Ryan Bradley on the Olympic Channel

[Tazzle]

Wow! I never heard those comments nor have I heard Johnny be catty or mean-spirited. It certainly sounds as if he has made some inappropriate comments before that I may have missed.

 

[Tazzle]

Extremely inappropriate? You want to talk extremely inappropriate? How about Weir calling Brendan Kerry a "waste of a GP slot"? How about Weir and Lipinski admitting they were holding the "cough" button during Brendan's FS at one event so they could laugh at him? How about Weir insinuating that Jason withdrew from a GP in order to focus on "going viral"? How about Weir sniping all through Max Aaron's SP about how Joshua had sooooooooooo much more artistry?

There's a difference between being critical and being a catty little witch, and Weir spends far too much time in the latter territory.

This video is the perfect example of everything that is wrong with Weir and Lipinski's commentary (Weir's particularly). It's a comparison of several different commentators at hte end of Jason's 2015 Worlds FS (you know, the one that placed him 4th). You don't have to be a language genius to understand that the other commentators are effusive and delighted and recognise his brilliance. Weir? Weir cuts straight to snarking, and not even accurate snarking at that - he tells an outright lie: "you can see it on his face, he knows that wasn't his best"...meanwhile Jason is beaming with happiness and yeah, it was his best!

Above comment was in response to Karne. Sorry still getting used to this app!

 

[Shandy]

Wow! I never heard those comments nor have I heard Johnny be catty or mean-spirited. It certainly sounds as if he has made some inappropriate comments before that I may have missed.

The one I remember most vividly (and I don't even recall now who he said it about) was that some men's singles skater "skates like a mop." Like, Johnny, that's a perfectly valid opinion to have, but maybe not one you should put forth so bluntly on network television.

 

[RyJoseph]

He is the absolute most annoying commentator, talks way too much and is so critical and was a mediocre skater at best.

Every jump is, “toooo the outside!” I miss the Dick Button / Peggy Fleming days. Tara has gotten much much better and like the Tara Johnny duo.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

 

[Lamente Ariane]

I'll take repetition over outright insults like Johnny calling Mikhail Kolyada "oatmeal" and the two of them ripping apart Ivett Toth's wonderful SP for no better reason than her daring to use music she liked rather than music T&J prefer!

 

[Arriba627]

I enjoy Ryan's commentary and don't mind his repetition. I like his positivity and feel that if he criticizes a skater, he doesn't do it in a snarky or mean-spirited way. I have always felt that many of us (me included) tend to get nostalgic and paint Dick Button and Peggy's commentary in a very favorable light, but they too had their faults. If I heard "Now THAT is a sloppy foot position" one more time (with no explanation as to why), I might have gone crazy! That was repetition too!

 

[MACGoldSeal]

Being an old skater from Peggy's era (thank God that Dick is before my time!), I can chime in on "...now that's a sloppy foot position." If my memory serves, it usually had to do with a layback spin. Peggy's was beautiful, her leg was extended and her toe pointed. If a layback has the foot pointing down, to Dick and Peggy, that was a sloppy position. Dick had a thing for a lack of turnout in any position. It all goes back to ballet. Nowadays, the flailing arms of all the skaters drives me up the wall. Back in the dinosaur days, that wasn't allowed. Someone please enlighten me, do they get more points for flailing everything about? I'd love to see a nice port de bras or an arm movement that made choreographic sense, not these gyrations to add points. Don't get me started on the proctologist spin, either. Who EVER thought that was a good idea. It's inelegant for men and women and just ugly. Wow, that rant was a long time coming!

 

[Skater Boy]

Ryan imho has improved his commentating skills. Sometimes I find "reporters"; commentators, skating analysts a bit catty and that effects their credibility. Johnny, Tara, Dave Lease and Jonathon what's his name all have skating knowledge but imho sometimes go over the top with their comments and it becomes almost gossipy or mean spirited rather than insightful Ryan isn't as bad. I think Johnny and Tara have another challenge. While it shouldn't effect their image not only their choice of words but their outfits also makes them hard to take too seriously sometimes. It really looks they are doing a fashion runway talk more than commentating on a sport. I suppose Johnny is like Canada's Don Cherry but for some reason you believe Mr. Cherry moreso. Though again Cherry's outfits and voice are sometimes harder to take.

