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February, 2025

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Judging is Hard

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GeorgeMadison
Posts: 144 - Karma: 1,147
I agree that the judging at X Games was terrible and has been much better at other events.

BUT

judging is inherently subjective. there are always gonna be people complaining about it.

Think about the nfl, nba, etc. The refs always get hate for making bad calls and never get any credit. And these sports are almost completely objective with a set rule book and predetermined scoring etc. But every game there are complaints about a pass interference or a block/charge or whatever.

Now think about judged sports like skiing, gymnastics etc. Imagine how much harder it is for those judges. Sure there are guidelines for what scores better but in a few minutes after each run they have to score every trick and try and take a million factors into account with people doing all different things.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t push for a better system/make changes or that the judges could not have done better. I just think people need to appreciate that the subjectivity of freestyle skiing is something that we all love because it allows for creativity and makes it interesting but it also makes it hard to score and have the right person win every single time. People will get scored lower or higher than they should. It has always been this way and will always be this way and I think some people still haven’t really come to terms with that. It’s just a reality of judged sports.
Feb 1 2021 9:28PM
8 0
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burrata
Posts: 109 - Karma: 828
i would love, just once, to see someone win big air in vishnus, just once, then ill be ok with spin to win till the day i die
Feb 1 2021 9:39PM
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Chrischi69
Posts: 652 - Karma: 5,064
GeorgeMadisonI agree that the judging at X Games was terrible and has been much better at other events.

BUT

judging is inherently subjective. there are always gonna be people complaining about it.

Think about the nfl, nba, etc. The refs always get hate for making bad calls and never get any credit. And these sports are almost completely objective with a set rule book and predetermined scoring etc. But every game there are complaints about a pass interference or a block/charge or whatever.

Now think about judged sports like skiing, gymnastics etc. Imagine how much harder it is for those judges. Sure there are guidelines for what scores better but in a few minutes after each run they have to score every trick and try and take a million factors into account with people doing all different things.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t push for a better system/make changes or that the judges could not have done better. I just think people need to appreciate that the subjectivity of freestyle skiing is something that we all love because it allows for creativity and makes it interesting but it also makes it hard to score and have the right person win every single time. People will get scored lower or higher than they should. It has always been this way and will always be this way and I think some people still haven’t really come to terms with that. It’s just a reality of judged sports.


Tbh i think that there should be established criteria or somtehing like 20 pts for spin 20 for grabs 20 pts for how many inversions 20 for creativity
Feb 1 2021 9:41PM
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Dan-Man
Posts: 7488 - Karma: 3,625
at the end of the day. the actual score (number) is completely meaningless. All that matter is the rank.

I judged ski youth to mid level ski contests for around 6 years. The numbers that are assigned as a score are creating a range that allows the competitor to be ranked. We mostly used the typical 1-100 system (1 being the lowest & too be the highest) though with it mostly being youths a high score would typically be in the 70's, with an average run in the 40's, and crash scores in the teens.

They key word is RANKing
Feb 1 2021 9:50PM
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r00kie
Posts: 5238 - Karma: 59,590
I have a friend who has worked in the music industry most of his career. I asked what he thought about shows like American Idol. His response: "its hard to use art competitively. It's subjective, reflective of the artist." I think that thought applies well here.
Feb 1 2021 9:55PM
5 0
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KneeDrop
Posts: 641 - Karma: 1,487
Chrischi69Tbh i think that there should be established criteria or somtehing like 20 pts for spin 20 for grabs 20 pts for how many inversions 20 for creativity


This is entirely against the spirit of freeskiing.
Feb 1 2021 10:33PM
1 0
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asparagus
Posts: 2498 - Karma: 28,440
What if all the athletes did their runs and the judges did a rough live score, then after the event the judges get time to review each run and assign proper scores. The event is edited and the announcers react to the proper scores while the event gets replayed for the viewers.

Pros: NO MORE BAD CALLS
Cons: Athletes don’t know who actually won at the end of the event, event gets broadcasted as few hours after it happens
Feb 2 2021 8:35AM
1 3
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r00kie
Posts: 5238 - Karma: 59,590
asparagusfriendWhat if all the athletes did their runs and the judges did a rough live score, then after the event the judges get time to review each run and assign proper scores. The event is edited and the announcers react to the proper scores while the event gets replayed for the viewers.

Pros: NO MORE BAD CALLS
Cons: Athletes don’t know who actually won at the end of the event, event gets broadcasted as few hours after it happens


This creates way to much room for rigging. If its a contest it needs to happen live in order to protect the integrity of competition.
Feb 2 2021 8:55AM
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