Why should Jason Brown get the "benefit of the doubt" on his 3Axel of all things? It's not like it's normally a strong, consistent element for him. He has had many errors with that jump this season. I am not a fan of Tara and Johnny's commentary normally, but I give them props for acknowledging the truth on broadcast tv that this failure to nitpick these technical calls on under-rotations and two-footed landings, especially at an event as critical as an Olympic trials, is what kills figure skating as a sport and makes it lack real credibility.
I am also not saying that one really strong short program from Grant all of a sudden makes him an Olympic medal contender. I am, however, a very strong advocate for fairness. Imagine if it was your favorite skater who was wrongly placed behind someone who had a major technical error go unnoticed. Brown is at least 3 points ahead in this competition because his missed 3Axel was called incorrectly. This is a sport where fates are determined by tenths of a point and with that said, 3 points are huge.
There is a big PCS gap up for the top 3. The next three didn't get as much inflation benefit. Is Ross really that far below those three in his PCS aspects?
It does matter because depending on the angle of the replay or the amount of time they had to review they might have not seen the clear UR. It's really easy for us armchair folks to look at the NBC footage over and over again and say yes it's definitely UR, but the tech panel doesn't have that same luxury.
I would have been fine if it was called UR, actually.. But sport has room for varying views too. Again, while a different vibe (thanks angelentl for your post) people make disputable calls in other sports and people disagree over it.
The UR was obvious on the first slow-mo replay, which I am sure the tech controller saw. They just chose not to call it. And even if they somehow "missed it", I am sure another coach or judge must have noticed it. If this was actually a sport as it claims to be, Jason and others would not get away with this.
I think it's fine that they disagree with the call and whether it was fair But they need to acknowledge what the tech panel is actually reviewing. That's the problem that Tavi pointed out earlier. And whether Jason should have gotten the benefit of the doubt is also up for debate, but I think you also need to acknowledge what the tech panel has at their disposal. They don't have the luxury of 50 pages of forum discussion to decide on 3A call. They have several minutes, at best.
And honestly, yes Jason is one of my favorite skaters. But Jason has been behind people that I think got uncalled URs in the past and I accepted it because of what I noted above. I would have accepted it if he go the UR call too.
Also I will note that reading this thread is a bit of Cognitive Dissonance from being at the arena because basically the audience loved Jason and his performance even with the error, which if you think about was several seconds of a 2:50 performance. He got a standing ovation.
But don't the rules state that when rotation is borderline, ie. it could be either way, the callers are supposed to give the skater the benefit of the doubt?
I don't know, I find it hard to take some of these complaints seriously because the same people often are perfectly happy when their fave's underrotations are not called...
I think it looked borderline to me. Michael Weiss has this viewpoint also (he was doing the IN commentary).
And again, people get away with uncalled things in sport all the time. See the post Mathman mentioned above I don't agree or accept it, but I think this idea that the fact that human beings may decide a call you disagree make something less of a sport. But YMMV.
But some of the tech callers do not.
The rule I believe is that if the two technical specialists disagree then the technical controller is the one that breaks the tie.
It's a very clear UR. It's only maybe 10-15 degrees off a downgrade. Nothing borderline about it, really. See the slow-mo at 1/4x speed on Youtube hereI think it looked borderline to me. Michael Weiss has this viewpoint also (he was doing the IN commentary).
It doesn't matter "who saw what". What matters is that Jason's 3A was UR and double footed, and should have had more negative GOE. This is unfair to other skaters, especially Nathan who rotated fully and had a minor step out. This is a sport, not a popularity contest. In any other sport (like rhythmic gymnastic) another coach would file a complaint and his 3A would likely get called UR after a second review.
Two things there - First of all, you can see it's UR even if you slow-mo during the actual performance. You don't need fancy cam angles to see it, it just makes it more clear to explain. I have to assume the technical panel has video with higher FPS than 30 so they're not so heavily limited by frames, also.Ummm. Since the tech panel are the ones who decide whether a jump is rotated or not, it obviously matters what they see. And my understanding is that what they see on review is exactly what they see from where they’re sitting. As to how much negative GOE was awarded, perhaps you’re unaware that if a judge would have awarded positive GOE to the jump without the 2-ft landing, then the final GOE may be higher than it would be otherwise.
Ummm. Since the tech panel are the ones who decide whether a jump is rotated or not, it obviously matters what they see. And my understanding is that what they see on review is exactly what they see from where they’re sitting. As to how much negative GOE was awarded, perhaps you’re unaware that if a judge would have awarded positive GOE to the jump without the 2-ft landing, then the final GOE may be higher than it would be otherwise. .
What is the point of having rules if they're only selectively enforced?
Figure skating is the only sport where fans disagree about calls? Or where it only favors one party?
Really? anyone for Pete Morelli and the Philadelphia Eagles? I know 99.99% will need to google it, if they even care, but sports, sports, sports of all sorts have these arguments All.The.Time.
Can I find the Dick/Peggy reunion online somewhere?