Christine Brennan Sounds Off Again!

[andromache]

Christine Brennan has decades of experience covering skating and interacting directly with the athletes and officials involved. Phil Hersh has even more experience. They're honest in their criticisms and some people might not like that, and it's obvious others just dislike that they don't treat skaters with kid gloves - they treat figure skating like any other sport, where criticism and sometimes harshness is FINE.

As to everyone complaining about Christine's North American bias - first off, let's remember she's writing for a US audience during the Olympics. Second, yeah, I'm soooooo sure that all of the Russian journalists who cover skating are totallllllly unbiased and that they're so kind to US and Canadian skaters.

 

[iamchrislao]

LOL at this article!

Everyone before Alina's burst onto the scene: Oh no, the ritberger combo is gone! we will never see it again. People wanna play safe so they do the 3toe instead of the 3loop as the back end of their combo to ensure full rotation. it is so difficult to have a loop combo ratified, blah blah

*alina zagitova shows up and lands a gazillion ratified ritberger combo*

Alina to everyone: You're welcome!

 

[yelyoh]

Brennan's first book on figure skating, Inside Edge, was named by Sports Illustrated as one if the top 100 books ever written about sports. (Her second book, The Edge of Glory, is even better, IMHO.) She was the founding president of the Association of Women in Sports Media and a pioneer for opportunities for women in journalism.

She liked Medvedeva's performances better than Zagitova's. Is that a crime? So did Johnny Weir. Brennan is not a big fan of the whole CoP scoring thing, but that's a whole 'nother topic. (I mean," that's another topic altogether.")

Exactly!!! If you listened to T & J's prediction as to who won (this occurred right after Med's LP) Johnny thought it was Med (J was the more "artistic" skater in his day) and Tara went for Zag (Tara was the more technical). What one values does of course influence one's perspectives. That is what arts criticism is about for sure. It is unavoidable. I am so happy that CB writes about FSing. I am grateful for the attention she brings to the sport. Would it be better if there were alternative perspectives in FSing journalism? Of course, but she (and Phil) are just about all we have.

- - - Updated - - -

Christine Brennan has decades of experience covering skating and interacting directly with the athletes and officials involved. Phil Hersh has even more experience. They're honest in their criticisms and some people might not like that, and it's obvious others just dislike that they don't treat skaters with kid gloves - they treat figure skating like any other sport, where criticism and sometimes harshness is FINE.

As to everyone complaining about Christine's North American bias - first off, let's remember she's writing for a US audience during the Olympics. Second, yeah, I'm soooooo sure that all of the Russian journalists who cover skating are totallllllly unbiased and that they're so kind to US and Canadian skaters.

\

Yup!!!

 

[silverfoxes]

I don't know of any person in real life who reads USA Today...it's as relevant as she is, which is to say not at all. It's a paper for the barely literate and non-internet savvy. Who cares what she says, really?

 

[quadrupleaxel15]

Yeah, ok, let's bash a skater for being able to win. Makes sense.

Evgenia is a better artist and she already gets the higher PCS for it. I never understand this ''It looks better to my eyes, therefore it should win. '' argument.

I think there is a cultural background issue with this whole Alina is a terrible artist claim. The whole world either reads or watches the story of Karenina at some point and it's something we can all appreciate. I do not come from a ballet-oriented culture and I would guess most of us here do not go watch ballet more than we read novels. I have watched Kitri variations after someone recommended them and the whole thing makes sense to me now. Granted, Alina is not the best balletic person out there but considering that she is trying her best on ice with an entirely different set of rules we can say that it's still ballet-like in its artistic nature. A lot of people are saying that Evgenia spoke to their souls but Alina did nothing. Well, it's okay. But consider for a second that maybe you don't like ballet and that's it.

To be honest, it is genius to give a ballet program to a ''jumping-bean'' because it turns a deficiency into a form of art. It is a different form of art and not a lot of people will appreciate it, but it is still an art.

I guess Brennan just wants the clicks and comments because there is nothing in it that actually speaks of the scores and how they should be. I have seen a lot of comments from the Olympics-only audience that repeated the same thing '' Evgenia should win 'cuz I liked it more.'' Okay darling but there is a detailed scoring system you know. It doesn't work the best everytime but we have a way of evaluating stuff and you should check it sometime. I think the article is just written for those people who would be happy to boost their egos until the next Olympics.

Anyways, I am off to watch some Kitri videos. I really like them now.

