General Yuzuru Chat

[axelsandwich]

22 minutes ago, Neenah said:

 

I am curious what you mean by the media and PR, which media are we talking about here? I think that since Yuzu is the favourite and the man to beat means that he will be the target of all media trying to alleviate the other men and improve their chances. At this point I don't think there is anything that Yuzuru can do that will not be dissected and analyzed to find faults. 

 

The argument I keep seeing is that he will be accused of playing safe, but what if he did get two new programs, will he really be left alone? no, the narrative will just shift into finding a problem with whatever choice he made. Is it a warhorse? he is also playing it safe. Is is it new music? you can repeat all the negative comment H&L got here. Did he keep his layout? he is not pushing himself. Did he include a new jump or change the layout? He is afraid of the young ones, he will never be clean because it takes him much longer to incorporate new jumps.etc.

 

Everything I wrote above are real comments I have seen and I can keep going if you want. The thing is he is under the microscope and is the person to beat, so he will be attacked left and right no matter what, and the best thing he can do for himself is to ignore it all and go with what he and his team thinks is better for him.

 

PS:Sorry if I am coming too strongly here and it is not in any way my intention to attack anyone or belittle your opinion, but I do know first hand what it is like to be in a situation where you are damned if you do and damned if you don't like Yuzu is right now.

Not at all - I've studied and worked in this area so this colours my opinions/views somewhat and I always welcome discussion (especially if I'm not explaining things clearly or if the skating media world works differently to others).

 

What I refer to as the media/PR game is the sort of media that will reach the judges who are, at the end of the day, the critical people. It's not going to be media that overtly attacks Yuzu (read: Youtube comments, online comments which will generate positive/negative feedback no matter what and for anyone etc.) but it will be PR. That is - media generating public interest in each country's athletes, working to establish a narrative around their journey. Programs like Spirit of the Athlete, any media appearances the skaters do are all PR for their 'brand' and image. Any 'attacks' on Yuzu will be subtle ones (I hope there isn't any, but still). Positive media that creates 'momentum' (in conjunction with skaters' performances) and builds a perception and expectation in the minds of the public and judges. It will play a part because as much as we want to think the judges will be 100% unbiased, it's unrealistic to expect they will be in a bubble and immune to the buzz of what the skating media/world is saying. Of course performance at competitions is ultimately what affects judges perceptions the most, but media and public momentum does matter at the pointy subconscious end, where the difference is decimals or one or two points (I wouldn't be surprised if Worlds 2014 was because of this........)  

 

My concern with Yuzu's repeats is that simply by existing (and especially repeating a WR program), it generates a particular kind of expectation which will heavily depend on how consistent and cleanly he performs it. I'd say it's a high risk move, as much as it is an interesting strategic option (leave judges with no excuse to give him <WR if he goes clean). But it does leave open room for PR/news conversation, either by pimping another skater's completely new music choices as a talking point or triggering the media to question the current trend for 'playing it safe'. He is 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' because he is the frontrunner, but certain choices will weigh more heavily than others.*

 

Ultimately, we can only trust and hope his team will make the best decisions and I am very grateful they seem to stick to their guns in order to just prove their naysayers wrong. But I would not underestimate the PR/media game, is all I'm saying. 

 

*I'm talking mostly if he repeats Seimei as FS here, since I think one repeat is okay (if not 100% desirable) but two will be very risky and doubly so if he repeats the exact programs he used to win his last WRs. Like. Even as a layperson, the perception he's staying in his comfort zone if he does that just materialises, even though I know that he thought about this and would not actually be in his comfort zone. At the end of the day, it's that kneejerk reaction that matters because that's what will matter to the judges. If he skates the lights out of the programs though, it could work in his favour. It's just a high risk move. 

[Neenah]

3 minutes ago, kaerb said:

Whole post...

 

Thank you for explaining and I do agree with you.. I personally don't think he will repeat Seimei as I am sure he is well aware of what is said about him repeating programs, but you never know. 

 

When it comes to media and PR, my concern is  not what the media in a place like the US for example would say because they will only push their own skaters. What I am worried about is the media in Japan and whether they will do anything to support Yuzu or will they stand by and leave him alone (for whatever reason). Japan is the only country with two contenders for gold (for now) and it would be bad for either of them if the media and the federation chose only one to promote and pushed the other to the side lines.

 

Though I still believe that Yuzuru has his fate in his own hands, and that no bad PR can take from his brilliant skills and amazing performance ability, so he would have to rise above all criticism and make sure that no one can push him down.

[axelsandwich]

1 minute ago, Neenah said:

 

Thank you for explaining and I do agree with you.. I personally don't think he will repeat Seimei as I am sure he is well aware of what is said about him repeating programs, but you never know. 

 

When it comes to media and PR, my concern is  not what the media in a place like the US for example would say because they will only push their own skaters. What I am worried about is the media in Japan and whether they will do anything to support Yuzu or will they stand by and leave him alone (for whatever reason). Japan is the only country with two contenders for gold (for now) and it would be bad for either of them if the media and the federation chose only one to promote and pushed the other to the side lines.

 

Though I still believe that Yuzuru has his fate in his own hands, and that no bad PR can take from his brilliant skills and amazing performance ability, so he would have to rise above all criticism and make sure that no one can push him down.

I'm also hoping all my worries about Seimei 2.0 will be for nothing but you can't be too sure at this point  And yes, Japan is in a bit of a dilemma. It's not that I think the media will consciously reject or sabotage him but Yuzu not training in Japan and generally being a bit removed from the JP skating community/media does kind of leave a bit of a gap that other skaters can more easily fill. That being said, Yuzu's image is already quite established and he seems to remain quite the media darling so it seems to be okay. The PR/media game will - as I said - only potentially matter if we get down to pointy end decimals, so hopefully Yuzu's skating will speak for itself and rise above all of it.

