Commentaries that enhanced your enjoyment

mrrice · Aug 31, 2015

iluvtodd said:
"Good for you, Lucinda Ruh" - Dick Button (and many more of the "Uncle Dickie" moments)!

I thought Dick was going to lose it with excitement over that performance. He ranted forever about how hard her spins were and how they should be worth more points than jumps. I loved it!

I also liked, "I love it, I love it" at the end of Tatyana Malinina's LP at Worlds in 1999.

Followed by Terry's, "She's looking for someone to High Five"

The 1999 Worlds are very special to me because it was there that I met World Champion Maria Butyrskaya!!!

By far my greatest figure skating moment.

rollerblade · Sep 1, 2015

During one of Michelle's step sequence, I remember Dick Button said she wears her emotions on her sleeves.... then Peggy said, well she isn't wearing any sleeves.

Cherryy · Sep 1, 2015

rollerblade said:
During one of Michelle's step sequence, I remember Dick Button said she wears her emotions on her sleeves.... then Peggy said, well she isn't wearing any sleeves.

I remember Uncle Dick saying it during her Tosca at Nationals, he was almost screaming from the excitement!

Culturevulture73 · Sep 1, 2015

A couple from Terry Gannon:

On Plushenko's Greatest Hits program: "More like a compilation of B-sides"

When someone was skating to Carmen, just deadpan, "Music that's been used once or twice."

On wearing gold with Johnny & Tara for the ladies final: "I'm accessorizing with you two - it's Armaggedon, the end of days."

Sunday on golf when Nick Faldo suggested he could come "join you and Johnny on ice skating": "You gotta dress appropriately."

jenaj · Sep 1, 2015

Dick Button on Michelle skating through the water at 2003 Worlds: "it doesn't make a rusty hoot!"

Chris and Nicky, Eurosport(I think): "the one, the only, Daisuke Takahashi!"

Sandra Bezic on Michelle Kwan at 1998 World Pro: "for Michelle, it's not about the jumps. It's about the passion to skate!"

CanadianSkaterGuy · Sep 1, 2015

TontoK said:
C'mon, CSG. Canada is typically a genuine medal threat in three of the four disciplines.

I miss Dick Button. Scott Hamilton is a hack in comparison.

Yeah, but the US and Russia are usually medal threats in all 4 disciplines. And until last 5 years, we'd usually only be good in 2 disciplines depending on the year (men's was usually solid -- ice dance was outside medal prospects with Bourne/Kraatz and nobody else, and pairs would have Sale/Pelletier and nobody else really as a medal threat - maybe Sergeant/Wirtz).

Although, I do remember that with Bourne/Kraatz and Sale/Pelletier, Underhill and Martini were the main commentators, and they got pretty biased during the 1998/2002 Olympics when those were Canada's main medal prospects (other than Elvis in 1998). Other than those two though I can't recall any other Canadian commentators being super biased, and most seemed genuinely happy for other countries' skaters winning and interested in their performances without being obviously critical of non-Canadian skaters. Even people like Rod Black were highly complimentary of skaters like Yagudin/Plushenko even though they were rivals of Stojko.

apgold · Sep 1, 2015

Culturevulture73 said:
A couple from Terry Gannon:

On Plushenko's Greatest Hits program: "More like a compilation of B-sides"

When someone was skating to Carmen, just deadpan, "Music that's been used once or twice."

On wearing gold with Johnny & Tara for the ladies final: "I'm accessorizing with you two - it's Armaggedon, the end of days."

Sunday on golf when Nick Faldo suggested he could come "join you and Johnny on ice skating": "You gotta dress appropriately."

I love Terry, or as Johnny calls him Sir Terrence. I remember during Nationals, I think he said about Josh Farris' SP - "I enjoyed the heck out of that!"

Terry makes Johnny and Tara easier to swallow. Actually, I would prefer Johnny with Terry and no Tara.

Jammers · Sep 1, 2015

I loved when Dick would get so excited he could barely form a sentence such as here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lH9mg_ZneA

sabinfire · Sep 1, 2015

apgold said:
I love Terry, or as Johnny calls him Sir Terrence. I remember during Nationals, I think he said about Josh Farris' SP - "I enjoyed the heck out of that!"

Terry makes Johnny and Tara easier to swallow. Actually, I would prefer Johnny with Terry and no Tara.

Terry Gannon is my spirit animal.

MaxSwagg · Sep 1, 2015

apgold said:
I love Terry, or as Johnny calls him Sir Terrence. I remember during Nationals, I think he said about Josh Farris' SP - "I enjoyed the heck out of that!"

