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Watched some Saber bouts this Olympics and they still seem so fast as to be unfun to watch. At least for more than one or two in a row (so 5 min). Maybe I'm jus

Watched some Saber bouts this Olympics and they still seem so fast as to be unfun to watch. At least for more than one or two in a row (so 5 min). Maybe I'm just used to watching Epee and Foil. I totally get why they changed the rule. Reminds me of anime where two swordmasters do their super special move and you don't find out who won until the loser levels over. Except over and over.

throwawaysea 5y ago
I had the same impression. To the untrained eye it is hard to appreciate what’s going on or what makes one fencer better. All I see is a blur and then the winner screaming in a fury. The broadcasting is terrible - they should show slowed footage with annotations (like in football plays) explaining what’s going on.
- darylteo 5y ago
  I wonder if it would be easier to watch with something like Hawkeye for Tennis like so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2DXCAWI8gU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2DXCAWI8gU
  - aikinai 5y ago
    Thanks for sharing; this would definitely make it much more interesting to watch!
- jessaustin 5y ago
  ...the winner screaming in a fury. This is so distasteful to me that I haven't been able to watch much fencing. Fencing is fast enough that it would take a lot of viewing to really understand what's going on. So, this has really hampered my appreciation. Appropriate automated video editing could really help me out. Do they scream like this at practice? Do they practice the screaming? It would be one thing if they vocalized as they struck, as in many martial arts. But this delayed "maybe I got a touch I guess I should ask the judge by screaming" just seems silly.
  - xen0 5y ago
    When you do something physically intensive, fighting to hit someone who's doing their damnedest to stop you and hit you back, in a high pressure situation, it can be really hard to not shout/scream when you succeed, or even just believe you succeeded. Not many people are super-cool in that situation. But, admittedly, the shouting can be a bit of a meme in the fencing community.
    - jessaustin 5y ago
      I have no problem with genuine celebration, in any sport. I have no problem with any vocalization that accompanies a vigorous action, such as in tennis or kendo. I'm sure that in many cases what seems to my untrained eye to be special pleading via emotional outburst is really just a reaction to a clearly valid touch that both opponents and all judges would acknowledge. But, do they have to take off their face shields after every point? Surely that gets at least as tiresome for experienced fencers as it does for relatively ignorant observers?
  - dmoy 5y ago
    > This is so distasteful to me that I haven't been able to watch much fencing. Fencing is fast enough that it would take a lot of viewing to really understand what's going on. Yea it's terrible. Now imagine going to summer nationals, or JOs, or any of other big circuit tournaments, and going near the saber section, where there's like 40+ consecutive bouts going on all at the same time, with each person yelling and screeching every 10 seconds. > Do they scream like this at practice? no > Do they practice the screaming? no Fencing really is a terrible spectator sport. Second probably only to bullseye target shooting without electronic targets lol.
  - codpiece 5y ago
    Actually, shouting is usually frowned upon, and it's really disturbing in the salle. Most of us want to punch the yeller, but he's got a weapon. Oh wait, so do we!
mhh__ 5y ago
To really appreciate sabre you have to have done some refereeing yourself unfortunately. It doesn't help that Olympic coverage is usually diabolically awful i.e. fencing is done with the feet but they always focus on the blades.
dmoy 5y ago
> they still seem so fast as to be unfun to watch I mean... yea I could see that, if you haven't fenced a lot. It used to be so much worse though. Like a bout would literally be over in 45 seconds of match time, with a score of 15-10 or something. The routine would be: 1. Allez! 2. Both fencers charge full tilt at each other, running 3. Some sword stuff as they pass like jousters 4. Both fencers turn around, look at the ref, and yell loudly 5. Ref tries to piece together what they think they saw 1-5 used to happen in like 1 second every time Now 1-5 happen in like 5+ seconds, and importantly there's a rule that prohibits actual running.
- codpiece 5y ago
  This has to be the most accurate description of competitive fencing I've ever read. Especially the 'yell loudly' bit.

throwawaysea 5y ago

I had the same impression. To the untrained eye it is hard to appreciate what’s going on or what makes one fencer better. All I see is a blur and then the winner screaming in a fury. The broadcasting is terrible - they should show slowed footage with annotations (like in football plays) explaining what’s going on.

darylteo 5y ago
I wonder if it would be easier to watch with something like Hawkeye for Tennis like so https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2DXCAWI8gU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2DXCAWI8gU
- aikinai 5y ago
  Thanks for sharing; this would definitely make it much more interesting to watch!
jessaustin 5y ago
...the winner screaming in a fury. This is so distasteful to me that I haven't been able to watch much fencing. Fencing is fast enough that it would take a lot of viewing to really understand what's going on. So, this has really hampered my appreciation. Appropriate automated video editing could really help me out. Do they scream like this at practice? Do they practice the screaming? It would be one thing if they vocalized as they struck, as in many martial arts. But this delayed "maybe I got a touch I guess I should ask the judge by screaming" just seems silly.
- xen0 5y ago
  When you do something physically intensive, fighting to hit someone who's doing their damnedest to stop you and hit you back, in a high pressure situation, it can be really hard to not shout/scream when you succeed, or even just believe you succeeded. Not many people are super-cool in that situation. But, admittedly, the shouting can be a bit of a meme in the fencing community.
  - jessaustin 5y ago
    I have no problem with genuine celebration, in any sport. I have no problem with any vocalization that accompanies a vigorous action, such as in tennis or kendo. I'm sure that in many cases what seems to my untrained eye to be special pleading via emotional outburst is really just a reaction to a clearly valid touch that both opponents and all judges would acknowledge. But, do they have to take off their face shields after every point? Surely that gets at least as tiresome for experienced fencers as it does for relatively ignorant observers?
- dmoy 5y ago
  > This is so distasteful to me that I haven't been able to watch much fencing. Fencing is fast enough that it would take a lot of viewing to really understand what's going on. Yea it's terrible. Now imagine going to summer nationals, or JOs, or any of other big circuit tournaments, and going near the saber section, where there's like 40+ consecutive bouts going on all at the same time, with each person yelling and screeching every 10 seconds. > Do they scream like this at practice? no > Do they practice the screaming? no Fencing really is a terrible spectator sport. Second probably only to bullseye target shooting without electronic targets lol.
- codpiece 5y ago
  Actually, shouting is usually frowned upon, and it's really disturbing in the salle. Most of us want to punch the yeller, but he's got a weapon. Oh wait, so do we!

mhh__ 5y ago

To really appreciate sabre you have to have done some refereeing yourself unfortunately. It doesn't help that Olympic coverage is usually diabolically awful i.e. fencing is done with the feet but they always focus on the blades.

dmoy 5y ago

> they still seem so fast as to be unfun to watch I mean... yea I could see that, if you haven't fenced a lot. It used to be so much worse though. Like a bout would literally be over in 45 seconds of match time, with a score of 15-10 or something. The routine would be: 1. Allez! 2. Both fencers charge full tilt at each other, running 3. Some sword stuff as they pass like jousters 4. Both fencers turn around, look at the ref, and yell loudly 5. Ref tries to piece together what they think they saw 1-5 used to happen in like 1 second every time Now 1-5 happen in like 5+ seconds, and importantly there's a rule that prohibits actual running.

codpiece 5y ago
This has to be the most accurate description of competitive fencing I've ever read. Especially the 'yell loudly' bit.