Unpopular Opinions

hanca said:
(I am missing Tinami. She would now post photos of Valieva and Scherbakova hugging Tutberidze, smiling and being happy in Tutberidze’s company, to prove that they are not scared of her.)
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♥️

:ds1: my ♥️ to Tinami IS my unpopular opinion ... :wuzrobbed it wouldn't be a true tribute without the snark :ds1:
 
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clairecloutier said:
I think this board, on the whole, skews toward being pretty invested in the Russian women. As shown by the fact that they have their own separate thread.

Those who may happen to have a different opinion are rather in the minority at this point. That doesn't mean their opinion is any less valid than anyone else's or deserves to be called "whining."
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My different opinion (or is it?) is that I'm not remotely interested in any of the young Russian skaters. How can I, when it's a revolving door of (talented) skaters who never get to grow as skaters and performers because they can't beat the next skater who does even more quads or are too burned out to try?

Meh. I miss the Yuna/Mao/Kostner years.
 
I hated D&W's skating. I thought their Schehereazade was unwatchable. I thought there were moments in that program where Meryl moved like a sumo wrestler.

I think Gordeeva and Grinkov's Moonlight Sonata/Pathetique was a weak program with no choreographic content. Their Olympic performance of it was messy and flawed . It feels like many people have the 'Mandela Effect ' when it comes to remembering that performance as having so much "magic" There I said it.

Despite their constant falling, missing medals, and continuously grasping defeat from the easy victories within their grasp, I&K gelled together so much more than S&K for me.
 
escaflowne9282 said:
I hated D&W's skating. I thought their Schehereazade was unwatchable. I thought there were moments in that program where Meryl moved like a sumo wrestler.

I think Gordeeva and Grinkov's Moonlight Sonata/Pathetique was a weak program with no choreographic content. Their Olympic performance of it was messy and flawed . It feels like many people have the 'Mandela Effect ' when it comes to remembering that performance as having so much "magic" There I said it.

Despite their constant falling, missing medals, and continuously grasping defeat from the easy victories within their grasp, I&K gelled together so much more than S&K for me.
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I think G&G only succeeded because they had an unmistakable chemistry between them. They were good, but if they had different partners, would one or both have achieved the same?
 
escaflowne9282 said:
I hated D&W's skating. I thought their Schehereazade was unwatchable. I thought there were moments in that program where Meryl moved like a sumo wrestler.
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I agree. I remember seeing them live in the post-2018 SOI tour and was surprised Charlie moved so well. I thought it was Meryl who lacked finesse and her posture and leg line was sloppy.
 
MsZem said:
My different opinion (or is it?) is that I'm not remotely interested in any of the young Russian skaters. How can I, when it's a revolving door of (talented) skaters who never get to grow as skaters and performers because they can't beat the next skater who does even more quads or are too burned out to try?

Meh. I miss the Yuna/Mao/Kostner years.
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This with a caveat: I am impressed that they do quads but they all seem to merge together for me. The one that does catch my eye cannot do quads. But I must confess going to YouTube to listen to Paola La’s take on the endless soap opera that is Russian ladies figure skating. Such drama.
 
Here's one that might be unpopular...

I think Kurt Browning was a bit overrated as a skater and not nearly the artist everyone thought he was.

Sure, I was a fan as a kid, but find the choreography in many of his programs now super cheesy and dorky--even his classic Casablanca one. They just come off so gimmicky now.

His style was very much of the time and looks super dated, unlike other skaters from his generation whose skating/programs have remained timeless and held up over time.
 
Lemonade20 said:
I think G&G only succeeded because they had an unmistakable chemistry between them. They were good, but if they had different partners, would one or both have achieved the same?
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Well, Katia has won BOTB and Ice Age (is that the the name of the Russian comp where actors are paired with skaters?) with different partners, so I’m guessing she probably would have succeeded if her pairs partner had some skill.
 
sap5 said:
Well, Katia has won BOTB and Ice Age (is that the the name of the Russian comp where actors are paired with skaters?) with different partners, so I’m guessing she probably would have succeeded if her pairs partner had some skill.
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Probably, but people loved G&G and talked more about their love story than their actual skating.
 
Lemonade20 said:
I think G&G only succeeded because they had an unmistakable chemistry between them. They were good, but if they had different partners, would one or both have achieved the same?
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Katia won Battle of the Blades with 3 different partners, I think. Or came 2nd with the third. She's that good.

In an interview last year, Sergei Voronov said that in order to help coach T/M, he researched pairs. About G&G, he said (not a direct quote but close): About unison: Sergei Grinkov took skating in unison to new highs. It made even the simplest moves they did seem like magic.

I agree with Voronov that it seemed that Sergei followed Katia. But I'm not minimizing what he did. Besides the exquisite unison (not that easy!), he also was very graceful with lifting and throwing. He was the more consistent one with jumping till oly 1994.

Back to Topic! I'm not sure whether this is an Unpopular Opinion ... yes, on the whole I think it's a Minority Opinion:
Mishkutenov and Dmitriev were better at the Lillehammer Olympics. No mistakes ... but also, they skated with passion, and to win.
(still, I saw a pretty convincing youtube analysis of the two skates once, using IPS -- it came away with G&G the clear winner, too)
 
skylark said:
Katia won Battle of the Blades with 3 different partners, I think. Or came 2nd with the third. She's that good.

In an interview last year, Sergei Voronov said that in order to help coach T/M, he researched pairs. About G&G, he said (not a direct quote but close): About unison: Sergei Grinkov took skating in unison to new highs. It made even the simplest moves they did seem like magic.

I agree with Voronov that it seemed that Sergei followed Katia. But I'm not minimizing what he did. Besides the exquisite unison (not that easy!), he also was very graceful with lifting and throwing. He was the more consistent one with jumping till oly 1994.

