Sale&Pelletier article in the Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...hem/article2335069/singlepage/#articlecontent

Talks about the downward spiral of skating popularity and them not signing on for this year's tour of Stars on Ice. One factual error I noticed, but otherwise a good article.

"Salé and Pelletier cite a deeper change keeping fans away – new rules imposed since the judging scandal. They're meant to eliminate the discretion that shortchanged the Canadians in Salt Lake City, but Salé and Pelletier say the rules kill the art." How many former champions have said the same thing?

I think the ISU has made a conscious choice to go the route of "Olympic sport" (cf speed skating) and has put the performance and fan appeal aspect on the back burner. CoP enthusiasts do not even bother refuting comments like that quote from Sale and Pelletier any more, except an occasional half-hearted, "there are some good programs under the new judging system, and anyway there were a lot of bad programs under 6.0, too."

Instead, ISU and skating federation spokespeople are bolder and bolder at admitting flat out that they really don't care what the audience likes. So I think that train has sailed , and all we can say to the ISU now is, "Be happy in the life you have chosen."

About Tonya Harding and the "golden era" when figure skating was half soap opera, half reality show, half "housewives of...," (OK, that's 150% -- it was really big), it is such an irony that the criminal shenanigans of Tonya's husband and his thuggy friends brought about a state of affairs where skaters could make $200,000 for a single performance -- yet Tonya herself never got a dime.

^^^^Tonya got vilified and paid heavily for it. Even this article states as a matter of fact that Tonya Harding had her husband hire the whacker, instead of just saying her then husband did such. We don't know her exact involvement in the criminal scandal. She was never the right image or well accepted despite her exceptional talents, so it's easy to want to believe the worst of her without evidence.

It was a dirty job but somebody had to do it for the good of the sport and other skaters.

Thank you for the link. I will cherish their skate forever. It was just beautiful.

I agree with you about Tonya 100%, Skate Figuring. For reasons which I won't get into here, I never thought she had anything or much to do with the planning of this attack. At least she has her job on America's Dumbest Criminals.

Mathman, I agree with you, too. Sports--except for cardio or strength training, maybe--exist to entertain. If a sport is changed so that it is less enjoyable to watch, there is a big problem. The sport may be closer to "pure figure skating" now, with the emphasis on edges and gliding posture, but it is not as much fun to watch. You used to know that if someone fell, it could be all over for them. It was a nail-biter. Now, not so much. If they glide nicely with deep knees or clean edges, they can still win over a clean skater. The suspense is much less.

meh. I just don't see THAT much of a difference. the judges favorites still win with lackluster skates, and there are just as many duds going through the last 20 years of skating than there are today... so I'm not going to complain...

I think it's getting confused with the entertainment of the pro stuff a little bit. Which was being destroyed way before CoP due to the PRO-AMs that the ISU imposed on the professional competitions. Did I need to see an even more watered down Michelle Kwan program for the nth time? No. I wanted it to be about the pros skaing (though watching Josee beat MK two years in a row and MK get frustrated was worth it for me. Josee knew how to sell a program!) as a lot of fans did. The ISU didn't like having no control over the pro skaters, so they slowly murdered the professional scene...

I confess to not liking big scores and medals with falls, particularly on jumps. But, I also confess to understanding it when others discuss the protocols; and I guess, just with this piece, that I wish there was a way to penalize that a little more but realize it is complicated.

And, in addition to it being difficult to memorize base values of all the elements, maybe its that part of the complexity that seems off putting to many. But, I also find it oddly exciting - like I could learn and understand more if I tried, meanwhile, I still enjoy watching the comps. In fact, I have watched more comps in recent years, and more of them (that is, more of the skaters in discipline), then ever before. This, though, has to do with internet access as I am not plane hopping and going lives to comps, which means that I am part of the "problem" I guess, of not financially supporting events by going to them live.

Of course, many people can't afford to go...and that's a big part of the problem that seems to be hitting NA particularly hard these days. But, I will say this, I never really liked shows, and if I were to spend money, I would rather on a comp. And, I'm not really clear what CoP has to do with show skating or the decline in show skating. If the assumption is that people are watching fewer comps, thus know fewer skaters, thus attend fewer shows....ok; but i'm not 100% convinced with that.

I do agree that CoP has made pair skating - or the ways pairs have used it at least - pretty ugly overall....but then again, in the 90's, I loved like 2-4 pairs at any given time and didn't even see the rest as I relied on tv. Now, well it's about the same for me, although I see more of them via the internet, thus, more that is ugly or I don't like...

