Irina and Jeff win first cheesefest of Olympic season

[R.D.]

I never heard of any skating competition refered to as a "cheesefest" until joining Golden Skate. A skating competition is a competiton - no matter what the level. Even a club competition is recognized as such.

To me "cheesefest" means it was nothing more than a photoshoot opportunity. Being a figure skater - even if it was a hundred years ago - I object to this derogatory misnomer.

These competitions are important because they help a skater prepare for the upcoming season. It gives them a chance to test run their new programs without all the pressure.

The purists rule!!! Down with Cheesefest referals.

:scowl:

I'm with you all the way. In fact, the use of the word "cheesefest" is not limited to just Golden Skate but ALL of the online skating forums. In fact, it's MUCH worse over at FSU than it is here. (Possibly that's where it came from? I know how TIC they are over there. Maybe it just spread around the skating forums from there? I don't know, this is just a wild speculation.)

 

[Mathman]

So, what is the future of our sport?

JacK Nicklaus never won a world championship or an Olympic medal. But he won 18 Major Cheesefests in his career, including six Masters.

Martina Navrotalova never won a world championship or an Olympic medal either, but she won the Winbledon Cheesefest 9 times.

Georg Hackl won 4 world championships and 3 Olympic gold medals.

Who's Georg Hackl? Thank you, that's my point.

So what is it about these private invitational events like Wimbledon (put on by the All England Lawn Tennis Club) and the Master's (an invitational tournament organized by the Augusta National Golf Club) that allows them to attract the biggest names in the sport and a huge live gate and television audience? Is it even remotely possible that figure skating will ever attract the same sort of interest that golf and tennis do?

IMHO what the cheesefests (i.e., privately sponsored invitational events, not part of some kind of organized series or official championship thing) in golf and tennis have going for them is easy to see. Money and tradition. Tiger Woods won a green jacket and a million dollars for winning the masters last year. The green jacket (tradition) probably meant more to him than the money.

So here's my plan. Get some rich sugar daddy to step forward and offer million dollar purses to the three cheesefests, with an extra million if someone wins the triple crown. Then fast-forward to the year 2100. The Olympic games have long since been discontinued through lack of interest.

But figure skating is riding high, with skaters dreaming of winning one of the prestigious "majors" of their sport.

MM

 

[emma]

Georg Hackl won 4 world championships and 3 Olympic gold medals.

Who's Georg Hackl? Thank you, that's my point.

MM

Seriously, MM, who is he (aw, and don't make me google it ??

PS I'm all for the invitationals....I really enjoyed watching what i could of last weeks, and I'll do it again this weekend (even without the Kween, which as me very sad).

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

MM = Nobody is against the invitationals. They just don't take them as seriously as the ISU sanctioned competitions.

As for Tennis - Cris Evert said we don't need the Olympics we have the Grand Slam events.

However, I do get your point and I am all for more invitationals world wide and maybe we can then say we don't need the Olympics.

Didn't Norma Desmond say something like that?

Joe

 

[Doggygirl]

So, what is the future of our sport?

JacK Nicklaus never won a world championship or an Olympic medal. But he won 18 Major Cheesefests in his career, including six Masters.

Martina Navrotalova never won a world championship or an Olympic medal either, but she won the Winbledon Cheesefest 9 times.

Georg Hackl won 4 world championships and 3 Olympic gold medals.

Who's Georg Hackl? Thank you, that's my point.

So what is it about these private invitational events like Wimbledon (put on by the All England Lawn Tennis Club) and the Master's (an invitational tournament organized by the Augusta National Golf Club) that allows them to attract the biggest names in the sport and a huge live gate and television audience? Is it even remotely possible that figure skating will ever attract the same sort of interest that golf and tennis do?

IMHO what the cheesefests (i.e., privately sponsored invitational events, not part of some kind of organized series or official championship thing) in golf and tennis have going for them is easy to see. Money and tradition. Tiger Woods won a green jacket and a million dollars for winning the masters last year. The green jacket (tradition) probably meant more to him than the money.

So here's my plan. Get some rich sugar daddy to step forward and offer million dollar purses to the three cheesefests, with an extra million if someone wins the triple crown. Then fast-forward to the year 2100. The Olympic games have long since been discontinued through lack of interest.

But figure skating is riding high, with skaters dreaming of winning one of the prestigious "majors" of their sport.

MM

I think there are a couple big issues with replicating this situation in FS. I'll start with the toughest one.

Lot's more parents / kids are aspiring golfers or tennis players. What this has in common with figure skating is that none of these sports are widely supported publicly or privately in the school system. Golf has the advantage of being considered a "gentleperson's" sport in the business world, so I guess tennis has more in common with FS on that front, although IMO there is still more of an elite "country club" adult type tennis front than there is in FS.

Now all those politics and realities aside....

Tennis and Gold BOTH offer the opportunity for new stars to come out of nowhere, and kick the rear ends of the established top end professionals. This hasn't traditionally happened in FS aside from Tara and Sarah - I would say those were anomolies in two events (Oly's, granted) over the course of 8 - 12 years, depending on how you count them. I think even the coaches, judges, parents, and fans sort of have a "pay your dues" mentality. I hope the COP has potential to change this, but realistically, it's not just the judging system that needs to change. It's also the judging.

I could go on and on, but I'm sure I've already managed to bore whoever has gotten this far. So I will end my opinion now. For now anyway.

DG

 

[Mathman]

Seriously, MM, who is he (aw, and don't make me google it ?

German competitor in luge. He won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1994 and 1998, also silver in 1988 and 2002, to become the first person to win medals in 5 consecutive winter Olympics.

 

[Ptichka]

Anyone know what happened to Johnny?

 

[Doggygirl]

Anyone know what happened to Johnny?

Link to the Results, etc.

http://www.skatingjapan.jp/InterNational/2005-2006/jic/index.htm

IMO after watching the videos from the event posted here:

http://fsvids.9.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=1073

Here is my opinion.

Johhny wasn't "on" for this program in any way. The technical content wasn't there, and his spirit wasn't there either. This actually reminds me a bit of the first time he did "Otonal" last year. It fell very flat for me then too.

So...I'm just keeping my hopes up. I think this program has potential that we haven't even been close to seeing yet this season.

That said, I do think other guys have a jump on Johnny. I think we will all have more opinions post Campbells.

DG

 

[emma]

German competitor in luge. He won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1994 and 1998, also silver in 1988 and 2002, to become the first person to win medals in 5 consecutive winter Olympics.

Thanks MM...wow that is a very impressive record

 

[RealtorGal]

German competitor in luge. He won the Olympic gold medal in 1992, 1994 and 1998, also silver in 1988 and 2002, to become the first person to win medals in 5 consecutive winter Olympics.

And here I thought he must be some obscure Olympian from the early 1900s!

 

[RealtorGal]

You want to call them "Invitationals?" Awwww, c'mon. That's no fun! It's much more fun to call them Cheesefests. I admit that they are probably more important than say a REAL cheesefest like Skate Wars (talk about your cheesy competition!) but, hey, don't rain on my parade, okay?