 

[Osmond4gold]

According to the article; Brennan swiftly tweeted: “Texting with US Olympic judge Joe Inman. He would have had it Med, Osmond and Zag in that order because of balance of Osmond’s program, her speed and her interpretation of music’s details.”

While I too agree that Kaetlyn scores (between the SP and the FS) should have been closer to Alina and Evgenia, they are what they are. Do we really want another 4 year of this type of a dialogue? It's done folks, different judges saw what they saw, lets save ourselves a lot of grief and accept the things we cannot change.

 

[chopinskate]

It's also just one judge. Who cares?

 

[Mango]

I think for me it's just that I never hear positive things from these journalists? Like once Phil referred to one skater as a 'poor man's version' of another skater. That's just beyond harsh. Criticism should make sense IMO. E.g. In the IFS article for podium predictions they pointed out that Tarasova/Morosov's FS is not up to the level of the other pairs. That eventually did end up hurting them.

I guess I'm too used to people like Beverely Smith, Pj Kwong, and Lori Ewing to get the hang of Christine and Phil, despite their long histories.

 

[[email protected]]

As to everyone complaining about Christine's North American bias - first off, let's remember she's writing for a US audience during the Olympics. Second, yeah, I'm soooooo sure that all of the Russian journalists who cover skating are totallllllly unbiased and that they're so kind to US and Canadian skaters.

What is different about Russian journalists, they do not pick on strong American skaters like Nathan Chen when Russia has little to offer. I would suggest her to focus on some more relevant topics to the US audience. Like if 6 quads of Nathan Chen are going to kill artistry in men's figure skating. Or if there is any hope for American ladies skating. Why is she so obsessed with Alina vs. Evgeniya?

 

[ancientpeas]

If google translate ever gets any better maybe we can judge the journalists in other, non-english speaking countries better. Right now I certainly wouldn't know if Russian sports journalists say bad things about Canadian or American athletes because I haven't read it myself. Same goes for Chinese or Japanese journalists. I have to say I was surprised by what other Russian skaters had to say. They are way more critical of bad performances than any Canadian skater would dare to be. I can never imagine any former Olympian here saying what some of the former Russian skaters said about Mikael. Maybe it's cultural. It does seem like maybe Russians prefer brutal honesty? (Just a hypothesis based on what I've seen)

I would expect that, just like in Canada, journalists from other countries do focus on their athletes but do not ignore the winner or talk about any stand out performances. Nearly all the coverage I have read here in Canada seems to be "happy for Kaetlyn, acknowledging that Alina and Evgenia were better" type. In my opinion it does seem like Evgenia is preferred here by journalists but Alina is still popular.

 

[Mathman]

Why is she so obsessed with Alina vs. Evgeniya?

Well, everybody is obsessed with these two stars. Unless they were obsessed with Virtue & Moir vs. Papadakis & Cizeron, or Savchenko & Massot vs. Sui & Han. To me, it's all good. Christine Brennan has her opinion; I have mine.

 

[Seruleane]

Christine Brennan has decades of experience covering skating and interacting directly with the athletes and officials involved. Phil Hersh has even more experience. They're honest in their criticisms and some people might not like that, and it's obvious others just dislike that they don't treat skaters with kid gloves - they treat figure skating like any other sport, where criticism and sometimes harshness is FINE.

As to everyone complaining about Christine's North American bias - first off, let's remember she's writing for a US audience during the Olympics. Second, yeah, I'm soooooo sure that all of the Russian journalists who cover skating are totallllllly unbiased and that they're so kind to US and Canadian skaters.

I'm American and I disagree. I happen to like many of the Russian skaters, so I look at the Russian sports news quite a bit. Certainly there are some controversial statements made by Russian coaches about some skaters. But I have never felt as extreme a bias as I do when I read Christine Brennan or Phil Hersh's articles, or when I watch TSL. Granted, I am not Russian and there are probably some things lost in google translation, and maybe there are Russian versions of TSL or Russian Christine Brennans that I am unaware of.

I've always felt there was a tremendous pro-American, anti-Russia/China (basically any country with different ideology from the US) bias in sports coverage. It bothers me that the sports commentators think the general American public enjoys and wants that coverage. They seem to forget that the US is made up of immigrants from all over the world, including those very countries that have different ideologies. Perhaps they are appealing to the Americans with strong nationalistic sentiment. Certainly when I attended Worlds in Boston, there were some Americans sitting behind me loudly exclaiming that they hoped the Russian girls would "fall on their butts." Lovely. Luckily, most people in the arena, and certainly most people on this board seem to enjoy figure skaters from all over the world no matter what country they are from.

