How can you email ABC? (Skate America commentary)

[Kylen15]

::thunks head repeatedly:: Look, Csizny skated well, I love her skating, and she did a wonderful job.

But Sokolova did NOT deserve the thrashing she got on the air from Dick and Peggy. Heck, they were nicer to friggin' Yoshie Onda, who skates with no speed and no expression!

I want to email Dick and Peggy and let them know there are people out there who HATE their commentary because they are biased to the point of obnoxious!

[montanarose]

And I would like to e-mail ABC and tell them to get rid of those freakin' guys banging on trash cans and ice blocks! How many years have they been running this piece of garbage? Maybe it was cute once upon a time ("maybe" being the operative word), and I think when they first came up with it, it at least related to some piece of theater that was popular at the time. But now it's just truly, deeply weird.

Ellen

[skateflo]

They're trying to be hip and appeal to the teenagers (they spend $$.) Yes, the cans are getting repetitive......but the fluff pieces have been reduced considerably.

I am just sick of all the trashing of Dick Button......everyone just wants to see the skating without any commentary (posters on many newsgroups.) But the networks want to draw in the uneducated public and get them hooked. They do not put these on TV for the very educated skating fan. I don't agree with their marketing stragedies. But Dick Button over the decades has made many observations that people do take note of and look for in future competitions. Actually this time I thought he was unusually positive about many elements across the board (not just american skaters as he has been accused of in the past.) I also know that the producers edit out a lot of what IS said prior to putting in on TV. ABC/ESPN still has a long way to go to educate everyone about the CoP (heck, even the skaters and coaches still aren't comfortable with it yet) and could take some lessons from Eurosport.

Regardless of how they do it, I am grateful we are getting to see as much as we do even with the downsizing and transfer to ESPN - they've lost a lot of fans as many do not have ESPN/cable TV. I tape on a PAL VCR to send to friends in Scotland as they don't get squat on their TV......and for a local skater who's family can't afford cable with her skating expenses.

[Figuresk8_katie]

I agree TOTALLY

I was watching Skate America this afternoon and the commentary was horrible. They really trashed Elena, who didn't deserve it. Not to mention the judging of Yoshie Onda. She shouldn't have placed as high as she did. Her skating lacks polish. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Any other comments on the competition?

[loveskating]

ABC was not fair to Sokolova.

She had better footwork and far better jumps than Alisssa, and some transitions, like the Ina Baur into the 2 axel, were better; her sense of command of the ice, of authority on the ice, was better too.

Alissa's LP was marked higher slightly, and that was fair since Sokolova's spins and spiral sequence was not nearly as good as Alissa's, but Sokolova was no slouch, she was great to watch. Her jumps are pure and HUGE and I love seeing that. Button claimed mistakes she did not make on those jumps.

I was there and did not hear any boos when Sokolova's marks came up and it was announced she won...people enjoyed her LP a lot, it was masterful and authoritative and had drama. (People did boo during pairs competition, so they were fully capable of doing so if they felt like it).

[Isk8NYC]

I've been an advocate of SAP for years, so I'm glad to have someone join me in this quest.

[Edited to add:]

For those who don't know what we're talking about: TV gets broadcast with an audio track. In most cases here in the US, the audio is in English. However, there is a "Second Audio Program" (SAP) that is often broadcasted in Spanish or another language. My VCR records both tracks. For skating, I advocate using the regular audio track for what you hear today: music, crowd, and commentary. I'd like to see the media use SAP for commentary-free audio. It's an OPTION, no one would take away your ability to listen to Peggy and Dick. [End Edit]
I think snail mail has more impact than email, but here goes:

ESPN
ABC Sports
47 W. 66th St.
NY, NY 10023
e-mail: comments@espn.go.com
form: http://espn.go.com/sitetools/s/contact/other.html

Outside the US:

ESPN International
ESPN Plaza
Bristol, CT 06010
e-mail: ESPN International (http://espn.go.com/sitetools/s/contact/international.html)


Just for reference:

Lifetime Television
309 West 49th Street
New York, NY 10019

[crayonskater]

I like the idea of commentary (more on Button's in a minute); it is a sport. I can't think of a single sport that is broadcast in silence or with just ambient crowd noise. It's not like anyone can't follow a football play, either, but they still call the action.

The commentary (if done better) could really help explain more of the nuances of the sport. I liked how they showed at the end of the telecast that Czisny's spiral sequence was worth as much as her triple Lutz. More of that sort of commentary would be helpful.

Without any commentary, it looks like a cheesefest where the judges just give the gold medal to the girl in the sparkly costume they liked best. It's arguably more important in figure skating to have people explaining what is going on, for yes, the casual fan. Why? Cause it's not going to be shown on television at all for just the true fans who want to watch it in silence. They don't show the Superbowl without commentary for the true football fans, and there's millions of them.

Button's out of line though. Commentary on skaters' appearances; well, fine, it's a visual sport. But his trashing of Sokolova pretty much amounted to 'She's not anorexic and a stick! She used to be fat! I don't like fat girls!', and really did get in the way of enjoying what I thought was a great performance.

[loveskating]

Well, I was there for the ice dance, ladies LPs and Pairs LPs, and I must admit, I really enjoyed seeing live skating and also not hearing the commentary that has gotten so ugly and insulting lately.

Sunday when I saw the ABC version and commentary, I realized fully that what I had suspected about ABC's commentary was true...they just outright lie...in this instance, about Sokolova, who won fair and square. She also was stunning in that costume...she has a great presence on the ice.
______
I don't mind appealing to the common denominator, but I think ABC is totally missing what that is..the common denominator is that skating is beautiful, and IMHO ABC renders it ugly with their politicized, nationalisitc approach and their outrageously biased favoratism among American skaters. Most people I talk to who ever watch tell me that they literally switch the channel when they feel that any of the skaters is being insulted. They claim they do not like being asked by ABC to actually join the controversey and to judge the skaters because they know they cannot even tell which jump is which.

Another interesting thing...although all the gold seats were sold out, I'd say perhaps 1/4 of them were emply all day. I guess those folks only wanted to see MK or Sasha? Where we sat, everyone was very pleasant and congenial, nothing disrespectful of any of the skaters occurred among any of the fans at all, unlike when I went to Campbells, so I was thinking to myself, "good riddance to them!" SHeesh, you'd think they would have at least sold those seats to someone else who wanted to be there?