Figure Skating

[SophiaD]

Nathan just gave a great interview with Scott Hamilton.  I was very impressed with his maturity and his recognition of his Hanyu - and amused that he didn't tell Artyunyan about the six-quad plan in advance.  I hope he goes and had a GREAT worlds.

[sweeks]

I'm watching Scott Hamilton interview Nathan on Olympic Ice. It was a pretty good interview, and I love how Scott talked to Nathan about Nathan's performance. He acknowledged and asked about the issues in the short programs (both in the team and individual events), but he really stressed how great the long  program was for Nathan. He also noted that he and Brian Botano were 5th in their first Olympics. 

[galaxygirl76]

22 minutes ago, herbz said:

They have 13 year old Stephen Gogolev, who clearly has tremendous potential, but I worry for him. He's already doing quads and I fear burnout.

Is that even healthy for such a young body? I hear it's not great on fully grown ones.

[sweeks]

Tanith is explaining twizzles on Olympic Ice. I'm impressed at her ability to walk the audience through different moves. I also learned that ice dance skates are different from the skates used in other figure skating disciplines. 

[specialj67]

Upon rewatching large chunks of the men’s free skate (I just had to skip the guys who really tanked it), I am so impressed with the level of talent in this field as compared to what it was in Sochi. Maybe it’s recency bias, I don’t know. 

This also gave me a chance to watch Nathan’s program with more scrutiny, and the knocks against him in the PCS dept. are totally fair. Outside of the step and choreo sequences, there wasn’t a whole lot there to call high quality artistry. If he competes at Worlds next month, and I hope he (and Vincent and Adam), will, I would like to see some more personality between the insane jumps. We know he’s more than capable of it because he does it in the SP pretty well.

Upon re-watching the 3rd group, I would have placed Kolyada below Adam. In that instance, I would have liked to see cleanliness and near-perfection placed higher than difficult but messy. I think that’s my only quibble with the scoring. Also? It’s bananas that a 10th place score in this event would have won in the 2010 Games.

[Moxie Cat]

5 minutes ago, specialj67 said:

It's bananas that a 10th place score in this event would have won in the 2010 Games

And I loved Lysacek's FS that year! Skating has changed a lot. Go back and watch "Ice Castles" - the moves and jumps seem incredibly, unbelievably basic now.

I will say, though, that Adam's quad-less, beautifully choreographed "10" is pretty level with Jason Brown's "10" from Sochi. I'm glad there is still room for beautiful skaters in the top 10 without quads, though it probably won't last long.

[absnow54]

During the Hubel/Donahue interview, did they refer to VM and the French team as their teammates?

[Growsonwalls]

50 minutes ago, sweeks said:

I'm watching Scott Hamilton interview Nathan on Olympic Ice. It was a pretty good interview, and I love how Scott talked to Nathan about Nathan's performance. He acknowledged and asked about the issues in the short programs (both in the team and individual events), but he really stressed how great the long  program was for Nathan. He also noted that he and Brian Botano were 5th in their first Olympics. 

Another great Olympian who placed 5th in his first Olympics: Michael Phelps.

I went to Nathan Chen's instagram and wow I never realized how tiny he was until I saw this picture:

Steph Curry is about 6'1" right? He looks like a giant next to Nathan.

[TVbitch]

I also loved Lysacek's SP and FS in 2010, and I can still remember Johnny's emotional skate that year. I kind of wish the quad never happened. I hate watching most of them fall trying to achieve it. I can't really even tell much difference between that and a triple just watching it anyway. Johnny, Adam and Jason (and Jeremy Abbott whom I loved) were all doomed from contention by the quad!  

Please tell there is not a quintuple coming. 

[Juneau Gal]

3 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I also loved Lysacek's SP and FS in 2010, and I can still remember Johnny's emotional skate that year. I kind of wish the quad never happened. I hate watching most of them fall trying to achieve it. I can't really even tell much difference between that and a triple just watching it anyway. Johnny, Adam and Jason (and Jeremy Abbott whom I loved) were all doomed from contention by the quad!  

