Ted Barton appreciation and recognition

Nice article on Ted's latest Russian Nationals adventure and plans for the future: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports...g/new-milestone-ted-barton-broadcasts-russia/

Thank you for posting this, Edwin. Ted Barton is quite wonderful.

Thank you for posting!

Ted, you make the world a better place.

“After six years on the Junior Grand Prix, my assessment is this: the world is full of negativity, lashing out, meanness. Social media has created trolls, who can just lash out and say things,” Barton said.

“It’s so negative, that it is just stressful in life. I’ve decided to look at what is good in the athlete, a person trying to do their best. Be supportive in the effort, be honest in the analysis. I think some people have gravitated to that because at times the world is so damn (pardon me) negative. That’s one of the positives that has come out of this. It’s not about me, it is about the approach.”

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THANK YOU.

I wish more people would do this about more things.

Ted, thank you for bringing us positivity, insightful commentary, and a wonderful voice.

Thank you Ted for everything that you have done for this sport! Whether it be commentating on the JGP while giving every skater positive feedback, hosting interviews in a polite and sensitive manner, commentating at Russian Nats, or by creating no drama. He is truly doing wonders for this sport and will always be my favorite commentator. I hope that eventually he will be able to commentate on the GP and at worlds. He is one of the only commentators that truly understands how to constructively criticize while also highlighting skaters’ talents. Thanks again Ted!!

I agree with all of the earlier posters. Ted is great. He knows his Figure skating, so in the replays he tells you what went wrong or right, but I've never heard him say one negative, personal thing about any skater. Just where the problem lies in a jump or a spin. And that's how it should be: not about the skater but about the skating. Edit: he does sometimes mention personal things but - and that's my point - he never blames a skater for having a rough skate. And, in current times, the jumping. Sigh.

I hope they ask him again at Russians. A fantastic, high level competition, and having such commentary added to the livestream was wonderful.

I used to respect Barton a lot. Unfortunately I lost a lot of that respect when he started calling jumps "perfectly rotated" right when the camera showed a closeup of an underrotation. Now he seems to be just another commentator with bias and an agenda.

I have learned so much from Ted.

He is quiet during the skate. He explains what happened after the skate. And he finds something good to say about every single skater. He doesn’t care if you’re World Champion or a skater no one has ever heard of from a Fed no one knows, he accords everyone the same respect.

Ted’s the man:thumbsup:

I like Ted's philosophy and positivity a lot, but I don't think that should excuse him from blatantly ignoring mistakes. He is a commentator and should point out errors that occur. Calling out underrotations and mistakes isn't negativity, it's just what a commentator should do.

But, yes, on the whole he is a great guy and by and large I do enjoy his commentary

I’m a fan. He’s better than most. I could listen to him all day.

I don't watch the junior Grand Prix, so I can't attest to his commentating skills there, but I was underwhelmed for his commentating during Russian Nationals. He is completely silent during a skater's performance, which is an odd choice. I do prefer that to Tara and Johnny talking through 80% of a skater's performance.

• Ted's "positive" remarks seemed generic, like he has a list of "positive qualities" and he simply rotates through them for each skater
• He would point out why a skater fell, too tilted, too much into the circle. That was useful.
• 33% of the time, he wouldn't even get the skater's program music right. I remember for one skater, he said, "She's going to skate to Swan Lake." Why would he even say that? She's wearing a fiery red dress and she skated to Carmen. This happened several times. If he can't even bother to do basic research, then he should stop pretending to have the right information.

My rankings are: Eurosport guys >>>>> no commentary > Ted >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tara and Johnny

However, the media powers-that-be are in a power struggle over distribution rights, and sometimes our choices are Ted or nothing at all.

Ted sometimes gets the music wrong because the skater and the coach did not update the music in their bio. That's it.

In the case of Nationals, where some of the skaters have no international competitions (and hence no ISU bios), and whose feds either have no bios at all for lower ranked skaters, or whose bios do not list program music, music determination ranges from difficult to impossible. For me, it involves finding a video, often with poor quality sound, and using Soundhound, Shazam, lyric searches, or waiting for skater's instagram posts about their choreographers.

