Figure skating, the Olympics and whatever else

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Comments by: YACCS

 
Isn't technology wonderful? Technology allows me to keep in contact with my friends and family all over the world, in good times and bad. Technology allows me to follow my interests with several clicks of the keyboard and mouse.

However, technology always has a drawback. What's the old expression? "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Skating fans learned that from Iskater, a decent skating news site run by World pairs champion Paul Martini. In the past, they had offered live coverage from events with Martini's pithy commentary and still photos. It was one of the rare cases where I had seen frames actually work as intended on a webpage.

Now they've decided to charge for their live coverage. Their normal news articles are still free. If you want extra, you pay a reasonable amount, probably not more than a boxing fan would pay to see that prize fight. They are still limited to photographs, because video is the domain of the television networks who pay for the nose for the rights and clearances. But some people must know whether their favorite is at this very minute soaring like an eagle or slamming into the boards of the Kitchener arena!

Again technology is great. If you have the right tools. Javascript is not a great friend of the older browsers and you probably shouldn't talk if you have a slow Internet connection. Even with a slow dialup, it seems eternity between reloads and jumps. Last year watching Vancouver Worlds, I went into a panic because my browser froze up in the middle of Jamie Sale and David Peletier's "Tristan & Isolde" long program. Did I miss the double axels?

When the smoke cleared, Jamie & David were the new World champions and I felt part of the moment. That is technology's real magic, giving you the opportunity to experience things you might not be able to see in person.



posted by Julia at 8:01 PM

 
You're probably wondering why I called this blog "Mad Season". No, I'm not crazy, though there's some doubt amongst my friends. I am a fan of Matchbox 20. Their second album's title track is one of my favorites.

I'm also a big figure skating fan. And this is the "mad season", namely the Olympic season. The last four years will culminate in the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City, followed by World Championships in Nagano. But everything depends on a few moments in February. Like clockwork, the sport seems to forget itself. Everything becomes more frayed, more tense, more demanding... you might not get another chance.

I've been a fan as long as I can remember. My first skating memory is going to see Dorothy Hamill skating in her first season with the Ice Capades at the old Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. I've been consistently a fan for the last eight years coming back during the infamous Kerrigan-Harding scandal. I sometimes wonder why I stayed with the sport. I wonder why I'm so fascinated with a sport that both enthralls me and disgusts me.

However, if you're not a skating fan, relax, this won't be a complete rant and rave session. I'll be posting on whatever else interests me-- books, music, sports, television, needlework, history, whatever.



posted by Julia at 9:56 PM