Please tell there is not a quintuple coming. 

There was an article posted on social media recently from Science magazine, or some such, that stated a quintuple is pretty much physically impossible. Too much required in too short of a time before gravity takes over. 

[Moxie Cat]

7 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Please tell there is not a quintuple coming

I think it's more likely a lady lands a quad. You're already pretty close with the triple axel, and per Tara, Daleman has been landing a quad in practice. As soon as I heard that, I figured the Russian coaches would be all over it for the post-Med/Zag skaters (call me skeptical both ladies will return in 2022! This is Russia.)

[absnow54]

10 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Please tell there is not a quintuple coming. 

Not for a while. There's still quad quad combos and quad axels to get to. 

[selkie]

3 hours ago, methadonna said:

So, that’s why they started letting lyrics in? With that much Puccini overuse, listing the Phantom overuse was already at risk of becoming both redundant and indistinguishable? ;-) *

If memory serves, songs with lyrics snuck in via ice dance- there was a year where the ISU put a rhythm/theme (maybe something like hip hop? It's a more modern rhythm) on the list for short dance the following year, only to discover a few months in that there were literally only about three skateable songs in the genre that didn't have lyrics, so they changed the rule to allow for lyrics in dance that year rather than change the rhythm, and when the world didn't end from that, songs with lyrics were allowed to spread to the other competition events. 

[kayma]

29 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

During the Hubel/Donahue interview, did they refer to VM and the French team as their teammates?

Yes, apparently they are Team Montreal instead of Team USA. I don't think V/M got that memo, though. 

I wasn't really a fan of theirs before but was resigning myself to the inevitable bronze. Now, I'm really hoping they don't medal.

[AshleyN]

21 minutes ago, Moxie Cat said:

I think it's more likely a lady lands a quad. You're already pretty close with the triple axel, and per Tara, Daleman has been landing a quad in practice. As soon as I heard that, I figured the Russian coaches would be all over it for the post-Med/Zag skaters (call me skeptical both ladies will return in 2022! This is Russia.)

Didn't Miki Ando land a quad years ago? I don't think anyone has done it since though.

[Chaser]

I was rewatching some of Nathan's routines and choreography that is interesting and contemporary fits him so much better than classical and traditional. 

10 minutes ago, kayma said:

Yes, apparently they are Team Montreal instead of Team USA. I don't think V/M got that memo, though. 

I wasn't really a fan of theirs before but was resigning myself to the inevitable bronze. Now, I'm really hoping they don't medal.

I've seen this sentiment a lot. The Shibs have been scoring higher and have had more success internationally than H/D this season (from what I understand). Why are people thinking they are favored over the Shibs?

[caracas1914]

In all that is holy, no more fucking “West Side Story”...

[annzeepark914]

45 minutes ago, absnow54 said:

During the Hubel/Donahue interview, did they refer to VM and the French team as their teammates?

This is unbelievable!  No wonder they never joined Team USA during the team competition - guess they didn't consider themselves a part of it.  I began to dislike H/D when I saw their faces after the SD at Nationals (when the Shibs beat them).  What the heck happened to these people - they used to be so likeable.

[CeeBeeGee]

On 2/16/2018 at 8:52 PM, herbz said:

In the immortal words of Kim Cattrall in the classic film Ice Princess: never deviate! I think any changes to his planned layout now would just further unsettle him. 

You mean the dragon she rides? ?

"She deviated!" "And I'll bust her for it. Tomorrow."

 

On 2/16/2018 at 9:11 PM, MostlyC said:

I wonder what the Night King would skate to...or what he'd do at the Winter Olympics...

The Doors' "The End."

 

11 hours ago, deaja said:

I missed Vincent last night. Hopefully it’ll be on YouTube soon. 

