I was finishing Skate Crime by Alina Adams yesterday (which worked out nicely since it was the same day ESPN showed the men's final @ the world figure skating championships). Adams is a TV skating producer so you guess she must know about stuff like this, and late in the book she says something like the networks and the competition organizers tout the women skaters, but the men are really more popular. I think she's right: If someone were to say to me, I have 2 tickets for the men's figure skating final and 2 for the ladies', choose only one, I'd go for the men's event every time. Not to dis the ladies, but I think the men are technically stronger, in any group of men skaters you see a wider variety of music and artistry (more rock-n-roll alongside the classical stuff) and the men are more outgoing and flamboyant (they showed a little in memoriam of Christopher Bowman and he was practically lunging into the crowd and hugging people); whereas the ladies are more cookie-cutter cute little ballerina types (the more noticeable with the post-2002 scoring system change, packing more moves into their programs to run up more points). And before this year, the ladies' title was always the last to be decided, but this year @ both the US nationals and the worlds the last event decided was the men's.

The downside to the men being more flamboyant is that they're more likely to take risks and make mistakes: Johnny Weir, whom I like, admitted he was being pretty conservative with the program that sewed up his bronze medal, and he said what I've been noticing all along: Michelle Kwan was VERY conservative, you maybe didn't notice it so much because she always skated to slow dreamy music.

Whaddaya think?

I am going to date myself, but Scott Hamilton and Kurt Browning all the way. Love their over the top personalities. Loved Kristy Y (sp?) but I was never a big Michelle Kwan fan--thought she was over-rated--now that you mention it, maybe it was the slow music. I always watch both the men & womens skating comps during the Olympics. Not a big fan of pairs though.

I guess I am different. I haven't watched any figure skating for a long time, but I always preferred to watch the gals.

Hi,

I liked both (haven't watched in a long time) but did prefer the ladies events...

Have you read Christine Brennan's books about figure skating-very interesting!!! She was a sports reporter and wrote about the years leading up to the Olympics -I think in 1998 and 2002.

Sherry

I sure have, and her articles in USA Today as well. She's the best skating writer; but Ellyn Kestnbaum's Culture on Ice is also very much worth a read. She's very sociological in spots (she's a contributor to a volume of feminist-scholarly essays on the Deep Freaking Meaning of the Tonya/Nancy scandal), but she knows the sport well

Nope. I like the women.

But I think in many sports these days, the emphasis has become greater on dangerous, difficult moves and less on style and grace. You might say it's become more "masculine" and less "feminine," but I have always thought that's a meaningless distinction--as though grace can only be girly and power can only be macho.

Still, that may be how the culture sees it, and over the years, our culture has become more macho in other ways. Hummers, other SUVs, NASCAR...

Jay