Hype

[mskater93]

Proclaiming someone will be the best thing to happen ice skating since the zamboni does nothing but attract negative attention the skater.

Kwanatic - I will steal this line the next time I hear about how great someone is! Thanks for the laugh!

 

[mary01]

kim, tara, michelle, and mao deserved their hype - they were all doing far more at the same stage of their careers to justify it. And they sure lived up to that hype (3 olympic champions and a 5 time world champion). There is a difference between justified and unjustified hype

ita

 

[tulosai]

Re overhyping (as distinct from overrating):

About a year ago, the hype over Gracie Gold seemed to be off the charts.
And IMHO, virtually everyone seemed happy to embrace the hype. Skeptics, if any, remained under the radar. The mania was totally lopsided in her favor.

OTOH, IMHO, cheerleaders for vs. skeptics of Osmond all along have equalled each other with the intensity of their support vs. doubts, respectively.

Wishing both Osmond and Gold well as they continue with this season and future seasons. Seems safe to say that the best from each is yet to come.

(If Gold qualifies for Four Continents, Worlds, and/or WTT, will be interesting to see how they fare head to head at this point. )​

I was a skeptic of Gold and I don't think I remained particularly under the radar (though I flat out post much less than a lot of people here). We did exist haha. Actually I still don't really like Gold. But that's a different issue.

I personally find it hard to get invested emotionally in young skaters. It tends to be only over the course of a career that I become invested. Once in a while, rarely (far less than once a year) a young skater or couple will strike me and I'll sort of be a fan from the get go. But for me that usually takes time, and so I really dislike all the hype in general here whenever anyone does anything remotely impressive one year.

I also agree that this thread is a bit of overkill. I would be happy to never see another Osmond thread as long as I live.

 

[shine]

Er, mayhbe it's just me, but I'm starting to feel that the negativity thrown at Osmond is actually a little more than twice the amount of praise that I've seen for her.

 

[prettykeys]

You can't deny that she's skating far better than anyone could have expected. Until she starts doing really poorly, I don't think anyone's at liberty of saying she's overhyped when she's actually matching the hype that she's getting.

Hello, CanadianSkaterGuy! As they say...Welcome; post long, and post often! I have seen your posts while lurking the ISU forums.

I think a common theme is that what some skating fans consider "living up to their hype" will be "falling short of their hype" for other fans. It's another subjective matter in the sport and fandom. Interesting to hear people's takes on it.

Proclaiming someone will be the best thing to happen ice skating since the zamboni does nothing but attract negative attention the skater. So far Kaetlyn has done well...she's had a number of strong skates and achieved good results. Let her be happy with those victories and wish her well in her remaining competitions.

If what's going on with Gracie Gold has told us anything it's that over-hyping someone usually ends badly. Not only is it generating extra pressure for the skater to perform, but over-saturating the boards with how wonderful someone is and how badly they'll kick everyone's @$$ and how no one can compare to them generates some ill-will toward the skater from other fans.

I was sick of Gracie long before she debuted at SC thanks to all the send Gracie to worlds/Gracie's the best/Gracie is God crap that happened around nationals last year. People were hailing her as the second coming and she wasn't even a senior yet. Fans get too excited...

Honestly, I don't mind hype and personally it doesn't turn me against a skater just because they are hyped up. It's normal for skaters to have ups and downs. You're a huge Kwan fan, and one of the reasons why she was so respected is how scarily consistent and well she skated/competed from year to year, right? That is very, very unusual. Hiccups, off-competitions, no back-to-back clean SP & LP's, etc. are for me, no reason to be less impressed with a skater. It's is quite the norm, especially in the age of CoP.

The potential in Gracie Gold is enough for me to watch her as an upcoming top skater. There was a thread earlier on whether she could "handle the pressure" that is being put on her.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?38444-Can-Gracie-Gold-handle-the-pressure

There it is. From what I've seen of her Senior outings so far, I agree that she still seems like she's unused to the big stage. The skating fans who have seen her on the Junior circuit and in practices reported that she is steely and learns quickly, so they said I wasn't quite correct in my assessment of her competitive instincts, but it seems like she still hasn't shaken off her jitters.

Who knows how long it will take. It took YuNa right up to the Olympics to skate a clean SP & LP as a Senior.

All of the skaters I mentioned lived up to the hype, those who have retired at least. Sasha Cohen may take the record for the most-hyped skater in history and she never achieved anything close to what was predicted for her. Over hyped skaters aren't necessarily bad skaters, it's just I think it unwise to brag on stuff you haven't done yet, which Sasha was really big on doing: I'm going to land the first quad, win the Olympic Gold Medal and retire, like Tara. I'd rather a skater do a thing, and then brag on it, like Kurt landing the first quad. The sad thing is that the only titles Sasha achieved is one US Championship and one GPF Championship when Irina's mother.

