Though I do agree with your point about making CoP more accessible. Results like the Great Booing at Nice only adds to the perception that the sport is beyond the understanding of mere mortals (and thus also beyond the attention of said mortals), or worse, completely crooked.
What happened at Nice should be a wake-up call. The marking system may be black and white, but it is incomprehensible and legalistic. (Well, maybe it is grey.) It is NOT working for the benefit of the sport.
Great art expresses great meaning, but it only has value if that meaning can be understood. It seems that the present scoring system has taken the art out of the sport of skating. Too many of the winning skates are no picnic to watch. I understand what they were trying to do by preserving scores despite falls and by being precise about how scores are awarded, but maybe we should take the result as showing us that things have gotten out of hand. Technicians (won't name names) are basically figuring out formulas for skaters to skate to and calling themselves coaches.
I don't think that who the top skaters are will change if the scoring process changes, but I do think that they will skate differently, and:
I) over time, the public would take to the sport better;
II) a greater proportion of the skates would be better to watch.
The old scoring system was not that good either. It wasn't right that a whole performance could get wiped out of any value by one slip, but what is happened now is that the falls are almost part of the routine. Nevertheless, can't we take what we have learned from everything (both scoring systems) to make something better . . . something more simple and transparent and which forces the skater to do a routine that is not only great but understood and more enjoyable to watch (and which has a lot less
*** contact on the ice).
Regarding another point raised, the state of commentary on the North American stations, especially the CBC, is really garbage. That includes you, Mr. Browning. It needs a complete overhaul. Perhaps the commentators could start by knowing a bit more background of the skaters who skate. Even google might help them. Perhaps the skating federations should get involved in prepping the station commentators better. (I sense from watching the various broadcasts on youtube that this is mainly a North American issue though.) The federations need to develop better relationships with broadcast media not just so that the sport is understood but so that it can grow in its presence.
As well, the skating federations in Canada and the United States need better PR and perhaps an advertising guru to get the sport out there and sell it better to create interest WITH THE PUBLIC. They need to be more pro-active than re-active.
I know that what I have written above is pie in the sky, but the only forces that skating has to act in its interest are the skating federations; they have to light the spark. Nice has to be as forceful a statement as any that the scoring system is not working and needs an overhaul. They also have to get the sport out there and sell it (something that they are either not doing or failing miserably at).
Before we change the rest of the world, we have to change ourselves. Then, we have to get others to join us.
(Regarding Japan, they seem to be doing everything right. I might add that their skaters are amongst the most entertaining to watch. Kudos to their skaters and their federation.)
arty:
Are Caron/Jones staying with Linichuk?
