Fans are really getting out of hand

[Brenda_Bottems]

Figures. It was all over when we abandoned figures.

Absolutely. Why do we still call the sport "figure skating" when figures were tragically banished thirty years ago?

These days,a more apt name for the sport is "Algebraic Ice Jumping". I admit that has a rather pleasing cadence.

-BB

 

[shine]

To put it simply, the NA part of skating fandom have a hell of a lot of nerve talking about bullying.

Pot, meet kettle.

And as the sport decays further, you all wonder why...

Yes the sport decaying cuz Hanyu is not winning

 

[DreamSkates]

Years ago (early 80s), I went to a Trek Con in Philly with a friend who adored the original series. Walter Koenig (Chekov) was the guest speaker, and I met him accidentally when he tapped me on the shoulder to ask for the time. At first I was startled when he didn't have a Russian accent!!! (He is actually of Russian Jewish ancestry, but born in Chicago).

During the convention, he took questions, and a fan got up and started asking him a technical question about the Enterprise. You could see him visibly frown and get his temper in check, and then he calmly explained that he was an ACTOR, and Star Trek was his JOB. He told the fan that the actors didn't get into the technical aspects of the show or memorize every episode - it was his JOB. You could see the fan looked quite deflated, but Koenig handled the situation very nicely.

This has always been one of my favorite takes on extreme fandom - from Star Trek again (however, Shatner did put in a disclaimer before he did this scene to avoid really offending anyone): https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/trekkies/n9511

Same situation happened to Brent Spiner when participating in a panel and someone asked him a technical question and he was adamant that he was an actor not a technology specialist. He has even commented that he doesn't like science fiction! Yet he is a phenomenal actor playing the character of Data (and others associated with Data).

 

[Immortelle]

Bring back compulsory dances. Make Ice Dance Great Again!!

 

[skateboy]

And as the sport decays further, you all wonder why...

Oh, please.

 

[Japanfan]

Absolutely. Why do we still call the sport "figure skating" when figures were tragically banished thirty years ago?

I'm not sure. I remember a coach saying some time ago that figures were incorporated into more freestyle skating.

It may be that 'figures' was just the word that emerged to distinguish FS from speed skating.

 

[MacMadame]

I'm not sure. I remember a coach saying some time ago that figures were incorporated into more freestyle skating.

It may be that 'figures' was just the word that emerged to distinguish FS from speed skating.

It's actually called artistic skating in much of the world.

 

[Japanfan]

It's actually called artistic skating in much of the world.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

Just trying to understand why 'figure' skating remained the name in some countries.

 

[MacMadame]

Why would it be changed?

 

[Japanfan]

Why would it be changed?

Because some people think 'artistic skating' is more appropriate, especially given that figures have gone by the wayside? I agree to a certain extent, but 'artistic' to me denotes the non-technical aspect of FS. Though the word 'patinage' may have a slightly different meaning.

 

[MacMadame]

They aren't going to change the name of a sport that's had that name for over 100 years.

 

[VGThuy]

When I was a very young kid, I thought only women skated and I thought it was called figure skating because the women had good figures (their bodies) and that was part of the judging. Then when I got older but still didn’t know anything about the history of the sport or school figures, I just thought it was about patterns on the ice and the shapes from their bodies during the LPs. Much later in life, during the Sochi Olympics, I was explaining and drawing school figures to show my friends what the sport was named after though it no longer existed. When I then asked my friends why they thought it was called figure skating, they either never thought about it and thought it was just called that or it was because they were drawing shapes on the ice during the routine they couldn’t see. Then one of my friends asked why when a man and a woman skated together it was called “ice dancing” so I explained to her the difference between pairs skating and ice dancing and she has no idea there were two different disciplines that had male/female pairs. I saw the light bulb turning on or her head exploding. It was kind of like me first learning and getting into ice skating and realizing Oksana Baiul (who I knew from Lillehammer) was not the same person as Oksana Grishuk, and Baiul did not just get a partner randomly.

 

[ShuPa]

And there you have it!

@ShuPa Because of course Dai's fans were so envious of Hanyu, right?
The attitude of the Fanyu: if you don't like him then you must be envious of him. Because not liking him is not contemplated.

It was actually Hanyu himself who said that Dai's fans were so nasty to him and that they were sending him life threats, and that because of that he even thought of taking his own life.

Sorry but I don't find Hanyu a class act at all!

Of course they were envious - he become Japan's no1 and got an OGM, something that Takahashi never achieved in his career. Dai fans booed him when he first won Nationals in 2012, and he was standing on the podium, which was extremely nasty behaviour. Surely, you will neve admit it because you are one of the rabid Dai fans.

