I’m finally back to tackle the Elephant Bite that is/was
Christine Brennan’s post-Worlds article “Figure Skating is Dying, and Judges
Can’t Prop it Up” (here’s the link if you haven’t read it yet). Quite a
headline, right? I’ll get back to that.
I should say, at the outset, that I’m a long-standing fan of
Brennan’s writing. She penned two books about figure skating in the ‘90s—The Inside Edge and Edge of Glory-- and while some die-hard supporters of the sport seem
disinterested in what she had to say via those books, I was not one of them.
She gets it, she enjoys it, she respects it—at least she does in my eyes. So I
appreciate her continued (occasional) contributions to skating via USA Today, where she also writes about
tennis and numerous other sports.
So I look at this particular piece of Brennan’s from this
past March, and it pains me to find myself asking “why do I wish she’d written
nothing at all?” But I do ask.
It’s not a bad article in that it’s accurate, concise, and
well-written... those should be the GIVENS in journalism; they’re not, though,
so when it happens it’s surely worth a mention. She discusses 2013 Worlds as a
metaphor for the current state of skating itself:
·
The “tiny arena of not even 7,000 seats” in London ,
ON that often was not quite filled to capacity... ONE YEAR BEFORE THE OLYMPICS
(a date she referred to multiple times, presumably to underscore the severity
of the problem)
·
The fact that ISU Prez Ottavio Cinquanta didn’t
bother to attend
·
The fact that no major U.S. TV network carried
the Championships live (ignoring NBC’s week-delayed recap, for obvious reasons)
·
The controversial judging that gave Patrick Chan
his third world title despite a seriously flawed free skate
·
The fact that figure skating isn’t as popular in
the U.S. and Canada
as it once was (guess when??)... and the all-too-familiar speculation as to why
·
The notion that what used to be embraced about
figure skating is now more likely embraced by reality/competition shows like Dancing with the Stars—a notion that
I, myself, covered in my book Skating on
Air (still available for purchase, or at your local library!)
·
The speculation that skating “remains stuck in
the past” for all the above reasons... and more.
So... never mind that the men’s and ladies finals were sold
out enough that I could not buy a single ticket for the latter when I raided
the London box office during my visit. Never mind that it’s unfair to expect
Cinquanta to behave like a normal “president,” or person, for that matter.
Never mind that the lack of U.S. TV coverage is about as “new” as a post-6.0
judging controversy. Never mind the
irrefutable skating talents taking the ice these days, and their stunning
contributions to the sport thus far.
Never mind all that, I guess, when there are (still) Tonya/Nancy
references to make... (still) reminders
to give that Worlds was, in that Tonya/Nancy era, able to get higher TV ratings
than basketball’s March Madness... and (still)
painful glances to be taken at “skating’s dark underbelly” known as the 2002
Olympic Judging Scandal. It’s all still there, the agony and the ecstasy,
waiting to be discussed again and again...
If you are an every-four-years fan of the sport, that is.
But if you’re pitching to such fans, as Brennan appeared to do with her
article... is the “skating is dying” theme really
the one you want to go with? Aside from the obvious drama it creates, what good
can possibly come from such a statement? Did she hope a high-powered Player To
Be Named Later would see the article, break out the tights and cape, and vow to
“save” skating from its demise? Or that it would cause current ISU members to
be “scared straight”?
What if, instead, it leads some of those every-four-years
fans to say “gee, that’s a shame... guess skating isn’t worth watching
anymore”? And now she’s inadvertently giving an assist as skating loses even
THOSE fans?
How difficult could it be to get in a lot of great digs
about Speedy, and the judging, and the smaller world that skating reaches
nearly 20 years after its popularity heyday... but ALSO convey the message that
there is so much talent in this sport
right now that makes it worth seeking out... even (gasp!) in a non-Olympic year??
Why, it’s not difficult at all. I just typed up the words on
the screen, and there it is! How do you like that!
Now, if I can only get a high-powered Player To Be Named
Later to convince Brennan to heed such an idea before she pens her next skating
article...
NOTE: I’ll post my next ELEPHANT BITES required reading next
time, amidst a sea of new program announcements from some of our favorites!
