MILTON: Glory days are gone for Canadian figure skating | Golden Skate

MILTON: Glory days are gone for Canadian figure skating

gsk8

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Country
United-States
LONDON, ONT. It has been more than a decade since Salt Lake City, and not only are the scars still evident, some of the original wounds have yet to heal.

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gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
His brief recap Of the pairs scandal is just fundamentally wrong. Extreme north amrican bElief that sale and Pelletier was robbed and were not only technically perfect but artistically perfect lead to extreme intolerance that the result wasn't 9-0 for sale and Pelletier. They did everything to get s and p that gold.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Part of that is Skate Canada’s own doing. Until the Canadians in Mississauga this year and these Worlds, the organization neither mined nor stimulated the southern Ontario market (still Canada’s richest and most populous) remotely enough. They’ve ignored Hamilton for a decade, despite its founding-father status as a game changer.

I hope some Canadians will explain what the above is about? Clearly there are CanSkate programs in southern Ontario, and successful skaters from the area. And there was a Worlds in Ottawa in 1984, which I would think was in southern Ontario?

What hasn't Skate Canada done for the southern Ontario section that they should have done?

And part is bad luck: the 2002 scandal; the ability in the most computer-literate of all sports to experience top programs via YouTube rather than live. And when Chan won his first Worlds two years ago, what should have been a seminal moment for a new era of vast attention to the sport was lost because the event was shifted from its scheduled time and place because of the earthquake in Japan, and held in Moscow nearly two months later. No wonder Chang went unrecognized for so long.

Perhaps Chan would be more recognizable if people in the Canadian press didn't spell his name "Chang" :rofl:
 
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Icey

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
I didn't realize Virtue and Moir, or even Chan, were favored to repeat as world champions.
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
I hope some Canadians will explain what the above is about? Clearly there are CanSkate programs in southern Ontario, and successful skaters from the area. And there was a Worlds in Ottawa in 1984, which I would think was in southern Ontario?

What hasn't Skate Canada done for the southern Ontario section that they should have done?

This article appears to be more-or-less a re-write of the previous Mojo article. It basically mentions all of the same points using different wording.

I am not certain what he means by implying Skate Canada is neglecting Southern Ontario. SCI 2010 was in Kingston (south-east Ontario), SCI 2011 was in Mississauga (south-central Ontario), SCI 2012 was in Windsor (also southern Ontario), Canadian Nationals 2013 was in Mississauga (south-central Ontario), Worlds 2013 in London (south-western Ontario). Perhaps this reporter is not a Figure Skating fan, and is not aware of the existence of SCI events?.

Agreed, I would like to see an event at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton again. But since I live near that area, I am somewhat biased. ;) After they retire, at least I will have the opportunity to continue watching V/M during CSOI at Copps. :)
 

Art&Sport

Medalist
Joined
Apr 28, 2011
Ah well, tepid summary, some grammatical mistakes, and ho hum conclusions. Also, I doubt that "Chang" will ever be recognized. :laugh:

I do definitely agree though that "Budweiser Gardens" renaming is not only sad, it's criminal.
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Neither Kingston nor Ottawa are considered part of Southern Ontario. They are part of Eastern Ontario. Toronto is usually considered on its own, and Hamilton might get lumped in with it. London and Windsor are definitely Southern Ontario. I think the generally accepted borders for the region would be everything west of Toronto down to Windsor. I agree that Milton didn't really think about all of the competitions that have been held there when he wrote his thoughts, but I often find I disagree with his assessments.
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
I was speaking geographically, since I assumed that would be how Milton was thinking. I understand Skate Canada divides the province differently for regional competition purposes, but it seems unlikely Milton would know this information. Geographically, everything (more-or-less) below Algonquin park is Southern Ontario. East/West would be independent of North/South, hence the reason I made references to south-east and south-west, etc.
 

Antilles

Medalist
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Hi rvi5. I wasn't speaking from a Skate Canada perspective. I've lived in all three regions I described and they definitely consider themselves to be separate entities. Ontario isn't simply divided into north and south. Eastern and Central Ontario are their own distinct regions. Milton does know his geography; he just hasn't been thinking enough about recent skaring competitions.
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
We appear to still be talking about two different things. You are thinking of the sub-regions, while I am referring to the north/south division of the province. Did you examine the link I provided in my previous post? It has a map showing the accepted north/south border. Southern Ontario is illustrated in red.

When I had lived in Northern Ontario (Sudbury), I was able to claim a Northern resident deduction on my income tax. Once I moved south (Ottawa, Waterloo, Mississauga, and Hamilton), I was out-of-luck with that claim.


ETA: The question becomes, is Milton referring to the division of Southern Ontario, or a specific Southern Ontario sub-region. Since he mentions Worlds and Nationals as exceptions, I assumed he was referring to the division. Since London and Mississauga are in different sub-regions (London is South Western Ontario - or simply Western Ontario by Skate Canada's definition), the only way Milton's comments make sense would be if he was referring to the whole of Southern Ontario ie. division as per the Wiki link I provided earlier. That would include Ottawa, Toronto, Mississauga, London, Windsor, etc.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
As I already mentioned Scott Moir and Patrick Chan are not nice people, poor sportsmen, have no charisma, and are essentialy impossible for even Canadians to root en masse for or get emotionally invested in. If Duhamel & Radford, Osmond, and others can emerge as big stars in the coming years that will help raise Canadian skating popularity again. Unlike the arrogant, self absorded, rude, and completely unlikeable Moir and Chan, these are people that Canadians can warm up to and be excited by their success, medals, and victories, and can being popularity in Canadian skating back up again.
 

