Pamigena

That's kinda like saying that racewalking isn't a sport because it's not in the same category as hurdling.

Isn't that what's basically supposed to happen anyway? That's why the bullets say "very good this or that". A jump with average height, average length, average landing, average whatever else (of course while being technically correct) is what get's you a 0. If you do those things above average, you get bonus points. If you make a mistake, you lose points. And rules aren't always followed anyway, so upping the standards wouldn't do much good if the judges continue to ignore them. (that's why we lovingly call them "guidelines" because that implies that you're not actually breaking rules, you're just not following suggestions)

But you need a starting point. If you need to do all these things to even get to 0, then where do you start? At -5? And how would you subtract even more from that if something is done really badly? Wouldn't you run the risk of ending up with a negative total score for an element? And increasing the standards for the top skaters is one thing, but how would this work with the lower levels? Would you really hammer some baby skaters with massive negative scores because they can't do everything picture-perfect already? I think the 0 is supposed to be the average execution. You did the element, you technically didn't make any mistakes, but you also didn't execute it very well = 0

At this point I'm just gonna assume that they brought in a team and played TCC's Next Top Skater, Makeover Episode

Being incompetent or not sufficiently qualified for a job doesn't make you immune to criticism, though. It's maybe an explanation, but not an excuse. If my house collapses and it turns out that my contractor was actually not trained as a contractor but as a dentist, then I'm not gonna cut him slack because he lacked the necessary qualifications for the job. Not every quote stays applicable for all eternity, and there's something called context. Imagine a commentator saying "Yuzuru Hanyu withdrew from NHK due to injury. His coach said that if the Olympics were tomorrow, he'd be ready". Both those things separately aren't wrong, but if you present them in this way, then they paint a misleading picture and people will draw the wrong conclusions. But there's something between "person on the street who only watches every 4 years" and "super duper hardcore fan who knows the skaters' boot size". I'd consider myself more than a casual viewer, but there are many, many, many skaters who I don't follow very closely. When I watch a competition with commentary, then I can only call BS on the things that I know are wrong. But more often than not, I would have to rely on the commentators knowing what they're talking about, which, sadly, they often don't.

I just hope his "defiance" doesn't come back to bite him in the ass at some point, and not only in a "he may not improve enough under his old team " kind of way. From how I understand the system in China, if you get full funding, they pretty much own your ass. We saw how it went with the whole pairs switch drama. I do wonder how many athletes looked at that "we respected Boyang's wishes" bit and went because their wishes always got filed under "things that don't matter at all". Boyang has some leverage since he's their best bet to get actual results in the men's field but, eh, picking a very public and kinda messy fight with an institution that has this kind of power over your (professional) life... I hope for him that he didn't piss off the wrong people.

well, if you put it like that... I guess I should add a little something to my tantrum:

not to be dramatic but

Are we talking about that blurry picture of him walking out the main entrance of TCC? Anybody with a cell phone could probably have taken that from the parking lot.

At this point in his career, it makes zero sense for Yuzuru to interrupt his training and exhaust himself with long-distance travel just so he can accommodate the journalists and make their lives more comfortable. They want to report about him a whole lot more than he needs them to report about him. He's earned his privileges.

love the pixelated part. can't wait to see that in competition.

OMG that purple t-shirt completely cancels out the purple pants it's like the antidote nobody ever asked for, send help

If they were trying to capture the psychotic parts of POTO with Alina's SP, then I'd say mission accomplished. Sounds nuts. And the way she rushes through the motions... with those music cuts, I don't see how she could not rush through the choreo. There's just no time to finish anything because she has to shift gears every five seconds. I hope they'll change that and let the program and the choreo breathe a little more.

you probably saw one of the acupuncture patches http://a-m-n-o-s.tumblr.com/post/79750838191

No idea if this makes sense but whatever... I guess "GOE evaluation" to them is a 2-step process? Like, step 1: you start out with 0, you look at all the positive aspects and add GOE points accordingly. Step 2: you look at all the bad things and subtract accordingly. But when there's a serious error, then the positive GOE from step 1 cannot be higher than +2, no matter how many bullet points the skater ticked off. So, for example, in case of a fall, you have the mandatory -5 deduction, and GOE for the good parts cannot be more than +2, so a jump with a fall should always have a final GOE of -3 or less. Maybe?