As someone who has spent an innordinate amount of time trying to document what skaters are using for program music prior to events, I cannot overstate my annoyance with skaters who do not update their bios. At this year's Euros, there are skaters who have not updated their bios since they were juniors, some since 2016.

May I remind those who think costume is an inerrant predicter of musical content, of all the questionable costumes we see from time to time. There have been Carmens in blue. There have been skaters skating to Beethoven in tie-dye.

Ted is one of the forces behind inducing JGP competitors to update their bios, which is why we generally know what music is coming there nowadays, when we did not before.

Feds that run ISU Challengers and other ISU competitions should insist that skaters who don't update their bios do not get to skate.

And that would not fix the lack of program info at the various Nationals.

As some of you know, I'm not a fan for reasons other golden skaters have already mentioned. If I had a pound for every time he has to say 'pardon me' when he gets names/programmes wrong, I'd go to Worlds.
However, I'm certain that he has genuine interest in bringing FS to the global audience at any given event and was therefore rightfully chosen to report the RusNats. I give him full marks any day for not talking through performances.

brightphoton said:

I don't watch the junior Grand Prix, so I can't attest to his commentating skills there, but I was underwhelmed for his commentating during Russian Nationals. He is completely silent during a skater's performance, which is an odd choice. I do prefer that to Tara and Johnny talking through 80% of a skater's performance.

• Ted's "positive" remarks seemed generic, like he has a list of "positive qualities" and he simply rotates through them for each skater
• He would point out why a skater fell, too tilted, too much into the circle. That was useful.
• 33% of the time, he wouldn't even get the skater's program music right. I remember for one skater, he said, "She's going to skate to Swan Lake." Why would he even say that? She's wearing a fiery red dress and she skated to Carmen. This happened several times. If he can't even bother to do basic research, then he should stop pretending to have the right information.

My rankings are: Eurosport guys >>>>> no commentary > Ted >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tara and Johnny

However, the media powers-that-be are in a power struggle over distribution rights, and sometimes our choices are Ted or nothing at all.

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Wow, I agree to 100%. :agree:

dorispulaski said:

Ted sometimes gets the music wrong because the skater and the coach did not update the music in their bio. That's it.

In the case of Nationals, where some of the skaters have no international competitions (and hence no ISU bios), and whose feds either have no bios at all for lower ranked skaters, or whose bios do not list program music, music determination ranges from difficult to impossible. For me, it involves finding a video, often with poor quality sound, and using Soundhound, Shazam, lyric searches, or waiting for skater's instagram posts about their choreographers.

As someone who has spent an innordinate amount of time trying to document what skaters are using for program music prior to events, I cannot overstate my annoyance with skaters who do not update their bios. At this year's Euros, there are skaters who have not updated their bios since they were juniors, some since 2016.

May I remind those who think costume is an inerrant predicter of musical content, of all the questionable costumes we see from time to time. There have been Carmens in blue. There have been skaters skating to Beethoven in tie-dye.

Ted is one of the forces behind inducing JPG competitors to update their bios, which is why we generally know what music is coming there nowadays, when we did not before.

Feds that run ISU Challengers and other ISU competitions should insist that skaters who don't update their bios do not get to skate.

And that would not fix the lack of program info at the various Nationals.

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I don't want to be too harsh on the skaters that never update their bios, especially the younger/junior skaters. They're what, 12? 13? Paperwork isn't foremost on their minds.

Ted also commentated during Canadian Nationals one year. I remember some girl did very poorly and he interviewed her right after her skate. She was on the verge of tears, but Ted decided to fill the ice resurfacing time with asking her how she felt about her performance. During the kiss and cry, while skaters waited for their scores, he said some borderline weird things, like he thought he was best friends with the skaters.

Luckily he didn't say any weird stuff at Russian Nationals. He's improved. I think he's on the right track by sticking to saying generic nice things about the skaters' artistic expression, deep edge control, transitions, or whatever.

The juniors are fine. 12 year old juniors do not appear at Europeans. And the JGP bios are in good shape.

It is 25 year olds with multiple trips to Euros and Worlds that get my goat.




The coaches, in any case, should know to up date bios.

My point is that you can't fault the commentary fellow for not knowing stuff that is not on record.

elegance said:

Thank you for posting this, Edwin. Ted Barton is quite wonderful.

