Funny comments made by non-figure skating fans about the sport

[paskatefan]

Not funny, but something I've noticed. I call our sport "skating" or "figure skating." Most non or casual fans seem to call it "ice skating." Whenever someone calls it "ice skating" it sets off an alarm to me that they don't really know very much.

I could be wrong in this assumption. What do most of you call it?

I've noticed that too. I refer to it as "figure skating." My friends "in the know" who really follow it do the same. My friends who are either casual fans or don't follow it at all simply call it "ice skating."

[olympic]

My partner has turned into a casual fan because of me but little else. He has a big mouth so his comments are and He tends to describe the skaters because most of the time he can't remember their names -

Rachael Flatt is the 'chubby girl'
Mirai Nagasu is the 'girl whose parents own the Sushi Restaurant'
Joubert is considered hot, cuz he'll stop what he's doing to watch Joubert skate.

He also has a view on who is interesting to watch and who isn't -

Lysacek and Lambiel skate with passion, but Chan doesn't. Alissa Czisny and Sasha Cohen are the only interesting US ladies, even excludes Kwan. Butyrskaya was gorgeous and graceful while Slutskaya 'skates like a truck driver'

I also wonder how many other casual fans are turned off by his opinion - how can someone fall so often and still win??

[MikiAndoFan#1]

I also wonder how many other casual fans are turned off by his opinion - how can someone fall so often and still win??

Was he referring to Patrick Chan?

[olympic]

Was he referring to Patrick Chan?

Actually, he was.

It was an honest comment on his part and it really got me thinking about how many casual fans of the sport might be turned off and not tune in, because of the common assumption that a fall is the worst mistake, but yet it doesn't seem to be penalized severely, ie - people with multiple falls win or win medals. The sport is thus harder to figure out and less interesting

[Blair]

My youngest sister, who actually knows something about skating, always called Slutskaya and Butyrskaya Slutface and Butface, respectively. This is someone who took her daughter to ice shows and some of the 2001 Worlds and paid for a few years of lessons for said daughter.

Similarly unflattering, my ex bf used to remember Slutskaya and Butyrskaya as Slutskank and Butskank.

[query5]

as far as maria and irina, yes they totally did that alot in the papers. how they refered them. it was awful. now a days --they don't even come close or say anything bad at all. the little they say, their fans get up in arms.
it is tame.mild, non-existent to what was said earlier.
they were younger.
someone wrote in a paper, to stop it, it was demeaning, but they went ahead anyway and did it the next competition.

[gkelly]

My father is not clueless, but he got certain things stuck in his head when I was skating in the 1970s and mixes them up with more recent events.

He still remembers the name of one skater we saw compete in Silver Dance at 1976 North Atlantics.

He and my stepmother attended the ladies final at 1998 Nationals with me. Several years later as part of a "name 5 of something" or "name 10 of something" game, I asked him to name 5 skaters he saw compete that evening in Philadelphia. I think he did get the top 5 -- not sure if he left out Kwiatkowski or Nikodinov.

But in the process, he also named Priscilla Hill. I told him that Priscilla Hill is my age and was not competing at 1998 Nationals (although she was there as a coach, for Johnny Weir in novice if no one else). I wondered if he was thinking of someone else. But he described her as a skinny dark-haired girl from Boston. So he must have been remembering all the way back to a televised Nationals from the 1970s and mixing it up with the event he saw live about 20 years later.

[Gypsy]

Great stories.

My Mom loves skaing...not to crazy about Kevin Lysachek though.

On a similar note, my sister & I love both figure skating and hockey (we had season seats for the North Stars for three years). Well my sister used to keep stats for the game (shots, penenlties etc), while I had my 35 camera clicking the whole game.
One time this person behind us asked us if we were married to the team (Yup... that's it, we are married to the WHOLE team!!)

[skatingfan04]

This is absolutely priceless Thanks so much for sharing everyone.

[Mafke]

this person behind us asked us if we were married to the team (Yup... that's it, we are married to the WHOLE team!!)

Not that there's anything wrong with that, maybe polyamory ... combinations will be a new ISU category?

[leafygreens]

People always ask me if I can do a triple axel or if I'm going to the Olympics. I always say "Do you realize only a handful of women can do a triple axel and if I was going to the Olympics you would have heard of me before?" My final senior yearbook quote was actually "No, I'm not going to the Olympics."

I think that every non-skater thinks that every jump, whether a single or a triple, is a triple axel or a "sow cow."

I also get a lot of "Can you do one of those twirls with your arms above your head?"

[pinky166]

Today I went to see Tangled. It was really cute, but anyways, I couldn't help but think that Rapunzel totally looked like Kiira Korpi and the prince totally looked like Samuel Contesti. It was really funny, actually.

[MikiAndoFan#1]

Today I went to see Tangled. It was really cute, but anyways, I couldn't help but think that Rapunzel totally looked like Kiira Korpi and the prince totally looked like Samuel Contesti. It was really funny, actually.

[vodkashot]

My Mom loves skaing...not to crazy about Kevin Lysachek though.

My friends were not too impressed by "Evan Lyssichak" either, they kept asking me why he had so much gel in his hair and whether he got extra points for waving his arms around so much (unfortunately, I had to answer "yes" to the latter question).

They all loved Stephane Lambiel, though, and kept wondering why everyone else was spinning sooooooo slowly after Lambiel....

[Ozzisk8tr]

On roller, figure skating is generally called "artistic skating" which always opened us up to the question by the bogans of the rink "Are you one of those autistic skaters?"

[IceJunkie]

Not funny, but something I've noticed. I call our sport "skating" or "figure skating." Most non or casual fans seem to call it "ice skating." Whenever someone calls it "ice skating" it sets off an alarm to me that they don't really know very much.

I could be wrong in this assumption. What do most of you call it?

So true! I hadn't realized before, but its actually kind of a pet peeve of mine when people call figure skating "ice skating." It's like calling soccer "running."

[skateboy]

I told this story awhile ago, but it's worth repeating.

It's around the year 2000 and my sister is talking with me about Tara Lipinski's skating. My mom overhears and says, "Tara Lipinski? I didn't know she skated." My sister says, "Well yeah Mom, she's the Olympic Gold medalist." And my mom says, (get ready for it...)

"Was that before or after her affair with Bill Clinton?"

[RunnersHigh]

Lipinski, Lewinsky, Lipinski, Lewinsky, Lipinski, Lipinski...

[Mafke]

"Was that before or after her affair with Bill Clinton?"

Oh great, now I've got some really, really sick mental images. Now I want to pour bleach in my mind's eye.....

[professordeb]

I told this story awhile ago, but it's worth repeating.

It's around the year 2000 and my sister is talking with me about Tara Lipinski's skating. My mom overhears and says, "Tara Lipinski? I didn't know she skated." My sister says, "Well yeah Mom, she's the Olympic Gold medalist." And my mom says, (get ready for it...)

"Was that before or after her affair with Bill Clinton?"

That made me laugh so hard that I started to cough.