Adam skated as well and still didn’t crack the top 5- again, this to me emphasizes that he shouldn’t have been on the team. 

It would have been great if Nathan had pulled out a bronze, but he still did incredible in the long.

Adam's flawless LP in the team skate helped USA get the bronze. He did what he was sent there to do.

 

1 hour ago, Moxie Cat said:

And I loved Lysacek's FS that year! Skating has changed a lot. Go back and watch "Ice Castles" - the moves and jumps seem incredibly, unbelievably basic now.

I will say, though, that Adam's quad-less, beautifully choreographed "10" is pretty level with Jason Brown's "10" from Sochi. I'm glad there is still room for beautiful skaters in the top 10 without quads, though it probably won't last long.

Ice Castles!!!!! I love that movie both ironically (heroine skating in the dark, with cables and metal tables in the corner? What could possibly go wrong) and un-ironically (her last skate really is stunning). It's such a weird mixture of super-specific insider knowledge about the sport (the discussion about the waning importance of the figures) and total cluelessness about the sport (no girl/woman was throwing 3As back then and nobody in the movie ever seems to do a short program). Still. Love it though (and the remake was terrible).

 

2 minutes ago, AshleyN said:

Didn't Miki Ando land a quad years ago? I don't think anyone has done it since though.

When she was a junior, yes.

I wanted to start my post with this comment but can't figure out how to do that when you're playing to multiple comments--the box at the top won't move:

I just saw Nathan's LP and burst into tears. That was an AMAZING skate.  To bomb in the short and come back like that--I am incredibly proud of him. That was just fantastic. Hearing Tara and Johnny get so excited was great as well. Just--good for you, Nathan. Good for you.

[redpencil]

Quote

I was rewatching some of Nathan's routines and choreography that is interesting and contemporary fits him so much better than classical and traditional. 

Yes, exactly. Which is exactly what his SP is. For anyone that had never seen it before this Olympics (where he was terrible with it twice), check out his skate from the Rostelecom Cup early in the season (where he beat Hanyu). I especially love the footwork sequence toward the end; so cool. I'm not sure which competition it was, but in one event this year he got the highest possible score on that sequence. This style really suits him.

Edited February 18, 2018 by redpencil

[MaKaM]

34 minutes ago, Chaser said:

I've seen this sentiment a lot. The Shibs have been scoring higher and have had more success internationally than H/D this season (from what I understand). Why are people thinking they are favored over the Shibs?

The scoring from the Team Event seemed to not bode well for the Shibs. They were out-PCSed by the not!Russians in the long dance and the technical caller was being very strict (with everyone, fortunately but no guarantee that trend will continue) so their technical were lower than they have been. Also, the gap between them and Virtue/Moir (I know the trend of shortening to just first initials, but can we start a trend of at least TV/SM because at this point in history there have been an awful lot of pairs and dance teams with the same combo and I cannot keep up when people post a list of the abbreviated names without using the full names elsewhere in the post (G/G can stay though ;-))) and the lack of gap between them and the not!Russians is...concerning. It makes it look like the judges have dumped the Shibs and are looking for a replacement bronze medalist team (with the assumption that Virtue/Moir and Papadakis/Cizeron won't have any major enough screwups to not get those 10s in PCS that they've been getting).

Edited February 18, 2018 by MaKaM

[ChicksDigScars]

1 hour ago, kayma said:

Yes, apparently they are Team Montreal instead of Team USA. I don't think V/M got that memo, though. 

I wasn't really a fan of theirs before but was resigning myself to the inevitable bronze. Now, I'm really hoping they don't medal.

That would explain there tremendous showing of support during the Team Event.  Except not. Yes, they were practicing, but so were Chock and Bates, and they also knew that they wouldn't be participating in the event. Yet, they made the effort. I believe I also saw Karen Chen, once. Not sure about Vincent. 

 

This makes my fear of an All Montreal podium even more stomach churning.  

