Carol Lane commentating on the Rostelecom

GGFan · Nov 5, 2017

Snow63 said:
I still find it hard to understand why people believe that commentators can behave like ordinary fans. There's such a thing as 'professionalism'. Google it.

I think standards of journalism and commentating are being conflated here. I would expect a sports journalist--who is from a profession with standards about sources, objectivity, etc.--to behave differently from a commentator. As I've mentioned before there are things that commentators can per se say that are wrong or offensive (statements which are racist, sexist, etc). This was not one of these things.

Kurt and David were hired because they were former skaters and they both have expertise about what's going on on the ice and views about the sport. Nothing that they said is unprofessional or out of bounds for commentary: they are allowed to opine about backloading. Some may not like the way David said it and everyone is allowed to disagree. But lets be careful about saying or implying that they said something unprofessional, illegal, or unethical.

zytolda · Nov 5, 2017

GGFan said:
I think standards of journalism and commentating are being conflated here. I would expect a sports journalist--who is from a profession with standards about sources, objectivity, etc.--to behave differently from a commentator. As I've mentioned before there are things that commentators can per se say that are wrong or offensive (statements which are racist, sexist, etc). This was not one of these things.

Kurt and David were hired because they were former skaters and they both have expertise about what's going on on the ice and views about the sport. Nothing that they said is unprofessional or out of bounds for commentary: they are allowed to opine about backloading. Some may not like the way David said it and everyone is allowed to disagree. But lets be careful about saying or implying that they said something unprofessional, illegal, or unethical.

for me it was unprofessional and disrespectful

GGFan · Nov 5, 2017

zytolda said:
for me it was unprofessional and disrespectful

Have people lost track of what professionalism actually is? I have yet to hear the rule or standard that David and Kurt broke. Have you looked into the history of sports commentating at all? Commentators have opinions. You may have a team where one person is a journalist who just describes and someone who gives opinions. Those are two different roles.

People are turning, "a commentator said something I disagree with or was snarky," into "a commentator was offensive and should lose his job." Please get some perspective. Strong opinions abound in the world and does not mean that someone should lose his/her livelihood. My not wanting to hear about Michelle Kwan's less than ideal layback did not make it any less than ideal.

qwertyskates · Nov 5, 2017

I find this behavior from sports commentators shocking, and no wonder it's open season on Alina on here and everywhere.

They lead by example - hey guys, you can simply insult a 15 year old Russian skater on international media if you don't like her.:disapp:

Seriously, adult men and women cracking jokes about toilet breaks during a star athlete's performance?

Let's consider the irony here.

Endless complaints within the figure skating community that Figure Skating is not only about jumps, jumps, jumps.

When Alina and Medvedeva decide to then put StepSquences and Spins front and center and the jumps at the back it's "Nothing to see until the jumps."

Can some of you guys defending Carol Lane and her irk explain this double standards to me?

GGFan · Nov 5, 2017

qwertyskates said:
I find this behavior from sports commentators shocking, and no wonder it's open season on Alina on here and everywhere.

They lead by example - hey guys, you can simply insult a skater on international media if you don't like them.

Let's consider the irony here.

Endless complaints within the figure skating community that FS is not about jumps, jumps, jumps.

When Alina and Medvedeva decide to then put StepSquences and Spins front and center and the jumps at the back it's "Nothing to see until the jumps."

Can some of you guys defending Carol Lane and her irk explain this double standards to me?

Please stop this. First, as has already been mentioned the Carol Lane situation and this one is different so stop trying to conflate them. Kurt and David do not coach opposing teams. That was discussed and this discussion is separate.

People are complicated and we're always trying to rebalance the sport. Again, in 2010 men's figure skating there was a huge debate. People felt like quads were not being rewarded enough, etc. and things changed. Some now feel like we've moved too far in the other direction. Those are normal discussions that are had in sports.

Second, it is quite easy to hold both positions. They are not mutually exclusive. You could think that a program should be about more than jumps and think that the jumps should happen throughout the program. There's no contradiction or double standard there. We have a long history of skaters who have pulled it off.

icetigger · Nov 5, 2017

That the figure skating commentary on CBC is often malicious in its attitude to non-Canadian skaters is as obvious as the fact Kurt Browning is bald. A hat fools no-one.

GGFan · Nov 5, 2017

My best friend, who is a teacher recently told me that it's hard for some administrators to discipline kids who fight because now everyone claims that everyone else is a bully. There seems to be a playbook:

1. Pretend there is some standard or rule that does not actually exist.
2. Claim that the other side broke said rule
3. Use words like "disrespectful" or "offensive" or phrases like "lack class"
4. Label others as haters.
5. Take a moral high ground and conflate everyone who disagrees as belonging to the other side.

I'm sorry, as someone who knows about historical injustices like racism and sexism I'm not buying these attempts. David and Kurt's commentary was within the realm of commentary that folks can and should disagree with, but let's stop trying to make this an international incident. It totally takes the wind out of complaints that are actually legitimate.

samkrut@mail.ru · Nov 5, 2017

GGFan said:
My best friend, who is a teacher recently told me that it's hard for some administrators to discipline kids who fight because now everyone claims that everyone else is a bully. There seems to be a playbook:

1. Pretend there is some standard or rule that does not actually exist.
2. Claim that the other side broke said rule
3. Use words like "disrespectful" or "offensive" or phrases like "lack class"
4. Label others as haters.
5. Take a moral high ground and conflate everyone who disagrees as belonging to the other side.

I'm sorry, as someone who knows about historical injustices like racism and sexism I'm not buying these attempts. David and Kurt's commentary was within the realm of commentary that folks can and should disagree with, but let's stop trying to make this an international incident. It totally takes the wind out of complaints that are actually legitimate.

Well, it's hard to deny that cultural differences exist same as the boundaries of appropriateness. I lived and studied in the U.S. for more than 2 years but I can's boast I truly understand these boundaries from the point of view of an American. From Russian perspective, when the guys send the public to toilet when Zaitova skated is not appropriate for a TV commentator. On the other hand, when (TAT?) said that guys without quads skate like girls - it sounded more funny than harsh and within the limits. Russian culture is still more macho with jokes that would be impossible in the West being quite acceptable.

gsk8 · Nov 5, 2017

Time to move on folks.

Carol Lane commentating on the Rostelecom

GGFan

zytolda

GGFan

qwertyskates

GGFan

icetigger

GGFan

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Medalist

gsk8

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