How can this be a sports forum without a figure skating thread?

[joeybee12]

Congrats to Michelle Kwan!

Can you think of any current athlete who has so dominated her sport for so long? I can't.

Remember--I said current--so don't come back with Michale Jordan, etc., anyone who has retired!

[kaitykaity]

1. Are you in Portland?

I couldn't believe those crazy people braving that
ice storm silver thaw thing to go to that show.

[joeybee12]

3. Nope, in Denver and it's pretty damn cold here!

I'm not surprised people showed up--ice skating fans are hard core!

[kaitykaity]

5. The whole town was a bloody skating rink, and yet

there they went. (This kind of weather doesn't happen
here very often. It's a very big event.)

You couldn't have gotten me outside with a tractor
and a crowbar.

[joeybee12]

6. Like I said, they're hardcore!

I used to live in Seattle, so I know that weather is rare. I think it's been a bad winter just about everywhere this year!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. They probably took the MAX

(Damn, I miss the MAX!)

[kaitykaity]

10. Yeah, they kept MAX running despite the ice this time.

From what I saw, you're absolutely right.

You know about Yellow and Red now right? The Airport
and the Interstate?

[HuckleB]

2. Certainly not nationally, anyway.

What is her record in the World's? I know the Olympics haven't been kind to her.

[joeybee12]

4. She's got--I believe 6 golds at the worlds...

...at least five, but I'm pretty sure it's six. She finished third this last year--really blew it in the preliminaries and could never catch up.

[HuckleB]

7. Damn.

Yeah. Knowing that, I think it's pretty difficult to argue with your assertion.

[joeybee12]

8. This year when she finished third, it was the lowest she's ever finished

at the World's--no lower than silver until this.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

11. I saw it. It was singularly impressive

These landmarks, like 9 straight titles, are the measure of greatness.
She was the only performer to put in a flawless performance Saturday.
Kimmie Meissner looks really good for the post Kwan years (whenever the heck that will be).

[joeybee12]

14. I bet Michelle decides what to do aftre this year's world's...

...and she sees how she does with the new scoring system.

[underpants]

12. uh-oh LOOK OUT Tonya Harding has a hubcap!!!!

:bounce:

[joeybee12]

13. Yeah, she's so poor that's the only part of the car she has left!

Wasn't it a crowbar they used on Nancy?

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

15. Don't get me wrong here folks,

but Tonya Harding, despite her personal problems, was one hell of a figure skater.

After all, she was the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition at the 1991 Nationals and believe me it was a better jump technically than Kimmie Meissner did Saturday night in Portland.

I'm not trying to say that what happened in Detroit, 1994 should be forgotten, it shouldn't, but it was 11 years ago and if other sports figures can be forgiven for their past transgressions, why can't she?

One other point about Tonya, she came from a real working class family and didn't fit the profile that the USFSA likes for its' ladies skaters: SHE WASN'T AN ICE PRINCESS...

[kaitykaity]

16. With you there.

Tonya was thrilling when she skated. You never knew what
she'd do.

It was tough being in Portland because the local media just
went nuts about her.

And her mother? Gawd, don't get me even started with the
songs and all that other shit.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

17. Yeah, I've heard rumors that her Mom was a real

piece of work.

But then again, in this sport there are a lot of Skating Moms out there.

BTW, did you see the competition over the weekend? What's your take on it?

[kaitykaity]

18. No her mom wouldn't have shit to do with her until she got

famous. Then her mom was like giving interviews to anybody
with a microphone. "Gimme my face time, gimme my face time."
Like "gimme the money." It was disgusting.

You know, I used to really dig skating, but then Sarah
Hughes won the gold and there was that judging scandal in
the couples and I was like "Pfeh." You know?

So I guess my take is I loved Tonya. Nancy was a fabulous
skater. I watched a couple of her programs that just sent
chills through me they were so perfect.

That and I was watching football all weekend. :spank:

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

19. Well I can understand your disillusionment with

figure skating because of the judging scandals.

I've loved figure skating since the early 1960's when I had delusions of grandeur myself. However, a six inch growth spurt in six months when I was 13 put that dream in the trash can.

It was nice this weekend though to obsess over something else other than the present state of our beloved country.

Just in case you're interested, ABC is showing the exhibition pieces that were performed yesterday this coming Sunday at 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm EST. Sometimes I think the exhibition pieces are better than the actual competition.

