The Skating Lesson

[Janef]

I think it would have been a lot more balanced had Jonathan been able to go to Worlds and probably would have lessened the negativity.

Yes good point. I don’t dislike him or what he brings for the most part.

 

[overedge]

Not too impressed with Dave's hot takes on Xitter that he is the only one speaking the truth about the sport, and that it says so much about what a bad place the sport is in that his commentary is not welcomed.

Get over yourself, hun. The people who are foolish enough to give you Patreon money will heal your bruised ego, and the rest of us will keep trying to do constructive things to make the sport better.

 

[puglover]

I have learned things from the show but so often just want to scream "let him speak" as Dave talks over Jonathan for the umpteenth time. I have noticed as well the huge negativity to IAM this year and wondered what that was all about. I was away and my husband, on his own, watched the men's free skate. He phoned me so excited about Ilia's program. He knows (and has paid for) enough to understand how amazing that quad axel and free skate was. I really did not think it would happen in my lifetime and Ilia just does them so effortlessly. Also, forty year olds wining gold medals in pairs - seemed like a pretty special worlds to me - crash those barriers down!!

 

[Milan]

I don’t understand how people like Alissa and Carol even want to go on the cast. Then he says Karen Kwan calls him and then he spills the tea and tells us what she tells him. So why does anybody want to even call him or talk to him since he’s going to tell the world about their phone calls, etc..

What you cannot deny is that he has a sizeable audience.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

What you cannot deny is that he has a sizeable audience.

Ummmm I look at the number of times viewed.

What is your baseline for sizable?

 

[Milan]

Ummmm I look at the number of times viewed.

What is your baseline for sizable?

I'm basing off 328k followers on FB, 53.6k subscribers on Youtube.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I'm basing off 328k followers on FB, 53.6k subscribers on Youtube.

I never go by Facebook, or the gram

I go by how many times viewed, which really isn’t a lot.

 

[Milan]

I never go by Facebook, or the gram

I go by how many times viewed, which really isn’t a lot.

I guess it depends on how the audience engages. I might receive notifications or see it on my feed but it doesn't necessarily mean I would be inclined to click or watch it unless it was either potentially interesting or topical. I don't have much time these days to dedicate to figure skating fandom... these Worlds being an exception (I would have watched 1 or 2 of his shows this season. 1 being the recent video that's been taken down. They are too long for me).

In the skating world, it would be good to know how he stacks up against other comparable skating "news" sources? In terms of audience numbers and engagement.

 

[puglover]

What would be interesting would be to see how much audience engagement he gets when he has a knowledgeable, interesting guest on. I usually stay and watch when he has a guest who has not only some new information but also a fresh perspective.

 

[DreamSkates]

Looks like comments are now disabled on that post and I can’t see the commentary history anymore.

Same for me. But I’ve read enough comments to know I don’t need to actually read what she said. I haven’t tuned into TSL in a while but curiosity is tempting the cat.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

These things are clocking in at 2 1/2 hours, I’ve seen Star Wars movies in less time than that.

Seriously I don’t know how much you can engage an audience when he goes off topic and starts talking about drivel and nonsense and his personal life. I try to fast forward to something about a skater or skating too many times.

 

[Laura4]

I wonder if someone threatened to take legal action over comments Dave made about them. That could explain why he removed the video from YouTube. Since when has he ever cared about negative comments from the public? So I kind of doubt that was the reason for doing so. I watched the video and one of the things I found very odd was how he went on a rant over Olivia Smart and her partner, a team who weren’t even expected to crack the top ten. Yet he went on and on about how awful he thinks her partner is, and that Zach Donahue should come out of retirement and partner up with her. I did love the response from Jonathan when Dave asked him if he was worried about Olivia. Jonathan’s response: “I was never on board with this team.” Boom! That shut Lease up!

 

[overedge]

I'm basing off 328k followers on FB, 53.6k subscribers on Youtube.

The number of subscribers on YouTube is not an accurate measure of viewership for each episode.

 

[Milan]

The number of subscribers on YouTube is not an accurate measure of viewership for each episode.

I know this. My point was more responding to an enquiry as to why certain people (e.g. Carol Lane) would engage with him - i.e. it could be due to the perceived net benefit in reaching a potential audience even though they may not agree with him.

In any case, I feel this recent episode was a real kamikaze moment for him. He acknowledges that he's jaded and is going to pursue a new direction. I think this is good for him as well as for figure skating as it's getting quite toxic and unhelpful.

 

[overedge]

Carol Lane has been a TV skating commentator and has a very active career as a coach. Maybe she perceived some benefit from going on TSL, but personally I can't see what that would be. Some of the other guests are good interviewees but IMO I'd sooner hear them interviewed by someone more professional and less self-promoting.

 

[Ananas Astra]

Who of you has asked Ilia Malinin which pronoun he prefers?

 

[Jarrett]

This. I have a strong suspicion that IAM has been giving him the cold shoulder most of the season and he's pissed about it. It's his usual MO. He has nothing nice to say about Ilia - hasn't since last season when, I'm sure, the Malinins weren't making Ilia available for interviews (probably on advice of the USFS). And we know he turned on Alysa Liu in the same way. It's pretty easy to spot the pattern once you know what to look & listen for with him.

