The skating fan: biased vs. unbiased

As a fan of figure skating, it would be impossible for me, personally, not to have favorites. I have a lot of favorite skaters in all fields but mostly in ice dance and pairs. Of course when they compete I would like them to win and do get nervous watching a competition, but I know they can't win all the time and some of my favorites have never won a World medal or Olympic medal. I also like to root for the underdog. I do not like all the fluff that ABC televises during competitions, but that is the only way I can watch figure skating. I can't afford to go to live competitions. Maybe someday in the future. I also don't like the bias of the commentators, which for me, makes me just as upset as seeing one of my favorite skaters lose.

Re: Re: Re: The skating fan: biased vs. unbiase

Ellyn said:

Kristen Sheaffer?

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That sounds right! (Ah, the power of the Internet!) Do you know her? Is she still competing?

Hi, Ellyn! I'm glad to see you over here on the new improved Golden Skate!

Mathman

Bronzeis - What is also interesting one sees at Live competitions is the practice session. No one in the upper tier of competition actually does a run through of a routine. they just do certain tricks and mark off where they will be throughout the program.

So my arguments against judges watching practice sessions really doesn't hold up.

The lower tier skaters do run through their routines and that is kinda interesting since I am not familiar with them. Oh for cable TV where we can see EVERYTHING.

Joe

I've had a couple of "skaters who can do no wrong" favorites--Oksana Baiul from '94-'97; Ilia Kulik from minute one to present--but none in the eligible ranks right now. Obviously I like some skaters better than others, but I've seen or been at competitions where a skater I hadn't particularly liked before skated very well and I was thrilled by it. I think I still watch skating the way I watch dance in that I'm just glad to see a great performance no matter who does it. If a skater I like does very well, all the better, but if that skater does poorly, to me it's just the inevitiable bad night. Some of my favorite performances by skaters have had major flaws in them. I think people tend not to believe me and think I really do have favorites but I just won't say. But that is indeed the way I feel, at least about skating. Now baseball is another story--GO METS! first and if not Mets, GO YANKEES!
Rgirl
OT EDIT: Much as I love New York teams, I wish we were having a Sox-Cubs series.

"however there are other skaters, up and comers and the like, that are totally ignored and unknown... but from all acounts they've probably been just as spectacular in the past... and so when they "upset" the favorite it's somewhat of a shock when in actuality it was just "a matter of time.""

I can't for the life of me figure out what you're talking about. Can you give an example?

Even when Hubert beat Tara at Lalique, I knew exactly who she was despite the lack of UCAPs featuring her on US TV, but I would never in a million years call her finish over Tara 'just a matter of time'!