Is fandom based strictly on skating?

[Katarzyna]

I know some people complain about certain athletes 'arrogance' as a reason they hate them but I've always believed you sometimes need a bit of that to succeed.

Arrogance – I don’t think you can’t become a champion without being arrogant, but I assume it’s just more difficult if you don’t have the ultimate self believe. Probably one of the reasons, why I appreciate skaters who were/are very successful, but not arrogant even more.

JMHO, but it seems to me a good number of ubers tend to have crushes on their fav skaters. I think this is particularly the case when certain ubers become over-protective and very defensive towards their skater, and are easily offended to the point of feeling persecuted.

When I started to watch figure skating (at least when I start to remember it well) I had a crush on Victor Petrenko and of course in my eyes he was ALWAYS a much better skater than Kurt Browning.
Funnily I don’t even find him particularly attractive when I watch old tapes today. But I still adore his skating. However, today I love Kurt Browning’s skating too. So I’m glad that teenage days are over.

There is a difference between appreciating the skating skills and being a fan, though.

Yes! There are different ways and emotional levels how skaters can be perceived and what is considered to be already fandom, how you react on skaters, for me it’s e.g.

Respect – personally I’d respect everyone who skates at elite level, no matter what his / her personality is like. E.g. I’ve always respected Tonya Harding for her powerful jumps.

You can like the skating of someone – e.g. I liked Christie Yamaguchi, though it didn’t emotionally touch me, still found her performances very good and can watch them and enjoy.

Cheering for someone – I actively hope that this skater does particularly well. For me it’s usually skaters, who’s skating I do not only like, but skaters that touch me emotionally. I don’t need to perceive their personality in a positive way. However, if a skater does things I don’t like at all, mostly connected to the sport and being a fair sportsman (e.g. no doping, unfair behavior towards competitors, racism, etc.), I think I would somehow “disconnect” and won’t be able to cheer for him/her any longer. It’s mostly about sportsmanship, don’t care very much for skaters' private lives, unless they do something really awful. Alexej Yagudin is a good example – I looooved his skating, but I wasn’t fond about him complaining he never became Russian Champion (--> most times he simply skated badly at nationals). But he was young and obviously he stopped with it now, so I don’t care any longer and really very much enjoy his skating. However, I wouldn’t give “active fan support to him” (= doing projects, etc.).

Becoming an uber fan – to me it means that I’m prepared to actively do something for a skater, e.g. participate in scrap book projects, throw little presents on the ice. For me this is certainly connected with personality. For example I always "liked" Masha Petrova / Lyosha Tikhonov, though I was not an uber fan until I saw them live at exhibitions. They were just so much better than in competition! I think in competitions they just focused too much on the elements, but after watching them in shows I started to cheer for them and detected that both of them are just among the nicest persons I’ve met in the circuit so far. I was very much impressed by their personality on the ice and off the ice as well. Therefore I helped a friend of mine, who made a scrapbook for them a tiny little bit and of course also made a contribution to the book. I simply love them now and will always root for them. – However, I would never give this kind of “active fan support” to skaters whose personality I can't stand, e.g. because of arrogant behaviour, even if I liked their skating.

So basically if I like the skating of someone or not, doesn’t depend on personality. However, active fandom that leads me to actively doing something for skaters depends a lot on that factor as well.

I have to say I really like this thread! It's just interesting to read, how other skating fans handle this. I wonder if female fans take personality more into account than male fans (just giving the stereotype of quads and power only ).

[Bournekraatzfan]

del (double post)

[Bournekraatzfan]

I agree with julieann, looks are subjective. And while I do find Dai gorgeous, that is not why I love his skating so much.
I think we negotiate fandom in our own ways, and it is neat to read so many different opinions in this thread

[zotza]

For me it's the skating first and foremost I have to love the way they move their blades over the ice, the lines they make, the details. Totmianina/Marinin are the perfect example of what moves me in skating. They had the personality of wallpaper but the way they skated was perfection. That to me is art and moves me emotionally. I typically will like a lot of skaters that many people say are boring or overscored/overrated but there is such art and beauty in having such incredible skating skills and being able to do all the things they must and make it look smooth and easy. I just love good skating.

.

This is exactly my thoughts regarding Totmianina/Marinin and they are the only skaters for who I can say that I totally respect them as athletes.
It happens that sometimes beauty and art can be so pure that to most people it becomes boring.But for me this is what I love about skating.

[spikydurian]

I find it kinda funny how so many girls/women have a crush on Takahashi. I love his skating, but he's nowhere near handsome for me and my mom's reaction when she first saw him was: "God, he's ugly!"

Your mum is kidding me! She doesn't know what she is missing. Dai is gorgeous. He has 'rugged looks'. I can imagine him skating in black leather top and jeans.

