2016 Team Challenge Cup - Gen Info/Pre-chat

[yuzushenko]

I'm asking this out of curiosity, are people enjoying this fan vote format? On twitter, I'm seeing plenty of negative reviews from Japanese fans and I understand that the competitive, populist format is not very well received in the culture. I personally am not liking this much either, if I were the organiser, I would at least stop showing the number of votes and detailed numbers etc. But what about people here? Does choosing the final skater through voting make things more exciting than just going with WS, WR or some other statistics?

oh im loving it, definitely exciting and i love seeing the data. though i think i saw people on twitter posting screenshots with fake ages so the data might not be entirely accurate. but to know that there are thousands of skating fans across the world..it's nice!

though i do see how it might be bad. i feel bad for skaters that have low points and they have to deal with that. it's like a popularity contest..i wouldn't want to be a part of it. i think it is almost a bit mean.

but i do love seeing the rivalries as well. like so youn vs rika. who knew? korea vs japan.

 

[randomfan]

why are jason brown and nam nguyen the men for team north america? they're not even going to worlds. i thought the requirement to be at TCC was that they had to have been worlds 2016 participants??

Only the captain's picks (the people who you vote for) have to be skaters going to Worlds this year. The first two skaters chosen by World Standings do not have to go to Worlds.

 

[Mathman]

... bill boards with Gracie on it all over town, etc.

It was kind of lucky for the event that Gracie, having already been picked as the main spokesperson, won U.S. Nationals. :yes:

 

[shyne]

The vote between Rika and So Youn reflects the tension between Japan and South Korea.
Both skaters posted the link on their social media asking for votes. It attracted voters who knows or cares nothing of figure skating, but simply want their country to win over the other one. National pride I guess

 

[andyjo24]

The vote between Rika and So Youn reflects the tension between Japan and South Korea.
Both skaters posted the link on their social media asking for votes. It attacked voters who knows or cares nothing of figure skating, but simply want their country to win over the other one.

I'm just glad that Rika and So Youn are good friends (based on their Instagram photos from Finlandia Trophy). :agree:

I'm pretty sure they'll respect whoever wins.

I'm a Rika fan, but I'm an absolute big So Youn fanatic, so So Youn gets my vote. Sorry Rika...

 

[andyjo24]

Btw, poor Li...... :sad21:

 

[shyne]

I'm just glad that Rika and So Youn are good friends (based on their Instagram photos from Finlandia Trophy). :agree:

I'm pretty sure they'll respect whoever wins.

I'm a Rika fan, but I'm an absolute big So Youn fanatic, so So Youn gets my vote. Sorry Rika...

I feel the same way. After all, they are in a sport that's subjective and constantly judged by what other people thinks of them.

 

[andyjo24]

LMAO. They just reorganized the voting site by moving the North American categories up.

They're desperate to get more people to vote for them. It makes sense, considering how So Youn and Rika are absolutely dominating the polls as a whole.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I like how Alaska still has not voted for anyone. And South Dakota has one vote for Ashley and no one else.

 

[Pippuripihvi]

Omg , who are these people voting for Kushvalska? :eeking:

 

[TMC]

Omg , who are these people voting for Kushvalska? :eeking:

I did, for one. Why not?

 

[cathlen]

Omg , who are these people voting for Kushvalska? :eeking:

Me. I think that most votes are from people who thinks she's the weakest out of three so less dangerous for other continents, though. (really hope I'm wrong about it!)

 

[Marin]

I also voted for Angelina

 

[desertskates]

I'm another Angelina voter What can I say? I like her!

And... this is post #1000. Yay for me

 

[Hanmgse]

count me in the club that voted for Angelina

 

[Krunchii]

I voted for Angelina! Her chances of winning are low but I hope her votes show that people are interested in small fed and lower ranked skaters too

 

[ice coverage]

Bychenko :yay: now is ahead of both Kovtun and Kolyada.

Omg , who are these people voting for Kushvalska? :eeking:

OMG, what an odd question.

I'm another one on Team Kuchvalska .

 

[silverfoxes]

Omg , who are these people voting for Kushvalska? :eeking:

Well, she does have fans, why shouldn't she? She's been a promising skater for awhile now...though I suspect the majority of votes are from people who are anti-Russian (although I believe Angelina is ethnically Russian?), or don't want Team Europe to have the strongest skater available.

I do think the voting aspect is novel and interesting, a bit reminiscent of tv shows like DWTS or the other talent shows, with a dash of Eurovision and its political biases. Obviously this competition is new and more for fun than anything else. Just like the Japan Open or WTT cannot be taken too seriously. I definitely hope that we can see more faces that weren't at SA, which is why I'd vote for Boyang or Misha over Han Yan, Rika over So Youn (besides the fact that I almost fell asleep watching So Youn live ), Adam over Max, etc.

 

[StitchMonkey]

I do think the voting aspect is novel and interesting, a bit reminiscent of tv shows like DWTS or the other talent shows, with a dash of Eurovision and its political biases. Obviously this competition is new and more for fun than anything else. Just like the Japan Open or WTT cannot be taken too seriously. I definitely hope that we can see more faces that weren't at SA, which is why I'd vote for Boyang or Misha over Han Yan, Rika over So Youn (besides the fact that I almost fell asleep watching So Youn live ), Adam over Max, etc.

so stuff that is popular and successful basically?

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Didn't realise the voting was open. But, I guess that explains why there has been so much activity in this thread the past few days. (I stopped reading this thread a while ago because it has got too big to trawl through).

Really don't agree with this method, as I don't feel that it is right that a popularity contest decides who competes at a Major Championship. It should be on merit, not populatiry.

Didn't stop me voting, though!

Here are the results at the time I voted (about 30 mintues ago - it took longer to type out than I expected). My choices are in bold.

American Ladies

Polina Edmunds: 17% - 6,470 votes (Come on, I had to vote for the Russian!)
Ashley Wagner: 54% - 20,181 votes
Alaine Chartrand: 29% - 10,806 votes

American Men

Adam Rippon: 50% - 15,571 votes
Max Aaron: 30% - 9,497 votes (Like his programmes)
Liam Firus: 20% - 6.289 votes

Asian Ladies

Li Zijun: 4% - 5.964 votes
Rika Hongo: 45% - 73,765 votes (Come on, she's using Irish music in her FS! Plus I like her)
Park So Youn: 52% - 85,762 votes

Asian Men

Misha Ge: 32% - 17,051 votes
Yan Han: 24% - 12,494 votes
Jin Boyang: 44% - 23,391 votes (How was he not an automatic choice?!)

European Ladies

Elena Radionova: 43% - 18,419 votes
Angelina Kuchvalska: 28% - 11,854 votes
Evgenia Medvedeva: 29% - 12,132 votes (How was she not an automatic choice?!)

European Men

Maxim Kovtun: 37% - 13,045 votes
Mikhail Kolyada: 23% - 8,192 votes (Hadn't a clue who to go for! So, I went for the young Russian)
Alexei Bychenko: 40% - 13,893 votes


I have to be honest, for a lot of the categories, I didn't know who to pick. Like, a lot of them I was thinking "Why are you here? You should have been one of the automatic picks!", while others I was just thinking "Why are you here? There are a lot of skaters that I would have thought would have been higher in the list of candidates!"

Ach, I'll never understand or like the way this competition is being handled!

CaroLiza_fan