Figure Skating: He's Here, He's Weir, Get Over It

[Deleted]

I basically blew off my life this past weekend and watched all the figure skating coverage on the ice network. It was awesome. I think ice network should show all the grand prix events, nationals and world. NBC’s 2 hour program didn’t even begin to cover what should be shown. Unfortunately, ice network won't cover any of the other grand prix events. Does anyone know if there any other (free or otherwise) places on the web that you can watch that have more extensive coverage than US television?

Anyway, I was psyched that I got to watch Daisuke Takahashi—absolutely loved his short program although WTF was he wearing? I had to laugh about his and Miki Andos’ costumes. I wonder if one of the reasons their costumes are so flamboyant is because they are coached by a former ice dancer?

I also loved that Dube and Davison won over Pang and Tong. I don’t really dislike Pang and Tong but to me they are pretty meh except for their throws which are huge, but then she weighs about 3 pounds so of course he can throw her far. I think she should retire from skating so she can eat. I also liked the Russian couple who came in third although she is only 14 so I guess I'll wait awhile to get really excited about them.

Anyway, I think that Caroline Zhang won’t be able to do the pearl once she hits puberty*. I also think that she will have more problems with her jumps then, too, unless she corrects her jumping technique. I can't believe that Bezic and Hamilton kept talking about how wonderful she is and how because she is so talented that she might never know how hard figure skating is. Bleh. I wonder how they explain all the down-graded jumps? It is their job to explain figure skating and after all their hype, they really didn't explain it. It leaves it looking like the judges didn't know what they were doing. I dislike the judges for many reasons, but in this case they were right. Sorry, I don't mean to be totally bitchy, but it really frosts me that Hamilton and Bezic are supposed to be the experts and they talk up someone that they should know can't live up to their hype. Caroline Zhang for all intents and purposes is a junior skater. Even I can see that. Why won't they? She does have wonderful spins though.

*An example of what puberty can do to a female skater is Elena G (er, the Georgian skater with the really long last name), who made a big splash at the Torino Olympics and held up as the next big thing in skating. Well, she was at Skate America too, but she wasn't televised on NBC because she was 11th out of 11th in the short program. She has had problems adjusting her skating to her body (although she has also had other problems as well.)

[Deleted]

I watched only the women's programs. I don't even think NBC covered the pairs where I live, or maybe I missed it? Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Zhang and that's about it. I know she's has technical problems with her lutz and has had to downgrade both her short and long, but when she skates, it's like watching a child at play. For now, everything still looks effortless, especially her spins, but yeah, I have a feeling puberty will be a bitch for her.

Mai Asasdo was a mess. She could barely get halfway through her routine. I know it's early in the season, but she looked like she had just come back from birthing twins. Who is coaching the Asada sisters now? Hopefully, Mao is further along in her conditioning than her sister.

As for the rest, Ando was sloppy, but her jumps are beautiful. I think she has enough height for a quad. Emily Hughes...well, she has a lot of enthusiasm, I'll give her that. And Kimmie Meissner, she is a nice girl with nice performances, yet I can't get excited about her. Her movements and expressions are too small for Nessum Dorma.

[swanflake]

sezme said:

I can't believe that Bezic and Hamilton kept talking about how wonderful she is and how because she is so talented that she might never know how hard figure skating is. Bleh. I wonder how they explain all the down-graded jumps? It is their job to explain figure skating and after all their hype, they really didn't explain it. It leaves it looking like the judges didn't know what they were doing. I dislike the judges for many reasons, but in this case they were right. Sorry, I don't mean to be totally bitchy, but it really frosts me that Hamilton and Bezic are supposed to be the experts and they talk up someone that they should know can't live up to their hype.

Thank you! Hamilton and Bezic have never been my favorite commentators, but I was surprised how little they actually seemed to know about skating these days. Scott made that comment about how he didn't recognize Miki from what he remembered of her in Torino because she's improved so much. Umm, hello, she made those improvements at the beginning of last season. That comment makes me think that he didn't even watch any ISU figure skating last year.

