2016 Team Challenge Cup - Gen Info/Pre-chat

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Mr. Putin will not allow Med to NOT be voted in.....Russia has a lot of voters.....

I am not Mr. Putin to speak for him but I am still sure that he has much more pressing issues now than tracking the voting for Medvedeva. As for the Russians we are the heirs of Byzantium.If you read Russian FS forums which I sort of hate and never participate there are frequent squabbles among all sorts of fans. I really doubt that it will be Medvedeva to get the bulk of votes just because as of now she skates the best. The votes might split evenly between her, Elena,Yulia, Adelina and even Anna so that, say, Joshi Helgesson end up the winner. But Caro is much easier bet: she has a lot of fans in Russia and people while voting will not care if she is in top shape or not. Russia is about heart and emotions.

 

[silverfoxes]

But the fan vote only applies to skaters who skate at Worlds, so there are not going to be 4-5 Russian girls on the list. Assuming Evgenia, Elena, and Caro are at Worlds, I would vote Evgenia because I prefer her programs to Elena's, I know she can win & I've just never gotten the hype about Caro at all...plus one Italian girl is more than enough if the Euro team is actually going to stand a chance of winning. Sorry...even if Caro is a great skater, she's been out for nearly 2 years, & we've seen what comebacks look like for other great skaters this season - it's not easy.

 

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But the fan vote only applies to skaters who skate at Worlds, so there are not going to be 4-5 Russian girls on the list. Assuming Evgenia, Elena, and Caro are at Worlds, I would vote Evgenia because I prefer her programs to Elena's, I know she can win & I've just never gotten the hype about Caro at all...plus one Italian girl is more than enough if the Euro team is actually going to stand a chance of winning. Sorry...even if Caro is a great skater, she's been out for nearly 2 years, & we've seen what comebacks look like for other great skaters this season - it's not easy.

You are rational. And the vote might not be rational at all. I just wanted to say that if Team Europe ladies ends up weird the whole event will be weird for me same as the one in Japan where a long gone Joubert skated for Europe.

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

What is the correct or more common pronunciation of Spokane? In the last few days I've heard it pronounced Spo-Kane and Spo-Can so I guess curiousity has the best of me.

 

[Mathman]

Spo-can.

 

[Mathman]

What is the correct or more common pronunciation of Spokane? In the last few days I've heard it pronounced Spo-Kane and Spo-Can so I guess curiousity has the best of me.

Spo-CAN. The original name of the city was Spokan Falls. In the 1880s the “Falls” was dropped and the residents voted to add a “e” at the end.

In a very early attempt to pronounce/transliterate the Indian word (which means “Children of the sun) it came out “Illium-Spokance.” Later the word was pronounced “Spokan-uh,” where the e at the end was voiced so slightly that it was eventually dropped by English speakers and just became Spokan.

The pronunciation “Spo-cain” is simply wrong and gives Spokanites a chance to laugh at silly Easterners who don’t know any better.

 

[solar]

Maybe it's because I'm from Washington State, but it's so strange hearing people say "Spo-Kane" even though it seems like the obvious way to pronounce it

 

[CoyoteChris]

I am not Mr. Putin to speak for him but I am still sure that he has much more pressing issues now than tracking the voting for Medvedeva. As for the Russians we are the heirs of Byzantium.If you read Russian FS forums which I sort of hate and never participate there are frequent squabbles among all sorts of fans. I really doubt that it will be Medvedeva to get the bulk of votes just because as of now she skates the best. The votes might split evenly between her, Elena,Yulia, Adelina and even Anna so that, say, Joshi Helgesson end up the winner. But Caro is much easier bet: she has a lot of fans in Russia and people while voting will not care if she is in top shape or not. Russia is about heart and emotions.

I was telling a joke, had my tounge in the my cheeck as we say in the states...if any fan wanted Team Euro to Win, they WOULD vote for Med as right now she is unbeatable....but if skating fans are voting for their favorites, then we shall see who the Euro Capt puts up.....it really all comes down to who is considered a fan and how the voting is done.....

