Trash talk

[vettecat]

Has anyone else noticed that the ice-skating commentators at the Olympics are being particularly nasty and snarky this year? (Scott Hamilton is being a gentleman, as usual - I'm referring to the other two, who do most of the talking.) It's one thing to say, e.g., "oh, he did a double instead of a triple, that's going to cost him points." It's quite another to say someone's costume reminds you of your dining-room drapes (yes, they really said that), or to say a competitor's choreography is "trite," or to make sweeping less-than-complimentary comments about the competitors from a particular nation. These are the best skaters in the world, trying their hardest to perform extremely difficult moves under intense pressure; the least they deserve is a little respect. There were points both last night and tonight when I was so disgusted by their insults that I was seriously tempted to hit the mute button, but it's hard to fully appreciate the beauty of a skating routine when you can't hear the music. Is this making anyone else's Olympic-watching experience unpleasant, or is it just me?

Comments

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've welcomed the critiques. Yes, occasionally it'll get out of hand, like the stuff about the drapes, but there is usually so much glorification of whatever will look snazzy to the audience that it's really nice to hear someone actually discuss stuff like how low one is supposed to get in a sit-spin, or methods of getting into a death spiral without looking like you're trying to sit down in the process, or whether someone's footwork is so simple as to be, however pleasant to watch, useless from a technical figure-skating point of view. It makes it clear that there *are* technical differences beyond whether people fall down when they jump. Most years, that doesn't come across at all.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

The technical commentary is fine, what bothers me is when they start to complain about things other than the actual skating - there's a difference between critique and mockery.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

Granted. I'm seeing more of both than in previous years, and while I don't care for the mockery, I'm glad to see the critique getting harsh enough to be informative.