2016 Team Challenge Cup - Gen Info/Pre-chat

[Moxiejan]

The problem is that they are counting on this being such a relatively small amount of money that subscribers will either grudgingly pay to see the skating or boycott it and deprive themselves of a viewing experience that they had indeed paid for.

Let's put it this way: if you went to McDonald's and paid $6 for a combo (listed on the menu as burger, fries, drink), and then were handed a tray that had only the burger and drink, what would you do when they told you that fries weren't included anymore and that you had to pay $1 more to get them? Would you just pay the $1? Just accept no fries without complaint? What would you do?

 

[skater7866]

Just to understand...
If that new competition (TCC) is sanctionned by the ISU, does this mean skaters will get to improve one more time their season's bests? Or will it be more like a Japan Open competition kind of thing, where the points don't count in the season's best because it is an invitational event? Thanks for answering!

 

[Pamigena]

Let's put it this way: if you went to McDonald's and paid $6 for a combo (listed on the menu as burger, fries, drink), and then were handed a tray that had only the burger and drink, what would you do when they told you that fries weren't included anymore and that you had to pay $1 more to get them? Would you just pay the $1? Just accept no fries without complaint? What would you do?

I would get my car and block their drive-through until they give me my fries :sarcasm: I still have a burger and a drink, I can sit here for a while.
(don't let the smiley fool you. I'm not kidding.)

 

[Tavi...]

The problem is that they are counting on this being such a relatively small amount of money that subscribers will either grudgingly pay to see the skating or boycott it and deprive themselves of a viewing experience that they had indeed paid for.

Let's put it this way: if you went to McDonald's and paid $6 for a combo (listed on the menu as burger, fries, drink), and then were handed a tray that had only the burger and drink, what would you do when they told you that fries weren't included anymore and that you had to pay $1 more to get them? Would you just pay the $1? Just accept no fries without complaint? What would you do?

You're so right! I kept thinking, if I ordered 5 camisoles on sale from Lands End @ $10 each (I just got them! They're great!) and they sent me only four, and said, well, you only get four because we decided to charge you $12.50 each instead, of course we'd never put up with it.

The thing is, sure $9.99 isn't much, but they're effectively raising the price for the season pass by 20% - and that is outrageous.

@pamigena, too bad we can't apply the car and burger technique to ice network!

 

[ice coverage]

Just to understand...
If that new competition (TCC) is sanctionned by the ISU, does this mean skaters will get to improve one more time their season's bests? Or will it be more like a Japan Open competition kind of thing, where the points don't count in the season's best because it is an invitational event? Thanks for answering!

Just my two cents:

I believe that "Team Challenge Cup" is not in the same ISU category as "ISU World Team Trophy."

So my guess -- only a guess -- is that TCC scores will not count for SBs. Even though WTT scores do.

http://www.isu.org/en/single-and-pa...-of-events/2015/04/isu-world-team-trophy-2015
http://www.isu.org/en/single-and-pa...vents/2016/04/team-challenge-cup-invitational

But I most certainly do not claim to know for sure.

 

[koatcue]

Yay! Med and Rad are going!

 

[tulosai]

You're so right! I kept thinking, if I ordered 5 camisoles on sale from Lands End @ $10 each (I just got them! They're great!) and they sent me only four, and said, well, you only get four because we decided to charge you $12.50 each instead, of course we'd never put up with it.

The thing is, sure $9.99 isn't much, but they're effectively raising the price for the season pass by 20% - and that is outrageous.

@pamigena, too bad we can't apply the car and burger technique to ice network!

It is, and even more so because the event isn't going to really be any good (sorry, but it's true). It's not like this is a competition that a lot of people are super eager to see and also would have no other way to see.

 

[Tolstoj]

Yay! Med and Rad are going!

Rika is going too!

The hype is back

 

[Latvian]

Angelina Kuchvalska not recognized

http://sportacentrs.com/ziemas_sports/slidosana/09042016-balsojums_kucvalskas_uzvara_netiek_atzita

 

[Tavi...]

It is, and even more so because the event isn't going to really be any good (sorry, but it's true). It's not like this is a competition that a lot of people are super eager to see and also would have no other way to see.

Well I personally am excited to see how Jason is recovering - it's his first competition back since late Oct /early Nov. But I can see how it might be of less interest to people who aren't particularly Jason fans!

 

[solani]

I believe that the right skaters are going, the votes had to be cleaned up, but the way this vote was being held is really and truly unprofessional.
But it's a weird competition anyway. A show competition.

 

[silverfoxes]

Well I personally am excited to see how Jason is recovering - it's his first competition back since late Oct /early Nov. But I can see how it might be of less interest to people who aren't particularly Jason fans!