Back to Topic! I'm not sure whether this is an Unpopular Opinion ... yes, on the whole I think it's a Minority Opinion:
Mishkutenov and Dmitriev were better at the Lillehammer Olympics. No mistakes ... but also, they skated with passion, and to win.
(still, I saw a pretty convincing youtube analysis of the two skates once, using IPS -- it came away with G&G the clear winner, too)
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Katia explains in My Sergei that Sergei learned to shorten his natural stroke to match the length of hers. You might want to read that book as it explains a bit about how they learned pairs technique in general.

For me, I always preferred G&G because of their technique, particularly the throws. I can’t stand when men throw women and they have this wonky free leg that makes it looks like they’re throwing a sack of potatoes.
 
sap5 said:
Katia explains in My Sergei that Sergei learned to shorten his natural stroke to match the length of hers. You might want to read that book as it explains a bit about how they learned pairs technique in general.

For me, I always preferred G&G because of their technique, particularly the throws. I can’t stand when men throw women and they have this wonky free leg that makes it looks like they’re throwing a sack of potatoes.
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I did purchase and read My Sergei, then gave it to my daughter and never saw it again! So it was years ago and I can never look up any details. What I remember Katia saying (and this wouldn't necessarily contradict what you said) is that when they paired up at ages 11 and 15, they both had to start from scratch, "forget how to skate," and re-learn everything so that they matched in stroking, crossovers, jumping, everything. Everyone I've ever shown their 1988 Olympic fs to has remarked on the astonishing unison of their jumps, so that sounds right. And Peggy Fleming said in her commentary with Button that they have the same rhythm in them, the same knee action. So one could say it was about exquisite attention to every detail.

I think Marina started working with them at that same age, so I wonder if it was she who initiated that change for them. Maybe not, though, because the main coach was probably in charge of their technique. I've wondered, though, if other Soviet pairs at the time were required to re-learn everything the way G/G apparently were. And maybe G/G took to that particular instruction better.
 
Lemonade20 said:
I think G&G only succeeded because they had an unmistakable chemistry between them. They were good, but if they had different partners, would one or both have achieved the same?
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IMHO, to watch them do something was to watch it be done perfectly, but I hated most of their competitive programs choreographically.
I feel like, despite their clear chemistry, I never could get into them because of that.
Funnily enough, I felt the same about Virtue and Moir prior to Gadbois.
I guess the moral of the story is, I don't like Zueva. 😆
 
skylark said:
I think Marina started working with them at that same age, so I wonder if it was she who initiated that change for them. Maybe not, though, because the main coach was probably in charge of their technique. I've wondered, though, if other Soviet pairs at the time were required to re-learn everything the way G/G apparently were. And maybe G/G took to that particular instruction better.
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It wasn’t Marina. She was their choreographer, not their coach. My impression is that different skate clubs had their own way of teaching, and if you were selected to be a pair skater in a club, you would be taught their technique.
 
Outside of their brilliant Tango OD and their 1994-95 “Girls Girls Girls” OD, all of Grishuk/Platov’s best skating happened on the 1992-93 season and prior. Also, Grishuk/Zhulin had way more natural chemistry than what Grishuk/Platov ever displayed together and their “Smooth Operator” makes me wonder what wonderful programs we didn’t get to see from them since that partnership didn’t last for long. That said, no other ice dance came close to providing the content and technical mastery that Grishuk/Platov had during their reign of dominance but even with that Anissina/Peizerat’s 1998 Olympic programs (the OD and FD) were better and deserved higher presentation scores though G/P should have won based on the technical because no program came close to the technical difficulty of their FD and they were not far behind on presentation given their superior speed, skating skills and transitions. Bourne/Kraatz should have been like 6th or 7th in the OD and that’s sort of generous given their content. Punsalan/Swallow should
have been third in the FD with their Igor Tango behind G/P and A/P and ahead of Krylova/Ovysiannikov; no lie.
 
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Not skating related but I wish the gymnast Oksana Chusovitina would just retire already. She announced her retirement (again!) after Tokyo but now she said she’s going to compete at next year’s Asian Games.
 
mattiecat13 said:
Not skating related but I wish the gymnast Oksana Chusovitina would just retire already. She announced her retirement (again!) after Tokyo but now she said she’s going to compete at next year’s Asian Games.
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She did not even make the vault final which I don’t remember the last time she didn’t make a final so I do believe that was her last Olympics
 
viennese said:
Four years of vocal music and not one of you elite figure skating ice dance bitches has skated to the soundtrack from NEWSIES?
You disappointment me.
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Haha movie version or Broadway? (My personal preference is hearing Christian Bale attempting to sing with a strong fake New Yorker accent)

I personally dislike about 80% of vocal skating programs. If I wanted to hear a song I could hear on the radio, I'd just turn on the radio! I did like how Javier did it for his 'Barber of Seville' and 'Guys and Dolls' programs though - mixing the instrumental parts with some vocal parts. I also loved that he skated to 'Black Betty'. Bring back classic rock! Not this emo bull poopy that everyone seems to want to do.

I also hate that everyone seems to do crappy and/or emo covers of already good songs! Like just use INXS instead of these covers, people!! Or Michael Crawford singing 'Phantom of the Opera' instead of Gerard Butler! (Though I do think Gerard was underrated for his performance in that movie). Colm Wilkinson singing 'Les Miserables' instead of Hugh Jackman (whose voice I think is highly overrated, especially compared to Colm, who according to his Wikipedia was voted one of the 5 greatest singers of all time in a Rolling Stone magazine readers poll)
 
I quite liked Denstas Bach to Africa FD :shuffle:
It has some very interesting lifts and spins the ending lift is so fast. Music is lovely in the middle.
 
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