Hmm, Sasha Cohen was skating near the end of the golden Kwan era, when there were many American fans following the sport passionately. I'm neither surprised at the hype, nor think she was "overhyped", per se. She remains one of the most exquisite skaters I've seen (I know lots of people mention her skating skills weren't as strong as other elite skaters at that level...), with performances more memorable than Hughes or Meissner (with better medals) or, so far, the current flock of Americans.

So...do you guys think hype, even if it's excessive, ever does anyone good? Sometimes I feel that it does make judges start to pay more attention and boost the marks up a bit. Plus, it may help skaters generate support and sponsors.

 

[Icey]

Well, if she is overhyped, there is really nothing anyone can do about it, except wait and see. I suspect all these high expectations are going to create such pressure on her that she might not do as well as she would have. I hope her parents and team are protecting her from it as much as possible and that she has a very good head on her shoulders and doesn't put much stock in her press.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Hello, CanadianSkaterGuy! As they say...Welcome; post long, and post often! I have seen your posts while lurking the ISU forums.

So...do you guys think hype, even if it's excessive, ever does anyone good? Sometimes I feel that it does make judges start to pay more attention and boost the marks up a bit. Plus, it may help skaters generate support and sponsors.

Thanks and hi prettykeys.

I think hype can be a great thing. As you said it leads to support and sponsors, but also hopefully a skater takes hype as people believing in you and this in turn, while making you feel pressure, can also help build confidence. I think in Kaetlyn's case, she feeds off the support and hopes of people. The way she phrases herself in interviews is always with humility.

At Canadians she knew she was the one to beat, but always said that if she makes the podium she'll be happy and if she didn't she'd build towards next season. Every time somebody asks her about expectations and expects a go-getter answer, she replies with a genuinely lighthearted answer. You can tell that she loves to skate for herself and not because "it's a job".

To me, there are two types of great competitors -- those like Plushenko and Surya Bonaly who train hard, want to execute the hardest jumps, and push themselves to win and succeed because they have such drive and ambition, or competitors like Osmond and Michelle Kwan who skate with confidence in their ability and talent, shirk expectations and end up skating well because their heart is in it and they genuinely want to perform well for an audience.

 

[aftertherain]

Thanks and hi prettykeys.

I think hype can be a great thing. As you said it leads to support and sponsors, but also hopefully a skater takes hype as people believing in you and this in turn, while making you feel pressure, can also help build confidence. I think in Kaetlyn's case, she feeds off the support and hopes of people. The way she phrases herself in interviews is always with humility.

At Canadians she knew she was the one to beat, but always said that if she makes the podium she'll be happy and if she didn't she'd build towards next season. Every time somebody asks her about expectations and expects a go-getter answer, she replies with a genuinely lighthearted answer. You can tell that she loves to skate for herself and not because "it's a job".

To me, there are two types of great competitors -- those like Plushenko and Surya Bonaly who train hard, want to execute the hardest jumps, and push themselves to win and succeed because they have such drive and ambition, or competitors like Osmond and Michelle Kwan who skate with confidence in their ability and talent, shirk expectations and end up skating well because their heart is in it and they genuinely want to perform well for an audience.

I love this entire post.

 

[babyalligator]

This thread is very fascinating...
I must say that I cannot personally see what people find so exciting about Osmond. Her technical abilities, frankly, aren't much to write home about. She is certainly very enthusiastic and very open about that enthusiasm, which is, I must say, a quality that seems to be particularly appealing to North American audiences. For me, her overwhelming enthusiasm translated into a performance that was tuned onto a single frequency of "hooray happy happy joy joy."

I would hesitate to classify great competitors in two categories like that. I feel that do so, would be in effect, creating a false dichotomy. Great competitors are not one or the other. Great competitors are a mixture of both to varying degrees. They train hard, want to execute the hardest elements they can, have drive, have ambition, and have the desire to win. They have confidence and their hearts are "in it."

Plushenko and Kwan are not so different in that they have within them, all these qualities.
Calling Osmond a great competitor, is premature. She is a promising competitor.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Can we create a forum specifically for bash threads? Because that's clearly what this is.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Sasha Cohen may take the record for the most-hyped skater in history and she never achieved anything close to what was predicted for her.

She won two Silvers at Worlds and a Silver at Olympics. Silver is pretty close to Gold.

 

[Mathman]

I hope Kaetlyn is reading this thread and laughing her head off. Am I causing all this Sturm und Drang?

