Sochi 2014:Athletes to Watch(NBC) | Page 3 | Golden Skate

Sochi 2014:Athletes to Watch(NBC)

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
I also think people are being way too hard on Ashley. There are plenty of skaters who peaked later, like Slutskaya, Kostner... As much as I love Gold, haters are really quick to dismiss Wagner. Wagner came 2nd at the GPF, won two GP events, and has two US titles, and Gracie has yet to convincingly beat her. Wagner is still a really good shot at bronze in the Olympics, especially with her higher PCS advantage over Gold.

your joking right ? Wagner has already peaked
and that pcs advantage wll be no more, imo, this season Gracie will level or have higher pcs than Wagner
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Maybe the reason Farris is not given as much billing as Gold is because Farris has never competed in an international SENIOR event. Gold has competed at the senior level internationally and done well. (FYI: Farris did not place 2nd at 2013 Nationals...Ross Miner did)

But Gold was already being hyped to the max in Juniors. That was how she got the gig at WTT in the first place. And she had won just one JGP and was Junior National Champ. I just do not understand where all this hype came from. Yeah okay she's a lady who can jump. But her junior record did not merit the hype she's gotten IMO.

If they would think outside the box, I am increasingly convinced that among the U.S. skaters (from all discipines), Max Aaron has the best storyline. His has something for everyone: a breakthrough season after almost leaving the sport; jumps and artistry as dueling ambitions; overcoming major injury; deep hockey background; a family of elite skaters; etc. And he has the total package of personal qualities that appeal to both women and men, young and old: good people skills and communication skills; strong drive and work ethic; distinctive looks and voice; plus more. Hope that his momentum from last season continues to grow.

Agreed. Max's story kicks butt. And he seems like such a nice, personable guy. I'd be marketing him as much as possible. But no.

ETA:
All respect to Farris for his solid record, but a typo here?

Yes. Oops. Sorry Ross.
 

ForeverFish

Medalist
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Just curious...why AREN'T they marketing Max? He has a wonderful personality (from what we've observed), and audiences always love the "underdog-climbs-to-the-top" story.
 

Celine

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 30, 2013
Gracie got her opportunity at the WTT because the other senior skaters "in line ahead of her" turned the opportunity down. Gracie was fortunate to be in the position to get asked, and capitalized on it well. She then backed it up with strong performances that put her on the docket for significant events (Four Continents and Worlds) during her rookie senior season. Timing and a bit of luck - for better or worse - matters.

I agree that Max has a compelling story, but like the fickle audience that fans are - his timing seems right, but my only hesitation is that he has only had one season of proving his "stuff" on the senior season for one season. If I were NBC, I would be very impressed but not necessarily thinking I should be putting a significant amount of my weight behind him.

I am sure we will be seeing more "stories" from the other skaters that participated in the media event. I expect a lot of visibility for Davis/White. I think the Shibutani's have done a better than fine job of presenting themselves as entertaining and interesting stories for the casual fan to be interested. Intelligent siblings with creativity to boot.

This whole Ashley vs. Gracie sniping is already giving me a headache. They are both impressive young ladies and ANYTHING NBC can do to promote SKATING is a plus.

FIGURE SKATING is DEAD except during the Olympics. Seriously people, let's hope NBC does their best to give ANY of them exposure beyond the "15 seconds" they'll get during the Olympics.

Snipe. Snipe. Snipe. Get some perspective .. yeesh.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
FIGURE SKATING is DEAD except during the Olympics. Seriously people, let's hope NBC does their best to give ANY of them exposure beyond the "15 seconds" they'll get during the Olympics.

Based on the mistakes in their article, NBC is not doing their best to promote skating. Hopefully someone doesn't read it and thinks the only events worth tuning in for are the Figure Skating World Cup events.

Although it looks like the errors have been corrected now.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
They even included the fact Plushenko won Euros in 2012! So he's no longer basically equal with Lysacek in non-competition. LOL. Should send them a Thank you note!
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
They even included the fact Plushenko won Euros in 2012! So he's no longer basically equal with Lysacek in non-competition. LOL. Should send them a Thank you note!

LOL!
"Plushenko won the European Championships in 2012, the same month his second child was born. Does he have one more Olympic medal in him?

Plushy's second son was born in 2013 January, not in 2012 :laugh:
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
And another USOC media summit is coming up at the end of August so perhaps the spotlight will shine on a few more skaters. :)

Correcting my error:
The dates of the next USOC media summit are Sep 29 - Oct 2. Location: Park City, Utah.

Fourteen figure skaters are on the list of 102 total participants (as of Jul 30) -- see below.
Gao and Miner are not, although they attended the spring summit.
I think the only new faces in the autumn group would be Castelli/Shnapir (unless they attended in the spring too -- sorry, can't remember one way or the other).
  1. Max Aaron
  2. Jeremy Abbott
  3. Marissa Castelli
  4. John Coughlin
  5. Meryl Davis
  6. Caydee Denney
  7. Gracie Gold
  8. Evan Lysacek
  9. Alex Shibutani
  10. Maia Shibutani
  11. Simon Shnapir
  12. Ashley Wagner
  13. Charlie White
  14. Agnes Zawadzki
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
They are clearly better but what's the deal with "be a complete skater and still incorporate quad jumps"? How can you be complete and not do quads in 2013? Lol or 1998!
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
This whole Ashley vs. Gracie sniping is already giving me a headache.

