bunt sign live

Olympic figure skating announcers
There seem to be two different ways of broadcasting figure skating. There’s the Scott Hamilton method, where you get so excited when a skater completes an element that you jump up and shout with joy. And there’s the Dick Button method, where you very precisely relate what goes right and wrong with a performance, without holding back. I’m a fan of both of these announcers, and I’m glad they’re working together for NBC in Torino.

I’m not one of those rabid skating fans who are familiar with the new scoring system and already had a strong opinion of it long before the Olympics. All I knew about the new system was that there was one, but I’ve listened to Scott Hamilton, who tells me that giving points for each move encourages skaters to reach for the best that’s in them. And I’ve listened to Dick Button, who seems to think that rewarding the big jumps sometimes comes at the expense of the artistic elements of the sport.

I’ve seen a little truth in both positions as the Olympic tournament has unfolded, but overall I think the best skaters are still the ones who tell a story with passion and emotion as they stretch their abilities to the limit. Under the new system, it still seems that most of the time the athlete who should win usually will win. Not always, of course, but as we know, that’s been true since figure skating began.

Advertisement