[Cherub721]

Sure, personality is important, and I can appreciate some skaters more because of their good nature, but being honest, many of my favorite skaters (probably most of them ) are egotistical, adulterers, or have driven intoxicated (behaviors I find abhorrent).

I tend to think that the skating comes first and that colors our views. If you already like the skater and they make general complaints about judging/the direction of the sport, you're more likely to say "yes, tell it like it is " whereas if you think their skating sucks, you're more like to say "stop living in the past "

I even think this relates to looks. When I like someone as an actor, a dancer, a singer, a skater or whatever, they become hotter to me. Someone upthread cited Yagudin and Plushenko as having lots of fans even though they don't look as good as Joubert. While they may not be considered traditionally handsome, being a fan of them over the years, I've found them very attractive in many of their performances. I might not have given them a second look otherwise.

[skateboy]

I find myself rooting for almost any Japanese skater, mainly because they are just so nice and supportive of each other! (I've always been an Oda uber: I think I'm part of a minority here!)

If a skater is poor, it's hard to be a big fan (I assume that goes for just about all FS fans). With really good skaters, sometimes I've found myself going from being a fan to not rooting for them. It's almost always because of something they've done or said that I've found offensive.

[puglover]

I have always loved female skaters who really jump. I love the sound of the blade when it comes down on the ice - as opposed to the girls who more rotate fast but not too high off the ice. I'm sort of the opposite with male skaters - lots of guys really jump high but skate through the music with a few arm flings. I love male skaters like Jeff Buttle who feel the music through their whole body.

[ItalianFan]

I think good skating, good looks, and a unique/fun personality will get skaters the most fans, although any combination of these traits will likely lead to at least some semblence of a fan base.[/QUOTE]


What makes us become a fan of a certain skater? Maybe I’m an exception but as a casual viewer I only discovered ice skating with the Vancouver olympics and it was the performance of Plushenko that wowed me and made me want to watch more skating, (not just his). I knew nothing about his technique, his past career or anything else about him or the sport. He is not what I would consider handsome but he’s got the magic: total confidence in himself which is tangible when you see him skate. He has that incredible charisma on the ice—something Kurt had/has as well. So yes, if you’re competent, you may judge skating skills first of all, but I think it’s also a big dose of personality that wins fans. I can understand why some celebrity athletes get fed up with being besieged by fans. It must get quite irritating at times having hordes of people running after you, wanting to have their picture taken with you, throwing all those silly stuffed toys on the ice which you have to pick up and seem happy to have! Plushenko seems to have an army and also seems incredibly patient with fans asking for autographs etc. In any case,he’s the one who kindled the interest in skating for me and he’s the one I’m most interested in following. I’m not saying that I approve of Plush 100%. In Vancouver he was a poor sport and that disappointed me but, while I don’t condone his conduct, I understand the reasons and I think that it was, in the end, a venial sin. IMO fandom is based on a combination of skill and charisma, it’s hard to be enthusiastic about someone who has the personality of a doorknob.

[AnnMJensen]

I am a fan for so many different reasons. Several skaters I know or I know their coach, so I will root for them no matter what - Through the Carmen's and the falls and whatever they put me through ) . I will almost never be able to enjoy a skater who has been arrogant - I can not longer make the emotional attachment to them because i see them as "mean". And skaters who have no connection their music lose my interest before I can become a fan. But even a skater who falls a lot can keep me as a battered and weepy fan if they are "selling" their programs and using the music....

[RD]

However, personality does play a huge part as well. My example is Carolina Kostner - I used to love her and her skating and cheer for her to win everytime I saw her, but then one time I saw her in person and she acted beyond weird towards me. She lost me as a fan the same second.

Ah yes...a prime example of why "you should never meet your heroes"...

I've met some skaters as well...not really the type to get into fandom, but yes, opinions did unconsciously shift around based on my experiences with them (mostly in a positive way)...more so with how they came across on the ice though.

[Made4Dancin]

I think with me, and this goes for a being a fan of other athletes, artists, etc., usually it's love at first site for the ones I become a huge fan of. From there they can only disqualify themselves with bad behavior. But generally with skating, and tennis which is my co-favorite sport, over a decade of watching people throughout their careers I usually get over it and end up liking everyone except the ones who really got on my bad side. Usually in the end the major disqualifier that I can't get over is cheating or unsportsmanlike behavior.

There is a skater, for example, who I first saw in Vancouver after not paying attention to the sport for a while. I thought that this person would be a new favorite of mine when the old guard retired. Well in the two years since, this skater's personality has put me off in such a way that I now use their skates for potty breaks. I don't even want to think about them. I can't imagine I'll get over it. We'll see.

Then there are people like Chan who I don't think is the next coming, but I think is a really good skater. His hype makes me dislike him, which is unfair I know, but the fact that he believes it makes me dislike him a little more. But I couldn't help but feel bad for him when he was patting the ice off his butt after falling twice in the warmup at WTT. So if things turn around and he's just allowed to be a skater who competes fairly with everyone else and doesn't see himself as someone on a different level than everyone else I don't see why I couldn't be a fan of his skating in the future. His personality I don't know about. But I will assume that he'll become a more entertaining skater as time goes on.

