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Men neglected in figure skating?
- Thread starter minze
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- Feb 13, 2014
Yes, taller than they are, not taller than the average male height which I think is what you're saying (not being able to name any male skaters being 6ft2 or higher outside of Lysacek & Trankov). And as someone else has said, it's hard to decipher how tall skaters are on the ice. I did not know Evan was over six feet until you said so. I'm also regularly surprised during the flower/podium ceremonies at the height differences amongst both the women & men skaters. I don't think height matters as much as you're making it out to. I also think single men skaters are more popular swoon-wise than male partners in Pairs or Dance (both my opinion and what i have witnessed of others on forums & during competitions) :confused2:
There was something about Jason (yeah the 4M YouTube video views) that made it clickbait worthy in the first place. So I consider it a win, even if an unintentional one.
My point is that instead of complaining about how FS lacks exposure, blah blah blah, it wouldn't hurt for USFS and others to make an active PR effort to get skating out there. I mean for everyone complaining about Kim Kardashian (and the rest of the family) getting famous for doing nothing, they, in my opinion are arguably some of the most media savvy people out there.
In fact someone from NPR made this exact point: http://socialmediadesk.tumblr.com/post/103132787406/what-we-can-learn-from-the-kardashians
Mainstream media outlets in the U.S. have limited budgets -- so unless there's something compelling about figure skating that makes it worth the money by itself -- that's not going to happen.
The Skating Lesson, I think, is a good attempt to try to be more like the websites you talk about, but I still feel like they're still a bit too insider baseball to get a a wider audience.
Icenetwork, FWIW, is owned by MLB.com...but I'm not sure how much direct benefit there is in that relationship.
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- Dec 22, 2012
In a way Johny Weir was able to extend his fame beyond figure skating... But we want skaters to be household names because of their acomplisments. Hence, my mention of Evan, he has those acomplisments. What happened?
Johnny Weir, actually, deserves credit too for exposure, despite his relative lack of accomplishments. I think the annoying part is that that exposure doesn't necessary extend to figure skating itself.
As for Evan -- he did get a bit of media attention from being second on Dancing with the Stars, but he sort of disappeared, PR wise, after that. There was a few reports about him coming back and all, but he didn't really put himself out there.
On the other hand, he got plenty of endorsements, so perhaps from his standpoint, that's all he needed...
All I can say is marketing yourself can be a challenge...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/f...-will-endorsements-follow.html?pagewanted=all
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I really wish they would. I remember seeing figure skating on ESPN's Sportscenter once, and it was a 5-second clip during their "Top 10" at the end of the show, when Stephane Lambiel won his first world title. They showed a quick clip of him landing a quad, and then a shot of him at the awards ceremony holding up his gold medal while the commentator said something like, "...and he gets this shiny bauble." They clearly weren't taking it seriously.
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- Feb 16, 2014
Hmm, I don't agree with any of these except for #1. I think you have to go out of your way to find skating on tv nowadays. And I don't get why you would go on a spiel about women preferring taller men, and then say women are more inclined to watch ladies' skating. Why would that be? I don't mind watching the ladies, but I don't see anything inherently more interesting about them. The men are doing harder elements and have more variety in their programs, so it's more exciting to me. And the fact that some of them are also quite attractive is just a bonus. I definitely do NOT agree that tv coverage of men should be reduced, but yes, it would be wonderful if pairs and ice dance were shown. Ideally the coverage would just be expanded, but not at the expense of any other discipline.
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Not likeable, very little showing of personality, looked cold to people sometimes, always asking for more money from USFS...
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Max is two inches shorter than me - possibly more, depending on how much his "official" height is exaggerated. (You know, like Yagudin claiming to be 5'9" and yet being visibly several inches shorter than Plushenko who was really 5'9".)
Joshua is my height or taller but I couldn't go for him. Can't go for someone you've been watching since they were a weedy little kid.
To me, Evan and Maxim Trankov look soooooo sleazy I can't even. Personal preference.
Still reckon this boyband thing is worth a shot. Let's see, Jason plays the piano, Josh plays piano and guitar, Max plays drums, Lukas plays guitar, Tim and Ricky on the violin (I think?)...reckon this could work, they're all cute in different ways, could be a viable option.
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- Feb 10, 2014
Gosh, I'm a new (less than a year) figure skating fan, female, and disagree with much of what you have said in this thread. Mens is my favorite discipline, I rarely watch pairs or ice dance, I only watch a few female skaters & would loathe your formula for TV. I don't watch skating for romance or passion, but for athleticism, artistry and creativity. I also like football, because it's strategic. And I really don't care if male figure skaters are tall or short.
My point is that you are a woman, but you're reducing us to lowest common denominator stereotypes, and making pronouncements about figure skating based on dating surveys. Truthfully, it's a bit ridiculous.
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I completely agree with you! The men's discipline is my favorite also! I've also been a fan for less than a year as well (9 1/2 months). I also don't mind if skaters are tall or short as well.I watch for athleticism, artistry and creativity as well.
The whole argument of "men's skating doesn't even appeal to women!" relies on several huge assumptions:
1) That women have only one type of preferred man (tall, masculine, handsome?)
2) That women watch figure skating solely for the romance factor. Again, not true, or else pairs/ice dance would be much bigger than they are. While women's singles is more popular than men's in the States, I don't think pairs/ice dance are doing any better than men's.