I mean how many times has he said Ilia needs to leave his parents and go to Raf or he will never take that next step. I am not sure but I think Dave has an affiliate link for Raf's coaching lessons. LOL

 

[Karen-W]

I mean how many times has he said Ilia needs to leave his parents and go to Raf or he will never take that next step. I am not sure but I think Dave has an affiliate link for Raf's coaching lessons. LOL

The funniest thing is that he DOES go to Raf during the summer and winter breaks. He doesn't NEED to be with Raf full-time but Dave seems to let himself get overly attached to what has worked for recent greats and is prone to comparing skaters/teams who are, for lack of a better term, "works in progress" mid-Olympic cycle with those champions at their zenith.

 

[Karen-W]

Winner winner chicken dinner to those who guessed that DL got his latest recap demonetized!

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twitter.com

 

[skatfan]

He’s moving his recaps and This and That episodes to Patreon, so he can lose any relevance behind a paywall.

 

[Janef]

Winner winner chicken dinner to those who guessed that DL got his latest recap demonetized!

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twitter.com

That’s interesting. What would he lose ad money on though? He’s put a lot of time and effort into his show. He just goes off the rails sometimes. Idk. I wouldn’t go to Patreon though. I don’t have Twitter so I don’t know what is going on. If that’s the route he chooses so be it

 

[Jarrett]

His content, his choice. I won't be subscribing on Pateron though because they are so hit and miss and so much "entertainment" available already that I can't keep up with and frankly he is going the Russian way a little to much for me a la Weir. It is getting kind of old. I'm sure they will have a decent subscriber base.

 

[kosjenka]

His competition reviews has been so bad in past months that I will not miss it.
Euros show was his worst episode actually and I felt so bad for Alissa ans Jonathan.
Its okay that he wants to be surrounded with people that only see things his way as I assume he gets also a lot of crap. Thats how it goes when you are as he is.
I hope the interviews remain public.

 

[Lanie]

I get the feeling he just doesn’t like people who have differing opinions, as him and wants to be surrounded by people who will give him money as well as who will not disagree.

 

[skategal]

That’s interesting. What would he lose ad money on though? He’s put a lot of time and effort into his show. He just goes off the rails sometimes. Idk. I wouldn’t go to Patreon though. I don’t have Twitter so I don’t know what is going on. If that’s the route he chooses so be it

YouTube has a list of things that if you say them, your video gets demonitized.

He must have hit on one of those topics/wording that caused the demonetization.

I don’t know specifically what the words/topics are but it could have been “abortion” as I know anything too sexual in nature (and it’s a low bar) automatically gets demonitized.

 

[Wyliefan]

wants to be surrounded by people who will give him money as well as who will not disagree.

Don't we all. That would be living the dream.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Listening to the most recent 2 episodes (the recaps with Jonathan + Maya) was hard. I did think his video with Maya was better, because she pushed back on his more outrageous statements.

I don't think he is wrong that it's very hard to like figure skating in this current moment with all the abuse scandals. But he seems uncomfortably fixated on 6.0 skating, as if that era was all sunshine and rainbows. As someone who was competitive during that era, it was definitely NOT.

I'm pretty disconnected with skating right now, so I wasn't sure what to expect with this year's Worlds. But there was a lot to like, and not much that felt predetermined (as it definitely did in years past with the Russians). Honestly it might be one of the better Worlds in recent times.

Several years back he alluded to seeking treatment for some mental health stuff and it's neither here nor there/not my business if that's what's happening here. But whatever is going on, it's taking its toll. Regardless of my opinion of him, I hope he is getting the help he clearly needs. An extended break wouldn't be the worst thing as part of that recovery.

In the meantime, I'll get my Laffs and facts from The Runthrough. Ashley, Adam, and Sarah have been scratching that itch for me in a way TSL hasn't for a long while.

 

[mtnskater]

Definitely not subscribing to Patreon. I’d gotten to the point of only listening to his interviews with guests I am interested in. He trashes so many skaters in his recaps that I like…Alysa, Nathan, Isabeau to name a few. Always predicting Nathan would lose to Yuzu. Even Beijing and the four worlds preceding. Alysa and Isabeau would not be able to jump after puberty. Okay. Both are world medalists. It’s one thing to prefer other skaters, totally fine and legit, but giving skaters you are not much of a fan of their due when they do well should be part of the recaps but never were. Way too catty and gossipy.

 

[Amy L]

YouTube has a list of things that if you say them, your video gets demonitized.

He must have hit on one of those topics/wording that caused the demonetization.

I don’t know specifically what the words/topics are but it could have been “abortion” as I know anything too sexual in nature (and it’s a low bar) automatically gets demonitized.

The word abortion could be one of the flags, definitely. He also had a few cuss words here and there, and then he was speaking negatively about a lot of under-18s. All of that could be flagged by the YouTube bots. People can have their videos resubmitted and watched by a real person if they protest, but it's very time consuming.

Listening to the most recent 2 episodes (the recaps with Jonathan + Maya) was hard. I did think his video with Maya was better, because she pushed back on his more outrageous statements.

Maya also makes him stay on topic. I like her because she's moody and Russian enough to not put up with his shit. But I didn't watch the latest video because his Worlds recap was so terrible I didn't want to bother. If he's so miserable he has to bitch for an entire video, why do I have to listen to a two hour bitchfest? He has his points but I don't see why I'm expected to pay for one of his pity parties.

 

[Laura4]

I’ll take Jonathan any day over Maya, who always makes excuses for Russian skaters and coaches who behave badly.