Why Do Sports Reporters Dislike Figure Skating?
I know, I know, there are lots of reasons to be down on figure skating. There's all that dodgy scoring, diva personalities and crazy costumes. Plus, it's hard to learn how to identify all those jumps. But, the coverage in the Vancouver Sun this weekend has been a real downer.
For starters, they they printed the most unflattering photo possible of Jeff Buttle in today's Sun with the headline, "Geezer Gets Er Done". And on the inside pages, the headline for a story about the pairs short program read, "Lead comes with guilt edge". It was about how Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay feel bad that they beat Dube and Davison–oh come on, it's a sport not a tea party!
I'm not convinced these reporters take the time to learn the jumps and get to know the real stories before filing their articles. If they did, they could provide more insight than commentary on which skaters were modeling in Hong Kong this time last year, or how much fun Jeff Buttle is having at the event.
Here are a few things they might have included in today's stories:
What is Jeff Buttle's short program missing for Worlds?
What are Dube and Davison doing to get the mental toughness they'll need (and are still missing) for 2010?
Who might rock the boat going into 2010?
An overview of the scoring system and how it's supposed to work.
Vancouver Sun, these are some of the stories we'd really like to read.
April 10th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I agree 100% Julie. What DO they have against figure skating? I enjoyed reading the articles AFTER Jeff won worlds, and the reporters had to eat their words that they had written in articles prior to that. Our Canadian skaters really showed them haha.
I too would really like to know how the new scoring system works, and 2010 questions and ponderings are always on my mind, and even moreso now with these worlds results. It’s going to be a very exciting competition and I think they should write some stories about it!
I could write better skating reviews than some of those people from the Sun. Maybe they should hire us to cover the Four Continents, Worlds, and the Olympics. Maybe I’ll write some reviews about those comps anyway, I just won’t submit to a paper:)