Terry makes Johnny and Tara easier to swallow. Actually, I would prefer Johnny with Terry and no Tara.

I love the trio. Tara sometimes makes me go

, while other times I'm thinking "Why aren't you talking, Johnny?" :laugh:

CanadianSkaterGuy · Sep 1, 2015

Jammers said:
I loved when Dick would get so excited he could barely form a sentence such as here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lH9mg_ZneA

That's the performance I was looking for as an example of Dick rambling or fighting to find words that sort of made sense. :laugh:

shmay · Sep 1, 2015

Culturevulture73 said:
A couple from Terry Gannon:
On Plushenko's Greatest Hits program: "More like a compilation of B-sides"

Bahahahaha. Yes!

LiamForeman · Sep 1, 2015

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
That's the performance I was looking for as an example of Dick rambling or fighting to find words that sort of made sense.

LOL. Before I clicked on the link, I already knew it was Rudy's performance. "That's the best.... The best...." He really was tongue tied. What a great moment though.

el henry · Sep 1, 2015

CanadianSkaterGuy said:
That's the performance I was looking for as an example of Dick rambling or fighting to find words that sort of made sense.

Hmmm, that sounds almost critical of Uncle Dick here? Much like Scotty chuckling during Jason's performance, I loved Dick's "oh wow" breathlessness during Rudy's.

I will be ageist in my commentary here. Snarky commentary can be witty (i.e. Johnny's commentary on Kovtun's program: is he trying to say there are monsters in his closet? funny! :biggrin:

) but that commentary doesn't enhance my enjoyment. I'm too old to think that tossing off bons mots is helpful commentary. Let your passion (at least with singular performances such as Rudy's or Jason's) shine through, and I will be much more impressed. And moved.

actualrealliveanna · Sep 1, 2015

papagena said:
I didn't find it extreme or creepy. For me it enhanced the performance. In fact I agree with Kori Ade, who mentioned Scott's commentary as one reason that video went viral. YMMV.

I'm not saying extreme in a bad way, I felt the exact same way! That's what enhanced the performance for me- seeing Scott get just as excited as the crowd! And as for creepy, some of the noises he made hit my funny bone and me and my mom joked about them for a few days afterwards!

CanadianSkaterGuy · Sep 1, 2015

tugboat said:
The problem with Scott and Sandra was that his passion sounded gastrointestinal in nature, and hers would be better suited for a 900 number. How many times did we have to hear Scott grunting and yelling "…WITH NO SPEED!" This especially became a problem under CoP, too: what he values in skating has little to no relationship with what skaters need to do to win.

Give me Johnny's overly-arch try-hard comments any day. At least his voice is musical enough that it can be tuned out.

I think it was moreso him being impressed that a skater still "goes for it" and not just that, actually executes the element successfully, in spite of a loss of speed. I'm pretty sure he knows that jumps with more flow on the end are better. It's impressive to me too, seeing a skater think that they've had a shaky landing and are only able to tack on a double but then bust out a triple.

anthologyz · Sep 2, 2015

i still love dick's excited laughter as midori ito finished a flawless free skate in '88 calgary. and just to be a hater, sometimes, i'd crack up at peggy's sometimes inability to form grammatically correct sentences.

edenlover · Sep 6, 2015

anthologyz said:
i still love dick's excited laughter as midori ito finished a flawless free skate in '88 calgary. and just to be a hater, sometimes, i'd crack up at peggy's sometimes inability to form grammatically correct sentences.

Peggy did often have a problem with that, and it always surprised me that a journalist -- any journalist--would not use perfect grammar!

Jammers · Sep 6, 2015

edenlover said:
Peggy did often have a problem with that, and it always surprised me that a journalist -- any journalist--would not use perfect grammar!

I wouldn't call Peggy a journalist.

MaxSwagg · Sep 6, 2015

I wish Dick would commentate again. I'd love to hear his thoughts on current competitors...

Commentaries that enhanced your enjoyment

mrrice

rollerblade

Cherryy

Culturevulture73

jenaj

CanadianSkaterGuy

apgold

Jammers

sabinfire

Doing the needful

MaxSwagg

Match Penalty

CanadianSkaterGuy

shmay

LiamForeman

William/Uilyam

el henry

Go have some cake. And come back with jollity.

actualrealliveanna

CanadianSkaterGuy

anthologyz

edenlover

Jammers

MaxSwagg

Match Penalty

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