halopub

Venus also out of the Open now. 😬 Ben Rothenberg published part 2 of Sharypova's story in Slate and also explained some of the delay on Twitter, which was the loss of his dad. Still don't know what Rolex is thinking but glad to see more people in tennis speak up. Andy Roddick also addressed how Zverev is treated with kid gloves by the media on more than one issue, pointing out how much more scrutiny Osaka and Kyrgios get. For everything.

My question is whether the sometimes problematic messenger makes it easier for tennis players and fans to dismiss the allegations as some sort of fantastical crusade on Rothenberg's part. That if he's been a gossipy pot stirrer to them, then this is just more of the same. That is just the vibe I'm getting from tennis twitter, but I totally realize that's not a representative sample of the tennis audience at large. The reason I wondered this was an old interview with Kristen Stewart where she was asked about why she worked with Woody Allen despite hearing about the molestation and she mentioned that the tabloids had made up so much about her. She had projected her experience onto Allen. I 100% agree with you that Olya's story was convincing and the ATP is way behind the other major sports leagues on investigating such serious allegations. Tennis players also need to step up and say something but it seems Zverev has plenty of allies.

I listened to the whole interview before it was taken down. During the hour, they focused mainly on work ethic and how his parents emphasized education and other interests like ballet and piano rather than make skating the one thing in his life. The people interviewing him don't know anything about skating and judging by their peppy tone, clearly didn't realize what a loaded, setup question they were asking Nathan. And Nathan has a bad habit of using questioner's phrases back in his word salad responses. In the context of the question and what he was trying to say - yes very poorly - I'm going to be a little more sympathetic. He certainly could have been more eloquent in expressing his frustration that skating is not seen as a genuine sport in American society and that he's trying to expand people's perception of the sport by bringing in other kinds of music, etc. Instead he tripped all over himself with descriptors like feminine/masculine he should have been way more careful with. In addition to the required athleticism, individualism and a diversity of style in how skaters express themselves is a beautiful thing. And I was not impressed by Yuzu stans who had a field day making Nathan out to be the worst person ever and spamming such a short snippet of the interview. "We will not forget." Yikes. I was pleasantly surprised that The Skating Lesson duo, in reluctantly discussing the interview, took the time to delve into how sports that have a strong artistic component (or vice versa) are viewed around the world vs. the US.

I think it would certainly help if well known players other than Andy Murray and Daniil Medvedev would be willing to at least support the addition of a domestic violence policy into the code of conduct. As it is, it seems most either don't want to speak on the matter at all or like Bencic, actively support Zverev. Or like his social media posts as if the detailed allegations never happened. Maybe Ben Rothenberg is the reason players so easily dismiss the allegations. I don't know. But if I were in sports marketing at Rolex, I would not have wanted to even risk the whiff of scandal by signing Zverev. In other Olympic tennis, I'm still disappointed Hsieh Su-wei was deemed ineligible by the ITF. It would have a been a blast to watch her in doubles.

Yeah, I continue to be bothered that the story is so under reported. I feel like that alternate from the US fencing team got more coverage than Zverev. Instead all the usual social media managers ignore the allegations and celebrate his win as if nothing has happened. At least McEnroe and his co-analyst touched on the allegations against Basilashvili and Zverev during Wimbledon but it was very brief. If i recall correctly, McEnroe was accused himself by Tatum O'Neal decades ago but subsequently got full custody of their kids. I can't stand Djokovic for many reasons. Including his initial support for Justin Gimelstob a few years back. The covid tour. Etc., etc. But yeah, I easily would have preferred him over Zverev on the podium.

USADA confirmed that no banned substances were involved - it was the infusion itself that was unapproved. USA He needed a special exemption to get an IV of more than 100ml. Lochte still violated an anti-doping rule and was suspended for a time. On the subject of doping, though, there's this: China’s Sun Yang Barred From Swimming for Four Years .

Eff cancer. I still remember the time she did the Nürburgring in a van.

Try the first two links, which still work for me. I expect USFS to keep up their page of links for a bit.

The USFS has been slow to upload it but watched the senior men short for the ISP Points Challenge on CBS Interactive. I liked Jason Brown's choice of Sinnerman (23 min in), which I've been wanting Nathan to tackle since Nemesis. Didn't hate the music cut but was kind of bored. His multi-angle clip on Twitter felt more dynamic. Nathan's mariachi short has so much potential. I can see where the choreo needs some sharpening and the facial expressions don't always work but this could be an excellent program. Off to watch more of the programs. CBS has the skates here . Edited to add: I liked Jason's long program but I'm less sure about Nathan's. I did not anticipate Mariah going with an ABBA medley which kind of worked for me but would have liked cleaner editing to the music.