KatEll

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 24, 2012
As I already mentioned Scott Moir and Patrick Chan are not nice people, poor sportsmen, have no charisma, and are essentialy impossible for even Canadians to root en masse for or get emotionally invested in. If Duhamel & Radford, Osmond, and others can emerge as big stars in the coming years that will help raise Canadian skating popularity again. Unlike the arrogant, self absorded, rude, and completely unlikeable Moir and Chan, these are people that Canadians can warm up to and be excited by their success, medals, and victories, and can being popularity in Canadian skating back up again.

Trying to blame the decline of Figure Skating in Canada on Scott and Patrick, because you personally hate them. :rofl:


I don't know what you currently do for a living, but you should seriously consider becoming a comedian instead.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Trying to blame the decline of Figure Skating in Canada on Scott and Patrick, because you personally hate them. :rofl:


I don't know what you currently do for a living, but you should seriously consider becoming a comedian instead.

I dont personally hate either skater, in fact I still root for Virtue & Moir by virtue of the fact I love their dancing (despite that Scott is a terrible sportsman and poor quality human being). I also did not blame them for the decline in Canadian skating interest. I merely pointed out why their success has done nothing to rise it back up. The decline happened after SLC for a variety of reasons, and the success of Chan and V&M did not cause it to decline further, it simply did little to raise it back up to any great degree however, in large part due to how unlikeable Moir and Chan are that it is hard to get overly enthused about their success. I do predict if Duhamel & Radford, Osmond, Moore-Towers & Moscovitch, Weaver & Poje, possibly even Reynolds go on to win medals over the next 4-5 years with V&M and Chan retiring after Sochi, that the interest in Canadian skating will climb back up as there will be some very likeable people winning medals and titles, and that is what it takes to truly grab the Candian public imagination again. Dont agree with me, I dont give a darn, you will see like as always I will end up being right over the next 5 years, just like I am on all my predictions it seems.
 

chuckm

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Aug 31, 2003
Country
United-States
pangtong is right. Joannie Rochette and Jeff Buttle were well liked not only by Canadian fans, but fans all over the world. When they won medals, everyone was glad. The problem with Chan and Moir is they are gratingly egotistical, diss their opponents, and are very vocal about their self-promoting opinions. Moir is lucky that his partner never gets involved with his trash talk, or V/M might have fewer fans.
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Nope. I know that is what you would like to believe, but this is a thread about the decline in popularity of Figure Skating within Canada. What pangtongfan said was...

... and are essentialy impossible for even Canadians to root en masse for or get emotionally invested in...

Patrick Chan and V/M both get loud cheers from the audience whenever they skate on home ice. I have been to several competitions within Canada, and can testify to that fact.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS9HFO-vgG8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeE5wY7-pzQ


For the popularity of Figure Skating to increase in Canada, it is necessary to get more indifferent or casual fans to watch on TV. No readers/viewers, no interest by the media. No interest by the media, no effective way to reach potential new fans. These people don't go out of their way to read internet articles about what Patrick or Scott say, or lurk on these boards. That is what avid fans do. The daily newspapers don't typically bother with Figure Skating at all, much less discuss which skater said what. Newspapers are more interested in articles about hockey players. The indifferent or casual fans have no idea what any figure skater said, assuming they even know who they are.
 

spikydurian

Medalist
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Trying to blame the decline of Figure Skating in Canada on Scott and Patrick, because you personally hate them. :rofl:
I don't know what you currently do for a living, but you should seriously consider becoming a comedian instead.
Spot on. Comes across as personal mission from the threads. S & P must have pissed in someone's garden:p
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Patrick Chan and V/M both get loud cheers from the audience whenever they skate on home ice.

Crowds who pay huge money to attend events (although Worlds in Canada wasnt even sold out for anything until later in the week I have heard) are almost entirely die hard skating fans, but die hard skating fans dont make up the majority of a fan base. Casual skating fans are the ones who make up the majority of a fan base.
 

rvi5

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 22, 2010
Crowds who pay huge money to attend events (although Worlds in Canada wasnt even sold out for anything until later in the week I have heard) are almost entirely die hard skating fans, but die hard skating fans dont make up the majority of a fan base. Casual skating fans are the ones who make up the majority of a fan base.

So what are you trying to imply? Only Canadian avid fans cheer for V/M and Patrick at events, while the majority of casual fans who are not at events don't like them?
(note: the video examples I posted were from 2013 Canadian Nationals, not Worlds).

As I have already mentioned, casual fans typically only watch skating on their televisions at home "occasionally". That is why they are "casual". They have little interest in searching the internet for articles about skaters, or visiting skating boards. They are not going to know what the skaters say. Therefore, why would casual fans have any malice towards Scott or Patrick when they know little about them? Are you going from home-to-home throughout Canada knocking on doors telling them? They are certainly not going to get the information from TV or the newspapers.

Avid fans are more likely to take the time searching the internet for information about skaters. These people are demonstrating an above average interest in the sport, and are not going to give-up on Figure Skating simply because some may not like what a skater may have said. Otherwise, why are you still here?
 
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