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I like Ted, but sometimes he could just be just a bit more critical. At Russian Nationals he questioned whether a turn out was even an error. Yes it is Ted! Always a negative GOE.

Edwin said:

Nice article on Ted's latest Russian Nationals adventure and plans for the future: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports...g/new-milestone-ted-barton-broadcasts-russia/

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TB rocks!

Ted is definitely a breath of fresh air in the world of commentators. He never talks during the skate. This has been since he started commentating juniors several seasons ago. He always waits until the replays to give his analyses. Whether this is to let the viewers enjoy the skate, or because he knows that slow motion replays are a much better indicator of potential mistakes, who knows. He does get the music wrong sometimes; I remember when he said Tarakanova was skating to Believer in every competition that year but she never actually skated to it. I do believe he just reads the music off the sheet he is given, though.

As a poster said above, Ted never says anything negative about skaters or coaching teams personally. Some believe this makes him "too positive" but I honestly think we're just too used to the toxicity of certain commentators. He does point out mistakes, but he does it with each element individually, regardless of skater, reputation, titles, etc. He calls URs, lack of height and distance in jumps, and lack of speed across the ice. He also gives his opinion on the artistic side as well: he has commented on the lack of expression and tension in certain parts of a program. His critiques have included very popular and controversial skaters like Alysa, Kamila, the 3A, Alina, Rika, Liza, etc. But what's important is that it's always about the current skate; his comments are about specific elements and movements that are being replayed. Ted never uses blanket terms to describe a skater, coach, or choreographer. He never says "this skater is prone to small jumps, under rotations, having slow spins, bad SS, and rushed choreography". Rather, he says, "this specific jump was off and underrotated, this one spin was not centred, the skater was slow during this part of the sequence, or the skater was off the music here and there wasn't much expression in their face/body". It is constructive and translates as authentic because he only speaks about what he sees right now and does not ramble about a general idea he has formed; everything is referenced to a moment in replay.

I believe this is why even extreme fans of the skaters he criticizes can appreciate Ted; it's all constructive and never personal. Of course, he does miss mistakes but so do the "not too positive" commentators who spend the majority of their time talking about the skaters or coaches personally.

colormyworld240 said:

As a poster said above, Ted never says anything negative about skaters or coaching teams personally. Some believe this makes him "too positive" but I honestly think we're just too used to the toxicity of certain commentators. He does point out mistakes, but he does it with each element individually, regardless of skater, reputation, titles, etc. He calls URs, lack of height and distance in jumps, and lack of speed across the ice. He also gives his opinion on the artistic side as well: he has commented on the lack of expression and tension in certain parts of a program. His critiques have included very popular and controversial skaters like Alysa, Kamila, the 3A, Alina, Rika, Liza, etc. But what's important is that it's always about the current skate; his comments are about specific elements and movements that are being replayed. Ted never uses blanket terms to describe a skater, coach, or choreographer. He never says "this skater is prone to small jumps, under rotations, having slow spins, bad SS, and rushed choreography". Rather, he says, "this specific jump was off and underrotated, this one spin was not centred, the skater was slow during this part of the sequence, or the skater was off the music here and there wasn't much expression in their face/body". It is constructive and translates as authentic because he only speaks about what he sees right now and does not ramble about a general idea he has formed; everything is referenced to a moment in replay.

I believe this is why even extreme fans of the skaters he criticizes can appreciate Ted; it's all constructive and never personal. Of course, he does miss mistakes but so do the "not too positive" commentators who spend the majority of their time talking about the skaters or coaches personally.

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Interesting take on things. It kind of makes me realise that what I want from a commentator and what I consider to be negativity might be quite different from others. I actually like when commentators, like the Eurosport guys often do, mention things like what a skater normally can do well and not, strength and weaknesses, and even how the practices have been going. It gives me a sense of knowing what I'm looking at, because I'm not as well educated as certain other figure skating fans. So if a commentator says that a skater often has triple lutz problems, it's more exciting to see the skater nail that lutz. I hope that makes sense.

Anyway, I'd be interested to know who you think is toxic among commentators, because I don't think I know what it means exactly.