This is the first time I've ever like Trusova. Did Plushenko really teach her lyricism that quickly? Looking forward to her stretching out her choreography further and maybe holding that cantilever a second longer. Also agree with Jackie Wong that Kostornaia should just go with Bad Guy if she wants to use Billie Eilish.

Do you mean elite training centers? Or just places popular with Japanese skaters that also have full size rinks? I would be surprised if there were only three. There’s Hamada’s controversial base at Kansai U. and I think Hanyu trains all the way up in Sendai. There are definitely other full size rinks in the nation, but I don’t know how skating clubs / skating time works over there. Sapporo still has its rink from the ‘72 Olympics and then there is Dydo Arena in the Tokyo area where Jonathan van Ness practiced during Queer Eye: We’re in Japan. The US system does put so much of the financial burden on the athletes. With all the abuse and/or mismanagement issues across multiple sports, though, I’m reluctant to donate to the USOPC.

Nice find! Yeah, I do wish we had some evidence of I-Scope's accuracy, as well as maybe other statistics like skater height to jump height ratio. Ito's only 4'9" (1.45 m) so that made her outsized jumps look even more impressive. Even though she's not listed on the USFS website's scholarship page, I presume Alysa at least gets a substantial amount as national champion.

I got around to searching Japanese tweets and found one that lists i-scopes for 2As. I didn’t spot a 49cm for Japanese Nationals but were you perhaps thinking of Sakura Yamada or Honoka Hirotani?

Who are you thinking of? The only current Japanese skater I've heard of outside the the top five is Hosoda.

Clip of Midori Ito pairs skating with Leigh Yip at the Winter World Masters. I don't imagine either has had much pairs experience but they looked like they had a blast. All that was missing was one of those huge double axels she can still do. The same account tweeted a clip of Daisuke Takahashi ice dancing with Kana Muramoto at a show. Lots of potential there!

One of the Japanese dailies is reporting that the Shibutanis are planning on competing in Beijing.

In case you haven't seen it, there's an audience clip floating around that shows the kiss and cry from a different angle. There was at least one JSF rep by the stairs who appeared emotional and supportive. Shoma did say that the tears were due in large part to the enthusiastic audience support he got despite a rough skate. Raf might be a grump but even he showed respect in his own undemonstrative way, handing over some of Shoma's presents and offering a fleeting clap. There were a lot of mishaps during this tournament, including the poor ice conditions, but that moment with Mariah awarding Kostornaia with her gold medal made me laugh.

He's an Australian comedian who co-hosts The Last Leg on Channel 4. The show's clips sometimes get suggested when I watch 8 Cats Does Countdown on Youtube. Adam and one of his co-hosts Alex Brooker have disabilities so there's a lot of disability humor to go along with the political wisecracks. I haven't watched the show regularly but I think Adam's prosthetic leg makes regular appearances.

I really enjoyed the look of David's and Rosie's showstoppers. The sails made sense and while a little wonky, Rosie's dragon and Rapunzel made me chuckle. Steph's showstopper may have tasted great but it did look a little small compared to the others. Maybe there were no size requirements in the brief? Apparently Henry fans have been taking their frustrations out on the judges and Rosie, which bleh. Henry was the most obvious choice for elimination this week and I'm glad he's enthusiastically supportive of his fellow baker. What was with the random appearance of Adam Hills? Just a in-network cameo?

Shut up! We got a theme week that wasn't a complete disaster. I'm still waiting for David to fully break through, though the relative lack of non-factual interaction incline me to think he's not winning. (Henry, on the other hand, gets all those moments to show his personality, like treating his spare dough as a hacky sack. Even Rosie gets to joke about her eggy rubber practice bakes.) I feel like the producers are setting up a future storyline with all the comparisons between David's neat workstation with Alice's working chaos. I'm glad Michael was able to do relatively well on the week he went. I liked Rosie's sugar glass birds on her Sawarak layer cake. David's geometric approach was striking. And they put in that shot of an oven framed by someone's behind.

