Althouse: If only they scored...

February 20, 2010

If only they scored...

... sportsmanship.

20 comments:

rhhardin said...: It's gone downhill since Gore in 2000.; 2/20/10, 7:59 AM
Jake said...: They should get rid of any "sport" that is scored like a talent contest. Watch Idol if you like all that kind of drama.; 2/20/10, 8:12 AM
KCFleming said...: Subjectivity in sports, as in economics, breeds contempt and treachery rather than integrity and honor.; 2/20/10, 8:26 AM
chuckR said...: I didn't catch the men's skating, but I did see a short interview with Lysacek. He was articulate, diplomatic and gracious - he'll be a good spokesman for his sport whether or not its really a sport.
As to the sour grapes, those of a certain age and up can remember all these various judged competitions where the Warsaw Pact judges voted en bloc.; 2/20/10, 8:35 AM
JAL said...: The Russian guy was Supposed to Win.

Since there isn't any place these days where Putin can send him for his failure (and killing is reserved for journalists) one has to blame the evil Americans.; 2/20/10, 8:52 AM
knox said...: Why am I not surprised that There is always the outrage in figure skating, whether it is a 6.0 or a 257.67 in dispute ...; 2/20/10, 9:19 AM
Big Mike said...: See what I posted here at 8:41.

My wife is much more of a connoisseur of figure skating than I, and she is certain that Plushenko was totally outskated by Lysacek. Good Lord! Plushenko bobbled executing a relatively simple move. In another year he'd have gotten away with it, but not when Lysacek had no bobbles at all.

This whole "controversy" is being plumped up by the MSM because modern reporters revel in controversy and will make it up as they go along if they have to.

Today's scoring system for figure skating is very objective, and the conditions of contest are very well defined. If Plushenko couldn't choreograph a program to optimize his point total then he has no one to blame but himself and his coach. Blaming Lysacek for having a higher scoring program isn't merely sour grapes, it's an admission that Plushenko isn't particularly knowledgeable about his own sport.; 2/20/10, 9:24 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: Lysacek handled the whole thing terribly well in his interview with Bob Costas last night. Very classy.

Plushenko, not so much.; 2/20/10, 9:34 AM
Tank said...: I saw that interview too.

Very impressive.; 2/20/10, 9:38 AM
KCFleming said...: In basketball, the only thing that matters is whether the ball went through the hoop, not how 'technically superior' the shot was. In fact, ugly shots can win the game.

A scoring system is the homage subjectivity pays to objectivity.; 2/20/10, 9:42 AM
Tank said...: Any sport with subjective judging is bound to have controversy.

I'll tell you this, as someone who spent a decent amount of time playing ice hockey and skating in general, these are amazing athletes. The things they do on ice, and the seeming ease of it all, are remarkable.

Many of us can go to a golf course and hit a decent 8 iron into the green, or go to a park and throw a football with some accuracy. Try putting on a pair of skates, and let someone throw you into the air, spin around twice with artistic form, and land backwards on one skate, while moving immediately into the next move.

Good luck with that.; 2/20/10, 9:45 AM
kentuckyliz said...: That picture in the linked article would be a lot funnier if Plushenko were looking down at a fabric penis and balls attached to his uniform.; 2/20/10, 9:53 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Yes, Lysacek was excellent in that interview. If they scored interviews, he could get the gold.

Plushenko is really inviting us to get specific and brutal about what was worse about his routine. For one thing, he did a whole lot of goofy dancing and wiggling in the second half of the routine, as if he thought, I didn't the quad so suck it, everybody.

The new scoring -- and the rules apply to everyone -- gives extra credit for jumps done a the end of the program, and he didn't have any.; 2/20/10, 9:54 AM
victoria said...: Sore loser

Vicki from Pasadena; 2/20/10, 10:35 AM
JAL said...: vicki and I agree on something.

Yeah!

Plushenko is a gifted diplomat.; 2/20/10, 11:05 AM
Wince said...: At this point, any reaction to disappointment is considered gracious if it doesn't involve a gun or single engine aircraft.; 2/20/10, 11:55 AM
Unknown said...: plushenko is a such a cocky bastard.

but he is right about one thing -- they judges scoring was a bit off. It was a shock to me that his scores were so high ! technically, his jumps were off balance, slanted in the air, his landings were wobbly, and many near spills. His spins were slow and labored, and ugly and short in duration. His foot work-- not clean or intricate. And artistically, he was stunningly unimpressive.; 2/20/10, 1:41 PM
Trooper York said...: Ice skating is an exhibition not a sport. So sportmanship is not invovled.

It is not a real sport unless you can bet on it.

That's why the dog races are a sport and ice skating is just (as that great philospher and chickenfancier Rh Hardin would say)soap opera.; 2/20/10, 4:10 PM
Joe said...: Not a huge fan of ice skating, but the wife is and so I end up watching it. Plushenko represents everything wrong with the sport--men and women huffing and puffing in between a bunch of jumps, half of which just look silly. Lysacek, however, represented a true change from that--he skated a cohesive, dramatic and skilled piece ALL the way through. Frankly, I don't think Plushenko even deserved a medal and got one because ice skating judging is the most corrupt sports judging in the world, following only by gymnastics (and for largely the same reasons. [Don't believe me; watch the number of falls by the Russian couple the other day and ask how they scored so high.]); 2/20/10, 5:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I didn't the quad"

Ha. He annoyed me so much I threw in that "n't."; 2/20/10, 6:55 PM