Figure Skating, U.S. Championships Men's Final

[Guest Tristan]

The men's final free skate program will be televised on NBC this Sunday night, January 27.

 

We may even get to see scenes of Johnny Weir shopping. Those of you who followed the last olympics may recall the thread on JW and his extravagant shopping sprees.

 

Seriously, one of your favorites may be in the event.

[Guest Tristan]

An amazing thing happened at the Championships.

 

Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek had the exact same total

scores: 244.77.

 

The total score is the sum of the short and long programs. Because EL won the free skate, and the free skate has more value, he won the gold and JW got the silver. Apparently, this never happened before and may never happen again, given that judges award points to the hundreth decimal place. Everyone was stunned by this occurrence.

 

JW is much more mature and focused than before, at least when on the ice. Both skaters put on great performances.

 

JW was the U.S Figure Skating Champion for three years until EL took the gold away from him last year and held unto it this year.

 

For skater fans who are interested:

 

There is now a web site where you can watch reruns of figure skating events on a subscription basis. The URL is:

 

http://www.icenetwork.com

[Guest zipperzone]

I bet JW was really pissed off. Did he throw a hissy fit?

[Guest Tristan]

>I bet JW was really pissed off. Did he throw a hissy fit?

 

No, he's more mature and level-headed than we remember him from the olympics. He handled the reporter quite well and emphasized how pleased he had been with his own performance. I thought he was a gentleman and kept his cool. I'm sure he was frustrated, perhaps a bit angry. Who wouldn't be?

 

A one point difference in the second decimal place is just a matter of doing one more thing in your performance, like a single toe loop. He could easily have added one more thing, but who knew? He had a lot on his mind. EL had done a quad, so he had to do a quad. EL had also received a standing ovation right before JW skated last.

 

There were other strange events in the Championships. A skater proposed to his partner on the ice at the end of their performance. I think that may be a first. And the top three women skaters are too young to go to the World Championships.

[Karl-G]

Unfortunately, the finals were not very exciting. Evan Lysacek was suffering from a cold and did not land any of his jumps cleanly. And the choreography was not interesting, although Kurt Browning created it. Steven Carriere, the bronze winner, is 18 and tentative. He had no quads and a lackluster program. Johnny Weir gave the best performance overall of the top three, IMO, with clean smooth movements and grace and sensitivity to the music which was written for him. He also landed not very securely on several jumps. I don't dispute the judging, although I find it too rigid.

 

The best performance of any overall was Ryan Bradford, who enjoys playing to the crowd and does it very well, not overdoing it. But probably the announcer Sandra Bezic was right when she said that concentrating on giving a character performance (as Charlie Chaplin), plus doing all the tricks and jumps, is more than one can do and win a gold. He certainly deserves praise, however. I enjoyed his performance and admired his technical ability as well as his showmanship.

 

I don't enjoy watching skinny little girls skate. Someone more zaftig, like a real person, is infinitely preferable. And since they can't compete in World's, what's the point? Makes the USFSA look kind of stupid. Who is going to compete for the U.S. in the World Championships?

[Guest Tristan]

Johnny Weir after finishing his free skate performance

 

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/c51cb047-d903-4237-94e3-47a87e1e6cc8.jpg

[Luv2play]

If this pic was taken after his performance, why is he holding his skate (with foot still in it) in his hand?

[Guest Tristan]

He broke down in tears immediatley after the performance and was still in tears en route to the seats and his coaches. He may have been lifting up his foot to put on those long skate covers which all the skaters do before they step into the seats.

 

All I know is that he was in tears from the time he finished to the time he sat down. If you want to see exactly what happened, you can always go to the web site I listed above and buy a subscription.

[Philly Guy]

If there's any question whether Johnny is gay! The real question is whether he is a top or a bottom.

[Guest zipperzone]

>If there's any question whether Johnny is gay! The real

>question is whether he is a top or a bottom.

 

The real "real question" is who would care?

[Intuitive Touch]

I was at the Nationals in St. Paul last weekend. Personally, I thought Johnny’s performance was more artistic and fluid that Evan’s, which leaned toward the athletic side. The scoring tilts to reward the jumps over artistry (no more classically demonstrated when they gave the gold to Tara over Michelle); the general sense in the audience was that Johnny should have won. He was perfectly graceful taking second. (The paper the next day reported that it pretty much fell to a tilt in his blade coming out of a spin. Had his blade not tilted, he wouldn’t have lost those hundredths of a point to tie and would have won.)

 

While I agree generally on the comment about the crop of women skating (who were, pretty much, un-exemplary), in part this may have been because the big names stayed away. Nevertheless there was a star.

 

Watch out for Caroline Zhang. At the end of her long program, she received the first standing ovation, her artistry bringing many in the audience to tears. Near the end of her performance, she does the most remarkable spin I've ever seen where she literally and seamlessly extends/grows out of it. I can’t find a You Tube of the Nationals performance, but google "Caroline Zhang (USA) - 2007 SA, Ladies' LP" and you’ll see a slightly wobbly version of her routine (to "Ave Maria") from last year. It's definitely worth a view; her spin begins around the 4 minute mark.