Dick Button and Peggy Flemming

[passion]

I was watching some old youtube footage of skating, with Button and Flemming commenting in the background.  I really miss them!  Sometimes he would crack me up with his comments - I loved them.  His comments were sharp and quirky, brutally honest at times, but always bang on.  They seem to be the only commentators who actually comment on the quality and art of skating; everyone else just comments on whether skaters do the jump or not. Does anybody else miss Button and Flemming?  Are they still commentating or did they retire?

[Schmeck]

Button pretty much retired after his serious head injury at Nationals in Boston many years ago. He 'came back' but he wasn't his old self at all, and kind of faded away.

Sometimes he was spot on, and sometimes he was as blind as a bat! He used to go on about how amazing Sasha Cohen's (f)lutzes were.

[sarahspins]

Sometimes he was spot on, and sometimes he was as blind as a bat! He used to go on about how amazing Sasha Cohen's (f)lutzes were.

No, I really think he just had a strong preference for pretty little girls and he couldn't look past how good he wanted them to be, to actually see their flaws... if you ever paid attention to how he commented on the men vs women, it was obvious.

[passion]

What happened?  What fall?  I never heard of his accident.

[drskater]

He suffered a skull fracture after falling on the ice in 2000 (New Year's eve actually). Since he lost his memory of the accident, I don't think anyone really knows what he did exactly to hurt himself.He himself guesses he tried a jump that didn't work out. I've heard a rumor that it was a double axel, but who knows?

[irenar5]

No, I really think he just had a strong preference for pretty little girls and he couldn't look past how good he wanted them to be, to actually see their flaws... if you ever paid attention to how he commented on the men vs women, it was obvious.

One of my memorable moments about Dick Button was when he pinched Irina Slutskaya's cheeks after her skate with "Oh, I really wanted to do that for a while!".  She told him: "Oh, yeah, I know, old people always love pinching my cheeks".

[Query]

Weren't he and Peggy CBS commentators, a year or too ago, at Nationals and/or Worlds or the Olympics?

Peggy has been involved in organizing a bunch of skating shows, for various causes.

You might look at Peggy's web site, and Dick Button's Wikipedia article.