NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Or, apparently, on the ice.
As we learn in The Book of Ecclesiastes: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
Which certainly holds true for figure-skating. Let's take a look at some of the reruns I expect to see at the 2006 Olympic Games...
Pair skater John Baldwin told The Winnipeg Sun that, "I don't think what happened four years ago is going to lessen this event at these Olympics, I think it will have exactly the opposite effect...I don't think there will be lower ratings than before. I think there will be more media interest because of it, and that is a good thing."
Television mining -- and in some cases even creating -- controversy for ratings? Could such things be? Uhm... yes, yes, and you betcha.
Baku Today reports that the nation of Azerbaijan will be represented in ice-dancing by America's Kristin (they misspell it in the article) Frasier and Russia's Igor Lukanin. Check out the history of skaters switching countries for Olympic glory, here.
Forbes.com painted U.S. Champion Johnny Weir as "Outlandish remarks are not unusual for Weir, who describes himself as a "wild card" for a medal but is more likely to be left in the dust next week by Russia's Evgeni Plushenko. Weir, 21, got into trouble with U.S. Figure Skating officials last month when he described the tempo of a competitor's short program as "a vodka-shot, let's-snort-coke kind of thing." He's also previously described his costumes to "an icicle on coke" and "a Care Bear on acid."
Hmmm... I wonder who the last U.S. Champ was who let his mouth -- rather than his inconsistent skating -- do the PR work for him, and whatever happened to him...
Finally, in a profile on coach Frank Carroll in The Desert Sun, we learn that: Carroll seems to be taking us back to his early teachings - where the icy-cold wind of 1980 Lake Placid, N.Y., gave a hockey team a "miracle" with the same crowd-pleasing drama it took Olympic gold away from his star student, Linda Fratianne. "That was the first time I realized it all (scoring) had been done in the back room," says Carroll, still bristling at how Fratianne's nearly flawless performance was underscored by an East German judge. "I almost quit skating."
However, judge Sonia Bianchetti, on the blog, Countdown to the Next Figure Skating Judging Scandal, writes: "I attended those Olympics as the referee of the men's event. I lived through the 'scandal' put forth in the media by Linda's coach, Frank Carroll, who alleged that her silver medal was due to a 'deal' for an exchange of favors between the judges of the men's and the ladies' panels, set up by coach Carlo Fassi, to guarantee the gold medal to his student, Robin Cousins, sacrificing Linda Fratianne. Nothing could be more ungrounded, believe me." (More details are available on the blog).
Meanwhile, Bianchetti has written a book, Cracked Ice, that agrees with the charges of cheating at the 2002 Games.
Who to believe, oh, who to believe... You don't think the people making accusations and denials and cross-accusations could have their own personal agendas to push, could they?
As we learn in The Book of Ecclesiastes: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
Which certainly holds true for figure-skating. Let's take a look at some of the reruns I expect to see at the 2006 Olympic Games...
Pair skater John Baldwin told The Winnipeg Sun that, "I don't think what happened four years ago is going to lessen this event at these Olympics, I think it will have exactly the opposite effect...I don't think there will be lower ratings than before. I think there will be more media interest because of it, and that is a good thing."
Television mining -- and in some cases even creating -- controversy for ratings? Could such things be? Uhm... yes, yes, and you betcha.
Baku Today reports that the nation of Azerbaijan will be represented in ice-dancing by America's Kristin (they misspell it in the article) Frasier and Russia's Igor Lukanin. Check out the history of skaters switching countries for Olympic glory, here.
Forbes.com painted U.S. Champion Johnny Weir as "Outlandish remarks are not unusual for Weir, who describes himself as a "wild card" for a medal but is more likely to be left in the dust next week by Russia's Evgeni Plushenko. Weir, 21, got into trouble with U.S. Figure Skating officials last month when he described the tempo of a competitor's short program as "a vodka-shot, let's-snort-coke kind of thing." He's also previously described his costumes to "an icicle on coke" and "a Care Bear on acid."
Hmmm... I wonder who the last U.S. Champ was who let his mouth -- rather than his inconsistent skating -- do the PR work for him, and whatever happened to him...
Finally, in a profile on coach Frank Carroll in The Desert Sun, we learn that: Carroll seems to be taking us back to his early teachings - where the icy-cold wind of 1980 Lake Placid, N.Y., gave a hockey team a "miracle" with the same crowd-pleasing drama it took Olympic gold away from his star student, Linda Fratianne. "That was the first time I realized it all (scoring) had been done in the back room," says Carroll, still bristling at how Fratianne's nearly flawless performance was underscored by an East German judge. "I almost quit skating."
However, judge Sonia Bianchetti, on the blog, Countdown to the Next Figure Skating Judging Scandal, writes: "I attended those Olympics as the referee of the men's event. I lived through the 'scandal' put forth in the media by Linda's coach, Frank Carroll, who alleged that her silver medal was due to a 'deal' for an exchange of favors between the judges of the men's and the ladies' panels, set up by coach Carlo Fassi, to guarantee the gold medal to his student, Robin Cousins, sacrificing Linda Fratianne. Nothing could be more ungrounded, believe me." (More details are available on the blog).
Meanwhile, Bianchetti has written a book, Cracked Ice, that agrees with the charges of cheating at the 2002 Games.
Who to believe, oh, who to believe... You don't think the people making accusations and denials and cross-accusations could have their own personal agendas to push, could they?
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