I think Hamilton and Bezic are both stuck in "It's just not as good as it used to be" mode, and while that's certainly understandable, if that's their attitude then NBC needs to fire them and hire someone who's going to get with the program. We need people who can explain the scoring in simple terms and who has their facts straight. Scotty has nothing to say other than "You gotta skate stupid!" and exclamations of "OWW OWW OWW!" anytime any skater pulls their leg in close proximity to their torso.

I was really hoping to see Dick Button there. I thought it was said that Dick was in negotiations with NBC earlier this year, but I don't know how that turned out. Even at his age, Dick is far more informed and far more fresh than Scott and Sandra put together.

Does anyone know if there any other (free or otherwise) places on the web that you can watch that have more extensive coverage than US television?

There's some program you can download that'll let you watch it all on Chinese television live for free, but I've never bothered to download it since videos always get made within a day or two. I know there's also some online service you can subscribe to that'll let you watch a bunch of Russian and former-Soviet channels, but I don't even know how to locate it. You'd probably need to be able to read Russian to even do the web searches to find it. It costs money, too.

elin said:

I watched only the women's programs. I don't even think NBC covered the pairs where I live, or maybe I missed it?

No, you didn't miss it. NBC only aired two hours of coverage--one hour of the men's and one hour of the ladies free skate live. I wish they had aired the men's competition live on Saturday instead of Halloween on Ice, and then on Sunday they could've aired the free dance before the ladies.

I can't say I was particularly enthused by the ladies competition. I thought the men's competition was considerably better, but Evan Lysacek's free skate isn't doing it for me.

[Deleted]

Yeah, that was an entire soap opera. I met them all up close and personal. Usova was absolutely gorgeous.

[carrier76]

I watched Skate America (on NBC). I am sad they didn't televise Ryan Bradley's program. I like his charisma.

Evan's program was okay. The ending pose made me puke.

Kimmie seems like SUCH a nice kid, but her program was dullsville yet again. I noticed that Emily Hughes is now putting her hair in a bun. I read about this trick in one of Christine Brennan's books; it's how they tricked people into seeing Michelle Kwan's sophistication. Will this work for Emily? Eh. Caroline Zhang's "Pearl" makes me scream in pain.

The NBC announcers are BUNK.

[Deleted]

carrier76 said:

Evan's program was okay. The ending pose made me puke.

Have just watched this on YT. Yes, you're very manly Evan, we get it! Now get some charisma and presence and I may actually take you seriously cause that was some neat skating.

[Deleted]

Sasha Cohen has joined Stars on Ice. I guess that means she is no longer an amateur.

[swanflake]

deaconblue said:

Sasha Cohen has joined Stars on Ice. I guess that means she is no longer an amateur.

The ISU sanctioned Stars on Ice a while back. Since 2002, at least, because when Alexei Yagudin joined he was still saying that he wanted to continue with Olympic eligible skating. Sarah Hughes was still tooting that "I might make a comeback for the 2010 Olympics" horn too for PR purposes when she joined Stars on Ice, but no one believed it. But Sasha can still return to eligible skating next season, and I really hope she does.

[Sunnyhorse]

Swan, do skaters who do this just have to set their earnings aside "in escrow" or something while they're still considering themselves amateurs, or do they just stop doing anything to earn money while they're competing as amateurs?

[swanflake]

sunnyhorse said:

Swan, do skaters who do this just have to set their earnings aside "in escrow" or something while they're still considering themselves amateurs, or do they just stop doing anything to earn money while they're competing as amateurs?

Nope, it's all yours. Gymnasts have that problem, but since there's no NCAA figure skating, you can keep all of your money. Grand Prix events pay $18,000 for first place in a singles event now. It used to be $30,000 when ABC has the ISU contract. I think it's been since the 95-96 season that all ISU competitions have paid prize money. That was the same season that the Champions Series (now called the Grand Prix) was established. Even Junior Worlds pays prize money. The US federation also supplements the American skaters' winnings with more cash, or at least they did when they had the big ABC contract. I don't know how they've redone their budget since the move to NBC.