 

Ice Castles!!!!! I love that movie both ironically (heroine skating in the dark, with cables and metal tables in the corner? What could possibly go wrong) and un-ironically (her last skate really is stunning). It's such a weird mixture of super-specific insider knowledge about the sport (the discussion about the waning importance of the figures) and total cluelessness about the sport (no girl/woman was throwing 3As back then and nobody in the movie ever seems to do a short program). Still. Love it though (and the remake was terrible).

 

It was just on one of the movie channels the week before the Olympics (uncut, no commercials!), and every time I watch, I get skeeved out by the casualness of the sportscaster having a love affair with the 16 year old skater. Ew. Yeah, it was made in the late 70's, but I thought it was gross when I saw it in the theatre as a kid, let alone now. Maybe if they had just said that she was 18, but it would not have fit the narrative in the beginning when the skating coach almost left because 16 was "too old" to begin to coach her. 

Edited February 18, 2018 by ChicksDigScars

[MaKaM]

3 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

That would explain there tremendous showing of support during the Team Event.  Except not. Yes, they were practicing, but so were Chock and Bates, and they also knew that they wouldn't be participating in the event. Yet, they made the effort. I believe I also saw Karen Chen, once. Not sure about Vincent.

So, why are y'all making up these purity tests they have to surpass to be worth rooting for? Did anyone inform Vincent and Hubble/Donahue that they needed to be there to satisfy the internet people? Maybe the others were out watching an event with their families or sleeping or using some of those Olympic Village condoms or whatever. Not our business. They weren't in the event and had no obligation to be there, and I think it is incredibly unfair to be judging them for not being there. Maybe the others showed up to scope out the competition (or the venue) only as a secondary to cheer for Team USA.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CeeBeeGee said:

Adam's flawless LP in the team skate helped USA get the bronze. He did what he was sent there to do.

 

He finished third out of 5. He was ahead of guys who finished 18 and 20 overall. I don’t think the results would have been different subbing any of the other guys in there. His flawless program isn’t good enough to really be competitive.

[HartofDixie]

Speaking of Ice Castles and Ice Princess I haven’t seen The Cutting Edge in ages!

Im worried about the Shibs - being in the 2nd to last group and the first American team to skate makes me nervous. If the judges are planning to push them down I’d rather see the Italians on the podium instead of OAR or Montreal.

[MaKaM]

3 minutes ago, deaja said:

He finished third out of 5. He was ahead of guys who finished 18 and 20 overall. I don’t think the results would have been different subbing any of the other guys in there. His flawless program isn’t good enough to really be competitive.

Well, Ross or Jason likely wouldn't have finished any higher either (would Vincent? And I think Adam should have been ahead of Mikhail but nationalism might be coloring my opinion), I think the choice of Adam has paid off for US figure skating in free publicity. Jason might have gotten some buzz since he is very well liked but Adam has gotten people talking and watching and tweeting.

[ChicksDigScars]

1 hour ago, MaKaM said:

So, why are y'all making up these purity tests they have to surpass to be worth rooting for? Did anyone inform Vincent and Hubble/Donahue that they needed to be there to satisfy the internet people? Maybe the others were out watching an event with their families or sleeping or using some of those Olympic Village condoms or whatever. Not our business. They weren't in the event and had no obligation to be there, and I think it is incredibly unfair to be judging them for not being there. Maybe the others showed up to scope out the competition (or the venue) only as a secondary to cheer for Team USA.

Maybe combined with the bitch face at Nationals on Madison Hubble when the Shib's short dance scores when up, and they were ahead to H/D? Her face literally melted. Maybe combined with their almost air of entitlement, about being sick of Bronze? Nothing wrong with them wanting better, but they seem to have a "but, we train in MONTREAL. Don't you KNOW THAT?"  sense of incredulousness.  Hell, I wanted them to vault ahead of Chock and Bates in the beginning of the season, but what I've seen this fall and winter, has given me a bad taste.  Not showing up to support their teammates in the Team Event, fits pretty damned well with the "Team Montreal over Team USA" narrative.

