Skate Canada--ESPN Coverage

[Alexa]

I haven't seen the ladies yet--I taped that portion because it was getting late. But as for the men and pairs...

Men:

I have never really noticed Lindemann from Germany much before, but I really liked the choreography of his program. For some reason I was very captivated with his footwork, edges, etc.

Sandhu did well to move all the way up to first.

I am still disappointed that we are seeing so many programs that are not clean, but hopefully by Nationals and Worlds that will improve.

Pairs:

Did not watch much of this, but I did like the team from Poland--they had some unique lifts.

Commentary: I liked Paul--he was pleasant. I do wish he was a little more informative in regard to a skater's strengths as well as to share more thoughts on the skater's program. I thought that Peter should have commentated on the pairs instead of Paul. Otherwise, the commentary was fine.

[A.H.Black]

Commentary: I liked Paul--he was pleasant. I do wish he was a little more informative in regard to a skater's strengths as well as to share more thoughts on the skater's program. I thought that Peter should have commentated on the pairs instead of Paul. Otherwise, the commentary was fine.


I remember Paul doing some short track speedskating commentary in 1994. It doesn't seem to come naturally to Paul and I didn't think he had a future in on-air TV. Since then he has had varying degrees of success in occasional appearances.

Right now he seems to be starting out very deliberately and sticking pretty much to a scripted commentary. His spontaneous remarks were few and very careful ones. I think he is trying to take his time and learn the craft. I hope he is able to develop his own style and make a place for himself. Paul certainly has the quality of persistance and, if he really wants to, he can learn to be very good at commentating, just like he did at skating.

I am interested that it is Paul in the booth and Peter doing the interviews. I don't enjoy Peter in the booth and think it's a good decision.

[mskater]

I wish it didn't have to come on from 9-12; wouldn't 8-11 be better for most viewers??

I liked Paul's commentary as well; he was much easier to listen to than "Mr. Potato Head" :) For once I didn't feel like throwing things at my TV screen.

Was sad that they didn't show Carolina:(

[MissJ]

On the west coast the coverage is too early - 6-9. They don't move the feeds across the timezones like the networks do so I think they choose 9-12 eastern as it covers part of prime-time for everyone.

[Mel On Ice]

I found Paul's commentary boring and stiff. Say what you will about Button, but he calls it like he sees it, usually with quotable comments.

I was left cold by Sandu and Ferreria, but was awed by Buttle and Jahnke -- thank GOD men's skating can boast some lyrical skating with complex choreography as opposed to quad-jab ice-jab ice-fling arms.

Thought the Polish pair should have had 2nd over Pang and Tong. No one can hold a candle to Zhen and Zhao!

Fell asleep for the ladies, I couldn't believe it!

[WeBeEducated]

I Love Stephan Lindemann!
He is small, athletic, agile, and stylish on the ice....sort of like a Peter Barna.

[mskater]

Say what you will about Button, but he calls it like he sees it, usually with quotable comments.

That's part of his problem, I can't remember how many times he's called a toe a loop or a triple a double, etc. :roll:

I agree that the Polish team should have been second ahead of P&T. Also really enjoyed Buttles program and costume too. Oh, and Ryan was robbed!

[skaternum]

I Love Stephan Lindemann!You and me both! My little Stefan infatuation is well documented. :P I've been keeping an eye on him since 1999-2000, and it's nice to see him maturing on the ice. Of course, he still gets those adorable little red apple cheeks when he skates hard!

[fadedstardust]

Paul....it wasn't Paul Wylie was it?! When I was watching and listening to him I kept thinking "this dude knows nothing about skating!" like when Peter asked him what it takes to get two great performances and Paul was like "oh, it takes...skating perfectly in both programs" and then when he called a death drop a flying camel, I was like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

I missed Button, sad as I am to admit that. At least he knew what a flying camel was.

[mskater]

You and me both! My little Stefan infatuation is well documented. :P I've been keeping an eye on him since 1999-2000, and it's nice to see him maturing on the ice. Of course, he still gets those adorable little red apple cheeks when he skates hard!

