Anyway, I have seen various discussions on all my social media accounts about various commentators on television, the live stream, and Twitter. I'm not sure if the skaters providing commentary via Twitter are doing so in an official capacity, but I have many thoughts on the variety of posts I have seen.
Thoughts on Current Commentators
To get started, I will tell you guys that I live in the US, so our broadcast is on NBC with Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, and Terry Gannon. For those of you in other parts of the world, you are very lucky. I adore the British commentators. They have found a balance between enthusiasm and offering an objective view of mistakes. I also enjoy the Spanish-speaking commentators. I'm not fluent in Spanish, but I took Spanish all 4 years of high school, 2 years at Uni, and I pop in on Duolingo occasionally. I know enough that I can understand most of what they're saying. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and it's the closest thing I can find to my ultimate dream commentary: the Telemundo soccer (or football for my non-US readers) commentators commenting on figure skating, complete with yelling "GOOOOOAAAALLLLL!". And finally, the Canadian commentary team with Ted Barton and Kurt Browning is also fantastic. Ted in particular is a joy to listen to.
Hopefully my thoughts won't cause me to lose followers, but here's the deal: There are a lot of people and commentators who seem to think that "just being honest" or "telling it like it is" is the same as being a complete asshole. No, I must disagree with this one. There have been some incredibly hurtful things said by many official and unofficial commentators, and we are only halfway though the individual events. I understand that not everything is perfect, but there are tactful or diplomatic ways to say things with out being a jerk.
So, where do I start:
I'll begin with the biggest sore spot, Tara and Johnny.
They look great, but their takes are not. Their commentary has gotten progressively worse over the years as well. They started out as mildly irritating, but with Johnny providing insightful technical commentary. Now they believe they are celebrities and are more of the main event than the athletes, it seems. I am extremely surprised by the amount of things that NBC is letting Tara get away with saying. Laughing at other skater's injuries, and hoping that skaters will fail so that your favorite will win. Absolutely unacceptable. I'm also annoyed with Johnny trying to take the spotlight off of Adam Rippon as the first openly gay skater for the US at the Olympics by making it all about him.
It's upsetting to me because I love Johnny's skating. He is very artistic and fun, and pushes creative boundaries. However, over time, I've come to realize you can appreciate someone's work while not really caring for them as a person. That's where I'm at with Johnny, and I'm going that way with another skater I will mention in a bit.
Thankfully, I have been watching the Olympics on NBC's stream. They have different commentators there. I will say they lack some of the knowledge of Tara and Johnny, but they don't have the vitriol and pettiness they have either. I will take a couple mis-pronounced names, and chuckle when a quad axel is mentioned, over them any day.
I almost forgot to mention Terry. He often provides insightful commentary. He's been in this business for a long time and can work with a variety of personalities. He can stay.
The Olympic Ice special shows Scott Hamilton and Tanith White, and I really enjoy their commentary. Tanith has also been doing the commentary for ice dance, and doing a fantastic job. I hope to see her on more in the future. I think Scott is one of the all time great commentators, along with Sandra Bezic. They were a great team because Scott is so enthusiastic, and Sandra had a more even-keeled objective approach. I greatly miss both of them, but I'm glad Scott is still there in some capacity.
We will now move on to our Twitter brethren...
Again, I'm not sure if any of these skaters are doing this in an official capacity or not. There have been rapid-fire tweets from 4 current and retired skaters all throughout the competition: 4-time US Champion Jeremy Abbott, the 2006 Olympic Bronze Medalist Jeffrey Buttle, 2-time US Champion Gracie Gold, and the 2016 World Silver Medalist Ashley Wagner. As you can see, they all have the credentials to comment on skating, as do Tara and Johnny. Some of them are a vast improvement on the televised commentary, and others are pretty much putting the same thing out there.
Jeremy's comments have been very detailed, insightful, and for the most part, positive. I have enjoyed following him this Olympics, and he actually liked one of my posts on Twitter! I think Jeffrey Buttle has been tweeting particularly because he choreographed programs for several Olympians. He has really made a name for himself in that arena and is one of the best. Gracie's tweets have also been pretty good. She's had a few comments I didn't agree with, but the overall tone is good.
Now we're on to Ashley...
So apparently there's a narrative out there saying she's the next Tonya Harding, and she was going to find a way to steal Karen Chen's Olympic spot. Ok, that is ridiculous, and as we can see, that hasn't happened.
However, I do think there is a case where she would be the next Tara Lipinski (as a commentator, not a skater). Prior to the Olympics, there was a push on Twitter for Ashley and Adam Rippon to replace Tara and Johnny. Many people were on board with this, until they saw Ashley's tweets during the Olympics.
