Dick Button's lament

[giselle23]

yes, he was more tactful when commenting with Peggy, thanks to her style. also, the 2 tapes are from late 1990's, when Slutskaya was only a "potential" threat to US Girls and Kwan. His commentary changed by 2002..


I'll buy that!


you don't have a point, given what i said originally.

I see you like to disparage other posters' opinions as well as skater's looks. Adding you to my ignore list.

 

[Tinami Amori]

I see you like to disparage other posters' opinions as well as skater's looks. Adding you to my ignore list.

do whatever you like. you misread my posts and claiming i said something i did not.

Cupcake (as a nickname) means cute and sweet, not fat, but when a much older man calls a very young woman a "cupcake," it is a little pervy

any pastry = fat.... but let's not sue good old Button over harassment, he certainly did not mean it "that way"..

 

[bardtoob]

Irina Slutskaya did one thing that completely baffled Uncle Dick. Since their invention, continental European ladies, with the exception of Biellmann, were unable to do a decent arabesque spiral and layback spin. Then this bubbly Russian named Irina Slutskaya came out of the ashes of the Soviet Union and could do a layback spin every bit as good as Dorothy Hamill, and it put Uncle Dick at a loss for words.

 

[Tinami Amori]

continental European ladies, with the exception of Biellmann, were unable to do a decent arabesque spiral and layback spin.

Witt and Baiul had very good "flexibility" spins.....

 

[bardtoob]

Witt and Baiul had very good "flexibility" spins.....

Since when is flexible a layback position?

 

[Tinami Amori]

Since when is flexible a layback position?

sorry, got side tracked by the mention of Biellmann ...

 

[bardtoob]

sorry, got side tracked by the mention of Biellmann ...

I just watched Witt's LP from 1987 World, which was probably the best of her career, and her spins are atrocious in comparison to Biellmann and Slutskaya. Comparing them to Witt is probably as bad an insult as anything Uncle Dick ever said.

Also, I watched Baiul's 1993 Euros SP, which is my favorite, and Baiul looks like a gorgeous swan in the layback, but, objectively, the leg position is bad ... I adore the whole program.

Both Witt and Baiul were very attractive, in general, but particularly on the ice, which made up for a variety of flaws.

 

[Marco]

Oh Baiul's sideways leaning spin was horrible in that Swan Lake program at Lillehammer, but was lovely when being part of her combination spins. What gives?

 

[WillyElliot]

Her lb was the only flaw in that program, IMO. I wondered why they didn’t improve it.

 

[bardtoob]

Oh Baiul's sideways leaning spin was horrible in that Swan Lake program at Lillehammer, but was lovely when being part of her combination spins. What gives?

Baiul had something that couldn't be taught that made her performances very attractive. This happens occasionally in performing arts, often to the frustration of the most well trained practitioners (cough ... Nancy Kerrigan) but to the delight of creative directors (cough ... Scott Hamilton).

 

[Rob]

any pastry = fat.... but let's not sue good old Button over harassment, he certainly did not mean it "that way"..

My personal favorite was when he wanted to pinch Slutskaya's red cheeks and she said "oh, all the old men want to do that."

 

[berthesghost]

Baiul had something that couldn't be taught that made her performances very attractive. This happens occasionally in performing arts, often to the frustration of the most well trained practitioners (cough ... Nancy Kerrigan) but to the delight of creative directors (cough ... Scott Hamilton).

We were all smitten by oksana’s creativity, uniqueness, nerve and talent, but after we sobered up, Lillehammer is a great example of how 6.0 didn’t always work for sport and how cop does help make competition more fair. Yes, dick has a point, but if it’s a battle between sport and art, it makes sense that sport won.

There’s no point is getting upset for how poorly Nancy was treated in 94 as living well is indeed the best revenge.

Scott’s habit of using his oly job as a talent scouting expedition for soi is one thing that makes his commentary so bad, but the joke ended up being on him as she never became a tour leader, either for him or anyone else. Sometimes you’re blinded by the dollar signs in your eyes.

 

[VALuvsMKwan]

We were all smitten by oksana’s creativity, uniqueness, nerve and talent, but after we sobered up, Lillehammer is a great example of how 6.0 didn’t always work for sport and how cop does help make competition more fair. Yes, dick has a point, but if it’s a battle between sport and art, it makes sense that sport won.

There’s no point is getting upset for how poorly Nancy was treated in 94 as living well is indeed the best revenge.

Scott’s habit of using his oly job as a talent scouting expedition for soi is one thing that makes his commentary so bad, but the joke ended up being on him as she never became a tour leader, either for him or anyone else. Sometimes you’re blinded by the dollar signs in your eyes.

