1. The fact that USAG apparently felt the need to do a giant "It's not out of a 10 anymore because you're all stupid sheep" PSA at American Classic
2. This 2006 Worlds AA recap by Spencer which involves a fair amount of ranting on this same topic, so I decided to do it too
Seriously, this has to be one of the most understandable scoring systems out there! Hear me out on this: It's a number
And a number
AND YOU ADD THEM!!
It's just addition! The numbers aren't any higher than 10!
There's an ACTUAL STANDARD unlike in freestyle skiing or whatever the heck that sport is the just pulls arbitrary numbers out of its butt.
There's no multiplying by a factor of 3.5 or whatever the heck it is diving uses. Or some changing factor depending on what kind of program you're watching like in figure skating.
Seriously. All you have to do is comprehend two numbers (which won't be higher than 10!!!... or, you know, 8.5, let's be real) and then the final score they add up to (which will be less than 20!!) We learned how to do this in... what... first grade? Maaaybe second with all the decimals?
"But you can't expect the casual fans to remember an over-decade-old scoring change!"
Figure skating does. When's the last time you turned on an NBC broadcast of a figure skating competition which opened with 10 minutes of "But they did away with the SIIIIIIIIX!! (side note- what a random number was that to pick for your max score? why not 5?) How will anyone ever understand again?!?!!1?" And while we do have the ubiquitous quadriannual "What is this 80-some/100-some nonsense?" articles, THE BROADCAST DOESN'T TREAT THE AUDIENCE LIKE IGNORANT PIGS. It expects them to remember things that get presented to them over and over again OVER A DECADE, or at least be able to pick up on the basics of this scoring system (there are DOO DUMBERS!) when they see numbers that... are definitely higher than 6. And they see more than one of them.
The figure skating broadcasts respect the sport and its audience. So what do they do that gymnastics broadcasts don't do?
- They meet the scoring system on its own terms. Skating commentators talk about what is important in the rules of the current system. They describe the skater's performance entirely using the vocabulary of the current system and how it affects the score the skater will receive. Compare to gymnastics: How frequently do we hear commentators using 10-system vocabulary?
- They address the viewer on the scoring system's terms. Going off the idea of the last one. The commentators explain the score's mechanics in terms of GOEs and components. Even the stoplight box system is based on how this system evaluates the technical aspects of the program. Compare to gymnastics: NBC's entire presentation of the score is pretty much a perfect illustration of this. "Start value" is a term that applies solely to the 10 system, and the way they present it actually makes way less sense than the separate D score. Also notice how the stoplight scoring applies only to the E score, aka the 10 score in the current system, instead of the overall score which will determine placing. All of this prevents the viewers from absorbing the components of the current scoring system.
- And, really at the basis of it, they don't let nostalgia make them refuse to accept change. The entire way the broadcast interacts with the technical aspects of the sport, and therefore allow the viewer to do so, is tailored for how the sport works. Gymnastics presents the open-ended code as a hindrance, limiting the viewer's ability to accept its rules and absorb them.
The open-ended code isn't prohibitively difficult to understand. As complex systems go, it's even simple enough that lay fans can get a far better grip of the particulars of it than in most others. If the commentators stop putting on a drama that the viewers can't possibly grasp the scoring then they will.
