Missing the professionals :(

[BigB0882]

I just got to thinking, I really miss the professional world of skating as I used to know it.

I especially miss the professional circuit around Christmas time because there would always be a good amount of specials to watch with some great skaters.

I really enjoyed watching Caryn Cadavy skate, watching Yuka Sato transition from amateur to professional and watching skaters like Yamaguchi and Witt continue to develop and continue to prove why they were the best.

There are so many skaters I hardly ever see now, almost all of them professional. Sure, they might do one or two televised events a year but many times I miss them or hold no interest because the events are so small and in many cases the same skaters are always at the different events.

I wish they would bring back something like the Ladies Professional circuit that they had going on one year. It would be nice to see Sato, Bonaly, Bobek, Butyrskaya, Ruh and maybe even some of the older professionals (Baiul, Yamaguchi, Ito) competing against each other. I would also like to see professionals whom didn't have such lucrative amateur careers like Rory Burghart and maybe some totally new names!!

Oh well, I can dream!

[Alexa]

I miss the pro comps as well....we used to see such a large variety of pro skaters, and now we do not have the opportunity to see them really at all. They only had one pro comp this year, and the rest will be pro am, which basically means very few pros. I wish there were more of a circuit as well, because there just is not very many opportunities for pro skaters anymore.

[Kruss]

I totally agree with everything you said. It seems the "golden age" of professional skating is over. :(

That being said, the nice thing is that I have a new appreciation for the excitement of eligible competition, especially end-of-the year GPF, Nats and Worlds. :)

[Artemis]

I blame the ISU-sanctioned pro-am events. I think having two or three a year of these is a good idea ... but they've taken over. The beginning of the end was when the "World Professional Championships" became a pro-am. This used to be the highest profile (and highest "status") professional event. Now it's just another pro-am, nothing special.

[manleywoman]

Donning the flame-retardent suit...

I think much of the blame goes to programs like the ones skated by Phillipe Candoloro, ie: George of the Jungle. That's not skating. It's embarrassing. How can anyone take pro skating seriously with programs like that?

If that's the future of Professional skating, than I say no thank you. I'll stick to eligible.

Otherwise I would welcome the opportunity to watch REAL skating done by the pros. There are many great pros out there who don't get enough exposure (Ruh, Burghart, Kadavy, Sato, etc.)

[jcspkbfan]

ITA with Artemis. After looking over the most recently-updated lineup scheduled to compete at this year's "event formerly known as World Pros", I was dismayed to find out Yuka and S&P (and I don't even think S&P have even lost their eligibility yet) are the only "technically-ineligible" skaters on the list. Ditto for the lineup scheduled for this year's Canadian Open, which, apart from Steven Cousins (who likely won't even be competing because of his recent injury), S&P, and Sato/Dungen, sounds very similar to the same list of skaters who competed at this year's Skate Canada.

I admit I've never been a big fan of pro-ams (IMO, these kinds of events tend to feature the worst of both worlds--the restrictive rules of eligible skating combined with the "seeing the same five/six skaters perform the same two numbers over and over again" and watered-down jump content of pro skating), but ever since the ISU essentially "took over" the pro skating circuit back in 1998, there seemed to at least be a somewhat equal balance of pro and eligible skaters competing in these events. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore. :cry:

[Eagle]

I never understood why the World Professional FS Championship was regarded as the top title for professional skaters to attain. After all, only 4 or 5 skaters would be invited in each discipline. You'd always see the current Olympic gold medalists, and then a hodgepodge of assorted others who were lucky enough to get invited. I mean, hey, if it's a "WORLD" championship, shouldn't all the professional skaters have had a chance to compete for it ... instead of those hand-picked by Dick Button or whoever.

Unfortunately, the questionable roster of competitors affected the "championship" event's credibility ... along with some of the silly and outrageous programs (men stripping off their shirts, for example ... or Urmanov skating around the rink with a 20-foot-long cape).

And then you had the "judges" ... including a fair share of celebrity skaters, or ex-coaches of some of the competitors (such as Debi Thomas' coach). And the ridiculous knee-jerk "10" scores ... those were usually saved for the current Oly gold medalist, who always skated last, and then the judges would whip out their unanimous "10" scorecards.

Maybe if they'd fixed the system years ago, we'd still have some of these professional skating events with us today. Instead, we're left to ponder: "If only ..."

[Meredith]

I've always had a problem with invitation-only competitions. That notwithstanding, some of the best pro skating I've ever seen has come from the event formerly known as the World Pros.

And the ridiculous knee-jerk "10" scores ... those were usually saved for the current Oly gold medalist, who always skated last, and then the judges would whip out their unanimous "10" scorecards.

Funny. I don't remember that. My tapes go back to 1992 but my memory doesn't go beyond that. Of the most recent Olympic gold medalists:

* Katarina Witt: don't remember her winning, but she may have.
* Brian Boitano has won a bunch of times with great performances.
* Oksana Baiul: 0.
* Kristi: several, but she has been beaten by Midori Ito (I'm sure) and Yuka Sato (I think).
* Victor Petrenko: 0.
* Alexi Urmanov: 1, but he did not appear the next year.
* Tara Lipinski: 1?, but wasn't that the only time she showed up for the event?
* Ilia Kulik: 1 (last year) but won't be back this year to defend his title.

On the other hand, Kurt Browning has won a bunch of times. Beat Brian Boitano, if I remember correctly.

The celebrity skaters and coaches as judges give me much less trouble than the randomly-selected (right :roll: ) panel for ISU events -- those people with no names and hence, no responsibility for the scores they give.

I agree the event was rigged, but more in the favor of North American skaters, whom the producers thought the television audience would be rooting for. That bothers me. Still, it's better than putting a(nother) pro-am in its place.

I dislike the outrageous routines, too, but they seem to be a more recent addition to the lineup.

[Scott]

I never really liked the Pro competitions because they appeared to be watered down and that the judging seems contrived. Much prefer the amature events.

[Artemis]

Originally posted by Eagle
I never understood why the World Professional FS Championship was regarded as the top title for professional skaters to attain. After all, only 4 or 5 skaters would be invited in each discipline. You'd always see the current Olympic gold medalists, and then a hodgepodge of assorted others who were lucky enough to get invited.

For a while at least, the invitations were given to skaters who had won another pro event. So, in effect, you had to "qualify" to get an invite to World Pros.

Originally posted by Scott
I never really liked the Pro competitions because they appeared to be watered down and that the judging seems contrived. Much prefer the amature events.

I don't entirely disagree with you ... but I think the pro events had a lot to offer too. And IMO the best situation was to have the two kept separate, so that the integrity and value of each branch of the sport could be retained. Combining them in pro-am events rarely benefits either the pros or the ams.