C-Fan wrote:The real question about this video is: who's that judge at 2:15 who shoots up and gives a standing ovation?
I think what you mean "who's the guy sitting directly to the left of Jon Schneider?" because, by my reckonning, most of the judges stand up and applaud after the routine --- the guy to my left is simply the first and most enthusiastic. Anyway, I don't even clearly remember being at that judging table, but I do recognize my red and yellow Galatasaray Turkish soccer jersey that I got the summer before, and I definitely don't have a clear recollection of who I was sitting next to that day, but I have a very vague sense that it could have been Forest Schrodt.
Strix wrote:where Mulroney broke the judging system? Sure would be nice to see that routine.
I've heard this said before, but I think its really a mis-understanding of the old judging system. And, there was nothing broken about that system or Ryan's scoring of the system. The old formula-based judging system simply had a 30-Point total that a competitor could earn for the various elements of their routine, and there were several MAXIMUM values that one could earn in several categories. For instance, in that formula-system, a competitor earned 1/10 point for each UNIQUE dexterity trick performed (different sides counted as unique, and different dexterity direction, but NOT different setting surface, so only one butterfly per side regardless of if it was set from toe or clipper or forehead), for a maximum of 2.0 Points for unique dexterities. So, one could earn more and more points for each unique trick one performed that contained a dexterity component, up to a maximum of 20 different dexterity tricks --- after a competitor had done 20 unique tricks with a dexterity element in it (or more than one dexterity element in a particular trick...), any further unique dexterity tricks didn't earn you any more points on the "Dexterity Score Card" --- we used to say "that competitor MAXED the Dex card..."
There were "score cards" with a maximum value for each of the ADD elements (delay, dexterity, body, cross-body, unusual surface) as well as cards for Drops, Difficulty, and Performance.
Drops were worth a total of 5.0 points, and one would LOSE 1/2 Point for each drop, so a dropless routine earned 5.0 points, and ten or more drops meant that you earned ZERO points from the "Drops score card".
Lots of top competitors would regularly MAX some of the cards, like Dex or Cross-Body or Body. And, a dropless routine, of course, got the max on the Drops Card.
Ryan Mulroney was simply the first person to get a maximum value on the Difficulty Score Card, and in fact, the first competitor to do MORE DIFFICULTY than he could receive credit for on the Difficulty Score Card. That is, the difficulty card allowed for a maximum difficulty score of 5.0 Points, and Ryan was the first competitor to do more ADDs than the card allowed for, just like Rippin would sometimes do more DEXes than the 2.0 points the Dex Card allowed for, and Scott Davidson sometimes did more unique Cross-Body tricks than the 2.0 points that the Cross-Body card allowed for. Nobody ever maxed-out ALL the cards. Ryan, for instance, did not max-out the 1.0 points that the Unusual Surface card allowed for (I figure Greg Nelson was probably the only top-competitor who may have done that more than once). Even if some competitor had ever MAXED ALL THE CARDS and then-some, I don't think it would be accurate to say that the competitor BROKE the judging system, you would simply say that the competitor got A PERFECT SCORE, which would have been a very remarkable acheivement in itself, but not a complete break-down of the scoring system --- In some sense, it would just be equivalent to bowling a perfect 300, or a gymnast scoring a Perfect 10. Nobody ever got a perfect 30.0 point score during the era when the formula-based judging system was used. Of that 30.0 points, 10.0 points were from the Presentation Cards, which were very subjective... leaving the presentation cards aside, there were 20.0 points possible in the purely technical cards: 10.0 points for the variety (3.0 points for unique delays, 2.0 each for dex, body, and cross-body, and 1.0 for unusual), and 5.0 for difficulty and 5.0 for drops --- nobody ever got all 20.0 possible points form those strictly technical cards. That would have also been extremely impressive.
I don't remember exactly how the Difficulty Card was added-up --- I have notes on it somewhere, but it was basically something like your ADD Ratio (total ADDs devided by contacts, not counting basic kicks, but drops count as a zero-ADD contact) plus 1.0% of your raw-ADDs. So, if your ADD ratio (Difficulty Ratio) was 3.00 , and you had performed 222 Raw ADDs, then your Difficulty Score on the score-card would be 5.00 (it would be 5.22 except that 5.00 was the maximum score, just like one could do 25 unique dexterity tricks, except that the max score on the Dexterity score-card is 2.00, so only the first 20 unique dexterity tricks count, after which you're simply not earning full credit for more dexes...)
I always loved the old Formula-Based Judging System. It has a certain appeal to me, like a guide-book on how to construct a good footbag performance. It has its flaws, but it also asigns certain objective values to what can otherwise be a very subjective impression of good-better-best.