ANYWAY, The Skating Lesson just retweeted this on Twitter: "The original cunniliftus is back, guys! (Or at least it's back in practice.) #VirtueMoir" Complete with video gif. 

Cunniliftus? Oh, my......can't breathe through the laughter.....

Edited February 18, 2018 by ChicksDigScars

[absnow54]

13 minutes ago, MaKaM said:

Well, Ross or Jason likely wouldn't have finished any higher either (would Vincent? And I think Adam should have been ahead of Mikhail but nationalism might be coloring my opinion), I think the choice of Adam has paid off for US figure skating in free publicity. Jason might have gotten some buzz since he is very well liked but Adam has gotten people talking and watching and tweeting.

Going off the long program rankings, Zhou probably would have won the team event portion, but it probably wouldn't have changed the overall outcome. 

[Enero]

9 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

Maybe combined with the bitch face at Nationals on Madison Hubble when the Shib's short dance scores when up, and they were ahead to H/D? Her face literally melted. Maybe combined with their almost, air of entitlement, about being sick of Bronze? Nothing wrong with them wanting better, but they seem to have a "But, we train in MONTREAL. Don't you KNOW THAT?"  sense of incredulousness.  Hell, I wanted them to vault ahead of Chock and Bates in the beginning of the season, but what I've seen this fall and winter, has given me a bad taste.  Not showing up to support their teammates in the Team Event, fits pretty damned well with the "Team Montreal over Team USA" narrative.

ANYWAY, The Skating Lesson just retweeted this on Twitter: "The original cunniliftus is back, guys! (Or at least it's back in practice.) #VirtueMoir" Complete with video gif. 

Cunniliftus? Oh, my......can't breathe through the laughter.....

? ? ? SMH. 

[Growsonwalls]

Well my septuagenarian mom has spoken: she wants Papadakis/Cizeron to win because she finds Virtue/Moir's program "trashy."

[redpencil]

Vincent was at the team event at least once, so H/D were the only ones that didn't make an appearance. I don't really care about that all that much and doubt they meant anything by it, but I do think it would have been nice for them to show their support.

In any case, I'd like Papadakis/Cizeron to win, mostly because I'm tired of Virtue/Moir. I'd also prefer the Montreal group to not sweep the podium, so I'm hoping for the Shibs to get the bronze (because we all know gold/silver are all but guaranteed and everyone else is fighting for bronze).

[ChromaKelly]

4 hours ago, redpencil said:

 

To be fair, at that point all they get is a stuffed animal. All the medal ceremonies happen nightly at a central location (the Olympic Channel has been showing them live in the middle of the night).

Why are they doing that? Is it new? There's something about having the medal ceremony shortly after the event when they are still all excited and fresh off the win.

I wasn't able to watch the men's short programs. Is there any place I can find it? I'm looking on NBC Sports and I can't find anything.

[Dots And Stripes]

3 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Why are they doing that? Is it new? There's something about having the medal ceremony shortly after the event when they are still all excited and fresh off the win.

I wasn't able to watch the men's short programs. Is there any place I can find it? I'm looking on NBC Sports and I can't find anything.

I remember they've done medal ceremonies for the Winter Olympics at night for a while. I read something that they can do that in winter because there are fewer events and its easier to coordinate. 

[redpencil]

Quote

Why are they doing that? Is it new? There's something about having the medal ceremony shortly after the event when they are still all excited and fresh off the win.

I think they've done it for all the other events for while, but started doing that in figure skating in Sochi. They don't do it that way in the summer, probably because there are so many more events that it wouldn't be feasible. But I don't really know all the history/context.

[Enero]

20 minutes ago, Growsonwalls said:

Well my septuagenarian mom has spoken: she wants Papadakis/Cizeron to win because she finds Virtue/Moir's program "trashy."

