Rossano's Latest Take On Judging (Updated 3/6)

[adrianchew]

At least 2 interesting articles of note...

The Case for the ISU Scoring System (http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/casefor.htm)

It's the Accountability, Stupid! (http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/accountability.htm)

[AxelAnnie22]

Thanks Adrian. Is there any hope?

[adrianchew]

Hope? Aside from a meteor falling out of the sky onto Cinquanta's house one night, probably not. :(

Note - the new system might still see very limited use though - the setup is far too costly for most smaller scale competitions. I doubt if even Nationals in US or Canada will adopt the new system for years to come - but the big ISU events (GP, Worlds, Olys) will.

And given how computers are - all we need is for some technical glitches - and we should have a pretty chaotic event at some point or other, when systems fail. They don't seem to be building any manual fallback should the computers fail. ;)

I suspect Speedy's understanding of computers is probably about as limited as his understanding of figure skating. :P

[mkfan34202]

Thanks Adrian!

This article is on the money. $peedy is the worst thing to happen to figure skating. Marie-Reigne LaGougne is a saint compared to him. Even Didier is better for fs than $ir $peedy. A speed skater who is also in bed with the Russian Federation can do no good as the President of the ISU.

[Rogue]

So basically we need a hacker to fix the sekret komputer so that Davydov wins Worlds and Pluschenko settles for 6th place.

[rjblue]

From The Case for the ISU Scoring System
In the middle, however, one must compare skaters with jumps but poor spins, spins but poor jumps, tricks but the inability to skate, the ability to skate but poor tricks, technical skills with poor presentation skills, presentation skills with poor technical skills, etc.. Because it is impossible to train judges to use the same mental point model (not that they actually are adding up points in their heads, but a point model is in there nonetheless), the spread of placements in the messy middle is always significantly greater than at the top or bottom.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this middle group under the COP system. I wonder if their marks will still be all over the place.

The trouble with linking to these kinds of articles here is that you are preaching to the converted. I wish there was some way to make the TV commentators explain the judging more clearly to the mass audience.

[Emilieanne]

That is exactly what Dick Button and the assorted others need to make it their business to do...right now, however, there is so much confusion that even the most knowledgeable are having difficulty. In any case, this is going to be quite a year.

[Helen4]

I think Q-Man is more interested in promoting & getting money for the speedskaters.
He is one person that has to go in my opinion.
He doesn't know figureskating, even a fan knows more than he does.
The secert judging has already showed it's ugly head.
More & more people are getting fed up with it.
Worlds will be watch very closely.
Already there is a protest that's going to be going on.
The focus should be on the skaters instead.
I'm sure the fluff will be about protesters now.
The ISU needs to be disbanded & a whloe new system put in,
without the federations buying gold medals.
I'm sick about all the bad judging that I've seen these last
30 years.
I will be watching though to see the skaters, The True Athletes
that need fair judging.
Rossano makes a fine point in his write up but,
How we the skaters & fans & Columists going to get a union that is fair to all the Skaters???
I might ask!!

[Emilieanne]

Helen4, there are a lot of us out there that totally agree with you and are totally fed up with Speedy and the ISU. Something CAN be done...

As you know, John Hancock Financial Services has an ethics clause in its contract with the USOC which allows them to withhold their sponsorship monies (the sponsorship is worth $10 million US) until the USOC cleans up its mess and they are doing precisely that. The TV networks networks that broadcast skating need to take a cue from John Hancock and put such a clause in their contract with the ISU. Those TV broadcasting contracts are worth millions and are well over half the income for the ISU on an annual basis...and are coming up for renewal in the near future (within a year, I believe).

What I am suggesting is that everyone write to the CEO's of the TV networks to urge them to do precisely that. You do not have to boycott any products or to stay home to be effective. The focus needs to be kept on the ethics and putting a strong enough disincentive in place to prevent such scandals from happening again. Money has the loudest voice of all. Flooding these mailboxes will make a big impact. If anyone owns any stock in these companies, they can also get a proposal put on the ballot for inclusion of ethics clauses in contracts with groups the company sponsors at the company's annual meeting (information about an individual company is available from Investor Relations). Getting such a proposal on the ballot would certainly attract attention.

