I Don't Get Caroline Zhang

[antmanb]

Caroline appears to be getting equal good forum hype and bad forum hype.

Is there such a thing as "bad hype" i always thought hype was only a positive term...like you can only hype someone if its positive commentary rather than negative

Ant

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Ant - I'm trying to appease you You like this word more than I do. What would be the opposite of good hype?

Joe

 

[dancindiva03]

I'm sorry, but all I see when Caroline skates is a bunch of stretchy moves that have NOTHING to do with her music, the same moves that she sticks in every program. And they stand out so much probably because without them, she has nothing but a million crossovers. Maybe if she'd do something besides crossovers and "I'm so flexible" moves it wouldn't be so noticeable. And maybe if she'd fix her jumps so that they are somewhat pleasing to watch. Yes, I know she lands the jumps but they look akward. She relies purely on stretch to WOW the crowd and the judges.

 

[Lanie]

I too am not impressed with Caroline (man, dancindiva--when it does not come to Sasha, we agree on everything! haha). I see no musicality, artistry, just amazing technical ability for someone so young...but she is young. She is 13. I hope she'll develop and continue to grow and not be pressured by USFSA who's already feeding into the Caroline hype. Poor girl will have enough on her shoulders. I'm waiting to see what'll happen when she's, say, 15 like when we saw Sasha burst onto the scene with a tremendous sense of musicality in 2000 (though of course: positions were not held, bad edging, slow, etc, but she improved, duh).

 

[antmanb]

Ant - I'm trying to appease you You like this word more than I do. What would be the opposite of good hype?

Joe

Bad publicity?! I don't know i was being facetious really since you've mentioned hype in nearly every one of your posts since our discussion!

I was just playing around!

Ant

 

[antmanb]

I'm sorry, but all I see when Caroline skates is a bunch of stretchy moves that have NOTHING to do with her music, the same moves that she sticks in every program. And they stand out so much probably because without them, she has nothing but a million crossovers. Maybe if she'd do something besides crossovers and "I'm so flexible" moves it wouldn't be so noticeable. And maybe if she'd fix her jumps so that they are somewhat pleasing to watch. Yes, I know she lands the jumps but they look akward. She relies purely on stretch to WOW the crowd and the judges.

I don't understand how you can say that all there is is wow moves! Take out the Spiral into double axel and there are only 5 flexi moves in there - four in spins and one in the spirals....i would describe WOW fleximoves as ones done in isolation just for the purpose of garnering audience appeal - the charlotte, or the Sasha Curl.

You do however seem to be the queen of hyperbole and over statement so i the overuse of flexi moves is probably the same as the "million cross overs"!

Ant

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Bad publicity?! I don't know i was being facetious really since you've mentioned hype in nearly every one of your posts since our discussion!

I was just playing around!

Ant

So was I. Just couldn't understand why an American slang word from show biz applied to what people thought of a figure skater on a lonely forum which most people do not read. And you are correct. It has to do with publicity and it is paid for by the lpeformer's agent.

Joe

 

[antmanb]

So was I. Just couldn't understand why an American slang word from show biz applied to what people thought of a figure skater on a lonely forum which most people do not read. And you are correct. It has to do with publicity and it is paid for by the lpeformer's agent.

Joe

Not just this forum though - nearly every figure skating board/forum has some mention of Caroline's amazing ability. Many many people are looking out for her next performance.

Ant

 

[R.D.]

It's the thing around skating boards, and maybe among skating fans. But nobody else has even heard of this girl.

 

[chuckm]

I doubt that anyone in the US other than skating fans has heard of Yu-Na Kim, either. Or even Kimmie Meissner, outside Baltimore. The NY Times didn't devote much space to Meissner's winning the World Championship.

 

[R.D.]

Well Yu-na is Korean and she hasn't been to senior worlds yet so of course no one here would have heard of her. I don't know about Kimmie because I've been here in Baltimore during the time she went to the Olys and won the World championship, and she sure did get her share of attention in this neck of the woods.

She'll get attention again during US Nats, I'm sure of it...especially as the heavy favorite to win.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Nothing wrong with attention! It's the scores that the judges give that count. Not the fan praise; not even the media hype. It's the big competition to rule on a gold medal.

Joe

 

[dancindiva03]

I don't understand how you can say that all there is is wow moves! Take out the Spiral into double axel and there are only 5 flexi moves in there - four in spins and one in the spirals....i would describe WOW fleximoves as ones done in isolation just for the purpose of garnering audience appeal - the charlotte, or the Sasha Curl.

You do however seem to be the queen of hyperbole and over statement so i the overuse of flexi moves is probably the same as the "million cross overs"!

Ant

So perhaps its not really an overabundance of flexi moves, but just a total lack of other stuff. 80% of every program seems to be either yanking her foot over her head or doing crossovers. Nothing else in her programs stands out at all.

 

[antmanb]

It's the thing around skating boards, and maybe among skating fans. But nobody else has even heard of this girl.

I would say that's the same for anything involving skating though.

As around the UK who Michelle Kwan or Alexei Yagudin are and i'm sure that the only people who could answer your question are skating fans.

Ant

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

So perhaps its not really an overabundance of flexi moves, but just a total lack of other stuff. 80% of every program seems to be either yanking her foot over her head or doing crossovers. Nothing else in her programs stands out at all.

Isn't that what current skating is all about? There's very little intricate and smooth blade work.

Joe