 

[GGFan]

at Christine trying to make a controversy happen. Remember that a lot of her career was built on Tonya. Sochi gave her quite a few articles. Some scandal here would definitely help.

Don't take this seriously folks. Career move more than anything else. :dev2:

Btw, I like Christine as a personality and some of her journalism has been solid, but her commentary is spotty at best

 

[[email protected]]

I have to say I was surprised by what other Russian skaters had to say. They are way more critical of bad performances than any Canadian skater would dare to be. I can never imagine any former Olympian here saying what some of the former Russian skaters said about Mikael. Maybe it's cultural. It does seem like maybe Russians prefer brutal honesty? (Just a hypothesis based on what I've seen)

I am cautious about generalizations but there are 2 common situations in Russia: 1) we believe that someone was pushed above our athletes unfairly 2) our own athlete did not meet the expectations especially if he represented the country (Kolyada). You may expect very harsh words and outcries in these situations. Picking on international athletes and starting to bash them while Russia has no one competitive to offer is an unlikely situation. This is more like GS posters level who are not tired of complaining about "Russia's lobbying and paying money" rather than the level of venerable journalist who writes good books.

 

[ancientpeas]

I am cautious about generalizations but there are 2 common situations in Russia: 1) we believe that someone was pushed above our athletes unfairly 2) our own athlete did not meet the expectations especially if he represented the country (Kolyada). You may expect very harsh words and outcries in these situations. Picking on international athletes and starting to bash them while Russia has no one competitive to offer is an unlikely situation. This is more like GS posters level who are not tired of complaining about "Russia's lobbying and paying money" rather than the level of venerable journalist who writes good books.

Could it be that what seems like harsh criticism of skaters is actually disappointment? Because here we usually have a very clear number one person or pair it's not usually about which one is preferred. You saw it a little with Kurt and Elvis I guess. And I guess now with Gabby and Kaetlyn but I think, from what I have seen, both are really liked here. With fields as deep as you have in Russia I guess it could seem like someone is getting preferential treatment. Especially in ladies where you could send 6 or 7 but are only allowed to send 3.

 

[Putina]

I do not understand why people go after Ms. Brennan's integrity or question her "basic education" when you can rebut her argument point by point. Heck even a simple "I disagree" would suffice to let your view known since Her argument is Manichean. She and Mr. Hersh have been valuable voices in the sport and it is quite plain that they love figure skating like everyone here. Groundless Ad Hominem usually reflects the speaker, not the target.

 

[andromache]

What is different about Russian journalists, they do not pick on strong American skaters like Nathan Chen when Russia has little to offer. I would suggest her to focus on some more relevant topics to the US audience. Like if 6 quads of Nathan Chen are going to kill artistry in men's figure skating. Or if there is any hope for American ladies skating. Why is she so obsessed with Alina vs. Evgeniya?

I'm glad that Christine (and Phil) care about Alina and Evgenia. Christine and Phil aren't the type who only cover skating every four years - they are real fans who follow the sport closely. They've always had plenty of praise for Evgenia. I don't agree with everything Christine has said about Alina but that's okay.

Lol and there's plenty of focus on how disappointing the US ladies are. (And I'll take the US journalists keeping it real over the constant praise Canadian journalists have for their own skaters.)

 

[yyyskate]

cos the system is off...

 

[Tigerlily87]

She and Rosie DiManno should really write a book together

 

[Metis]

My issue is that she starts from the premise that Medvedeva’s the better artist and storyteller, without bothering to explain why. And she absolutely needs to substantiate that argument with specifics: what parts of Medvedeva’s free skate were more “artistic” than Zagitova’s? Where did she marry music, expression, and storytelling? What did she do to evoke all the emotion Brennan claims she did?

I like Medvedeva’s free skate, and from a storytelling perspective, I think it’s better than Zagitova’s program. But at least I can explain why. And Zagitova isn’t a slouch in “artistry” either — being slightly off the music was unfortunate, but her adding the 3Lo back on like a boss is an Olympic moment for sure. And Karenina being depressing certainly helps sell it as “art,” but in terms of body positions, extensions... Zagitova wins. I’m not saying she’s a complete skater, but she’s in control of her body from the top of her head to the tips of her fingers, and while I really never want to see that damn tutu again, she isn’t the jumping robot Brennan wants her to be.

Brennan started with her thesis and found the facts to support it, rather than looking at the facts and developing a thesis. But she still fails to support her main claims — Medvedeva is the superior artist, Zagitova is just a jumper — which makes the entire article a dead letter.