I kind of doubt Love Productions is catering much to its high revenue US Netflix viewers - they might sub in "baking show" for "bake off" in the intros for legal reasons but as I've complained elsewhere, the show also stubbornly continues to use British-acceptable words like oriental in the US broadcast which have regionally awful connotations. On the other hand, I am convinced the producers have been influenced by their move from the BBC to Channel 4. The UK ratings haven't been quite as high and this is not the first Channel 4 season with stunt challenges. (That fire pit technical comes to mind.) I think of it as the show developing Food Network-type qualities. Younger, overly animated yet telegenic faces, manipulated situations, convoluted challenges, etc. Bake Off has never been completely immune from this - like the time the show insisted Enwezor was awful for using store bought icing but not acknowledging his competitors did the exact same thing - but yes, in comparison to every other competitive reality show GBBO has been generally very good for the soul. This many times over. My benchmark for casts that are both friendly and impressively skilled is usually UK season 5 (Netflix 1?). Even with bingate, I remember that group very fondly. For all his hubris, Paul does offer technical explanations and tips. It's been awhile, but I seem to remember Sherry Yard finding a better balance of positivity and criticism than Prue on American Baking Show. I remember quoting a Guardian writer last year who expressed a lot of what forum posters are saying now. The difference now being that we're not even sure about the bakers' skills. Another Guardian writer dinged the show in his review of this specific episode and again, echoed many of our complaints here. In US Media, AV club said and the LA Times last week:

Overall the baking competence was up this week and the episode felt more like GBBO to me. David and Steph's meringues were gorgeous. I thought Prue was unnecessarily critical about the color of Priya's. It was no different than the color of blueberry yogurt. I sort of chuckled when all the bakers slow walked their technicals to the table and Noel had to be asked to refrain from jokes. Was Henry wearing a spider web pin in Helena's honor? Loved the striking look of Rosie's ruby bombe. It was nice of the show to actually show some of Sandi's interactions with the contestants, including the laddie club chat by the fridge. I'd like to try the spiced honey mousse and shiso sorbet. I've made fresh shiso juice and can see how it'd might work in a dessert. "I knew what I was going to nick from the tent." Poor Henry did look pretty despondent before the judgements were announced - he was just draped on David while sitting on the outside couch. Closeups of the showstoppers Closeups of the signatures

The 1920s theme was a bit tenuous. The editors didn't do a great job of telegraphing Helena and Michelle's departures, though they themselves didn't seem surprised to leave over Priya. I also didn't care for the excessive reliance on Henry for so many reaction shots, assuming of course, that they actually correspond to the times they were cut in. The nervous crossed fingers on behalf of another baker was lovely to see the first time.... I need to look up the Tom Hovey illustration of David's cake because I'm not sure I got his artistic direction. Great choice on Steph's part to use canned pineapple. I'm sorry Brits are not familiar with beignet, though I would have thought pillow-shaped ones would be acceptable. Note to competitors: add pâte à choux and sabayon to your pre-tent practice. Choux comes up nearly every season.

It makes me wonder if he's really the "GBBO super fan" that the media portrayed. Rough puff has done in enough bakers over the years that Henry ought to have at least attempted it before the tent. That and his claim that he'd only had "one or two weeks" of bread making experience before bread week make me wonder. I'd have to rewatch but I initially thought that maybe Paul was mumbling or caught himself as he misspoke. If Paul were older and Priya had an 's' in her name I would think it was slippage of some dental work. @TVbitch, I've only seen the show post closeups of the showstoppers but I'll let you know if I spot photos of the signatures. Edited to add: I was just looking at Phil's gram and given time he's capable of some elegant work! It'll be interesting to see if any of the classism comes up during Extra Slice.

Sandi's a good mom! I like how she knows when to goof off and when to empathize. The showstoppers were by and large pretty, though I'm not sure about Steph's pink "hot dog." Also Prue comparing Phil's whimsical work to playdoh was harsh but I could sort of see what she meant. I'm glad Michael was able to save himself with sweets he doesn't like. The technical was...yeah. Right now Steph and Michelle seem the most reliable to me. Rosie continues to speak very quickly and I don't feel like we know Priya or David at all. Alice still comes across as a contestant from a Food Network show but I don't think she's exaggerating her mannerisms for TV. I'm going to steal Helena's biscuit spoons. I was surprised by how much I was charmed by her this week. The ghost didn't bother me and while her showstopper wasn't the neatest, it was delightfully colorful. Closeups of the showstoppers: