Hersh SA article (MK centered) | Golden Skate

Hersh SA article (MK centered)

ltlpearl

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 19, 2003
Hersh article

:eek: :eek: Do my eyes deceive me or was this article written by THE same Phil Hersh!?!?!? All we need now is Ms. Brennan to resurface with one as well and then we can officially proclaim hell having frozen over. :sheesh:
 

BronzeisGolden

Medalist
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
WOW! LOL...I'd take him seriously...but he was just dismissing Kwan as a has been for the last couple of seasons. I don't like Hersh and think he is just mostly reaching for anything he can. Figure skating is changing, but I don't think it is in this terrible situation he imagines. The men's field is somewhat weak as is the pairs, but the ladies field has several bright stars: Kwan (as always!), Cohen, Slutskaya (still!), Suguri, Sokolova, etc. He's sensationalizing. Hersh jumps ship far too much for me. Kwan is Golden...Kwan is Stale...Kwan is Golden again? Make up your mind. Perhaps she is human and has her "on" and "off" periods just as anyone else. Anyway...I'm beyond THRILLED! Michelle sounds like she is definitely considering Nationals...and Turin! This is wonderful news.
 

Kwanisqueen81

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 30, 2003
WOW!!!

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
When I read this article my jaw dropped!!

I can't believe it Hersh is so down on the sport and I can't believe his comments about Michelle utterly unbelieveble!! For someone who almost though her skating was crap a few years ago he is surely licking his wornds. Anyway he does have a point where is the NEXT star?? I think sasha has found her stride in just the right season. BTW I love the fact that Michelle is not on the record as thinking about Atlanta and Turin..that really warms my heart!!
 

Skate Sandee

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Someone is feeling grumpy! Clearly he's in a slump. Why doesn't he take a few cues from Michelle when she was feeling like she needed a change?

Advice for Phil:

1) Change papers. You've been at the same one too long and the relationship is getting a little stale.

2) Change fonts. There's more out there than Times New Roman! Try Tahoma! Or Comic Sans! Reinvigorate your self!!

3) Scale back. It's OK not to go to every competition. But just don't feel the need to announce or explain to the World each and every time you decide you don't want to go to a competition. Be selective...that's the key to a long successful career in writing about skating.

;)
 

diver chick

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 18, 2003
Wow he really is down on skating!!!

Personally I don't agree with a thing that he says in that article. yes Kwan is a fantastic skater but she is not the only one. Yes it can get frustrating watch skaters like Sasha and Vika Volckova not fulfilling their talent but the talent is there non the less, it is just hasn't exploded on the scene the way it has in the past, something I personally think is a good thing. Granted an explosive talent is an exciting thing but many of them jsut don't seem to have the staying power to follow through on the initial wins for one reason or another.

Tara was a lovely skater, but over training intensive competing and she was gone after Olys, Sarah is a beautiful skater who has decided not to stay around and allow the skating to mature.

But hang on, there are dozens of reasons to watch skating - Angela Nikodinov and Jen Robinson two of the most elegant and gentle skaters to grace the sport.
Carolina Kostner, okay still an unknown and very young but the talent is there and the ability to a great skater.
Sasha for the pure highs and lows of her skating.
The Finnish girls who are slowly but surely putting Finland on the skating map.

And what about the mens, Plushenko, Gaobel, Joubert, Klimkin, Lambiel etc, there is a whole host of exciting and talented skaters out there and any number of reasons to watch skating.

As much as I appreciate her talent and longevity, Kwan is not the be all and end all of figure skating.
 

RealtorGal

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
What an idiot! Oh, well. You can't take him too seriously. After all, he mentioned Meno & Sand as part of the past glory days. Yawn!

I agree about the situation in Canada, however. There are no breakout singles stars at the moment, no one heading for the World podium. If Sandhu ever stands on it, I'm willing to chomp on some hay.
:D :eek:
 

dizzydi

On the Ice
Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Hersh article

If Hersh thinks there is a lack of single, female skating talent, he's not paying attention.

As much as I love Michelle Kwan, the fact is "she is NOT everything to figureskating". If that were the case, she would have two Olympic Gold medals. She has been beaten, which proves there is talent out there beyond Kwan.

Mr. Hersh, Michelle Kwan will evitably fade away at some point and figureskating will continue.

Such drama!

Dizzy
 

lavender

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Phil equals jerk. Sorry but the man is soo too faced.

He mentions the lack of talent in the male and pairs field so why is he dissing Sasha and mentioning the women that he always says is washed up or doing the same ol things (Kwan). I love Kwan and to me she is figure skating but Phil is being ridiculous thinking there’s no one else. What about AP?
 

SkateCynic

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
I posted this on another forum:

The blatant bias shown in that article was a gross irresponsibility on Phil Hersh's part. I'm not going to say anything about the Michelle gushing in it as that subject has been debated into the ground ad nauseum.

I'm more concerned about how that stupid article will be perceived by casual fans and the mainstream viewing/reading public. To diss not only the current skaters in the top ranks, but to discredit the accomplishments and abilities of young up and comers to me is both incomprehensable and deplorable, especially when it is written by someone who covers the sport.

Figure skating has had enough black eyes over the past several years what with the bloc judging wars, the Tonya-Nancy fiasco, and the Pairs judging scandal at SLC. The ISU has had its credibility challenged (and rightfully so, I might add), but the expense has been possibly irreperable damage to the sport itself.

Phil Hersh has effectively attempted to herald in the Armageddon of Figure Skating with his inexcusable article. I hope the USFSA takes notice and yanks his credentials.

Best I can tell, Hersh is not a columnist, but a reporter for the Trib assigned to the Winter Sports and Olympic beat. While bias is always present to some degree in an article, he stepped waaaaay over the line with this one. Given his constant bed-switching with regard to his attitude towards Michelle, IMO the idiot has no journalistic credibility whatsoever, and needs to go.
 

Flora MacDonald

Rinkside
Joined
Aug 4, 2003
Hersch is a columnist not a reporter. It's an B]opinion[/B] coulumn that doesn't even pretend to be objective.
Everyone is welcome to disagree with him.
 

Piel

On Edge
Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Another way to look at it could be .......that he has finally come to his senses about Michelle?:D


Ducking for cover,
Piel AKA Devil's Advocate
 

Lucy25

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
I guess I am mostly surprised that he is not as taken with Sasha as so many others are. I wonder what he doesn't see in her, or if her past inconsistencies have ruined her career for him. I find this fascinating because he has proven to not have a soft spot for Michelle, or anyone else really. I have to think about this for a while. It will be interesting to see how other media outlets will respond to Sasha and her place in the sport.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I think this is what journalists refer to as a "slow news day." You have nothing to say, but you are paid to say something so...

First, a couple of :laugh: :laugh: 's for Skate Sandee's post.

About "Michelle is figure skating" (in the U.S., I wish he would have added), I can only hope that Hirsch meant this in the sense that Michelle is the only skater currently competing whose name is generally well known in the population at large, outside of the nucleus of serious figure skating fans. This is pobably true, although Sasha may be only a National title or two away from that status.

About Hirsch's complaint that we did not see a lot of new faces on the national podium in the year after the Olympics: this is because the three ladies that comprised the 2002 U.S. Olympic team all returned to competion in 2002-2003, unlike the situation of past years. If Sarah, Sasha and Michelle had "gone pro," or otherwise left the eligible scene, we would indeed now be gushing about the new stars, AP, Jenny, Ye Bin, Bebe, etc.

Mathman

PS. But the article was worth it for the quote:

"Skating is like chocolate. A chocolate is always good, but it's always there" -- Michelle Kwan

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you might get." -- Forrest Gump
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
I got a charge out of the 'calendar of events' from year to year. It kinda got me reminiscing about some of the past scenes.

