- Joined
- Aug 8, 2023
Disagree. Unfortunately it is abundantly clear that A-list sports have rather... suspicious judging and reffing. For insance in NBA, NFL or Soccer (not that I have interest in such sports anymore), refs incessantly call baseless fouls to kill momentum in favour of the more popular team, or harm a star player, etc... Drama is created in pre-season or over decades in regards to sports dynasties, and one of a variety of expected outcomes adhering to the premptive drama will always be the outcome. Its invarible. This becomes especially evident during Soccer World Cup, Superbowl or NBA finals.There are judges who give penaltiess. People don't know the rules are protest if a judge gives the penalty to their favourite team. But if a player if a hockey player of the opposing team makes a legal tackle, fans protest loudly. They have no idea about the rules when tackle is legal or not, but always your favourite is threatened wrong way.
Its extremelt rampant in combat sport (In which I formerly held a particular interest, as spectator and participant). The results are just outright predetermined and based off politics or marketing. Judges will gift a deceitfully close split decision to a clear loser shamelessly and incessantly (a known fact amongst fight fans - not conspiracy theorizing). I'm 100% sure some fights are simply choreographed as well and I had an insanely high record of predicting "upsets" based on politics and the ostensive drama certain athletes shared. Hence I havent had any interest in such sport since a while either (and also because I began to dislike fighting and pretentiously masculine things in general).
And we all know what happened in Vancouver with FS... NOBODY can seriously think Adelina naturally won over Yuna.
Point is, usually the fans are correct. Refs dont "mess up" by accident - they give blatantly unfair calls on purpose and this is a well observed fact by any current or former sports fan. What I dont understand is how people maintain interest or particularly emotional investement in such things when they know the truth. Whether players are in on some total script is irrelevant; there is at minimum a rough template for every A-list sport season which makes it unwatchable.
And I never had particular identification with teams or athletes, I'm not bitter about anything. In fact I have made money using this to my advantage. I am giving an unbias perspective.
This is why I only watch FS. I dont care who wins (within reason), its still a spectacle. If a fight or soccer match is scripted, it becomes an irrelevant viewing experience. But if a FS event is scripted it intrinsically changes very little (to me). I can still enjoy skill, athleticism and artistry at peak form. It is just important not to idolize or form unhealthy emotional connections to the athletes to where you actually care for them or their success personally (an issue for my self).
Good luck, I dont think any main stream sport exists unakin to those cheap entertainment shows.But it won't make me very happy either, because overall I want to see fair sportive competitions not a show contest like those singing contests on tv or a beauty pageant... And especially a sport like figure skating needs good judging to be respected and not become a farce.
Figure skating remains relatively legit (legit enough...) save for Olympics. International and domestic judging is bias but not inovercomably so. Though some of the Russian PCS scoring was disgusting this season, thats for sure. Valieva getting 38+ after multiple major choreographical mistakes was a shock even by Russian standards.
I agree. Spins can be judged rather easily with practice - counting rotations is simple (at least with women, maybe men are much faster) and distinguishing a jumping change foot entry or distinct positions is a novice thing. However, StSq are REALLY hard to judge in the moment. You need natural memory, element discernment, and ability for intellectual multitask and all of this is usable then only by very sophisticated ice-knowledge on every distinct turn, edge, foot change and corresponding rule. The choreographic elements in themselves are simple but in addition to the former it becomes a grand task. I struggle with it too, a lot, but its motivating... I can't wait until I master StSq analysis.But what I will likely never get are the levels. I have to review everything a thousand times in slow motion, especially step sequences...
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