 

[ostile17]

Of course they were envious - he become Japan's no1 and got an OGM, something that Takahashi never achieved in his career. Dai fans booed him when he first won Nationals in 2012, and he was standing on the podium, which was extremely nasty behaviour. Surely, you will neve admit it because you are one of the rabid Dai fans.

You're only proving my point!

 

[canbelto]

Of course they were envious - he become Japan's no1 and got an OGM, something that Takahashi never achieved in his career. Dai fans booed him when he first won Nationals in 2012, and he was standing on the podium, which was extremely nasty behaviour. Surely, you will neve admit it because you are one of the rabid Dai fans.

Whoa. Chill out.

 

[Lemonade20]

It will never be like the 90s again when we had huge personalities skating

 

[Brenda_Bottems]

It will never be like the 90s again when we had huge personalities skating

Nowadays the coaches have more personality than the skaters,which is problematic.

-BB

 

[once_upon]

Of course they were envious - he become Japan's no1 and got an OGM, something that Takahashi never achieved in his career. Dai fans booed him when he first won Nationals in 2012, and he was standing on the podium, which was extremely nasty behaviour. Surely, you will neve admit it because you are one of the rabid Dai fans.

You do know that skating rivalries didn't just start with Hanyu?

I mean there was the battle of the Brian's, the battle of the Carmen's, Tara/Michelle, Michelle/Sarah, Michelle/Sasha, Michelle/Irina, Elena-Anton/Jamie-David, Tessa-Scott/Charlie-Meryl, the EPIC ice dancers of the 90's (which i believe gave birth to FSU), even Sonja Henie had rivals.

Hanyu is just another in the long line of skaters who have crazy fans. He will be succeeded by someone else. The world does not live and die by him/his fans - as much as they want to believe. Life goes on......

 

[tony]

Rivalries have always been there. There are tons of people that cannot differentiate that liking one skater doesn't mean you have to absolutely despise another skater. I think we've been fortunate on FSU that very rarely do we praise one skater and get blasted about how we must hate another skater by default. There are tons of people who get interested in the sport because of one skater, only watch their performances, and will spend hours arguing how they were the best and trash everyone else. There are people who will spend hours picking apart V/M versus P/C or whoever the hot team is of the moment and even though they don't know the first thing about ice dance rules, they will still try to speak so matter-of-fact.

Social media and this boom of 'everyone has a voice' thing is what has sent it to much bigger levels, and it's not just a skating thing. But, as nasty as it makes me sound, I'm still sticking by this 'OMG I have anxiety' 'OMG I was bullied' 'OMG let me talk about how I'm going to be a keyboard activist for everything good in the world'-type of posters being some of the most nasty, disgusting trolls in figure skating social media right now.

 

[once_upon]

I have no idea what you just said or implied. I'll just sip my wine and sing kumbaya or something.

 

[tony]

I have no idea what you just said or implied. I'll just sip my wine and sing kumbaya or something.

Thanks for the riveting reply, and even though you didn't quote me, I'll take a wild guess that the comment was to me.

'You do know that skating rivalries didn't start with Hanyu?" Obviously not, and I'm sure the poster you were quoting didn't need that pointed out, either.

But if you spend time on the internet and don't notice the constant troll-like comments on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube videos, etc. then you're simply not looking. A lot of this social media presence has blown up in the last 10 years, which has 100% magnified rivalries and hatred and even sent them to new levels. And you know what comes along with a lot of the figure skating-based troll comments? People claiming in other posts that they are activists for whatever new trend is happening today, or maybe that they suffer from anxiety or depression. So I'm sorry, I feel zero sympathy for these trolls hiding behind a keyboard who think their nasty words towards skaters actually mean something when they are gonna go cry about being bullied themselves.

 

[once_upon]

Thanks for the riveting reply, and even though you didn't quote me, I'll take a wild guess that the comment was to me.

'You do know that skating rivalries didn't start with Hanyu?" Obviously not, and I'm sure the poster you were quoting didn't need that pointed out, either.

But if you spend time on the internet and don't notice the constant troll-like comments on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube videos, etc. then you're simply not looking. A lot of this social media presence has blown up in the last 10 years, which has 100% magnified rivalries and hatred and even sent them to new levels. And you know what comes along with a lot of the figure skating-based troll comments? People claiming in other posts that they are activists for whatever new trend is happening today, or maybe that they suffer from anxiety or depression. So I'm sorry, I feel zero sympathy for these trolls hiding behind a keyboard who think their nasty words towards skaters actually mean something when they are gonna go cry about being bullied themselves.

