Things You’re Embarrassed to Admit as a Fan

[VGThuy]

Just thought it be fun to throw some of our more embarrassing admissions that may make some want to take our skating fan card away.

So… after Torino, I was really not into skating being a Kwan fan and all, and I wasn’t really paying attention to the up-and-coming juniors. I was also busy with school and other things, so I missed nearly 2 seasons of skating. I then decided to watch 2008 Worlds and was ecstatic that Delobel/Schoenfelder finally got a medal at Worlds, and a gold at that.

However… I thought Virtue/Moir were the same team as Dubreuil/Lauzon for a good bit. I just remember D/L’s “Somewhere in Time” FD from the 2005-06 season and thought V/M’s “Umbrellas of Cherbourg” was a similar routine. I also ended up skipping the next season too, so that mistaken identity went on for a bit until Vancouver . Of course, I know a lot more about ice dance now and I later fell in love with V/M and loved what Marie-France and Patrice did with them, so I guess it all went full circle, .

 

[On My Own]

that i watch it at this stage

 

[Andora]

I tend to be embarrassed after the fact of skaters who... make it hard to like them.

Like being a former FB&S fan. Ugh. Or Morgan & Cipres.

Sometimes it's a bit more benign but against the law in some circles, like admitting I was a Lipinski fan in 1998.

 

[Wyliefan]

I've been watching skating since the mid-1990s, and I'm just now learning to distinguish one jump from another. (For the majority of jumps -- I don't mean I couldn't see the difference with an axel.)

 

[Desperado]

That I enjoy watching a sport that is detrimental to so many young women’s mental and physical health and it’s mostly pushed under the rug in the quest for medals, and hidden under the porcelain doll facade standard.

Stories are coming out to the general public now and I hope it triggers healthy change.

 

[PRlady]

I muse over stopping watching baseball much after the steroid era and football after CTE became known. Yet, knowing the damage this sport does especially to girls, I can’t give it up. I do hope it reforms.

I’m embarrassed that I still share M/C’s Sound of Silence at Euros because everyone is so blown away by it. I remind myself that the world enjoys Wagner, Eliot, innumerable other artists who were terrible human beings.

 

[sk9tingfan]

I tend to be embarrassed after the fact of skaters who... make it hard to like them.

Like being a former FB&S fan. Ugh. Or Morgan & Cipres.

Sometimes it's a bit more benign but against the law in some circles, like admitting I was a Lipinski fan in 1998.

Am I the only person who could not stomach Virtue and Moir?

 

[Icetalavista]

I've been watching skating since the mid-1990s, and I'm just now learning to distinguish one jump from another. (For the majority of jumps -- I don't mean I couldn't see the difference with an axel.)

Don’t be embarrassed - some of the judges can’t either!

 

[Private Citizen]

I don't think anyone should be embarrassed about liking a skater who turned out to be a predator. It's not like you knew. Saying you think someone is a great skater doesn't "endorse" any other aspects of their life.

Most of my taste in ice dance is lowbrow, although I'm not ashamed to admit it . Along those lines, I just didn't get Papadakis and Cizeron. They had zero chemistry and always seemed rather fey. The quality was undeniable, but wow were they boring (to me). I'm not surprised they no longer speak. It always seemed to me like they barely related to each other on the ice, too, choosing (faux) intellectual styles to mask the lack of connection between them.

 

[On My Own]

Most of my taste in ice dance is lowbrow, although I'm not ashamed to admit it . Along those lines, I just didn't get Papadakis and Cizeron. They had zero chemistry and always seemed rather fey. The quality was undeniable, but wow were they boring (to me). I'm not surprised they no longer speak. It always seemed to me like they barely related to each other on the ice, too, choosing (faux) intellectual styles to mask the lack of connection between them.

how is this embarrassing

 

[PRlady]

I don't think anyone should be embarrassed about liking a skater who turned out to be a predator. It's not like you knew. Saying you think someone is a great skater doesn't "endorse" any other aspects of their life.

Most of my taste in ice dance is lowbrow, although I'm not ashamed to admit it . Along those lines, I just didn't get Papadakis and Cizeron. They had zero chemistry and always seemed rather fey. The quality was undeniable, but wow were they boring (to me). I'm not surprised they no longer speak. It always seemed to me like they barely related to each other on the ice, too, choosing (faux) intellectual styles to mask the lack of connection between them.

