Your favorite and least favorite figure skating commentators

[CaroLiza_fan]

I... what....is that even possible, I can't even...

Did this guy ever skate himself? What a weirdo!

Daniel Weiss:

• 2 time German Men's Singles champion (5 time medallist).
• Podium finisher in a couple of Senior GP's (Canada and Germany) before they became GP's.
• Top 10 in all his appearances at Euros, with best finish of 5th position.
• 5th was also his best finish at Junior Worlds (also had a 6th).
• Best finish of 12th at Worlds.

He is also the organiser of the annual end of year Galas at Ingolstadt and Oberstdorf.

So, yeah. He was a skater. And a pretty successful one at that.

Success in sport doesn't guarantee that you will be a successful commentator, though.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[DancingCactus]

Well, he sucks as a commentator and has for years. He has a clear bias for "elegant" or "pretty" girls (and by that he means little stick figures or Katarina Witt-lookalikes, the Japanese girls don't have a chance), generally never seems to like any of the men, thinks ice dance has to be romantic all the time...He either criticises skaters for having too old fashioned or "mature" music, or for choosing music that is too modern. And he tends to walk all over his co-commentators.

Regarding Eurosport, they don't have the complete competitions available on replay, do they? I checked this morning, but I only saw highlight videos of specific skaters.

 

[Zora]

Regarding Eurosport, they don't have the complete competitions available on replay, do they? I checked this morning, but I only saw highlight videos of specific skaters.

They have, but you need a subscription.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Success in sport doesn't guarantee that you will be a successful commentator, though.

That's true...

People do pick on Ted for being too positive and maybe he is, but I dunno...it just seems wrong for a commentator to force their negative perceptions on the audience. They can really colour people's opinions. Although I suppose the opposite is true...but then if you love all the skaters because of Ted's commentary at least you'll never be disappointed!

 

[surimi]

Oh my gosh, I thought Simon was bad, but I just watched the team event ladies' SP on demand on our national broadcaster and the lady doing the commentary (no idea who she was) was unbearable. Apart from extremely shallow commentary and constant prattling during the skating some further low-lights include:
- Gubanova competed for Russia in rhythmic gymnastics until she got an invitation to figure skate for Georgia last year
- Calling Schizas's triple loop a triple lutz
- Valieva: just fifteen years old and already the reigning world champion

Hey, this makes me want to set up a 'funny commentator fails' thread!
I got two fresh ones from watching OG Team Event on Czech national TV:
- Eteri was Sotnikova's coach (our usual FS commentator)
- Karen Chen could jump 3A and 4Lz as a junior - this one is by Verner. Mixing up Liu and Chen shows how out of the loop he is ATM. In his defence, he was wondering if he might be mistaken

 

[rinkside_user]

I wish I could watch the Olympics with a non-German commentator. Daniel Weiss is just horrible to listen to. He has these very strong opinions about "masculine" and "feminine" skating and often seems to judge the ladies on their looks and men on how "manly" they are. It feels uncomfortable when he goes on about Valieva having "matured" so much and become more like a woman. Ugh. She's 15 ffs, I don't want to hear your opinions about her womanly charms.
As for ID, during Europeans he commented on a brother/sister pair dancing to tango music and calling it weird, because obviously all skaters have to be involved romantically or at least play up that angle in his opinion. I wonder what he thinks about Guillaume Cizeron or Paul Poirier being gay. Not romantic enough?

The only good aspect of his commenting is that he occasionally calls out judges for dubious PCS scoring.

So not looking forward to that aspect of the Olymics.

Totally agree on Daniel Weiss. I have watched Europeans via the ISU stream because I can´t stand him. He is complaining the whole time when skaters use classical music. His whole commentary on M/G SP at Europeans can be summed up to "I can´t stand this music" (Esmeralda).

And then he has a very onesided view of how women have to skate. If she is a powerful skater like Kaori Sakamoto he hates it. Last worlds he kept telling that she was way overscored and should have scored in the 6-7 range in PCS.

In the mens competition he keeps commenting how "manly" a skater is. So ennoying.

I really like Chris and Simon, when they commentate together and I love Ted and Mark Hanretty.

It doesn't make things better a lot of general stuff he mentions may sound legit for laymen but in fact, common stereotypes at best or factually not true at worst (at least not today/not anymore, so he's basically partially misinforming the audience). He's also super irritating, not respectful towards his co-commentators (frequently interrupting them), and overall, he feels like an obsolete hardware left here from the 80s. Not a fan by a long shot.

 

[SkatingWithEdges]

My favorite
Kurt Browning : always positive , very knowleged
Scott Hamilton : good knowlege , unique voice , entertraining
Dick & Peggy : old school , straight forward from dick , positive from peggy , entertraining sometime
Robin Cousin : very knowledge , least bias
Chris & Simon : good knowlegde from chris , entertraining from simon

My least Favorite
Tracy Wilson : very knowlegde , little bit bias or take side to some skater
Tara & Johnny : the most annoying couple ever

 

[CrazyKittenLady]

Hey, this makes me want to set up a 'funny commentator fails' thread!

The saga of the clueless Austrian commentator continues. I just watched the pairs' FS from the team event. Mishina and Galliamov are in their ending pose after they just fell from the last lift. Camera pans over to Mark Kondratiuk and Svetlana Sokolovskaya in the Russian team box. Austrian commentator: Their coach Tamara Moskvina looks shocked.

