I believe that Yagudin vs. Plushenko topic has turned in full force from the long post #219 with comprehensive videos in responding to post #214 where CDG used, "(though not as good as Yagudin's)". It appeared to me that Plushy ubers are so afraid of the mentioning of Yagudin's name, and rush to discredit him wherever it appears in relation to Plushenko.
Isn't that entertaining?!
Not afraid but get bored about every time when Plushenko is mentioned, someone has to jump out to say, hey Yagudin is better. Now of course with CSG, it seems Plushenko is just an average skater with very good jumping technique, so you wonder why Plushenko fans are not so chilled about it.
Personally I have no feeling about Yagudin's skating, his style is very good but not unique, maybe that is why I do not particular love his style. And I agree that in the competition when he won, he was better than Plushenko (in those competitions).
Their rivalry was so heated up and fans tend to argue who is better. Of course Yagudin's fans will say Yagudin was better, and Plushenko's fans would say the opposite, which is normal. And nobody really argue Yagudin's win in 2002, he was better in that competition, no doubt. What causes the argument is that in some people's mind, Yagudin is forever better than Plushenko because he beat him in 2002. But the fact is that when they were competed together, Plushenko is 3 years younger than Yagudin, something like Hanyu to Patrick, with the age difference and Yagudin in his prime, Plushenko is able to be the equal rivalry (and was able to win over), this is something extraordinary. Plushenko's artistry evolves continuously (not strictly from skating point of view, but from performing art in general) while keeping his technical ability at high level even today (if he is healthy). But when some people assume that Yagudin would get better and better (or other skaters) so that he would dominate if he could continue competing, they forget that Plushenko can also get better (in fact he did get better after Yagudin retires).
So not afraid of dropping Yagudin's name, but a bit bored at the assumption made.