- Joined
- Nov 2, 2013
...Maybe I love figure skating so much because I love Christmas so much.
At some point near the end of each Olympic cycle, the thought crosses my mind that “maybe I won’t get so emotionally invested in figure skating over the next four years.” This thought especially comes if I know it’s likely that skaters I particularly enjoy will be retiring from competition soon.
So, for us diehards, what is it about figure skating itself (as opposed to just Skater X or Skater Y) that keeps us constantly coming back for more?
The longevity of the fandom for figure skating is largely dependent upon the perpetuity of cyber-culture discourse, flame wars. What makes you think why Mao and Yuna is still skating for god's sake, with the latter being already an Olympic gold medalist? - For their respective (and respectful) fans, that's why!
Oh my God, I can't wait for the coming eight years of Lipnitskaya vs. Radionova! It's gonna be wonderful.
It's the sport itself that's amazing. The fact that it's so complex and that it has so many aspects to it.
Thanks noskates. You said it all for me.I've been following figure skating since the late 50's (and yes, I'm dating myself by stating that) It was difficult then because you didn't get to see much - only read about it. I think what kept me going in the later years was getting attached to people like Kurt Browning and Gordeeva and Grinkov, to name a few and those wonderful days when we had great TV coverage without having to buy a sports package. Having SOI and the World Champion tours just made it all the better because you could actually see some of these skaters in person that before you only saw on TV.
There are times when I hate the internet because it allows people to be anonymous and tee off on anybody they want to - without responsibility for their comments. On the other hand, there are wonderful YouTubes where you can go back and look at classic performances, live streaming, etc. And I do enjoy some of the insider stuff that gets posted.
What does bother me, however, are the fans who literally worship their favorite skater to almost a fault - offset by the fans that criticize everything down to a skater's hairdo. Neither polarized opinions are very entertaining after awhile. But for longevity, there always seems to be someone up and coming that attracts my attention and makes me want to see what their future will hold in the sport.
After rooting for Tonya Harding, I learned not to get too caught up in the fate of any specific skater.
I love figure skating because I like to cry.
This is what I'm discovering as the years go by. I'm discovering that I actually enjoy the sport itself, regardless of the particular skaters or scoring system involved. At first, I thought IJS could never be as great to watch as 6.0. but then skaters like Patrick, Dai, YuNa, Mao, Carolina, Akiko, etc came along and made IJS beautiful to watch. It's always fun to see skaters grow and develop over time. When new faces come on the scene, they often have a youthful exuberance that is contagious. I love to see skaters succeed. Their excitement gets me excited!This is the best part! Old skaters that we've seen way too much of clearing out so we get to see some new faces.
It's the sport itself that's amazing. The fact that it's so complex and that it has so many aspects to it.