Plushenko I like more because of his personality and I know he's supposed to be arrogant. I think it's funny. Some of his skating I thought was a little iffy in the beginning but he's won me over with his humorous attitude. So now I find those little Snoopy steps endearing. And his perseverance is to be admired, imo.

[misskarne]

Then there are people like Chan who I don't think is the next coming, but I think is a really good skater. His hype makes me dislike him, which is unfair I know, but the fact that he believes it makes me dislike him a little more.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that way. Hype is the fastest way to turn me off someone. I'm on the verge of disliking Gracie Gold without ever having seen her skate because of the insane hype like she's going to be figure skating's greatest ever goddess or something. It happened to me in motorsport with Lewis Hamilton (and partially contributed to my loathing of Vettel), and it's happening again in skating.

Plushenko I like more because of his personality and I know he's supposed to be arrogant. I think it's funny. Some of his skating I thought was a little iffy in the beginning but he's won me over with his humorous attitude. So now I find those little Snoopy steps endearing. And his perseverance is to be admired, imo.

Isn't it funny? To me he seems to have an on-off switch - as soon as he gets on the ice he's cold, arrogant and a hard bastard. But off it he's funny and from what I've heard he's just the nicest guy.

[dinakt]

It's mostly skating for me, though there are million intangibles, and many exceptions. I tend to love people who have found a certain artistic "signature", are sincere in expression, musical, original and care about choreography. Looks don't enter much into the equation, neither does behavior ( it would take a significant faux- pas for me to turn against a skater whose skating I love. Case in point- Scott is making all those comments, but it's Tessa with whom I cannot connect artistically and thus do not root for the team. Scott's comments annoy me, but barely touch on appreciation of his skills). Underdogs who persevere, of course, get an extra dose of love. Then there are some skaters I just like, because they appeal to me on some level I myself not fully understand. For example, I quite adore Duhamel/ Radford; I just find them "simpatico", in skating and outside of it; I like the amplitude and esthetics of their skating, though they are not S/S in terms of artistry.
Quite often my opinion modifies over the years- for example, as an ardent Yagudin fan, I was anti- Plushenko for many years. I still do not like his skating style, but I have developed enormous respect for him as an athlete. I was an instant Abbott fan, but Takahashi took a few years, and now I think the world of his skating... it's different every time.

[skateboy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that way. Hype is the fastest way to turn me off someone.

I have felt that way too, at times.

[ciocio]

Usually I care about skating. My favorite skaters were/are not handsome, yes, I admit they weren't/aren't, unlike people who think their favorites are the most handsome, smart, etc in the World. Maybe I'm not a true uber? Who knows?
I like a lot Plushy's skating, and I love his charisma on ice and his personality off ice, OMG he's so lovely and shy, he's adorable. And I admire him more after Vancouver because even he didn't win, his fanbase increased a lot, a lot of people saw him for the first time and fell in love with him, which is amazing!!!
What can I say, I'm a fan!

[RD]

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thinks that way. Hype is the fastest way to turn me off someone. I'm on the verge of disliking Gracie Gold without ever having seen her skate because of the insane hype like she's going to be figure skating's greatest ever goddess or something. It happened to me in motorsport with Lewis Hamilton (and partially contributed to my loathing of Vettel), and it's happening again in skating.

I feel the same way about hype. However, I feel that for me, Gold is a special case. The US ladies have been mediocre at best for years now, and I finally want to see one of our own back on the podium again. So I can't really "dislike" her in that sense.
____________
I will say that after a brief (positive) encounter with Wagner before the start of this season, it did make it easier to back her in the latter half since I knew she appreciated the support.

There is another skater whose stock may have dipped a few points, though (no names).

[Johnny_Fever]

........However, personality does play a huge part as well. My example is Carolina Kostner - I used to love her and her skating and cheer for her to win everytime I saw her, but then one time I saw her in person and she acted beyond weird towards me. She lost me as a fan the same second...........

Weird in what way? Details please.

[Polymer Bob]

I met Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir, Kristiene Gong, Caroline Zhang, Yasmin Siraj and a few others at an ice show almost 3 years ago. There were all very receptive and appreciative of their fans. Simon asked somebody to move aside so I could take his picture.
Caroline was so innundated with fans who who wanted pictures and autographs, the food was cold when she was finally able to eat her dinner.

[PinkFeathers]

I don't know if it's the hype for me by itself, so much as the way they let the hype affect them. We hype them, their federations hype them, but when they start to go around boasting about how marvelous they are, and lose any sense of humility... eesh. No thank you. I don't care if you're landing quads while juggling Plushenkos, I'm going to want to smack you upside the head.