Michelle Kwan in the crowd at Worlds

[Kwanford Wife]

I know a Korean-American girl with a thick Texas accent, and boy she cracks me up

you should check out congressman eric cantor (r-va) sometimes... the combination of new york jewish with a little southern drawl is highly amusing!!

 

[Particle Man]

Sorry, I have to :chorus:, as if Scott Hamilton, Sandra Bezic, and Tom Hammond are models of competence where COP and figure skating commentary are concerned.

They do their jobs well - because they have interesting voices, and find interesting things to say. That's what I mean by competence as a commentator. They aren't judges or technical specialists, they are commentators. Their goal is to engage the people watching. That's the most important thing to do in their job.

Michelle didn't sound amazingly interesting in that interview. All I'm saying. Maybe she will be better in the booth. If you want blind MK love instead of objectivity, I think you know places to go where you will find that.

P.S.: I think Michelle would be a better commentator than Sasha. Does that make you feel better?

 

[shallwedansu]

Hey! Guess who else was in the crowd? Kristi and Michelle during a practice session. I love Kristi's hair!

Is it possible Kristi will be presenting the medals for the ladies ceremony?

 

[museksk8r]

They do their jobs well - because they have interesting voices, and find interesting things to say. That's what I mean by competence as a commentator. They aren't judges or technical specialists, they are commentators. Their goal is to engage the people watching. That's the most important thing to do in their job.

Michelle didn't sound amazingly interesting in that interview. All I'm saying. Maybe she will be better in the booth. If you want blind MK love instead of objectivity, I think you know places to go where you will find that.

Those are YOUR opinions; certainly not facts! I don't find Scott, Sandra, nor Tom engaging with their commentating. Scott oftens screams into the mic like an obnoxious child and Sandra truly says some of the stupidest things I've ever heard on air. Tom is certainly not knowledgeable about skating. I can't say I find them as "interesting" as you do. Saying so doesn't mean I "blindly" love MK and fail to see things objectively.

 

[Mathman]

OOPS, SORRY. Michelle did not say that she would be commentating on the ladies SP on Oxygen. I do not have any information on that, and as far as I know, she won't be.

They are all natural born valley girls.

True. As a teenager Michelle had a ltttle of that So-Cal slur. Now she seems to be deliberately working on enunciation, which is why I wondered if she has worked with a voice coach or something.

Compare how she talks now with her cameo with Brian Boitano as an announcer in that skating movie (whichever one it was.)

If you want blind MK love instead of objectivity...

Blind Kwan love rules! Objectivity is for the birds.

They do their jobs well - because they have interesting voices, and find interesting things to say. That's what I mean by competence as a commentator. They aren't judges or technical specialists, they are commentators. Their goal is to engage the people watching.

I don't entirely agree. That is what Tom Hammond and Terry Gannon do. But the jocks who sit alongside to offer "color" are supposed to know technical stuff that the audience might be interested in.

On the recent men's SP broadcast I was very disappointed in the number of times that Scott and Sandra missed opportunities to clarify scoring issues. I can't skate at all and Scott Hamilton is an Olympic gold medalist, so how come I know more about the CoP than he does?

 

[Dee4707]

Michelle's voice was beautifully modulated, I thought. I wonder if she has been taking voice lessons. I can't wait to see her tomorrow for the ladies SP.

That's great because I always thought she was very nasel sounding.

 

[Particle Man]

Those are YOUR opinions; certainly not facts! I don't find Scott, Sandra, nor Tom engaging with their commentating.

And yet they are still hired. If most people agreed with YOU, they would have been replaced. Therefore, Scott, Sandra and Tom are seen by the majority as adding to the broadcast, and better than the alternatives. Majority opinion = "fact" in this case.

I don't entirely agree. That is what Tom Hammond and Terry Gannon do. But the jocks who sit alongside to offer "color" are supposed to know technical stuff that the audience might be interested in.