 

[balabam]

Is there a white wine counterpart called "Clean As A Whistle"?

I have a sneaky feeling, that there is.

 

[Jasira]

I... what....is that even possible, I can't even...

Did this guy ever skate himself? What a weirdo!

He said at worlds that she should have scored between 6-7s in components. He really can´t stand her.

And to be honest, I think his deep love for Kamila is a bit embarassing. We know that she is great, but he made it sound like she´s the only Russian lady to be good.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Let's hear it for Olly! I thought he only commentated on gymnastics, but he did a very good job with Belinda Noonan today.

Are they the English-accented man who seems to be very diligent in doing his homework (reading up on skaters' background info and pronouncing names quite well), along with an Australian-accented lady? I'm mostly catching up piecemeal on CBC replays, and for some reason I think we might have gotten Olly and Belinda too... If so, I like Olly

Okay, whoever the lady is who is commentating at CBC, I can’t take her endless prattle.

Aussie or Brit accent? Carol Lane is on CBC's primetime stream, the Aussie lady I suspect of being Belinda is on the main livestream which gets archived for replays... So if you manage to catch it live, at least there are two options.

 

[solani]

The saga of the clueless Austrian commentator continues. I just watched the pairs' FS from the team event. Mishina and Galliamov are in their ending pose after they just fell from the last lift. Camera pans over to Mark Kondratiuk and Svetlana Sokolovskaya in the Russian team box. Austrian commentator: Their coach Tamara Moskvina looks shocked.

Our legendary Ingrid Wendl! I grew up listening to her precious commentary.
She had a mighty fine scratch spin and won Olympic bronze at 15. Don't judge her too harshly, she's an old lady and loves the sport!
https://youtu.be/syH0mKlS3Rw

 

[Jasira]

I think it´s funny that there are so many posts about Daniel Weiss in this thread. We are making him famous

 

[lariko]

Are they the English-accented man who seems to be very diligent in doing his homework (reading up on skaters' background info and pronouncing names quite well), along with an Australian-accented lady? I'm mostly catching up piecemeal on CBC replays, and for some reason I think we might have gotten Olly and Belinda too... If so, I like Olly

Aussie or Brit accent? Carol Lane is on CBC's primetime stream, the Aussie lady I suspect of being Belinda is on the main livestream which gets archived for replays... So if you manage to catch it live, at least there are two options.

No, I don’t watch prime time, just live streams. I think it’s Belinda and her more bearable plus one.

 

[anonymoose_au]

I think it´s funny that there are so many posts about Daniel Weiss in this thread. We are making him famous

So I went and looked him up as a skater just to see how stick-in-the-mud he was...

But instead discovered this!

Daniel Weiss (FRG) - 1989 Skate Canada International, Men's Free Skate

Cornwall, Ontario, CANADA - 1989 Skate Canada International, Men's Free Skate - Daniel Weiss of West Germany won the Bronze Medal.

youtu.be

He is in fact my kind of skater! Like epically entertaining.

What happened Mr Weiss? Where'd your fun-loving self go?

My mind is blown.

 

[Jasira]

So I went and looked him up as a skater just to see how stick-in-the-mud he was...

But instead discovered this!

Daniel Weiss (FRG) - 1989 Skate Canada International, Men's Free Skate

Cornwall, Ontario, CANADA - 1989 Skate Canada International, Men's Free Skate - Daniel Weiss of West Germany won the Bronze Medal.

youtu.be

He is in fact my kind of skater! Like epically entertaining.

What happened Mr Weiss? Where'd your fun-loving self go?

My mind is blown.

Thanks, I never saw that. I think he is stuck in the 80s. He still keeps explaining the "new" scoring system.

 

[Arigato]

What did I do to deserve the coming of Tara and Johnny again tonight? I promise, I'll never do it again. Just make them go away. Thanks.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Thanks, I never saw that. I think he is stuck in the 80s. He still keeps explaining the "new" scoring system.

Well, I tend to let explaining the score system pass because there's a lot to digest there, especially for newbies. Especially with the poor excuse for a score box we have at the Olympics!

I'm just surprised he didn't enjoy Kaori's Matrix...I wonder what he thought of Ivette Toth's AC/DC?

Our legendary Ingrid Wendl! I grew up listening to her precious commentary.
She had a mighty fine scratch spin and won Olympic bronze at 15. Don't judge her too harshly, she's an old lady and loves the sport!
https://youtu.be/syH0mKlS3Rw

She was pretty good at that scratch spin! And she looks a bit like Elena Radionova to me.

Although not remembering what the Legendary Moskvina looks like, tsk!

 

[Jasira]

Well, I tend to let explaining the score system pass because there's a lot to digest there, especially for newbies. Especially with the poor excuse for a score box we have at the Olympics!

I'm just surprised he didn't enjoy Kaori's Matrix...I wonder what he thought of Ivette Toth's AC/DC?


She was pretty good at that scratch spin! And she looks a bit like Elena Radionova to me.

Although not remembering what the Legendary Moskvina looks like, tsk!

I don´t know what he thought about Ivette Toth, but he usually only likes very elegant ladies.

 

[ladyjane]

I think it´s funny that there are so many posts about Daniel Weiss in this thread. We are making him famous

Infamous I hope, reading what he is actually saying.....