Not all of us, if you please.

 

[WillyElliot]

We were all smitten by oksana’s creativity, uniqueness, nerve and talent, but after we sobered up, Lillehammer is a great example of how 6.0 didn’t always work for sport and how cop does help make competition more fair. Yes, dick has a point, but if it’s a battle between sport and art, it makes sense that sport won.

I agree. Fortunately, Nancy was so unlikeable that it didnt bother me. I would have had Baiul 4th in the LP behind Chen and Sato also.

 

[Eeyora1]

Dick's negative commentary was just a more erudite way of his calling a skater ugly. He referred to Nikodinov as a "fridge break" and he was so obsessed over layback positions and flexibility. I always thought it was just a shroud to make comments on young girls' bodies because older skaters don't hit the same positions.

SAY WHAT NOW?????????????????????????

he said she was "liquid gold."

Fridge break? Maybe you meant someone else????

I always assumed his “Fridge Break” comment was out out of frustration. She showed such promise at 1997 Nationals and was heralded as the “Next One” However not only was she plagued with inconsistency but her long program in 2000 to the Mummy was pretty bad. And the baby ballerinas emerged. Nam, Cohen and Hughes. His comment was pretty harsh even making the “Jeers” section of the TV Guide but she must have heard him. Because the skater we saw the next season was totally magical.

 

[misskarne]

I always assumed his “Fridge Break” comment was out out of frustration. She showed such promise at 1997 Nationals and was heralded as the “Next One” However not only was she plagued with inconsistency but her long program in 2000 to the Mummy was pretty bad. And the baby ballerinas emerged. Nam, Cohen and Hughes. His comment was pretty harsh even making the “Jeers” section of the TV Guide but she must have heard him. Because the skater we saw the next season was totally magical.

Soooo...what we're saying is that it's okay to make nasty comments if it bullies a skater into changing their style?

Hoo boy.

 

[berthesghost]

Soooo...what we're saying is that it's okay to make nasty comments if it bullies a skater into changing their style?
Hoo boy.

in context of the entire commentary of her worlds lp, the comment was definitely not “bullying”. People love to segregate the phrase “fridge break” from the entire sentence and paragraph because it supports their feelings that it was overly harsh, but calling it bullying seems a bit ott.

By today’s standards things Dick said 20 years ago or more seem more outrageous then they did then because standards have changed, but as dated as these things seem, in full context they were not malicious.

I get that as a foreigner some may see his commentary from a different perspective, but I also think that goes both ways. In English, “cupcake” does not = “fat”. It just doesn’t.

 

[PDilemma]

I get that as a foreigner some may see his commentary from a different perspective, but I also think that goes both ways. In English, “cupcake” does not = “fat”. It just doesn’t.

This. It does not at all. The implication is sweet, adorable, or endearing. I would think anyone who has mastered a second language would understand that idiomatic expressions exist and are very different from literal meaning and vary from language to language.

 

[Vagabond]

Especially if she's been living in the United States for the past forty-odd years.

 

[Marco]

Baiul had something that couldn't be taught that made her performances very attractive.

Yes. The ability to draw you in, even without exquisite positions.

 

[Fiero425]

My personal favorite was when he wanted to pinch Slutskaya's red cheeks and she said "oh, all the old men want to do that."

She clarified that later saying she didn't use the word "old!" She was forgiven!

 

[VGThuy]

Yeah Dick misunderstood her. He thought she said “old men like to pinch my cheeks” but she later said that she said “all men like to pinch my cheeks.”

 

[shady82]

I find Dick very insightful but it goes without saying that he completely lacks filter, and/or says things that in a disjointed fashion or do not make literal sense.

Recently I was going through a Elena Sokolova phase. When she fell on her triple flip in the SP at 2004 Worlds, I remember clearly Dick's "well, there goes that one, we don't have to worry about the placement of this skater"

 

[shady82]

Oops double post

 

[Fiero425]

I find Dick very insightful but it goes without saying that he completely lacks filter, and/or says things that in a disjointed fashion or do not make literal sense.

Recently I was going through a Elena Sokolova phase. When she fell on her triple flip in the SP at 2004 Worlds, I remember clearly Dick's "well, there goes that one, we don't have to worry about the placement of this skater"

I don't understand! What are you saying; Sokolova still had a chance to make the podium? Even Kwan was still skating with Cohen, SLutskaya, Arakawa, Kostner, & Onda in reserve! They couldn't all fail just to keep Sokolova relevant!

 

[trouble77]

Native or non native of English....is it really difficult to understand someone's post? I don't think so. And yet it looks you really enjoy getting "confused" so that you can write your idiotic rebuttal.