But overall, I love a lot of the skating i'm seeing, especially in men's and dance. And sometimes, often actually, but not always, my gut reaction of placements fits the actual placements; although not necessarily the scores. But, that 'gut reaction' thing I had with the 6.0 thing too. I find myself equally on the edge of my seat for both kinds of comps, especially nationals, worlds, and olympics. so, I'm not sure that CoP has ruined everything. I am sure that the ISU, as MM and others have pointed out, do seem to have a disparaging attitude towards fans. And, I don't think many of the announcers or commentators have risen to the occasion to help explain things. So, these, I think are problems and ones that could be addressed some how.

Last thing, I find it interesting that Weir, among others, really hates and criticizes the scoring system, yet, I found him to be a great commentator....maybe, in the US at least, he could help with this problem!

Tonichelle said:

I think it's getting confused with the entertainment of the pro stuff a little bit. Which was being destroyed way before CoP due to the PRO-AMs that the ISU imposed on the professional competitions. Did I need to see an even more watered down Michelle Kwan program for the nth time? No. I wanted it to be about the pros skiing (*** I'll just leave out this part *** ) as a lot of fans did.

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The biggest complaint was the 1998 off-season, when there was one pro-am after another, all with the same few skaters performing the same programs with the same results. (Yagudin and Michelle always won -- although Kurt Browning came within a whisker of beating Yagudin at the world pro that year).)

But if you had asked my mom (bless her sainted soul) about whether professional skating was on the decline she would have gone on for half an hour about, Gracious yes! The Ice Capades used to come to town every Christmas. Where are the pretty ladies of the Ice Follies? We don't see the likes of Frick and Frack any more!"

Jamie and David are an exciting pair to watch still. It's too bad they are quitting pretty much. Now we know why Ina/Zimmerman were happy to skate with SOI. So, like Lysacek, these folks do not feel they are getting their due. Given the business...I still wonder what S/P will do where they get paid better than skating. I guess there is no loyalty there to SOI. I see that Katia/Ilia went back. But SOI has been where they met and a huge part of their professional lives, esp Katia. I always enjoyed S&P and thought they were a great couple off ice-just adorable.

skateluvr said:

Jamie and David are an exciting pair to watch still. It's too bad they are quitting pretty much. Now we know why Ina/Zimmerman were happy to skate with SOI. So, like Lysacek, these folks do not feel they are getting their due. Given the business...I still wonder what S/P will do where they get paid better than skating. I guess there is no loyalty there to SOI. I see that Katia/Ilia went back. But SOI has been where they met and a huge part of their professional lives, esp Katia. I always enjoyed S&P and thought they were a great couple off ice-just adorable.

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Reality TV, unlike the US, figure skating reality shows are popular in Canada... well, ok Battle of the Blades is...

Mathman said:

I think the ISU has made a conscious choice to go the route of "Olympic sport" (cf speed skating)

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If figure skating is all about sport, they should demand skating without the music. If they think the music is necessary, they should accept that artistry is an integral, inalienable part of figure skating.

skatinginbc said:

If figure skating is all about sport, they should demand skating without the music.

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Gymnastics and Rythmic have music also and are olympic sports.
I dont see how the one excludes the other.

Figure skating is getting so expensive that average kids can not "play" it like the other sports. When less kids get into figure skating, the popularity of figure skating shrinks. Also, my teenage daughter and her fellow figure skaters do not like to watch the ice shows at all.

Figure skating has been a part of the Winter Olympic Games since 1924, so what does "a conscious choice to go the route of Olympic sport" mean? I took it as "toward total athleticism" (or "all about sport"). Gymnastics (e.g., floor exercise and rhythmic) and synchronized swimming use music as well, and therefore artistry is also one of their scoring criteria.

The most shocking revelation in this article for me is that SOI is doing more Canadian cities than the US this year. I didn't even think there were 12 Canadian cities! Canadian population and economy is about 10% of those of the US and urban centres are spread out across the continent, incurring much traveling to get from one to another. Yet it is deemed more worthwhile and hopefully profitable to perform here than in the US. Patrick Chan mentioned at 4CC, a major international event, that both Takahashi and himself found it hard to get energy from the crowd skating late at night there, both having just performed to a full house at their respective Nationals. Much has been debated about the sinking popularity of figure skating in the US so I'm glad there is still much interest in Canada. However, I doubt there would be the same level of enthusiasm or attendance if we don't currently have the superstars like Patrick and Tessa and Scott. OTOH, the US has Davis/White and the Olympic Mens Champion but somehow they cannot generate excitement in the public. Maybe Ashley Wagner might, the Ladies being the most interesting event for the Americans?

For all the talk about Canada's political clout, I am sure ISU prefers having superstars from big economies and high population nations like US, Japan, and China. Well, it's hard to ask for a global popularity, so we have to settle for ebbs and flows and national rotation.

I wish for the best for Jamie and David, in their careers as well as personal lives. I hope we keep on seeing them in skating events as participants in some capacity. David, in particular, is an enjoyable commentator.