Kwan, Cohen, and Plushy not PERFECT

[Piel]

The first competition I attended really disappointed me because there was no commentary. I felt like something was missing. I enjoy listening to hear if the commentators opinion is the same as mine. Dick and Peggy are my favorites but I like Scott Hamilton's enthusiasm and get a kick out of how excited he gets. Don't care for Roz just something about her voice. It doesn't bother me when they gush or have favorites. I appreciate that after all these years that they still have such passion for the sport and aren't afraid to show it.

Piel

 

[peachstatesk8er]

I can't help it, I love Dick. 99.9% of the time he's dead on in his commentary whether people like him or not.

I love Peggy for her sweetness.

I love Scotty because he gets so excited; he makes me .

 

[Pookie]

I downloaded "Rush" the other day because I didn't see it when Michelle did it and Rosalyn Sumners was doing commentary.
Talk about someone that won't shut up. She just yaks and yaks. She can also be rather snide sometimes. Give me Dick and Peggy anytime.

 

[chuckm]

Rosalyn Sumners is one of the worst when it comes to idle chatter, and she is downright catty as well as snide.

At last year's Canada Open, Sumners was commenting on the Ladies event. During her commentary, she declared Sasha Cohen "unbeatable", then went on to criticize Michelle Kwan's performance at Skate America, saying Michelle had 'mailed it in'.
Kwan wasn't even competing at the Canadian Open, and Sumners completely ignored the fact that Kwan had filled in for Sarah Hughes at Skate America with less than 2 weeks' notice, and didn't even have a SP in the works at the time.

I would love to have seen Sumners' face when the "unbeatable" Cohen finished 3rd at US Nationals and 4th at Worlds, while Kwan won both events.

 

[euterpe]

Dick and Peggy individually can be very critical of, or gush too much over, particular skaters, but I have noticed that if one of them overdoes a gush or a negative critique, the other one jumps in with a moderating remark. Dick himself will jump on an element he considers really bad, but he usually will find something positive in every skater (at least the ones they show on TV!).

 

[curious]

the only time dick gush about plush was at last year gpf that's. He rarely does that and Honda and Tim can't outjump Plush not even at 50%

 

[elingrace4eva]

I think when some people critique commentary (which I'm guilty of, don't giet me wrong), we tend to focus on comments that the commentators probably didn't put too much thought into at the time. Like when Sumners called Sasha unbeatable, it was probably just a passing comment that wasn't supposed to be analyzed. Of course Sasha's not unbeatable, no one's unbeatable (except maybe plushy....but that's a different story.) The commentators are people, and they'll say things they don't mean, and they'll say things that aren't necesarilly true all the time.

One thing we have to remember is that we are all pretty knowledgable figure skating fans. We can all tell the differences between the jumps, and we know what a flutz looks like, and we can find mistakes in seemingly "flawless" jumps. However, what we need to remember is that Dick and Peggy and Terry and all the others are commentating for the average watcher of figure skating. It's their job to keep people informed of the things that are going on in the program. If you think about it, we don't need commentary. I could watch an entire skating program and know exactly what happened...but a lot of people aren't like that. My dad, for example, has watched skating for years, and he can't tell the difference between an axel and a lutz (um...that's the one with the toe, right? ) My dad adores Dick Button because he keeps him informed about whats going on. My father doesn't need to know that Sasha's lutz was actually a flutz...because that wouldn't mean anything to him anyway.

We can bitch about the judging (and I'll do that as well), but the commentators are just trying to get paid. And their job is to keep people entertained, and, in my opinion, they do that perfectly.

Kat

 

[euterpe]

I saw that telecast of the Canadian Open, too.

Sumner's remarks about Cohen being "unbeatable" and her gratuitous comments about Michelle were sandwiched together. It was quite clear that what she was saying was Michelle was 'over' and Cohen was the new queen of the ice. If Michelle had been in the Canadian Open and had skated poorly vs. Cohen, that might have been reasonable. Under the circumstances, Sumners just sounded catty and malicious.

I think Sumners often brings her own personal agendas into her commentary, and that's one of the reasons she so rarely gets commenting jobs.

 

[Bynx]

I saw that telecast of the Canadian Open, too.

Sumner's remarks about Cohen being "unbeatable" and her gratuitous comments about Michelle were sandwiched together. It was quite clear that what she was saying was Michelle was 'over' and Cohen was the new queen of the ice. If Michelle had been in the Canadian Open and had skated poorly vs. Cohen, that might have been reasonable. Under the circumstances, Sumners just sounded catty and malicious.

I think Sumners often brings her own personal agendas into her commentary, and that's one of the reasons she so rarely gets commenting jobs.

So true!

IMO, she has never gotten over Sarajevo!
It was interesting hearing her talk about Michelle after Nagano at the GWG's and how she handled it, knowing how even seriously talking about 84' brings her to tears. I remember it from the show on A&E that they did of the American Ladies Olympic champions and their opponents.

I think in some ways she still carries a lot of that with her and it spills over into her commentating. To me it sounds like resentment towards Michelle for being who she is and acomplishsing all that she has with such grace.

 

[curious]

they can entertain without ripping nonfave skaters apart like they do.

 

[Mathman]

Elingrace4eva, I'm with your Dad. I watch every skating show and competition that comes on TV, plus as many live shows as I can. I still can't tell the difference between the various jumps and spins, and I like it when the commentators help me out. Also, Dick Button makes precise exactly what's wrong with a certain move. For example, someone's arm movements might not go with the music or contribute to the overall choreographic effect. Stuff like this is very interesting to me, because I am just sitting there saying, well, this guy's performance is kind of boring, but without knowing why.

Mathman

 

[Ladskater]

Reading the comments again made me appreciate the other skaters who barely get mentioned at times. I love it when an "unknown" skater turns in a great performance and "brings the house down." It's quite refreshing. When this happens, Debi Wilkes, Rod Black and Tracy Wilson feature the skater or skaters - no matter how early their ranking is in the order of skating and their placement. It's a nice touch. One does get tired of the endless chatter sometimes about the top skaters. It's nice to see and hear about someone less known.