[kaitykaity]

20. Oh, I do that all the time -- obsess about something else...

I'm still too mad. I don't understand. I'll never
understand.

Me and my Mom are going out Thursday shopping and playing.
We're not going to listen to the radio or watch TV until
the b*stard emperor is once again seated.

It's more than I can take. I get furious and have to think
about something else.

Thanks for the tip about Sunday. Unfortunately there's
going to be two really monster football games on.

:evilgrin:

edit: typo

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

21. Well, you can always tape the skating and watch the games

live can't ya?

As for Thursday, I don't know what I'm going to do. However, I will not spend a damn dime that day.

I might watch the parade on C-Span just to see if the protests are shown, but I'm definitely not watching that asshole take the oath of office.

[kaitykaity]

22. Yeah, I can do that.

I'll keep an eye out and record that. That's a good idea.
Maybe someday I'll even invest in Tivo or something. I doubt
it though. I don't even have cable.

I'll probably wear black and find some ashes somewhere to paint
on my body or something Thursday.

edit: is there a what are you doing Thursday post somewhere?
I should go look for it and stop hijacking this person's thread.

[joeybee12]

23. Speaking of scandals, did you see the Ice Daning at the Worlds right

after the last Olympics?

Geeesh! The ice dancer (US--woman--can't recall her name) was speechless after the low scores the Lithuanian couple got, and how high they put the other skaters to keep the Liths off the platform. All the couples made major mistakes, and the Liths were flawless--it wasn't even close as to who should have won, but the judges placed them fourth.

Why? The Lithuanian couple was very vocal after the Olympics scandal about how corrupt ice dancing is. Well, it was payback time from those on-the-take judges.

They need to dump this "sport" altogether--ice dancing, that is. It's only comprised of those couples who weren't good enough to make it in pairs.

They won't because--believe it or not--it's a big money-maker in many places in the world!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

24. Hiya, joeybee 12. Thanks for starting this thread.

Yes, I do remember the judging scandals at both the SLC Olympics and the Worlds that followed it.

I wouldn't go as far as you did to say that ice dancing is not a "sport". It's been recognized as such by the ISU since 1950 when ice dancing was included as a competition at the World Figure Skating Championships in London in 1950 and ice dancing became part of Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria in 1976.

While ice dancing doesn't have the overt athleticism of the sort that you can see in singles and pairs, it isn't an "easy" discipline to learn and master. The footwork alone would give many a great skater, either a singles skater or a pairs skater, fits.

I will admit, ice dancing isn't my favorite. But when you see a program that is beautifully skated, such as Chris Dean and Jayne Torvill's Bolero at Sarajevo in 1984, it'll blow you away.

I hope you watch the World Championships from Moscow in March. This competition will be judged on the new rules that the ISU instituted after the disasters in SLC and the World Championships that followed it. There won't be any 6.0's awarded at this competition or at next year's Olympics in Turin, Italy.

BTW, I agree Michelle Kwan is a great skater, but unfortunately Saturday night was not her best performance and she didn't deserve those 6.0's she received. She's really going to have to "up the ante" if she hopes to even get on the podium in Moscow in March.

[joeybee12]

26. No, I remember Torvill and Dean--they were great...

...and that brings me to another rip off--the time they went back to the Olympics and finished third.

I didn't mean to come off as harsh on ice dancing as I may have, but the reason Torvill and Dean didn't win that next time was because they judges had decided beforehand that it was the Russian's turn. It may be a sport, but it's certainly lacking in competition.

You're right about Michelle--it wasn't her best night, but she certainly was the best skater. I just think the judges got a little nostalgic about 6.0's and threw them everywhere. Johnny Weir didn't deserve his either, but, again, he deserved to win. :)

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

28. Ah yes, the 1994 Olympics at Lillehamer, Norway.

Or the "comeback" Olympics as I called them. Remember all the former Olympic champions that reinstated for these odd-year Olympics? Let's see Katarina Witt, Brian Boitano, Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov and Jayne Torvill and Chris Dean, did I forget anyone?

Don't mean to be sarcastic at all, but since ice dancing was included as an Olympic sport in 1976, the gold medals winners were all Russians with the two exceptions of T&D in 1984 and Annisina & Peizart in SLC in 2002. A&P skated for France, but she was a Russian born and trained skater, so I guess you could say the Russian Skating Federation won another 1/2 of a gold medal in 2002.

