Now I know the Meaning of the term: "Cheesefest"

[Ladskater]

For a couple of years now at Golden Skate I have seen the term "Cheesefest" mentioned for a couple of events like the Marshalls. After watching the so called competition, I see why the pun.

Clearly it is more of a popularity contest. Sasha should have won over Michelle, for instance, but Michelle is the most popular skater in the US and I hate to say this but most of the votes were favoritism. Now you know what the judges go through and get criticized for. Not such an easy job, eh?

Sasah clearly had the best two skates of all the ladies. I would have voted Alisha a close second.

I think technichally Michael Weiss could beat Johnny Weir, but not artisically. So that one came out at least fairly.

It will be interesting at the US Nationals. Michelle is going to have to really work hard to compete with all the new kids on the block and Sasha on her heels. In my books Sasha is the best female skater on the planet hands down and no appologies folks to the Kwanatics here at Golden Skate.

Great skate from Kurt!!! Enjoyed his commentary.

The whole thing did sort of remind me of American and Canadian Idol though with the text and phone in votes.

Though I may not always agree with them, I think I'll leave the juding to the judges.

Best to all the skaters.

 

[Johar]

I thought it was alot of fun to watch, but Sasha did outskate Kwan.

 

[kyla2]

Format

The format was awful and insulting to the skaters as far as I was concerned. They handled it with grace fortunately. I felt bad for Sasha also. Competitions should be about who performs the best, not who is the most popular. I think that is a little cruel for the less popular skaters. I wonder who thought this farce up? If I was Peggy, Dick or Peter, I would have declined to participate, contract or no contract.

 

[R.D.]

The format was awful and insulting to the skaters as far as I was concerned. They handled it with grace fortunately. I felt bad for Sasha also. Competitions should be about who performs the best, not who is the most popular. I think that is a little cruel for the less popular skaters. I wonder who thought this farce up? If I was Peggy, Dick or Peter, I would have declined to participate, contract or no contract.

I partly agree and partly disagree with this.

I think audience voting is a good idea, BUT they based the results ONLY on the audience votes. I think this was wrong. They should have come up with some kind of formula where the audience vote counts as maybe half of the total or something. Or let the judges there decide on the final two and allow the audience to choose the winner. (In this case, it wouldn't have made any difference though.)

However, I do agree that the lesser skaters were at a disadvantage. But SC and MK IMO were better than those two. (Alissa, though- I REALLY liked her program. Had it not been for that fall, I might have picked her. But in this case I went with the program I thought was performed the best.)

 

[Gatzbee]

i was there. sasha skated better than michelle, but then i actually didn't expect michelle to be outskating anyone at this point either. i did feel everything about this event was rather silly, and the discrepancy between the judges' comments and the audience voting made it seem even sillier. had it not been for michelle's confirmed appearance i prolly would have either not bought my ticket to begin with or tried to sell it if mk withdrew... o yea, and i still think peter caruthers is annoying, but that's just me

 

[show 42]

It was all about focusing in on the primary skaters for the coming Nationals....a little extra exposure and "skating before an audience" time for all concerned. I did not care for the face-off between the skaters and the "judges" at the end of each section. I felt uneasy listening to Peggy, Peter, and Dick critique the skaters and their performances. It's one thing to get feed back, but this was a little too "up close and personal".......all that said, I thought it was great fun....:agree: 42

 

[mzheng]

I thought the format was just a survy from USFS to guage what the audience in arena and TV prefer to see, how many fans will tune in. This one can't be more cheesy in amature rink.

 

[mmscfdcsu]

The event was pure cheese and the skaters looked embarrassed to be there.

 

[K-Mo]

What I hated was when they all stood there and listened to the judges pick one skater to praise. Sure, they all said something nice about everyone, and tried to make it as constructive as possible, but it just ended being awkward, I think. I also hated that they announced how many percent each skater got. Why not rub some salt in the wound while they're at it?

 

[Mathman]

I thought the format was just a survy from USFS to guage what the audience in arena and TV prefer to see, how many fans will tune in.

