Fans are really getting out of hand

[MsZem]

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

Yes, that one was a classic. So dramatic!

 

[Xela M]

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.

Pasha Grishuk vs Maya Usova!

Who can ever forget this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w227JiWLImM

 

[Primorskaya]

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

Yes! I was going to say that. It was intensely satisfying Also because it seemed like a very "clean" rivalry. Well-matched opponents, both equally capable of being awesome and ridiculous in turn, just enough bitching, and both got the satisfaction of an OGM in the end.
And I love everything about ice-dance in the 90s. Make that skating in the 90s, it was the place to be!

Maybe I have my rose-tinted glasses on, but I also think it wasn't that nasty back then. I'm sure it was intense for the skaters, as Nancy Kerrigan's knee can attest, and psychos have always existed. But we're in the post-facts, post-truth era, enabled by social media, and by that "my opinion is worth that of any expert" bullshit culture. And having the means to spread any untruth/slander in two clicks without fear of retribution, has really upped the aggro. Add an extra layer of everyone going stir-crazy because of Crap19 and...

 

[Frau Muller]

Who said that there aren’t big on-ice personalities now? Tell that to -

The dueling Russian Moskvina pairs, especially the two bragging guys!

The Empress

Keegan

Yuma!

Donovan

Jason...although more serious vibe on ice

Josefin

Sasha Trusova

Rizzo vs Grassl

Nothing boring about the Russian ice dance guys, especially Bukin! (In the case of one team...the female too...red-headed explosion!!)

I could go on & on...LOTS of great personalities...maybe not in a certain country(ies).

As someone above pointed out, we also have The Coaches - a whole other saga, such as Barbara Fusar Poli & her stopwatch, Eteri & Co, Plush, RAFAEL, Oily Morozov, Hot Sergei...wherever he may end up going.

Then, if Tursynbaeva actually returns, we’ll have everyone’s favorite Stage Mom back!

Figure skating boring in 2021? Heck, no! No need to cook-up false rivalries.

 

[Primorskaya]

Pasha Grishuk vs Maya Usova!

Who can ever forget this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w227JiWLImM

That is the trashiest piece of TV I have ever seen
Still laughing about Usova actually being introduced as "Scorned Wife"

 

[Cachoo]

I agree with the increased venom that exists with modern social media. I think about the Battle of the Brians and how polite it was compared to what we see today. It seems the bitchiness started growing with AOL and the RSS feeds and now we have these worldwide cat fights that go beyond debating skating performance and that exist across all sorts of platforms. It can debase the sport.

 

[VGThuy]

The Battle of the Brians and Debi v. Kat would have been absolutely awful if the internet and social media was around.

 

[Xela M]

That is the trashiest piece of TV I have ever seen
Still laughing about Usova actually being introduced as "Scorned Wife"

It's been awhile since I've seen it, but I think they missed out the additional drama of the 1994 Olympics

Yes! I was going to say that. It was intensely satisfying Also because it seemed like a very "clean" rivalry. Well-matched opponents, both equally capable of being awesome and ridiculous in turn, just enough bitching, and both got the satisfaction of an OGM in the end.
And I love everything about ice-dance in the 90s. Make that skating in the 90s, it was the place to be!

Maybe I have my rose-tinted glasses on, but I also think it wasn't that nasty back then. I'm sure it was intense for the skaters, as Nancy Kerrigan's knee can attest, and psychos have always existed. But we're in the post-facts, post-truth era, enabled by social media, and by that "my opinion is worth that of any expert" bullshit culture. And having the means to spread any untruth/slander in two clicks without fear of retribution, has really upped the aggro. Add an extra layer of everyone going stir-crazy because of Crap19 and...

Agree the 90's were the Golden era! Ice dance has never been the same since Pasha retired

And the skater-"personalities" of today are quite boring, all nice and demure.

It's true that the people to watch nowadays are the coaches.

 

[Xela M]

Who said that there aren’t big on-ice personalities now? Tell that to -

The dueling Russian Moskvina pairs, especially the two bragging guys!

The Empress

Keegan

Yuma!

Donovan

Jason...although more serious vibe on ice

Josefin

Sasha Trusova

Rizzo vs Grassl

Nothing boring about the Russian ice dance guys, especially Bukin! (In the case of one team...the female too...red-headed explosion!!)

I could go on & on...LOTS of great personalities...maybe not in a certain country(ies).

As someone above pointed out, we also have The Coaches - a whole other saga, such as Barbara Fusar Poli & her stopwatch, Eteri & Co, Plush, RAFAEL, Oily Morozov, Hot Sergei...wherever he may end up going.

Then, if Tursynbaeva actually returns, we’ll have everyone’s favorite Stage Mom back!

Figure skating boring in 2021? Heck, no! No need to cook-up false rivalries.