 

[CoyoteChris]

BTW, I have NEVER in my skating life seen an event so heavily advertised locally....continuous...and I mean CONTINUOUS ads in the local paper, billboards everywhere, and many many TV ads.....I would love to know how sales are going.....

 

[nolangoh]

Concerning the team captain of Tean Asia, if they are really determined to find an OGM to be the the Captain, the most possible cases would be either Shizuka or Yuna. If not, Shen or Zhao or Pang or Tong are possible candidates (if they speak english well enough). What do you think? I personally would like Chen Lu to be the captain.

 

[Mathman]

Concerning the team captain of Tean Asia, if they are really determined to find an OGM to be the the Captain, the most possible cases would be either Shizuka or Yuna. If not, Shen or Zhao or Pang or Tong are possible candidates (if they speak english well enough). What do you think? I personally would like Chen Lu to be the captain.

I don't know how important it is to be able to give interviews in English. Actually, it's kind of cool when foreign dignitaries speak through a translator -- somehow it makes their words sound more weighty or something.

Of the skaters you mentioned, Chen Lu speaks English the best, and Yuna speaks well enough to get by. The others are not so fluent, I think. (I remember when Shizuka trained briefly here in Detroit the skating club found a local Japanese-American family for her to live with, which was a huge help in terms of culture shock and home sickness.)

Chen Lu would be perfect. She is a two-time Olympic medal winner and a world champion, so her credentials are beyond question. She is photogenic. According to this great interview with her husband Denis Petrov, she speaks English at home because her husband (a native Russian speaker who is also fluent in English) does not speak Chinese very well despite living in China for some years now. Their son speaks English, Chinese and Russian, although their (younger) daughter has not had as much of a chance to visit her grandparents in Russia and does not speak Russian much.

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/ind...nis-petrov-i-work-for-my-wife-in-china.95280/

(Interview by Elena Vaytsekhovskaya, translation by Poster TaHbKa on FSU )

 

[Layback11]

I would personally want to see Yuna as the captain, but the job probably should go to someone who's fluent in English. If she is, Yuna is the obvious pick because she's semi-current and more recognizable right now than any of the other options.

 

[Mathman]

I would personally want to see Yuna as the captain, but the job probably should go to someone who's fluent in English. If she is, Yuna is the obvious pick because she's semi-current and more recognizable right now than any of the other options.

Yuna is pretty good in English but she prefers to speak in Korean, of course. When she appears before international organizations like UNESCO she sometimes gives an opening statement in English and then announces that the remainder of her speech will be in Korean (so put on your translator earphones).

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

OK, I have to admit that I am totally lost with what is happening in this thread.

So, can I just throw in my tuppenny's worth about what little I understand of the format.

Is it just me, or does anybody else think it would have been better to have 4 teams? Say, along the lines of the regions that I came up with when describing event distribution:

The Americas
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
Asia / Pacific

Because, let's face it, if Team Europe want to make sure they win, they are going to have to put out an all-Russian team in Ladies and Pairs. Which, to me, seems unfair on the top skaters in those categories from the rest of the continent.

And anyway, an extra team means more skaters, which can only be a good thing for those watching!

Admittedly, all things being equal, these new titles would make little difference to the teams outside of Europe.

The "Americas" team would still be exclusively American and Canadian. But at least it would open up the possibility for skaters from Centeral and South America to get into the team in the future.

Similarly, the "Asia / Pacific" team would still be largely Japanese, Chinese and Korean. But, seeing how the Australian skaters are now making their presence felt in a big way, I would like to see them get an opportunity to get into this type of competition. And you know what, if the catchment area was opened up, I would not be surprised if at least one Aussie did manage to get into the team.

But, with the way the competition is currently structured, none of this is going to happen.

Yet another opportunity lost to boost the popularity of the sport outside it's heartland.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[ice coverage]

... Because, let's face it, if Team Europe want to make sure they win, they are going to have to put out an all-Russian team in Ladies and Pairs. Which, to me, seems unfair on the top skaters in those categories from the rest of the continent. ...

Can't tell whether you realize that TCC rules do not permit an all-Russian contingent in any discipline. And of course, the same is true for any other country.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Can't tell whether you realize that TCC rules do not permit an all-Russian contingent in any discipline. And of course, the same is true for any other country.