I think this is P/C’s gold to lose. Though V/M have won all the big competitions this season, the skating gods/fate whatever you want to call it can be strange. I think the stars will align for P/C and they will win it all.

On another note, the more and more I’m now learning about Hanyu’s persistent injury the more impressed I am with his skate. He was/is still very much injured received meds to get through the pain, lowered the difficulty of his program to get through the competition and even changed his LP at the end, I think to get in the necessary jumps, before he was just unable to do so after having a 4 minute skate. He’s an amazing competitor. 

[alihart41]

15 minutes ago, ChromaKelly said:

Why are they doing that? Is it new? There's something about having the medal ceremony shortly after the event when they are still all excited and fresh off the win.

I wasn't able to watch the men's short programs. Is there any place I can find it? I'm looking on NBC Sports and I can't find anything.

Yeah, it's not new. Like Dots And Stripes said, they do that because there are fewer events in the Winter Olympics. In Salt Lake, they had mini concerts at each night's medal ceremony (I remember 'N Sync, Dave Matthews Band, Barenaked Ladies were some of them) and NBC would show them.

All the full nightly programs are on NBCOlympics.com.

[ChicksDigScars]

My faves were the night PARTIES they'd show in Torino. And the best one? When an Italian won OGM, and they played their anthem. Flags waving everywhere, people hanging out of windows. Singing their anthem at the top of their lungs. Italians sure can party. But I'm totally biased. :)

[Growsonwalls]

8 minutes ago, ChicksDigScars said:

My faves were the night PARTIES they'd show in Torino. And the best one? When an Italian won OGM, and they played their anthem. Flags waving everywhere, people hanging out of windows. Singing their anthem at the top of their lungs. Italians sure can party. But I'm totally biased. :)

In SLC apparently the "Russia House" got quite the reputation for being party central. Given that it was Salt Lake City, Russia House quickly became the place for booze and fun. I remember when Sale/Pelletier had the whole drama Anton Sikharulidze jokingly said David Pelletier just needed to come to Russia house to have a drink-off.

ETA: I can imagine Scary Babs shutting down a party real quick in Torino.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Growsonwalls

[Chaser]

The commentators just being like "what is happening here?" Lol

[twoods]

Thought that ice dancing was on tonight so to get my ice skating fix, ended up watching Cutting Edge. Still love that movie, and waiting for a pairs team to attempt the Pamchenko twist or a more scientific friendly version of it. If a quad axel is possible, you never know. 

[methadonna]

I think it was Hubble/Donahue’s phrasing that made it so off-putting. I’m generally as anti-nationalist as they come, and as much as there’s a part of me that deep down kind of digs the idea that, as an individual (or pair; so just mean rather than one cog of a for-this-event team), there are athletes who aren’t really “doing it for their country” (especially since “their country” seems to have a pretty fluid definition for the Winter Games, I’ll concede that, especially if you’re being sent by the U.S., with the inherent privilege that comes with access, support, and resources, plus the freedom to choose to go out-of-country to benefit from the resources there and then still be financed to represent the U.S., you’ve got to play the game a bit. That doesn’t mean you have to be Yay America is the Best Evah—I think Adam has effectively walked the incredibly fine line of making it clear he was using this opportunity to have a voice to make his discontent known but that he was doing so because he had hope it could effect change—but you don’t have to bite the hand that feeds you, either, and, ironically, in what will be viewed as far less political, far more neutral, far less charged, far less newsworthy, far less “un-American” by so many in this country, especially those who conflate American values and “Christian” values, H/D’s statements came off to me as a far greater FU, U.S.

 

And they didn’t have to. They could have shown allegiance to their coaching team, respect for and high hopes the teams with which they train, AND acknowledgment of their fellow American competitors AND TEAMMATES by simply answering the question better. And, maybe that’s all it was: poorly chosen wording. But, it was also essentially an inevitable question, and so it’s one they should have been prepared to answer with some finesse.