3) That women watch male skaters they are attracted to. There's no way to prove this right or wrong, but it's not true for me at least. My favourite skaters aren't necessarily the ones I find most handsome.
If even one of these assumptions is wrong--and there's ample evidence to believe all three may in fact be wrong--then sorenkay's point doesn't stand.
Mind you, I'm a woman who was brought in to figure skating by a female skater (Michelle Kwan) and I do often enjoy the women's field more than the men's. But that's because the women tend to bomb less and make less disruptive errors (URs vs. falls). Nothing to do with male skaters' heights/attractiveness/romantic appeal.
1) That women have only one type of preferred man (tall, masculine, handsome?)
2) That women watch figure skating solely for the romance factor. Again, not true, or else pairs/ice dance would be much bigger than they are. While women's singles is more popular than men's in the States, I don't think pairs/ice dance are doing any better than men's.
3) That women watch male skaters they are attracted to. There's no way to prove this right or wrong, but it's not true for me at least. My favourite skaters aren't necessarily the ones I find most handsome.
If even one of these assumptions is wrong--and there's ample evidence to believe all three may in fact be wrong--then sorenkay's point doesn't stand.
Mind you, I'm a woman who was brought in to figure skating by a female skater (Michelle Kwan) and I do often enjoy the women's field more than the men's. But that's because the women tend to bomb less and make less disruptive errors (URs vs. falls). Nothing to do with male skaters' heights/attractiveness/romantic appeal.
Plushenko is 5'10. Judging by pictures/him standing next to other people, I don't think his official height is exaggerated. You're correct on Yagudin though--he's definitely more than 3cm shorter.
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I kind of laughed when I read those posts by sorenkay. They truly are ridiculous and borderline sexist.
That reminds me of an interview that was done several years ago there was an American football player who was very short and he was being interviewed and they said 'your official height is 5'8" tall' and he replied 'depends how tall my cleats are'. (Sorry slightly off topic)
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Max is two inches shorter than me - possibly more, depending on how much his "official" height is exaggerated. (You know, like Yagudin claiming to be 5'9" and yet being visibly several inches shorter than Plushenko who was really 5'9".)
Joshua is my height or taller but I couldn't go for him. Can't go for someone you've been watching since they were a weedy little kid.
To me, Evan and Maxim Trankov look soooooo sleazy I can't even. Personal preference.
Still reckon this boyband thing is worth a shot. Let's see, Jason plays the piano, Josh plays piano and guitar, Max plays drums, Lukas plays guitar, Tim and Ricky on the violin (I think?)...reckon this could work, they're all cute in different ways, could be a viable option.
How tall are you?
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I think that the problem with US men in the early 2000s that Todd was disappointed about was that the US didn't have anyone with 'star' power. The only one looking back that I would say was close was Mike Weiss. It was all about the quad then and "No-Quad Todd" was competing against Weiss and Goebel who regularly attempted quads. I can appreciate a lot of Todd's skating, but I thought he was bland and boring as all to watch.
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I find your statement quite interesting. First of all Todd skated in a different era, secondly the only thing he really has that Jeremy doesn't is a World's medal and a few more Nationals medals. Jeremy has plenty of loyal supporters and we aren't just talking about those in Japan. And when Todd did skate, he never really seemed like Mr. Personality and extremely loved and sought after.
Side note: I didn't have time to read this whole thread before posting.
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I have to disagree strongly.
Whenever I go to a FS event, the men are in a huge minority. I didn't count it but I would assume we talk about 1 / 100.
Men also seldom skate in front of empty rows, the girls however often do so especially those in the first groups.
Just look at Joubert or Plushenko, show me a lady that is as popular at the opposite gender as those are.
Sure there are some Asian skaters who have a couple of male fans, I met several but its nothing compared to the amount of ladies that these two womanziers can get.
Sad but true is, that not many men watch FS and if you now attack those that do and claim they only watch it due short skirts and skin then I don't know how we will ever get more men into FS as long that prejudice exists.
I never saw anything like this in soccer, its totally normal for a girl to watch soccer and I wish we would some day reach the same in FS or Gymnastics.
Don't let a whole gender pay for the wrongs of a small amount of those who belong to it.
I get comments all the time as a girl watching who watches soccer. Every time a guy asks me for my favourite player their first reaction is always to ask me if it's because I think they're cute. It is not seen as totally normal, not yet. And I said lots of guys, not all men, when figure skating came around I saw lots of comments on reddit where people said they were only watching for the women. Many of them don't get the scoring system and to them every jump was the same. It's looking at casual 4 year watchers, not actual male figure skating fans or people who are actually interested. They asked actual questions while caosual viewers said they didn't care, just this performance was prettier than the other. Also I'm speaking from my personal experience, when I spoke about watching the Olympics, many of the guys I spoke to only knew about Yuna Kim and Mao Asada's rivalry.
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Swoon wise??? If we are saying swoon wise in the context of sexy, appealing in a carnal way that would probably take away all the Japanese men and Asian men who on these posts tend to be more popular but not for their looks for whatever reason - smaller stature and build etc. Though I hate stereotypes. I guess on these posts you have Fernandez against Andrew Poje. I wouldn't say Jason Brown is swoon worthy more just popular but in a non sexual way from what I can see/ read.