According to the USFS site, 104,000 votes were cast. It might have been more, but so many people tried to vote by compuer for the ladies' final that the site crashed.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

What I hated was when they all stood there and listened to the judges pick one skater to praise. Sure, they all said something nice about everyone, and tried to make it as constructive as possible, but it just ended being awkward, I think. I also hated that they announced how many percent each skater got. Why not rub some salt in the wound while they're at it?

It was "Dancing With the Stars", the ABC hit of last summer. Ratings, ratings, ratings. That's why I didn't vote. I don't want this silly thing to be an annual event. I know, I know, it's a chance to see your favorite so you will look and vote.
I would prefer just to have a preview of the Nats from Marshalls without judging.

Joe

 

[Doggygirl]

I thought this was the ultimate cheese. I don't even know what else to say about it. I would have been embarassed to be a competitive athlete in this venue. I still can't figure out the real purpose of this, unless of course it raked in some real big bucks for the USFSA. Outside of that...

If the USFSA wants to know which skater is the most popular, put a poll on the web site.

If an exhibition format is warranted to give the skaters a more low key venue to perform in front of a live audience, then have an exhibition.

Maybe the athletes were fine with it, and if that's the case then my lil ol' opinion doesn't matter.

Given the apparent lack of promotion for this event, I can't imagine the purpose was to "draw in" new casual fans. If that WAS the intent, then I don't the USFSA made the most of that as a goal.

Oh well... Onward and forward to the important stuff!! Less than a month until Nats!!

DG

 

[Jill]

One thing I didn't like was that some of the skaters used competitive programs, while others used exhibition numbers. To me, that's a little like apples & oranges.

 

[Ptichka]

I felt bad for the "judges". I was half surprised Dick Button didn't just refuse to "judge" ladies' first round after what they said about men had 0 correlation to the final outcome (Savoie, of course, had the least votes; half the audience's reaction to him was "who the hell is that?").

 

[R.D.]

Herein lies the problem. The audience will likely vote for who they like, who they know, etc. This is not like American Idol where all the performers are basically unknowns. In this event, you have some skaters more well-known than others, and that puts them at a disadvantage. Also, one must remember that the audience (overall) is NOT a body knowledgeable with skating. The "judges" ARE. I thought it was interesting to hear the insight of the "judges" who know skating, and then see if the audience agrees. Not surprisingly, there were some discrepancies.

That's JMLO, though. Your mileage will vary.

 

[shine]

I really hope this is a confidence booster for Matt....to get three of the most influential people in the skating world to praise like that at your face on National TV and right next to your rivals!! Even though he didn't get to advance, I was still so happy and proud for him. Peter and Dick nailed it. Dick in particular with his "you have music in your bones" comment finally told Matt what many of us fans have wanted to tell him for the longest time. If he skates like that at Nationals with the same kind of speed, attack, and freedom he had yesterday, he might just make it to the Olympics. Gosh I truly LOVE his skating with a passion.

 

[Enero]

I thought the cheesiest part was the skaters having to stand in front of the judges and listen to their comments. It seemed to me that those who weren't the winners always got the judges votes, which seemed a bit too coincidental. Not saying that Peggy and Dick didn't mean what they said to Matt and Sasha, but it still made it seem less authentic IMO.

I think that if they're going to keep this judging format for next year, maybe they should let the judges (Peggy, Dick, and Terry) select who goes to the final round and in the final round the audience votes. This may make this new format seem less cheesy. I guess.

 

[R.D.]

I would say invite lesser-known skaters. I know this might be an issue for TV ratings and popularity, but if you have a group of up-and-comers, the audience judging might be a little more fair. Having kwan at that competition was a virtual guarantee she would be an audience favorite, IMO. Or Cohen, for that matter.

I really wish I could have voted for Alissa, though. But she didn't let me hwell:

ETA: I agree that having the skaters up there was rather "cheesy". It kind of looked weird. But that aside, I thought it was interesting to see the skaters' reactions...especially Cohen's... I don't know how I would have handled all that gushing if I were up there...

 

[Spirit]

Well, what good is cheese without a little whine to go with it?




(Meant in fun. to all.)

 

[Ptichka]

Well, what good is cheese without a little whine to go with it?