 

All they had to was begin as they basically did—acknowledging how moving to Montreal to train with these two outstanding teams and wonderful coaches had both inspired and improved them. BUT, then acknowledged, as much as an American sweep would be a storybook ending, the results of the last eleventy competitions from them along with the continued effort to only keep getting better that we get to be inspired by in practice each day makes us know that, realistically, our training mates* are the two teams most likely to earn the gold and silver (hell, they could even submit how honored they feel to be able to work with/be driven by such great competitors each day), and that realistically, they know that they are aiming for bronze.

 

And here’s where the little massaging comes in: we know we have a lot of competition for that spot, and, as competitors, of course we want it to be us, but it’s thrilling to know that two of our greatest competitors are also Americans and we want them to do their best too and give us a run for our money and push us like our trainingmates* have, so, no matter what, we can be proud of an American team on that podium *small chuckle* although obviously, if there can only be one, we want it be us, and sharing the podium with our international trainingmates* would be quite the honor and make us all proud, but, hey, it’s the Olympics, the unexpected can happen, and maybe we can see a great upset and see more than one American pair up there. Really, given the possibilities for a great, successful competition among our teammates, the top contenders with whom we’re lucky enough to train and consider friends, and *endearing smile* of course ourselves, we feel like we’re really in a win-win position. Unless those not-Russian fuckers get bronze and that sucks. (No, don’t say the last line).

 

They can acknowledge the reality that the other two will, short of a spectacular disaster (and we’ve seen it’s possible!), will be gold and silver, so it’s really the race for bronze, and, duh they want to win it more than they want not-themselves to win it, and they can even acknowledge that, should that occur, that’d be cool that it would be their whole little training group (and, really, if the others are seen as the given for G/S, they’re just rooting for themselves: so, same), but they can do it in a way that doesn’t seem like they’re at some competition among training centers and not nations. ‘Cause that show is on Lifetime.

 

*(trainingmates, not teammates: just that one word probably would have made ALL the difference in its reception. even “training mates and friends” if they didn’t want to undermine the relationships they have with their Montreal stablemates, but teammates has a specific connotation here, whether it’s what they intended or not. While, they’re training, their coaches may well play up the idea that they’re one team who pushes each other to be the best, but it’s a word that denotes and connotes different things.

When Nathan referred to consulting his “team” after the short, it was clear he meant the group of people who worked with him to get him to those four and a half minutes on the ice, because of the context; no one thought he was going back to Bradie and Karen to figure it out. And  if he were at home, in a training context, his “teammates” could well refer to other athletes working together with the same core team. Context. At the Olympics, if refers to his teammates, I have no doubt he gets that his teammates are the Americans he’s skating with and against, whether it’s the Knierims trying to earn back the points that they expected he would and they wouldn’t in the team skate or Vincent, with whom he may be in direct competition and have so little in common he’d rather chat on his phone while Vincent works out space-time-continuum problems in his head, because, in this context, that’s the team of which he’s a part, and its use would connote such).

[herbz]

The stars don't need to align for Papadakis and Cizeron to win. Going by the scoring all season, barring several major errors the judges are going to hand it to them.

Edited February 18, 2018 by herbz

[herbz]

A judge that was caught at Golden Spin marking with pre-prepared rankings and scores has just been banned for 6 months. 6 months! That barely covers the off season. This is why so many people can't take figure skating seriously- there isn't even the appearance of integrity. And, as is normal practice, all the Olympic judges have been sitting in on the last days of dance run throughs. Not sure I can get behind that. 

Edited February 18, 2018 by herbz

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, herbz said:

The stars don't need to align for Papadakis and Cizeron to win. Going by the scoring all season, barring several major errors the judges are going to hand it to them.

Well, they certainly wouldn't earn it if they skated without mistakes.

[herbz]

23 minutes ago, NUguy514 said:

Well, they certainly wouldn't earn it if they skated without mistakes.