Scott Hamilton is a jock? He's there because he has a cute voice and personality, and to a lesser extent because he is a legend. I agree that "competence" in terms of accurate assessment of the skating, rules and outcomes would be NICE but -- clearly it isn't as important as personality.

This is similar to my "fluff piece" argument. The point of fluff pieces and the point of commentators are similar to the people trying to make money off of the broadcast -- get casual viewers interested. Compare:

- no commentary
- boring but accurate commentary
- inaccurate but engaging commentary

and you see they'll pick #3. You and I are going to watch even though Scott says something wrong or we know the rules better. A casual viewer won't notice if he is wrong. So knowing the rules better wouldn't really get them more viewers.

 

[R.D.]

From what I've seen in this interview, she could be really good as a secondary commentator who throws in really knowledgeable comments at certain times, but probably not yet as a main commentator. Her voice is just kind of subdued, and she didn't have the most interesting things to say, although it was still OK and she does speak well. Maybe she is afraid of being louder cause she lacks confidence in speaking? And maybe that will change with time, who knows. If Michelle can even be competent, it's worth it for the sport to have her there in some fashion. I'm sure the fan craziness and "don't you wish you were competing" would go away in a couple years.

Her best role commentator-wise might be simply a pre or post-show analyst. I think she will be simply answering questions from Costas (and maybe Button).

ETA: for those who do not want to hear her whatsoever, I think Universal Sports will also be streaming the raw feed on their website. People can watch without commentary, or if the NBC broadcast is being tape-delayed or pre-empted in their area, they can watch it live on there. (Thanks USports!!)

 

[Tinymavy15]

Naomi Nari Nam was in the audince for the men's SP. They showed her on the big screen. she was adorbale, as always!

 

[Mathman]

Therefore, Scott, Sandra and Tom are seen by the majority as adding to the broadcast, and better than the alternatives.

Interesting logic. So the majority of NBC viewers like Scott Hamilton, Sandra Besik and Tom Hammond better than Dick Button, Peggy Fleming and Terry Gannon, but the majority of ABC viewers liked Button. Fleming and Gannon better.

Participatory democracy in action!

Scott Hamilton is a jock?

OK, you can make fun of my Scotty if you want to , but did you know this? Before Terry Gannon became a big time figure skating announcer he won the NCAA basketball championship (1983, with North Carolina State), crushing the wimps from Houston featuring Clyde the Glide Drexler and future NBA MVP Akeem Olajuwon!

Hah! What did Vern Lundquist ever do?

 

[Mathman]

Naomi Nari Nam was in the audince for the men's SP. They showed her on the big screen. she was adorbale, as always!

One of my fondest figure skating moments was that year (1999) when Naomi skated such a spectacular LP after knocking herself momentarily unconscious with a fall in the SP, moving up to take the silver medal ahead of Angela Nikodinov and Sarah Hughes.

While Naomi was skating they showed Michelle backstage watching on the monitor with a worried look on her face, like , "WHOA." Then when she saw that the camera was on her, Michelle smiled and waved and tried to play it off, like, "What, me worry?"

 

[Andalusia]

A brief glimpse of a rather forlorn-looking Caroline at a Worlds practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uOcs5a8-vI

She comes on at about 0:24 and is sitting right above Michelle, next to the girl in red. I think the man next to Michelle is her and Caroline's agent, Shep Goldberg? I've no idea who the lady is that's talking to Michelle. A poster on the MKF also reported that Michelle was sitting together with Caroline at some point.

And a brief shot of Kristi, too! Wheee!

 

[bekalc]

A brief glimpse of a rather forlorn-looking Caroline at a Worlds practice:

Poor Caroline. It must suck to watch Czisny struggle with practices, and think about the way the USFSA judges judged nationals.

 

[Andalusia]

Poor Caroline. It must suck to watch Czisny struggle with practices, and think about the way the USFSA judges judged nationals.

