What a sad, bitter man. Really pathetic. He clearly has no respect for anything in skating other than jumps, despite any of his protests to the contrary. My level of respect for him drops each time he puts pen to paper or opens his mouth. He appears to have a lot of unresolved baggage, still fighting the battle of 1994.
Seems to me like he is approaching his thinking with the same narrow sledge hammer approach that he used in his skating. Skating is cyclical. Standards evolve over time and preferences come and go. The same is true in football, tennis, basketball or any other sport. The goal is not always to put more points on the board. Sometimes, it's to restore balance or sound fundamentals. For example, tennis went through a nearly 20 year period when serve speeds were ratcheting up exponentially. It seemed the other players were never going to catch up and fans were getting bored. That does not negate any of Pete Sampras' or Boris Becker's titles, it's just that there were other ways to play the game that did not get sufficient attention. Still, they were the standard of their era and the powers that be endorsed that approach by building faster courts and using lighter balls knowing full well that the rallies would be shorter or even non-existent. Eventually though, the baseliners started to adjust and at the same time officials started using different surface technology to encourage more balanced play. If they hadn't, it's arguable that Rafael Nadal would never have been the star that he is, and to a lesser extent Roger Federer (the most balanced player of all time).
The 70s were mostly about pushing artistic boundaries, while much of the 80's and 90's were about pushing jumping boundaries with less and less attention on anything else. In both periods, whoever lived up to the in vogue ideal tended to win. Now the system in place is attempting to show that there is more than one way to win. There is NOTHING wrong with that. That makes the sport more legitimate in my opinion because it is fair to the widest range of people. For example if Verner had Plushenko's competitive drive, he'd be in the running for every major title, if not the favorite because he would have no real weakness.
IMO, skating has been totally damaged by this soundbite era that we live in. Too many people can only focus on one thing at a time and seem incapable of stepping outside themselves to look at situations from different perspectives or to judge other people with out bias. The hate displayed for Evan and other skaters throughout this forum in countless other threads is shameful and frankly the type of juvenile behavior you would expect from first grade children. They want a short, narrow explanation and if they don't get their way, they throw a temper tantrum Stojko and Plushenko clearly appear to fall into this camp. Maybe they should start posting here. They'd be welcomed with open arms.
It's figure skating not figure jumping. While some people may not realize this, this battle for balance in skating has been raging for 60 years with different opinions holding sway. That will always be the case.
If you like jumping so much, go to track and field. This is skating.