Well there you go. We will sit next to each other at comps. I love story dances like Car/Pon’s Perfume and F/D’s Poor Things. Thus I also liked Gil/Poir’s Wuthering Heights and ChoBat’s astronauts. Rocky was a guilty pleasure.

PapCiz had wonderful skating skills and flow but I can’t remember any of their dances other than the silly Fame RD. They all blend together.

 

[Alilou]

Well there you go. We will sit next to each other at comps. I love story dances like Car/Pon’s Perfume and F/D’s Poor Things. Thus I also liked Gil/Poir’s Wuthering Heights and ChoBat’s astronauts. Rocky was a guilty pleasure.

PapCiz had wonderful skating skills and flow but I can’t remember any of their dances other than the silly Fame RD. They all blend together.

And I also shall sit with you. I too found PapCiz boring. And I love story dances - it's part of the reason V&M's Moulin Rouge (the final version) is one of my all time favourites. Having a brain fart - can't remember who F/D is

 

[PRlady]

And I also shall sit with you. I too found PapCiz boring. And I love story dances - it's part of the reason V&M's Moulin Rouge (the final version) is one of my all time favourites. Having a brain fart - can't remember who F/D is

No shame on you - Flores/Desyatov, my favorite young team but hardly famous (yet.)

 

[escaflowne9282]

I viscerally hated Kaori Sakamoto for 2 years because of that wretched slam poetry LP.

There I said it.

 

[quartz]

I like literal costumes. Like a giant sparkly violin on your back. I like cartwheels, beastisquats (sp??), and backflips. Manbuns and manponies. Black tights. Gothic, creepy, and weird programs. Kaitlyn Weavers falling shoulder strap.

Disclaimer: not actually embarrassed at all

 

[fan]

And I also shall sit with you. I too found PapCiz boring. And I love story dances - it's part of the reason V&M's Moulin Rouge (the final version) is one of my all time favourites. Having a brain fart - can't remember who F/D is

i too came here to admit that i find papciz boring

 

[her grace]

I love almost all warhorse music. It’s overused for a reason

 

[Alilou]

No shame on you - Flores/Desyatov, my favorite young team but hardly famous (yet.)

Well, I have heard of them Must go watch some!

I think much here actually belongs in the unpopular opinions thread. I too am not remotely embarrassed @quartz (but I hate literal costumes )

 

[VGThuy]

Here’s another one… I still don’t know how skating scoring worked before they adopted factored placements in 1980.

 

[Private Citizen]

Here’s another one… I still don’t know how skating scoring worked before they adopted factored placements in 1980.

This is a good one! Calling @gkelly. I think I understand, but I may be wrong and don't want to post misinformation.

 

[Cachoo]

I love almost all warhorse music. It’s overused for a reason

I'm not sure I agree but there are certain songs that I like every single time: "Your Song" from Moulin Rouge, "Theme from On Golden Pond," "Clair de Lune," and several others... Songs that can both transport and comfort like a warm blanket on a chilly day.

 

[skateblessing]

I started watching figure skating in 2014 so I´m still a newbie. I have not bothered to look much into the skating world before that, and I often feel kind of embarrassed when people talk about big names from the years before and I do not really know about them, that makes you feel like you know nothing. I feel I know very much about things happening after 2014 but it´s kinda weird having so much knowledge about this and the small things and so little knowledge about the big events before. Of course I step by step get little inputs, from commentators etc., but I still have a lot to learn. I still don´t have a clue what are big names in ID before 2014 for example, I think only V/M. And I don´t recognize a lot of coaches that used to be famous skaters before.

I also only started to watch ID like 2 years ago, and I still struggle with the ID teams nick names and even identifying who people are talking about when they use initials.

I´m still kinda embarrassed that I spend so much time watching figure skating online and discussing it on forums and still not been going to a single live competition yet. I really don´t have a good excuse, because there have been international competitions in my country at least 3 times now since I started watching. I could go there easy with bus and it compared what others have to pay it would probably be cheap. Tickets would not be an issue since people don´t really care much about skating in Norway and they are probably fairly cheap compared to other competitions. I wish I had been more into skating in 2016, I can´t believe I missed out on Youth Olympics in my country in 2016. I had started watching figure skating then, but only EC and WC, and I did not have a clue we had Youth Olympics and how big names there was! I could have seen Kaori Sakamoto back then, Deniss, Sota, Junwha, Roman S etc. Later I have missed seing Deniss again when Nordics was in Norway, I did consider going. And last season, I could have seen Lara Naki and Lukas Vaclavik at Sonja Henie Trophy.
Well, I will have my shot again this season - there will be both Nordics and Sonja Henie Trophy in the same area, I can basically take a direct bus that takes about 6 hours. I can live with friends even in that area. I just have to make it happen, make room for it and not chicken out going.

