Figure Skating

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

I saw a few replies in the Question of The Day for Jan. 16th asking about the Olympics where people replied that they like figure skating.

Thought I'd open a topic to discuss skating.

I've been a fan since the Harding/Kerrigan "whack heard round the world". I used to watch every single thing on tv and we still go to as many live events that come to Philly as we can. But, my interest has been slacking off because of a few things:
1) poor tv coverage (due to a dying interest in the sport)
2) I hate the new judging system
3) The faces/names I started loving the sport with are all retiring and moving on to other things in their lives

I've attended Stars On Ice every year since 1995....the show is not coming to Philadelphia this year so I'm pretty disappointed about that. I can understand why, though. It went from the show being sold out to the lower bowl of the Wachovia Center not even being 1/2 full. I also attended the Champions on Ice Show every year since 1995 until it's demise in, I think, 2007.

I also attended a pro-am event in 1995. Parts of the 1998 US Nationals in Philadelphia. Shows I've seen besides SOI and COI are: Scott Hamilton & Friends, Kristy Yamaguchi's Salute to American Music, Country on Ice and Fashion on Ice.

My favorite skaters still skating are Kurt Browning, Katia Gordeeva, Ilia Kulik, John Zimmerman.
There are many others I enjoy, but many of them have retired...like Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini.
It'd be a pretty long list if I listed all the skaters I especially enjoy, but I appreciate the work they all put into their sport. There are a few I just absolutely do not like, though.

I prefer the professional skaters over the eligible skaters, especially since this new scoring system went into effect. The eligibles who are getting ready to retire from Olympic eligiblility need to carve out a niche for themselves the way Scott Hamilton helped create the Stars On Ice show. There is little for the Pro's to participate in to showcase their talent and skills.

I've shaken hands with Kristy Yamaguchi, Jamie Sale, Elena Bereznyaya and Anton Sikhurlidze and Alexei Yagudin.

Even though I've attended some of the "skaters with musical guests" shows, I do not like watching them on tv because of the splitting back & forth between the musical guest and the skater. There is nothing worse than the cameras moving away from Kurt Browning doing his footwork!

Here's one of the best pictures I ever took at an ice shows, Sasha Cohen, one of my personal favorite skaters:

[lvpets2002]

I just Love to watch Figure Skating.. I have never done it.. Would like to try some day.. Of course would need alot of padding on due to I am sure I would fall alot.. However I still Love watching & dreaming..

[Grace]

Here's one of the best pictures I ever took at an ice shows, Sasha Cohen, one of my personal favorite skaters:

The picture is spectacular!! You must have been sitting in the first row.

I remember watching Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov - the great Russian pair who invented the Death Spiral. They were so elegant.

Whatever happened to Michelle Kwan - she sort of faded off the scene. I thought it was sad she never won an Olympic Gold.

BTW, there will be more skating on NBC this coming weekend - the finals of the Women and Ice Dancers.

[Grace]

Here is a great site about the current figure skating competitions.

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Thanks!

I've belonged to skating forums before, but the best one went defunct.
I haven't been able to find one that was as friendly and fun as that one, so haven't been doing much on-line skate talk. Some of the discussion forums can be pretty cut-throat...and some are way too technical for me.

The ladies portion of the US Nationals will air on tv over Friday and Saturday the 22nd and 23rd; Dance will be on Sat. the 23rd.
Mens Long program will re-air on Universal Sports Thursday the 21st.

[Karen]

Ooh, thank, I'll have to DVR them! I love watching the skating, even though sometimes it seems the medal will end up going simply to the one who fell down the least!

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Karen,

The whole new judging system is so hard to figure out.

It's like the skaters just skate from one element to the next without any "pretty stuff" in between...just trying to rack up points for doing this jump or that jump. If a skater misses a jump early in the program, but then hits harder jumps after the half-way point, they get more points for those after the half-way point...So, someone with less difficult jumps and the jumps are in the first half of their program, they won't get as many points even if they don't fall!

I dislike how the new judging system is making the ladies do catch-foot spirals instead of the beautiful, classic, long-held spiral of days gone by. And the death spiral for pairs...the more positions they hit doing it, the more points, and some of the positions are down-right ugly!

Who are your favorites? Rooting for anyone special in the Oly's? Been to any live events?

[redbird]

I also love figure skating and also remember the Kerrigan tragic incident. My favorite male skater has always been Brian Boitano, he is one of the most elegant skaters I have seen and with his height, he is just awesome. Scott Hamilton is fantastic and I love his funny antics on the ice.

Kristi Yamaguchi is my fav female, I never did like Michelle Kwan and still don't. You're right as far as they are not televising figure skating as much as they used to and that is why I have been away from watching it as often as I used to.

As far as the Winter Olympics, figure skating is the only thing I watch.

By the way I also live in NJ.

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Grace, glad you enjoyed the albums.

One of the most moving performances I saw live was Phillipe Candeloro skating to "God Bless The USA" after 9-11. He unfurled an American flag from his costume towards the end of the program and the audience just ROARED with applause and vocal kudo's and gave him a long standing ovation. Being a Frenchman and some of the ugly stuff being said about France after 9-11, it was really special. Some people were of the opinion he did it as an attention getter, I felt he did it as a true and heartfelt tribute to the USA, to try to say he felt for the Americans after what had happened.

[Laura's Babies]

I've loved watching ice skating since I was a child and continue to watch it when I can. I didn't know they had went to a new scoring system..

[RICHARD]

Torvill and Dean, Bolero.

Enough said.

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Laura,

Yes, after the'02 Olympics when the Canadian pair Jamie Sale & David Pelletier along with the Russian pair Elena Bereznaya & Anton Sikhurlidze shared the gold medal in pairs, a new scoring system got developed. It supposedly will stop cheating by the judges. There was some scandal that a French judge cheated and another judge or maybe it was the French judge was tapping her food in signal to another judge or something. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the details of all that, but it was talked about as "a judging scandal".

There is no more 6.0 as a perfect score with the eligible skaters. There is all kinds of things they look for and score on now, and each element has a "rank"...i.e., it can be a level 1, 2, 3 or 4 spin, jump, spiral, etc. The higher the level, the higher the scores. I still don't understand it all nor do I understand totally what constitutes a harder move, etc. I mean, obviously, a triple jump gets more points than a double, but all the rest of it...I don't know. It seems to have taken a lot of the beauty and showmanship out of skating.

[Catlady711]

there is nothing worse than the cameras moving away from kurt browning doing his footwork!

amen!!!!!

[Momto4FemaleFelines]

Catlady711,
Another Kurt fan?
One of the best programs ever was seeing Kurt do Brick House live!
He is amazing with his feet!

[Bonny]

Talk about skating I use to skate as a kid went through 5 pairs of skates. We would play crack the whip & the person on the outer end ended up in the snowbank. So much fun trying to skate backwards. Went to the ice capades in St. Paul with my folks. Saw this very old couple do a skating waltz on the ice. They were spectacular. I was in Minneapolis for Stars on Ice & was disappointed a couple years ago. Scotti my favorite olympic skater looked like an ant down there on the ice. He is my most favorite skater of all time. That little bald headed guy sure can whip up a good show when he skates & I like him as a commentator he does a good job. I never liked that old fart Dick Button? I think that was his name. He use to criticize the skaters just never had anything good to say about anyone. A real jerk! Kristi is my favorite female skater such a sweet girl & so talented. I don't like the new scoring system either. I am excited about the olympics but the older I get the harder it is to accept the new young skaters. They just don't seem to have the grace the older ones had from the very beginning.