I must also point out that I'm not her biggest fan. My thoughts on her have wavered greatly over the years. At first I admired her work ethic, then I thought she acted like a spoiled brat leading up to and during the Sochi Olympics, then I was amazed by her comeback at 2015 Nationals and I respected her for that. She also put out a wonderful Instagram post after narrowly missing the Olympic Team this time around. She was open and vulnerable about how sad she was, but that she would overcome it. It was a great and inspiring message.
But there have been two things that have just undermined my liking of her for the past few seasons. One, she is constantly criticizing the judges. I can understand maybe doing this once or twice, if there is something shady going on. Also there has been so much talk about her age. Some of that was driven by the media, but she eggs them on by continuing to bring it up. She is 26. Carolina Kostner of Italy is 31 and is competing in her 4th Olympics. Not once has she, or anyone in the media really, ever mentioned her age. She's just out there skating and minding her own damn business, and doing it fantastically.
So anyway, back to Ashley. I do enjoy a lot of her programs, but her comments have been off-putting. And on to her Olympic tweets: she has made several disparaging comments against skaters she knows, and has competed with THIS SEASON. That's what makes it an even harder pill to swallow. All of the other official and unofficial commentators have retired and have been away from the sport at least for a season, so it's like they are on the outside looking in. With Ashley, it just comes off as someone who is bitter about not competing herself, and just throwing out all the negativity she can about her fellow competitors.
It all started with the Team Event, where she criticized just about everything about Alina Zagitova's free skate. I will admit, this is not my favorite program this season. It would be so much better if she wasn't performing about 95% of her elements in the second half of the program, making it rushed. But criticizing her outfit, and talking about how she wouldn't skate that way, understandably led to a lot of backlash. However, instead of handling this in a professional manner, Ashley proceeded to get into arguments on Twitter with everyone who disagreed with her. This went on for days, and it was at this point that I muted her.
Then, I noticed a lot of discussion on her commentary for the men's event, and it was even worse. In the men's free skate, Nathan Chen delivered one of the best performances ever in Olympic history. I was in tears from the moment he got that first quad lutz. So, Ashley was understandably excited about his performance, given how he has had such a rough time with the short program. There were many that still thought he had a shot at the podium. With that kind of effort, many would be happy to see that. However, hoping that some skaters ahead of him, particularly Boyang Jin, would mess up so he could make the podium, is not acceptable, ever. Not only that, but these guys are all friends, and while they want to win, they don't want to do so by someone else doing poorly.
Ashley had made a constructive comment about Boyang's simpler transition steps in relation to others. It started out as a good comment, but soon descended into chaos. Near the end of the night of the men's free skate, Yuzuru Hanyu was in the lead, with Javier Fernandez in second and Boyang Jin in 3rd. She started going on about how "crossovers can't win the Olympics", referring to Boyang. Then once Shoma Uno earned the silver medal with a great skate, she gloated about that and the fact that Boyang was off the podium. That's when I was done. Boyang has worked so hard to improve his skating skills over the past few seasons and performed brilliantly. When he was in the kiss and cry, you could see how much this meant to him. So for her to just be petty and dismiss that and to pit skaters against each other, I can't. She pulled the same crap Tara did. Girl, bye.
I may get some backlash from Ashley fans on this, but it's hard to defend her conduct lately.
Suggestions for New Commentators
I'm definitely one of those people that believe that for each thing you complain about, you should find a solution, or attempt to do something about it. I have some recommendations for people who would be great commentators, or current commentators that should get some more air time.
#1: Dick Button
Given Button's previous statements that were critical of the IJS scoring system, I am pleasantly surprised to see all his tweets during the Olympics. He is the all time greatest commentator in my opinion, and I'd love to see him back on air. I'm not sure that will happen, but it's nice to see him involved in some capacity.
#2: Scott Hamilton
He is doing great with the Olympic Ice segment, but I'd like to see him in the commentator's spot again. Not sure that will happen, but a girl can dream...
#3: Charlie White
NBC and NBC Sports have had Charlie on for commentary during the ice dance portion on previous occasions, and he is terrific. He really gets into the details and has even told stories about how hard the dance teams work. Bring him into the prime time!
#4: Jeremy Abbott
Jeremy has been terrific this whole season on Twitter, going into details about each of the programs! He's definitely got potential to be one of the best commentators. NBC should pick him up!
#5: Kristi Yamaguchi
Kristi has appeared on the Olympic Ice segment several times. She's got a fun and bubbly personality, plus the expertise to provide good comments.
And that's a wrap, folks. As you continue to watch the Olympics, keep these things in mind. While we may now be grinding our teeth at these comments, there is hope that things can improve. Also, if you're outside the US, I would love to hear about the commentators you are hearing.
I'll be watching the rest of the Olympics, and hope things go well!