Well, I'm not too hopeful, but perhaps Alissa will have shaken off the jitters come competition time. I detected a minute improvement in her 4CC LP, where she really didn't give up on the performance towards the end. There's no way Alissa will make the podium, but maybe home crowd advantage will yield a top 8 finish for her.

I want desperately for Alissa to do well, not only for those 3 Olympic spots (I can't imagine how crazy it will be if there are only 2), but also for herself.

 

[Mathman]

Michelle was just on Entertainment Tonight, briefly, along with clips of Alissa and Joannie R. Michelle said the she had invited to be on Dancing with the Stars a couple of years ago, but could not commit the necessary time to it.

Alissa said she doesn't have a boyfriend right now because her coach says no dating during the competition season. Joannie's boyfriend is a speed skater that she met in Torino. (They didn't ask Michelle if she has a boyfriend )

Lysacek was played up as ice skating's big heartthrob, said "no comment" when they asked if he was still dating Tanith. Tanith and Ben also appeared for a couple of questions. Ben looked like a bum with his long straggly hair and chin whiskers.

 

[lcd]

Michelle must have fond memories of the Staples Center. She won 2002 Nationals there with an amazing performance. Power command... everything

 

[Mathman]

A brief glimpse of a rather forlorn-looking Caroline at a Worlds practice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uOcs5a8-vI

Thanks for the clip. You have to look quick to see Caroline. I couldn't really tell if she was looking "forlorn" or just ordinary not-much-of-anything at that precise second.

The last part showing Kim modeling was cute, though.

 

[Particle Man]

Interesting logic. So the majority of NBC viewers like Scott Hamilton, Sandra Besik and Tom Hammond better than Dick Button, Peggy Fleming and Terry Gannon, but the majority of ABC viewers liked Button. Fleming and Gannon better.

Participatory democracy in action!

??? You understand advanced physics, so I have to assume you just like to be goofy sometimes.

I never recall viewers getting a choice of what TV channel to watch. The competition is on the channel it's on. Your choice is to watch, or not to watch (and/or go on the internet.) Currently we have fallen so far as to be shifted over to OXYGEN to watch NBC skating broadcasts, similar to (but worse than) ABC broadcasts on ESPN. Well, I'm not sure it's worse actually, since at least on Oxygen skating won't get preempted by INTERNATIONAL CABER TOSSING.

...we just have to watch Steel Magnolias in between.

But I digress. Dick, Peggy & Terry were contracted to ABC, the others to NBC. I am pretty much certain that the ABC's loss of skating was due to a combination of a lack of superstars like Michelle & Sasha, the obfuscated scoring system, and the lack of any other "ice drama" like Nancy & Tonya making headlines. I really don't think you could blame Dick, Peggy & Terry for skating no longer being on ABC. It's just how it went.

All 6 of them have been around for a while, and have established themselves as known and generally liked personalities of skating commentary. If any of them were poor at their job or not liked by the majority, they'd have been out long ago. If Michelle or any other new commentator turns out to be uninteresting, it won't matter if they are accurate, I think they will be gone as well. Michelle would get a lot more chances to fail though since she is such a legend.

 

[MKFSfan]

Thanks for the clip. You have to look quick to see Caroline. I couldn't really tell if she was looking "forlorn" or just ordinary not-much-of-anything at that precise second.

The last part showing Kim modeling was cute, though.

Caroline just looked really exhausted to me, like she had been watching the skaters for hours.

I am starting to love Yu-Na! I am so rooting for her to win...or at the least Silver to Mao! Actually, unless the podium contains Yu-Na, Mao and Joannie I won't be happy...well, if a US Lady can land on a step...

 

[R.D.]

Houston featuring Clyde the Glide Drexler and future NBA MVP Akeem Olajuwon!

As a former follower of the Rockets I must correct you: the name is Hakeem Olajuwon. Nigerian, I believe.