I agree with you about T&D in 1994. Their free dance was brilliantly skated and they did deserve the gold medal, but politics reared its ugly head once again and the Russian team won. As it did in other skating events at those Olympics ala Nancy Kerrigan v. Oksana Baiul.

BTW, did you know that a Russian pair has won every gold medal at the Olympics since 1964? Some record, huh. Hopefully, that will change next year in Turin. I'd love to see the Chinese pair of Shen & Zhao win the gold.

About last weekend in Portland, you're right. Everyone was saying goodbye to the 6.0 system. Michelle certainly did deserve the win, her short program was beautiful. Johnny Weir was excellent as well and Belbin and Agosto in the ice dancing have a very good chance at the bronze or perhaps even the silver medal in Moscow.

As for the American pairs, don't even go there. Katie Orscher and Garrett Lukasch had two good skates in Portland, but they're not even close to the top teams in the world. Hopefully, they can get into one of the top ten finishing positions and maybe the US will be able to send three pairs teams to next year's Olympics instead of two.

[joeybee12]

30. Couldn't recall if it was 92 or 94--forgot when they had only a two-year

absence between Winter Olympics in order to get them two years apart from the Summer ones.

Yeah, I knew that about the Russians. Did you recall a news article about something to do with the Russian mafia controlling ice dancing? It seemed far fetched, but then with tverything that happened, it didn't. Anyway, that story seemed to die out!

[NorthSideCubsFan]

33. Torvill and Dean and...

Didn't they change the ice dancing guidelines a few years after '84 to eliminate the kinds of creative stuff that T & D did?

The rules of skating judging as they appear to me:

1. No matter how good you are, you have to wait fo your turn to come around.

2. If you skate early in the competition, you're screwed.

3. If the audience likes you too much, you're screwed.

4. The ideal prize winning progam is: Do a terrific jump, skate straight to the other end of the arena and do another great jump. Repeat ten times. Choreography, emotion and footwork don't count.

[theboss]

25. It's a forum populated by heterosexual men?

I kid. I kid. Figure skating is perfectly lovely. The networks without football need something for counter-programming.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

27. Hey, I'm a married 51 year old woman..

I know you were kidding.

I haven't really followed figure skating in 2004. After the World's were over, I concentrated on getting * out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In fact, this weekend was the first skating I've seen since then.

Television coverage of figure skating is in decline. In fact, ABC isn't going to show any of it from the World Championships in March. The coverage is all on ESPN.

As for the other networks, I can't stand watching the "cheesefests", such as USA vs the World, etc. Those "competitions" are for professional skaters, not eligibles, and they really are pretty poor.

The fact that NBC has exclusive rights to next year's Olympics, makes me want to tear my hair out. I loved Scott Hamilton as a skater and as a great role model for anyone, but when it comes to commentating at the Olympics, he drives me nuts. He just talks too much....

The best commentator I've ever heard was during the 1998 Olympics in Nagano. My husband and I were living in Northern Ireland at the time and Robin Cousins did the commentary for the BBC. He was totally objective and fair to everyone. That's something you rarely see anywhere on American television, whether it be politics or sports.

[joeybee12]

29. Yeah, I saw that it was on ESPN only also!

What a rip-off.

I agree about Scott Hamilton--I cannot listen to him at all.

[AgadorSparticus]

31. i love watching figure skating but having to listen to dick button and

peggy fleming (not as bad as button) just plain hurts. they are so unbelievably biased. i'd rather they not say anything at all and let me enjoy the performance.

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

32. I have a sentimental spot for Uncle Dick and Peggy.

It goes back to 1962 when Wide World of Sports on ABC was the only place on American TV you could see any figure skating.

Peggy Fleming was a role model for a lot of us "kids" in the 1960's who had figure skating aspirations as well.

I agree with you that sometime they both can get annoying, but to me the bottom line is that even though it was many years ago, they both have Olympic gold medals and multiple World Championships under their belts. Because of this fact, I defer to their judgement.

FYI, ESPN2 is showing the European Championships on tape delay this Sunday, 2-7-05 at 10:00 pm - 12:00 pm EST.

[joeybee12]

34. You obviously have never heard Scott Hamilton commentate!

It'll make you Pray to bring back Dickie and Peggy!

[mohinoaklawnillinois]

35. I've also heard a rumor that Roslyn Sumners is on

board for NBC's coverage at next year's Olympics.

I think the mute button will be used a lot next February..

[joeybee12]

36. Don't think I've ever heard her commentate--but I'll take your suggestion

and keep the mute on just in case!