The Improvement Thread: Your Ideas | Golden Skate

The Improvement Thread: Your Ideas

Anna K.

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Country
Latvia
Have ideas how to make figure skating better, more exciting, more honest, more popular etc., etc.? Please, share!


When I started the technology thread a few days ago, I got an impression that a thread for other great but technology non-related idea tossing is needed here :)
Except if it is about purely technological innovation, please send it to this specialized thread:
http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?49817-Technology-to-Measure-Figure-Skating-Imagine
Also, if you have started or found here other specialized idea threads or have posted you best ideas elsewhere, please simply add a link!
 

hyperinflation

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
moar twizzles

everyone should have to do them

minimum of five sets per program

plus we get to say the word twizzle more
 

Sam-Skwantch

“I solemnly swear I’m up to no good”
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 29, 2013
Country
United-States
I would like to see more behind the scenes/personal stories on the skaters during broadcasts. NHL does a show on HBO leading up to the winter classic and camera crews film both teams from the locker rooms and do personal interviews leading up to the big game. They use footage from and do quick recaps of the game highlights along the way. It's very interesting to watch the season from two points of view unfolding and leading to an ultimate showdown between the personalities you just familiarized yourself in a whole new light. It puts a new face on an old game and fosters genuine respect towards both teams.

Not sure if coaches would allow it but it would be interesting to see an hour long special or even two specials leading into GPF,Nationals, and Worlds. Showing their progress and stumbles along the way. I'm fascinated to see what makes these athletes tick and gain insight into their worlds of somewhat isolation. Maybe it's just me.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Well the obvious answer is make anonymous judging no more. Judges should have their scores and skewed scores catalogued. Any transgressions or apparent bias should be noted and the stats should be easily accessible by the general public. Every single judge should be able to say "I gave this mark for this skater" and not hide behind random selections.

Recaps and highlights would be nice. Although I can picture networks showing bias towards their own skaters while pointing out the flaws in others.

That counter was huge help, along with the 2nd half bonus notification. It's stuff like this that allows the general public to see that skaters are getting points for the things they do and aren't just being arbitrarily marked.
 

Bonnie F

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
I'd like to see a limit to how many jumps can receive a bonus in the FS and I'd like to eliminate the bonus for second half jumps in the short programs. I would also like to see a bigger penalty for falls. As as been said above I'd like to see the end of anonymous judging. Finally I wish that lyrics were not going to be allowed. I don't enjoy hearing music with lyrics in other languages and since it would be totally rude and unfair to have all skaters using english lyrics, I know I'll have trouble relating to foreign language lyrics.
 

Brenda

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 25, 2004
Move the decimal point to the left a place.

Smaller point differences between skaters are more exciting for casual viewers. Gracie said after the SP in Sochi that she was "only a triple lutz away from Yuna Kim." For the devoted fans and skaters themselves, that distance between skaters is the same whether the triple lutz is worth 6 points or 0.60 points. But for the casual fan watching the Olympics just because they saw Gracie Gold on Sports Illustrated and who can't tell a triple lutz apart from the other jumps, a 6-tenths difference is a whole lot more exciting than a 6-point difference.

That's one of the reasons why, as a casual fan of Summer Olympic sports, I found gymnastics more exciting than diving.
Plus, casual fans always consider figure skating to be the winter counterpart of gymnastics, where scores are usually in the 14.XXX-15.XXX range. Seeing a ladies long program score 13.XXX or mens score 17.XXX seems more relatable than 13X.XX or 17X.XX.
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
I think some of the new judging system needs to be overhauled. I think a fall should have more deductions. I think an under-rotated quad should not get points for the rotation that is completed. And I think all those ridiculously silly spins need to be rethought. Some of the positions are just butt-ugly and they ruin the flow of the piece.

I don't see that removing anonymity from the judges would do much to improve the overall judging. Maybe they shouldn't have anyone judging the long program in any discipline that has a skater in the top 10!
 

zamboni step

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
I think some of the new judging system needs to be overhauled. I think a fall should have more deductions. I think an under-rotated quad should not get points for the rotation that is completed. And I think all those ridiculously silly spins need to be rethought. Some of the positions are just butt-ugly and they ruin the flow of the piece.

I don't see that removing anonymity from the judges would do much to improve the overall judging. Maybe they shouldn't have anyone judging the long program in any discipline that has a skater in the top 10!

So firstly, we bring back the pre-2010-2011 season rotation policy which was ridiculously strict. Then we make it so the difficulty in spins is less important. And then we have judges from Iraq and Fiji come in who might have never seen an ice rink come in and judge. No offense but I disagree with these ideas, I agree spin positions that are aesthetically pleasing need to be rewarded over those that are not but not by ridding the world of most difficult variations. Rotation is too strictly punished as it is. And the ISU should select impartial judges itself, not leave the federation to tell them who they're picking. In other words the ISU needs to man/woman up and tell the federation they're in charge. Not Speedy though, Speedy needs to go home.