 

[PRlady]

I started watching figure skating in 2014 so I´m still a newbie. I have not bothered to look much into the skating world before that, and I often feel kind of embarrassed when people talk about big names from the years before and I do not really know about them, that makes you feel like you know nothing. I feel I know very much about things happening after 2014 but it´s kinda weird having so much knowledge about this and the small things and so little knowledge about the big events before. Of course I step by step get little inputs, from commentators etc., but I still have a lot to learn. I still don´t have a clue what are big names in ID before 2014 for example, I think only V/M. And I don´t recognize a lot of coaches that used to be famous skaters before.

I also only started to watch ID like 2 years ago, and I still struggle with the ID teams nick names and even identifying who people are talking about when they use initials.

I´m still kinda embarrassed that I spend so much time watching figure skating online and discussing it on forums and still not been going to a single live competition yet. I really don´t have a good excuse, because there have been international competitions in my country at least 3 times now since I started watching. I could go there easy with bus and it compared what others have to pay it would probably be cheap. Tickets would not be an issue since people don´t really care much about skating in Norway and they are probably fairly cheap compared to other competitions. I wish I had been more into skating in 2016, I can´t believe I missed out on Youth Olympics in my country in 2016. I had started watching figure skating then, but only EC and WC, and I did not have a clue we had Youth Olympics and how big names there was! I could have seen Kaori Sakamoto back then, Deniss, Sota, Junwha, Roman S etc. Later I have missed seing Deniss again when Nordics was in Norway, I did consider going. And last season, I could have seen Lara Naki and Lukas Vaclavik at Sonja Henie Trophy.
Well, I will have my shot again this season - there will be both Nordics and Sonja Henie Trophy in the same area, I can basically take a direct bus that takes about 6 hours. I can live with friends even in that area. I just have to make it happen, make room for it and not chicken out going.

I was so intimidated the first few times I went to live competitions, I never skated and knew so little. But little by little I learned what to watch for with lots of help from others! Take that bus, you won’t regret it.

 

[sk9tingfan]

I started watching figure skating in 2014 so I´m still a newbie. I have not bothered to look much into the skating world before that, and I often feel kind of embarrassed when people talk about big names from the years before and I do not really know about them, that makes you feel like you know nothing. I feel I know very much about things happening after 2014 but it´s kinda weird having so much knowledge about this and the small things and so little knowledge about the big events before. Of course I step by step get little inputs, from commentators etc., but I still have a lot to learn. I still don´t have a clue what are big names in ID before 2014 for example, I think only V/M. And I don´t recognize a lot of coaches that used to be famous skaters before.

I also only started to watch ID like 2 years ago, and I still struggle with the ID teams nick names and even identifying who people are talking about when they use initials.

I´m still kinda embarrassed that I spend so much time watching figure skating online and discussing it on forums and still not been going to a single live competition yet. I really don´t have a good excuse, because there have been international competitions in my country at least 3 times now since I started watching. I could go there easy with bus and it compared what others have to pay it would probably be cheap. Tickets would not be an issue since people don´t really care much about skating in Norway and they are probably fairly cheap compared to other competitions. I wish I had been more into skating in 2016, I can´t believe I missed out on Youth Olympics in my country in 2016. I had started watching figure skating then, but only EC and WC, and I did not have a clue we had Youth Olympics and how big names there was! I could have seen Kaori Sakamoto back then, Deniss, Sota, Junwha, Roman S etc. Later I have missed seing Deniss again when Nordics was in Norway, I did consider going. And last season, I could have seen Lara Naki and Lukas Vaclavik at Sonja Henie Trophy.
Well, I will have my shot again this season - there will be both Nordics and Sonja Henie Trophy in the same area, I can basically take a direct bus that takes about 6 hours. I can live with friends even in that area. I just have to make it happen, make room for it and not chicken out going.

