U.S. media continues to get the story wrong

[Ven]

but here is a question I ponder: do people watch figure skating to be entertained or appreciate a technical and/or artistic brilliance? Does a skater have to expressly "reach out to the audience" in order to move the audience? Maybe it's because I studied cultural anthropology in college, but I do see some interesting cultural discourses in play when we discuss something like 6.0 v. CoP.

I think it's both. We like a skater to give us a performance that moves us emotionally, but we also like the "wow!" factor of eye popping technical brilliance.

Anyway, by its nature, figure skating has been and will always remain a niche sport. And i mean that in a very good way. To truly appreciate figure skating, it requires certain philosophical approach to aesthetics and some technical knowledge -- as such, I would say there is a high learning curve and entrance barrier, and that should be the case for a sport like this, which truly represents an unique combination of art & sports.

While I think your post is largely well thought out and I thank you for that, I have to disagree with this part. I don't think figure skating has to be a niche sport, and I don't think there are any barriers to entry to appreciate a performance. Literally anyone can walk off the street and see their first performance and make a qualitative judgement. I'm an introvert so I can sympathize with your desire for nuance and sophistication, but we have to be careful not to be too snobby. Art in its purest form is a physical representation of sincerity -- something all human beings can relate to -- and I definitely think figure skating can appeal to the masses without devolving into some crude, unpolished spectacle.

I have noticed that some long-time figure skating fans, particularly those in the U.S., seem to prefer 6.0 because the performances were apparently more "dramatic" and today's CoP programs seem comparatively more "sterile". Whether such criticism is justified or not, what I don't want to see is figure skating degenerate into another American Idol / popularity contest where each skater is essentially judged by how many people were impressed, based on a scale of 1 to 6 or 1 to 10 or whatever. That is not the way to appreciate figure skating, IMO.

Yuna gave a great quote in an interview with NBC one time. She described figure skating as part art, part sport. And that rings so true in my opinion.

Figure skating can bring art to a sports performance ... and it can bring sport to an artistic performance. How cool is that? The only thing is the people involved need to REMEMBER those two ideas.

The only thing I would criticize CoP on would be the lack of deductions. I think grievous errors in a performance should be penalized much more ... a fall should be -5 or -10 points for instance? Positive GoE's should be more stringent? Currently, the incentive is there for skaters to perform sloppy programs with higher base values, which tend to score higher than cleaner programs with lower base values. With much harsher deductions, skaters would as a group give more clean performances, and they would not be spending as much time practicing technical content that is at best a crapshoot for them.

 

[Olympia]

I agree, and that's too bad, because Davis and White, as someone else mentioned, have everything it takes to be superstars in this country. They have the "magic," they have the looks, they seem very likable, they finished second four years ago and are hoping to take the final step up to gold this year, and they have the close rivalry with Virtue and Moir for good measure. That the American press hasn't been all over this since 2010 is a travesty in my opinion.

I agree. I can't understand why the USFSA can't figure out a way to promote Davis and White in some glamorous way to the general public. After seeing how interested people have become in ballroom dancing thanks to Dancing with the Stars, I am sure there would be a way to get people interested in an ice dance couple that is so talented and telegenic. Talk about a wasted opportunity.

 

[aftertherain]

I agree. I can't understand why the USFSA can't figure out a way to promote Davis and White in some glamorous way to the general public. After seeing how interested people have become in ballroom dancing thanks to Dancing with the Stars, I am sure there would be a way to get people interested in an ice dance couple that is so talented and telegenic. Talk about a wasted opportunity.

Thinking about this just makes me cry. My only consolation is that at least they have endorsements going into the Olympic year--including one from a Japanese country, but think about how much more they could have had if the USFSA weren't (presumably) complacent about promoting D/W. UGH.