should the Senior Ladies get to the smiles of the uninhibited little tykes in the Children's Pagaents or the serious smiles of the Ladies in Ms Universe?

Is Ladies Figure Skating to be how pagaents are judged? No wonder the men of sports shy away from it. it's not like Evert v. Natrilova.

Tell that to Evan and Johnny. :)

Besides, the discussion really started out about who looks the most confident on the ice - and someone said Alissa looks nervous.

It IS important in figure skating. If you want a sport where how you present yourself doesn't matter, figure skating is probably not the place to go.

Maybe it's not the MOST important thing (Lord knows how many skaters have won competitions in fugly costumes) but I can't think of a sport where it is more important.

And as for whether the women care more about how they look than the men - Ha.
I wonder how much Evan payed Vera Wang for his Olympic costume? And how long did discussions around here go on about whether Johnny's costumes added or took away from his skating and whether they made him more of a "girly" skater or whatever it was. I would bet the men care and - a lot - about their image on the ice.
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I'd say the men "care" about how they look, otherwise they wouldn't be wearing all those flowery costumes. :p they don't need it.

Both men and ladies should be focused more on their performance than on what they are wearing.
 

Krislite

Medalist
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
I'd say the men "care" about how they look, otherwise they wouldn't be wearing all those flowery costumes. :p they don't need it.

I think you mean the contrary: if the men cared at all about how they look, they would not be wearing all those those flowery and flamboyant costumes. :laugh:
 

Nigel

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 21, 2006
I think you mean the contrary: if the men cared at all about how they look, they would not be wearing all those those flowery and flamboyant costumes. :laugh:

Historically, when did men's costumes shift from the sweater or abbreviated jacket/tie look and skating pant look from back in the days of say, Dick Button...to a full out costume that was designed for the program the skater was performing? If you had to generate a list of "winning" costumes for the men from over the last ten years...in the sense that the costumes complimented the music and the choreography....who would be on that list? I prefer more traditional men's costumes (shirt/pant vs the onesy/unitard look).
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
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Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States

ILoveFigures

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Back on topic.
Yes! Flatt had every right to skate even when injured. She earned the spot and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
Back on topic.
Yes! Flatt had every right to skate even when injured. She earned the spot and that's the way the cookie crumbles.

The "earning" part is controversial and questionable though. I think her FS score being 8 points higher than Mirai's at nationals was not right. After she skated, I thought it would be close but that Mirai would come out on top, but it ended up that Rachael came out on top, and it wasn't even that close so...idk. Placing ahead of Mirai at nationals would have been acceptable, but the margin should have been like 1 point, not 7, and then when Mirai beat Rachael by 9 points at 4CC, she should have been given the nod to go to Worlds instead, especially considering Rachael was clearly fighting an injury at 4CC.
 

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll
Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2003
Costumes were fancy enough in the early 1980's that Scott Hamilton felt they had gone too far, and performed in his striped onesie sort of outfits.

his costumes were inspired and designed by speed skating. Honestly he looked just as dorky in that get us as he did in his most hated blue beaded costume.
 
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