First of all, patience. Then, take the plunge and see a live competition, no matter what it is. I started with open competitions that included the little babies all the way up to seniors. I then worked my way up to regionals and sectionals, nationals and Worlds, I have also been fortunate enough to see Grand Prix's in the US, Canada and Japan. These transpired over 26 years.

About the embarrassment in terms of watching way too many ice skating videos, don't be. This board is all about the beautiful obsession that is figure skating.

 

[skipaway]

I loved Dance Compulsories. Everyone had to abide by the same rules.

 

[sk9tingfan]

I loved Dance Compulsories. Everyone had to abide by the same rules.

The compulsories began my learning process for me for ice dance. But I'm still way behind....

 

[made_in_canada]

I'm a little embarrassed that I incorrectly predicted that Michal Brezina would be very dominant watching the 2010 Olympics men's free practice. I think (I hope) I did include a caveat that he needed to find better choreography He had so much potential

 

[jlai]

I love almost all warhorse music. It’s overused for a reason

Warhorse that is now hardly used you mean

 

[gkelly]

Here’s another one… I still don’t know how skating scoring worked before they adopted factored placements in 1980.

This is a good one! Calling @gkelly. I think I understand, but I may be wrong and don't want to post misinformation.

Unfortunately I can't find a document that details how the results were determined in that system. And I believe there were some changes at various times between the early 20th century and the 1970s, beyond just changing the number and weighting of the figures vs. freeskating and introducing short programs and Original Set Pattern dance.

I did read the rulebook when I was skating as a teenager in the 1970s, but I certainly don't remember details 50 years later.

As well as I could gather from things that I read in the factored placements 6.0 era, before 1980 judges awarded scores for each competition phase (separately for each figure or compulsory dance) and the actual scores, rather than placements, were factored. At the end of the competition (or the end of each competition phase for interim standings), the factored scores were added up and those totals on each judge's card created ordinals. The majority calculations -- for the competition as a whole -- were similar to what we were familiar with in the 1980s and 90s, but there were some additional tiebreakers, including total points, at least in part of that era.

But I could have misunderstood or misremembered, so don't take that summary as necessarily accurate.

 

[farahfan]

I started watching figure skating in 2014 so I´m still a newbie. I have not bothered to look much into the skating world before that, and I often feel kind of embarrassed when people talk about big names from the years before and I do not really know about them, that makes you feel like you know nothing. I feel I know very much about things happening after 2014 but it´s kinda weird having so much knowledge about this and the small things and so little knowledge about the big events before. Of course I step by step get little inputs, from commentators etc., but I still have a lot to learn. I still don´t have a clue what are big names in ID before 2014 for example, I think only V/M. And I don´t recognize a lot of coaches that used to be famous skaters before.

I also only started to watch ID like 2 years ago, and I still struggle with the ID teams nick names and even identifying who people are talking about when they use initials.

I´m still kinda embarrassed that I spend so much time watching figure skating online and discussing it on forums and still not been going to a single live competition yet. I really don´t have a good excuse, because there have been international competitions in my country at least 3 times now since I started watching. I could go there easy with bus and it compared what others have to pay it would probably be cheap. Tickets would not be an issue since people don´t really care much about skating in Norway and they are probably fairly cheap compared to other competitions. I wish I had been more into skating in 2016, I can´t believe I missed out on Youth Olympics in my country in 2016. I had started watching figure skating then, but only EC and WC, and I did not have a clue we had Youth Olympics and how big names there was! I could have seen Kaori Sakamoto back then, Deniss, Sota, Junwha, Roman S etc. Later I have missed seing Deniss again when Nordics was in Norway, I did consider going. And last season, I could have seen Lara Naki and Lukas Vaclavik at Sonja Henie Trophy.
Well, I will have my shot again this season - there will be both Nordics and Sonja Henie Trophy in the same area, I can basically take a direct bus that takes about 6 hours. I can live with friends even in that area. I just have to make it happen, make room for it and not chicken out going.

I've been a fan since the 90s and have never been to a live ice-skating competition or exhibition. Still can't comprehend how I got into this sport, but I did. I do have a vague memory of being a child at Sea World once and seeing a pair skate something, perhaps in the middle of a magic show on ice.
I currently live in a country where ice-skating is not popular, so I don't have my hopes up, but I'm sure I'll see something before I die. Becuase I think I would die if I were to ever see the triple twist live, it is so mind-boggling to me.