His opinions (he wasn't reporting as Flora McDonald points out) were interesting. It kinda got me to wonder who is watching figure skating? We know the die hard fans are not fading away, but have we lost that less than avid fan who did enjoy the sport? There were some fans who enjoyed Sunday afternoons of figure skating even before the Nancy/Tonya thing. Have they gone?

There must be a selling element to support televised skating competitions. Has the amateur interest gone down as did the professional comps? Let's hope not and hope he is wrong.

But he does make you think. The avid skating fan will remain faithful no matter who is in the forefront. I would be interested to know what the attendance of the Reading competition will be as compared to the Spokane event. And did the last minute entry of MK in Spokane bring in more attendance?

Maybe he is right and MK does make the sport? Just musing.

Joe
 

rumie

Spectator
Joined
Aug 22, 2003
Hi all,

I'm pretty much a new poster and I just wanted to say that as someone who is not an avid fan (I started watching skating in 1992 when Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold medal in Albertville and periodically watched if it happened to be on), Michelle Kwan is it. There are incredibly talented skaters who are of interest but no one who motivates me to be anything more than a casual observer of the sport.

From my own personal perspective, scandal has tarnished the sport's allure and there doesn't seem to be another skater out there who can capture my heart enough for me to really pay attention. Of course part of the reason comes from watching her grow up from the young girl with the pony tale whose innocence was a contrast to the Nancy-Tonya saga to the still too young 17 yr old who dealt with the biggest lost of her young life with amazing grace to the adult who rediscovered a new lease on life. Hersh's article made me realize that my fascination with the sport ends when Michelle leaves that ice for the last time and that makes me a little bit sad.
 

mzheng

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 16, 2005
Joesitz said:

His opinions (he wasn't reporting as Flora McDonald points out) were interesting. It kinda got me to wonder who is watching figure skating? We know the die hard fans are not fading away, but have we lost that less than avid fan who did enjoy the sport? There were some fans who enjoyed Sunday afternoons of figure skating even before the Nancy/Tonya thing. Have they gone?

But he does make you think. The avid skating fan will remain faithful no matter who is in the forefront. I would be interested to know what the attendance of the Reading competition will be as compared to the Spokane event. And did the last minute entry of MK in Spokane bring in more attendance?

Maybe he is right and MK does make the sport? Just musing.

Joe

When Michelle retired. I will still be there enjoying Sunday afternoons of FS only if I have absolutely nothing to do, nothing to read and happen to flip to that chanel. I weren't follow the events as close as now. Go to the FS board, mark down the calender and schedule around the TV FS program, where Michelle competing.

Had Michelle compete in SA this year, I would go. Reading is near where I live I usually go there shopping. But now I may not even want to follow the event on TV. But I plan to tape it anyway and erase it late, only to see how MK's competetors skate, and evalute how the chance is.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Early reports I have seen say that the attendance is very sparce for the preliminary events at Skate America. We hope that it will pick up on the weekend.

Yes, I am quite sure that there was a big surge at the ticket office in Spokane when it was announced that Michelle would skate. But they already had sold a respectable number of tickets based on the expectation of seeing stars like Sarah Hughes (withdrew), Alexei Yagudin (skated the short but withdrew for the long), and Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze (withdrew).

Last year's event in Spokane set the all-time attendance record for Skate America. But even so the house was only half full, even for Michelle and the ladies long program.

Mathman
 

curious

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 15, 2003
they thought the sc scandal was going to help the sport instead it hurt it tremendously. the sport has lost alot of credibility.
 

mpal2

Final Flight
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
I think Phil is over the top on this one, but I'm surrounded by non-skating fans and Michelle is the only name they know other than Dorothy Hamill. A few manage to remember Kristi and Nancy every now and then.

Although I do want to smack a few of them after the following converstion.

Co-worker : I wish an American would win medals.
Me : Michelle is American
Co-worker : I meant someone who looks American. You know what I mean.
Me : No, I don't know what you mean.

Followed by me walking away so I didn't do anything to get myself fired. A couple of them had the decency to look completely embarrased later on so I'm pretty sure they know how ignorant they made themselves look.


:sheesh: I hate it when people say crap like that.
 
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