Why all the Amber Corwin bashing?

[shady82]

I have often noticed that when someone wants to name a low-achieving skater, Amber Corwin comes up.

I was just wondering, why is that? Is it because of her:
1. Horrible cheats
2. Laybacks that Dick hates
3. Practice outfits

According to Frogs On Ice, 2001 US Nationals: "In practices in Boston, people were talking as much about Amber's sleazy practice outfits as they were about her skating. In one practice that I saw, she was wearing a leotard with so little fabric on the bottom that she had a permanent wedgie that she was continually pulling out again. I was told that at another practice, she was wearing transparent white leggings with thong underwear clearly visible underneath -- well, it would have been worse if she hadn't been wearing underwear....."

4. Tiara
5. Zzzzzzzzzz long programs
6. Results

Maybe it's all of them. Hmmm... But I find it very funny. She has many amazing points: a never-failing 3toe-3toe, designing her own costumes, a degree in fashion merchandising, FSU Gay Icon status. Her Strawberry Tango program is very alluring.

[Rex]

a never-failing 3toe-3toe

never-failing in its underrotation.

[Artifice]

never-failing in its underrotation.

Reason 7 !!

[IceJunkie]

Yes, we use "triple toe" loosely.

I'd never heard about the sleazy outfits before. Wasn't she a fashion major in college and designed all of her costumes?

[Ziggy]

Between her pre-rotation, under-rotation and a host of millions of other jump technique issues, she'd be on a permanent -3 GOE from me.

[haribobo]

Funny to think that under CoP, those 3-3's never would have counted, she probably would have ditched them immediately and not spent all those years trying to pull the wool over our/judges' eyes, and she'd probably never even be as much of a contender as she was. She had some nice points though.

[jlai]

For all her technical weaknesses, Corwin had gotten more out of her career than other skaters triple her talent. That's one skater I can honestly say, she made a good career given what she had.

Another skater I can say the same about is Ryan Bradley. (OF course, let's wait until he retires to conclude...)

[briancoogaert]

Between her pre-rotation, under-rotation and a host of millions of other jump technique issues, she'd be on a permanent -3 GOE from me.

From me too. And I'm not a hater since I really liked her 2006 LP to "U Plavu Zoru"...

[Seerek]

Funny to think that under CoP, those 3-3's never would have counted, she probably would have ditched them immediately and not spent all those years trying to pull the wool over our/judges' eyes, and she'd probably never even be as much of a contender as she was. She had some nice points though.

The 3-3's were ratified in the years that Amber competed under CoP (2003-2006), but they definitely wouldn't have been ratified under today's calling standards.

[Ziggy]

The 3-3's were ratified in the years that Amber competed under CoP (2003-2006), but they definitely wouldn't have been ratified under today's calling standards.

But the standards were the same back then?

[IceKween]

I wouldn't call it Amber bashing. Heck, she did more with her modicum of talent than anyone would have thought. The problem was that there was just nothing RIGHT about her skating. Her inherent movement and carriage was all wrong, reminiscent of Sarah Hughes. She really didn't have any reliable "triple". Her sal and toe were basically 2axels. Plus she fell all the time or severely underrotated on the higher triples. Her Audrey Hepburn routine with the same plastic tiara my sister had growing up was either gay icon status worthy or just flat out WRONG, hard to even figure that one out it was so WTF.
Also, at 27 years of age with a fashion degree, one would have expected her presentation via costuming and makeup to have been considerably better. What junior college did she get that degree from? They should rescind it.

[Rex]

Her Audrey Hepburn routine with the same plastic tiara my sister had growing up was either gay icon status worthy or just flat out WRONG, hard to even figure that one out it was so WTF.

That tiara was REAL, I tell ya. She stole it from Shepherd Clark!

[IceKween]

That tiara was REAL, I tell ya. She stole it from Shepherd Clark!

Yeah, did you notice when he created a whole bunch of publicity about his 100K dollar costume and then he withdrew in tears? So we never got to see this costume. Maybe Amber stole a few rhinestones off that costume and glued them on to her Princess Aurora tiara.

[overedge]

FWIW I think a lot of people in skating thought she should have gone off and done something else when it became apparent that she wasn't going to be pushed to the top - and so they resented her hanging around long past her alleged "prime".

Plastic tiara aside, I always really liked her skating and thought she had some very interesting programs. I was also impressed that she seemed to keep competing just because she enjoyed it.

[Rex]

Yeah, did you notice when he created a whole bunch of publicity about his 100K dollar costume and then he withdrew in tears? So we never got to see this costume. Maybe Amber stole a few rhinestones off that costume and glued them on to her Princess Aurora tiara.

ah, memories. We had STAHS then

Amber was not a purty skater, I thought some of her positions were downright awkward, but she did stick it out as long as Kwan did, if not longer. And she got that degree, which is hard for a skater to do while eligible.

But I could swear her 3/3s were downgraded even under 6.0 at one point or another; I just can't remember the comps where this happened....can someone confirm this?

[gkelly]

But I could swear her 3/3s were downgraded even under 6.0 at one point or another;

How could you tell?

Required elements score lower than presentation score in a short program, suggestive of a mandatory deductions? But how would you even know what the deduction was for?

Or maybe the judges just thought the technique had some other weaknesses on the jump combination or elsewhere, but the presentation was better than the technique.

[briancoogaert]

But the standards were the same back then?

Her 3/3 was not really underrotated, but it was badly prerotated.
I don't know if prerotation are as bad as underrotation under the new CoP.

[IceJunkie]

Kimmie's 3 toe axel got ratified under CoP, but that was in the early days of inception.

[carriecmu0503]

Kimmie's 3 toe axel got ratified under CoP, but that was in the early days of inception.

As far as I know, Kimmie only landed the 3 Axle once, at 2005 Nationals. That was the last nationals that was judged under 6.0.

[skatingfan5]

As far as I know, Kimmie only landed the 3 Axle once, at 2005 Nationals. That was the last nationals that was judged under 6.0.

IceJunkie was referring to Kimmie's triple-toeloop (the so-called "toe axel").