[meoima]

For the records, most men who won Olympic repeated their programs because by Olympic it will be a huge pressure to bear. So if Yuzuru repeat his programs it's  understandable. By the way, most men who won Olympic were not the one with highest BV but the one who made least mistakes and skated with best packaging. Repeating programs isn't an issue. If his own freaking federation doesn't try to talk him down and pushing another one with cheated jumps, there will be not much talk about the programs.

[the50person]

On 07/07/2017 at 10:14 AM, the50person said:

 

 

Now, now, what can beat the Japanese and their extremely cool shounen-manga-like hype of the skaters? Watch and you will not regret. 16/17 season's aesthetic is my fave so far, it actually looks beautiful and cool instead of being cheesy or cheap.

 

Because I have no idea how to embed a tumblr post (or if it is possible at all), here is the link for the gifset I made from this vid: http://the50-person.tumblr.com/post/162748333783/2017-world-figure-skating-championships-free

 

Terrible giffing skills cos the cool character designs don't appear at the same time, but that's due to me using free software that generates too large gifs and I had to alter gif lengths by 0.1 seconds to keep it within 3mb. 

[Yukiko Sakae]

Hi, everyone,

 

I am posting in Japanese site also.

Our member Miss Yaguruma So living in Russia is used to post in Japanese.

She is very much exiciting  to see Yuzuru's competition in Rostelecom Cup 2017. 

So, she is asking for a person who will visit and watch competition with her from this forum.

Now she is studing very hard Japanese language.

Thanking you .

 

[MrPudding]

 

Part 2 is here!

[Lyyli]

5 hours ago, kaerb said:

I think what the other poster (@¯\_(ツ)_/¯ - sorry, I can't tag your username, the forum won't let me) was saying - and what I agree with - is that a season of clean skates is a strategic move as much as it is about a matter of pride/perfectionism as an artist. You see this in other sports too but judging tends to favour those who have been able to establish 'momentum' of success, going into a competition. Subconscious bias will tend to favour skaters who have shown consistently clean skates, who can establish the impression they are 'on the rise' and 'due' to peak at the right time. Doubly so for judged sports because judges are humans and, as humans, we respond to stories that 'make sense' like they're out of a novel or movie (even if it may not be the reality). 

 

 

Thank you for this explanation. I knew I misunderstood something. Sorry  @¯\_(ツ)_/¯ !

 

6 hours ago, kaerb said:

The media and PR stories going into the Olympics will be a potent weapon in any politics being played, which is also why I'm anxious about Yuzu's Chopin 3.0 and very anxious if his FS is a repeat and/or Seimei 2.0 -- he's taking a strategic hit from the start by triggering a narrative that he's not pushing himself, even though it's not necessarily the truth. But I agree that if he can skate consistently cleanly with these program choices, it might benefit him more. Because there aren't many small issues to nitpick, the mistakes Yuzu tends to make are on the jumps and they tend to stick in judge's minds more than an UR, a wrong edge or a shaky/risky landing. 

 

Oh boy, figure skating world is so complicated that I only want to trust Yuzu and the team. I know nothing but I believe FS is not Seimei. Somehow I trust on that tweet about the right guess on GS. I wonder how anyone would think that Yuzu is not pushing himself, he, who trains like crazy and has the best scores of all. I hope that it is impossible but like you said there is politics behind this sport too.

[Lyyli]

1 hour ago, MrPudding said:

Part 2 is here!

Thank you for this. How lucky we are that he did not change into baseball though his parents would have allowed it.

[Terrapin]

1 hour ago, MrPudding said:

 

Part 2 is here!

This interview is great. I'm so glad it is finally subbed, but it cut right when the talk about costumes began ... I can't wait for the next part now 

[the50person]

https://youtu.be/xHfz8MJ6vyg

 

^^^ Pedo Bird and Yuzu. Quite funny, and the way Yuzu waddles off at the end is just cute. Unfortunately embedding isnt allowed for this vid somehow?

[ralucutzagy]

Just now, the50person said:

https://youtu.be/xHfz8MJ6vyg

 

^^^ Pedo Bird and Yuzu. Quite funny, and the way Yuzu waddles off at the end is just cute. Unfortunately embedding isnt allowed for this vid somehow?

this is weird ... it used to work ... the embedding I mean ... maybe is just that vid ...

wow ... this is what it said to me

The link could not be embedded because www.youtube.com does not allow embedding of that video.

 

[Emzie]

ATTENTION PLEASE

Our beloved shit.tv fuji.tv changed times/dates for following streams:

DoI stream is on 15th at 3pm to 4:55pm JST

4CC Men's Short is on 10th at 12:30pm to 4pm JST

Channels stayed the same.

Calendar is updated, but it takes time to switch to right dates. You can convert JST time to your timezone here.

Additional broadcast for DoI: Sports Life Hero's Plus today at 2:10am JST on fuji tv (watch here or here <- channel 06 フジテレビ）

[Hydroblade]

2 hours ago, Emzie said:

ATTENTION PLEASE

Our beloved shit.tv fuji.tv changed times/dates for following streams:

DoI stream is on 15th at 3pm to 4:55pm JST

4CC Men's Short is on 10th at 12:30pm to 4pm JST

Channels stayed the same.

Calendar is updated, but it takes time to switch to right dates. You can convert JST time to your timezone here.

Additional broadcast for DoI: Sports Life Hero's Plus today at 2:10am JST on fuji tv (watch here or here <- channel 06 フジテレビ）

Are the times correct now?

 

[Emzie]

@Hydroblade yes, thank you