LOL:] I'm still crossing my fingers in hopes that your 'master plan' will come to fruition ;)

[doubletoe]

Commentary: I liked Paul--he was pleasant. I do wish he was a little more informative in regard to a skater's strengths as well as to share more thoughts on the skater's program. I thought that Peter should have commentated on the pairs instead of Paul. Otherwise, the commentary was fine.

Paul's mispronunciation of the skaters' names drove me absolutely nuts! There ought to be a rule that nobody can get in front of the camera without first passing a test in which he reads off the competitors' names with reasonably correct pronunciation.

Fumie Suguri: That's "Fu-mi-EH" not "Fu-MEE"
Yoshie Onda: That's "Yo-shi-EH OHN-da", not "Yo-SHEE AHN-da"
Cynthia Phaneuf: That's "Fa-NEUHV" not "Fa-NOOFF"

et cetera et cetera. . .

[pennybeagle]

One technical gripe: I thought that there was a sound balance problem with the ESPN coverage--the volume of the music was too low, and the commentary was too loud. I had to keep adjusting the volume on my TV to compensate.

On the men: despite all the falls, I enjoyed many of the programs--it's nice to see so many more men branching out in an artistic direction. I loved the programs of Sandhu, Buttle, Jahnke, and Lindemann...even without consistent jumps, these are interesting and creative programs that are presented well and suit the skaters.

On Lindemann: is it just me, or does he look like a hobbit to anyone else? I keep imagining that he has pointy ears... ;)

On the ladies: What a rough skate for Fumie Suguri...it's a shame that her consistency's gone out the window, since she's become so much more outwardly expressive in her programs in the last two years. She does telegraph her lutz a little too much though, IMO. Yoshie Onda has improved, but there's still something fundamentally awkward-looking about her posture (and Susie Wynne was absolutely right in that she drops her arms way too often). I am very happy for Cynthia Phaneuf, and I think she is a lovely skater, although sometimes she looks a little stiff in her knees and upper body...especially when compared side-by-side with Susanna Poykio (!!!!) I have never seen this skater before, but I thought she had the best BASIC skating of all the ladies in the competition.

On the pairs: Wow, Shen and Zhao were in their own category. I'm not completely sold on this program yet--I like it, but I didn't think it built to that "dramatic climax" at the end that their last few programs have. I will just wait to see what they do with this as the season progresses. HUGE improvements in their SBS spins. Watch Xue Shen by herself--there's something about her stroking and movement that reminds me of MK (and I don't think it's just the hair).

On the commentary: I'm not sold on Paul's commentary. Other than the "flying camel" (although a death drop is also called a flying camel-sit, according to J.M. Petkevitch's book) comment, I thought he did an adequate job with the technical elements. (This was the first time I heard that you'd officially get more points for doing a difficult triple in the last half of the program, for example...or that it is far worse to pop a triple than to fall on it.) I also appreciated that he did not show any obvious favoritism for particular skaters, and that he usually had something positive to say about everyone. So, under the "old" point system, I'll give him a 5.6.
However...you could tell he was not comfortable with the casual banter with Terry Gannon (and it almost seemed like Terry didn't know what to do with Paul, being so used to talking to Dick). Consequently, there wasn't a natural looseness about the commentary, and while it wasn't irritating, it was a bit flat and lifeless. (The proof that there was no personality to the commentary? You definitely could not play the "Paul Wylie drinking game.") Translation: 5.1 for artistic impression.

I did enjoy Susie Wynne's commentary, though, and I was glad that Peter didn't do the pairs, because he can't seem to help himself with comments that begin with "well, when I was skating with my sister..."
:roll:

[Alexa]

I finally watched the ladies coverage, and wow, was that disappointing. Phaneuf and Poykio were the only ones to show any promise. I have to say I am not sure why Onda beat Poykio because Onda looked so awkward out there. I didn't watch the scores all that closely though, so it could have to do with their placements before the long program.

As for Phaneuf's win, since I had a topic on it below....I agree with her win. But I am still disappointed in the lack of clean skates and that none of the women or men had clean skates.

[annkirstin]

Anyone else baffled by some of the camera work? They keep switching to the cameras that the skater is RIGHT by, so that we get a lot of their face when it's their feet that are moving, or we see their upper body only when they're landing a jump, or the camera is so close to the skater that they go quickly out of frame (or one of a pair is out of frame). I've never seen such bad camera work before!