If one representative from the US Congress could get the IOC to get reforms enacted (Rep. Henry Waxman of California introduced legislation in 1999 that would have made it illegal for any American entity—individual, corporation, etc.—to contribute to the IOC unless it enacted reforms), we can certainly do our part and get writing. Things are so bad now that there is absolutely nothing whatsoever to lose from doing this...and perhaps it just might be what is needed to get the job done...we have to at least try.

[skatfan]

Originally posted by Helen4
I think Q-Man is more interested in promoting & getting money for the speedskaters.
He is one person that has to go in my opinion.
He doesn't know figureskating, even a fan knows more than he does.
The secert judging has already showed it's ugly head.
More & more people are getting fed up with it.
Worlds will be watch very closely.
Already there is a protest that's going to be going on.
The focus should be on the skaters instead.
I'm sure the fluff will be about protesters now.
The ISU needs to be disbanded & a whloe new system put in,
without the federations buying gold medals.
I'm sick about all the bad judging that I've seen these last
30 years.
I will be watching though to see the skaters, The True Athletes
that need fair judging.
Rossano makes a fine point in his write up but,
How we the skaters & fans & Columists going to get a union that is fair to all the Skaters???
I might ask!!

Helen,
It sounds like you are not happy with the ISU or Speedie and concerned that the protesters "take away" from the skaters. That is the doing of the ISU. Folks would not have to go to the length of an outside protest if the concerns were being heard from within the organization. They had control of the issue and they have fumbled badly. The skaters understand the need for outside protesting, and are very supportive of fans' efforts to bring up the issues they can't because of fears for retribution.

I hope folks check out www.skatefair.org and if you agree with us, sign up as a supporter and sign our petition. We are expecting a great amount of media interest in our urgings for reform. If not, find another way to make your voice heard! I love Emilieanne's idea of the ethics clause. . . that would give the ISU a lot of concern. There is great power in numbers, and if the IOC is not happy with Speedie and his gang, something will happen. If everyone keeps silent, we KNOW what the result will be.

Renee
www.skatefair.org

[Emilieanne]

At this point things are so bad that there is absolutely nothing to lose by engaging in the protest or writing to the sponsors...and the potential for gain is enormous! The powers-that-be are counting on people being afraid of retribution...but when it comes right down to it, there is nothing they can do as they have been exposed for what they are. This is a tremendous opportunity for all of us who really care about skating...no matter if we are a competitor, fan, official, coach or whatever. There is no way that the ISU can fight the masses effectively now that their dirty little secret is out of the closet and the whole world sees it for what it is. Let's not pass this one up!

As I have said a number of times before and I will say it again...we need to do more than protest! We need to get writing to the sponsors of figure skating. The concern needs to focus on the fact that the ISU's antics makes the sponsor look bad and it is costing them lots of money. The sponsorship monies, particularly for TV broadcasting rights, are worth millions of dollars and make up well over half the ISU's monies on an annual basis.

For a model of the ethics clause, it is the one that John Hancock Financial Services has in their contract with the USOC. Thank the CEO of John Hancock, David D'Allesandro, for having the courage to not only insist on such a clause being in the contract, but also for speaking out and insisting that the USOC straighten out or no more money. If John Hancock Financial Services can do this with the USOC, then the ISU sponsors can put the same type of clause in their future contracts with the ISU and demand the same. The TV broadcasting contracts are coming due soon (within the next year or so) and there is no reason why they shouldn't take a cue from John Hancock. They need to be helped along here, people.

I do have contact information, but that would make this post longer than it already is.

Let's take advantage of this golden opportunity before us. We can solve this one. Let's do it!

[adrianchew]

More from Rossano...

Everyone Out of the Pool! (http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/outofthepool.htm)

Role of the Spotter in the Proposed ISU Judging System (http://www.iceskatingintnl.com/current/content/spotter.htm)

Also Sandra Loosemore wrote an article about the computer system...

What if the "Secret Computer" Crashes? (http://www.frogsonice.com/skateweb/articles/crash.shtml)

[Spinner]

I read Sandra's article--very strong arguements. One of the sayings I hear more often than not..."Technology is great, when it works." Some of the errors and glitches she mentioned are simply inexcusable IMO.