 

[oatmella]

Being an old skater from Peggy's era (thank God that Dick is before my time!), I can chime in on "...now that's a sloppy foot position." If my memory serves, it usually had to do with a layback spin. Peggy's was beautiful, her leg was extended and her toe pointed. If a layback has the foot pointing down, to Dick and Peggy, that was a sloppy position. Dick had a thing for a lack of turnout in any position. It all goes back to ballet. Nowadays, the flailing arms of all the skaters drives me up the wall. Back in the dinosaur days, that wasn't allowed. Someone please enlighten me, do they get more points for flailing everything about? I'd love to see a nice port de bras or an arm movement that made choreographic sense, not these gyrations to add points. Don't get me started on the proctologist spin, either. Who EVER thought that was a good idea. It's inelegant for men and women and just ugly. Wow, that rant was a long time coming!

As a former ballet dancer, I will say that I don't think judges care about a fluid port de bras or epaulement. In fact, flailing arms appear to take more obvious 'effort', and the seemingly effortlessness of ballet training is not appreciated or translates to any higher scoring.

 

[Arriba627]

Being an old skater from Peggy's era (thank God that Dick is before my time!), I can chime in on "...now that's a sloppy foot position." If my memory serves, it usually had to do with a layback spin. Peggy's was beautiful, her leg was extended and her toe pointed. If a layback has the foot pointing down, to Dick and Peggy, that was a sloppy position. Dick had a thing for a lack of turnout in any position. It all goes back to ballet. Nowadays, the flailing arms of all the skaters drives me up the wall. Back in the dinosaur days, that wasn't allowed. Someone please enlighten me, do they get more points for flailing everything about? I'd love to see a nice port de bras or an arm movement that made choreographic sense, not these gyrations to add points. Don't get me started on the proctologist spin, either. Who EVER thought that was a good idea. It's inelegant for men and women and just ugly. Wow, that rant was a long time coming!

Yes, that was it! The infamous layback spin! In fact at Nats this year, someone did a layback and my friend who was with me said "Now THAT is a sloppy foot position." We're still laughing about this years later. The proctologist spin is just plain bad!

 

[MACGoldSeal]

Thank you, oatmella, for an expert's point of view. One of my observations about Ryan is his obsession with jumps and very little commenting on footwork, or spins. A fast, well centered spin takes a tremendous amount of energy. When a skater spins in both directions, I can't recall him mentioning it. Thank you for using epaulement, I haven't heard that since Miss Lee Facenda's class a long time ago!

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Thank you, oatmella, for an expert's point of view. One of my observations about Ryan is his obsession with jumps and very little commenting on footwork, or spins. A fast, well centered spin takes a tremendous amount of energy. When a skater spins in both directions, I can't recall him mentioning it. Thank you for using epaulement, I haven't heard that since Miss Lee Facenda's class a long time ago!

He's mentioned all aspects of skaters programs. Fast well centered spins from Rippon for one, footwork sequences, supreme skating skills from Chan, etc.

 

[MACGoldSeal]

I'll take your word for it, Ic3rabbit, I may have just zoned him out and didn't listen carefully enough.

 

[el henry]

I'll take your word for it, Ic3rabbit, I may have just zoned him out and didn't listen carefully enough.

TBH, it's easy to miss, because all the replays are of jumps and of course Ryan needs to concentrate on those.

But I just listened to some of Ryan's commentary on Jason's skates, and if he said "Powerful performer, keeps you interested the entire skate, consummate performer" once, he said it several times. Not to mention well centered spins, intricate footwork, etc., which Ryan pointed out is how Jason quietly amasses GOE when Jason scores well.

And as an original Toller fangirl, and current Jason fangirl, fast well centered spins give me life:agree:

 

[Weathergal]

I'll take repetition over outright insults like Johnny calling Mikhail Kolyada "oatmeal" and the two of them ripping apart Ivett Toth's wonderful SP for no better reason than her daring to use music she liked rather than music T&J prefer!

While there are some things about Johnny's commentary that I like (Tara's very rarely), I was very disappointed in some of their commentary during the earlier Olympics Ladies SP flights. They were especially rude to Giada Russo (granted I have a soft spot for her, but it goes beyond my like of her and her skating IMHO).

I enjoy Ryan's commentary and don't mind his repetition. I like his positivity and feel that if he criticizes a skater, he doesn't do it in a snarky or mean-spirited way. I have always felt that many of us (me included) tend to get nostalgic and paint Dick Button and Peggy's commentary in a very favorable light, but they too had their faults. If I heard "Now THAT is a sloppy foot position" one more time (with no explanation as to why), I might have gone crazy! That was repetition too!

I like Ryan and his commentary as well. Sometimes his mannerisms seem a little old-fashioned to me, but in a good way. I find him very charming.

As far as repetition goes, no one beats Scott Hamilton for *screech* "on tired legs!" anyway.