 

[Mrs. P]

I hope Kaetlyn is reading this thread and laughing her head off. Am I causing all this Sturm und Drang?

She seems to have a wicked sense of humor -- so I think she would react that way.

 

[Ziggy]

Poor Canadians had to live with the likes of Jennifer Robinson and Mira Leung for years so you can't blame them for going a bit mental when they get a skater who can not only land stuff but doesn't seem disinterested in actually being on the ice. ;D

 

[Ravensque]

Poor Canadians had to live with the likes of Jennifer Robinson and Mira Leung for years so you can't blame them for going a bit mental when they get skater who can not only land stuff but doesn't seem disinterested in actually being on the ice. ;D

You hit the nail right on the head. Most of us (Canadians, that is) feel that way about her I think. She shows a tremendous amount of promise.

 

[Puchi]

Osmondflation has now probably overtaken inflation, in terms of the inflation element.

The overuse of the suffix "flation" to denote perceived overscoring is getting beyond annoying and somewhat insulting . It was funny the first time around, but, as a punchline, this one got stale a while ago.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

The overuse of the suffix "flation" to denote perceived overscoring is getting beyond annoying and somewhat insulting . It was funny the first time around, but, as a punchline, this one got stale a while ago.

It's rather weird - because it's not like Osmondflation rolls of the tongue (who puts a 'd' before an 'f' anyway) - because of how desperately the haters are trying to make it a thing. According to Mao88, Osmond's two international skates, only one of which was really labelled overscored means that she's now more overscored than Patrick Chan - who at least had several seasons of being labelled overscored. It definitely makes Golden Skate a less interesting place to be when you can count on threads like this cropping up (and it's not as if it's the first thread Mao88 started to complain about Osmond being overscored either).

Ubers definitely turn people against skaters and I don't blame people for finding the excitement about Osmond overwrought. But anyone who inspires such juvenile viciousness is almost worth rooting for, just to be contrarian.

 

[Mrs. P]

It's rather weird - because it's not like Osmondflation rolls of the tongue (who puts a 'd' before an 'f' anyway) - because of how desperately the haters are trying to make it a thing. According to Mao88, Osmond's two international skates, only one of which was really labelled overscored means that she's now more overscored than Patrick Chan - who at least had several seasons of being labelled overscored. It definitely makes Golden Skate a less interesting place to be when you can count on threads like this cropping up (and it's not as if it's the first thread Mao88 started to complain about Osmond being overscored either).

Ubers definitely turn people against skaters and I don't blame people for finding the excitement about Osmond overwrought. But anyone who inspires such juvenile viciousness is almost worth rooting for, just to be contrarian.

It's important to remember that it's just skating. Life goes on. Did I think Osmond should have won Skate Canada? Nope. I said my piece on that. But I also see it's pointless to talk so much about someone whose skating you don't care for.

Again, please forgive me for talking about the boards --, but I do find it amusing when some posters here seem to only post to put down a certain skater or couple. I've seen that in several threads. How many posts does it take for you to get your point across? That's the case for those who overhype skaters as well.

In the end, much is to be gained by saying your piece once and leaving it at that. Sure you can repeat yourself to provide context in ongoing discussion, but I think most people should be able to see when something is overkill.

 

[pangtongfan]

Osmond has hardly been receiving ridiculous scores. Well except for Canadians her scores were somewhat ridiculous but that is Nationals so doesnt count anyway (especialy Canadian Nationals which is one of the worst countries for that). In international events she has been scored reasonably so far. Her only slightly controversial win is Skate Canada, but she had less mistakes over the 2 programs together than Suzuki, and Suzuki is not really considered one of the top 3 or 4 skaters anymore, so it is hardly some outrageous result like Suzuki losing NHK to Asada in fact probably was.

The hype around her is over the top in places but anytime a new skater with talent and who is having succes emerges that happens repeatedly. Rince and repeat.

 

[Jammers]

Osmond has hardly been receiving ridiculous scores. Well except for Canadians her scores were somewhat ridiculous but that is Nationals so doesnt count anyway (especialy Canadian Nationals which is one of the worst countries for that). In international events she has been scored reasonably so far. Her only slightly controversial win is Skate Canada, but she had less mistakes over the 2 programs together than Suzuki, and Suzuki is not really considered one of the top 3 or 4 skaters anymore, so it is hardly some outrageous result like Suzuki losing NHK to Asada in fact probably was.

The hype around her is over the top in places but anytime a new skater with talent and who is having succes emerges that happens repeatedly. Rince and repeat.

Man i know Canada is used to waiting about a decade for a top notch skater to come along usually but the hype is really getting out of hand.