They're all mostly nicey-nicey and polite to each other though. Although the Moskvina pairs have some "small" potential for

I think Savchenko was the last true "personality" we had left. Btw I only recently heard the story about her 'moo-ing' at another skater in the cafeteria when they were eating Does anyone know who she 'moo-ed' at?

 

[Yuri]

That is the trashiest piece of TV I have ever seen
Still laughing about Usova actually being introduced as "Scorned Wife"

OMG I am still amazed how they got away with this biased, factually-inaccurate trash! So interesting to learn that Usova/Zhulin were the only couple with a chance to unseat defending Olympic champions Grishuk/Platov in NAGANO! The rest of this garbage about the infamous love triangle isn't much more accurate either, as the participants have given numerous Russian interviews in later years squarely placing the blame where it's fully deserved--on the cheating and scheming husband, Sasha (who I will admit was smart enough not to be interviewed in that piece). Sasha has given recent interviews in Russia that his upcoming autobiography will set the record straight, and he's already admitted that he seduced teenage Oksana mostly to get her to quit skating to ease his and Maya's path to the gold in LILLEHAMER. Maybe an "I, Pasha!" movie could be made of the story...

Yes FSU was launched when so many of us (me, included!!!) were banned from FSW after the incredible online nastiness of the "Pasha Wars" that peaked in fall 1998 after the partner switch following the Tom Collins (Champions on Ice) Tour that summer and culminated with the December 1998 battle in the World Professional Championships (about the only thing this piece got correct, Maya/Evgeny did finish 1st and Pasha/Sasha 3rd, and the crowd reaction was as described). When the participants were openly feuding and spinning the story to make themselves look good and their rivals look horrible, it's no wonder the fan bases got testy in open warfare. I cannot imagine how much uglier this would have gone down in the era of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram...

 

[Frau Muller]

Do skaters have to be “mean” to have interesting personalities? I provided above a list of great on-ice personalities among today’s skaters...and they’re being dismissed as “nicey-nicey.”

 

[meggonzo]

Pasha Grishuk vs Maya Usova!

Who can ever forget this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w227JiWLImM

I need to see parts 1 & 2 now!

 

[canbelto]

I will always mourn the loss of esta. A million depressions.

 

[allezfred]

Canton was boring

Stopped clock, twice a day. Innit.

If Yuna vs Mao happened in the age of social media,

Errr, it did though.

 

[Judy]

I agree with the increased venom that exists with modern social media. I think about the Battle of the Brians and how polite it was compared to what we see today. It seems the bitchiness started growing with AOL and the RSS feeds and now we have these worldwide cat fights that go beyond debating skating performance and that exist across all sorts of platforms. It can debase the sport.

I used to watch figure skating as a kid with my dad ( memory) and I think I caught the season where either Brian won .. and then the Olympics. Of course I was like grrrrrrr at Boitano .. but for sure social media is . I tend to steer away from all the twitter etc groups. The Fanyus? fans .. it’s not healthy or normal. It’s a cult group that likely wouldn’t have formed without social media. I don’t blame the skater(s) either.

 

[Polaris]

Stopped clock, twice a day. Innit.

Errr, it did though.

Kim vs Asada happened before social media nastiness really took off. IG / Twitter/ TikTok grew even more exponentially after 2014. The fan wars were contained largely to the forums.

 

[Xela M]

OMG I am still amazed how they got away with this biased, factually-inaccurate trash! So interesting to learn that Usova/Zhulin were the only couple with a chance to unseat defending Olympic champions Grishuk/Platov in NAGANO! The rest of this garbage about the infamous love triangle isn't much more accurate either, as the participants have given numerous Russian interviews in later years squarely placing the blame where it's fully deserved--on the cheating and scheming husband, Sasha (who I will admit was smart enough not to be interviewed in that piece). Sasha has given recent interviews in Russia that his upcoming autobiography will set the record straight, and he's already admitted that he seduced teenage Oksana mostly to get her to quit skating to ease his and Maya's path to the gold in LILLEHAMER. Maybe an "I, Pasha!" movie could be made of the story...

Yes FSU was launched when so many of us (me, included!!!) were banned from FSW after the incredible online nastiness of the "Pasha Wars" that peaked in fall 1998 after the partner switch following the Tom Collins (Champions on Ice) Tour that summer and culminated with the December 1998 battle in the World Professional Championships (about the only thing this piece got correct, Maya/Evgeny did finish 1st and Pasha/Sasha 3rd, and the crowd reaction was as described). When the participants were openly feuding and spinning the story to make themselves look good and their rivals look horrible, it's no wonder the fan bases got testy in open warfare. I cannot imagine how much uglier this would have gone down in the era of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram...

I ALWAYS thought that story needed a Hollywood film! Put also in the mix teenage Navka that was paired up initially with Platov when Dubova kicked/chased/threw Grishuk out. Of course teenage Navka also found her way to Sasha and then was also sent away by Dubova. Then mix in a bit of Torvill&Dean and later the Pasha/Krylova rivalry, coach changes, tantrums, thrown skates etc etc. How can Pasha not have a film?!