I'm not a Jason fan, but I'm looking forward to it for many of the other skaters. Maybe I'm the only one. The World Team Trophy always seems like fun, so I don't see why this won't be. The novelty of it is interesting to me, for one thing. And we get so few major competitions & quality ice shows in the US that I'm certainly not going to complain about one more. Europe & Japan are spoiled for choice.

 

[dorispulaski]

I have listed the current teams in the OP of this thread.

 

[Moxiejan]

Really, they should have realized from the beginning that allowing fans to vote for all three teams (instead of just their own team) would encourage some to "strategize" by voting for the weakest skaters in competing teams, to help the chances of "their" skaters to win prize money. If they ever decide to use fan voting again, they need to limit it to voting for just one region's team, based on IP address.

Far more transparent would be the type of process used to select teams for gymnastics or golf (such as Ryder Cup); Have a certain number qualify directly according to certain rules & then have a "pool" of eligible candidates (also according to rules) from which the the captain's picks can be made.

 

[tulosai]

Really, they should have realized from the beginning that allowing fans to vote for all three teams (instead of just their own team) would encourage some to "strategize" by voting for the weakest skaters in competing teams, to help the chances of "their" skaters to win prize money. If they ever decide to use fan voting again, they need to limit it to voting for just one region's team, based on IP address.

Far more transparent would be the type of process used to select teams for gymnastics or golf (such as Ryder Cup); Have a certain number qualify directly according to certain rules & then have a "pool" of eligible candidates (also according to rules) from which the the captain's picks can be made.

I dislike this idea because for me, I wanted to vote for all the teams because I was fans of skaters on all the teams, and I voted for the skaters I most wanted to see, not really taking into account who was the strongest or weakest competitor for any of the teams. It's nothing to me which skaters win the prize money, and I like skaters from all countries, but most of my favorites are actually from Russia even though I'm American, but then also I've lived in France and currently live in the Netherlands so I don't feel like one box really fits me in terms of what team I'd be associated with anyway.

If something like this was implemented, though, I wouldn't make someone vote for a specific team based on IP address, but they could lock it so that once a certain IP address has voted for one team, they can't vote for another. I think this makes more sense since some people might not be geographically where the team they associate with is (either because they temporarily live somewhere that's not their home or because they have a preference for a certain countries skaters that aren't actually their countries skaters), or they might want to vote for a specific skater more than any other who isn't on 'their' team (like say someone form America desperately loves Radionova). There are also currently some countries where it's not going to be clear what team to associate them with, like Australia (who for the moment literally has no team) or parts of the middle east.

Of course theoretically some people still might choose to use their vote then to vote for the weakest skaters on a team that's not their then and forego voting for their team, but I tend to believe that would be quite rare indeed.

 

[Mathman]

Did you guys catch President Obama's short speech honoring the final episode of American Idol the other night? He segued into the importance of voting in a democracy and he said that the "phone in the vote" or Internet method of voting would be a good thing to try in national political contests -- just as soon as he can figure out the details of how to make it work.

 

[winky97]

Angelina Kuchvalska not recognized

http://sportacentrs.com/ziemas_sports/slidosana/09042016-balsojums_kucvalskas_uzvara_netiek_atzita

Yeah, I hear you. I actually think this outcome was a little unfair to her.

 

[andromache]

Angelina Kuchvalska not recognized

http://sportacentrs.com/ziemas_sports/slidosana/09042016-balsojums_kucvalskas_uzvara_netiek_atzita

I read a google translation of the article (which is obviously not very good) so can someone explain how Angelina earned a place and was denied it?

It's a shame that skaters from non-skating countries (Bychenko, So Youn, Angelina) seem to have been excluded from the competition by re-doing the votes (at least according to this article I think)? I like seeing 3 skaters from different countries on each team, like the men on Team Asia.

 

[alskling]

Yeah, I hear you. I actually think this outcome was a little unfair to her.

Yeah, but organizers selling tickets and wants some money for that.
And i feel bad for Angelina too. She is in a very good relationships with a Russian girls and i hope there will be no envy (or something) beetwen them.
This is not their fault but some non-professionals.

 

[tulosai]

Yeah, but organizers selling tickets and wants some money for that.
.

Sure and I think we all get that, but then why have a fan vote at all? I don't think we have enough information to really say what happened for sure (perhaps Radionova actually won fair and square and a large number of votes for Angelina were actually fraudulent- it isn't impossible) but as others have said, the non transparent and borderline incompetent way in which the vote ended up being conducted is extremely unfortunate and doesn't inspire confidence. If they just wanted to have/invite 'the best' skaters, thinking that was how to sell tickets, then by all means they should have done so and saved everyone the trouble of voting for something that actually wasn't a vote. It feels like they tried to have their cake and eat it too- drum up interest through a fan vote, but if the person who isn't the best is winning the fan vote, scream fraud so they can sell more tickets.