Differences of opinion sniping. Many of us in this thread are trying to have a civilized discussion.
A hypothetical scenario that would have been comparable to what I consider to be premature overemphasis on Gold (at the expense of Wagner):
In the coverage of the Shibutanis' world bronze in 2011, what if the media had called them a "golden couple" -- and given them top billing over Davis/White among U.S. ice dancers?
Some of us have high hopes for the Shibs in general, but no one would have thought even then that they deserved to overshadow D/W.​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This article was posted also during July:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/figure-skating%E2%80%99s-stars-are-back-sochi

But it looks much better than the other one:yes:

This guy actually seems to know what he's talking about. :)

Alex Goldberger, the author of Finnstep's article (but not the article in the OP), is one of NBC's Olympics researchers -- a prestigious group with a reputation for knowing their stuff. Glad that he is living up to their fine reputation. :thumbsup:
 

lcd

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 11, 2007
I think (I hope) give 'em time folks. It will hopefully only get better (fact checking, etc) As the season gets underway, it will become clearer where to put the focus to drive home those profiles that they want to put their backing behind. Results. Charisma. A compelling "story" to tell. Who is Photo-video-genic, etc.
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Alex Goldberger, the author of Finnstep's article (but not the article in the OP), is one of NBC's Olympics researchers -- a prestigious group with a reputation for knowing their stuff. Glad that he is living up to their fine reputation. :thumbsup:
Interesting explanation, golden411.

Which begs the question: why aren't the researchers writing all their articles? Because Alex's writing has quite a bit of narrative verve, in addition to being factually correct. Do the researchers get paid more? ;)
 

ice coverage

avatar credit: @miyan5605
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Joined
Feb 27, 2012
... why aren't the researchers writing all their articles? Because Alex's writing has quite a bit of narrative verve, in addition to being factually correct. Do the researchers get paid more? ;)

The number of Olympics researchers is relatively small, and they have a huge role in preparing for the traditional broadcast coverage of the Olympics. An article about the breadth and depth of their responsibilities (including zillions of miles of travel):
My hunch (only a hunch) is that their other contributions to the overall NBC Olympics operation are too important to leave much time for writing for the website.
Although the job is "entry-level", it is similar to the NBC page program in being a potential stepping stone to the highest echelons of the business, and I have no doubt that it easily attracts the best and the brightest. Dick Ebersol was the first-ever Olympics researcher -- for ABC, when it had broadcast rights. Jeff Zucker started his career as an Olympics researcher for NBC. "War stories" from them and other Olympics researchers:
In an early New York Times profile of Zucker, Bill Carter made prominent mention of "the most auspicious entry-level job in the television industry: Olympics researcher."
I have no idea what the salary is, but I daresay that some people would be willing to pay NBC ;) for the opportunity to take on this assignment.

On the other hand, the Twitter bio for Nick McCarvel, who wrote the flawed article in the OP, says:
"Content expert in sports. Now Sochi figure skating web producer @NBCOlympics. Worked with online teams at all 4 tennis majors. ..."
https://twitter.com/nickmccarvel
Per his personal website, "His focus has been in the world of tennis content."
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, at the time of Nationals in Omaha, McCarvel tweeted something about having his work cut out for him to get up to speed on figure skating (not a direct quote -- I'm just paraphrasing). I hope it is a good sign that the original version of his article has been corrected. Given that figure skating is his current beat, I even wonder whether he peruses sites like GS and revised his article based on comments here (and/or on FSU).
 

Robeye

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, at the time of Nationals in Omaha, McCarvel tweeted something about having his work cut out for him to get up to speed on figure skating (not a direct quote -- I'm just paraphrasing). I hope it is a good sign that the original version of his article has been corrected. Given that figure skating is his current beat, I even wonder whether he peruses sites like GS and revised his article based on comments here (and/or on FSU).
I believe Sylvia of FSU sent him a laundry list of corrections ;) (she deserved some recognition, so: hats off to her :clap:). Why work when you have zealous fans who will do it for you for free? :p
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I don't like Plushenko or Evan"s skating but Plushenko is pretty much on legend level. Plushenko may not be the current OG champ but he is an Olympic champion. I don't think they are hardly on the same level no matter if someone bested you one or two times rightfully or not.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Lol the way plushenko was covered last Olympics was all about lysacek being much much better than plushenko and more talented in all areas except quad ability! That all of plushenko career was nothing more than quad ability. Very wrongly lol the impression and mission that was accomplished smog many was lysacek was far superior in every way to plushenko and lysacek was one of the best of all time not plushenko.
 
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