Oh and then there was this... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KlxIFrDcJRs

And on top of all the insane drama Grishuk&Platov were also awesome skaters

 

[Judy]

OMG I am still amazed how they got away with this biased, factually-inaccurate trash! So interesting to learn that Usova/Zhulin were the only couple with a chance to unseat defending Olympic champions Grishuk/Platov in NAGANO! The rest of this garbage about the infamous love triangle isn't much more accurate either, as the participants have given numerous Russian interviews in later years squarely placing the blame where it's fully deserved--on the cheating and scheming husband, Sasha (who I will admit was smart enough not to be interviewed in that piece). Sasha has given recent interviews in Russia that his upcoming autobiography will set the record straight, and he's already admitted that he seduced teenage Oksana mostly to get her to quit skating to ease his and Maya's path to the gold in LILLEHAMER. Maybe an "I, Pasha!" movie could be made of the story...

Yes FSU was launched when so many of us (me, included!!!) were banned from FSW after the incredible online nastiness of the "Pasha Wars" that peaked in fall 1998 after the partner switch following the Tom Collins (Champions on Ice) Tour that summer and culminated with the December 1998 battle in the World Professional Championships (about the only thing this piece got correct, Maya/Evgeny did finish 1st and Pasha/Sasha 3rd, and the crowd reaction was as described). When the participants were openly feuding and spinning the story to make themselves look good and their rivals look horrible, it's no wonder the fan bases got testy in open warfare. I cannot imagine how much uglier this would have gone down in the era of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram...

An affair is never one sided Yuri lol. There are always two willing people.

 

[allezfred]

Kim vs Asada happened before social media nastiness really took off. IG / Twitter/ TikTok grew even more exponentially after 2014. The fan wars were contained largely to the forums.

I'm sorry, but that's not my recollection.

 

[alchemy void]

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.

You do sound kind of nasty. I agree with most of what you're saying. It is a good thing that everyone can have a voice, and social media as a whole can really do incredible things.

But Twitter has become almost intolerable the past year-- the 'OMG let me talk about how I'm going to be a keyboard activist for everything good in the world' crowd, as you succinctly named them, seems to be everywhere, continuously outraged, and not nice at all. It's like reading the comments section of your local newspaper, but obviously with opposite politics.

Crazy fan behavior/trolling is definitely not limited to skating and seems to be everywhere right now. I'm naively hoping that once the pandemic ends and things are more normal later this year, people get a grip, get off of Twitter and into the real world, and are able to turn down the crazy a couple notches.

 

[cholla]

And the skater-"personalities" of today are quite boring, all nice and demure.

Or they are better trained to behave in public. I know plenty of skaters who'd tell you 'demure, my a$$' Anyway, being well mannered and having a strong personality or even a bad/short temper aren't incompatible

 

[screech]

When it comes to rivalries, though it wasn't a major one in the grand scheme of things, I remember CTV aired an hour long show after the 2005 Canadians, about the rivalry between Jeff Buttle and Emanuel Sandhu (and they included Joannie vs Cynthia as well). I forget what it was called.

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.

Many places just call it 'ice skating'. Not sure why that isn't used everywhere, since i doubt the ice part of the sport will ever be changed...
But IMO though there aren't compulsory figures anymore, figures are still very much incorporated in the sport, especially if you look at the footwork sequences of skaters like Patrick.
I hated doing figures when they were a thing, but when they were eliminated, there was the odd day my coach would have us doing them, just to work on our edges. I ended up loving those days.

 

[MsZem]

Many places just call it 'ice skating'. Not sure why that isn't used everywhere, since i doubt the ice part of the sport will ever be changed...
But IMO though there aren't compulsory figures anymore, figures are still very much incorporated in the sport, especially if you look at the footwork sequences of skaters like Patrick.

I remember a few years back Chan had an EX with figures - possibly a tribute to Mr. Colson? - and someone with greater expertise than mine said he wasn't that good at them. But of course, none of today's skaters really need to train figures for competition, so their strengths lie elsewhere. Even if those strengths involve skating skills.

If I'm not mistaken, the name artistic skating derives from the artistic shapes and figures skaters left on the ice. But I could be wrong.

 

[starrynight]

I think Savchenko was the last true "personality" we had left. Btw I only recently heard the story about her 'moo-ing' at another skater in the cafeteria when they were eating Does anyone know who she 'moo-ed' at?

??? When did this happen?

 

[Xela M]

??? When did this happen?

I only heard it in Megan Durhamel's recap of the pairs Olympics on TSL. Dave mentions it and Megan laughs saying she heard the skater was quite upset by this. I think this happened awhile ago, not recently, as they were talking about how much Aliona mellowed.