FS and Sports Causing Passions Nationwide | Golden Skate

FS and Sports Causing Passions Nationwide

Anna K.

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Country
Latvia
I think this deserves a separate thread :)

I’m already living vibe of Brazil WC soccer and in the light of this the reaction in this forum towards Korean reaction to Sochi 2014 surprises me quite – I mean, the fact that it surprises many of you surprises me a lot. For you as figure skating fans, what’s your experience with sports causing passions nationwide? Has figure skating ever come close to that in your country and should it? Please, share!

Also for mods of this forum, are passions like these new for you? Would you say it was rather a gift (new members etc.) or a problem and what you think mods and/or forum members should do to make it rather a gift than a problem?
 

TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Well, Finland goes absolutely out of all proportion mental during the ice hockey world champs, and if they win it gets even worse. Normal, sensible people get waaaaaaay overexcited. I mean last Sunday I got kinda worried for Russian tourists currently here, but this time folks took the silver with much better grace - in that they were furious with the refs not the Russkis. I suppose everybody knew they shouldn't really have got to the final anyway, based on their play at the start of the tournament. If they win it's another thing altogether: the army sends effing fighters to escort home the airplane that carries the team :rolleye: I don't particularly like it as I don't appreciate nationalism much in any of its forms.

On the other hand, Laura Lepistö's World bronze got little media time even though that was truly a major accomplishment.
 

Vanshilar

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 24, 2014
I think this deserves a separate thread :)

I’m already living vibe of Brazil WC soccer and in the light of this the reaction in this forum towards Korean reaction to Sochi 2014 surprises me quite – I mean, the fact that it surprises many of you surprises me a lot. For you as figure skating fans, what’s your experience with sports causing passions nationwide? Has figure skating ever come close to that in your country and should it? Please, share!

Also for mods of this forum, are passions like these new for you? Would you say it was rather a gift (new members etc.) or a problem and what you think mods and/or forum members should do to make it rather a gift than a problem?

Well, this is the only forum I know where even discussion of how something is judged is grounds for calling it a hating thread. Makes me wonder just how much hate there is out there and how much is in the mind of the posters. Does soccer have the same thing where asking "what is the definition of a goal?" will automatically elicit responses of "well you're just bashing team X"?
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Boston Red Sox - The team is practically a religion.

People are on radio talk shows furious at players who are doing poorly or blaming coaches.

My MIL was happy in her last week of life because the Red Sox had finally won a World Series for the first time in her life. She was 82.

Figure Skating? The only time I recall people getting worked up about results was the big todo over the 2002 Olympic pairs event snd the French judge. And The Whack before that.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
In the US, only the Super Bowl and March Madness evoke responses like that. I can't think of any occasion when fans disputed a result the way some Yuna fans are screaming about Sochi. Happy to stand corrected, though, because I don't follow hoops or football (American or otherwise).

The one thing that does come to mind is the US 1972 Olympic basketball team, which still hasn't accepted its silver medals and still questions the refs' overtime calls in the final game.

Edit -- shoot, how could I possibly forget the Red Sox? :bang: Thanks for the reminder, Doris! My best friend's mom also loved them and died shortly after they won the World Series for the first time.
 
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DianaSelene

Medalist
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
Anybody heard of U of L or UK basketball fans? Living in Kentucky, I can tell you they are just crazy!!!! :bang:
But then again, the fact that basketball and football are pretty much the only sports in the state, it is not that surprising...
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Also for mods of this forum, are passions like these new for you? Would you say it was rather a gift (new members etc.) or a problem and what you think mods and/or forum members should do to make it rather a gift than a problem?

When Golden Skate started out the majority of members were Michelle Kwan fans. Some people felt that the Michelle enthusiasts (*raises hand*) were a little cuckoo over Michelle and were not very tolerant toward those who weren't. Alexei Yagudin had the most die-hard fans for the men. It was not, however, a nationalistic thing. Yagudin had an international fan base, and if anything, Plushenko had more support among Russians.