New suggestion- Speedy takes a long nap and leaves FS alone.
 

GF2445

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
I think that they should display live:
1. The technical panel's ranking of the skater's base value
2. judge's ranking based on GOE
3. The ranking of the program components

Sort of like old times but no ordinals just rankings.

That would be interesting to see those results when the covers are off in the moment of competition.

With lyrics, it should be allowed as we have to accept that there is a younger generation who we need to appeal to BUT there should be strict conditions and guidelines and if a skater uses songs with lyrics poorly, there should be a deduction im components and a madatory music violation deduction.
 

usethis2

Medalist
Joined
Feb 11, 2014
That's one of the reasons why, as a casual fan of Summer Olympic sports, I found gymnastics more exciting than diving.

Umm.. I am not sure about that. Gymnastics scores are as nonsensical to casual viewers as skating's or diving's. Gymnastics are probably more exciting because there are more glorified/sexualized bodies and make-ups, prolonged performances and indoor atmosphere, and chances to see disasters, etc. Compared to diving and gymnastics, figure skating's score system is quite a bit more complex to casual viewers.
 

wootie

Match Penalty
Joined
Dec 21, 2013
Obviously the judging situation has to be cleared up. It's always been somewhat corrupt, but it's gotten absurd to the point of almost no return.
 

Mahanson34

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are the only commentators allowed from now on. They're informative, interesting, funny, fashionable, and fun to listen to...their commentary throughout the Olympics trumped anything that Scott Hamilton and friends were able to manage. IMO. :yes:
 

hyperinflation

Match Penalty
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are the only commentators allowed from now on. They're informative, interesting, funny, fashionable, and fun to listen to...their commentary throughout the Olympics trumped anything that Scott Hamilton and friends were able to manage. IMO. :yes:


are you tripping on quaaludes
 

Mahanson34

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 4, 2014
are you tripping on quaaludes

Ha ha, not at all! I used to love listening to Scott Hamilton, but in the last few years, I feel like his commentary has become tiresome (after all, how many ways can you say "Nailed it"?) So, for me, listening to Johnny and Tara was refreshing. Again, IMO. :clap:
 

noskates

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
So firstly, we bring back the pre-2010-2011 season rotation policy which was ridiculously strict. Then we make it so the difficulty in spins is less important. And then we have judges from Iraq and Fiji come in who might have never seen an ice rink come in and judge. No offense but I disagree with these ideas, I agree spin positions that are aesthetically pleasing need to be rewarded over those that are not but not by ridding the world of most difficult variations. Rotation is too strictly punished as it is. And the ISU should select impartial judges itself, not leave the federation to tell them who they're picking. In other words the ISU needs to man/woman up and tell the federation they're in charge. Not Speedy though, Speedy needs to go home.

New suggestion- Speedy takes a long nap and leaves FS alone.

Gee, why not take every word of my post to the max? I never mentioned pre-2010-11 rotation policies and I don't even KNOW if there are judges from Iraq and Fiji. But I don't agree with you that rotation is too strictly punished. If you don't land the jump - you don't land the jump!!! You shouldn't be able to fall flat on your keester attempting a quad and only have 1 reduction point but get credit for the rotation.

I was coming up with ideas - didn't say they were viable, but they were better than Speedy taking a long nap!!!

Sheesh.

And I do agree with Mahanson about Scott Hamilton. The moaning and the "awwws" and "he owns it" and "he nailed it" really have become hackneyed phrases. And his sidekick Sandra Bezic's "that's his (or hers) signature move!" I really don't feel either of them added much to the enjoyment or enlightenment. And don't even get me started on Peter Carruthers.
 

Brenda

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 25, 2004
Umm.. I am not sure about that. Gymnastics scores are as nonsensical to casual viewers as skating's or diving's. Gymnastics are probably more exciting because there are more glorified/sexualized bodies and make-ups, prolonged performances and indoor atmosphere, and chances to see disasters, etc. Compared to diving and gymnastics, figure skating's score system is quite a bit more complex to casual viewers.

That's why I said it was about my own personal experience as a casual fan. For me, a single dive on its own DOES hold the same amount of excitement as say, a single vaulting pass, beam routine, etc. (and yes people watch diving for its sexualized bodies too...) Of course that's not necessarily true of all fans...one is the marquee sport of the summer Olys and the other is not. But I used them as an example because for me, as a casual fan who doesn't understand (and really, doesn't care enough to want to put the effort into understand the details) of either diving or gymnastics scoring, seeing 10-point leads after 4 out of 6 rounds in diving feels discouraging, simply because 10 FEELS like a B I G number. Jordyn Wieber missing AA finals by "only" .233 points was a lot more dramatic than if she missed by 2.33 points (or let's take it to the extreme, what if she missed by 233 points?)
It's all the same, but the media can sensationalize smaller point differentials better--i.e. "Gracie Gold less than a point away from Gold" is a much better headline than "Gracie Gold less than 10 points away from Gold"
 
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