Sasha Cohen, Haydenettes win MK trophy

skatingfan5 · Jun 17, 2004

Sasha Cohen and the Haydenettes synchro team have tied for this year's SKATING magazine readers' choice award for skater of the year for 2004, and won the Michelle Kwan trophy (Michelle won it 7 times, so last year they named the trophy after her and "retired" her from consideration). First year for a tie and first year a synchro team has won. Congrats to them all!

lil_icesk8er915 · Jun 17, 2004

Hooray! I voted for Sasha! I'm gald Haydenettes won too! They are amazing! Congratulations!

show 42 · Jun 17, 2004

Excellent for both Sasha and the Haydenettes..........42

IDLERACER · Jun 17, 2004

It must be weird having a trophy on your mantle that's named after your archrival. While they're on the road with C.O.I, I wonder if she's thinking to herself, "Hmmm. Perhaps someday Michelle will have a Sasha Cohen trophy on her shelf."

bronxgirl · Jun 17, 2004

IDLERACER said:
It must be weird having a trophy on your mantle that's named after your archrival. While they're on the road with C.O.I, I wonder if she's thinking to herself, "Hmmm. Perhaps someday Michelle will have a Sasha Cohen trophy on her shelf."

I was wondering if some of the uberfans weren't thinking the exact same thing!

berthes ghost · Jun 18, 2004

The whole thing is bizzare.

1) Naming an award after an athlete who's still competing!?! :eek:

2) Excluding one athlete as forbidden to win!?! :eek:

What's the point of having a "most popular" award if exclusions are involved? Can you imagine; " Readers, choose your favorite celebrity that isn't Briitney, Beckham, a cast member of Friends, Oprah or Pricess Diana"? :laugh:

Lotta · Jun 18, 2004

I guess Sasha can now wake up with Michelle next to her. :laugh:

thisthingcalledlove · Jun 19, 2004

Congratulations to Sasha and the Haydenettes...

I guess for Sasha, it would be like Tonya Harding winning the Nancy Kerrigan award, or Debi Thomas winning the KW award LOL

Mathman · Jun 20, 2004

I can't read Sasha's mind, of course, but I don't see how she can be anything but pleased to be honored as the most popular figure skater by a vote of the fans. Although Michelle is still competing, I think Sasha is mature enough to recognize that Michelle is a great champion who set the bar, reset it, then set it again, with respect both to skating excellence and to popularity among skating enthusiasts and the general public.

Sasha is right on course. To me it seems like a natural progression. As Michelle gets older, the younger fans begin to admire the new kid on the block.

I am a little bit curious about the voting procedure. As I understand it, there is a vote among the subscribers to the magazine. Are they really saying that the exact same number of readers voted for the Hydenettes as for Sasha? Or are there separate categories? I noticed from the web site that fifth place in the voting also went to a synchronized team, the Crystalettes. I wonder if there was some kind of push this year to get more recognition for this sport.

Here are a couple of factoids that caught my eye about the history of this award. Although Michelle Kwan won it seven times, her wins weren't consecutive. Tara Lipinski, Todd Eldredge and Michael Weiss were honored in various years in between.

The 1991 Readers' Choice Award went to Tonya Harding.

Mathman

gezando · Jun 20, 2004

There are no separate categories. I am curious why some folks seem to be so surprise that the Haydenettes are capable of winning the Michelle Kwan trophy. They won nationals fourteen times ???, that is 14 times more than Sasha Cohen. Is it 14 times more? If Cohen has one national title and the Haydenettes have 14 titles that is fourteen times right? But Cohen has zero national title, and the Haydenettes have 14 is that still fourteen times? Since I am math challenged I am not quite sure.

I don't know what "is there a push for synchro this year" means. Since the voters are all subscribers of the mag, the readers determine who is worthy of the Michelle Kwan trophy. If there are any "push", it is from within the readers, nothing external.

Mathman · Jun 20, 2004

What I was mainly curious about was the fact that there could possibly be a tie at all. Presumably thousands of people voted. Were there some hanging chads, or was the vote really something like Sasha: 129834; Haydennettes: 129834; Johnny Weir (third place): 129833. Or did the publishers just say, well, the two top vote-getters are pretty close, so we wll give out two prizes.

Or was there is French Judge in the mix whose vote had to be thrown out?

Just curious.