Ah, at least that's something!

I didn't actually realise that.

As I hinted at in the Predictions Game thread, there has been so much written in this thread that I am totally lost with regards what the rules actually are.

And, as I said just now in my reply to your suggestion of how to approach the predictions, it would have made things a lot more simpler to understand if they had just tweaked the WTT rules.

So, perhaps your idea of having a new thread showing the differences between the formats of the various team competitions is a good idea. It would make everything clearer, and might help us understand things better.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Mathman]

Invitations were supposed to go out on January 1st. Has it been announced who was invited. (In any case, we can figure it out from the ISU rankings, right?)

By the way, I am pretty sure that the ISU counts Australia as being in with Asia.

Esited to add: No wait. I am not sure about that.

 

[Crossover]

Question;
Would be scores obtained from the competition regarded as official scores just like World Team Trophy held in Japan?

Could invited skaters reject the invitation or withdraw the participation without sanction from ISU for whatever reason like taking a rest since this will be held after the season is over?

Sorry if these questions had been already raised, but I'm not inclined to read through all accumulated posts here.

 

[LRK]

Ah, at least that's something!

I didn't actually realise that.

As I hinted at in the Predictions Game thread, there has been so much written in this thread that I am totally lost with regards what the rules actually are.

And, as I said just now in my reply to your suggestion of how to approach the predictions, it would have made things a lot more simpler to understand if they had just tweaked the WTT rules.

So, perhaps your idea of having a new thread showing the differences between the formats of the various team competitions is a good idea. It would make everything clearer, and might help us understand things better.

CaroLiza_fan

Well, as far as I understood the rules, the team for any discipline must contain skaters from at least two different countries. So, for instance, European ladies could only contain, tops, two Russian ladies. Also, two of the members will be selected from the top ranking in World standings - which, currently, apparently for European ladies were Liza and Roberta (from two different countries). Then if any of those decline the invitation, they will go further down the list, and so on. And the third member will be chosen by a fan vote from participants at Worlds - from five nominees selected, I think, by each team captain.

Note: It's been a while since I read the rules, and I tend to get muddled anyway, so, please, if I've made a hash of things - corrections welcome!

 

[ice coverage]

Invitations were supposed to go out on January 1st. Has it been announced who was invited. (In any case, we can figure it out from the ISU rankings, right?) ...

Invitations will go out this week (week of Jan 4), according to a USFS press release in Dec.
Meaning the invitations based on ISU World Standings. (And yes, those invitees are predictable.)
(The link to the press release is in the other TCC thread. http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/sh...hallenge-Cup&p=1334891&viewfull=1#post1334891)

The fan voting for the third man and third lady on each team will not take place until after Worlds, in case anyone is not aware.

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Question;
Would be scores obtained from the competition regarded as official scores just like World Team Trophy held in Japan?

Could invited skaters reject the invitation or withdraw the participation without sanction from ISU for whatever reason like taking a rest since this will be held after the season is over?

Sorry if these questions had been already raised, but I'm not inclined to read through all accumulated posts here.

I think your first question is about whether TCC scores will count for ISU SBs and PBs. I don't know whether it was previously raised on GS. In any case, it was not addressed in the TCC Announcement, AFAIK.

Your second question has been discussed on GS, so my brief answer here is that it is apparent from the Announcement that skaters are free to decline TCC invitations.

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... So, perhaps your idea of having a new thread showing the differences between the formats of the various team competitions is a good idea. It would make everything clearer, and might help us understand things better. ...

The idea of a thread devoted to the contrast btwn TCC and WTT had not occurred to me, and I do not plan to start one.
(If you are thinking of what I mentioned about being a stickler in another thread about TCC, I meant the Stupid Questions thread. Someone over there happened to make a reference to "WTT," although the context indicated that TCC was the event in mind, and I replied accordingly.)

BTW, as mentioned in this post, a second TCC thread already exists -- in the competition subforum. It's a general thread for TCC.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?57981-2016-Team-Challenge-Cup​