- Joined
- Feb 17, 2010
I truly believe NBC wants it that way.
I suppose that makes sense, as it benefits NBC to have a marquee name at the Olympics, and Ashley has the best shot at a medal of any American singles skater.
I truly believe NBC wants it that way.
I suppose that makes sense, as it benefits NBC to have a marquee name at the Olympics, and Ashley has the best shot at a medal of any American singles skater.
May be. But Scott could have tried to convince his bosses that there was a better story line. Better, that is, than, oh this crazy sport, I don't know if the judges in their whimsy or malice will give it to the American girl (yay!) or the foreigner (boo!)Tinichelle said:I truly believe NBC wants it that way.
I agree that Scott and Sandra were partial to Ashley, but honestly it is really hard to commentate these events live. As Scott mentioned, he hasn't a clue where these skaters will end up, even after they perform. It's almost funny to watch the commentators guess wrong at the placements and then not express any surprise that they were so wrong. Two programs can look identical but one with four URs can be 20 points lower. In addition, falls aren't as bad as they used to be; Ashley's lutz probably looked fine to the casual viewer yet it scored lower than Mao's fall on the 3A (not counting the fall penalty).
ITA. I think it's very complicated to commentate these events live.
For example: Asada in this SA. When I watched Asada's FS, I was not sure what scores she would get from her second 3F. To me, it seemed to be underrotated, but in the end, there was no underrotation call in the protocole. Her cautious performance after a hard fall on 3A didn't affect Asada's PCS.
I'm not a fan of Scott and Sandra, but it's understandable the way they do their jobs.
May be. But Scott could have tried to convince his bosses that there was a better story line. Better, that is, than, oh this crazy sport, I don't know if the judges in their whimsy or malice will give it to the American girl (yay!) or the foreigner (boo!)
They could have played it as, here is a chance for the American champion to measure herself against the two-time world champion and reigning Olympic silver medalist, Mao Asada of Japan. Wagner gave an excellent performance, and Asada left the door open by falling on her biggest element - a triple Axel, which no other lady attempts. But Asada had a decisive edge in spin levels and fundamental edging skills, which translates into enough points in the scoring system to keep her safely ahead. And here are the scores...yup, this reflects the gap in the blah, blah, and blah. These are the areas that Wagner needs to focus on as she continues her quest for a third straight U.S. championship and a possible Olympic medal for the good ol' U.S. of A.
May be. But Scott could have tried to convince his bosses that there was a better story line. Better, that is, than, oh this crazy sport, I don't know if the judges in their whimsy or malice will give it to the American girl (yay!) or the foreigner (boo!)
They could have played it as, here is a chance for the American champion to measure herself against the two-time world champion and reigning Olympic silver medalist, Mao Asada of Japan. Wagner gave an excellent performance, and Asada left the door open by falling on her biggest element - a triple Axel, which no other lady attempts. But Asada had a decisive edge in spin levels and fundamental edging skills, which translates into enough points in the scoring system to keep her safely ahead. And here are the scores...yup, this reflects the gap in the blah, blah, and blah. These are the areas that Wagner needs to focus on as she continues her quest for a third straight U.S. championship and a possible Olympic medal for the good ol' U.S. of A.
^Scott's idea of helping the audience understand the scoring is to say, boy this new system sure is complicatted, every little thing you do is worth a tenth of a point, you pretty much have to be Einstein with a big computer to tell who skated well or poorly. He cannot in real life be as befuddled as he pretends to be on the air. This just makes viewers think that figure skating judging is some sort of arcane alchemy, which is a very misleading idea that is harmful to the sport.
I was watching baseball with my husband and was floored by how coherent their announcers are. It is really only skating and gymnastics announcers that can't explain the scoring. It IS complicated but it is ALSO explainable. (My husband was in turn shocked by how useless figureskating commentators are.) At the very least they could easliy present a discussion on seaon bests for TES and PCS.
Mao's FS posted by a fan who recorded the video in the arena.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5tR44Y-X9Y
Love this video! You can see how much ice she covers with each stroke.
Great points. There's a lot of data now with IJS. When you watch basketball, baseball and football, there's a lot of time at the beginning of a competition spent on looking at past performance stats. There's also a lot of talk about "style of play" that isn't quite tangible but can explain reasons for success.
For example, during the NCAA Championship game last year, commentators talked about how Louisville's strategy was about full-court press while U. of Michigan were a finesse team that knew how to handle the ball well. That's not a stat, but very useful information as you watch those teams play.
It would have been beneficial to talk about that while Mao had a tendency to UR jumps sometimes or doesn't have a 3-3 that her skating skills, choreography, etc gives her considerable higher scores in PCS. Or talk about how Ashley struggled with spin levels last season, which is an area that Mao does.
Instead they focus solely on one or two elements (i.e. 3-3 or 3A) so when they don't quite succeed, then people assume it's all over.
If NBC took the approach and hired someone who has just left the sport and therefore current in IJS to cover each discipline, it would better serve them to help explain the sport and potentially keep the fan base alive. They could also provide video references to elements....ie what are the bullet points for layback spins, etc.
I'm so confused. Why are people saying Mao didn't skate well here? She landed the 3A in the SP; yes it was 2-footed but it wasn't a disruptive/jarring 2-foot landing. She finished out the rest of the gorgeous program cleanly. Yes, she fell on her 3A in the FS and took out some of the difficulty but she landed all 5 triple jumps she attempted and got level 4s on everything...how is that not skating well? She didn't get < on any of her triples other than the 3A...the program was very nice and suits her well.
Considering Mao has never been a strong beginning-of-the-season skater and seeing as how she didn't land 5 triples until nationals last year, I thought this was a wonderful start to her season. Yes she was a little overscored but I do think the outcome was 100% correct. What am I missing?
Ashley Wagner...well, I like her as a person and think she's making great progress on upping her technical content (3F+3T, just like she said she would!) as well as landing her jumps with such steadiness and confidence...but her programs this year are so blah. Oh, Mr. Wilson, you are amazing but this is such a dud of a Long Program and her SP makes her look like a Shae-Lynn wannabe without Shae-Lynn's natural sensuality but injected with Tonya Harding style. I don't intend to be mean, but this is my honest opinion. I'm so torn, because she's improved greatly in one area and yet disappointed in another. And unfortunately, it's true that her overall basics aren't at Asada's level.