Anyway, I am still surprised that a champion synchro team received as much support as the most popular singles skaters. Synchro skating gets pretty close to zero publicity, no TV air time, no national tours, etc. Most people hardly know the sport exists.

Sasha, on the other hand, is all over the map these days, and has a very loyal following among young fans especially. I could well imagine, for instance, all the people from the Sasha web sites and fan clubs emailing each other to be sure to vote for their girl.

Mathman

gezando · Jun 20, 2004

Mathman said:
Anyway, I am still surprised that a champion synchro team received as much support as the most popular singles skaters. Synchro skating gets pretty close to zero publicity, no TV air time, no national tours, etc. Most people hardly know the sport exists.

Sasha, on the other hand, is all over the map these days, and has a very loyal following among young fans especially. I could well imagine, for instance, all the people from the Sasha web sites and fan clubs emailing each other to be sure to vote for their girl.

Mathman

I thought the most popular singles skater is Yags ( just look at the in house poll) He is not eligible to win the Michelle Kwan trophy. I think synchro skating has a huge following.

Mathman · Jun 20, 2004

Well, I thought about mentioning the continuing popularity of skaters who are not eligible to win the trophy, but I didn't want to sound like I was trying to rain on anyone's parade.

About synchronized skating, I had the pleasure of seeing my first live synchro perfromance last week at the Detorit Skating Club show. It was great. Like watching a huge kaleidoscope opening and closing and turning inside out. I hope this sport continues to grow in popularity. Winning contests of this kind is sure to help draw attention to the sport.

Mathman

PS. Actually, now I am doubly curious and I would be interested in hearing other people's opinions. Does snychronized skating really have a huge following?

nthuz · Jun 20, 2004

Just to clarify:

The award is the "Reader's Choice Award" for skater of the year.

The TROPHY given for that award is the "Michelle Kwan Trophy".

I was present at the 2003 governing council banquet at which the new trophy was unveiled, much to MK's surprise, during a well done presentation that included a very cool video compilation of her acheivements that I wish I could see again.

Piel · Jun 20, 2004

Which would be more upsetting to Sasha, to win the MK trophy or or for another skater to win the MK trophy? I think most skaters would be thrilled to win a trophy named after the zamboni driver. It's not like it's one of the REAL awards where they get to meet Spngebob :love:

and get the surfboard

.

purplecat · Jun 20, 2004

Mathman, the readers are supposed to vote for one single skater, pair, dance team or synchro team for "skater of the year." It has to be a U.S. eligible skater or team (with the exception of Michelle). I'm a subscriber and I voted for Sasha.

Keep in mind that Skating Magazine is the official publication of the USFS and I think those who are members of the USFS get the magazine sent to them (I get it as just a fan who subscribes). Anyway, I'm sure there is a huge bulk of synchro skaters then who get the magazine and perhaps their "hero" is the Haydenettes rather than a singles skater which produced the result. Whether it was an exact tie or a statistical tie I don't know!

BTW, Kristi Yamaguchi was the first ever recipient of the Reader's Choice Award back in 1989!

(And I wasn't a subscriber back then!

)

Mathman · Jun 20, 2004

Thanks, Purplecat, you're my fave. I wish Kristi were eligible, LOL.

MM

BravesSkateFan · Jun 20, 2004

math

hmm...can't seem to find the quote button on this new layout...but someone asked...

that is 14 times more than Sasha Cohen. Is it 14 times more? If Cohen has one national title and the Haydenettes have 14 titles that is fourteen times right? But Cohen has zero national title, and the Haydenettes have 14 is that still fourteen times? Since I am math challenged I am not quite sure.

If you say that the Haydenettes won Nationals 14 times more than Sasha... that means 14x the number that Sasha has won
If you say they have won 14 more times than Sasha that means 14+ the number Sasha has won.
So the Hadyenettes have one 14 more times than Sasha.
Its really more of a grammar thing than a math thing. LOL
Hope that helps.

gezando · Jun 21, 2004

If you say that the Haydenettes won Nationals 14 times more than Sasha... that means 14x the number that Sasha has won

But Sasha has won zero nationals, so 14 X zero = zero?

lavender · Jun 21, 2004

Honestly

Well if Michelle were eligible there wouldn't have been a tie because she would have won once again since she is still the most popular skater regardless of this past season. I guess I thought Sasha would be popular enough to win on her won. Maybe next year if she wins her first major title.

Sasha Cohen, Haydenettes win MK trophy

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