Fast-forwarding to modern times, the pro- and anti- Chan wars resulted in the creation of the Fan Fest folders (q.v.) where fans of a particular skater could gather without being harassed by meanies. The only fights that had a nationalistic basis were between Yuna Kim supporters and Mao Asada supporters (World War II came up a lot; a number of posters were banned.) Canada-bashing was also in vogue for a while -- a vestige remains in the Virtue and Moir versus Davis and White discussions. In those days Golden Skate did not have as many active European members as we wished. The cold war between Russia and the United States pretty much stayed cold on skating forums.

A gift? IMHO, all is grist for the GS mill. Food fights, whether based on nationality or loyalty to an individual skater, are only the second worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is that everyone gets along happily ever after until the board closes down from terminal boredom.

JMO. :)
 

TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014

That's insane :eek:

I always support Canada for some reason when Finland are not playing, ever since I was a kid (not that I really care much about any results, it's just more fun to watch when you can root for a team). I believe the reason is that I always had this idea about Canadians being like the North American Scandinavians :laugh: I mean their politics and culture are in so many ways the opposite of the US. I'm not saying they are better or anything, just that their culture is closer to mine and it's intriguing since they are on the other side of the globe from us. I also have (had) the impression that Canadians are very polite and fair, which I suppose they are since they are always taking the mickey about those qualities, both Canadians themselves and comedians in the US. I think it was because of this I was especially - really out of proportion - shocked by the Canadian media's reaction to the whole ice dance debacle. I may have been PMSing a little but reading that stuff one night in bed I legit started crying :cry: getting all depressed and wailing "why can't we all just get along" inside :laugh: I gotta laugh when I remember that night!
 

R.D.

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
When Golden Skate started out the majority of members were Michelle Kwan fans. Some people felt that the Michelle enthusiasts (*raises hand*) were a little cuckoo over Michelle and were not very tolerant toward those who weren't.

I was one of them. It truly felt like MKF II :laugh:
__________
Generally speaking, I actually think things have calmed down here over the years (with a few notable exceptions). But maybe now emotions are starting to run high again, especially with the Olympic season and more controversial results being handed down.

Actually, the Wagner/Nagasu Olympic controversy is the first time I've seen passion among US skatefans in YEARS. For the longest time no one has really cared - ever since Kwan & Cohen actually.
 

Bonnie F

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
Has figure skating ever come close to that in your country and should it? Please, share!

I think the closest the USA ever has come to being a nationwide passion was between 1994-1995 with the Tonya/Nancy saga, to Oksana Baiul, to the death of Grinkov. During that period it seemed like figure skating was always on TV and much more a part of popular culture than it has ever been before or since.
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2012

Yes. There can be problems in Canada with hockey fans in some cities when their teams lose. Not sane at all and the situations that arise can be dangerous.

In past years, there have been, on particular occasions, riots in both Vancouver and Montreal when their teams were knocked out of the playoffs. Not Toronto though . . . but that is because our team (the Maple Leafs) is so crappy, we are not only used to losing but, as well, not even making the play-offs. Yet, it is the most profitable team in the NHL because it is so ardently supported. It would be interesting to see what would happen if our beloved Maple Leafs ever won the Stanley Cup, but that is so hypothetical because it won't happen . . . but if it did, traffic would stop everywhere in the city for the celebration. It would be madness.
 

concorde

Medalist
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
College football in Alabama in the 1970s and early 1980s! I remember when "The Bear" died (1983) and his funeral procession toured the ENTIRE state! The turnout was most likely equivalent (if not greater) than if a sitting president had been assassinated.

Here is a picture that captures the number of the watching the procession move through the state. http://photos.al.com/birmingham-news/2010/01/bear_bryant_deathjpg.html

To get the full affect, you need to watch to video of the actual procession http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=EAF18975EA81DB300639EAF18975EA81DB300639
 
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