I'm largely going by their Europeans performance, where they did make errors on twizzles and step sequences and still set a new overall WR. The French judge for the Olympics didn't even pretend to maintain some semblance of impartiality at that competition, just gave them +3 for elements that clearly didn't merit them and straight 10.00s in components. 

Looking at how the season has panned out, V/M will have to have the skates of their lives to have a slight chance at beating a relatively clean P/C. That's frustrating for a figure skater like me to watch, because even if you dislike V/M's programs, vibe, or even them as people- they're better ice dancers. If the code is applied as written, a clean V/M should be beating a clean P/C pretty much every time out.

Edited February 18, 2018 by herbz

[Jillibean]

9 hours ago, MaKaM said:

So, why are y'all making up these purity tests they have to surpass to be worth rooting for? Did anyone inform Vincent and Hubble/Donahue that they needed to be there to satisfy the internet people? Maybe the others were out watching an event with their families or sleeping or using some of those Olympic Village condoms or whatever. Not our business. They weren't in the event and had no obligation to be there, and I think it is incredibly unfair to be judging them for not being there. Maybe the others showed up to scope out the competition (or the venue) only as a secondary to cheer for Team USA.

Vincent was there. So it was only H/D that didn’t show up even once for the team event. I don’t think it’s a purity test, but I do think it was glaringly noticeable. Of course they have no obligation to attend. But by choosing not to attend, they had to realize people would notice and talk, which is what we are now doing. Sure, sleeping, watching with families, etc. are all valid things to be doing. But Karen, Vincent, and Evan and Madi C could have been doing those things also. Instead, they made a choice to come root for the team. H/D did not make that same choice. That much is factual. And I say this as someone who would be happy for any of the three USA teams to medal and has no real preference for one over the other two (maybe slightly for C/B, but I think they’re the least likely candidates of the three).

[Vera]

8 hours ago, Enero said:

Though V/M have won all the big competitions this season, the skating gods/fate whatever you want to call it can be strange.

 

 

The only big competition where they went head to head this season, P/C came out on top.

4 hours ago, herbz said:

The stars don't need to align for Papadakis and Cizeron to win. Going by the scoring all season, barring several major errors the judges are going to hand it to them.

 

Pretty much.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Vera

[absnow54]

6 hours ago, methadonna said:

When Nathan referred to consulting his “team” after the short, it was clear he meant the group of people who worked with him to get him to those four and a half minutes on the ice, because of the context; no one thought he was going back to Bradie and Karen to figure it out.

Obviously skaters have a team of coaches, choreographers, and trainers that they want to perform well for, but that doesn't usually include the competing skaters that those teams also represent. It's not unheard of for those competing skaters with the same coach to support one another though, I thought it was really sweet when Yuzuru Hanyu cheered for Javier Fernandez after the free skate because they train so closely with one another. Something just rubbed me the wrong way about how H/D said it. Because, yeah, realistically they're not competing against V/M or P/C since they have little chance of beating them, they're competing against the other US teams for the bronze, and want to be the couple that wins so they're not the only team from Montreal not to make the podium. I just get the vibe that H/D are only here to represent themselves and not USA figure skating. (That said their free dance is my favorite and I wish they didn't make me cringe so much behind the scenes.)

[kili]

Quote

Someone was mentioning that Adam Rippon might be looking for an announcing position

Some were speculating that Adam should be hired on by NBC for the next Olympics...he was hired to work for NBC this Olympics. He will be working on television, digital and social media for NBC.

Way to make the most of an opportunity. 

Edited February 18, 2018 by kili

[healthnut]

5 minutes ago, kili said:

Some were speculating that Adam should be hired on by NBC for the next Olympics...he was hired to work for NBC this Olympics. He will be working on television, digital and social media for NBC.

Way to make the most of an opportunity. 

Saw Christine Brennan’s tweet with this story. Unbelievable ?