For those of you who have been watching ice skating, you might be wondering who that mean commentator is, bagging on all the skaters. Well, it ain't Scott Hamilton, it's Dick Button. So who the hell is Dick Button and where does he get off? It turns out old meany won figure skating golds at the 1948 St. Moritz games and 1952 Oslo games. He was the first man to land a double axel in competition (1948) and a triple jump of any kind (it was a triple loop) in competition (1952). So, I guess he's the man. After he stopped competing, he did the Ice Capades and got a law degree from Harvard. Go figure.
4 comments:
It must be the law degree that makes him such a meany...
MK
Maybe he was scarred by the Socratic method and needs to rip on people!
that's kinda cool that he got a law degree after all that.
Btw, I've been watching ice skating for many years now and I still don't know how to tell the difference between a triple loop, sow kow, etc. I know it's in the toes/feet, but can never see it. Do you know (or of a website that knows)?
JEM
I can't tell the difference between those jumps either. They pretty much look the same to me. Here is what I found on iceskate.com:
"There are six major jumps in figure skating. All six are landed on a right back outside edge (with counterclockwise rotation, for single and multi-revolution jumps), but have different takeoffs, by which they may be distinguished. The two categories of jumps are toe jumps and edge jumps. (Descriptions below are for counterclockwise rotation skaters; reverse for clockwise rotation jumps.)
Toe jumps are launched by tapping the toe pick of one skate into the ice, and include (in order of difficulty from easiest to hardest):
-Toe loops take off from the back outside edge of the right foot and are launched by the left toe pick (toe walleys are similar, but take off from the back inside edge of the right foot);
-Flips, which take off from the back inside edge of the left foot and are launched by the right toe pick;
-Lutzes, which take off from the back outside edge of the left foot and are launched by the right toe pick.
Edge jumps use no toe assist, and include:
- Salchows, which take off from a left back inside edge. Swinging the opposite leg around helps launch the jump;
Loops take off from a right back outside edge and land on the same edge;
- Axels, which are the only jump to take off from a forward edge (the left outside edge). Because they take off from a forward edge, they include one-half extra rotations and are usually considered the hardest jump of the six. The similar jump with only half a rotation is called a waltz jump and is typically the first jump a skater learns."
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