GRAND PRIX ASSIGNMENTS

[parcferme]

DISCUSS

Comments

[eaweek]

What USFSA needs to do is plant/bribe someone to attack skaters again. Only way at this point to make figure skating popular and relevant in the US again.

LOL, well I don't think the USFSA has the ability to revive the US economy so that ordinary people can afford to attend competitions and shows, to say nothing of reviving the sadly dead pro-competitive circuit. Honestly, there are a number of skaters who probably would have turned pro 4 or 8 years ago if the competitive and touring opportunities had been there.

I wouldn't want to see anyone get hurt, but maybe there could be more open bitchiness between VM and DW? Really, they're just too nice to each other. ; ) Yeah, Moir shoots off his mouth sometimes, but it doesn't get picked up by the media too much. Maybe he just gets overshadowed by "Chanflation." ; )

Of course, the USFSA is too stupid apparently to do two things that might immediately revive interest in the sport: 1) put more skating BACK ON FRIGGING TV, and 2) hire skating commentators who competed more recently than Sandra Bezic (1970s) and Scott Hamilton (1980s). Honestly, they're turning into the Peggy Flemming/ Dick Button of this era. And I used to enjoy Hamilton's commentary! > : - {

[jedinic]

I think there's a good chance we could start to see more rivalry between VM and DW. Okay, Meryl and Charlie are far too nice to EVER say anything in public, but neither side has really said much about the "we're all friends" schtick the past year.

[eaweek]

I think it was easier for the two teams to be friends back when they were both up-and-coming. I was looking back over some competitive results and You Tube videos the other day (goofing off at work, LOL), and it struck me that in terms of competitive development, it was like VM were older skaters or something--they seemed more mature and polished than DW (who actually had a couple of seasons as the 3rd and 2nd ranked US team, and then a year-ish when they were co-favorites with BA). So they weren't really "in the same place" competitively for their first 2-3 years as seniors. But after 2010, VM and DW were going after the same thing--namely the #1 spot in the world--and I suspect that has caused some tension, whether any of them would admit it or not.

I don't think the whole brouhaha with Igor last year has helped any, either.

Still, whatever tensions might be there, it's still not the kind of thing NBC can turn into a big drama llama and use to rope in more potential viewers.

I would not mind seeing both teams in an ice show some day! : )

[elevatorshaker]

I'm assuming you mean "ordinary" as not skating lunatics like us who gets up at all hours of the night to watch grainy Latvian streams. I don't know where you live, but I haven't heard anyone saying they wanted to go to a skating competition, but had to pay rent and buy groceries instead. I've been in NorCal for the past few years and just got back down to SoCal, but no one in either place ever talks about skating. It's not the economy.

Consider the Skaters Care show in 2011. It was $35 for a ticket, had Olympians in it, and was held in a heavily populated area (Los Angeles) and those seats were empty as hell. Hell, I went to All That Skate in LA in 2010 and even it wasn't full on the Sunday show, and the reason why it was even that successful is the huge Korean population. I agree that NBC needs to show more of it to keep it in people's consciousness, but I really think it's the idea that it's a "sissy" sport for girls and gays. Add in that there's no dominating force from the US like Kwan and, of course, the (true to some extent) perception that skating is rigged and you have a massive hole for figure skating to crawl out of in terms of gaining popularity.

[elevatorshaker]

Actually, as far as the economic aspect, another thing that it making it difficult is the expense of even participating in the sport in any meaningful way, much less actually going anywhere with it.

[mondetriste]

A+ analysis would read again.