The comment i first responded to seemed a lot like whataboutism - that Hanyu fans weren't as bad as Dai fans.

I'm not saying I don't do the whataboutism stuff too, I just see it as people using it as reason for their behavior. And definitely ive seen a lot more whataboutism in the last 10 years.

Truly, the title of this thread represents a lot of things happening now (and most likely throughout history) - _______ are getting out of hand. It could be FS fans, it could be politics, it could be generations, pretty much anything.

ie everyone (except those who agree with me) are getting out of hand.

Internet/social media and the built in anonymity with the web, provides more opportunity for us (collective us - not specifically you or me, but the world us) to lash out at each other.

I would chalk it all up to the pandemic anger because everyone is more on edge, except it has always been this way.

 

[Willin]

Nowadays the coaches have more personality than the skaters,which is problematic.

-BB

This is the real T though across a number of mediums: people are so conscious of their public image and popularity that almost everything they do is calculated in some way. There's been a lot of discussions of it across fandoms, and there's even been some discussion on shows themselves (for instance, Utica on this season on RuPaul's Drag Race being afraid of being accused of racism due to some pre-show local social media drama). I would imagine a lot of skaters are just as conscious of this - especially given the backlash skaters like Ashley Wagner and Alexa Kniren have gotten for some of their posts. Even outside of people with any presence/fandom, kids are taught that everything they do and say will stay preserved forever on social media, and I'm sure skaters are aware of that before they make the big time.

I think also a lot of this problem has to do with the high level of turnover in skaters. Some skaters who have been around the block have a lot more leeway to have personality because they have healthy fanbases and have time to build an image for themselves and discover who they really are: look at how Liza's created her own media following centered around her personality and image compared to the other Russian Seniors right now who have a following due to their skating.

In addition, I think culture has to play something with it. In the US there's a lot of talk about not offending people, but being confident and loud can work well for the right person. A lot of US, Canadian, Japanes, and Western European coaches try for the not offending people angle to help them get business. As opposed to Russia where saying controversial and blunt stuff is the norm and coaches won't get flak for it. And right now there's a lot more prominent Russian coaches willing to say anything.

 

[Lemonade20]

Speaking of rivalries, just for entertainment purpose only: who had the best rivalry??? It doesn't matter who you were rooting for, but how much you anticipated to watch it play out. There were some amazing rivalries named above already, but I think one of the biggest right now is Nathan vs Yuzu. They are both so good, you're guaranteed to be thrilled by their performances.

 

[tony]

Speaking of rivalries, just for entertainment purpose only: who had the best rivalry??? It doesn't matter who you were rooting for, but how much you anticipated to watch it play out. There were some amazing rivalries named above already, but I think one of the biggest right now is Nathan vs Yuzu. They are both so good, you're guaranteed to be thrilled by their performances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye0DYRKIwxE

Simply because they really didn't like each other, and particularly Lysacek seems infuriated at this whole interview.

And then, they couldn't have written it any better to actually tie in the final scores in that very event.

 

[Lemonade20]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye0DYRKIwxE

Simply because they really didn't like each other, and particularly Lysacek seems infuriated at this whole interview.

And then, they couldn't have written it any better to actually tie in the final scores in that very event.

Yes!!!! That was hard to watch, thank you for sharing! Especially when she asked if they wanted to say anything to each other.

 

[canbelto]

The Davis/White vs. Virtue/Moir rivalry was pretty intense both between the fans and the skaters. There was Meryl hooking up with Tessa's former squeeze who just happened to be the son of their coach. There was the rivalry for Marina's time and attention.
I think to this day its cold between D&W and V&M.

 

[Barbara Manatee]

Tessa and Scott asked Charlie to choreograph their farewell tour - I believe they've gotten past any hard feelings.

 

[Polaris]

Speaking of rivalries, just for entertainment purpose only: who had the best rivalry??? It doesn't matter who you were rooting for, but how much you anticipated to watch it play out. There were some amazing rivalries named above already, but I think one of the biggest right now is Nathan vs Yuzu. They are both so good, you're guaranteed to be thrilled by their performances.

Yuna Kim vs Mao Asada. Nathan Chen vs Yuzuru Hanyu doesn't hold a candle to the nationalism and historical grudges that came into play with Korea vs Japan.

If Yuna vs Mao happened in the age of social media, it would make Nathan vs Yuzuru and every other rivalry look like child's play.

 

[Japanfan]

I enjoyed the Yags-Plush rivalry - always rooted for Plush, actually.